Celebrating Independent Authors
The feedback we received on the new super-duper comment system was overwhelmingly negative. It was
no cake-walk from the back end either, I can tell you.
After careful consideration and much rending of garments, we have decided to return to the previous comment system. We had hoped to bring new interactive dimensions to the commenting system, but there were simply too many hurdles for commenters to clear. Thanks to everyone who participated and provided us with input.
The Dragon Gem
by Brian Beam
Genre:Fantasy
142,000 words
With nothing to go on but a vague dream which may or may not be memory, Korinalis Karell has traveled Amirand for three years in search of his birth parents. With a magical Contract to fund his journey and a magic talking wizard cat named Max to keep him out of trouble, Korin has made his way through the world with no success in finding them.
However, what starts out as a seemingly simple Contract job to find a stolen gem for a count quickly turns into a fight for survival that brings about revelations about Korin’s life that turn his world inside-out and upside-down.
With the aid of a mediocre wizard who happens to be the daughter of the most powerful wizard in Amirand, a chatterbox Kolarin, and Max, Korin sets out to discover the secrets of his past so that he may live to see his future.
This is a firsthand account of Korin’s journey as he chases down thieves, is chased down by a dragon and gods-forsaken creatures of death, and finds out that life just never seems to get easier.
This title is available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Continue reading “Book Brief: The Dragon Gem”
I gave up my college teaching job because I was sick of trying to juggle a regular job with writing. It wasn’t so much the lack of time, because I never worked very hard at teaching anyway. It was the lack of big blocks of time, the long stretches of uninterrupted time needed to write. In fact, my first published book only got finished because I got a three month sabbatical from work. If only it could be like this every day, I said to myself…
So I made it happen. I ditched the teaching job (and the generous pension scheme, the free laser printing and office supplies, the free secretarial support, phone and internet access, shit, shit, shit…) and moved to Spain to become a full-time writer. At last I would have days full of nothing but ‘the work in progress’, interrupted only by a stroll in a tree-lined park or a cafe con leche on a sun dappled terrace…
Okay. So, eight years later and I’m still here. And I’m still more or less a full-time writer, if you count being a now-and-then translator and literary dogsbody-for-hire. This was my schedule yesterday: Continue reading “Juggling”
December 2012: Naomi Witherspoon has a pretty sweet life. She’s a well-respected mediator in Denver and her long-time boyfriend has just proposed. But as the winter solstice approaches, she begins to realize that people are agreeing with her too readily. Then a white buffalo calf bows to her in a dream. And a Native American man seems to be following her. Seeking answers, she attends a sweat lodge ceremony on the winter solstice. There, she learns a Lakota goddess has drafted her to mediate a war in heaven. Will Naomi help the goddess? Does she have a choice?
This title is available from Amazon.com, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble.
