Post-Apocalypse Sale!

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AN4JGHG
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AN4JGHG
Grab it today & tomorrow for the awesomely low price of FREE! <3

Lunacy = on sale!

All weekend, you can grab my debut novel for only $0.99! For about 230 pages, that's a total steal!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/264372

"Lunacy" AVAILABLE NOW!

"I possess a power I never could have imagined... And that means the Aesir want me to take a dirt nap. But can I really abandon the only man I've ever loved, and everything I've ever known to put my trust in the word of a vampire?"

It's officially live on Smashwords (which gives you every digital format available)! "Lunacy" is now available for download! https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/264372
Don't have an eReader? No problem! You can download Kindle, Nook, and Kobo apps to your computer or smartphone for free!
$4.99

Hectic Holiday Season

Made the trip via car back to NY to see the family for Thanksgiving. Wish my cousins could have been there, but they all live farther up north now. =/

Back home in MD, safe and sound. I've taking up knitting to pass my time when writing is eluding me, and I've found it to be quite stress relieving. It's nice to know that I can provide clothes for my little one who's on the way without having to have anything other than yarn and time. I'm an avid sewer as well, but that's besides the point.

Everything now is down to the wire with "Lunacy". I was going along at a fantastic clip with the revisions, and now I'm down to the second to last chapter and it all just kind of fizzled for me. I think it's all that self doubt so many authors say kills talent before it's ever brought into the light. I've spent nearly ten years on this manuscript, and it's in its fourth stage of revision. I really don't think I can make it much better than it is, but... What if people don't like it? Back when I started writing it, vampires were the huge thing, not werewolves. But now, thanks to the Sparkly-Books-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, everyone and their brother has jumped on the shifter bandwagon. What if people think it's not even remotely original? What if I find typos in it post-publication? (I'm a psycho about typos, so my work should be nearly typo free.) What if people hate the characters they're supposed to love and identify with?

Granted, bad reviews are part of life, and I'm fully prepared for them. I hope to get some helpful critique, and not just people trolling me with both compliments and insults alike.

Either way, I've got to press on and get it done for one final error combing and then do the formatting thing. Sitting here blogging about my insecurities isn't helping anything. Thanks for listening to me rant, all!

Darq Deviant Press

After much debate and planning, I've decided to start up my own indie publishing house. The name of it is Darq Deviant Press, and we're seeking submissions for our launch anthology! Here are the details, and you can follow us on facebook or just check everything out on the website! Come and see how we're going to shake the foundations of independent publishing.


"Bitter Blackout" Anthology: compiled and edited by R.A. Sears

Despair. Desolation. Haunting echoes through a midnight forest glen on a moonless night. A glimpse of an impossible beauty disappearing into the snow.

Mix and combine any of the main genres we accept (paranormal, urban fantasy, science fiction, horror), as well as adding splashes of others if that strikes your fancy.

~No limit to gore and language, if erotica: please mention so in your description blurb.
~Word count: 3k-10k for stories, poetry is at our discretion (mainly 1-2 pages).
~Please be sure to self edit/have someone beta read your piece before submission. Also, follow our formatting guidelines to expedite the publishing process. No previously published works will be considered.
~Each individual may submit 2 stories and/or 3 poems to be considered. More submissions do not guarantee inclusion in the anthology.
~As most anthologies are for exposure purposes for new authors, there will be no royalties paid for submissions to this anthology, as a contract will state if your piece is chosen.
~Send your submissions as a .doc or .docx attachment (send multiple submissions as individual attachments)with the subject "Bitter Blackout Submission" along with your name and the title of the piece(s). In the body of the email, please include the biography information requested in our guidelines.
DEADLINE: November 30th, 2012 for December 20th, 2012 publication. Pre-holiday, this will be eBook only, but we may do a print run of it post holiday if demand is high enough.

Email submissions to: rasears@darqdeviantpress.com

Acceptance!

Finally mostly settled into our new home. Still unpacking, but things are coming together nicely. Another of my stories has been accepted into an anthology! This one's called "Meaning of Life" and will be featured in the "Dark Light 2" collection published by Crushing Hearts & Black Butterfly . Working on finishing up "Lunacy" and wanting to see if I can kick out this other erotica short for another Hot Ink Press anthology.

So busy, but glad things are finally starting to fall into place.

In more good news!!! My first ever legitimately published piece will be dropping next Wednesday, on Halloween. It's the erotica anthology "Darkest Desires." Be sure to check it out! My story is "From the Top to the Bottom" under the name Kassi Darq-Chylde. <3

Randomness

When I want/need to write, but just can't figure out what to do or where to start/end, these are the places I most frequently run to.

random generators:
Chaotic Shiny
Seventh Sanctum

writing prompt sites:
Dragon Writing Prompts
Writing Prompts That Don't Suck

I also search various hashtags on Tumblr, mainly these ones:
word list
prompt
writing prompt
vocabulary
drabble

Merits & Flaws

Mostly posting up some inspiration sources today. Apologies in advance for the encroaching multiple posts. XD

An awesome compiled list of flaws from the old World of Darkness RPG manuals. =)
http://www.angelfire.com/id/deathquaker/gaming/meritsflaws.html#pflaw



Sample:
Burning Aura (2) (S): Your aura is unusually brilliant; even people who can't read auras will be inexplicably drawn to you. Some may see you as a threat or a snack.



"Special Friend" (aka Supernatural Companion) (3) (most): You have a close ally (essentially one person at Allies 3) belonging to a major supernatural group other than your own. You can call upon her in times of need (as she can you). Depending on the kind of being they are, there may be negative aspects to having this friend as well as positive ones (e.g. a Werewolf having a Vampire ally...).

Submission(s)

Aside from the craziness of working on getting my house rentable in less than a week, packing up an entire house because we're moving to Maryland, and trying to stay sane... I've also decided that I'm going to write up two submissions before the weekend's out. One for Crushing Hearts & Black Butterfly and another for a holiday anthology by their erotica imprint Hot Ink Books. Each story can be between 2-8k, and I think I can kick out both of those this weekend. /hopeful!

Inspiration! - Oscar Wilde

While starting to pack up all my books, since the hubby and I are moving in a week, I came across a collection of small poetry books by classic authors. I flipped through a few and a poem by Oscar Wilde kinda jumped up and grabbed my attention. So I'm copying it here for easier location later, since it sparked some ideas in my brain already.

Chanson
A ring of gold and a milk-white dove
Are goodly gifts for thee,
And a hempen rope for your own love
To hang upon a tree.

For you a House of Ivory
(Roses are white in the rose-bower)!
A narrow bed for me to lie
(White, O white, is the hemlock flower)!

Myrtle and jessamine for you
(O the red rose is fair to see)!
For me the cypress and the rue
(Fairest of all is rose-mary)!

For you three lovers of your hand
(Green grass where a man lies dead)!
For me three paces on the sand
(Plant lillies at my head)!

"Chanson" by Oscar Wilde

SO many places I could go with this. Definitely digging it. <3

Chapter 20 of Lunacy is live!

Lunacy - Chapter 20
This will be the last chapter available in its entirety online, although I will still be posting teasers and chapter fragments here. It will only be up for about a week, so read it while you can!

And for anyone not up to speed thus far, here's a link to the first chapter so you don't spoil everything! Lunacy - Chapter 1

100 word drabble- pic inspiration

Pixie dust. A residual sign that those ungodly little creatures had been through this way. Cute? Sure, if flesh eating, pocket-sized demons with the teeth of a piranha were cute. Their song and dance often lured drunkards away from the path and safety, only to meet their doom by a plethora of doll hands and tiny mouths already rank with the scent of rotting flesh. It was my job to deal with disappearances, and to dispose of whatever rogue Others had caused the trouble to begin with. Most days, I hated this thankless job. Today, it was personal. Game on.

I could actually see this going somewhere... Hmm...

My first book trailer ever! Whatcha think? =)

Quick update!

So, the muse has been pretty sparse lately. Or rather, it's been distracted by the other few stories I have floating around in my head, or are in need of revision to be viewable by the public else I die of embarrassment at how horrid they were. >.<;;

I'm working on finishing my house with my husband, we're moving in a month, and beyond that, I'm nearly 6 months pregnant. So... to say my brain is scattered would be a huge understatement.

However, in good news, I have at least been doing editing and revision work on "Lunacy" so when I finally do get to progressing and finishing this thing up, there won't be much to do with the previous parts aside from a final teeny polishing.

And remember: The Apocalypse begins on 12.12.12... Are you ready?

Welcome!

The Ragnarok Legacy playlist

Welcome, all! This is where you can get updates on publication info, things that inspire me, and just be kept up to date on this whole writing process. <3

For those who don't know, here's a quick bit of info. I'm R.A. Sears, and I mostly write paranormal/urban fantasy genre fiction. My current main work is The Ragnarok Legacy, the first book entitled "Lunacy" will be published and available for public consumption on 12.12.12. It will be available in both print and eBook format through Amazon, CreateSpace, and SmashWords.

Music is the biggest source of inspiration that fuels my writing. If you'd like to check out the playlist I set to go on random while writing, just click the link at the top of this post. You can download the Spotify app for free and listen to the constantly-in-flux playlist at your leisure. =)

This is the cover I designed for the first book, and from playing around with graphics for an entire day, I've decided to have at least 5 more books in the series after this first. Weird how inspiration works that way, sometimes. Their tentative titles are as follows: Sanguinarium, Jotunn, Frelse, Gehenna, and Ragnarok.

I also plan to be using this blog for writing exercises to keep those creative juices flowing. Some of the random blurbs I post might be related to the series, or they might be standalones, or related to another story of mine I've been wanting to resurrect. So if just reading lengthy blog posts bores you, no worries! This will likely be the longest post you'll get.

So, you can follow me a few different ways. You can follow the blog here, or you can get your info from one of the many other social networking links I have posted along the top of this page. Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and my actual website R.A. Sears fiction .

Feel free to comment and get involved! This story has been in the works for nearly ten years now, and I'm super stoked to finally be able to share it with the world in print. I'm going to be posting teasers, and hopefully I'll be having some contests and giveaways once the book has hit the presses. <3

Fangs so much!
~Randi