Tag: coming soon

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free on kindle

I almost forgot to let you know that Through Shade and Shadow is currently free for kindle, now (well, starting yesterday) through September 3rd!

through-shade-and-shadow-reders-favYou read that right!  FREE!

Just in time to be ready for In Gathering Shade, get Through Shade and Shadow for your kindle, and if you’re up for it, write a review.

Remember that any NEW reviews will be entered for a chance to win a copy of In Gathering Shade!

 

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And while you’re at it, you should pick up a copy of Once Upon a Broken Dream too!  Just $.99 for your Kindle!

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introducing Raven Ivany

We met Raven briefly in Through Shade and Shadow, as one of the agents that Mason Jerah works with at the unnamed government agency, but in the next book, In Gathering Shade, Raven comes to the foreground.

We first meet her when she is helping an instructor teach hand to hand skills to a group of new recruits, before Adam Darvin pulls her aside with a job hunting down a killer that might be a Shade.

We learn a good amount about Raven in that short scene.  She’s a decent fighter, hand to hand.  She’s smart, worried about Mason, despite the fact that she doesn’t really know him and she is wary of working with others after being betrayed by her previous handler.

Raven is in her early thirties, and her family background is not entirely clear.  In the course of the story we learn about a sister who died, a father who is clearly no longer around and a grandfather who helped to raise her.  She learned what a Shade was capable of from a young age, unlike Mason, and is well trained in using those skills, both to heal and to harm.

Also, unlike Mason, Raven isn’t afraid of those darker skills when the occasion calls for it, and while it’s never stated outright, she has used those skills to kill at least once.  We get the sense that through Darvin’s influence, she is probably more educated on the other tribes than many others.

There is also some history hinted at between Raven and Darvin, a friendship that extends back before she came to work for him, which might be something interesting to explore some time.

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and that’s a wrap

I spent my evenings last week working through the edits sent to me by my amazing Editor and by Saturday morning it was time for a final read through to make sure I had carried some changes all the way through.

Sunday at around noon, I was done and all that was left was sending it to my publisher, Creativia.  It is now off in the capable hands of our team there where it will go through a final edit, cover design, formatting, etc….

Now that it’s come this far, I can start introducing you to some of the new characters and situations!  I’ll start this Wednesday with character introductions and I’ll bring you a new character every Wednesday until the book is out.  On Saturdays, I’ll be recapping some of the background story to help get you up to speed.

And don’t forget to leave a review for either Forever or Through Shade and Shadow and you might win a free copy of the new book, In Gathering Shade, when it comes out!

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want to win a book?

I got my manuscript back from the editor this week, which means evenings and this weekend are made for editing.  It’s always reassuring when the editor comments throughout with kudos along with the editing.

I’m fortunate to have a pretty awesome editor who never fails to help my work be better.  She’s worth every penny I spend (and then some).

I hope to have the polish finished this weekend so I can get it in to Creativia.  Hopefully, that means a release date in September.  In the lead up to that release, you can win a free copy (ebook or paperback, your choice) of the new book!

How, you ask?  All you have to do is write a simple review on any of the Amazon sites (US, UK, CA, etc) or Goodreads for either of my current releases (Forever or Through Shade and Shadow) and email me at natalie@nataliejcase.com with the link to the review.  I will pull one name from all of those reviewers to win the new book (and probably a few surprise goodies as well!).

But wait! There’s more!  For every site that you post your review on, you get another entry for the prize!  Post it to Amazon US and Amazon UK and Goodreads? You get three chances to win!  Post a review of both books to Amazon US and you get two entries.  See how this works?

But wait, there is still more!

Review BOTH books on TWO Amazon sites AND Goodreads, and you will automatically get the new book for free.  No strings attached (though a review once you’ve read it would be awesome…not required).

**Only new reviews (8/23/17 and later)**

How’s that for a contest?

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the hard work of writing

I used to think that writing a book was a big accomplishment.  Then it became writing a good book was the hard part.  Of course, both don’t begin to compare to the work that comes after the writing is done.

You have to find a way to summarize the entire plot of your 300+ pages into a single paragraph, then a single sentence.  They have to tell enough of the plot to hook people, but not so much to give the whole thing away.  They have to be intriguing, exciting even.  Here you’ve spent a year or more of your life telling this story in detail, and now you’re expected to sum it all up in a as few words as possible in order to get an agent or a publisher (or if you’re lucky both).

I’m fortunate to have a publisher for In Gathering Shade already, but I still need to summarize the story for the back cover of the book.  Generally, this takes quite a few attempts for me.  This will be my third book with Creativia, my seventh book overall (I have four under a pen name in the M/M Romance genre), and it doesn’t get easier.

The blurb on the back cover of  Forever took something like 10 different iterations to get right. Through Shade and Shadow took at least that much work.  So, now as I anticipate getting In Gathering Shade back from my editor, I’m filled with an icy dread at the thought that once again, I need to distill my story down into a paragraph that will invite readers to come into my world.

But, I’ve never been brief.  I spent the better part of my junior year of high school learning how to cut my essays down to size for the Regents exam at the end of the year.  My pre-test saw essays between 1000 and 2500 words, and I was required to cut that to 500 words.  It was a year filled with tears and frustration, but I did it and when my exam was done, I had turned in two essays of 500 words (almost exactly), though I was convinced they were crap.  I scored 95% on the exam overall, and got full marks on the essays.

I learned then how to boil sentences down to their bare essences and use precise words, but that isn’t as easy when working with creative work.  *sigh*  I suppose there is no cure for it, I should just get on with the work of it.

But maybe a cup of coffee first.  For strength.

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*so excited*

It won’t be long now before this anthology is on it’s way to Amazon for all of you to snap up and enjoy!

We’re just finishing up the final little things and then we’ll be off and running.  There are twelve stories for you to enjoy.  But for right now, I have the cover to share with you, isn’t it gorgeous!?

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I think it’s gorgeous!

Stay tuned for purchase links!