Sunday, May 29, 2016

Open Blog Tour Signups for KINGS by @KimHeadlee and PD Novak #fantasy and #giveaway last chance

Their encounter reeks of an enemy mage's dark arts.
Kings by Kim Headlee & PD Novak.
A funny thing happened on the way to the battlefield. 

Thus begins the synopsis of Kings, a sword & sorcery crossover novella featuring Arthur (the dirty blond on the right) from my Dragon's Dove Chronicles series and Garrin (the scowling looker on the left) from the forthcoming Robes series by Patricia Duffy Novak.

Bloggers, Patricia and I would be grateful for your participation in the upcoming blog tour, 6/20-6/24/16. To sign up, please CLICK HERE. It's only 8K fast-paced words, so please consider including a review with your post; thanks! :)


Publication date: March 2016
Publisher: Pendragon Cove Press
Format: Kindle e-book
Number of pages/words: 44 pages, 8K words

Excerpt
Something prickled in Arthur’s awareness, and he felt the hair of his arms lift. He glanced up to see a massive thunderhead boiling across the sky. Heat lightning flared within the cloud, blue tinted and alien.

Can this be Morghe’s doing?

It was no secret that his sister practiced the forbidden arts, and she seemed to take perverse delight in directing her petty spells at Arthur. She had never forgiven him for forcing her to marry Urien, even though the match had made her a queen, but Arthur had never perceived her magic as a serious threat.

Had she learned how to control the weather? Was this why Urien had chosen to leave his citadel and go on the offensive rather than digging in and letting Arthur come to him as the other rebel kings had done?

The knot in Arthur’s stomach gave its answer.


***

Today is your last chance to win an e-copy of Dawnflight!
To enter, click HERE.

***

All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Follow Kim on Pinterest
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

Please enter often, and good luck!

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Accolon reports about the assassin to Morghe in Ch 12/Sc 4a of RAGING SEA by @KimHeadlee #amwriting

Graphic overlay c2016 by Kim Headlee.
The convention in romantic fiction dealing with the patient-caregiver relationship is that the patient falls in love with the caregiver. The ensuing conflict revolves around the caregiver struggling to remain stoic while the patient escalates his or her advances.

I care for conventions only in as far as I can twist them to suit my purposes.

In today's excerpt from Raging Sea, Accolon plays caregiver to the wounded Morghe.

Little does he suspect that she already has him wrapped around her pinky.

Previous excerpts of Raging Sea 
Chapters 1–6 in Raging Sea: Reckonings
 Chapter 7: Sc 1 | Sc 2 | Sc 3 | Sc 4 | Sc 5a | Sc 5b |
Chapter 8: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 9: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 1d | Sc 1e |
Chapter 10: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2a | Sc 2b | Sc 3a | Sc 3b | Sc 3c |
Chapter 11: Sc 1aSc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 12: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 2 | Sc 3 |

Raging Sea Chapter 12, Scene 4a
©2016 by Kim Headlee
All rights reserved.

“Where am I?” came a faint voice from the bed.

Accolon, who had not left Morghe’s side from the moment the medics had brought her to the Port Dhoo-Glass infirmary for the physician to examine his handiwork, pronounce it good, and suggest that she recuperate here for the next several days, leaned forward to press a damp cloth to her glistening brow. “The fortress. Prefect Conall’s quarters. You’re safe now.”

“The assassin?”

“Caught. Interrogated.” Accolon allowed a brief smile to relieve his worry. “Dead.”

“Who was he?”

“A Saxon who believed he had targeted Gyanhumara.”

Morghe struggled to rise at that, put too much pressure on her wounded shoulder, and sank down with a pained groan. “God. What is it with that woman and this damned spit of an island? The last time, we became caught up in an invasion that could have gotten us both killed.”

With a sigh she closed her eyes. It made her look so fragile, so vulnerable… so desirable…

He stopped that thought with a sharp shake of the head. And yet it couldn’t prevent him from saying, softly, “I’m glad that didn’t happen. Either time.”

She cracked open one eye and gave him a sardonic look. “Are you, now? What is that supposed to mean, Accolon map Anwas, best friend of my husband?”

What, indeed?

***

All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Follow Kim on Pinterest
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

Please enter often, and good luck!

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Open Blog Tour Signups for FAITH, FAMILY, FILM celebrity #memoir by Fred Eichelman

Faith, Family, Film: A Teacher's Trek
Celebrity memoir by Fred Eichelman.
Discover a heartwarming side of Hollywood and politics that you never knew existed.
Thus begins the synopsis of the book I helped bring into the world, Faith Family Film: A Teacher's Trek by a longtime friend and fan of my novels, Fred Eichelman.

Faith, Family, Film represents the first book published via my imprint, Pendragon Cove Press, that was not written by me. I am honored to have been involved in this worthy endeavor.

Bloggers, I hope you choose to be involved too! To sign up for the 3-day release tour, 6/21-6/23/16, please CLICK HERE; thanks!

Fred, a retired teacher of high school history and government classes, has a stellar history himself, having befriended such notables as Elizabeth Taylor, Rhonda Fleming, and Ronald Reagan. He spins his anecdote-driven narrative in traditional Southern, "come in and set a spell" storytelling style.

Publication date: May 2016
Publisher: Pendragon Cove Press
Formats: E-book, Paperback
Number of pages/words: 168 pages/40K words
Cover design: Natasha Brown

Excerpt:
One night there was a late phone call from Doc Jones. “Al, Ann, I need a favor. I am taking care of too many sick animals right now, and I have a man here with a pair of dogs he brought from Germany. Rex and Regina. Never seen anything like them. Regina is about to deliver; could you two come over here?”

Of course my parents agreed.

To their surprise they found the dog owner to be Pulitzer Prize–winning author Louis Bromfield. His home was originally in Mansfield, Ohio, but he also had a home in Hollywood, California, and until recently one in Paris, where he had lived a few years. My parents were very familiar with Bromfield, as his books were widely read, and two were made into successful films, The Rains Came and Mrs. Parkington. Bromfield had recently been in Germany and had seen a new breed, Boxers. Boxers were the result of the interbreeding of Bullmastiffs and English Bulldogs and were considered perfect working dogs.

At that time Adolph Hitler was taking control of the German government, and Bromfield knew that if he didn’t bring these dogs to America quickly, he might not get another opportunity.

Al and Ann were happy to help out, and Louis Bromfield was especially pleased that my mother had read several of his books and was a fan. It was a perfect delivery of puppies and he thanked them profusely. Then Bromfield said, “Take your pick of the puppies.” Surprised as they were, they did not hesitate, and four weeks later a female puppy was delivered to their home.


***

I'm running a giveaway for an e-copy of Dawnflight!
To enter, click HERE.

Last month's copies of Kings got snapped up fast, so don't delay; enter today!

MailChimp subscribers to The Dawnflier receive exclusive giveaway opportunities.
Subscribe today
so you don't miss out!

***

All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Follow Kim on Pinterest
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

Please enter often, and good luck!

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

The Business of Writing: The Book Description #ASMSG #IARTG #MFRWOrg

Golden Gate Bridge,
c2015 by Phil Bird, Depositphotos ID 38718385,
Editorial use only.
Bridge the readers' gap and stimulate your book sales with a tantalizing synopsis! 

Please note I used the word synopsis, not blurb. There are two reasons for this.

1. I think of a "blurb" in terms of a sentence or two that has been excerpted from a larger article, such as a book review.

2. The word itself brings to mind the act of regurgitation. I would much rather not have potential readers associating my book with vomit. :D

There. I feel much better for having gotten that off my chest; thanks.

I used to cringe at the thought of writing a short synopsis for my books—also known in traditional publishing circles as back-cover copy since it's literally included with the other elements on the back of a printed book.

I know I'm not alone; many authors don't feel comfortable distilling 100,000 words down to 300.


I had to get over my reluctance the hard way.

Back in 1997, when my first novel, Dawnflight, was acquired by Sonnet Books, a Simon & Schuster imprint, a fight broke out between my editor and my literary agent, who hated the synopsis the editor wrote on the grounds that it gave away too much of the plot. I could see his point. He wrote his own version, which I wasn't terribly keen on either because it was way too emotionless for a romance imprint. So I waded into the fray and synthesized the two versions, which did satisfy both of them and settled the argument.


The tagline plus three-paragraph structure.

As Aristotle stated millennia ago, everything should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Surprise! This applies to back-cover copy too.

With Dawnflight's first synopsis, I retained the editor's tagline and three-paragraph structure. The tagline formed the beginning. The first two paragraphs—one each to introduce the heroine and hero—comprised the middle. The end was one paragraph describing their mutual conundrum and its stakes. When I rereleased Dawnflight independently in 2013, I beefed up the concluding paragraph to highlight the book's larger scope to attract a larger audience, something for which I did not have room on the back of the original mass-market edition.

Room for the synopsis is not as big of an issue with e-books.

Amazon, for example, gives you 4,000 characters in which to describe your Kindle edition. Some marketing gurus will tell you that it's a great idea to use every last byte of the allotted amount, because whatever you write will factor into users' search results.

In most cases, I concur with this wisdom. The notable exception I make is in regard to my novellas and graphic novels. Since they are much shorter than my full-length novels, I've taken a page out of The Mikado's playbook, and I "let the punishment fit the crime." In other words, I craft the synopsis to reflect the length of the book.

You may feel differently (and if so, please feel free to comment!), but to me it just seems silly to present a book description that's almost as long as the story itself.

There are some more good tips in this article on BooksGoSocial.

However, BooksGoSocial does not cover one key point:

Posing a question in the synopsis is okay, but DO NOT ask a yes-or-no question.

Why?

It causes the reader to supply the answer, and then pass on buying your book.

Sample: "Can John and Marsha overcome their fears and find love in each other's arms?"
Me: "Hm. This is a romance novel, so yes, that had better happen or else there's no point to the book."

Better: "How can John and Marsha overcome their fears and find love in each other's arms?"
Me: "Gee, I don't know. Maybe I ought to read a sample chapter and see if it's worth my time to find out."


Wisdom from a book PR giant.

You don't have to be a "partner" to avail yourself of BookBub's 98 Book Marketing Tips . In case you don't have time to click through—and wade through—all 98, here are the two that pertain to the topic of creating your book's description:
24. Optimize your book description. BookBub’s A/B testing shows that descriptions that include quotes from authors, awards, and language that caters to your audience (e.g. “If you love thrillers, don’t miss this action-packed read!”) have higher engagement rates.

25. Include target keywords on product pages.
Narrow down a list of 5-7 keywords your audience typically searches for, then incorporate these words into your description headline, description copy, and keyword sections on each of your retailer product pages.

I used to think that producing an excellent short synopsis was hard, but it just takes practice. I've had many readers tell me they've been drawn in by my book descriptions, so I must be doing something right!

Studying examples from the most compelling books in your chosen genre is key.

And by "most compelling," I don't necessarily mean "best selling" but rather, what compels =you= about the synopsis that entices you to learn more about that book?
 
***

I'm running a giveaway for an e-copy of Dawnflight!
To enter, click HERE.

Last month's copies of Kings got snapped up fast, so don't delay; enter today!

MailChimp subscribers to The Dawnflier receive exclusive giveaway opportunities.
Subscribe today
so you don't miss out!

***

All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Follow Kim on Pinterest
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

Please enter often, and good luck!

Monday, May 23, 2016

Meet @KimHeadlee at Black Horse Artisan Guild, Wytheville VA! #ASMSG #MFRWOrg

King Arthur's Sister in Washington's Court
by Mark Twain as channeled by Kim Iverson Headlee
hardcover on display at the Black Horse Artisan Guild.
Today on The Maze I'm pleased to introduce you to a new artists' collective in my hometown, Black Horse Artisan Guild of Wytheville, Virginia! 

Nestled in the foothills of the beautiful Blue Ridge, at the confluence of interstates 81 and 77, 18th-century Wytheville is the birthplace of First Lady Edith Bolling Wilson. Black Horse Artisan Guild is located steps away from the museum that was established in the house in which she was born and across Main Street from the newly renovated Bolling Wilson Hotel.

A sampling of handcrafted items available for
purchase at the Black Horse Artisan Guild.
The guild showcases the work of several talented artists residing in the lower Shenandoah Valley, from Bristol (TN/VA) to Roanoke. That work includes pottery, jewelry, paintings, baskets, herbal products, textiles, and sculptures in wood, hammered metal, and wrought iron.

And, of course, books.

The photo on the left shows a sample of what you may find in this treasure trove—except for the pair of ceramic cups in the top picture's foreground. I bought those as a housewarming gift for my daughter a few days after the guild's grand opening. :)

In addition to displaying these beautiful handcrafted wares for purchase, Black Horse Artisan Guild frequently runs special events, everything from workshops in painting and other crafts to glass blowing demonstrations.

Also on display during May are the entries submitted for Art Wythe In, a contest for original youth crafts (i.e., not made from kits) in the mediums of wood, clay, fiber, glass, and 2D (painting/drawing). The top three winners will be announced June 18th.

On Tuesday May 24, 6–8 p.m., owners Jennifer & Randy Pugh will be hosting a Meet the Author party in honor of my latest novel King Arthur's Sister in Washington's Court having won the 2016 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Medal in Fantasy & Science Fiction. More information may be found on the Facebook event page.

All print editions of my books will be available for viewing and purchase during the party, and I plan to give a dramatic reading from KASIWC. I hope to see y'all there!

***

I'm running a giveaway for an e-copy of Dawnflight!
To enter, click HERE.

Last month's copies of Kings got snapped up fast, so don't delay; enter today!

MailChimp subscribers to The Dawnflier receive exclusive giveaway opportunities.
Subscribe today
so you don't miss out!

***

All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Follow Kim on Pinterest
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

Please enter often, and good luck!

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Gull collars the assassin in Ch 12/Sc 3 of RAGING SEA by @KimHeadlee #amwriting

Graphic overlay c2016 by Kim Headlee.
While my daughter is off visiting her boyfriend for his college graduation (congratulations, Ethan! :) and Balticon, and the house has calmed back down to its usual dull roar, I am going to sneak in some more writing on Raging Sea.

But before I dive in, I thought I'd better get this post up. :D

Today for your reading pleasure, Angusel's father Gull runs a would-be assassin to ground.

Previous excerpts of Raging Sea 
Chapters 1–6 in Raging Sea: Reckonings
 Chapter 7: Sc 1 | Sc 2 | Sc 3 | Sc 4 | Sc 5a | Sc 5b |
Chapter 8: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 9: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 1d | Sc 1e |
Chapter 10: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2a | Sc 2b | Sc 3a | Sc 3b | Sc 3c |
Chapter 11: Sc 1aSc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 12: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 2 |

Raging Sea Chapter 12, Scene 3
©2016 by Kim Headlee
All rights reserved.

He’d pay for this exertion later, of course, but running down the assassin proved easier than Gull thought it would be. Aye, the man had led him and a gaggle of soldiers on a fine chase through the back alleys and twisted passageways of the port’s seedier environs, having to abandon the rooftops when he outran his cover from the soldiers’ spears and arrows.

What the assassin—or the soldiers, for that matter—didn’t know was that Gull could be harder to shake than the killing pox, and just as deadly.

With a burst of speed and a powerful lunge, he collared the assassin and dragged him to the ground. Battle rage drove his fists and feet to pummel the man into submission until the soldiers arrived.

“Halt, sir!” Gull stopped midswing, panting hard, and turned to look at the decurion who had issued the order. “We need him alive for questioning.” The officer’s firm tone carried an apologetic note.

A glance at the captive revealed the bloody, bruised face, his eyes beginning to swell shut. Gull shook his head to clear it of battle frenzy and lowered his fist. It already had begun to ache, and he shook it too, trying to make sense of his reactions. He was a master warrior; he should have subdued the assassin without resorting to crude, mindless violence.

And yet, committing mindless violence against the assailant was all that leaped to mind at the thought of the Lady Morghe getting wounded by this cù-puc.

He shook his head again.

“Sir? Are you all right?” asked the decurion as his men secured the captive for the march to the fortress.

Gull reassured the officer with a grin. “Nae thing that a stiff draught or three won’t cure, lad.”

He hoped.

***

I'm running a giveaway for an e-copy of Dawnflight!
To enter, click HERE.

Last month's copies of Kings got snapped up fast, so don't delay; enter today!

MailChimp subscribers to The Dawnflier receive exclusive giveaway opportunities.
Subscribe today
so you don't miss out!

***

All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Follow Kim on Pinterest
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

Please enter often, and good luck!

Friday, May 20, 2016

The gauntlet is thrown. One must die. THE CHALLENGE by @KimHeadlee graphic novel #newrelease

The Challenge, episode 1: Dilemmas & Deliberation.
Story by Kim Headlee, Art & Storyboard by Wendy Carey.
Refusal is not an option. 


The Challenge 
Graphic Novel Episode 1: Dilemmas and Deliberation
A Dragon's Dove Chronicles Novella


Arthur the High King is captive of Gyan's longtime enemy, the Saxon warrior-princess Camilla, who through the black arts may have enlisted a demon to aid in attaining her revenge. Though the passion that had colored the early years of Gyan's marriage to Arthur was still celebrated in song across the land, myriad problems had driven a wedge between them. These days, Gyan wasn't singing.

When Camilla issues her challenge for a to-the-death fight for crown and king, Gyan's duty, loyalty, and honor are put to the test.

She can forfeit the duel, her crown… and the joyless life that crown has come to represent. Or she can risk her life and perhaps her very soul for the sake of a man who may no longer love her.

Gyan's first challenge lies in determining the right path to take.


On sale now via Amazon!

***

I'm running a giveaway for an e-copy of Dawnflight!
To enter, click HERE.

Last month's copies of Kings got snapped up fast, so don't delay; enter today!

MailChimp subscribers to The Dawnflier receive exclusive giveaway opportunities.
Subscribe today
so you don't miss out!

***

All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Follow Kim on Pinterest
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

Please enter often, and good luck!

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

The Business of Writing: Advanced Applications of the Amazon Kindle Book Previewer

STOP WISHING. START DOING.
c2015 by zzoplanet.
Depositphotos ID:86051516.
Being a programmer for the past four decades means I like to experiment with software to get it to do exactly what I want.

Strike that. I =LOVE= enhancing code! And now you get to benefit from my experimentation. :)

Last time, I introduced you to the nifty book-blogging tool that is the Kindle book previewer. In case you need to catch up, you may find my commentary on this blog post.

Today on The Maze, I get even more technical by offering ways to tweak the code to better fit the needs of your blog.

I offer two customization options, both of which refer to making modifications to the default HTML code fragment that Amazon gives you when you click on the "<Embed>" hyperlink on your Kindle book's product page (located with the other share options below the "Add to List" command bar).

The default HTML code fragment Amazon gives you follows this format:

<!-- AMAZON EMBED CODE DEFAULT HTML FRAGMENT: -->

<iframe type="text/html" width="336" height="550" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen style="max-width:100%" src="https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?asin=Your_Books_ASIN&preview=inline&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_mUS4wb0MK4WVG&tag=Your_Affiliate_ID" ></iframe>

<!-- END DEFAULT HTML FRAGMENT -->

Once you replace Your_Books_ASIN and Your_Affiliate_ID (or delete &tag=Your_Affiliate_ID if you are not an Amazon Affiliate), this will cause the preview to be displayed on the page with no blog text beside it, like so:



This display is fine for a quick spotlight post, but blog visitors can be impatient, so if you have a lot of information to impart, you might want to consider:


Modification 1A: Making the book preview smaller

The basic way to reduce the preview size is to change the height= parameter from its default of 550, as in this code fragment:

<!-- AMAZON EMBED CODE HTML FRAGMENT 1A:
HALF HEIGHT  -->

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="250" src="https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?asin=Your_Books_ASIN&preview=inline&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_mUS4wb0MK4WVG&tag=Your_Affiliate_ID" style="max-width: 100%;" type="text/html" width="336"></iframe>

<!--END FRAGMENT 1A -->
I went through several iterations, modifying the height= parameter to get a version that was as small as possible without adding a clunky-looking scroll bar. Applying my book's ASIN in place of Your_Books_ASIN, the result looks like:




Note that all of Amazon's options to buy, share, and preview are available. My sidebar needed a narrower version, however, so with further experimentation I hit upon:


Modification 1B:
Making the book preview narrower as well as smaller


To get the preview pane to appear narrower, you must modify the max-width parameter AND enclose it in a table. Just modifying max-width isn't enough, nor will it work if you enclose the <IFRAME></IFRAME> within a <DIV></DIV> section.

If you don't believe me, I invite you to copy the following code fragment, and strip out the <TABLE>, </TABLE>, <TBODY>, </TBODY>,<TR>, </TR>, <TD>, and </TD> tags:
<!-- AMAZON EMBED FRAGMENT 1B:
HALF HEIGHT AND HALF WIDTH: -->
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="250" src="https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?asin=Your_Books_ASIN&amp;preview=inline&amp;linkCode=kpe&amp;ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_ABj3wb11WCT68&amp;tag=Your_Affiliate_ID" style="max-width: 50%;" type="text/html" width="336"></iframe>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<!-- END FRAGMENT 1B -->

Note that I changed max-width to 50% in addition to making height=250. These changes yield:



The Amazon "SHARE" option disappears, but of the three, that was the option I was most willing to sacrifice for the sake of blog aesthetics.

And now for an even more advanced application:


Modification 2: Floating the book preview


I like to display a book cover on one side with text flowing along the other side. My default post layout when I'm spotlighting someone else's book is to display their cover in the top left corner of the post with text flowing past on the right. At the end of the post—as with today's—I display whatever book of mine that I'm featuring on the right, with the text on the left.

Fragment 2 gives you the former option:

<!-- AMAZON EMBED CODE HTML FRAGMENT 2:
BOOK COVER WITH TEXT BESIDE IT -->

<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; text-align: center;">

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="550" src="https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?asin=Your_Books_ASIN&amp;preview=inline&amp;linkCode=kpe&amp;ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_Omd4wb0K7BQ5Q&amp;tag=Your_Affiliate_ID" style="max-width: 96%;" type="text/html" width="336"></iframe>

</div>

<!-- END FRAGMENT 2 -->
This fragment yields the following display, with subsequent blog text flowing past it on the right:

To display the cover on the right and the text on the left, change clear: left; float: left; to clear: right; float: right; within the <DIV> tag.

Also, I changed the max-width attribute to "96%" so that the blog's text does not appear crowded, but the "BUY", "SHARE", and "PREVIEW" options still appear within the book's preview pane. I discovered that at 95%, the "SHARE" option disappears, which isn't entirely a bad thing, but it looks a little odd underneath an otherwise large book cover.

The other way to simulate floating would be to set up a table with two columns, one for the cover and the other for the text. The basic layout for a one-row, two-column table is:

<TABLE><TBODY>
<TR>
<TD>Whatever goes in row 1, column 1</TD>
<TD>Stuff for row 1, column 2</TD>
</TR>
</TBODY></TABLE>

The disadvantage (other than the HTML's complexity, which can lead to more mistakes being made) is that if you have a great deal more text to display than the book's cover is tall, the you will wind up with a lot of space above and below the cover, while the text's table cell is completely full. But if those issues don't bother you, then by all means go for it.

Happy coding! :D
***

BTW, I'm running a giveaway for an e-copy of Dawnflight!
To enter, click HERE.

Last month's copies of Kings got snapped up fast, so don't delay; enter today!

MailChimp subscribers to The Dawnflier receive exclusive giveaway opportunities.
Subscribe today
so you don't miss out!

***

All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Follow Kim on Pinterest
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

Please enter often, and good luck!

Monday, May 16, 2016

Get ready for THE CHALLENGE by @KimHeadlee Graphic Novel Episode 1

The Challenge graphic novel, episode 1: Dilemmas & Deliberation
Story by Kim Headlee, Art c2016 by Wendy Carey.
Today on The Maze I am excited to report the completion of the first three pages of the graphic-novel version of The Challenge! The e-book edition of Episode 1, titled Dilemmas & Deliberation, will be available soon on a Kindle near you. :D

I am using Kindle Comic Creator software for this task—and I will be blogging about the software in a future Business of Writing post because I am about ready to stuff it down Jeff Bezos's throat. While I add the finishing touches to The Challenge: Dilemmas & Deliberation, I do invite you to download either the e-book or the audiobook edition of the full story for your reading or listening pleasure.

The teaser graphic, by the way, features principle character Gyanhumara (Gyan to kin and friends; a.k.a. Queen Guinevere of Arthurian legend) and Angusel (Angus to kin and friends; a.k.a. Sir Lancelot). While the Lancelot of legend is identified as Guinevere's champion and defender, in The Dragon's Dove Chronicles (Dawnflight, Morning's Journey, etc.), Gyan usually must fight her own battles and is, in fact, no stranger to the sword.

***

I'm running a giveaway for an e-copy of Dawnflight!
To enter, click HERE.

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***

All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Follow Kim on Pinterest
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

Please enter often, and good luck!

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Urien is going to flay Accolon alive in Ch 12/Sc 2 of RAGING SEA by @KimHeadlee #amwriting

Graphic overlay c2016 by Kim Headlee.
Today I am pleased to announce the college graduation of my "part-time" daughter, Cassie M.! 

She was awarded a BFA degree in Theatre Arts from Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, and her specialty is stage management.

Please join me in wishing Cassie and all members of the Class of 2016 the best of luck!

Accolon needs all the luck he can muster in today's excerpt from Raging Sea to keep Urien from killing him for allowing Morghe to get hurt.

But first Accolon must find a way to keep her alive.

Previous excerpts of Raging Sea 
Chapters 1–6 in Raging Sea: Reckonings
 Chapter 7: Sc 1 | Sc 2 | Sc 3 | Sc 4 | Sc 5a | Sc 5b |
Chapter 8: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 9: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 1d | Sc 1e |
Chapter 10: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2a | Sc 2b | Sc 3a | Sc 3b | Sc 3c |
Chapter 11: Sc 1aSc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 12: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 1c |

Raging Sea Chapter 12, Scene 2
©2016 by Kim Headlee
All rights reserved.

Kneeling with Morghe’s head and shoulders supported on his lap, Accolon watched the old Pict sprint at ground level with surprising speed to keep pace with the archer fleeing across the rooftop. The pair vanished beyond the end of the warehouse, and Accolon returned his attention to Morghe. Her eyes were squeezed shut from the pain, her breath was coming in short pants, beads of sweat dotted her brow, and her face was whitening by the moment.

Urien was going to flay him alive.

There didn’t appear to be a second assassin. He and Elian shared a nod, and the centurion brandished his rank and shouted for the crowd to stand back and give Morghe air. To the crippled man’s credit, not one person dared to disobey.

“You,” Elian said to a young man whose rigid bearing proclaimed him to be one of the off-duty recruits. “Bring medics!”

“Aye, Centurion!” The man thumped a quick salute and veered toward the fortress at a dead run.

Morghe groaned and started swatting at the arrow. “Get it out!”

Accolon grasped her hands to still them, shaking his head. “You might bleed to death. I can’t take that risk. The medics will—”

She gritted her teeth and gripped his hand hard. “You be the medic.” Her grip and jaw relaxed, but her eyes remained tight with pain. “Please.”

Elian was already sacrificing strips of his tunic. He pressed the wad into Accolon’s hand and knelt to steady Morghe’s shoulders. Accolon could only stare at the centurion, fighting to quell his rising panic. Elian’s countenance darkened. “This is no different than field dressing a wounded soldier. Get on with it, man!”

A soldier was the absolute last association he’d ever make with Morghe, but it did help a little. He drew his dagger. Miraculously, his hand didn’t shake as he lowered the point to her shoulder. “Chieftainess, I need to enlarge the wound a bit so the arrowhead’s barbs won’t do more damage. Are you sure you don’t want to wait for the medics?”

She inhaled a long, gasping breath. “Go ahead,” she whispered.

With a nod at Elian, who tightened his grip on Morghe, Accolon began the bloody task.

***

All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Follow Kim on Pinterest
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

Please enter often, and good luck!

Friday, May 13, 2016

Meet @DianaLRubino, the author who redeemed Richard III's rep in For Love and Loyalty!

My author-friend Diana Rubino is a woman after my own heart.

While I have seen it as my lifelong mission to redeem the reputations of Guinevere (in Dawnflight and Morning's Journey) and most recently Morgan le Fay (King Arthur's Sister in Washington's Court), Diana has done something similar for King Richard III in For Love and Loyalty!

Today on The Maze Diana shares a bit about herself and the inspirations behind this remarkable time-travel story.



13 Things That Inspired Diana to Write For Love and Loyalty

  1. Picturing Richard III in modern times blow drying his hair
  2. The Richard III Society
  3. Middleham Castle, Yorkshire
  4. Blackadder (historical British sitcom)
  5. The concept of time travel
  6. Séances
  7. Our modern conveniences such as zippers, computers, cars
  8. Richard III
  9. Richard’s brother King Edward IV
  10. Richard’s other brother George, Duke of Clarence
  11. The Three Stooges
  12. Jackie Gleason and Art Carney in The Honeymooners
  13. The discovery of Richard III’s remains in a Leicester car park

The Maze [TM]: Where did you get the idea for the story?

Diana Rubino [DR]: I was brainstorming with my longtime critique partner Bonnie (pen name Alice M. Cole). We tossed around a few ideas for a time travel, and she said, “I can picture Richard in modern times blow drying his hair.” I thought, “Wouldn't it be fun to see how Richard adapts to the 21st century?” The story grew around that one image.

TM: Why did you write it as a comedy rather than a serious novel?

DR: The hedonistic skirt-chasing Edward and George play so well off the prim and chivalrous Richard; he’s the perfect foil for them. Also, bringing people from the past to modern times posed many opportunities for humor, seeing our world through their eyes in the simplest ways: Richard goes to an open-air market with the modern heroine, and sees things he's never seen before: bananas, tomatoes, corn on the cob, peanuts. He begins to bite into a banana, and the heroine shows him the correct way: peel and eat it from the top. He takes an ear of corn and proceeds to eat it like the banana, from the top, but she explains that it's eaten sideways. How confusing the modern world really is! Not to mention his first glance at a running computer, connected with the world through the internet.

TM: Why does Richard go back to his own time instead of staying here?

DR: Richard wanted to go back ‘home’ to live his life differently—and in the future, no one will ever know he was once called “King Crouchback.”

TM: Why didn’t you have Anne Neville travel to the present?

DR: I left poor Anne back in the 15th century because I needed a modern love interest for Richard. At the time he pitched forward to modern times, he wasn't all that smitten with Anne; she was a mere diversion—as was the woman (girl? We don't know who she is) who mothered his illegitimate offspring, John and Katherine.

TM: How can Richard return to his era at the same time his bones are discovered under a Leicester car park? If Richard changed history - no Bosworth Field, etc. - then 500+ years later there should be no 'king in the car park' and no Tudor propaganda maligning him!

DR: I considered that paradox. When Richard returned to his own time after being here, he returned to an alternate universe, in line with the theory that time is an infinite continuum and 1485 is still 'going on' just as our time is.

Same as when Edward travels from here to the far future at the end of the story. From our perspective, it 'hasn't happened yet' but it's going on in that alternate universe, or another dimension, if you will. That's why there's some speculation that UFOs and aliens who visit Earth, if they truly do, may be from the future, and are time travelers.

TM: OK, so what's happened in an alternate universe doesn't affect ours, and Richard in our timeline still ends up in the parking lot?

DR: Yes, because theoretically, the universe is multidimensional, and alternate universes also exist, so in an alternate universe, your fate takes the path you didn't choose in this one. Maybe you wanted to go to Hollywood to get into motion pictures but didn't. But in that alternate universe, you did go to Hollywood, and might be a movie star in that universe.

It's all theory, of course, no one can prove it. I'm not sure Einstein looked into that, but it sure makes for great SciFi!

My head begins to hurt when I ponder the possibility of infinity. Never-ending? How can that be? But hold a mirror up to a mirror and think about it.

Exploring these theories is the ‘serious’ part of the story.

TM: Why did you call the previously published first edition One Too Many Times?

DR: The former title One Too Many Times refers to the number of times Richard traveled through time; i.e., he should have stayed in our time instead of going back to the 1400s to change history, especially after he made the reputation-restoring movie and found his true love while here and now.

The title also hit me over the head. When I was searching for a title, I realized the song “One Too Many Times” by the Australian band Midnight Oil was going through my head at that moment. It's from their 1996 album “Breathe”. Some of my book titles are song titles. So I used it as a tribute to Midnight Oil, one of my all time favorite bands. Sadly they broke up, but the lead singer Peter Garrett was an MP from Sydney for several years.

TM: Thanks, Diana, for visiting and sharing today!


About Diana:

Every Ricardian has a story about how they discovered Richard and here's mine: I'd just finished the first historical I ever wrote, The Jewels of Warwick, set in Henry 8's court. I was trying to think of an idea for my next historical. I was in the Cambridge (Massachusetts, US) library, in the 'stacks' upstairs where they keep excess books, and found Crown of Roses, a Ricardian novel on the wrong shelf. The author thanks the Richard III Society, which I'd never heard of. This is pre-internet time, 1991/2. I contacted the Society by snail mail, and wrote my next book, Thy Name is Love, set around Richard and a fictional hero & heroine.

Contact Diana via

***

All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Follow Kim on Pinterest
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

Please enter often, and good luck!

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

The Business of Writing: Introduction to Book Translations by @OlgaNM, and EL RETO is #FREE today!

Today I am pleased to welcome author-friend Olga Núñez Miret to talk about translating your books from English to Spanish and vice-versa. 

Olga Author Translator (mailto:mmxrynz at hotmail dot com)
http://eepurl.com/baUcO

Olga translated one of my novellas, The Challenge, into Spanish as EL RETO, which is free worldwide on Kindle today! 


In Olga's words...

First of all thanks to Kim Headlee for inviting me to be a guest of her blog. I know Kim is very keen on exploring new markets for her books and she asked me to talk a bit about translations. So, here it comes.

Translations

What does the word ‘translation’ bring to your mind?

In my case, it always makes me think of a scene in Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation. Bill Murray plays an actor filming a spirits’ advert in Japan (I think it was brandy) and the director is giving him instructions. As he doesn’t understand Japanese, there is an interpreter. The director talks for several minutes, gesticulating, quite intensely. He eventually stops talking and the interpreter just tells him that he wants him to say the lines looking at the camera. ‘Is that all he said?’ Yes, we’re never quite sure.

Of course, that’s interpreting (rendering live and orally a conversation, conference, speech…) whilst translation implies a written piece of work, but there are connections.

It also makes me think of the risks of mistranslating texts. In the case of the Bible mistranslating a Hebrew word and instead of rendering it as ‘beam of light’ it ended up becoming ‘horn’ and we have poor Moses depicted with horns (and not only in Michelangelo’s famous sculpture, that judging by the small size of the horns, makes me think that he wasn’t that convinced about the translation). Oh yes, if you’ve used Google Translate (that seems to be improving, to be fair) you know all about that.

According to Wikipedia: "Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. While interpreting—the facilitating of oral or sign-language communication between users of different languages—antedates writing; translation began only after the appearance of written literature." The word comes from the Latin translatio ("carrying across" or "bringing across").

Translation results in a great cross-fertilization between languages and new words being incorporated into languages.

These days we have machine translations (like the aforementioned Google Translate; other internet translation services are available) and CAT translations (computer-assisted translations, that involve a human translator aided by a machine that incorporates glossaries, analyses the style of writing and terms favoured by the translator and adapt them to facilitate their task).

Why am I talking about translation?

I’m from Barcelona, in Spain, and moved to the UK in 1992. I trained and worked as a psychiatrist for quite a few years, with gaps to do other things, like studying American Literature (a BA and a PhD). I’d always written in Spain, mostly in Spanish, but the year before I started my American Literature degree (in 1996) I took a creative writing course and started writing fiction in English (I’d written reports, essays, letters before, but mostly to do with my studies in psychiatry), short-stories at first and then longer stuff.

From then on I mostly wrote in English, although that depended on when and where I was writing. One day I rediscovered a story I had written when I was seventeen or eighteen and thought it wasn’t bad but it was a bit too short. I proceeded to translate it to English and then expanded it. Once I finished, I thought it was not right that the story started life in Spanish and now it would only be available in English so I translated it back to Spanish. A few years later, that ended up being the first novel I published, The Man Who Never Was. And once set on my way, I kept translating all my novels and publishing them in both Spanish and English.

A couple of years ago I decided to try something different and part of it involved offering my services translating (from English to Spanish and vice-versa) the works of other authors. It is a very interesting job—an art, some would say—that involves getting to know the texts very closely. I personally find it a very good way to edit and proofread my own books, as I can pick up issues of continuity, consistency, and simple proofreading mistakes I miss whilst reading repeatedly, when I translate.

What skills do translators require? According again to Wikipedia:
  • a very good knowledge of the language, written and spoken, from which they are translating (the source language);
  • an excellent command of the language into which they are translating (the target language);
  • familiarity with the subject matter of the text being translated;
  • a profound understanding of the etymological and idiomatic correlates between the two languages; and
  • a finely tuned sense of when to metaphrase ("translate literally") and when to paraphrase, so as to assure true rather than spurious equivalents between the source- and target-language texts.
A competent translator is not only bilingual but bicultural. A language is not merely a collection of words and of rules of grammar and syntax for generating sentences, but also a vast interconnecting system of connotations and cultural references whose mastery, writes linguist Mario Pei, "comes close to being a lifetime job."

Olga has so much more to offer on the subject of translations that I plan to publish the rest of her thoughts at a later date!

Meantime, follow Olga via:

Newsletter | Website | Blog | Twitter @OlgaNM7 | Facebook | LinkedIn | Goodreads | G+ | Pinterest | Wattpad | Tumblr |

You may buy her featured novel, Escaping Psychiatry: Beginnings,
the three-story prequel to Escaping Psychiatry via:

Amazon | Kobo | Apple | Nook | Page Foundry | Scribd |


And don't forget to snag your copy of El Reto!

***

All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Follow Kim on Pinterest
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

Please enter often, and good luck!

Saturday, May 7, 2016

All hell breaks loose in Ch 12/Sc 1c of RAGING SEA by @KimHeadlee #amwriting

Graphic overlay c2016 by Kim Headlee.
It's May, that time of year when a mother's thoughts turn toward…

… helping her daughter move out of her college apartment for the summer.

This year's event was further complicated by a fatal shooting in the adjacent complex, just two days prior to my trip, putting the entire campus into lockdown for several hours.

And of course putting my nerves on high alert.

Fortunately, I was able to soothe my nerves by speaking with my daughter to learn that she all her friends are safe. While my husband is the family's designated worrywart, in this instance I just had to hear her voice and was beyond relieved when I did.

Gull's nerves go on high alert in today's excerpt from Raging Sea when he witnesses an attack on Morghe, and resolves to do something about it.

Previous excerpts of Raging Sea 
Chapters 1–6 in Raging Sea: Reckonings
 Chapter 7: Sc 1 | Sc 2 | Sc 3 | Sc 4 | Sc 5a | Sc 5b |
Chapter 8: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 9: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 1d | Sc 1e |
Chapter 10: Sc 1a | Sc 1b | Sc 2a | Sc 2b | Sc 3a | Sc 3b | Sc 3c |
Chapter 11: Sc 1aSc 1b | Sc 1c | Sc 2 | Sc 3a | Sc 3b |
Chapter 12: Sc 1a | Sc 1b |

Raging Sea Chapter 12, Scene 1c
©2016 by Kim Headlee
All rights reserved.

“Gull, I am honored to present Lady Morghe,” Elian said. The auld boar’s cheeks flushed and he gave her a deep bow. “Please forgive me, Chieftainess Morghe.”

Beaming, she pushed his shoulders until he straightened. “My dear Elian, it is so good to see you looking fit and fine. I’m sure Urien will be pleased to hear of it too.”

Elian grunted, which seemed an odd response to Gull, but this was neither the time nor the place for such a query. He clapped Gull’s shoulder. “My lady, this is Gull of Caledonia, my assistant with training recruits. And my closest friend.”

Tucking a stray auburn lock behind her ear, she stepped closer to Gull and extended that hand. Gull grasped her fingers and kissed them—and was smitten by a wave of lust. When he released her hand, the wave receded, thanks be to all the gods. Being a tiller of another man’s field was the fastest way to get oneself plowed under, and he’d never conceived of such an act in his entire life—or death. He gave his head a slight shake and masked the action with a bow.

“I am right honored to meet ye, Chieftainess.”

“The honor of meeting a man with such a fine way with children is mine, Gull of Caledon,” she said in flawless Caledonaiche. Before Gull could respond with more than an upraised eyebrow, she swept a graceful arm toward her escort. “And this is Lord A—”

Whatever she had been about to say ended in a loud “Ah!” as an arrow embedded in her chest, and she staggered back against the warrior. A dark red blot encircled the wound and grew at an alarming rate.

A second arrow tried to finish the work of the first, but Chieftainess Morghe’s escort had lunged to shield her with his body. The arrow deflected off his scale mail to graze Elian’s wooden leg.

“Find that archer!” the warrior roared as Elian pressed in close to guard her back.

Gull presumed the man had meant the command for him; he had already spun about to start the hunt. A blur of movement on a nearby warehouse rooftop caught his eye, and the race began.

***

All this month, you are invited to…

— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Follow Kim on Pinterest
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter, Pinterest, and/or YouTube follow<

… and each action this month is good for one chance to win a copy of any of Kim's e-books.

Please enter often, and good luck!