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blog, Book planning, Convention Report, NaNoWriMo, Research

In the throes of NaNo & other news

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First off, I can’t believe I haven’t blogged since August before I went to the World Science Fiction Convention! Well, I have been busy, but most of it has been catching up after that incredible trip.

Photo: Lily on bus tour
My first day in Dublin included a High Tea Bus Tour of the city. Isn’t this a clever idea?

World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin

Photo: Dublin Liffey riverside
The tilted building is the Dublin Exposition Hall where the main convention was held. My hotel room was about six blocks away on the east side of the Liffey River.

The convention was great although somewhat exhausting. So many panels and things to do. I loved the concert featuring music from various science fiction films. Awesome musicians. Costume contest was amazing. Dublin fandom outdid themselves to make this a fantastic convention. The biggest drawback was that the art show and a few other things, including George R.R. Martin signing autographs, were in a different building several blocks away. I never made it down there. With so many people and multiple panels at the same time, you had to choose wisely.

Photo: Poulnabrone portal tomb in the Burren of Ireland.
Poulnabrone is an amazing Neolithic portal tomb situated on the Burren in western Ireland. It is smaller than I imagined it as the location makes it look huge in photographs. Still very impressive.

I spent an additional two weeks  in Ireland, rented a car – will not do that again – and drove to the west coast where I did a little research and enjoyed the beauty of the country. This was my fourth trip to Eire over the past forty years. The last time I’d been over was in 1989, and I can say the place has changed considerably. Many more people, cities growing bigger, but at the heart of the towns, it is still the same Ireland.  Unfortunately, it was also the wettest August they’d experienced in many years, or so the locals told me.  I was rained on most every day and the Galway area experienced heavy rains. And cold… it was cold!

An amazing experience over all and I had a grand time. I enjoyed the welcome of several bed and breakfast places and renewed my spirit while I was there.

NaNoWriMo Begins

Starting in late October, I attempted to plot the second book in my Time Threads series with an eye to having it out in late Spring. It didn’t go as smoothly as I hoped, so I leaped into NaNoWriMo with a poor plan. In spite of that, I did complete the challenge of 50 thousand words on November 15th, so that is true to form for the past few years I’ve been doing it. I am still working on the book and hope to complete the first draft by the end of the month.

I have three other novels that are drafts that I need to either rewrite or edit before I can publish them, so I hope to focus on one of them over the next couple of months before I begin editing the book I’m working on now. I will be busy, busy.

Book Giveaway

I am thrilled to be part of another great Science Fiction and Fantasy Giveaway on Prolific Works that will begin on November 21st and run through January 22nd. This is a great opportunity to pick up some terrific science fiction and fantasy novels, including Time Walker, the first book of my Time Threads trilogy.  I’ll send out a blast when the giveaway goes live so you can go check out the 40+ books available.  I also have my short story, The Wizard’s Gift in the giveaway, so if you haven’t read it yet, you can grab it then.

I’m looking forward to the holidays and I’ll tell you all about my Game of Thrones tour that I did in Ireland. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, if you celebrate, and a very merry holiday season. Winter is definitely coming.

 

blog, Convention Report

Off to the World Science Fiction Convention

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Map highlighting interesting places in Ireland. Think I got it from the Tourist Bureau.

Back in the previous century, 1979 to be precise, my friend Patricia and I flew to the UK to attend the World Science Fiction Convention in Brighton, England. This was my first time at the world level as well as the first time in the UK. Both proved to be great fun although quite a bit different from the American conventions we’d been to before that. World Con isn’t a media con like WesterCon or ComicCon, but focuses more on books, the writers, and illustrators. While there was a bit of movie promotion, it wasn’t something supported by the film studios or as likely to have an actor appearing.

While I went to a couple of more World Cons over the years, this August I am going to the one in Dublin, Ireland … 40 years after that first convention in 1979. So many panels on the schedule and so many of them in the same time slots. I fear many more attendees as well, so I don’t know how many I might actually see, but I am excited to be going.

If I have access to the internet from my little computer, I will send back a con report or two, especially if I hear any interesting news. And I am going on a Game of Thrones tour of filming locations so I will have some photos from that also.

Since I am at World Con, I sent over a stack of postcards for my latest book, Time Walker, offering a free download e-book to the convention attendees. Not wanting to shortchange my followers, you, too, can download a free copy by clicking on the link below and then clicking on the link for Prolific Works. The link will take you to the book download page. This will be free until the end of August, so be sure to grab your copy before then.

http://lillianwolfe.me/time-walker-free-book/

Look for my reports from Ireland along with pictures. I expect to be taking tons of them as I tour western Ireland after the convention.

If any of you will be at the Dublin World Con and spot me there, please say hello and introduce yourself. I’d like to meet you.

blog, Book Launch, Book Releases, Convention Report

Book Lovers Convention and New Release

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I just got back from the Book Lovers’ Convention in New Orleans. What a fabulous week that was! I enjoyed going to a couple of really informative panels on writing and marketing that energized me, especially after I’d attended a Story Grid workshop here in Reno with my writers’ group. I am always trying to grow as a storyteller, so I enjoy these opportunities to learn more.

I was fighting a cold on one day of the event so I missed two more great workshops plus a pajama party with Meg Tilly. I was so disappointed. She is just a darling, sweet person. Saw my last year’s workshop maven, Cherry Adair  and caught up with her again. I took Cherry’s plotting workshop at the convention here in Reno.

Last year, the convention was a Romance Times event, but RT made that their last one, so this is the start of the new convention and not necessarily limited to romance. So, I promoted my new release, Time Walker, at the event and hope to get some new readers from the event.

The fairy dinner on Friday night was completely magical. Wonderful decorations, lots of people in costume and some delicious food. My table was hosted by author Karen Rose, who was not the wicked fae she’d dressed as. Charming lady.

Time Walker is releasing May 31st!

The first of the Time Threads series is now in per-order on Amazon and on other e-book distributors.

Meet Mali Harper,  a novice in the Time Travel division on the moon space station. Her job is to monitor the timeline and alert her boss if an anomaly shows up on it.  Boring job for the most part until an incident occurs. Then her whole world is turned upside down.

The book is a time travel, alternate history tale with a touch of steampunk.

For more information and a teaser from the book, go to the launch page.

blog, Book Promotion, Book Releases

New Release Today!

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After a busy November and December, I am thrilled to announce that I have released a new book today!

In Strange Waters is a new short novel in the O’Ceagan Saga series. While it is in the same universe, it features one of the supporting characters from O’Ceagan’s Legacy, Dari, the shape-shifting puca or pooka.

As a recent resident on Erinuua (New Ireland), a planet in the Dragon Star system, Dari is eager to explore his new home and find his place in it. For a shapeshifter stranded on a distant world, water is life itself; the main thing that makes his self-imposed exile tolerable.

But Dari soon learns the waters of Erinnua are not like the seas of Earth. The sea life appears twisted and distorted. Swimming in it feels unnatural to his water horse form as he finds it disturbing and dangerous. Even the dominant underwater species may be suffering from the effects of a terrible human-caused accident. In fact, all life on the planet may be at risk if what he fears is true.

Can Dari convince the human colonists of the danger and work with them to prevent the disaster threatening their world?

In Strange Waters is available NOW on Amazon Kindle! It will be on a special sale price of 99-cents until Sunday at midnight Pacific time. If you enjoy my writing, please take a look at it, sample a few pages, and grab a copy if you like what you read.
Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MK42ZKT

Before you ask, I am planning to release a paperback version on Amazon in a couple of weeks. Just finishing up the back cover now.

More upcoming News…

In February, I am participating in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy giveaway on Prolific Works.

From February 7th to February 26, I will be joining with other authors to bring you over 50 reading opportunities for free books or short stories. I will be offering the full version of O’Ceagan’s Legacy in this giveaway. So, look for my update at the start of this promotion. It will be a great chance to grab the book for free. I will be sending the link to the giveaway out in about two weeks.

My current project is  Time Walker, which I am prepping to go to an editor in late February.  It’s an exciting and fun time travel/ steampunk book that I am planning to release  before the Book Lover’s Convention in New Orleans in May. I will be at this convention. Are any of you going?

I will also be going to the World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin, Ireland in August. If any of you are planning to go, let me know. Would love to meet up with you there.

That’s the news for now.  Please take a look at the new book and pick up a copy if it tickles your fancy.

blog, Book planning, Book Releases, NaNoWriMo, Reviews

Thanksgiving Wishes and an Update

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picture: Happy Thanksgiving

To all my American readers and friends, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving Day. To everyone else, I also wish you a lovely day.

This day, I give thanks for many things. I have a lovely house that I own, I have food on my table, I have my darling pets, and I have my good health. I also have you, my dear readers, and for that, I am especially thankful.

At this time, my thoughts and my heart go out to the people who lost their homes in California this past week. As someone who lives with the threat of a raging fire being a reality at any time, I sympathize with our neighbors in the Golden State. I’ve waited nervously in my house after a fire warning while a brush fire just a few miles down my street threatened our whole neighborhood but was thankfully brought under control before we had to load the pets and get to the nearest shelter. To think that you don’t have time to grab anything before you have to flee is terrifying. I just hope I never have to be in the position those people in California are in. Peace and strength to them and I know they are grateful to be alive.

Upcoming Books

On a different note, I am almost to the end of NaNoWriMo for this year. Although it’s sometimes frenzied writing, I enjoy the challenge of writing thousands of words a day during the month. This year, I completed one novel, wrote the last three chapters of one I had dangling (under another pen name) and started the second book of the series for the one I wrote,  Feels amazing to be that productive.

The completed book is Escape to Green Leaf Junction,  the first of a fantasy trilogy. (Yes, I know I have another fantasy trilogy that still isn’t complete, but this one spoke to me.) It’s my take on a fae world and on a town that bridges both Earth and that world.  It will be a few months before I begin editing, but it will possibly be out toward the end of 2019.

I have a time travel fantasy that I completed during Camp Nano this past July that is being prepped for a May release. I chose May because I’ll be at the Book Lovers’ Convention in New Orleans that month and will be giving out bookmarks for a free download of the book. It is called Time Walker, and I don’t have the cover ready for it yet, so look for the cover reveal to come up around January.

Also on tap is a fantasy novella set in the O’Ceagan’s Legacy universe but featuring one of the supporting characters from that story. Called In Strange Waters, it’s an adventure on Erinnua featuring Dari, the puca, along with his bean sidhe (banshee) companion, Sheilan. I am currently editing the book and hope to release it in February. More on that next month.

So, prepping for release, I have In Strange Waters and Time Walker. (Wait until you see the gorgeous cover for Time Walker.)

In editing mode, I have Escape to Green Leaf Junction.

Currently writing, I have the untitled 2nd book of the Junction Series.

And just released in October is the last book of my Funeral Singer series titled A Song of Redemption. This is a tense, exciting wrap-up to the series. And if you read through to the end, there’s a surprise waiting for you.

What I’m Currently Excited About

I just finished reading Annette Marie’s second book in her The Guild Codex series, which is Dark Arts and a Daiquiri.

If you haven’t discovered this terrific writer yet, what are you waiting for? This new series is fun, exciting, and a fast-moving read that will grab you by the throat and not let go until the very end.  I first started reading her with her Steel and Stone series and fell in love with her writing and the characters.  If you like sidekicks with snark and charm, you’ll want to check out Lyre, who becomes one of the main characters of her Spell Weaver series, which is my personal favorite.

Her Red Winter series strikes a totally different tone and draws on Japanese mythology for a fantastic book with compelling characters and situations that will put your heart in your throat. I can’t say enough about this woman’s writing.

Seriously, if you want a terrific fantasy novel, you can’t do better than Annette Marie’s books. Every one of them will draw you in.

Until next time, stay safe, be grateful for what you have, and be kind to people.