Violet Hilton

One of the things I love best about writing is creating my own worlds. A lot of them, particularly the urban fantasy ones, are very similar to our own with magical or supernatural elements in the mix. My sci-fi “world” is more of a universe unto itself, or at the very least a galaxy apart from ours. And then there’s the fantasy world I’ve been developing on and off for around five years.

My current big WIP, A Prince’s Ransom (APR), takes place in this fantasy world. At the time I wrote the story I just needed a non-Earth human-based world to set my story in, but the only one I had available was Caerth… a high fantasy world I admittedly created for a D&D campaign that never got off the ground. Caerth was filled with all sort of history from different fantasy races an an expansive pantheon, as well as detailed maps I was already familiar with. But the world of APR didn’t need elves or dwarves or orcs in it at all. What it did need were non-Earth kingdoms to play with and fantastic creatures like sea monsters and dragons. I said “screw it” and set the story in Caerth anyway, just ignoring the high fantasy elements of the world as if they didn’t exist in APR.

Now, currently, I’m working on fixing the map (yes, instead of actively writing the story… erm oops) and I’ve been sucked into a whirlwind of world building! I’m in the process of reconciling “present day” Caerth, the setting of APR, with the “old” Caerth. This world is very rich with different cultures and peoples, but the only real changes I’m making are doing away with dark elves and the idea that there are separate “fantasy races” since… there are already enough Tolkien rip offs/spin offs out there, aren’t there? This isn’t to say there’s no room for physical differences between countries/continents, but much like Earth, the populace is “human” in nature.

Most of these things won’t effect APR, other than serving as a more solid foundation and providing reference points for the world itself. The good part about this is that I can come back to Caerth later and find other interesting people to write about over the course of its history. Even if most of them aren’t marketable works, it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for years for myself.

World building is rewarding and a lot of fun, but it’s also very time consuming!

I’m in the process of switching my website’s CMS over to WordPress, so please excuse the mess while I get everything set up! It may be a few days before everything is where I want it to be, so thank you for bearing with this upgrade

Looks like Dreamspinner Press is having a summer sale this month! This week’s sale includes all sci-fi titles, so if you’ve wanted to snag a copy of Rogue Wolf now would be the perfect time

Here are the details of the sale from Dreamspinner’s facebook page:

We’re celebrating summer at Dreamspinner Press. Each week this month, we’re highlighting books in three genres for a 20% discount, taken automatically at checkout. Here’s your chance to stock up and enjoy!

• July 1-7 – fantasy, sci-fi, fairy tales
• July 8-14 – bdsm, m/m/m, humor
• July 15-21 – historical, timeless dreams, western
• July 22-28 – contemp, mystery, transgender
• July 29-31 – holiday

I’m especially looking forward to the third week so I can snag some new westerns for myself!

I’m finally getting off my butt over here and working on that whole starting what I finish thing.

To start things off I finally queried a publication that I submitted to back in early December last year. I really want to get Working Stiffs moving again, and I’ve let it languish a ridiculous 198 days in limboland. That’s my own fault for not querying at the 90 day mark as recommended by this particular publication. Hopefully I’ll hear back sooner than later, but obviously I shouldn’t hope too hard.

I’ve also finished working on a short story I started a few months ago called Stray. It’s a horror piece that I meant to be a flash length story, but Stray has outgrown its humble flash beginnings and grown into a short story. A very short story, yet too long to be flash. I had an epiphany about the climax and ending (finally) and now I’m much happier with the tale than I originally was! It’s gone through an edit pass already and is now being carted around to beta readers while I do market research. There are two publications I’m eyeballing currently, but I want to gather a few more.

This weekend I’m hoping to get rolling on finishing up A Prince’s Ransom so I can move on to the editing phase well before November thinks of arriving. I can’t do any editing during NaNoWriMo, even on non-current-NaNo pieces! So, yes, time to get a move on

If you’re a writer of flash fiction or a fan of writing prompts, you probably already know about Flash Fiction Chronicles and their daily writing prompts. FFC also has an awesome collaborative blog with writing advice and anecdotes from many different writers in many different genres.

Today FFC has been gracious enough to feature an article I wrote about what to do while you wait for a submissions response! If you haven’t already read the article here in the past, you should head over there and check out While You Wait

I am so floored right now! Rogue Wolf has been blogged about over at The Galaxy Express! If you love sci fi romance, you should definitely check out TGE to stay up to date on SFR news and releases, plus awesome discussions on the genre

I’m happy to see that Letters from the Dead is now available on Amazon! I can’t wait to get my contributors copy of this one. If I’m not mistaken, there are just over 70 stories in the book. If you’re a zombie fan and haven’t snagged a copy yet, you should definitely pop over to Amazon and check it out

I’m excited to share that Letters from the Dead is now available on Createspace! It’s available in trade paperback and was edited by Mark M. Johnson. The book should be available on Amazon in the next week or so as well.

If you’re into zombie tales, then you should really check out this unique take on snippets of life during a zombie apocalypse. Here’s the extended blurb from Createspace:

Defying all logic and reason, the dead returned from death. All over the world, dead human bodies rose and walked the Earth in search of living human flesh to consume. Despite the valiant efforts of the living’s vast armies and superior weapons, the dead won the Zombie War.

Defeated, the surviving governments of the world fled to the safety of their underground bases, leaving the last living survivors to their fate. All alone, trapped, for them there was no last second rescue, no escape. The Dead surrounded them, pounding on their barricaded doors, smashing in their boarded windows. It was their last chance to say goodbye, their last chance to shout out in defiance. It was time to write their final words.

For decades, the dead ruled the Earth unchallenged, but their reign was finite. In time, they returned to the dust from which they came.

When the living survivors emerged from their underground shelters, they would discover hundreds of thousands of tattered decaying messages, the letters left behind by the last to perish in the Zombie Apocalypse.

These are those “Letters From The Dead”.

Check it out!

The cover and blurb for Letters from the Dead have been released on the Library of the Living Dead Press forum! Here’s a peek:

The apocalypse is here. Zombies have taken over the world. You’re alone and the undead are just outside. What do you do? You write a letter stating your last thoughts before you take your own life. Welcome to… Letters from the Dead.

No news yet on the actual release date of this awesome zombie anthology in which one of my flash pieces will appear, but I’ll make an announcement here once I’m in the know.

I saw today that Literary Nymphs Reviews has reviewed Rogue Wolf. They gave the book 4 out of 5 nymphs! You should check out what they had to say about my debut novella