EOLYN on Adopt-an-Indie

I'm a little delinquent on my post this week.  The end of the semester has been particularly hectic at Avila this fall, but I'm done now and ready to enjoy the holidays.

Sometime in the next few days, I'll be posting my annual Christmas reading.  I haven't quite decided what I'm going to use yet, so if there's anything special that you'd like to hear me read from EOLYN, please just post your request in the comments.

I also noticed recently that I don't have an audio recording from the battle sequence up on this blog yet, which came as a surprise to me.  I thought I'd already posted one, but oh well.  All this means is that you will be treated to a battle scene at some point in the near future, perhaps in early January. 

This week, I'd like to point you toward something special:  the audio recording of Adopt-an-Indie's blogtalk radio show.   The show was hosted by Donna Brown just this past Monday, December 19, and included about ten authors.  I encourage you to listen to the whole show; I found it very interesting and came across some promising new reads to boot.  But if you're pressed for time and want mostly to listen in on my 10 minutes, look for them about half way through the show (about 55 minutes into it).  Here's the link:

Christmas Special:  BBCN Hosts Adopt-an-Indie Month

In other news, Donna Brown's blog Bookbags and Catnaps is hosting  a contest among indie novels.  Please stop by and show your support for EOLYN by 'liking' the novel.  There are many other great titles as well, and you can vote for more than one, so feel free to 'like' away. (I certainly have!) Voters have the chance to win a $25 Amazon gift certificate.  More details at this link:

Adopt-an-Indie:  Indie Book Love

That's all I have for you this week.  Thanks so much for stopping by, and please check back in a few days for the Christmas reading from EOLYN.

Christmas Treats

Looking for a break from the holiday madness? Join us this week on Heroines of Fantasy, where author Kim Vandervort invites everyone to Pause, breathe and read.




Speaking of holiday madness. . .

Just when I thought EOLYN updates might be slowing down as we approach Christmas, I actually have a lot of exciting news to share this week.

New customer reviews have gone up on Amazon, including this assessment from SavoirNoir:

Eolyn...is quite a change in pace in the epic fantasy. For one thing, it's quite iconoclastic in its treatment of sexuality, especially women's. For another, it has a well-thought-out and different magical system that though reminiscent of Raymond E. Feist, but has made it all her own. The journey of the eponymous heroine is at times harrowing, amusing, sensual but always human. Add to that a spash of Spanish realism that at times feels like Marquez and you have a quite different first novel that satisfies, in its own way, the many various tropes of an epic fantasy; Babe in the woods (literally!), revenge, sweeping war, and coming of age, even as it plucks with a more modern tone at the concepts of love and sex.

To read more customer reviews, please visit Eolyn's page on Amazon. And remember, Kindle and Nook editions of Eolyn are available for just $2.99 through the holidays!

One week from today, on December 19, I'll be participating in Adopt-an-Indie's blogtalk radio show, starting at 8:00pm EST. There is a great line-up of authors for this event, including our recent guests on Heroines of Fantasy, Carlyle Clark and Suki Michelle. Clark's and Michelle's spot will be at 8:20 EST; my slot (really, EOLYN's slot) will be at 9:00pm EST. Please mark your calendars with the date and time, and share the news with friends.

Now for the really great news: I was delighted to learn this past weekend that a pitch I wrote for the sequel to EOLYN, entitled HIGH MAGA, won first place in the Best Pitch Contest at thenextbigwriter.com In drafting the pitch, I had a lot of great feedback from authors and reviewers at tNBW, so a big thank you to everyone for all your help and support.

To celebrate, I'm posting the winning pitch for HIGH MAGA this week.  I'd thought to put this off a little longer, but what the hey -- It's Christmas.  This marks the first official preview of the sequel to appear on this blog.  (Drumroll, please!)

HIGH MAGA follows the story of Eolyn, a courageous and fiercely independent woman whose struggle to restore magic is set against a complex background of political intrigue, impossible love and pending war.

Eolyn, the last of the High Magas, founds a new coven in the isolated province of Moehn. The young girls she trains will, she hopes, revive a millennial tradition of women's magic.

Akmael, the new Mage King of Moisehén, must defend his land against invasion by the Syrnte, whose witch-queen has summoned long-banished creatures of the netherworld to aid her conquest.

When the Syrnte army descends upon Moehn, Eolyn's school is burned and her students killed, captured or scattered. Aided by Borten, a loyal knight of the king to whom she is increasingly drawn, and the devious and untrustworthy Mage Corey, Eolyn must escape the occupied province and deliver to Akmael the weapon that might secure his victory.

Their collective journey will test the limits of love and endurance, until Eolyn comes to understand -- perhaps too late -- that she also carries the shadow that could unleash Akmael’s doom.


. . .If you are among the growing number of readers anxiously awaiting the sequel to EOLYN, you'll be pleased to know that HIGH MAGA topped 90,000 words last week, and is scheduled for release in 2013. 

Thank you very much for stopping by.  I hope everyone has a great week.

A Season of Loss

Anni Kircher with her daughters Uschi and Helga

Well, it’s been a rather difficult semester this fall. About a month ago, my childhood home burned down. Last week, my maternal grandmother passed away. The first event was quite unexpected; the second, while expected, brought on a much deeper sadness.

When we went to visit the remains of my childhood home, it was eerie in many ways, seeing what had once been the ‘safe place’ of my youth charred and gutted by flames. I couldn’t help but remember Chapter One of EOLYN, where my protagonist's village and home are consumed by fire. I thought that a curious coincidence.

Now, the death of my grandmother has me thinking about Eolyn on deeper levels. Last week on my livejournal blog I wrote a brief reflection about Oma Anni’s life, the courage and determination that helped her survive two great wars, and the stories from that time that have most resonated with me over the years. The trials faced by my grandmother in World War II – as a mother of two young girls, alone amid chaos – had a strong influence on me growing up, and colored my view of war and warfare in ways that I think are irrevocable.

I’d like to write a longer post on this at some point, but for the moment I’m too emotionally tired to think through it all coherently. Suffice it to say that I suspect Ghemena’s intense loathing of war, an attitude inherited by her ward Eolyn, somehow has its roots in these stories told by my family.

There’s another element here: Growing up among a family that knew the reality of war -- not so much as soldiers, but as civilians, as women and children – can have a tremendous impact on one’s world view. This was a situation that set me apart, I think, from many of the children I grew up with in the United States; and having had that experience, I now believe, helped me understand Eolyn in ways I might not have otherwise when the time came to write her story.

Well, that almost suffices for a full post right there. Unfinished thoughts, I suppose, are better than no thoughts at all.

Just a few announcements for this week:

On Heroines of Fantasy, we are discussing Villainesses and Anti-Heroines. Also, I have a special treat there: an audio-recording of scenes from my short story ‘Creatures of Light’. Please stop by to have a listen and join in our discussion.

Author Eliabeth Hawthorne has posted a new review of EOLYN for Adopt-an-Indie Month. You can read and comment on her review of EOLYN either on her blog Ermilia, or at the Adopt-an-Indie website.  Also on the Adopt-an-Indie website, Eliabeth has posted an author interview with me, in which I talk about the challenges and rewards of writing EOLYN, and the advantages of publishing with a small press.

Signed copies of EOLYN, both hardcover and paperback, are now available at the Avila University Bookstore, 11901 Wornall Road, Kansas City, MO. 
If you're curious to learn more about my grandmother’s life, you can read my dedication to her at my livejournal blog.

Wishing everyone a good week.

Happy Halloween

I had a special Halloween treat this week, with two more customer reviews appearing on Amazon. 

From W. Anderreg:  "The world was intricate, believable, both sinister and wonderful, and with a rich history."

And from Johnny F:  "Personally i would read the next 10 books from KRG, on the chance that i enjoyed just one of them as much as i enjoyed this."


To read the full reviews from both these Amazon customers, as well as other reviews that have been posted, please visit the Amazon Customer Review Page for EOLYN.

We just got back from a great weekend at the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego, CA.  I met many talented authors, participated in a panel on Exploration in Fantasy, listened to interesting discussions, and brought home a new stack of novels for my book shelf.  Also, we spent quality time with some good friends from college, explored tide pools along the sunny coast, and visited the San Diego Zoo.  All in all, it was a wonderful trip.

November is Adopt-an-Indie Month, and EOLYN will be featured along with other titles from independent presses and authors. New reviews will be made available every day, along with blog posts from authors and publishers about the "indie" experience.  I will let you know when the review for EOLYN is up, but keep an eye on the web site, as it is bound to be a source of a lot of interesting information during the month of November. 

This week we have a new guest on Heroines of Fantasy.  Terra Whiteman, author of The Antithesis, is sharing her thoughts on duality in fantasy.  Please stop by to read Terra's post, and share your comments and insights on the topic.

Those are the updates for today.  Again, Happy Halloween to everyone and have a great week!