Browsing Tag

the blood of the land

Drollerie Press, Short Pieces

Sneak anthology cover art peek

Y’all know that anthology for which I wrote “The Blood of the Land”?

My editor has now posted a sneak preview of its cover art along with a sneak peek at other covers of upcoming Drollerie releases. Check it out over here! Click on the first thumbnail to see the anthology I’ll be in, along with and ! There’s a title for it and everything!

I’m quite excited to be part of something will be in, as I’ve been meaning to read her for forever!

Short Pieces

Done done done

Cross-posting this, since it’s to announce a piece is done!

As of this afternoon I’m relieved to tell y’all that I have indeed finished “The Blood of the Land”, my Civil-War-era story set in the Faerie Blood universe. I think it’s safe to say that this has the highest body count of on-camera characters I’ve ever written, which is pretty impressive considering that this is only 7,107 words, and I killed off a total of five characters on camera, and had one start the story dead. I had to do some interesting thinking as well about who exactly had to die, and who would have to do the killing. gave me a nice listening ear on that, and after I explained my thoughts to her, she was all about the killing off. Even aside from her usual penchant for violence!

I didn’t call for beta on it because I wanted to go ahead and send it in to my editor, which has now been done. Now we’ll see what happens next with this thing! More on what happens with it when I have it.

Written in scattershot fashion over the last week: 659
The Blood of the Land final total (first draft): 7,107

Short Pieces

After extensive cat-vacuuming

… I have finally thrown a decent amount more words into “The Blood of the Land”. A few of these words are actually from Saturday, but that’s okay, I’m counting them now.

I have killed off poor Elias Sutherland, and I think I just got to a scene break, after which there will be a short epilogue in which Dorcas gets to flee along the river with Caleb, leaving behind a couple of Warder ghosts and a deeply confused foreman who I think will be running away from what just happened there as fast as he can go.

Written since Saturday: 546
The Blood of the Land total: 6,448

Short Pieces

Quota reached tonight

I have just realized that as this story’s shaped up, it’s turned out to be as much Elias and Jenny’s story as it is Dorcas’s. This sits well enough with me, although I’m now getting to the bittersweet bit at the end. Which I hope will make other people go Sniff. It does me, a bit!

It satisfies me though to top 500 words, since I actually said I’d do that as I was leaving work today. And I did. Go me!

Closing in on 6K, and also closing in on the end. This thing may come in shorter than “The Disenchanting of Princess Cerridwen”.

Written tonight: 507
The Blood of the Land total: 5,902

Short Pieces

Now we're talkin'

All the gushing I’ve been doing about Faerie Blood spreading around the Net aside, I do still have other work in progress–and tonight I actually managed to throw a decent amount into “The Blood of the Land”. Well and thoroughly into the climax at this point, with pissed-off-and-dead Jenny Sutherland going postal on the slave hunters.

Not sure how many more pages I have to go. Ten, maybe; we’ll see if this rough ballpark estimate holds up. And once I get the initial draft done, I can think about whether Jenny is a ghost or more like a zombie. I can’t help but envision her right now as looking a lot like Summer Glau during the Reaver battle in Serenity, only, y’know, dead.

Written tonight: 521
The Blood of the Land total: 5,395

Short Pieces

Back to the story

I’m kind of surprised at myself; this thing may come out quite a bit shorter than I originally anticipated. Definitely under 10K, and possibly even under 8K. The ghost of Jenny Sutherland has made her appearance, and hoo boy howdy, is she pissed.

More tomorrow.

Written yesterday: 166
Written today: 583
The Blood of the Land total: 4,875

Faerie Blood, Short Pieces

Quickly, because it's bedtime

It took me a few days to retool the plot flow for “The Blood of the Land”, but now I have a decent idea of how the rest of it will play out, and hopefully in fewer words than my original plan. As of tonight I’ve resumed throwing words at the story and hope to make significant inroads on it this weekend. Editor has been updated and will expect the story at the end of the month. Wish me luck, folks.

Meanwhile, eReader.com joins the ranks of places where you can buy Faerie Blood, so the list of places for purchase has been updated accordingly on my Books page and on the FAQ page. Yay. Now if Amazon and Barnes and Noble will follow suit, that’ll be neat. ^_^

Written tonight: 290
The Blood of the Land total: 4,126