It's more than just pollen in the air.

I've been extra aware of relationships of late. Could be the season. Could be that I'm just about to hit seven years with the hubby. Could be that I'm still working out the kinks in my heroine and hero's romantic journey. Either way, I've got it on the brain.

In books and movies, I like a low slow burn to my romance. Lots of longing glances, touches that stay with them. Its probably why I love BBC dramas. I'm all about the wait. And when there are sparks, everything combusts into one brilliant flash of just WOW. But what comes after that? Besides breakfast, if you're lucky.

In the Diaries series, I've got Violet and Chaz in a pretty committed relationship and I have to admit that I was beginning to see why some people believe that marriage kills romance. Instead of longing glances, they are glaring. Instead of touching him, she's usually doing his laundry.

Sounding familiar to anyone?

I had a bit of an epiphany as the hubby and I were playing with foam swords in the back yard (research for the new book- my life is weird). After the steamy WOW, when you embrace the commitment, you are freer and more exposed than ever before. And I’m not talking about walking around naked in your living room kind of free or exposed. I’m talking about the soul-lifting, laughter-inducing freedom that comes with binding yourself to another person because you don't have to carry around the facades anymore. You can be the silly, Chuck Taylor wearing, graphic novel girl who writes stories all night long without fear, because you've seen that he is a Coast-to-Coast listening philosopher with a weaknesses for puppy dogs.

I know, its a bit mushy. But as I looked at Vi and Chaz's relationship, they don't have any more masks to hide behind. Its just them. All they have are their naked insecurities, all exposed and trusting that the other person won't point and laugh.

That's even more dangerous than playing with fire.


______________________

Claws and Effect is currently on sale at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other major e-book retailers for $1.99.

And if your a paperback person, those will be released Feb 7th.

“The Gathering of The Lost”---Another Fabulous Cover & Author Quote!

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Last month I welcomed in the New Year with the big reveal for the US cover for The Gathering of the Lost, which is Book Two in my The Wall of Night series and will be published on 27 March. I am really very excited about that, one because it’s a new book out and nothing beats that feeling—but also because getting the book finished at all in the midst of our ‘year of 9000 earthquakes’ (here in Christchurch, NZ) took just about everything I had to give. So being able to kick back, say “it’s not only done but here’s this amazing cover that I can share with you” is a special moment.

Something that made 1 January extra special again (but it was New Year, so hey!) was that I got to share the wonderful cover quote from Juliet Marillier as well. (Here—just in case you missed it last month.)

Today though, there’s more!

Because you see, as of 4 April, The Gathering of the Lost will also be coming out simultaneously in the UK, Australia and New Zealand—and because I have a different publisher in those countries I get a different cover as well. Double the fun!

But just before we go to the fabulous UK/AU/NZ cover, I also feel very, very privileged and honored that Nebula Award winning author Catherine Asaro has recently advance read the book and had this to say:


“Helen Lowe writes wonderful stories, yes, but her work also speaks with lyricism to deeper questions of how we treat each other.  With lovely prose that brings vivid life to her characters, she creates a universe with people we care about. This is an author with a gift for fantasy.” 
~ Catherine Asaro



As I said last month, this is probably the highest honor one author can pay another and I feel very grateful to both Catherine and Juliet for taking time out of their own very busy writing schedules, first to read and then to provide a quote for The Gathering of the Lost.

So without further ado, here is that second wonderful cover. In this case Duncan Spilling of Orbit’s in-house design team has created the artwork—and I think he’s done an absolutely fabulous job. (Look below for what it says on the back cover.)

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“SHE WILL NOT STAND ALONE.

Five years after the Darkswarm assault on her stronghold home, 

Malian of Night remains missing, believed dead in the wilds of Jaransor.
 

But not all accept her death and now her enemies and are on the hunt. Suspicion falls on the heralds Tarathan and Jehane, who find themselves caught in a web of intrigue and murder during the Ijiri Festival of Masks. They flee bearing word of a death on the Wall – and a call to duty and honour that Malian must answer or be forsworn.

Yet after five years of searching, the legendary weapons of the Derai’s greatest hero remain lost. Without them, a return to the Wall of Night promises only defeat and death.”


As always, thank you for letting me ‘share the goodness’ with you here today.

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Supernatural Underground author Helen Lowe is a novelist, poet and interviewer, and currently writer-in-residence at the University of Canterbury. Her latest novel, The Heir of Night, the first of THE WALL OF NIGHT quartet, is published internationally, and won the Sir Julius Vogel Award  for Best Novel in 2011; it is currently nominated for the UK-based Gemmell Awards in both the “Legend” and “Morningstar” categories. Helen blogs every day on “Helen Lowe on Anything, Really” and on the first day of every month right here on the Supernatural Underground.

Making a Book Trailer

Swag Bag Giveaway

The winner of the Swag Bag is llamannerdymom.
Please contact me at dakota@dakota-banks.com.
If I don't hear from you within 3 days, I'll choose another winner. 

Thanks to everyone who left comments!

Having failed in my last attempt to make an exciting book trailer myself, I learned a lot for my next try, with Deliverance: Mortal Path Book 3. Why even consider making a trailer myself? The type of trailer I wanted wasn't the still photo with text overlay that was the least expensive type. The kind I wanted was full of action and music. It would cost up to $3,000, and I would have limited opportunity to make adjustments to it. I like tinkering with things myself, getting everything just the way I want, without having to worry about whether I'm on my third change or my thirtieth. That plus the cash outlay convinced me to try my hand again.

Last time, I made a video with my own video camera and narrated it myself. The lighting was poor, the filming was jittery, I can't believe my voice sounded like that, the script was lame, and there was no action. (If you want to see this trailer, click here--and brace yourself.) I don't display this one on my website - I'm not sure if I ever did.

One of the first things a professional trailer production company wants from the author is a working script. Another reason I hesitated to go to the pros was that I didn't have a script and couldn't seem to come up with one. I seemed to be writing one almost as dialogue between two characters - focused and limited in its representation of the Big Picture. I finally threw out all my drafts of that script and wrote a new one in five minutes. It dealt with concepts rather than details. Shazam! Pictures began forming in my head for the visuals to go with the words. To see how high-level this script is, here is the one that freed me:

Sumerian demons survive to this day
causing chaos, destruction, and death
with the help of Immortal human assassins.
Maliha was an Immortal assassin
until she defied her demon
and became a rogue with a new agenda ...
balancing lives she’s taken with lives saved.
Immortal Jake is Maliha’s true love
or is he?
Maliha’s mortal friend and partner
is kidnapped.
Maliha must watch him die
or accept a sinister new master.
She’s damned if she does ...
and damned if she doesn’t.
Is there a way out for her?

Notice that it's broken into short lines that are easy to read and dramatic when presented one per "page" of the trailer. This is the first step in making a quality trailer yourself. Each of these lines suggested an image to me (except lines 2 & 3, which go together with the same image). I looked for places to purchase still images, video clips, and music, and ended up using istockphoto.com, which in my opinion has the best selection. (Others are bigstockphoto.com and shutterstock.com, plus many more.) These are media that you purchase a Standard license to use, and don't have to pay any royalties per use.

I used Windows Live Movie Maker, a program that came with Windows 7 and is available as Windows Movie Maker in earlier versions of Windows. You might want to play around with it by using some family photos and text overlays just to get the hang of it. You'll end up with a nice movie you can share, too.

When you select images or video clips that go with your script, you can initially download a "comp" - complimentary - version with a watermark that can be put into place in your trailer to see how you like it before you pay for it. This is very useful! I ended up building my entire trailer, including the music, from comps so I could see how it flowed before buying any of the media. There finally comes a time when you have to lay down your bucks, though, because the watermarks are a dead giveaway that you're using unlicensed media. Before distribution, then, pay for everything and substitute the real stuff in your movie.

In my case, I used Photoshop to crop some of the images, but there are a lot of image processors for simple editing, like Picasa, that will do the job for free. You may end up buying a video clip that runs for a minute and only want to use 20 seconds of it. You can do that kind of editing right in Windows Movie Maker, which allows you to specify how long each image or clip stays visible on the screen.

Ah, music! Wonderful, talented people write original scores (with symphonic performances, no less!) just for movie trailers and I found a perfect match for mine. I ended up buying two trailer productions, one for the main part of my movie and one for the section at the end that I use to display quotes I've obtained for the book. I'm really fussy about music and I found that the variations in volume from one part of my purchased music to another didn't sit right. I used a program called MP3Gain Pro to automatically even out the volume level without losing too much off the top or bottom. The results were terrific, but as I said, I am fussy and you can get along without this step.

Total cost: about $400. Plus some time finding the right images and sound, and learning to use Movie Maker. It was a rewarding project for me and I know I'll confidently tackle making the trailers for my books from now on! And here it is:

Do you make video clips of your own and upload them to YouTube? If so, post your link below! How do you think the trailer turned out? Leave a comment and you'll be entered in a giveaway of my Swag Bag: a tote bag, signed copies of Dark Time and Sacrifice, bookmarks, pens, and magnets. If you want me to be able to contact you if you are the winner, include your email in a disguised way. Otherwise, you'll have to come back and check the top of this post to see if you've won after the deadline. The giveaway ends at midnight CST on February 1st. All my giveaways are international.

Easy Tweet: On @superntrlUnderg Blog: @dakotabanks talks about making a trailer for Deliverance; enter to win a Swag Bag! http://dbanks.me/yHMen3

Fun Times In Dallas!

Congratulations to Amy of Virginia who won the signed copy of Forbidden Nights with a Vampire! Thank you all for the comments! Please come back next month on the 25th for my next giveaway! Happy reading!

This last Sunday, I had the pleasure of being invited to the American Library Association's midwinter meeting at the Dallas Convention Center. Not only did I get to meet wonderful librarians from all over the country, but I met lots of readers, too. The highlight of the event (at least for me!) was the booksigning at the HarperCollins booth where a looooong line of readers and librarians received an advanced copy of Phineas' book. Yes, they received Wanted: Undead or Alive two months early!

I'd like to thank HarperCollins for printing all those advanced copies and giving them away. How cool is that? I'd also like to thank all the fabulous people who came to the signing. They drove from all over Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Some drove four hours so they could get their hands on Phineas. I'm including some of their photos here. Thank you!!

The secret is out. Phineas is falling for that sassy werewolf, Brynley! Unfortunately, I don't have any advanced copies of Phineas' book to give away. So today, I will give away a signed copy of Forbidden Nights with a Vampire which stars another vampire/werewolf couple, Phil and Vanda! Just leave a comment about your favorite Love at Stake couple for a chance to win. International entries are welcome. Good luck!

Some inspiration for worldbuilding

First, good news - there's going to be a brand new gadda story seeing print. The Black Star Killer will be published in Damnation and Dames, a paranormal noir anthology from Australian publisher Ticonderoga Press that will be out later this year. The Black Star Killer uses the gadda that I invented for my novels, but instead of being set in the modern age it's set in Chicago in the 1920s. Great fun.

I've just returned from seventeen days in beautiful New Zealand. The differences between NZ and Australia are huge - the colour, for starters. NZ is green. This is a wonder to us in shades of brown Oz.

We did a bit of touring around and saw some remarkable sights and I thought I'd share them with you.

This is Rainbow Falls, near Kerikeri. Right by the side of the road, just walk a few metres and you're seeing the power and majesty of nature at its finest.

This is Tane Mahuta - Lord of the Forest. The largest kauri in NZ (50 metres high, 18 metres in girth) and thought to be around 2000 years old. It's so big, there's an entire separate environment of plants and animals living in the canopy. One of the most magnificent things I've ever seen.

Some of the forest near Tane Mahuta - just stunning.

The amazing bark of a kauri tree - I just loved the patterns and has different it looked to regular bark.

And this is the inside of a toilet! The entire thing is done up with these tiles, with all sorts of strange mosaics and artefacts within. Very weird.

I hope one of these pictures inspires you and if not, that you've enjoyed some of the natural (and not-so-natural) wonders of New Zealand.

Upside of Darkness

I’ve faced the same demon for the last six years. I call it ‘Future Earth.’ This is a post apocalyptic dystopia, one I’ve created for the Q E series. It’s not an easy place to be. Writing it, at times, made me ill. But there is a powerful upside to darkness. It can expand the mind.

My worlds clash and the contrast is part of the enlightenment.

Future Earth is a technological hegemony where geo-engineering has failed, most known species of flora and fauna are extinct, women are denigrated and the only currency is drinking water. Not a nice place for my main characters, Kali and Nell, to grow up.

But adjacent to this is Gaela, a pre-industrial, agrarian based, magical hegemony where genders are equal and all life revered. It’s through these contrasting worlds I explore issues of gender, race, aggression, social constructs and environment. Also sentience, and love. Lots of love, even in those very dark places.

On future Earth all but human kind is considered an it. Object. Expendable. On Gaela, everything—people, animal, rock, tree, river, storm—is a thou. As Joseph Campbell said, our whole psychology changes when we see the world as a thou.

How? It turns out the brain can’t tell the difference between a dream, a memory, a fantasy or ‘reality’. If we are emotionally engaged with the story—seeing it unfold through the eyes of the main characters, frightened when they are in danger and uplifted when they fall in love—it’s the same, to the brain, as if the events were really happening to us.

This is the magic of speculative fiction. It takes us to a place where the question what if . . . becomes true. By going there in the mind, new neural pathways form, connecting us to the experience of things like gender equality and reverence for all life. From the contrasting worlds, readers may gain a deeper understanding of themselves and where life as thou can lead. From that point a different future becomes possible because we have, for a moment in time, lived it.

How about you? What dark stories have shown you the light? I’d love to hear about them. Comments welcome.

Kim Falconer is a Supernatural Underground author writing epic science fantasy novels set in the worlds of Earth and Gaela. Kim’s latest series is Quantum Encryption. You can find out more about her at kim.falconer.com or her daily blog The 11th House. She posts here on the 16th of every month.

Maybe I'm NOT Old....

Last night, I had a lovely date night with my husband. Dinner at PF Changs, browsing the Apple store, stopping by Starbucks, and coming back to a kid-free house and peace and quiet. Okay, so there was a moment of worry when, while waiting to be called for our reservations, three really rowdy toddlers threatened our evening. But, they were nowhere near our table and it ended up really nice.

It made me wonder about the things we did as teens and younger kids that we don't really do much as adults. Good things. Things that shouldn't be forgotten -- like dating. I can't tell you the last time I've ridden a bicycle that wasn't stationary in a gym or roller skated around a cul de sac. Or even playing with my hair and make up in the mirror to try new things! I used to do that alot. Now, it seems I've had the same make up style since I was sixteen. Luckily, it's never been a trendy sort of art style for me. Okay, so I haven't given up video games in my old'er' age, but wow, there are so many things I haven't allowed myself to do since I got married and had children.

So this year, I'm going to try a few. Maybe borrow my kid's bike to try it out. Maybe actually ice skate with the family instead of sit on the sidelines and take pictures. Any other ideas for things I can try out? Anything you used to do that maybe you're not really too old for now and just told yourself it wasn't mature?

Let's get younger this year!!!

Heather/Sable