Posts Tagged ‘A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE’
Saturday Smile: Finally, the Cover Reveal for “A Little Elfy in Big Trouble” Is Here!
Folks, the last twenty-four hours has seen a great deal of heartache. The attacks in Paris, in Lebanon, and the earthquake in Japan all hit roughly at the same time…and it’s hard to see anything good, when so much is going badly.
That said, sometimes one little tiny candle can bring a little light into the darkest hour.
My little tiny candle, today, is my long-delayed cover reveal for the second novel in my Elfyverse, A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE. I hope it will bring at least a few of you a Saturday smile.
Take a look!
If you’ve been paying attention to date, you know that’s Bruno and Sarah…and behind them is a scary representation of Dennis, the Dark Elf.
But if you have never seen anything at all about the Elfyverse — or read book one in the Elfy duology, AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE — this little blurb may help you understand part of what’s going on:
Young Bruno the Elfy and Sarah, his mostly-human teenage girlfriend, are in deep trouble. Bruno’s Elfy mentor Roberto the Wise is about to be sacrificed by a Dark Elf, and Sarah’s parents have decided to help the Elf rather than the Elfy. Things look bleak and are getting worse by the minute, but Bruno and Sarah have a number of allies — human, Elfy, and ghosts — that the Dark Elf can’t possibly expect. Can young love, desperation, and great unexpected power win out despite it all?
And here’s a short excerpt — note, it first appeared here, as part of the Marketing for Romance Writers Book Hooks blog hop:
Bruno took Sarah’s hand and led her back outside. He looked with his mage senses, and felt nothing; no Elfy magic, no Human magic, and as far as he could tell, no Elf magic, Dark or Bright.
He put up a light shield that should help conceal their voices, and decided it was safe enough to talk for a bit.
“Tomorrow is Ba’altinne, Sarah.” Bruno rubbed his fingers through his hair and tried not to look too hard at Sarah. Goddess, she was beautiful. But he had to stay on topic. “That’s your May Day. Tomorrow.” He shook his head and tried not to frown. “How can we get everything together in time to stop Dennis the Dark Elf?”
“I have faith in you,” she said. Her eyes darkened. Bruno felt as if he were falling, before she gently brushed her lips against his.
————————— End Excerpt ————————————-
A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE should be out by the end of November from Twilight Times Books as an e-book, perhaps in time for Thanksgiving weekend.
I know I enjoyed writing it, and it continues to make me laugh. I hope you’ll enjoy it as well.
A First Look at A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE for #MFRWHooks on #MFRWAuthor RT Day!
Folks, today is a heavy reTweet day for Marketing for Romance Writers. And as such, what better time to show a first look at my forthcoming young adult comic urban fantasy/romance, A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE?
Note I still do not have links or cover art to share. But I can share several sentences, which is why I’m taking part in the Book Hooks promotion today for Marketing for Romance Writers.
First, here’s a short blurb to explain what A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE is all about:
Young Bruno the Elfy and Sarah, his mostly-human teenage girlfriend, are in deep trouble. Bruno’s Elfy mentor Roberto the Wise is about to be sacrificed by a Dark Elf, and Sarah’s parents have decided to help the Elf rather than the Elfy. Things look bleak and are getting worse by the minute, but Bruno and Sarah have a number of allies — human, Elfy, and ghosts — that the Dark Elf can’t possibly expect. Can young love, desperation, and great unexpected power win out despite it all?
And now, here’s a few lines from A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE:
Bruno took Sarah’s hand and led her back outside. He looked with his mage senses, and felt nothing; no Elfy magic, no Human magic, and as far as he could tell, no Elf magic, Dark or Bright.
He put up a light shield that should help conceal their voices, and decided it was safe enough to talk for a bit.
“Tomorrow is Ba’altinne, Sarah.” Bruno rubbed his fingers through his hair and tried not to look too hard at Sarah. Goddess, she was beautiful. But he had to stay on topic. “That’s your May Day. Tomorrow.” He shook his head and tried not to frown. “How can we get everything together in time to stop Dennis the Dark Elf?”
“I have faith in you,” she said. Her eyes darkened. Bruno felt as if he were falling, before she gently brushed her lips against his.
—————————– End Excerpt ——————————-
I hope that little excerpt has “hooked’ you, so you’ll be back later this month and get your copy of A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE as soon as it comes out.
Before I go, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that there’s still time for you to read the first novel in my Elfyverse, AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE. It’s available for ninety-nine cents right now as an e-book at both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Now, please, “hop” to the next participant in the Marketing for Romance Writers Book Hooks blog hop!
Or, take a look at this list, and wade in!
|
4.
|
|
Tuesday Morning Roundup…and “Changing Faces” Update
Folks, I have been astonished by the number of visitors to my blog over the past few days.
Who knew that writing a blog about editors winning no awards whatsoever at the Hugo Awards would be so popular?
That said, I figured I’d give you an update as to where I’m at with CHANGING FACES, and maybe talk about a few other things.
My final edit/rewrite of CHANGING FACES is in train. I hope to have it back to my publisher in a month’s time. (It may go longer. It’s hard to say right now.) I hope to hit my publishing window of late October…we already have great cover art, the blurbs have been written, and now it’s up to me to make all changes.
As for why I didn’t do this before? Simple. Two books came up needing changes at the same time. One had a release date before the other. So, naturally, I took care of the book with the earlier release date first.
I’ve been told that A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE will soon have cover art. (Yes, that’s the book I took care of first. I’d hoped that it would come out this past spring, or maybe early in the summer, but the timing just hasn’t aligned thus far.) So I should hit my mid-to-late September window there.
It’s been interesting to do the last-minute touch-ups on A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE, which is of course a young adult urban fantasy novel, and also the intensive work on CHANGING FACES — a transgender romance with alien entities that may just be angels. (So, technically, a fantasy romance. But a transgender fantasy romance. Clear as mud, yes?)
Plus, I finished up a short story for an anthology, I looked over another few stories (as I am pondering what, if anything, I can try at the Writers of the Future contest, as I remain eligible and hope springs eternal), finished up the summer season with the Racine Concert Band, finished an intensive edit for a client…
In other words, the usual.
“So, Barb, when are you going to get back to reviewing over at Shiny Book Review, hmm?”
I hope to have something later this week. I’ve had three or four books ready to go for a while now–but while I was working on both novels, I just didn’t have any time whatsoever for it.
Now that I’m back down to working on one novel, I hope I’ll be able to carve out a bit of time.
Anyway, that’s my update…stay tuned.
Some Good News, Some Bad News…
Folks, I have the proverbial “good news, bad news” update to foist upon you today.
First, the good news. A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE will definitely be out in mid-September of 2015 — meaning a month from now — and a small blurb has been put up at the Twilight Times Books site reflecting what A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE is all about:
http://www.twilighttimesbooks.com/News.html#publishing_notes
As the blurb says:
Young Bruno the Elfy and Sarah, his mostly-human teenage girlfriend, are in deep trouble. Bruno’s Elfy mentor Roberto the Wise is about to be sacrificed by Dennis the Dark Elf, with Sarah’s parents’ help. Things look bleak, but Bruno and Sarah have a few allies no one could possibly expect – human, Elfy, and ghosts. Can young love and desperation win out despite it all?
And before you ask — no, I still don’t have cover art.
The bad news? Well, my second quarter story at the Writers of the Future contest, despite being out longer than any other story I’ve ever had, didn’t do anything. It came up with a flat rejection after 137 days.
This particular story is close to my heart in many ways; it is post-apocalyptic military SF with romance.
Now, there is a bit of interesting byplay here, in that I’m reasonably convinced I will be able to sell this elsewhere. (If not as a novella, as a novel.) So my efforts with this story haven’t been wasted…but of course I’m not happy that I’ve come up with yet another rejection at the WotF Contest.
Look. I’ve been trying submissions there for fourteen years now. (Does this mean I don’t know when to quit? I don’t know. It’s just how I am.) I’ve tried just about everything. I’ve tried magical realism. I’ve tried straight SF. I’ve tried fantasy. I’ve tried fantasy/romance. I’ve tried military SF — which is where my two honorable mentions come from — and now I’ve tried this one.
Which got me nowhere.
I do have a submission in already for Quarter 3. I can’t tell you what it is. I can tell you I’d be utterly astonished if this story does anything…not that it’s not a good story, because I think it is, but I don’t think it’s right for the market.
“So, Barb, why did you send it there, then?” you might be asking.
Because I like to submit something to the WotF Contest, just on the off-chance that lightning strikes. I need the boost to my career that the WotF Contest often provides. It seems to provide instant name recognition, which as a small press/indie author I need very badly…and it also gets your name in front of agents and bigger publishers. (Though even so, you still have to be very careful about whatever contracts you might sign. The reputable publishers will tell you that, but in case you’re not sure of the difference between a reputable pub and a disreputable pub, try either Writer Beware or Preditors and Editors. They’ll set you straight.)
Other than that, I wanted to mention that the Racine Concert Band’s free summer concert series at the Racine Zoo is coming to an end later tonight. Show starts at 7 p.m., and soloists this week are Greg and Kathy Berg (vocalists) and Nancy Quist, trumpet.
Hope to see you there!
A Writer/Editor’s Work Is Never Done…
Folks, you’ve probably noticed two things in the past few weeks.
One, I haven’t been posting much.
Two, I haven’t reviewed a book at all over at Shiny Book Review.
Why? Well, I’m in the midst of revising CHANGING FACES; it’s due out in late October, I already have cover art (I posted about that before, if you missed it), and the preliminary edit is done. Now it’s up to me to fix everything…and that takes time if you want to do it right.
I’m also in the midst of checking over the ARC (advance reader copy) of A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE, which is due out in mid-September. I do not yet have cover art there. But I do have a complete file, the edit has been done, I’ve applied all the changes required…it’s up to me to look at things and make sure I’ve done my job correctly.
Which again means I need to take some time to do it right, of course.
And, finally, I’m wrestling a short story into submission. It’s due tomorrow morning. I’ve really had to fight with this story; I “heard” it in a way that was not conducive to what the story actually is — this may not make much sense to people who don’t write fiction, but the problem I’ve run into is that an older version of the title character has been reminiscing with me about what happened when she turned thirteen. And her older self does not remember all the actual emotions her thirteen-year-old self had. So it hasn’t felt authentic to me.
I have a hard time writing fiction when it doesn’t feel right. I tend to get a lot of scene-setting, descriptions, and no dialogue…then I have to go back and figure the dialogue out, figure out if the descriptions will stand now that I actually have something going on, and then graft the actual action of the piece on last.
It’s time-consuming, but worth it, providing the story sells to the proper market. (Let us sincerely hope it will.)
In the meantime, I also have been dealing with a few edits for clients, as per usual. I had a job interview for an editing job (no, I can’t say where) a few weeks ago, so I prepared for that — as I never go in unprepared if I can help it. And I’ve been playing concerts with the Racine Concert Band every Sunday night at the Racine Zoo since the start of July; we play these concerts on one intensive rehearsal, which means I have to do some practicing in order to do a good job.
All of these things require time and effort, or I may as well not even bother.
But because of this, I can’t do some things I truly want to do, like review a few books at Shiny Book Review.
There’s just no time whatsoever for it. Which makes me feel a little guilty…but I can only do so much.
So there’s the update, folks. I’m working hard, and I hope that I’ll be done soon with my last lookover for A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE…I know I have some folks who’ve been clamoring for it (bless you all!), and I sincerely hope the extra time and effort will be worth it in the end.
A Monday Editing Blog (AKA, “What’s the Deal with the Second Half of ELFY, Barb?”)
Folks, it’s been an interesting week around Chez Caffrey.
As most of you know, I’ve been struggling with my final edit for the second half of the ELFY duology, now titled A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE. (I like this title.) I haven’t discussed why I’ve been struggling so much, but there have been three things getting in my way.
Today seems like the time to discuss these things.
First, I’ve been doing a good amount of occupational therapy for my hands. They haven’t been good since I suffered a bad burn in February; that burn, which was to the left forefinger and left middle finger, set off a bad carpal tunnel flare-up. I went to the doctor, got treatment, and started doing exercises.
After almost two months of exercises, I’m now back to the point where I can type a good four or five hours every night. I still must needs take breaks, and of course I have to keep doing my exercises as well. But things have improved.
The second reason why I have been having trouble is because I wrote the book twelve-plus years ago. Times have changed. Some specific references needed to be updated. And because the book was split, I had to try to make the book appear like it could stand alone…though no matter what I do, it’s going to lean heavily on the first half of the book (AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE), as that’s by design.
(Clear as mud, right?)
My third reason for needing to take time with this? Well, you have to be in the right frame of mind to see what is actually in your own manuscript rather than what you think is there. This is the main reason most authors do not edit themselves; granted, I had an editor do the first pass for me, and I’m following what she said when I agree with it. But the editor didn’t read the first half of the novel, and that means some of what she said has to be taken with a huge grain of salt.
Now, I’m very fortunate in that I have two great mentors in my corner this time around: Stephanie Osborn and Katharine Eliska Kimbriel. They both have looked at my revised first chapter and have given me excellent advice. They also have been a strong sounding board, and have listened as I’ve wrestled with this final edit for the past several months.
What I try to do with the Elfyverse is to be consistent. I want to tell the best story I can. I’ve improved my actual writing mechanics a great deal since I originally wrote ELFY in 2002-3, and I want to reflect that…but I don’t want to take all the life out of the story, either.
It’s because I had this twelve-year break in the action that I can edit for myself at all.
And make no mistake about it: This is a full-on edit. It is not editorial changes, which is a much different animal. This is my own take on my own work, yes, but it’s also my older and wiser self editing my younger and more exuberant self, while trying to keep track of all the details — you may feel free to read “keep all the balls in the air” if you wish — at the same time.
So to answer the question I posed in my title…the deal with the second half of ELFY is that I’m working hard on it, and I hope to have it in to my long-suffering publisher very soon.
At that point, I’ll find out what the revised timetable is for publication, and I’ll be glad to trumpet that all over the Internet.
But until then, wish me well as I continue to recover from the worst carpal tunnel flare-up I’ve had in years. As I definitely need all the well-wishing I can get.
My Writing Adventure Continues (Slowly)
Just a quick update here, folks, as I’m in the process of trying to get a new story out to the Writers of the Future contest as their quarter ends at 11:59 PM PDT on 3/31/15 and my story is, at best, three-quarters finished.
Once that’s done, I hope to be able to blog about a few subjects near and dear to my heart, including baseball, my opposition to Indiana’s new “Religious Freedom and Restoration Act” which looks to me like anti-LGBT legislation (and thus needs to be either rescinded or amended, stat), and some discussion about words, their meanings, and whether or not some words should ever be off-limits (whether in baseball or in politics) because they’re considered overused, hackneyed, trite, and/or politically sensitive.
But for now, I’m alive, and I’m writing. Recovery is in process, and while it continues to be slow, I’ve been able to gain a little ground in regards to my final edit of A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE and with regards to this proposed story, which I fully intend to send to the WotF contest if I can only finish it…
Anyway, back to work.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 