tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13012893907294084102024-03-14T00:57:35.031-04:00Carmen's PageThe website of <big><big>Carmen Webster Buxton,</big></big> writer of Science Fiction • Fantasy • Romance<br><br>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.comBlogger484125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-27156684674533866422024-01-03T16:59:00.001-05:002024-01-03T16:59:03.093-05:00Temporary Price Reduction for HIDDEN MAGIC From now until January 9, rte Kindle version of HIDDEN MAGIC willl be only $1.99.
Here's the blurb for HIDDEN MAGIC:
The valley of the River Wystan is isolated from the rest of the world. Many years before it had been united under the Lord of Cold Spring, who had suppressed the practice of magic. But when he died, his son wasn’t strong enough to hold the other lords’ loyalty. Now Lord Garrick, the new Lord of Cold Spring, means to resume his grandfather’s role of overlord for the whole valley. Young Richart Tallengen, newly minted Lord of Esterby, tries to fight off Lord Garrick’s men, but he’s captured and carried to Cold Spring Castle. When his sister Maura comes to Cold Spring to see her brother, she catches Lord Garrick’s eye. Lord Garrick is as attracted by her courage and her brains as much as by her looks, but he is very surprised to discover that there is more to Maura than meets the eye. She has magical abilities, even though she doesn’t know it.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08V1CQNP2?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=b016255b-ddf4-4a37-86db-50b386d0daaf
Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-431473023603537772023-11-25T14:34:00.003-05:002023-11-25T15:06:51.508-05:00A quick word about Kindle Unlimited Kindle Unlimited is an Amazon program used by authors to make their books available to Amazon customers for free, once they are paid subscerss. The author is paid from subscriptions (possibly also from Amazon addingfunds togetvKU going) per page read. On my longer books, if the KU subscriber reads the entire book I can actually make more money than if he or she bought it. The drawback is, the ebook can only be available on Amazon.
Since Amazon has a huge share of the ebook market, KU can make sense for self published authors, especially if their books run long. Traditionally published authors really wouldn't benefit because with advertising by the publisher their books sell to a wider audience. A huge percentage of KU books are in the r noomance genre or a subgenre if romance.
if you have any interest in a KU subscription you should check out which books are available through the program; most of my books are.Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-51970068380737524872023-08-30T11:48:00.004-04:002023-09-02T15:20:15.848-04:00New Way to Send non-Amazon ebooks to your Kindle This was reported in a story on The Verge:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZdSUfEXRtW8ZfKrUxQchP-hcdCtnA76f5JZ0mlDySLC4N4yId11DhA1lesh8OnqoTvy5GpQLRdRhKFL4KsZ3PgFFSONUA874ijKNT2s_OMlquLymiFwXfRL_qFuMZnKH9WRNzf0GLKHkFAd7ZIh-xGL1qgQz4m5AUByLZfSFIgLpIuwy3dRHQ5xqpZf0G/s700/oasis-vs-paperwhite-1.png%20%281%29.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="700" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZdSUfEXRtW8ZfKrUxQchP-hcdCtnA76f5JZ0mlDySLC4N4yId11DhA1lesh8OnqoTvy5GpQLRdRhKFL4KsZ3PgFFSONUA874ijKNT2s_OMlquLymiFwXfRL_qFuMZnKH9WRNzf0GLKHkFAd7ZIh-xGL1qgQz4m5AUByLZfSFIgLpIuwy3dRHQ5xqpZf0G/s320/oasis-vs-paperwhite-1.png%20%281%29.webp"/></a></div>
QUOTE:
Getting a non-Amazon book onto a Kindle used to be a somewhat awkward process, involving attaching it to an email and sending it to your individual Kindle email address. However, Amazon’s Send to Kindle service has improved vastly since then, and it is now a fairly simple process.
So, here are the steps The Verge recommends:
On the web, go to Amazon’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle?tag=theverge02-20&ascsubtag=___vg__p_23606143__t_w__r_https://news.google.com/__d_M" target="_blank">Send to Kindle page.</a>
Drag and drop your file to the large square area, or click on Select files from device and choose the file you want to send. (The maximum file size is 200MB.) There will be a list of supported file types on the page — including PDF, DOCX, and ePub, among others.
- end QUOTE.Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-72107935190160320692023-08-02T15:38:00.001-04:002023-08-02T15:38:56.249-04:00I Miss Writing <p>I don't have the energy to write. It seems strange to say that since you write sitting in a chair, which is what I do all day now, but writing takes mental energy, and I'm low on that as well as physical energy. I am rereading my books, though.</p><p>I think my favorites among</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6FprvtOlkd8Un68UX7qKbY9kKsoaKjylkZWkjRUKKHmgMHRSIWvi4J-m2TJENpWyERK1oDDX6lNL2hVdxaYeuST8dhMMAyzGc9HGmz7MRQ_XXT5dasMGrHWopGLTB5cZuZe3xiaEl4gdv-0pKgxdc2HZX0Zwy-Suc0Zqo-G7dIHPghAAhwxF21s-1BKX/s801/Screenshot_20230802_152822_Chrome.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6FprvtOlkd8Un68UX7qKbY9kKsoaKjylkZWkjRUKKHmgMHRSIWvi4J-m2TJENpWyERK1oDDX6lNL2hVdxaYeuST8dhMMAyzGc9HGmz7MRQ_XXT5dasMGrHWopGLTB5cZuZe3xiaEl4gdv-0pKgxdc2HZX0Zwy-Suc0Zqo-G7dIHPghAAhwxF21s-1BKX/s320/Screenshot_20230802_152822_Chrome.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><p><br /></p>my books are <a href="https://www.amazon.com/The-Nameless-World-2-book-series/dp/B08VJKZ8QF">The Nameless World</a> duology and the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alien-Bonds-Wakanreo-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07959BHM4/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?crid=2OZ7CGPA8ER63&keywords=carmen+webster+buxton&qid=1691004091&sprefix=%2Caps%2C61&sr=8-2">Wakanreo trilogy.</a> I like the Nameless World because it's about family and the Wakanreo trilogy because it's about a relationship that's stressful. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieRgb58zkt5HnDlcUEN0Zl6TdW2cG1rXAp1LVDKR72a9pobLXYbeKaEy_bMXuUYFpIwhDuEQ5VmIcglVuy0iuS9JWAsuEc2K4Bn0D4523q62ehocjc6bDUHD8GZXinVpTX3egCB2b3vu6w4QBV0pzf-FcPFWB9kgUHi8FEy8FU5UMJ66ZIHpUz4ai6hWjl/s4500/AlienBonds_Ebook.v2_Amazon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4500" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieRgb58zkt5HnDlcUEN0Zl6TdW2cG1rXAp1LVDKR72a9pobLXYbeKaEy_bMXuUYFpIwhDuEQ5VmIcglVuy0iuS9JWAsuEc2K4Bn0D4523q62ehocjc6bDUHD8GZXinVpTX3egCB2b3vu6w4QBV0pzf-FcPFWB9kgUHi8FEy8FU5UMJ66ZIHpUz4ai6hWjl/s320/AlienBonds_Ebook.v2_Amazon.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><p>I have one more book in my head but the manuscript for it needs a lot of work and I don't think I have it in me to do so much revising. </p><p>Oh, well..at least 18 books is something to leave.</p>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-23637788542647617012023-05-07T16:45:00.008-04:002023-05-07T17:07:11.965-04:00It's been a while<p>I haven't posted in a long time. That's because in July of 2019 I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. I have had two surgeries and am still on chemo, and right now I don't have much energy. I have not been able to write since I finished my last published novel <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-ThreeCon-Carmen-Webster-Buxton-ebook/dp/B08Y97XDNT/" target="_blank">Worlds Apart</a>, </i>which came out in May of 2021. I managed to publish four novels that year: <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-ThreeCon-Carmen-Webster-Buxton-ebook/dp/B08Y97XDNT/" target="_blank">Worlds Apart</a></i><i>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Magic-Carmen-Webster-Buxton-ebook/dp/B08V1CQNP2">Hidden Magic</a></i> and the <i>Nameless World</i> duology of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/North-Edge-Nowhere-Nameless-World/dp/1732531714/" target="_blank">The North Edge of Nowhere</a></i> and <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Oaths-Promises-Nameless-World-Book-ebook/dp/B08VHY9Q7W" target="_blank">Oaths and Promises</a></i>. I still don't know how I did it. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQSUgSgVrZN5lqoAD4DVvp76fVU19FI93_n6tr_adDHs3mTlFSI1gEnTgbl-Um1-DVGU2f9ocKmYaiM5kd3pJU4Ypu9Qfe2fUuJxiIK308jUvcf-tsggkQyV_jApjlznP1mcykSsI0agZftDm9FzcyBOGX3QtN4zj6JSZeU0PNtcemEVug2IuF5rlSvg/s1280/WorldApartKindleCover.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="853" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQSUgSgVrZN5lqoAD4DVvp76fVU19FI93_n6tr_adDHs3mTlFSI1gEnTgbl-Um1-DVGU2f9ocKmYaiM5kd3pJU4Ypu9Qfe2fUuJxiIK308jUvcf-tsggkQyV_jApjlznP1mcykSsI0agZftDm9FzcyBOGX3QtN4zj6JSZeU0PNtcemEVug2IuF5rlSvg/s320/WorldApartKindleCover.jpeg" width="213" /></a></div><p>Unless a medical miracle happens I am unlikely to publish anymore books. I am saving my strength for time with my family. But one of the things I am doing is rereading all of my own books, the ones I wrote and published. Generally, if I enjoy a book the first time, I will often reread it, I find that rereading is a somewhat different experience from reading.</p><p>When you read a book the first time, you want to know what happens. When you read a book a second or third time, you already know what happens. That allows you to concentrate on the writing and on the growth of the characters-- how they interact, how they change-- and to spend time with the people in the book as if they were friends. </p><p>I've just started rereading, but so far I enjoy my own books. I write what I like to read, after all, so I'm not surprised. I just finished <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nostalgia-Gambit-ThreeCon-Carmen-Webster-ebook/dp/B00AHMNV3E/" target="_blank">The Nostalgia Gambit</a></i>, one of only two novels I wrote in first person, and I quite liked it. First person really lets the author show the true nature of the character-- their values, their personality, their truthfulness. It's all on the page.</p><p>So, I'm curled up in a comfy chair with my Kindle and rereading like crazy. Not just my own books. I'm a big fan of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=georgette+heyer&crid=2WXAM40DEAQ4G&sprefix=georgette+heyer%2Caps%2C73&ref=nb_sb_noss_2" target="_blank">Georgette Heyer</a>, who wrote mostly historical romances but also mysteries. I really like her writing and I think she influenced my own writing a great deal. </p><p>Anyway, this explains the long gap between this post and the previous one. I don't know if I'll get back to the blog again, so I'll say now, thanks for reading this, and hopefully for reading some of my books. I'm glad I have them to leave after I'm gone.</p><p>I'll get back to my Kindle now. I have 17 books to go.</p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-89305296506610432262022-08-30T11:06:00.005-04:002023-09-20T16:59:09.687-04:00A snippet from WHERE MAGIC RULES<i><a href="https://carmenspage.blogspot.com/p/books.html#:~:text=Buy%20this%20novella%3A%C2%A0US%20Kindle%20store%2C%C2%A0Smashwords%2C%C2%A0iBooks%2C%C2%A0Nook%C2%A0(Barnes%20%26%20Noble)%2C%C2%A0Kobo%C2%A0(also%20available%20in%20every%20other%20Kindle%20store).%0APaperback%3A%C2%A0Amazon%2C%C2%A0Barnes%20%26%20Noble" target="_blank">Where Magic Rules</a></i> is a fantasy novella about a modern day man who finds himself in a word of dragons and mages. Among the people he meets is a young woman who calls herself Phillip and dresses as a man. The ebook version is only <span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-size: 13px;">99¢.</span><div>--------------------------------------------------------------</div><div><p class="bookbody">He held up a hand. “Don’t
get so hostile. In my world, there are plenty
of people who feel attracted to their own gender. A few of them even feel they were born in the
wrong body—the wrong sex.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Her eyes lit with eagerness. “Really?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">He nodded. “Sure. There are men who want to be women and women
who want to be men.” He waved a hand. “With the right surgery, they can get it
straightened out. Sometimes they even
fall in love, get married, and adopt some kids.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">She blinked. “You mean
that a woman could become a man and then marry another woman?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Sure. Why not?” </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE9gE0nXOyWmGCnZFa205Jo9wTKDa6sl5g8rCyZdr2UWgn6o6PYWCihWtzDTirkGx8w09ZR_QLP64NYV_oPYYMEQC6tA41PnW2dC4f6vgibi0itMtU8eq4rN41Pbrputv1ek6m8-TKKKUgYPvOTNKL1Sxyj68GrerDnkJqQCfYYIEjpFhzcez-OMszzA/s164/Where%20Magic%20Rules%20small.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="164" data-original-width="114" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE9gE0nXOyWmGCnZFa205Jo9wTKDa6sl5g8rCyZdr2UWgn6o6PYWCihWtzDTirkGx8w09ZR_QLP64NYV_oPYYMEQC6tA41PnW2dC4f6vgibi0itMtU8eq4rN41Pbrputv1ek6m8-TKKKUgYPvOTNKL1Sxyj68GrerDnkJqQCfYYIEjpFhzcez-OMszzA/w222-h320/Where%20Magic%20Rules%20small.JPG" width="222" /></a></div><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="bookbody">She grimaced. “I have
no interest in women.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">The comment left Joe at a loss. “Well, if you don’t want to truly be a man,
then why do insist on acting like one?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“I don’t know,” she said, despair in her voice.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Maybe the dragon is right, and it’s the necklace?” Joe said.
“The Great Mage could help you take it
off.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“No!” Despair had
morphed into anger. “Don’t you dare
suggest that to him, or I’ll kill you!”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Joe stared at her in surprise. “Sheesh!
You’re really something.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Phillip looked abashed. “I’m sorry, okay?” she said, enunciating the
word carefully.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Joe was surprised into a laugh. “Hey, that was pretty good.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">She smiled at him, and Joe thought she had never looked more
appealing. After they had cleaned up
from their meal he watched the way the flickering firelight made her face look
almost delicate. After a while, he let
his mind drift onto other thoughts as he stared into the fire.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody"> “What are you thinking?”
Phillip said. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“I don’t think I should say,” Joe said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Why not?” she said, curious. “Is it something bad?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“I don’t think so. You
might not agree.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“What is it? Tell me!”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Well,” Joe said, “I was remembering that blue gown the Great
Mage had—the one he threatened to make you wear.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Why would you think about that?” she asked, amusement in her
voice.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“I was wondering how you’d look in it. I had decided you’d look pretty damn
spectacular.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">She sat up. “I don’t
wear dresses.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“I know.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“You think because you saved my life a couple of times you
can make me do things I don’t want to do?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“No.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Because I won’t! I
won’t be a woman for you!”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Joe sat up beside her. “I know that.
Unfortunately, I can’t stop thinking of you as a woman. I’ve tried, but I can’t.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“So what do you expect me to do about it?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Nothing. It’s not
your problem. You don’t need to worry
about it.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">She turned her back to him. “I thought you were someone I could trust.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">The pain in her voice alarmed him. “You can trust me.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“No, you’re like Lord Marcellin’s soldiers. All men are interested in is forcing women to
rut with them.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Having his feelings lumped in with the impersonal lust of
nameless mercenaries made Joe mad as hell. “Just because the men in Lord
Marcellin’s guard have no respect for women doesn’t mean every man is that
way. I never a touched a woman unless
she wanted me to touch her. And people don’t
rut, they make love—if they care about each other.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Phillip spoke with her back to him, her voice muffled. “So you’ve—you’ve made love to lots of women?”
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“I wouldn’t say lots.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“How many?” she asked, still with her back to him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“I don’t know,” he said, mystified. “Does it matter?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“I was just—just wondering if there’s been anyone since you
came to the Great Mage’s palace.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Still confused, Joe hedged. “Three years is a long time.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“So there is someone?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“What’s going on here?”
Joe knit his brows in a tight frown. “I told you I can’t stop thinking of you as a
woman, and you jumped on me for that. Somehow we’re now tallying up my sex
life. If I didn’t know better, I’d say
you were jealous. Why are you acting
this way?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Finally she turned around to face him. “I’m not acting any differently.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Like crap.” Joe frowned.
Her eyes had welled up, and her face looked red and splotchy. “You look as if you’re about to cry.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“I never cry.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Maybe not, but you’re damn close to it now.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">She turned her head away, and Joe put one hand gently on her
shoulder. “What’s wrong, Phil?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">As soon as he touched her, he felt her body stiffen. She gasped, and all at once she seemed to
have difficulty in catching her breath.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Are you okay?” Joe asked in alarm. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Oh yes! It’s so
different now!”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“What?” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Don’t let go,” she said throwing her arms around him as she twisted
to face him. “Whatever happens, don’t
let go of me!”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“I won’t.” Joe folded her into an embrace to offer comfort
and was surprised when she lifted her face and kissed him. “Damn,” he said when
the kiss ended. “I never saw that
coming. What are you up to, Phil?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">She pulled his shirt open and ran one hand over his torso. “Don’t let go of me, and everything will be
fine.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Stunned, Joe grabbed her hand. “You want to make love? Right here?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“What’s wrong with right here?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Nothing,” Joe said, throwing his scruples to the winds. “So long as you’re okay with this, right here
is just fine.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“You talk too much,” she said, and she pulled his head down
to kiss him again.<o:p></o:p></p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-79929229906210364572022-07-20T17:30:00.000-04:002022-07-20T17:30:10.278-04:00Advice for anyone looking to make the jump to digital reading<p>The original now clunky-looking Kindle came out in 2007, and since then ebooks and ereaders have exploded. Technology and publishing have changed a lot since then, so here is my most up-to-date advice if you have never tried reading ebooks.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The basics:</h3><p>All ereaders and ereaders apps offer similar functions like being able to change the font size and search through the text of the book. The early adopters of ebooks were mostly older women who read a lot but wanted an easy-t0-read format. <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHbLiPadHFIad-BZJj1uEpEYJ2fmbNaZLBXvf9GJ9jGKJ_Z3U2Dp3a57CbokvngQbEtMXAcMLy0tLw3W83q2Lflg_DCtVVVwBcHxhrptraj7nFYBYz0b22DCCqparQUWILvPv-tHf5Ps1uEPHY8YOQM_ixy7o-jWEriSyx6azHOk-DcYL-RcLExgECiw/s767/Kindle1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Kindle 1" border="0" data-original-height="767" data-original-width="630" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHbLiPadHFIad-BZJj1uEpEYJ2fmbNaZLBXvf9GJ9jGKJ_Z3U2Dp3a57CbokvngQbEtMXAcMLy0tLw3W83q2Lflg_DCtVVVwBcHxhrptraj7nFYBYz0b22DCCqparQUWILvPv-tHf5Ps1uEPHY8YOQM_ixy7o-jWEriSyx6azHOk-DcYL-RcLExgECiw/w263-h320/Kindle1.jpeg" title="Kindle 1" width="263" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original Kindle<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p>However, there is a difference between a tablet and an ereader. An ereader is a single purpose device; it's made for reading. The e-paper or e-ink screen (two names for the same thing) is a very light gray with dark gray to black text. Color e-ink is currently not well developed as yet, although it is improving. A tablet is multi-use, very much like a really large smart phone, but without the ability to make phone calls. It has a backlit screen with the same kind of colors on a PC screen.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The advantages to reading on an ereader:</h3><p>No screen glare, even in bright sunlight</p><p>Much less eyestrain. </p><p>No distracting emails, texts, or other app notifications. In a way, the single use device is an advantage if you want to read without interruptions. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The advantages to using a tablet as an ereader:</h3><p>Because tablets are multiuse, you can run other apps like email, browsers, calculators, word processing, games, etc., without needing to pay for additional hardware.</p><p>In addition, you can use multiple <i>ebook </i>apps. all major ebook sellers offer free apps for Android and iOS. You might have to buy your ebooks in a browser and then upload it to the tablet as both Apple and Android don't allow apps to sell products unless they use their payment method (Apple Pay and Google Pay, respectively). </p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyNOPq6mdgFn5LolSTp0MUElNBnhyXDZhU7dPh92nhrVKxbhMj_ryBfnkgq5PxG7mu3pnLFkLQRTOx7DidhCUKCg4ZBNh0clSmlkw1naBIYy9AU0TEeKqDmz_HdegfUQHM7OtXrgXjCej_InD2cSUsvS-VLIbSnkCzPVkqsr6LO9E2-DvrMwgsu9nb4w/s3058/20220719_171402.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3058" data-original-width="2819" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyNOPq6mdgFn5LolSTp0MUElNBnhyXDZhU7dPh92nhrVKxbhMj_ryBfnkgq5PxG7mu3pnLFkLQRTOx7DidhCUKCg4ZBNh0clSmlkw1naBIYy9AU0TEeKqDmz_HdegfUQHM7OtXrgXjCej_InD2cSUsvS-VLIbSnkCzPVkqsr6LO9E2-DvrMwgsu9nb4w/w295-h320/20220719_171402.jpg" width="295" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New Kindle Oasis<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Kindle, Apple, Google Books, and Kobo are the major players as far as ereaders and ereader apps. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">First steps:</h3><p>I recommend if you already own or can borrow a tablet, that you use an app (Kindle, Apple, Nook, etc) to see if you like digital reading. Try it out, and if you notice any eyestrain or glare issues, then look into getting a dedicated reader. Decide where you will most likely buy your ebooks. Note that Google does not, as yet, have its own ereader hardware. </p><p>Also note that erearers and sometimes ereader apps offer special functions such as getting the definition of a word or translating foreign language text. The Kindle offers a function called X-Ray, which works only if the publisher has enabled it, that lets the reader see characters and places and other specifics of the book. You should check out what the ereader can do before you invest in hardware. </p><p><br /></p>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-30327921622280463992022-06-19T17:53:00.008-04:002022-06-19T20:18:25.917-04:00Looks what's featured on eBookDaily's Freebies page!<p> It's the first book in the Haven duology, <a href="https://ebookdaily.com/free-kindle-ebooks/2022-06-19/B004TGUT16" target="_blank">THE SIXTH DISCIPLINE</a>!</p><p>I recently ran a promotion on this book, and it has done pretty well.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhqDY7U6jgmk4vmXbis1WBNjQw3VjksJPOFrfvUUe3dldibM_xyevpJGjFtIodphX3SjvcCHqz2zTk6Ol7kQTRLrhjRi3z9I3pmiPdp0DucOiQBYXv2IRqgdh5ER9LMwuou3vZ-40nKguyIZ0z27oWgW4Ovo-glhgO6hMSmpGV1_ZiiFiYN1biOd9yPg/s1280/Cover-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhqDY7U6jgmk4vmXbis1WBNjQw3VjksJPOFrfvUUe3dldibM_xyevpJGjFtIodphX3SjvcCHqz2zTk6Ol7kQTRLrhjRi3z9I3pmiPdp0DucOiQBYXv2IRqgdh5ER9LMwuou3vZ-40nKguyIZ0z27oWgW4Ovo-glhgO6hMSmpGV1_ZiiFiYN1biOd9yPg/s320/Cover-1.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Check it out before it has gone from the site! And there are plenty of other books listed there, too. </div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></blockquote><p><br /></p>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-79120538379480869942022-06-12T17:05:00.007-04:002022-06-12T17:06:01.675-04:00Snippet from WHERE MAGIC RULES<p> <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Where-Magic-Carmen-Webster-Buxton-ebook/dp/B007V6MCLG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3K431RMVS45P1&keywords=Where+magic+rules+buxton&qid=1655066387&sprefix=where+magic+rules+buxton%2Caps%2C377&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><i><b>Where Magic Rules</b></i> </a>is a fantasy novella with a love story at its core. Joseph, a modern day man finds himself transported to a world of mages, magic, and dragons. During a battle, he saves the life of what appears to be a very young enemy soldier, only to discover he has saved a young woman who wears a distinctive and interesting charm. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifGei47zNqBiPNPtieh-woNgx2X3Csu6EXh--dJR1C7LBWs8vMn48J0nRLSY4Vv4wHf06aQqAVnqJQODPc8xSZgOPy87HHwgX7-UJnUuhRX3x_dZCRP-KAv_9A8L7lGTN7elzIP3WQfkJQITydNt-u5QVpBS2Ygs2dsC9IFqgMMwhzDO-GBI53TKjfnw/s1000/WhereMagicRules.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifGei47zNqBiPNPtieh-woNgx2X3Csu6EXh--dJR1C7LBWs8vMn48J0nRLSY4Vv4wHf06aQqAVnqJQODPc8xSZgOPy87HHwgX7-UJnUuhRX3x_dZCRP-KAv_9A8L7lGTN7elzIP3WQfkJQITydNt-u5QVpBS2Ygs2dsC9IFqgMMwhzDO-GBI53TKjfnw/s320/WhereMagicRules.jpg" width="224" /></a></div><b>Here is a snippet from Chapter 2:</b><div><br /></div><div><p class="bookbody">“Ah!” The Great Mage
moved closer to the bed and scrutinized her intently.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">She returned his stare, not flinching even when he stepped
closer. “You don’t frighten me, old man.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Don’t I?” Suddenly
the mage lunged forward and grabbed her by the arm.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Phillip gave a strangled gasp but didn’t otherwise cry out. It looked to Joe as if she wanted to pull
away but couldn’t. Joe could identify
with that feeling.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Joe!” the mage said. “Take the stone in your right hand. Pull it as far away from Phillip as you can
without hurting her.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Joe obeyed reluctantly.
He folded his right hand into a fist around the stone, then pulled the
chain to its full length, which was not very far. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">The Great Mage took a step closer and shifted his grip to
Phillip’s shoulders. She gave a little
sigh, a faint, breathy whisper, and closed her eyes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">The three of them stayed frozen for almost a full
minute. Joe was wondering if Phillip had
fallen asleep when she opened her eyes and looked at him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">She seemed to Joe to be staring at him hungrily, as if he were
something she wanted very badly.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Now,” the Great Mage said, “let go of the stone, Joe, and
step back a pace.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Joe obeyed. As soon as
the stone again lay on her skin, Phillip’s angry glare returned. She said nothing, however, until the Great
Mage released her and stepped back.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Keep that man away from me!”
She shouted at the mage, but she pointed at Joe. “Keep him away, or I’ll kill him!”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Her fierceness stunned Joe.
She sounded sincere.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“You have a poor sense of gratitude,” the Great Mage said. “Joe saved your life.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Phillip grimaced and gave Joe a sulky scowl. “Thank you.
Now go away.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Fine with me,” Joe said. “May I leave now, sir?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Not just yet,” the Great Mage said. “I’ve finally determined why you came to us,
Joseph.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Joe blinked in surprise. “Sir?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“I said when you accepted me as your overlord that I would
keep you close until the day I found enlightenment about your purpose
here. Do you remember?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">For the past three years Joe had wondered if that day would
ever arrive. “Yes, sir.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">The Great Mage’s expression grew serene. “Your purpose is to help Phillip find her true
self. You’ll have to start right away.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Joe’s jaw dropped, and at the same time, Phillip blurted out
an angry expletive.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Now, now,” the Great Mage said. “Such language isn’t appreciated here, Phillip. You’ll have to learn to guard your tongue.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Sister Gertruda fluttered near the bed like a moth near a
candle. “My lord, she must keep
quiet! The wound could reopen if she
doesn’t.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Precisely,” the Great Mage said. “I think a small sleeping draught is in order,
sister.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“A curse on you and all your progeny!” Phillip shouted. “May they all sicken and die terrible deaths!”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“I have no progeny,” the Great Mage said, unperturbed. “No child of my body, in any event.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Then may the worms eat you, as you lie cold and forgotten in
the earth!”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“The worms eat everyone who dies,” the mage said. “No one lives forever, and no one is
remembered forever. Your curse applies
to everyone, sooner or later.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Then I shall make it sooner!” Phillip cried, lunging at the
Great Mage.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Joe jumped to intercept her.
Holding her back without hurting her proved a difficult task.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Sister Gertruda entered the fray with a cup of sleeping
draught, but it was only when the Great Mage took hold of Phillip’s arm that
she became calm enough for Sister Gertruda to hold the cup to her mouth.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">The wounded woman choked and swallowed, then dashed the cup
to the floor. “Take your bloody swill
elsewhere, you pig of a woman!”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“How much did you manage to give her, sister?” the mage
asked.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Enough,” Sister Gertruda said with grim satisfaction. “She’ll sleep soon.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Bastard!” Phillip
pulled free from Joe’s slackened grasp and sank down upon the bed. “For all your high sounding phrases, you’re no
better than a dark lord.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Sister Gertruda gasped in indignation. “Mind your tongue!”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">Phillip looked as if she would like to retort, but instead,
she merely lay down as if she were exhausted.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“The sleeping draught is working,” Sister Gertruda said,
pleased.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Yes,” the Great Mage said, as Phillip closed her eyes. “As soon as she’s sound asleep, have her
conveyed to Joe’s room.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“My room?” Joe blurted out. “Why?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“Because you’re going to tend her while she heals,” the Great
Mage said. “You need to get to know each
other better before you leave on your quest.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">“What quest?” Joe said, feeling as if the floor had rocked
under his feet.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="bookbody">The Great Mage shrugged. “I haven’t decided yet.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="bookbody"><br /></p><p><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-size: 13px;">Buy this novella for only 99¢</span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-size: 13px;">: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Where-Magic-Rules-ebook/dp/B007V6MCLG/" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #d52a33; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">US Kindle store</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-size: 13px;">, </span><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/206012" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #d52a33; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Smashwords</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-size: 13px;">, </span><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/where-magic-rules/id549320379?mt=11" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #d52a33; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">iBooks</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-size: 13px;">, </span><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/where-magic-rules-carmen-webster-buxton/1112317916?ean=2940044727342&itm=2&USRI=%22carmen+webster+buxton%22&" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #d52a33; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Nook</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-size: 13px;"> (Barnes & Noble), </span><a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/where-magic-rules" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #d52a33; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Kobo</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-size: 13px;"> (also available in every other Kindle store).</span></p><p><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: red; font-size: 13px;"><b>Paperback: </b></span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Where-Magic-Carmen-Webster-Buxton/dp/0988559978" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #d52a33; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none;">Amazon</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-size: 13px;">, </span><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/where-magic-rules-carmen-webster-buxton/1112317916?ean=9780988559974" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #d52a33; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none;">Barnes & Noble</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-67887902566520240122022-06-01T14:14:00.000-04:002022-06-01T14:14:50.855-04:00A sucessful promotion<p><b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alien-Bonds-Wakanreo-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07959BHM4" target="_blank">Alien Bonds is no longer free. </a> </i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNkNln8_1mWIqgKrAoaX0ihvwAOC95s8mXWvMp_l7UnL92hGWhsX10pFlP_LvdsWqf3_VDMrNp1RHvRkQHa3GpXq71wY_7-PuAKVbrjDVWtZZSjtW820gMtPLP0Safyi61i8N57321EdfxxVPD-oPU6YaFR-zA8G0WSi785_mud06eT160iS9b9Npl_Q/s4500/AlienBonds_Ebook.v2_Amazon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4500" data-original-width="3000" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNkNln8_1mWIqgKrAoaX0ihvwAOC95s8mXWvMp_l7UnL92hGWhsX10pFlP_LvdsWqf3_VDMrNp1RHvRkQHa3GpXq71wY_7-PuAKVbrjDVWtZZSjtW820gMtPLP0Safyi61i8N57321EdfxxVPD-oPU6YaFR-zA8G0WSi785_mud06eT160iS9b9Npl_Q/w133-h200/AlienBonds_Ebook.v2_Amazon.jpg" width="133" /></a></i></b></div><p></p><p>The promotion lasted five days, from midnight PDT Friday, May 6 to midnight PDT Tuesday, May 10, and I gave away 1,777 copies of the Kindle version over that time. I paid for a listing Book Gorilla on Saturday and in FreeBooksy on Sunday.</p><h4><ul class="a-unordered-list a-nostyle a-vertical a-spacing-none detail-bullet-list" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 1px 18px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: small;">Alien Bonds ranking May 9 10 am</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;">Best Sellers Rank: </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">#70 Free in Kindle Store (</span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text?tf%3D1/ref%3Dpd_zg_ts_digital-text?tf%3D1&source=gmail&ust=1652370667054000&usg=AOvVaw0tw6Jb1zjtmBLH1KRLWPgc" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text?tf=1/ref=pd_zg_ts_digital-text?tf=1" rel="noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">See Top 100 in Kindle Store</a><span style="background-color: transparent;">)</span></li></ul></h4><div><span face="Amazon Ember, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1111;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: small;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 1px 18px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">#1 in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6809437011?tf%3D1/ref%3Dpd_zg_hrsr_digital-text&source=gmail&ust=1652370667054000&usg=AOvVaw22PfaqjSurHPQGh1caHXw7" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6809437011?tf=1/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_digital-text" rel="noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c7511f; outline: rgb(0, 130, 150) auto 5px;" target="_blank">First Contact Science Fiction eBooks</a></span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">#1 in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6401744011?tf%3D1/ref%3Dpd_zg_hrsr_digital-text&source=gmail&ust=1652370667054000&usg=AOvVaw1RG1Szi0nsNiVelUZW5iCs" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6401744011?tf=1/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_digital-text" rel="noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Science Fiction Romance (Kindle Store)</a></span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">#2 in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6487837011?tf%3D1/ref%3Dpd_zg_hrsr_digital-text&source=gmail&ust=1652370667054000&usg=AOvVaw1P4HID5wBhKoQd2tv-QQLt" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6487837011?tf=1/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_digital-text" rel="noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Multicultural & Interracial Romance</a></span></li></ul></span></li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 1px 18px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Customer Reviews: </span><div id="m_1520863322839968096m_5628972319719873903m_-534491794624583982gmail-detailBullets_averageCustomerReviews" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span id="m_1520863322839968096m_5628972319719873903m_-534491794624583982gmail-acrPopover" style="box-sizing: border-box;" title="4.4 out of 5 stars"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a rel="noreferrer" role="button" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185;"><i style="background-image: url("https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/aDChq3Q_8sIX7TPmOgst8QfBWvzMGT_fuhiHNPwJak6Lfe5kF6B9Rp1b3muYwR7HKsGwJWXMk6X0c_a4QsGkeNkPjk5pCIPvCXD1QGtxZw=s0-d-e1-ft#https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/3-fm1Jbg4IHlyhq.png"); background-position: -84px -28px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 512px 256px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 18px; vertical-align: text-top; width: 80px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: inherit; height: 18px; line-height: normal; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; width: 80px;">4.4 out of 5 stars</span></i> <i style="background-image: url("https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/QxTZxTqChkevpgE2BEWwKJ3vpGkn-UmLSN-i2LeLVD90ju13KlmhDnMgiZJpkL29fxNkzGtC6r5UduS1DYH9-pG2pl6cLKkchUePft4r8Q=s0-d-e1-ft#https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/McBZv0ZvnbehkIx.png"); background-position: -90px -5px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 400px 900px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 0px 0.385em; opacity: 0.6; vertical-align: text-top; width: 7px;"></i></a> </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span> </span></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://smile.amazon.com/Alien-Bonds-Wakanreo-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07959BHM4/ref%3Dcm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie%3DUTF8%23customerReviews&source=gmail&ust=1652370667054000&usg=AOvVaw3MspX5ehHB4OZHn5gf5rcD" href="https://smile.amazon.com/Alien-Bonds-Wakanreo-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07959BHM4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8#customerReviews" id="m_1520863322839968096m_5628972319719873903m_-534491794624583982gmail-acrCustomerReviewLink" rel="noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span id="m_1520863322839968096m_5628972319719873903m_-534491794624583982gmail-acrCustomerReviewText" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px;">79 ratings</span></a></span></div></span></li></ul></div><div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: small;">On May 10 it had dropped a bit but it had picked up a few ratings. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1px 18px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Best Sellers Rank: </span>#246 Free in Kindle Store (<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text?tf%3D1/ref%3Dpd_zg_ts_digital-text?tf%3D1&source=gmail&ust=1652370667054000&usg=AOvVaw29zPAWyghCfK9Zso2hOdoM" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text?tf=1/ref=pd_zg_ts_digital-text?tf=1" rel="noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">See Top 100 in Kindle Store</a>)<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">#2 in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6809437011?tf%3D1/ref%3Dpd_zg_hrsr_digital-text&source=gmail&ust=1652370667054000&usg=AOvVaw3JCS0Lg4f6Fv8PYtL2Zx44" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6809437011?tf=1/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_digital-text" rel="noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">First Contact Science Fiction eBooks</a></span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">#5 in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6401744011?tf%3D1/ref%3Dpd_zg_hrsr_digital-text&source=gmail&ust=1652370667054000&usg=AOvVaw19V-kcElc6C1rcuZ9KgPph" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6401744011?tf=1/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_digital-text" rel="noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Science Fiction Romance (Kindle Store)</a></span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">#6 in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/158569011?tf%3D1/ref%3Dpd_zg_hrsr_digital-text&source=gmail&ust=1652370667054000&usg=AOvVaw080ml2Jw-HOOcO6m1CNXew" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/158569011?tf=1/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_digital-text" rel="noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Fantasy & Futuristic Romance</a></span></li></ul></span></li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1px 18px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Customer Reviews: </span><div id="m_1520863322839968096m_5628972319719873903m_-534491794624583982gmail-detailBullets_averageCustomerReviews" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span id="m_1520863322839968096m_5628972319719873903m_-534491794624583982gmail-acrPopover" style="box-sizing: border-box;" title="4.4 out of 5 stars"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a rel="noreferrer" role="button" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185;"><i style="background-image: url("https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/aDChq3Q_8sIX7TPmOgst8QfBWvzMGT_fuhiHNPwJak6Lfe5kF6B9Rp1b3muYwR7HKsGwJWXMk6X0c_a4QsGkeNkPjk5pCIPvCXD1QGtxZw=s0-d-e1-ft#https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/3-fm1Jbg4IHlyhq.png"); background-position: -84px -28px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 512px 256px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 18px; vertical-align: text-top; width: 80px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: inherit; height: 17.9972px; line-height: normal; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; width: 80px;">4.4 out of 5 stars</span></i> <i style="background-image: url("https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/QxTZxTqChkevpgE2BEWwKJ3vpGkn-UmLSN-i2LeLVD90ju13KlmhDnMgiZJpkL29fxNkzGtC6r5UduS1DYH9-pG2pl6cLKkchUePft4r8Q=s0-d-e1-ft#https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/McBZv0ZvnbehkIx.png"); background-position: -90px -5px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 400px 900px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 0px 0.385em; opacity: 0.6; vertical-align: text-top; width: 7px;"></i></a> </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span> </span></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07959BHM4/ref%3Ddp-kindle-redirect?_encoding%3DUTF8%26btkr%3D1%23customerReviews&source=gmail&ust=1652370667054000&usg=AOvVaw1x7tEK1SEvGnQkjFnv688l" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07959BHM4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1#customerReviews" id="m_1520863322839968096m_5628972319719873903m_-534491794624583982gmail-acrCustomerReviewLink" rel="noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span id="m_1520863322839968096m_5628972319719873903m_-534491794624583982gmail-acrCustomerReviewText" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px;">82 ratings</span></a></span></div></span></li></ul><div><span face="Amazon Ember, Arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="Amazon Ember, Arial, sans-serif">As of today, this is the raninkig:</span></div><div><span face="Amazon Ember, Arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div><span face="Amazon Ember, Arial, sans-serif"><ul class="a-unordered-list a-nostyle a-vertical a-spacing-none detail-bullet-list" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1px 18px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="a-list-item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700 !important;">Best Sellers Rank: </span>#339,550 in Kindle Store (<a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/ref=pd_zg_ts_digital-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;">See Top 100 in Kindle Store</a>)<ul class="a-unordered-list a-nostyle a-vertical zg_hrsr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="a-list-item" style="box-sizing: border-box;">#1,497 in <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/7588888011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_digital-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;">Women's Fantasy Fiction</a></span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="a-list-item" style="box-sizing: border-box;">#2,969 in <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/7588885011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_digital-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;">Women's Action & Adventure Fiction</a></span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="a-list-item" style="box-sizing: border-box;">#4,047 in <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6809437011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_digital-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;">First Contact Science Fiction eBooks</a></span></li></ul></span></li></ul><ul class="a-unordered-list a-nostyle a-vertical a-spacing-none detail-bullet-list" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1px 18px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="a-list-item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700 !important;">Customer Reviews: </span><div data-asin="B07959BHM4" data-ref="dpx_acr_pop_" id="detailBullets_averageCustomerReviews" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline;"><span class="a-declarative" data-acrstarslink-click-metrics="{}" data-action="acrStarsLink-click-metrics" data-csa-c-func-deps="aui-da-acrStarsLink-click-metrics" data-csa-c-id="fft14-m3fs4k-8uyd7g-1439uw" data-csa-c-type="widget" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="reviewCountTextLinkedHistogram noUnderline" id="acrPopover" style="box-sizing: border-box;" title="4.4 out of 5 stars"><span class="a-declarative" data-a-popover="{"max-width":"700","closeButton":"false","position":"triggerBottom","url":"/gp/customer-reviews/widgets/average-customer-review/popover/ref=dpx_acr_pop_?contextId=dpx&asin=B07959BHM4"}" data-action="a-popover" data-csa-c-func-deps="aui-da-a-popover" data-csa-c-id="qcqg7f-wx8f52-pjvyfr-c5b950" data-csa-c-type="widget" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="a-popover-trigger a-declarative" role="button" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185;"><i class="a-icon a-icon-star a-star-4-5" style="background-image: url("https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/3-fm1Jbg4IHlyhq.png"); background-position: -84px -28px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 512px 256px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 18px; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; width: 80px;"><span class="a-icon-alt" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: circle(0px at 50% 50%); display: block; font-size: inherit; height: 18px; left: auto; line-height: normal; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 80px;">4.4 out of 5 stars</span></i> <i class="a-icon a-icon-popover" style="background-image: url("https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/McBZv0ZvnbehkIx.png"); background-position: -90px -5px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 400px 900px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 0px 0.385em; opacity: 0.6; vertical-align: text-top; width: 7px;"></i></a> </span><span class="a-letter-space" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span> </span></span><span class="a-letter-space" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span> <span class="a-declarative" data-acrlink-click-metrics="{}" data-action="acrLink-click-metrics" data-csa-c-func-deps="aui-da-acrLink-click-metrics" data-csa-c-id="xvt8md-39ked0-j0pxuf-ulp3nh" data-csa-c-type="widget" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://smile.amazon.com/Alien-Bonds-Wakanreo-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07959BHM4/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2KY763RNO89HA&keywords=alien+bonds+buxton&qid=1654106986&sprefix=%2Caps%2C187&sr=8-1#customerReviews" id="acrCustomerReviewLink" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="a-size-base" id="acrCustomerReviewText" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px !important;">94 ratings</span></a></span></div></span></li></ul></span></div></div><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="font-family: amazon ember, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: amazon ember, arial, sans-serif;">It also gained 12 ratings/reviews, including this one:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: amazon ember, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="a-row a-spacing-mini" data-hook="genome-widget" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 4px !important; width: 655.775px;"><a class="a-profile" data-a-size="small" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AH6BAGKTPV4X7MVRRMQWQ4GFXXAA/ref=cm_cr_othr_d_gw_tr?ie=UTF8" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c7511f; cursor: pointer; display: table; outline-offset: -2px; outline: rgb(0, 130, 150) auto 5px; text-decoration-line: none;"><div aria-hidden="true" class="a-profile-avatar-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: table-cell; padding-right: 9px; width: 43px;"><div class="a-profile-avatar" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 34px; position: relative; width: 34px;"><img class="" data-src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/default._CR0,0,1024,1024_SX48_.png" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/default._CR0,0,1024,1024_SX48_.png" style="border-radius: 34px; border: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top; width: 34px;" /></div></div><div class="a-profile-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: table-cell; min-height: 34px; vertical-align: middle;"><span class="a-profile-name" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; position: relative; unicode-bidi: isolate;">maddlycreative</span></div></a></div><div class="a-row" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; width: 655.775px;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RZYJBGD94M6A/ref=cm_cr_othr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07959BHM4" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" title="5.0 out of 5 stars"><i class="a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating" data-hook="review-star-rating" style="background-image: url("https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/3-fm1Jbg4IHlyhq.png"); background-position: -166px -36px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 512px 256px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 18px; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; width: 80px;"><span class="a-icon-alt" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: circle(0px at 50% 50%); display: block; font-size: inherit; height: 18px; left: auto; line-height: normal; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 80px;">5.0 out of 5 stars</span></i></a><span class="a-letter-space" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span><a class="a-size-base a-link-normal review-title a-color-base review-title-content a-text-bold" data-hook="review-title" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RZYJBGD94M6A/ref=cm_cr_othr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07959BHM4" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-weight: 700 !important; line-height: 20px !important; text-decoration-line: none;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">What a skilled writer</span></a></div><span class="a-size-base a-color-secondary review-date" data-hook="review-date" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(86, 89, 89) !important; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px !important;">Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2022</span><div class="a-row a-spacing-mini review-data review-format-strip" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 4px !important; width: 655.775px;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_avp?nodeId=201930110" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="a-size-mini a-color-state a-text-bold" data-hook="avp-badge-linkless" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(196, 85, 0) !important; font-size: 12px !important; font-weight: 700 !important; line-height: 16px !important;">Verified Purchase</span></a></div><div class="a-row a-spacing-small review-data" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 8px !important; width: 655.775px;"><span class="a-size-base review-text" data-hook="review-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px !important;">Even though the book seemed very long, it really wasn’t. It just dealt in a lot of the intricacies of every day living with an u familiar species on an unfamiliar planet, which we needed to see on order to appreciate the struggles that our characters were facing. I especially loved the finesse with which Jared’s ceremony was handled - no more words needed to be said and that whole scene was TIGHT!! Very good book. I would love to know more.</span></div><div class="a-row review-comments cr-vote-action-bar" data-hook="review-comments" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; width: 655.775px;"><span class="cr-vote" data-hook="review-voting-widget" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="a-row a-spacing-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 8px !important; width: 655.775px;"><span class="a-size-base a-color-tertiary cr-vote-text" data-hook="helpful-vote-statement" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(86, 89, 89) !important; line-height: 20px !important;">3 people found this helpful</span></div><div class="a-row a-spacing-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 8px !important; width: 655.775px;">There was a small uptick in sales of the two sequels, but surprisingly what went up noticeably was Kindle Unlimited reads of the whole trilogy. The algorithm for recommending books to KU readers must uses sales data.</div><div class="a-row a-spacing-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 8px !important; width: 655.775px;"><br /></div><div class="a-row a-spacing-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 8px !important; width: 655.775px;"><br /></div></span></div></div></div><div dir="ltr"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></span></div>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-42494216396768989752022-05-06T08:40:00.000-04:002022-05-06T08:40:14.990-04:00ALIEN BONDS is free in the Kindle store for a few days!<p style="text-align: left;">The first book in my Wakanreo trilogy, <i><span style="color: red;"><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07959BHM4/" target="_blank">Alien Bonds</a></span></i>, is free starting today, May 6th and continuing until Tuesday, May 10.</p>This is a story of two very different people from two very different cultures, a sort of AVATAR combined with PRIDE & PREJUDICE. When those two people meet, their lives are changed in an instant. Industrial chemist Dina Bellaire has traveled all the way to the planet Wakanreo to advance her career. Her carefully planned life goes up in flames the second she meets Kuaron Du, a Wakanrean who makes his living singing ancient songs in a dead language. Both of them know they can’t go back to the way they were before they met. They just have to convince the rest of the universe that what happened to them is real. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinb_Y7y_dHdJgzVbHKLVXMz7VDyrr6Y_78rt55b-yhaMaBO60lqPzFsLd4_TSXwZE_5OQFk6o8iXsDBKlOjM7dkcYdMBDj96k6TKtfPx_mvX0KwLuVi__ZN1i6TfwGbc5ASYe1ChnRW6wgpcK7lk6cN2LAuNDPbm-2UmGqnAVkWRJ8bhHkBdBTeuZWOg/s4500/AlienBonds_Ebook.v2_Amazon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4500" data-original-width="3000" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinb_Y7y_dHdJgzVbHKLVXMz7VDyrr6Y_78rt55b-yhaMaBO60lqPzFsLd4_TSXwZE_5OQFk6o8iXsDBKlOjM7dkcYdMBDj96k6TKtfPx_mvX0KwLuVi__ZN1i6TfwGbc5ASYe1ChnRW6wgpcK7lk6cN2LAuNDPbm-2UmGqnAVkWRJ8bhHkBdBTeuZWOg/w133-h200/AlienBonds_Ebook.v2_Amazon.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><p><b>An excerpt from the <span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/carmen-webster-buxton/alien-bonds-wakanreo-volume-1/" target="_blank">Kirkus review</a>:</span></b></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Buxton offers an SF story about interplanetary love triumphing, despite the odds.. . . readers will feel truly immersed in their religion, values, and technology of Wakanreo and appreciate the relevance of Buxton's depiction of a couple fighting for their relationship in a climate of intolerance in this thought-provoking work. A dense but often engrossing tale, grounded in a relatable love affair." </span><br /></p><p><b>Here's just a sampling of the Amazon reviews:</b></p><div class="a-row a-spacing-mini" data-hook="genome-widget" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 4px !important; width: 730.825px;"><a class="a-profile" data-a-size="small" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AHGAVL7SPGXUEISAS5C6RNKPSMLA/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_gw_btm?ie=UTF8" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; display: table; text-decoration-line: none;"><div aria-hidden="true" class="a-profile-avatar-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: table-cell; padding-right: 9px; width: 43px;"><div class="a-profile-avatar" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 34px; position: relative; width: 34px;"><img class="" data-src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/e2b49f8f-4110-4675-94f4-51dc81311a5c._CR94,0,312,312_SX48_.jpg" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/e2b49f8f-4110-4675-94f4-51dc81311a5c._CR94,0,312,312_SX48_.jpg" style="border-radius: 34px; border: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top; width: 34px;" /></div></div><div class="a-profile-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: table-cell; min-height: 34px; vertical-align: middle;"><span class="a-profile-name" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; position: relative; unicode-bidi: isolate;">Deb W</span></div></a></div><div class="a-row" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 730.825px;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RDQPAX6EO6HOC/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07959BHM4" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" title="5.0 out of 5 stars"><i class="a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating" data-hook="review-star-rating" style="background-image: url("https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/3-fm1Jbg4IHlyhq.png"); background-position: -166px -36px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 512px 256px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 18px; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; width: 80px;"><span class="a-icon-alt" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: circle(0px at 50% 50%); display: block; font-size: inherit; height: 18px; left: auto; line-height: normal; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 80px;">5.0 out of 5 stars</span></i></a><span class="a-letter-space" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span><a class="a-size-base a-link-normal review-title a-color-base review-title-content a-text-bold" data-hook="review-title" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RDQPAX6EO6HOC/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07959BHM4" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-weight: 700 !important; line-height: 20px !important; text-decoration-line: none;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Perspective is everything!</span></a></div><p><span class="a-size-base a-color-secondary review-date" data-hook="review-date" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(86, 89, 89) !important; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px !important;">Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2021</span></p><div class="a-row a-spacing-mini review-data review-format-strip" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 4px !important; width: 730.825px;"></div>Excellent read forcing you to see things from more than one perspective. Challenges your thinking on tradition, obligation, love and destiny. Sometimes it's good to see things from another view!! heartwarming love story doesn't hurt either!!!<div><br /><div class="a-row a-spacing-small review-data" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 8px !important; width: 730.825px;"><span class="a-size-base review-text review-text-content" data-hook="review-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px !important;"><div class="a-row a-spacing-mini" data-hook="genome-widget" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 4px !important; width: 328.862px;"><a class="a-profile" data-a-size="small" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AEIO7T44ZBZ4KAKHTD56WXJZOVBQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_gw_lft?ie=UTF8" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c7511f; cursor: pointer; display: table; outline-offset: -2px; outline: rgb(0, 130, 150) auto 5px; text-decoration-line: none;"><div aria-hidden="true" class="a-profile-avatar-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: table-cell; padding-right: 9px; width: 43px;"><div class="a-profile-avatar" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 34px; position: relative; width: 34px;"><img class="" data-src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/default._CR0,0,1024,1024_SX48_.png" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/default._CR0,0,1024,1024_SX48_.png" style="border-radius: 34px; border: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top; width: 34px;" /></div></div><div class="a-profile-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: table-cell; min-height: 34px; vertical-align: middle;"><span class="a-profile-name" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; position: relative; unicode-bidi: isolate;">Kindle Customer</span></div></a></div><div class="a-row" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 328.862px;"><i class="a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating" data-hook="review-star-rating-view-point" style="background-image: url("https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/3-fm1Jbg4IHlyhq.png"); background-position: -166px -36px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 512px 256px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 18px; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; width: 80px;"><span class="a-icon-alt" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: circle(0px at 50% 50%); display: block; font-size: inherit; height: 18px; left: auto; line-height: normal; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 80px;">5.0 out of 5 stars</span></i><span class="a-letter-space" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span><span class="a-size-base review-title a-text-bold" data-hook="review-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700 !important; line-height: 20px !important;">Best book I've read all year!</span></div>Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2020</span></div>I am very impressed with this story, not only because is very original (at least to me being fairly new to this genre) and because the love story is so intercepted by evolution, politics and the cultural differences of two humanoid and Alien species. A must read.</div><div><br /><div class="a-row a-spacing-mini" data-hook="genome-widget" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 4px !important; width: 730.825px;"><a class="a-profile" data-a-size="small" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AHCMRO55XU4AX2MJSXEW3MGEA52A/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_gw_btm?ie=UTF8" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c7511f; cursor: pointer; display: table; outline-offset: -2px; outline: rgb(0, 130, 150) auto 5px; text-decoration-line: none;"><div aria-hidden="true" class="a-profile-avatar-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: table-cell; padding-right: 9px; width: 43px;"><div class="a-profile-avatar" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 34px; position: relative; width: 34px;"><img class="" data-src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/b33692f3-7c72-48d9-94ef-27208dbe7e3c._CR94,0,312,312_SX48_.jpg" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/b33692f3-7c72-48d9-94ef-27208dbe7e3c._CR94,0,312,312_SX48_.jpg" style="border-radius: 34px; border: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top; width: 34px;" /></div></div><div class="a-profile-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: table-cell; min-height: 34px; vertical-align: middle;"><span class="a-profile-name" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; position: relative; unicode-bidi: isolate;">Nickie.long.al</span></div></a></div><div class="a-row" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 730.825px;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RD2ZWIJAQZV3R/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07959BHM4" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" title="5.0 out of 5 stars"><i class="a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating" data-hook="review-star-rating" style="background-image: url("https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/3-fm1Jbg4IHlyhq.png"); background-position: -166px -36px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 512px 256px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 18px; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; width: 80px;"><span class="a-icon-alt" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: circle(0px at 50% 50%); display: block; font-size: inherit; height: 18px; left: auto; line-height: normal; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 80px;">5.0 out of 5 stars</span></i></a><span class="a-letter-space" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span><a class="a-size-base a-link-normal review-title a-color-base review-title-content a-text-bold" data-hook="review-title" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RD2ZWIJAQZV3R/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07959BHM4" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-weight: 700 !important; line-height: 20px !important; text-decoration-line: none;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Amazing book to read</span></a></div><p><span class="a-size-base a-color-secondary review-date" data-hook="review-date" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(86, 89, 89) !important; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px !important;">Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2021</span></p><div class="a-row a-spacing-mini review-data review-format-strip" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 4px !important; width: 730.825px;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_avp?nodeId=201930110" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="a-size-mini a-color-state a-text-bold" data-hook="avp-badge" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(196, 85, 0) !important; font-size: 12px !important; font-weight: 700 !important; line-height: 16px !important;">Verified Purchase</span></a></div><div class="a-row a-spacing-small review-data" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 8px !important; width: 730.825px;"><span class="a-size-base review-text review-text-content" data-hook="review-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px !important;">Amazing book to read. Couldn't put it down. Loved it. Five star book. Highly recommend it.</span></div><div class="a-row a-spacing-small review-data" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 8px !important; width: 730.825px;"><span class="a-size-base review-text review-text-content" data-hook="review-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px !important;"><br /></span></div><div class="a-row a-spacing-mini" data-hook="genome-widget" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 4px !important; width: 730.825px;"><a class="a-profile" data-a-size="small" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AHO44NKWWVAEKQUFUY4PFMM73QNA/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_gw_btm?ie=UTF8" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c7511f; cursor: pointer; display: table; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><div aria-hidden="true" class="a-profile-avatar-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: table-cell; padding-right: 9px; width: 43px;"><div class="a-profile-avatar" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 34px; position: relative; width: 34px;"><img class="" data-src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/default._CR0,0,1024,1024_SX48_.png" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/default._CR0,0,1024,1024_SX48_.png" style="border-radius: 34px; border: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top; width: 34px;" /></div></div><div class="a-profile-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: table-cell; min-height: 34px; vertical-align: middle;"><span class="a-profile-name" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; position: relative; unicode-bidi: isolate;">Dr Susan</span></div></a></div><div class="a-row" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 730.825px;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1SEOAI9OIX780/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07959BHM4" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" title="5.0 out of 5 stars"><i class="a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating" data-hook="review-star-rating" style="background-image: url("https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/3-fm1Jbg4IHlyhq.png"); background-position: -166px -36px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 512px 256px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 18px; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; width: 80px;"><span class="a-icon-alt" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: circle(0px at 50% 50%); display: block; font-size: inherit; height: 18px; left: auto; line-height: normal; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 80px;">5.0 out of 5 stars</span></i></a><span class="a-letter-space" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span><a class="a-size-base a-link-normal review-title a-color-base review-title-content a-text-bold" data-hook="review-title" href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1SEOAI9OIX780/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07959BHM4" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-weight: 700 !important; line-height: 20px !important; text-decoration-line: none;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Great sci fi romance</span></a></div><span class="a-size-base a-color-secondary review-date" data-hook="review-date" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(86, 89, 89) !important; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px !important;">Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2021</span><div class="a-row a-spacing-mini review-data review-format-strip" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 4px !important; width: 730.825px;"></div>I don't like love triangles, but Buxton's handling of this one, her world building, the well-written story, the fantastic aliens, and intriguing characters earned Bonds 5 stars. I'm very fond of Jared, and I hope he returns to Wakanreo. I admit I loved the lack of doom and destruction in this character-driven story. I read it on KU but will buy it to reread.<div><br /></div><div>If you want this book, <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Alien-Bonds-Wakanreo-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07959BHM4/" target="_blank">get it now</a>! </div></div>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-60927380625296655282022-03-31T15:59:00.005-04:002022-04-03T22:23:34.656-04:00First lines<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj515IhCNidH0AzO85G4CjIBIOXF5PhLaomp_fysK054FIyscBTePaxQSOZPm3Xq_H_Nvz8UZi8XXdB0E-cfnJ876ukTXR_dn6x8RTAlRvhh2_5s5UBPqIpBF1SrHWoWxbSxS6fe-9psDE30B2NGgyhb5Y-O7sGLi2shiRpXAQTo3jMgykUzeZJDPPxdg/s2500/Turnabout-KINDLE.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1567" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj515IhCNidH0AzO85G4CjIBIOXF5PhLaomp_fysK054FIyscBTePaxQSOZPm3Xq_H_Nvz8UZi8XXdB0E-cfnJ876ukTXR_dn6x8RTAlRvhh2_5s5UBPqIpBF1SrHWoWxbSxS6fe-9psDE30B2NGgyhb5Y-O7sGLi2shiRpXAQTo3jMgykUzeZJDPPxdg/w202-h320/Turnabout-KINDLE.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>I happened to see a discussion by fantasy author <a href="http://www.ellenkushner.com/" target="_blank">Ellen Kushner</a> (I think it was on her Facebook page but now I can't find it) comparing first lines of novels. The person she was quoting talked about how so many 19th century novels had memorable first lines than more recent novels, My favorite of those cited is <i style="font-weight: bold;">Pride and Prejudice's </i>opening: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." The discussion continued asking whether 20th Century novels also had memorable first lines. Some do, of course, but I don't think anyone ever bettered Jane Austen.<br /><br />This got me thinking about the first lines in my own books. So I went back and looked them up. They vary considerably. My books are listed below, with the first line shown for each. I defined the first line as the first sentence, unless it's single word and then it includes the sentence after that. See what you think of them! <div><br /><div><u>Haven duology</u><br /><div><b><i>The Sixth Discipline:</i></b> On the morning he was kidnapped, Ran-Del Jahanpur stepped out of his great-grandfather’s house and stretched to his full height.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihGVlGY_Mmzam2OnHd0B7D0p5pmLaCTOmrVUVygj3prufOeNcFq4pGZr9mLHwOg7zrLzEOsEwpPl8vZAvhlVaI4Go83sc4PFXEp3LkNV0wiVh8f03zXG6_54STUu5PYgM3OUl_Z9W_BI7gtpzi_zxp1wbj_dc7wubyy-4gGoB6Wf3p3dLPzChR1Kq_ug/s2700/BagofTricks_Ebook.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihGVlGY_Mmzam2OnHd0B7D0p5pmLaCTOmrVUVygj3prufOeNcFq4pGZr9mLHwOg7zrLzEOsEwpPl8vZAvhlVaI4Go83sc4PFXEp3LkNV0wiVh8f03zXG6_54STUu5PYgM3OUl_Z9W_BI7gtpzi_zxp1wbj_dc7wubyy-4gGoB6Wf3p3dLPzChR1Kq_ug/w213-h320/BagofTricks_Ebook.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><b><i>No Safe Haven</i></b>: Ran-Del watched his son press his face against the glass museum case. <br /><br /><b><i>Tribes</i></b>: The scorpipede crawling up Hob's foot tickled, which seemed odd for something so deadly.<br /><br /><b><i>The Nostalgia Gambit</i></b>: The thief pushed the box across the table toward me. <br /><br /><b><i>Shades of Empire</i></b>, Alexander listened, but he heard no sound other than his own breathing.<br /><br /><b><i>King of Trees:</i></b> Sharon York gripped the padded arms of her seat.<br /><br /><b><i>Saronna's Gift</i></b>: A warm summer breeze caught Saronna’s veil and almost pulled it loose.<br /><br /><i><b>Turnabout</b></i>: The first time Becca Sommers mentioned Spanish class to me it surprised me—partly because I didn’t know Becca took Spanish, but mostly because she had just that moment slid her hand under my tee shirt and raked my chest hair with her fingernails. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLiFIT51uoKdULQDeL6K106V8oaGMNOdxAKlIQr4CQBii-i4g36t0gVNrGQnS44Gd2VJmEOlbkmtgIUPwt40wiQKoX8NOSf2gUEYL8MWA0hGmShLtxOYQoYw9xe0f6r6FJscO3xD165aQr7OyZL9tp7Dm6dO9MNgrqzAJyuYucd1oscwJVemBDurwGA/s2700/Drifters_Ebook.v2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLiFIT51uoKdULQDeL6K106V8oaGMNOdxAKlIQr4CQBii-i4g36t0gVNrGQnS44Gd2VJmEOlbkmtgIUPwt40wiQKoX8NOSf2gUEYL8MWA0hGmShLtxOYQoYw9xe0f6r6FJscO3xD165aQr7OyZL9tp7Dm6dO9MNgrqzAJyuYucd1oscwJVemBDurwGA/s320/Drifters_Ebook.v2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div><u>Wakanreo Trilogy</u></div><div><b><i>Alien Bonds:</i></b> Dina ran one hand down the smooth red fabric of her fanciest party dress.<br /><b><i>Alien Vows</i></b>, “Yulayan!” Her father’s voice coming from the com made Yulayan jump.<br /><b><i>Alien Skies,</i></b> Kamuhi Hailoaka fastened the last clasp on his sensor-enabled training coverall, pulled on his boots, and looked down at his sleeping wife. <br /><br /><b><i>Drifters,</i></b> Jehan forced himself to breathe normally, trying to appear relaxed in front of the assembled membership of the Jeezer Killers.<br /><br /><b><i>Bag of Tricks</i></b>, Osman’s balls!” Aveline muttered under her breath as Princess Inessa’s left heel dug painfully into Aveline’s right shoulder.<br /><br /><b><i>Hidden Magic</i></b>, Richart let his sword fall from his grasp. <br /><br /><u>The Nameless World duolo</u>gy<br /><b><i>The North Edge of Nowhere:</i></b> Darius took the silver goblet from the tray and stared into its depths.<br /><b><i>Oaths and Promises:</i></b> Darius climbed the hill above the ruins and wished he had worn a heavier jacket.<br /><br /><b><i>Worlds Apart:</i></b> Prax crouched beside the wagon wheel, trying to see through it without exposing himself to the outlaws’ line of fire.<br /><br />Novella: <b><i>Where Magic Rules</i></b>: “Good morning, sir.”<br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br />And the winner is . . </h3></div><div>I think for jumping the reader into the story, it's a tie between <b><i>Bag of Tricks</i></b> and <b><i>Drifters</i></b>. I would give the prize for setting the tone of the book to <b><i>Turnabout</i></b>. But for doing both those things at once, I think my first published book did it best: <i><b>The Sixth Discipline</b></i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments! </div><div><br /></div></div></div>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-51387086654610507762022-03-16T13:30:00.004-04:002022-03-19T15:04:06.646-04:00Immersive reading: My worlds and the world of Georgette Heyer<br /><br />From as far back as I can remember, I have always been an avid reader. When I was in junior high school (I missed going to middle school by a few years) we moved into a house where I finally had not only my own bedroom but my own walk-in closet. I loved it partly because I could put a chair in the closet and sit there and read without interruption. Once, I was immersed in a book when my sister opened the closet door, intending to borrow a sweater. She stared at me open mouthed. When she told me what she wanted, I handed her the sweater and asked her to please close the door.<div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXqipgeCMIQOCBxEnnczriDLnIEWe6uTFn04ANZhaf496lEgcNcXTLES4Zr-7AWnZKcqRxZfZ8f0TmbSNuzylhnfmmZ9Rf37ltcU1Q0aW49QK-HcHKiTuLjW_jRfN8wKkI-GalE8pvKLEDZZBHc94HqCUBxndU00pH1lrzBcpDDgPQLDTKOprnOz9fqA=s1235" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1235" data-original-width="736" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXqipgeCMIQOCBxEnnczriDLnIEWe6uTFn04ANZhaf496lEgcNcXTLES4Zr-7AWnZKcqRxZfZ8f0TmbSNuzylhnfmmZ9Rf37ltcU1Q0aW49QK-HcHKiTuLjW_jRfN8wKkI-GalE8pvKLEDZZBHc94HqCUBxndU00pH1lrzBcpDDgPQLDTKOprnOz9fqA=s320" width="191" /></a></div>Surprisingly, considering that every book I have published to date is set either in a fantasy world, an alternate earth, or the far future, I love reading historical fiction, especially historical romance. I love being transported to the past, because in many ways, it's another world, with different customs, different speech patterns, and sometimes very different problems.<br /><br />But unlike the far future, our past is a world we know something about. The best historical fiction is well researched. With the right amount of detail, historical fiction can make you feel that you're experiencing life in the past. To achieve this, characters shouldn't use modern idioms; and if they act in a way that we consider normal but wouldn't be tolerated in their actual time period, it needs to be clear they're not typical. One of the best writers I've ever encountered for immersing the reader into the past is <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgette_Heyer" target="_blank">Georgette Heyer</a>. From the early 1920s to the late 1970s she wrote over 50 books-- mysteries, historical fiction and Regency romances. I have read pretty much every one. <br /><br />I like some of her books more than others, of course, but in every book Heyer does a decent job of immersing the reader in that world. The ones I like best are those set in the "alien" world of Regency-era England, the second decade or so of the 19th century. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIzYQK4dSGgAQlnOVDVEDPMo-MZOa2vttnsr_LItTumyP6DcSs1pFde--w8B4PRBRXYgfgrZhzAFYEG7c4nqtVzTHDvweTcq_lkbP5kXeHQfRKvEQBxhf_sX6NPSmLJHyCy4_M4lIZ1TCNYd8u5QuzzL0-BekApUIaAGVK-YIqzjkyB5Uhp3zUx07e8A=s4800" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4800" data-original-width="3200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIzYQK4dSGgAQlnOVDVEDPMo-MZOa2vttnsr_LItTumyP6DcSs1pFde--w8B4PRBRXYgfgrZhzAFYEG7c4nqtVzTHDvweTcq_lkbP5kXeHQfRKvEQBxhf_sX6NPSmLJHyCy4_M4lIZ1TCNYd8u5QuzzL0-BekApUIaAGVK-YIqzjkyB5Uhp3zUx07e8A=s320" width="213" /></a></div><br />Society in that place and time was incredibly stratified. Not only wealth but social standing divided people into classes that did not mix socially. Women's lives were strictly circumscribed as to what was proper behavior. And men who aspired to call themselves gentlemen had an equally strict code, even if it was far less limiting of their activities. This gives Heyer's stories a setting that transports the reader from the everyday to the exotic. <br /><br />I, too, want to transport my readers to a more exotic place and time. But unlike Heyer, I don't want to be limited to a specific place, or a specific set of rules of behavior that had actually existed as a setting for my stories. Side note: I enjoy Heyer's stories more when they include purely fictional characters. I find the ones where she includes historical figures and actual events, like the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo to be less entertaining.</div><div><br /></div><div>Back to my writing: In order to give myself total control, I create my own worlds, my own customs, sometimes my own species. But at the same time, in rereading Heyer's books and then rereading my own (which I do sometimes), I can see what a debt my stories owe to hers. </div><div><br /></div><div>In emulation of Heyer, I try to achieve that sense of immersion in a character's life, that makes the reader feel as if they were actually in that place and time. Like her: I give the major characters a family history and often have family members as characters; I stress familial and friendly relationships as well as romantic ones; I have my characters go through their daily activities, and in some cases, encounter humorous situations (as when a human man is invited for a family holiday on an alien world and discovers he'll be sharing a bed with the daughter of the house; Heyer's books may not have aliens, but they certainly have humor!); I describe clothes and customs with enough detail to give the reader a sense of what it's like to live in that place and time. And finally, I try not to have my heroes always be the same guy in a different hair cut.<br /><br />In fact, I like to think that if Georgette Heyer had chosen to write her romances in a science fictional setting, we might well have attracted the same readers! And if you have never read anything by <a href="https://www.sourcebooks.com/georgette-heyer-books-in-chronological-order.html" target="_blank">Georgette Heyer</a>, you might want to check out her books. They're set in the past, but they are also timeless.<br /><br /></div>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-69206652163052903012022-02-13T14:22:00.001-05:002022-02-13T14:22:51.521-05:00ALIEN BONDS is free in the Kindle store for a few days!The first book in my Wakanreo trilogy <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">ALIEN BONDS</a>, is free in the US and <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">UK Kindle</a> stores from today through this Thursday, February 17!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgd-tzrqHpintQcotxUk602Z7qi_DkmlkSAIcPR0V84C_zhJetTXB-02qvbEvFRB1mdujOknBR5Ya0798qjnYAvEnV7-wath0sQNH2Rq2MNXZLo-cPws5acfNXiiFO_vzjcKgaPwd0upv5ZZ1k6B2U0KbFxegSuRYLZYfkm6MxVPDdWsdrqR1_kVle4LQ=s4500" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4500" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgd-tzrqHpintQcotxUk602Z7qi_DkmlkSAIcPR0V84C_zhJetTXB-02qvbEvFRB1mdujOknBR5Ya0798qjnYAvEnV7-wath0sQNH2Rq2MNXZLo-cPws5acfNXiiFO_vzjcKgaPwd0upv5ZZ1k6B2U0KbFxegSuRYLZYfkm6MxVPDdWsdrqR1_kVle4LQ=s320" width="213" /></a></div><br />The story:<br />A story of two very different people from two very different cultures, a sort of AVATAR combined with PRIDE & PREJUDICE. In ALIEN BONDS, two lives are changed in an instant. Industrial chemist Dina Bellaire travels all the way to the planet Wakanreo to advance her career. Her carefully planned life goes up in flames the second she meets Kuaron Du, a Wakanrean who makes his living singing ancient songs in a dead language. Both of them know they can’t go back to the way they were before they met. They just have to convince the rest of the universe that what happened to them is real.<br /><br />Kirkus Reviews: "Buxton offers an SF story about interplanetary love triumphing, despite the odds.. . . readers will feel truly immersed in their religion, values, and technology of Wakanreo and appreciate the relevance of Buxton's depiction of a couple fighting for their relationship in a climate of intolerance in this thought-provoking work. A dense but often engrossing tale, grounded in a relatable love affair."Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-37536805188140061172022-01-24T18:48:00.004-05:002022-12-03T17:22:11.438-05:00Snippet from SHADES OF EMPIRE<div><b><i><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0081H7IIG" target="_blank">Shades of Empire</a></i></b>, a dark space opera/romance, is set in the far future and incorporates three separate love stories. It begins in the harem of Emperor Lothar du Plessis, absolute ruler of a planet known as Gaulle. In Chapter Two the action switches to the merchant starship <i>Queen Bee</i>, owned and captained by Madeline Palestrino. This book is free in Kindle Unlimited.</div><div><br /></div><b>From Chapter Two: </b><div><br /></div><div> Her first mate had a stoic expression when she told him she was leading the expedition herself. “Be careful, Maddy.” </div><div> She grinned, knowing that he wanted to go. “Aren’t I always?” </div><div> He snorted as he checked the fastening of her helmet clamps. “Sure, sure. Just like the time we went after the <i>Emperor Lothar</i>.” </div><div> She frowned at this mention of past adventures. “Take care of my ship, Niels,” she said as she stepped into the shuttle. </div><div> “I will.” He swung the bay door shut. </div><div> Madeline heard a thunk as the lock engaged.
The four other members of the expedition, fully suited, waited for her on the shuttle. Madeline took a seat at the back and let the safety harness envelop her. A shuttle ride always made her feel claustrophobic. The confined space, defined by a center aisle with five seats on either side, seemed too small for the passengers, even now with only half the seats occupied.</div><div> Also, the loss of the ship’s artificial gravity when the door locked invariably disconcerted her. Her magnetic boots held her feet to the deck, but the deck no longer felt like the floor when her arms floated at her sides.
The trip took only a few minutes. She heard the soft whir of the docking port engaging and the abrupt whoosh as their harnesses retracted. </div><div> “Face plates closed,” Madeline said.
Madeline waited until she heard four distinct clicks, and then pressed her own helmet control to close her face plate. She locked it with her chin control, and then stood up. </div><div> Magnetic boots clanged on the steel deck as the five of them started walking.
The iris of the shuttle’s docking port opened smoothly, but instead of the inside of an airlock, Madeline saw the pitted surface of a docking hatch.
“What the hell?” she said under her breath. She had been last in line, but now she pushed her way forward. “What’s wrong? Why didn’t the pod hatch open?” Her voice sounded breathy on the com, as if she were out of shape. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhPx85IzeYsKlpqCJ1K96r-gh9SdP4TxWuUPEsQ2gWA5Luy_TEKZNb3tr_MsPjGVGtp_juO-pNoKUbA4FiffJ5wqb__a2pWTuHx-KQf8VkdDOdINwILR2-KMZyx3_kAa6QkhycOZ7CQ-hfMzvkCEG2i_4SNzFbo0iKpJ3dZzILq0XxEZxuk5kPHPBk_xg=s4800" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4800" data-original-width="3200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhPx85IzeYsKlpqCJ1K96r-gh9SdP4TxWuUPEsQ2gWA5Luy_TEKZNb3tr_MsPjGVGtp_juO-pNoKUbA4FiffJ5wqb__a2pWTuHx-KQf8VkdDOdINwILR2-KMZyx3_kAa6QkhycOZ7CQ-hfMzvkCEG2i_4SNzFbo0iKpJ3dZzILq0XxEZxuk5kPHPBk_xg=w266-h400" width="266" /></a></div><br /></div><div> Mahler had been in the lead. He stepped back now and used one gloved finger to trace a thick metallic ridge, just visible where the lip of the docking port met the skin of the life pod. “Look at that, skipper!” </div><div> For a moment Madeline stared at the ridge without comprehension. It looked almost like scar tissue. Finally, she understood. “It’s welded shut!” </div><div> Mahler nodded. “It sure is.” </div><div> Clinking noises sounded behind her. Madeline realized her crew members were talking to each other by touching helmets to carry the sound, so that she couldn’t hear them. “Coms on full,” she ordered at once. “If you’ve got something to say, let’s hear it.” </div><div> After a brief silence her senior tech spoke up. “Why would anyone seal up a life pod like this, skipper? Unless there was something dangerous—”
He didn’t finish the sentence, but three helmeted heads nodded in agreement. </div><div> Madeline frowned. </div><div> Before she could speak, Mahler pointed again. “Hey, isn’t that—”
He stopped, and they all stared at the swirl of gold lines at the top of the hatch cover. </div><div> Madeline reached out her hand and traced the gold ridges that looped and whirled back upon themselves. “The Emperor’s personal seal.” She couldn’t feel any texture through her glove, except that the seal was solid, not holographic. </div><div> There was another silence. The crewman at the back of the line tried to shuffle his feet, and swayed back and forth as the magnets held his feet down. Lineaus was new to the crew of the Bee. He needed practice at this kind of exercise. </div><div> “So,” Madeline said, “Emperor Lothar doesn’t want us to open this life pod. Seems to me that that’s a damn good reason to cut it open right now.” </div><div> Someone sighed, and Madeline grinned. “No sense being stupid about it, though. Buchanan!” </div><div> Her senior tech started. “Yes, ma’am?” </div><div> Madeline patted the dull black surface of the hatch cover. “See if you can find out more about what’s behind this door before we cut it open.” </div><div> The line of men seemed to relax all at once. Madeline resisted the temptation to check the charge on the laser pistol attached to the leg of her suit. No sense making them more nervous. </div><div> Buchanan stepped up to the hatch and opened his tech kit. After a few minutes with a portable scanner pressed against the hatch, he shook his head inside his helmet. “I think there’s someone there. I get a life sign reading, but there’s no sound to speak of.” </div><div> “Just one person?” </div><div> He nodded, and then his eyes opened wide. “Wait!” </div><div> “What?” Madeline demanded. “What is it?” </div><div> “Voices! I hear voices. Someone screaming—a woman I think. And someone crying. No, wait, now it’s a man talking. Damn, I can’t hear well enough!” </div><div> Madeline made up her mind. “Okay, that’s enough. If Emperor Lothar has someone shut up in there, we need to get him—or her—out.”
She stepped back as her crew moved to obey her. </div><div> There was no further suggestion that the life pod was too dangerous to breach. Instead, Mahler and Buchanan operated the cutting tool that was part of the shuttle’s emergency equipment, while Doc checked his medkit, and Lineaus watched the thin crack on one side of the hatch grow steadily longer. </div><div> Finally, the tool moved back to the top of the long irregular oval, almost completing the cut. </div><div> Madeline stepped forward and punched the center of the oval. The piece of titanium alloy clattered noisily in the thin air of the shuttle as it bounced off the airlock walls. Beyond the opening, Madeline saw only darkness. </div><div> She stepped up to the ragged hole and shone her helmet lamps into the life pod’s airlock. Empty. The lamps made cones of light that cut through the blackness, but they illuminated nothing but an uncluttered airlock. </div><div> Mahler peered around her. “Looks damn near new.” </div><div> Madeline agreed. She climbed through the threshold they had made and took a few tentative steps. “Wait there,” she said, when she saw the controls for the interior hatch. “Let me check this out.”
This hatch looked perfectly normal. The dials appeared to be working. </div><div> “Check your helmets,” Madeline called out. “There’s not a whole lot of air in here.”
She heard clinking noises as they all checked each others’ helmet clamps one more time.
Madeline engaged the control for the hatch and whirled the pointer to the unlocked position. She took a deep breath and pulled open the hatch. </div><div> Darkness. Nothing but more darkness. Madeline leaned into the opening and let her helmet lamps flicker over either side of the corridor. The pod had been gutted, but not in any sort of emergency. The suspended animation bays were gone, but all the power leads and other connections had been neatly stubbed off. Whoever had refitted this pod had had time to do a thorough job. </div><div> “See anything, skipper?” Buchanan’s voice sounded in her ear. “Anyone there?” </div><div> “Nothing much yet.” She took a few steps, her magnetic boots clanging on the metal deck every time she put her foot down. The empty bays made for a spooky atmosphere. Madeline checked each one, half expecting someone to jump out at her. No one did. </div><div> Where had the voices come from then? The only sounds she heard were her own metallic footfalls reverberating noisily. “There’s enough air to carry sound, anyway. No gravity, though. It looks okay so far. Come on and we’ll check it out.” </div><div> More clanging echoed as the crewmen all climbed through the jagged opening and walked through the airlock to join her in the pod.
They advanced cautiously, Buchanan first. </div><div> Before he even reached Madeline, he stopped at the life support controls. “Hey, skipper, look at this.”</div><div> Madeline stepped over to the console. “What is it?” </div><div> “There’s plenty of oh two aboard.” The senior tech sounded indignant. “Someone’s set the air feed to little more than a slow leak.” </div><div> Madeline lifted her brows. It seemed an odd thing to do. No one could live on that amount of oxygen, and what good was a slow leak over no air at all? “Really? Can you get us more air, then?” </div><div> He nodded and muttered something. His hands moved over the controls and in a few seconds a loud hiss told Madeline he had been successful. </div><div> It occurred to her that the sound wouldn’t have carried without air.
“So what’s our status now?” she asked. “Do we still need our helmets?” </div><div> Behind the transparent polymer, Buchanan’s face twitched as he considered the question. “Give it a few more minutes. Let’s see what we find.” </div><div> Madeline nodded, and turned back to her exploration. Everyone had waited for her. She resumed the lead, and was only a few steps ahead when the corridor suddenly opened into the pod’s small bridge. A dark shape filled the space in the middle of the empty room where the navigation controls should have been. </div><div> Madeline advanced a few more steps and bent her head down so that her helmet lamps shone full on the shape.
It was an acceleration couch, fitted out with some sort of life support system that swaddled its half-reclined occupant in nutrient gel. </div><div> “Is he alive?” Doc’s voice, breathy on the com, almost squeaked with tension. </div><div> The other crewmen seemed just as interested. The four of them crowded into the room, but clustered together into a tight clump near the entrance to the corridor. </div><div> The life pod’s only passenger was obviously male. Except for the life support mask that covered most of his face, he was as naked as the day he had been born, and just as helpless. Every limb and his head, too, had been immobilized by restraints. </div><div> Madeline walked slowly around him so that she could see him better.
His eyes were closed, but his chest rose and fell with regularity. The life support mask obscured the lines of his face, but through the transparent cover, Madeline could see that he looked exhausted. Deep shadows ringed his eyes, and the color had drained from his face. His skin was light enough that the mottled green and yellow bruises on his chest looked startling. A long, half-healed scrape ran up one side of his torso. </div><div> “Why would anyone leave someone like this?” she wondered out loud. </div><div> Doc stepped forward and bent over the stranger. “He looks drugged or something.” He glanced over his shoulder at Buchanan. “Can I open my helmet?” </div><div> The senior tech checked a control on his wrist and nodded. “Should be okay now.” </div><div> Doc unlocked his face plate and it flipped backwards over his head. </div><div> Madeline followed suit. She sniffed. The air in the pod felt dead, no matter what Buchanan said. It wasn’t so much the faint metallic odor, but rather the cold, dampness of it against her skin that repelled her. </div><div> None of the other three had followed Doc’s example. They all stood and watched from behind their face plates as their friend bent over the imprisoned stranger.
Just as Doc reached out a hand to touch the man, an abrupt click made the Bee’s medic jump in surprise. </div><div> A motorized arm slid smoothly along on a track, then stopped after a few centimeters. It held a hypospray directly over the imprisoned man’s head. Another click sounded and the hypo moved downward, pressed against the man’s neck, and discharged with a faint hiss. </div><div> Just as the stranger groaned and opened his eyes, the cabin lights came on, illuminating the scene abruptly. The man stared at the crew of the Bee, blinking as if their presence confused him. He didn’t look at them for long, however. After a few seconds, his eyes moved to stare directly at the space in front of Madeline.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0081H7IIG" target="_blank">Shades of Empire</a></b> is available on Kindle and is free in Kindle Unlimited.</div><div><br /></div>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-51184966999315752662022-01-12T15:27:00.003-05:002022-01-13T00:03:13.059-05:00When the plot requires a good person to do a bad thing<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7YHOgzzWnXWwQu33IPbt8Ew-WnGN__tM20_t54bC4I040FoqWYnmqcng2ZKyu4zzZNn6ikmdJH7OUtGMp-tK1yHj5GLh9yl6PSV1iOXXGbs4U6J_sH3ruLx1SMouNeR2QgToczciQ5VxGWOT_VFrxeXMwd7QZmzLrQltvj3xN1oB7maFPMOvb-cidKw=s387" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="257" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7YHOgzzWnXWwQu33IPbt8Ew-WnGN__tM20_t54bC4I040FoqWYnmqcng2ZKyu4zzZNn6ikmdJH7OUtGMp-tK1yHj5GLh9yl6PSV1iOXXGbs4U6J_sH3ruLx1SMouNeR2QgToczciQ5VxGWOT_VFrxeXMwd7QZmzLrQltvj3xN1oB7maFPMOvb-cidKw=w213-h320" width="213" /></a></div><p></p><p>A really old movie that I had not seen in decades was on TV over the weekend, so I watched it. <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093693/" target="_blank">Overboard</a></i> , starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, came out in 1987, and in one way it's fascinating. The premise is that a blue-collar guy-- a carpenter, who happens to be a widower with four sons-- tricks a beautiful, wealthy woman suffering from amnesia into thinking she is his wife. </p><p>He doesn't do this for sex, but to get free labor. As his wife, the amnesia victim believes she has no choice but to clean his house, cook his meals, and take care of his kids. He refrains from physical intimacy, however, telling her she always sleeps on the couch because the bed hurts her back. </p><p>The thing is, taking advantage of her in this way would be a truly despicable act except for the way the situation was set up: <i>she </i>is the despicable person. In addition to being an incredible snob, she hired the carpenter to do a job and then not only refused to pay him, she destroyed his tools, his means of support. In a way, she could be said to have earned his revenge, especially because he doesn't trick her into having sex. Over time, we realize she's such a terrible person because she was raised to think of herself as being better than ordinary people who have to work for a living. The more she's away from her native environment, the more she changes into a normal caring person. <b>Spoilers:</b> Of course, as the movie is a romcom, in the end they fall in love. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjgOwJAq3d6wBLbg_0nXkvMjYfYA7m_wdQ5REXDSVRKhe38kk7Y5JSrTg5lV6khQGTQKGfGZGQZLCDZbAVRkl7ZG_WEye_WgcLJzdHIjpV0h5ARhLXZhablRXQkPwXVdQuoNv-epHHDE6MUdOUzfLwEhJDTVcpPVjWh2RO1W-N1rInmKkOjCblLj4yA9Q=s4500" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4500" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjgOwJAq3d6wBLbg_0nXkvMjYfYA7m_wdQ5REXDSVRKhe38kk7Y5JSrTg5lV6khQGTQKGfGZGQZLCDZbAVRkl7ZG_WEye_WgcLJzdHIjpV0h5ARhLXZhablRXQkPwXVdQuoNv-epHHDE6MUdOUzfLwEhJDTVcpPVjWh2RO1W-N1rInmKkOjCblLj4yA9Q=w213-h320" width="213" /></a></div><p>My science fiction romance <i><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Worlds-ThreeCon-Carmen-Webster-Buxton-ebook/dp/B08Y97XDNT/" target="_blank">Worlds Apart</a></i> uses a similar plot device but with the genders reversed. As the title suggests, the story is about a couple who are from different planets. The plot needs the two people to end up on the same world for a good amount of time. Rishi, the female main character, is very wealthy and lives on Subidar, a world with an advanced level of technology, while Prax, the male main character was born and raised on Celadon, a recently discovered colony world where technology is not as advanced, especially among Prax's people, who are Greek-speaking nomadic herders. </p><p> Rishi had grown up as the youngest member of a large and loving family, but her entire family was wiped out in a planet-wide disaster,
leaving her the heir to both great wealth and great sorrow. When she sees Prax's clan under attack by a band of outlaws who are much better armed, she saves them by ordering her ship to attack the outlaw leader; this is a violation on a non-interference directive so she does this at some risk to herself.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal">The clan is understandably grateful. They hold a celebratory feast during which Rishi consumers several glasses of the local wine, which is more potent for some people than for others. When the clan leader asks Rishi to name her reward, she asks for
Prax. Feeling bound by duty to pay the
debt his people owe, Prax agrees to leave his world and his family and everything that is familiar and go with her. </p><p class="MsoNormal">The next morning, Rishi wakes up cold sober and is appalled at her own behavior in asking for a person as a reward. She feels remorse for taking him away from his family. But when Rishi asks Prax if he wants to go home, he says no, feeling that his clan owes her a debt and he has been chosen to pay it. His sense of duty is stronger than his loneliness and fear of the unknown.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Like the hero in <i>Overboard</i>, Rishi cannot bring herself to cross the line of extorting sex from someone, so she declines Prax's tentative overtures. Thus, they arrive back at Subidar, two people who are strongly attracted to each other, but with a big complication: Prax doesn't realize that Rishi feels morally bound not to take advantage of his offer so he thinks she's simply not interested. And Rishi cannot bring herself to urge Prax to go home. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Spoilers:</b> they work things out! </p>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-78135733510676161562021-12-17T14:32:00.003-05:002022-04-23T13:31:36.741-04:00My books in the Smashwords sale<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiNc5IexK9aY_bj52dohb6QM_HlJdB11s-yFqyyApheQ1sa57wdrBI66PEqWQc4KcKGWXea5xAn4QKjAt_-D_zAgBS_jGhxOkiHtJBSWmna0qv4YeDMXAjwUpQ8f19i4mlGLUW6qxvh81QjThFT9jy73YnKRzsuck_nRFDvzaxlrriPEeIITDtWrsbYwQ=s556" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="556" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiNc5IexK9aY_bj52dohb6QM_HlJdB11s-yFqyyApheQ1sa57wdrBI66PEqWQc4KcKGWXea5xAn4QKjAt_-D_zAgBS_jGhxOkiHtJBSWmna0qv4YeDMXAjwUpQ8f19i4mlGLUW6qxvh81QjThFT9jy73YnKRzsuck_nRFDvzaxlrriPEeIITDtWrsbYwQ=w400-h391" width="400" /></a><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">My books that are not in Kindle Unlimited are for sale (and at the moment are either</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=%22Carmen+Webster+Buxton%22" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">free or half price</a>) <span style="text-align: left;">at </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">Smashwords. Unlike the Kindle store or many ebookstores, Smashwords is in no way linked to a specific ereader or app. You can buy books in epub (used for Nook, Apple iOS, Kobo and most other ereaders), mobi (used by Kindles), or PDF (to read in a web browser)<br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">You should check out Smashwords! A lot of other authors' books are for sale, too! </span></div></span></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-18698068913841693692021-12-07T10:53:00.002-05:002023-05-23T11:03:10.609-04:00A Snippet from THE SIXTH DISICPLINE <p><a href="https://carmenspage.blogspot.com/p/free-ebook.html" target="_blank"><i>The Sixth Discipline</i> is free</a> in most eBook stores. The story. a far future, slow burn romance is set on the isolated colony world of Haven, where the human colonists inhabit three different environments: cities surrounded by small towns and farms, a vast forest inhabited by mystics, and mountain valleys from whence fierce hunters and warriors raid the other two groups. </p><p>Here's a snippet from Chapter Six, when things start to get really interesting.</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Francesca stopped turning and pointed to a
distant, snow-capped peak in the middle of the range. “That looks like Mount
Fujiyama. We must be on Hayden land, which means we’re a good ways south of the
city.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZcW0ZCJj1fc/X5Y1QeBFdeI/AAAAAAAAvbQ/oLqpchpPeOQxsEJweq62pJK-zwzykmVGgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/The%2BSixth%2BDiscipline%2BFinal_final%2Bebook%2Bcover.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZcW0ZCJj1fc/X5Y1QeBFdeI/AAAAAAAAvbQ/oLqpchpPeOQxsEJweq62pJK-zwzykmVGgCPcBGAYYCw/s320/The%2BSixth%2BDiscipline%2BFinal_final%2Bebook%2Bcover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">South of the city might mean closer to the
Sansoussy Forest. Ran-Del cleared a space in the dirt with his foot and handed
her a twig. “Show me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Francesca squatted down and drew a small
circle. “That’s Shangri-La.” Below the city, she sketched a large four-sided
shape, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, and drew a zigzag line across
the middle of it. “This is the Hayden estate, and the wiggly line is the
mountains behind us.” She added a dot near one end of the line of mountains.
“This mark is where Fujiama is.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">“Where on your map is the forest of the
Sansoussy?” Ran-Del asked, crouching down beside her.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">She drew a large, amorphous, cloud-like shape
just slightly south and a good ways west of the city.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">“There,” she said. “I’m not really sure where
your people live, but that’s the Sansoussy Forest. It’s prairie and rolling
hills up until then.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Ran-Del studied the marks and then looked up
at the sun. “We’re north of your mountain, so we must be about here.” He laid a
small pebble in the top half of the squarish shape.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">“I think so,” Francesca said. “But Hayden land
extends quite a ways. I can’t say for sure.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">“That answers where,” Ran-Del said, sitting
back on his heels. “But why would your father have put us here?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">“I’m not positive.” She ducked her head, and
Ran-Del sensed embarrassment. “But I have an idea. It’s related to the reason
Pop snatched you from the forest in the first place.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">He focused his psy sense for any hint that she
was lying. “What is the reason?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Francesca seemed reluctant to answer directly.
“Did Pop tell you about what’s happening to Great Houses like Hayden?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Ran-Del recalled Baron Hayden’s monologues and
nodded. “He said his house was in danger of being swallowed up by a bigger
house. He said that I could help him to stop it in some way, but he would never
say how.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Francesca stared straight ahead as if she
found the distant mountains fascinating. “Well, the reason we’re vulnerable is because
right now the House of Hayden is just me and Pop; there’s no one else. Pop was
an only child, and so was I. I have no Hayden cousins, no siblings, and no
husband.” She paused and then blurted out, “Pop wants you to change that.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Ran-Del frowned, still not understanding.
“What do you mean? How could I change that?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Francesca frowned, plainly annoyed at having
to explain everything in explicit language. “Pop wants me to get married—to
you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Ran-Del suspected her first of lying, and then
of mocking him. His psy sense told him neither was the case. “Your father is
insane. You had nehiver seen me until three days ago, and I had never seen you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">“He may have a crazy idea in his head, but
he’s quite sane.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Ran-Del got to his feet and looked down at
her. “He has day bats nesting in his upper branches. He came into our forest
and shot me with a dart, as if he had been hunting his dinner. Are you telling
me that he was looking for a husband for you?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">“Yes.” Francesca shaded her eyes from the
morning sun as she looked up at him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Ran-Del snorted with rampant disbelief and
looked away to scan the countryside. “No one would do that,” he said, looking
back at her. “He cares about you. Why would he find a stranger—a wild man your
people called me—to marry his only daughter?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Francesca still crouched on the ground. She
sighed and hugged her knees. “This wasn’t a sudden aberration, this respect for
your people. Pop has always thought you lived a cleaner life.” She frowned as
if she thought her meaning wasn’t clear. “Not cleaner in the sense of hygiene,
but more honest—more honorable. When he realized that he’d need to arrange a
marriage for me, he got this idea that the thing to do was to find a Sansoussy
to marry me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">“</span><span class="0Text"><span lang="EN"><i>A</i></span></span><span lang="EN"> Sansoussy?” Ran-Del
said. “Just any Sansoussy?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">“Not exactly.” Francesca stood up but turned
her eyes away as if she were reluctant to meet his gaze directly. “Pop didn’t
want anyone too old or too young—or already married. And he wanted a warrior
who had some psy sense, because that combination gave me the most protection.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">“So he went into the forest to acquire a
Sansoussy?” The more Ran-Del thought about it, the more it fit Stefan Hayden’s
words and actions. His anger rose when he realized how thoroughly the Baron had
planned to hijack his life. “And I was the first one whose caste bracelet had
the right beads, is that it?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">“Pretty much.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Ran-Del crossed his arms over his chest. “What
made him think I’d marry you? He could have kept me locked in his house
forever, but he couldn’t have made me marry you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Francesca’s face turned a deep red, and she
radiated mortification. “I was supposed to seduce you. Pop said you’d feel
obligated to marry me if I did.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Ran-Del had to clench his jaw for a second, to
control his anger. If it got any worse, he would need the First Discipline.
“You knew what your father wanted, and you agreed to it?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Her face contorted in agitation. “No! I mean,
yes, I knew, but I never agreed to it. The day before yesterday I told him flat
out that I wouldn’t do anything to try to make you marry me. Then last night
Pop offered me a glass of wine, and after that it’s all a blank.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Buy links for most ebookstores here: http://carmenspage.blogspot.com/p/free-ebook.html</span></p><p></p>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-14377045451809480652021-11-17T18:08:00.001-05:002021-11-17T18:08:55.900-05:00Killing off characters is a balancing act<div style="background-color: white;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 l1jc4y16 fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb rwim8176 mhxlubs3 p5u9llcw hnhda86s oo9gr5id" dir="auto" style="display: block; line-height: 1.1875; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="kk32p0x1 n3ffmt46 b2s5l15y f10w8fjw sjgh65i0" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-bottom: 12px;"><div class="kk32p0x1 n3ffmt46 b2s5l15y f10w8fjw sjgh65i0" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-bottom: 12px;"><span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.41px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Something that came up in my writer's group once was the question all fiction writers face: when and if should you kill off a character. Death is a part of life. And really, if there is no risk in a situation, there is not much tension either. Unless you're writing a romance where the two (or more than two, in some subgenres) main characters need a happy-ever-after (or at least a happy for now) ending, any character should be fair game to get killed off, right?</span></span></div><div class="kk32p0x1 n3ffmt46 b2s5l15y f10w8fjw sjgh65i0" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-bottom: 12px;"><span style="color: #1c1e21;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZcW0ZCJj1fc/X5Y1QeBFdeI/AAAAAAAAvbQ/oLqpchpPeOQxsEJweq62pJK-zwzykmVGgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/The%2BSixth%2BDiscipline%2BFinal_final%2Bebook%2Bcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZcW0ZCJj1fc/X5Y1QeBFdeI/AAAAAAAAvbQ/oLqpchpPeOQxsEJweq62pJK-zwzykmVGgCPcBGAYYCw/s320/The%2BSixth%2BDiscipline%2BFinal_final%2Bebook%2Bcover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div></span></div><div class="kk32p0x1 n3ffmt46 b2s5l15y f10w8fjw sjgh65i0" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-bottom: 12px;"><span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.41px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maybe not. When you write a story, you're asking the reader to invest their time and a certain level of emotional involvement in that story, and that means making them care what happens to the characters. Killing a character for a good reason is one thing, but killing them off just to show that you're willing to do it can leave your reader feeling betrayed, almost like they've invested time in a relationship and then found out it could never have worked out. I had a friend who is also a fan tell me that when she came to the part of <a href="https://carmenspage.blogspot.com/p/free-ebook.html" target="_blank">THE SIXTH DISCIPLINE</a> where a major character dies, she closed her Kindle and put it down like it was on fire.</span></span></div><div class="kk32p0x1 n3ffmt46 b2s5l15y f10w8fjw sjgh65i0" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-bottom: 12px;"><span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.41px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what constitutes a good reason to axe a character? I heard a writer at the Pikes Peak Writer's Conference (and I wish I could remember her name!) articulate the best rule I have ever heard: you kill off a character to change the motivation of another character. That works for me. But I would also say that, if possible, it should not be as simple as their death making the protagonist mad for revenge or anything like that. Certainly you don't want a female character to get horribly slaughtered just to motivate the male hero to a blood rage (a.k.a., "</span><a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Women_in_Refrigerators_Syndrome" style="font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.41px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Women in refrigerators syndrome</a><span style="font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.41px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"). I always thought killing off the First Lady in the movie </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116629/" style="font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.41px; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Independence Day</a><span style="font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.41px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was really just a milder variant of shoving her body into a refrigerator. She wasn't seen as necessary to the story (she didn't fly a jet or otherwise act heroically) and her death, conveniently staged in her husband's presence, motivated him even further to kill those nasty aliens. When I killed off the character that my friend complained about, I answered that he or she was in the way of the plot.</span></span></div><div class="kk32p0x1 n3ffmt46 b2s5l15y f10w8fjw sjgh65i0" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-bottom: 12px;"><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.41px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The revenge angle is not totally bad, but I think it works better when one character's sudden, abrupt absence actually changes the other character's circumstances. Maybe now they have to support themselves, or rule their country, or face their fears, or go on a quest, or even just finally grow up. </span></div><div class="kk32p0x1 n3ffmt46 b2s5l15y f10w8fjw sjgh65i0" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-bottom: 12px;"><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.41px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, in spec fic, an added complication is that magic/advanced technology may make it possible to bring the dead back to life, and I don't mean as zombies or anything like that. I mean that spec fic writers have to be careful they don't make death meaningless. That happened on STAR TREK TOS a little bit and TNG even more so. The damn transporter got too powerful! If a machine can basically copy a person's molecules and later spew out a copy on demand, no character ever needed to stay dead. </span></div><div class="kk32p0x1 n3ffmt46 b2s5l15y f10w8fjw sjgh65i0" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-bottom: 12px;"><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.41px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, have you ever read a book and gotten really angry at the author for killing a character? Or have you seen an instances of too-powerful-transporter syndrome? Alternatively, have you ever ready a story and thought (as was said at my writer's group once), "Really, the author should have just killed off x?"</span></div></div></span></div>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-47833874302044921592021-11-04T10:47:00.001-04:002021-11-11T18:26:52.560-05:00Travel to Wakanreo for only 99¢!<p>NOTE: the sale is over! </p><p> From today through November 10th, <i><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Alien-Bonds-Wakanreo-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07959BHM4/ " target="_blank">ALIEN BONDS,</a></i> the first book in my Wakanreo trilogy (usually priced at $3.99) is on sale for 99<span face="samsungone, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f7f7f7; font-size: 16px;">¢.</span> Grab it now!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5MKoPfdAmD8/YYPvKwbw0CI/AAAAAAAA1RI/7Kc2RXu451IGdOVjVM7MKUZJjYSBM1jwQCPcBGAsYHg/s4500/AlienBonds_Ebook.v2_Amazon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4500" data-original-width="3000" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5MKoPfdAmD8/YYPvKwbw0CI/AAAAAAAA1RI/7Kc2RXu451IGdOVjVM7MKUZJjYSBM1jwQCPcBGAsYHg/w266-h400/AlienBonds_Ebook.v2_Amazon.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; text-align: start;"> <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07959BHM4" style="color: #d52a33; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Alien Bonds</a></i> is undeniably a love story. It concerns two people, a human woman and a Wakanrean man, who meet at the beginning of the story on his world, called Wakanreo, and instantly mate from a biological reaction that occurs only in Wakanreans. But even though Dina goes home with Kuaron that night, she does not love him.. You cannot love someone you don't know. It is over the next several months that her love for him grows, as does his for her. But at the same time, the story explores the culture and history of Wakanreo. It's an attempt to show what a world would be like if looks didn't matter—if people had no choice in who they paired off with. and thus sex had nothing to do with morality. How would this uncontrollable mating affect the societies that formed on this unique world? In human history, much of the stratification of society was achieved by people only marrying within their own social order. What if it wasn't possible to enforce that kind of discrimination? </p><p style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Read the book to find out! </span><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07959BHM4" style="color: #d52a33; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Alien Bonds</a></i> is<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> available in paperback and on the Kindle, and it's free in Kindle Unlimited. </span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-71182682526547268452021-10-12T20:46:00.003-04:002021-10-12T20:48:53.849-04:00For self-published authors: What is Kindle Unlimited and should I put my books into it? <p>Amazon, or the Zon, as some call it, has by far the lion's share of the ebook market. They also have an audiobook platform called Chirp, but I'm not going to talk about that. Today's post is about only about ebooks.</p><h3>eBooks & eReaders</h3><p>Amazon calls its ebooks Kindle books, because its ereader is called a Kindle. However, you can read Kindle books using the free Kindle app on almost any PC, Mac, tablet or phone. Basically, Amazon's market consists of anyone who has an Amazon account and some kind of reading device, including iPads and iPhones. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Apple Books, however, can only be bought via an iOS device, an iPhone, Mac, iPad, etc. There are ways to move them over to Windows but it is not the effortless transaction that most Mac users are looking for. Kobo and Barnes and Noble both offer a dedicated ereader but also have an app that runs on tablets and other devices. </span></div><p style="text-align: justify;">So, why does this matter to self-published authors? As an author or publisher, you can upload your books into the self-publishing platforms of Amazon (<a href="https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/" target="_blank">Kindle Direct Publishing</a>), Barnes & Noble (<a href="https://press.barnesandnoble.com/" target="_blank">Nook Press</a>) Google (<a href="https://play.google.com/books/publish/" target="_blank">Google Play Books Partners Center</a>), <a href="https://authors.apple.com/" target="_blank">Apple Books</a> and others, either directly or by using Smashwords or Draft2DIgital. But if you load them only into KDP and opt for the KDP Select designation, your books will be available to borrowers via an Amazon subscription service called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/hz/subscribe/ku?ref_=sv_kstore_2&ie=UTF8" target="_blank">Kindle Unlimited</a>. The author is paid based n the pages read, not on the borrow, an important distinction.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Basically, by putting his or her books in Kindle Unlimited (an ironic name in a way, since all KU books are <i>limited </i>only to Kindle), an author promises not to put them in any other ebook store (print versions have no affect in KU status). How can this possibly benefit an author? </p><p style="text-align: justify;">A lot of times, it doesn't.<b> In my experience, whether or not KU is profitable for a book depends on three factors: genre, book length, and ebook price. </b></p><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Genre</h3><p>The only genre I personally have had <i>any</i> success with in Kindle Unlimited is romance, which in my case is actually science fiction romance, Romance readers are voracious. They read so much, it is worth it to them to pay the KU subscription fee. There may be other popular KU genres, but I have not found them. Certainly my YA books never went anywhere in KU. If you have books doing well in a KU, please let me know what genre they are! </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EbIviH1Gf3M/YWYaR5vrNSI/AAAAAAAAzwE/msfytHDbn7gCSKeuDACaGMkomNB3iUILgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/AlienBonds_Ebook.v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EbIviH1Gf3M/YWYaR5vrNSI/AAAAAAAAzwE/msfytHDbn7gCSKeuDACaGMkomNB3iUILgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/AlienBonds_Ebook.v2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Book Length</h3><p>Because the author is paid based on pages read, a longer book automatically earns more money than a short one, assuming the reader finishes the book. Of course, if the book is truly short--a novella or a novelette--it probably sells for less, too. But length is something to keep in mind when deciding on KU, yes or no,</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Price</h3><p>If you price your ebook modestly (none of mine are more than $3.99), and the book is long enough, you may well make more money from a KU borrow and full read than from a sale. Of course, price will also have some impact on sale rates, too, so it's all balancing act.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Things to Remember</h3><p style="text-align: justify;">An important thing to remember is, the Kindle Unlimited signup is for 90-day blocks of time. You can take the book out of KDP Select after 90 days, or you can sign up for another 90 days. I usually launch with the book signed up or KDP Select but pull it out after 90 days if it's not getting enough KU reads to make it worthwhile. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Also, one benefit to keeping the book in KDP Select status is, you can run a sale or even make the book free for a select number of days per 90-day cycle. The advantage to just changing the price yourself is, the book looks like it's on sale. The regular price appears, but is struck through and the sale price shows as discounted.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">You should be aware that Amazon makes no future promises on the per-page rate for KU borrows. It sets aside a chunk of money to pay KU authors/publishers, and then pays out at a rate determined by the number of reads. Right now the rate is approximately $0.004 per Kindle Edition Normalized Page. My book <i>Alien Bonds</i> is a tad under 130,00 words and that translates to 649 KENP pages. I made about $2.60 on the last full read. At $3.99 retail I make $2.72 in royalties on a sale, which is 12 cents more than the KU borrow. On book 2 of the Wakanreo trilogy, which is shorter, I make less on KU but on book 3, the longest book, I make more from a KU full-read than I do from a sale. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">A non-financial benefit of KU is you can tell when people are actually reading your book because the page count shows on a daily basis. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">And once your pull your book from KDP Select, it is no longer in KU, and then you can load onto every platform available. There is no reason not to! But always, do what's best for your particular book! </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-69865412093450679202021-09-29T18:55:00.004-04:002021-09-29T18:55:29.936-04:00A few words on pricing ebooks <p>If you are planning to self-publish, unless you plan to concentrate on print publishing, you will need to look into your options on pricing ebooks.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wPtaALOqicg/YQxSCU0BtlI/AAAAAAAAyyQ/b2ItCZaqo-gasEHp6fspSD_q055deJhbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s887/KindleBookPricesnip1.JPG" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="887" height="145" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wPtaALOqicg/YQxSCU0BtlI/AAAAAAAAyyQ/b2ItCZaqo-gasEHp6fspSD_q055deJhbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/KindleBookPricesnip1.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In my opinion, ebooks are the reason self-publishing took off as it did. First off, ebooks are relatively easy to create, and second the per copy cost to replicate them, once you have the files in place, is zero. This means that if you are not a well known author, you can price your book very competitively (as low as 99<span style="font-size: x-small;">₵</span>) and thus compete with better known but more expensive writers. The big publishers seem to want ebooks <i>not</i> to sell especially well, at least when they are new, because they price them so high. Quite often the ebook version is more expensive than the paperback version, defying industry past practice that a higher price meant a more expensive to produce product.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">The image above is a the Amazon page for the best seller, </span><i style="text-align: left;">Golden Girl</i><span style="text-align: left;">, by Erin Hilderbrand, As you can see the hardcover price is very slightly more expensive than the trade paperback at $17.40 and the Kindle version is priced at $14.99, less than $2.40 in difference. Well of course, this is a brand new book, But what happens when it has been out for a decade or more? </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-edPi6ZzaJn0/YQxTxiARG8I/AAAAAAAAyyY/4ltpH8UDakEku8N6llUKKdsdX3xsWN7nQCLcBGAsYHQ/s931/KindlePricesnip2.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="931" height="131" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-edPi6ZzaJn0/YQxTxiARG8I/AAAAAAAAyyY/4ltpH8UDakEku8N6llUKKdsdX3xsWN7nQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/KindlePricesnip2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p>Here's the Amazon page for <i>Twilight, </i>a best seller first published in 2006. The hardcover is way more expensive at $22.49 but the Kindle book is more expensive, at $10.99 than the paperback is at $9.43! And by the way, the ebook price is the same on <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/twilight-stephenie-meyer/110026974" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a> and <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Twilight/ZfjzX7M8zt0C" target="_blank">Google Books</a>. </p><p>Publishers fought with Amazon to be able to control the price of their ebooks. Publishers wanted to be able to protect hardcover sales, which are very profitable. Amazon lost that battle, but you will notice Kindle books usually say "price set by publisher." </p><p>The good news is, if you're self-publishing, <i>you </i>(mostly) control the price! On Amazon, you get the best deal on royalties by pricing your book between $0.99 and $9.99, which is frankly, the range it's best to be in unless you're already a best-selling author. </p><p>You also control when the price changes, which means you can experiment with different prices. Be aware that Amazon price matches, so if your book is cheaper in other ebook stores than it is on Kindle, Amazon will drop the price of your Kindle version to match the others' lower price. That is, by the way, the method used to make a Kindle book free on a long-term basis. A book that is in Kindle Unlimited can be free for up to five days every three months, but except by using price matching, you cannot make a Kindle book always free, It is only because other bookstores allow free ebooks that price-matching can work to make a Kindle book free.</p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-5922366617607402422021-09-12T18:11:00.000-04:002021-09-12T18:11:05.083-04:00Re-launch of ALIEN BONDS!<p> Based on reviewer feedback, and to achieve a more uniform series look, I have relaunched <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07959BHM4" target="_blank">Alien Bonds</a> with a new cover! Only the Kindle version has the new cover, so far. I have to do some tweaks to republish the paperback. But here it it is! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4AU6d08kquk/YT56iKC2mRI/AAAAAAAAzTM/ht8w8YjHNvg0FpIxCnEjy-9LgS8r6JAlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/AlienBonds_Ebook.v2_Amazon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4AU6d08kquk/YT56iKC2mRI/AAAAAAAAzTM/ht8w8YjHNvg0FpIxCnEjy-9LgS8r6JAlwCLcBGAsYHQ/w266-h400/AlienBonds_Ebook.v2_Amazon.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-73301878319283773632021-07-13T12:52:00.002-04:002022-01-11T14:02:33.279-05:00Snippet from Saronna's Gift<p>From Chapter One: Duncan Trushenko and his father own and operate a large intergalactic grading company, headquartered on a tax-free but very backward planet called Kruegger's World.</p><p>---------------------------------------</p><p></p><p class="Bookbody">Duncan smiled to himself but was careful not to let his
amusement show. His father had been curious about his breakup with Emily
Pulaski since it happened, but <st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> had no
intention of satisfying that curiosity, especially as his father had been right
in his assessment of Emily’s intentions. “If you disliked her so much,” he said
instead, “why did you hire her?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“I didn’t dislike her,” <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city>
said. “When it came to navigating the seas of interstellar trade regulations, she
had excellent skills. I’m happy you seem to have learned a lot of them from
her. I just didn’t want you to marry her.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“You can’t have it both ways, Dad. Either you want me to get
married or you don’t.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“Don’t be silly,” <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city>
said irritably. “Marrying the wrong person is worse than not getting married at
all.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> didn’t know what to say.
His parents had lived apart ever since he was a baby; the few occasions they
had been together for any length of time had resulted in epic quarrels. Another
awkward silence ensued.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“I’m sorry, <st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city>,” his
father said. “I wasn’t trying to cast any aspersions on your mother.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> put his glass down. “I
know, Dad. Why all this eagerness to fix me up with someone? I thought that was
Mom’s job.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“Well,” <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city> said,
sounding oddly hesitant, “Your mother and I both want you to find someone—get
married, have a family of your own. If nothing else, I’d like to think that
someday there’ll be someone for you to pass Cameron Trushenko on to. It’ll all
be yours someday. I won’t live forever, you know.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> grinned openly. “You’re
not giving me the ‘I’m getting old’ speech, are you? You look pretty hale for
that. Naomi must be taking good care of you.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“She is, she is.” Vladimir’s face lit with affection. “I can’t
tell you what a change it makes in your outlook to have someone who cares about
you in that way. It’s meant a world of difference to me to have her with me.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">Almost the only good thing about his parents’ intense dislike
for each other was it took away any guilt he might have felt for being pleased
when one of them found consolation elsewhere. “Good. I’m glad you’re happy.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“The thing is,” <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city> went
on, “poor Naomi had no one to keep her company. I mean, she looks after the
house for me, but really, she had no close friends, nothing to occupy her
leisure time. And sometimes I get tied up for days on end.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">Duncan frowned. What was the old man leading up to? “I know
you’re busy. Cameron Trushenko is a major concern. Why don’t you just hire more
help?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“Well,” <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city> said, a
nervous edge creeping into his voice, “the thing is, Naomi wanted more than
just to have me free up some time. She needed a friend—a woman friend.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> sat up straighter. “What’s
going on, Dad? Are you trying to tell me something?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city> glanced at the window
to the courtyard. He seemed almost reluctant to meet <st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city>’s
eyes. “Well, yes, I am, son.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“Son?” <st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> moved to the
edge of his chair in alarm. “Son? You never call me ‘son’ unless something’s
wrong. The last time you called me ‘son,’ we had just lost three million
credits.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city> looked almost
relieved at the accusation. “Oh, it’s nothing like that. It’s just that, as I
said, Naomi needed someone, and the people on this world are so stuffy. There
are off-worlders, and there are natives and the two just don’t mix. There was
no one Naomi was comfortable making friends with, no one who didn’t look down
her nose at her. And native women almost never leave their homes. They don’t
need friends, because they all have hordes of relations. And then I found out
you were coming home, and I knew you’d broken up with Emily a while ago. It
seemed like a perfect solution to both problems.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“What did?” <st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> said, more
mystified than ever. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“Well,” <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city> said, still
apparently finding it difficult to come to the point, “the thing is, son—<st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city>, I sort of—well, I bought a woman for you.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city>’s mouth dropped open. He
must have heard his father wrong. “You did what?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“I bought a woman for you.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><span class="StylePlainTextTimesNewRoman12ptChar"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">No, he had heard right. But the idea was
incredible. “You </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bought</i><span class="StylePlainTextTimesNewRoman12ptChar"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;"> a woman for me? You </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bought</i><span class="StylePlainTextTimesNewRoman12ptChar"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;"> a sentient being?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“Now, Duncan—”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">The more he thought about it, the angrier it made him. “You
thought I’d want some down-trodden, complacent, hapless little female to make
use of in my free time? You thought I’d take advantage of a woman like that?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“Well,” <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city> said, “no,
not really. Actually, I just needed someone to keep Naomi company, but there’s
no way I could get someone on those terms. And besides,” he added as an
afterthought, “she’s not little.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“What?” <st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> jumped to his
feet. The old man had gone crazy. There was no other explanation. “I don’t give
a damn how tall she is! You just send her back where she came from, Dad. I won’t
have any part of this.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“But, <st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city>,” <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city> said, his voice filled with righteous
indignation, “when I brought Naomi home, you didn’t act like this. You were
proud of me for stepping in.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> brushed aside this
argument with a wave of his hand. “That was different. Her husband had put her
up as his stake in a poker game. You kept her from ending up with some
gun-running scum.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“Saronna’s father was desperate to sell her.” The indignation
in his father’s voice gave way to a virtuous note. “She’s twenty-two in
Standard years, and she’s never been married. A year ago her mother died, and
her father stopped looking for a husband for her and tried to sell her. None of
the hill men were interested, so he came into the city. You know very well
where she could have ended up if I hadn’t made him an offer.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> cringed. Just when he
thought Krueger’s World couldn’t get any worse, he found out he was wrong. “Her
own father?”<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y24EkdaH6xI/VLMINVBdziI/AAAAAAAASWU/8idRaBxJZdcm6L5OCa9UMLenm8k87JhIwCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/saronna-%2Bfront%2Bcover%2Bonly.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1000" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y24EkdaH6xI/VLMINVBdziI/AAAAAAAASWU/8idRaBxJZdcm6L5OCa9UMLenm8k87JhIwCPcBGAYYCw/w125-h200/saronna-%2Bfront%2Bcover%2Bonly.jpg" width="125" /></a></div><p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city> nodded.</p><p class="Bookbody"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“All right,” <st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> said, “if
he needed the money so badly, let him keep it. Just send her home with no
strings attached.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">His father shook his head. “I can’t do that. If I did, they’d
assume she’d been unsatisfactory in some way. If they let her live, it would be
as a nameless drudge without any rights.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“God!” <st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> clutched his
hair. “Why the hell did you have to move to this miserable, primitive hunk of
rock? What kind of place is this, where men sell their daughters to strangers?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“It’s Krueger’s World.” <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city>
almost snapped the words out, as if he were losing patience. “And you know as
well as I do why I moved Cameron Trushenko here. Krueger’s World is an ideal
location for interstellar trading, and when you add in the tax break from
operating outside of ThreeCon, we’re in much better shape than we were five
years ago. Even your mother approved the move. The combination of New Hong
Kong’s taxes and ThreeCon taxes was crippling us.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> turned away, unwilling
to concede the argument. “We’re doing really well now. My two percent of the
corporate profits certainly reflects that. Can’t we move back into the
civilized universe?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“Not yet,” <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city> said
firmly. “I don’t know how long it’ll be, either.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> shot him a skeptical
look. “Are you sure taxes and location are the only reason, Dad? It wouldn’t
have anything to do with Naomi, would it?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">Again <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city> wouldn’t meet
his gaze. “I won’t deny that the thought that Naomi might not want to leave
this planet worries me. However, it’s a moot point for now. We can’t afford to
move, and that’s the truth.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> sighed. “All right, so
Cameron Trushenko stays here for a while longer. Is that any reason to go
around buying people?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“Maybe it is,” <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city> said. “So
long as we’re here, we might as well try to make things better for at least one
person when we get the chance. If I hadn’t bought Saronna, her father might be
walking the streets right now, looking for someone to buy her. As it is, she’s
safe and comfortable. I presume you don’t plan to rape her?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">Repulsed, <st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> put a good
deal of heat in his voice. “If that’s supposed to be a joke, it’s not very
funny.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“I wasn’t joking at all. I brought her here, and I feel
responsible for her.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“Then why didn’t you just buy her for yourself?” <st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> demanded. “Why did you have to bring me into it at
all?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">For the first time, guilt suffused <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city>’s
expression. “Well, I thought about that, but Naomi got very jealous when I
mentioned it. She was much happier when I agreed we could find someone for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i>.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> snorted with disgust,
but <st1:city w:st="on">Vladimir</st1:city> continued.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“Anyway, fortunately, I could tell Naomi that this woman
stirred no twinges of passion in me. She’s not homely or anything, but she’s
not in Naomi’s league.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">Somehow his father’s reasoning made <st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city>
even angrier. “And what the hell am I supposed to do with her?” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><span class="StylePlainTextTimesNewRoman12ptChar"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">“You don’t have to </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i><span class="StylePlainTextTimesNewRoman12ptChar"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;"> anything,” Vladimir said, his voice as soothing as it had been sixteen
years before, when Duncan had broken his arm and cried all the way to the
doctor’s. “But it would be nice if you made friends with her. I’m sure she’s a
little scared. She may have been brought up to think this was all perfectly
natural, but still it can’t be easy to leave your home so suddenly and move
somewhere where you don’t know anyone.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> groaned and resumed his
chair. “Good god, Dad. When did you buy her?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“This afternoon.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">Less than a day. Just his luck to arrive right as the old man
suddenly went crazy. “Damn! Do you mean if I’d gotten here last week, I could
have talked you out of this nonsense?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody">“No, no. I waited until you were coming home, that’s all. Like
I said, Naomi was jealous until I told her Saronna was for you.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Bookbody"><st1:city w:st="on">Duncan</st1:city> groaned again and
covered his eyes. It just got worse and worse. “Will you listen to yourself,
Dad? You sound as if you were talking about a house pet. You’ve been here too
long, and that’s all there is to it.”<o:p></o:p></p><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S3GH9ZW/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i7" target="_blank">Saronna's Gift </a><p></p>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1301289390729408410.post-75217714572154102492021-07-07T12:23:00.004-04:002021-07-12T15:31:33.247-04:00Self-Publishing 101: W is for Workflow<p>The thing about self-publishing is, it's up to the author to establish a viable workflow, either by paying competent people, doing the work himself, or some combination of the two. To be clear, by workflow, I don't mean <i>writing </i>the book, I mean turning a manuscript into a printed book and/or or an ebook. I won't talk about audiobooks because I haven't created any.</p><p>I worked in publishing for almost 30 years, and those years saw a lot of change. As I was working for a publisher of legal and regulatory information rather than fiction, it was a very different workflow from producing novels. Over that span of time, my company's focus changed from print to digital because our customers were better served by information that could be delivered faster, updated more easily. and accessed from multiple places, as opposed to having to open a book or a binder on a shelf. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N9eXK7CSZ9w/YODQNfqE94I/AAAAAAAAyRw/7dbjrLi8l544uTdrNRwVuqFLsedpMxXkwCLcBGAsYHQ/s262/EspressBookMachine.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="165" data-original-width="262" height="202" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N9eXK7CSZ9w/YODQNfqE94I/AAAAAAAAyRw/7dbjrLi8l544uTdrNRwVuqFLsedpMxXkwCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h202/EspressBookMachine.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Espresso Book Machine</td></tr></tbody></table><p>In fiction publishing, that transition hasn't happened as thoroughly. Print is still very viable, but there is also a digital market—both ebook and audio. But the biggest change in fiction publishing has been the advent of self-publishing. Print-on-demand technology allows booksellers to print a book only when it has been ordered. The availability of ereaders (such as the Kindle), tablets, and even cell phones have created a market for ebooks, which are delivered via the web. Because of these two developments, self publishing has taken off. And now, individual authors are learning things abut producing books that traditional publishers have known for a long time . </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pi9iQSa4LQo/YOYHCy5r61I/AAAAAAAAyTk/zey1o2QKtH0fJsYOgYlqxkyUbYeSOIlwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Hidden%2BMagic%2Bfinal%2Bcover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pi9iQSa4LQo/YOYHCy5r61I/AAAAAAAAyTk/zey1o2QKtH0fJsYOgYlqxkyUbYeSOIlwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hidden%2BMagic%2Bfinal%2Bcover.jpg" /></a></div><br />Workflow is a huge part of publishing. If your book is published by a major publisher, your part of its workflow will consist mostly of turning in your manuscript, and reviewing and approving edits and the cover. There may be a lot of back and forth between you and the editor and publisher but that won't involve you creating the print or digital pages. With self-publishing, unless you hire someone to do workflow for you, you are on your own. The one part of workflow I always hire out is doing the cover, because in additon to artistic talent, it takes a lot of specialized skills I don't have. Page layout and ebook production are, for me, much easier tasks than creating a good-looking, marketable cover. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tl3CMT3tSA8/YOYHb0VdGXI/AAAAAAAAyT4/VebORiwuN3o6qxOmoaeKBi6pg4MS20x_gCPcBGAsYHg/s3336/20210707_155044%257E2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3336" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tl3CMT3tSA8/YOYHb0VdGXI/AAAAAAAAyT4/VebORiwuN3o6qxOmoaeKBi6pg4MS20x_gCPcBGAsYHg/s320/20210707_155044%257E2.jpg" /></a></div>The thing to remember about publishing a book is, it's never going to be perfect the first time! You need to be able to make edits, right up to and even after publication. And since you are publishing in multiple formats, you need to consider how those edits will be made. If you format the print edition yourself, you need to be able to create headers and possibly footers and paginate the main part of the book separately from the front and back matter. After some frustrating efforts to do page layout for my books with MS Word, I have been switched to Adobe InDesign for formatting my paperbacks (and two hardbacks!) partly because it can also output an epub file as well as PDF. InDesign is not easy to learn and you can no longer <i>buy </i>a copy outright, but it is available on a subscription basis per month. I find it useful because in addition to formatting books, it can create web page banners and similar files. It cannot edit individual images in the way that Adobe Photoshop does, but it lets you place one or more images on a page (print or digital) and add text and color. Also, once you know how, formatting a book in InDesign is very fast.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Again, I cannot emphasize enough that whatever workflow you use <i>must</i> allow for making edits. If you hand off your m.s. to someone who will do the page layout and/or convert your m.s. to ebook format, then you need to be sure either <i>you </i>can edit the files they send to you, or that <i>they </i>have a way to do it for you (either may well be an extra expense, so get that straight up front!). <div><br /></div><div>The publisher I worked for created an in-house system that had the authors and editors working in files that were stored in SGML (standard generalized markup language), which uses tags to identify what something <i>is</i>, not what you want it to look like. The tag names were things like "story", "headline""annotated,case" and "subhead. SGML also imposes rules to be sure the document you are creating has a specified structure. Then, when the document was printed or sent to the web or put onto a CD it could be reliably transformed into whatever format was required. This was called single-source publishing, and it it is very efficient, but it is harder to do on your own. The problem is that the epub file that you output from the print files might not come out exactly as you want it; you might in fact, need to edit the epub version. </div><div><br /></div><div>A good discussion and outline of how to create ebooks, including software recommendations, is included in this <a href="https://www.janefriedman.com/word-epub/" target="_blank">post from Jane Friednman's blog</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Good luck!</div><div><br /><div><b>Addendum: </b> <a href="https://www.pickfu.com/blog/how-to-format-a-book-for-kindle/" target="_blank">this post on using Kindle Create,</a> a free app from Amazon, has a lot of good information. Amazon says Kindle Create can also format a paperback version, but I can't speak to how good a job it does at that, as I have never used it for a print book.</div><div><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div></div>Carmen Webster Buxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08516485172937482027noreply@blogger.com0