Catching Up

Photo by Jon Tyson, via Unsplash

It's been a little longer than forever since the last post, and I can't really explain what happened. It may have had something to do with launching of the newsletter, which duplicated much of the information on the blog. You can sign up for our newsletter on the front page at The Electric Scroll, and then you know you won't miss anything new, exciting, or important.
The staff at The Electric Scroll has been very busy. I can't believe that we've published 53 books in only six years, particularly with how small our staff is. It's incredible.
We've had the chance to work with some great writers, including Natalie Peck, Scott Ashby, C R Simper, Betsy Love, and most recently, Keri Brooks McWhorter.
Keri released a wonderfully cute romance novella named Second Love in New York City last June.
Scott has written two more Cavaliers novels, Terror on Terradia and Court Martial on the Charys, that are in line to be published soonish, and is hard at work writing the first of three more Cavaliers novels telling the story of how the Aubria got from Timora to Terradia.
Betsy just finished a Christmas novel named The Miracle of Joie, and it should be available late in November.
In September, The Electric Scroll opened a new division, dedicated to helping authors publish independently. We call it the author services division. We offer editing, formatting, and cover-making services at fair, but generally low-prices.
If you know your manuscript needs well-trained extra eyes on it, you can borrow ours.
If you're freaking out about the merger between CreateSpace and Amazon, you don't need to worry.
If you need a manuscript formatted for print at the new Amazon platform, we've got you covered.
If you want to publish in eBook too, we format for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.
If you need a cover, we can help you make an eBook (front) cover.
If you already have a front cover, we can craft a spine and back cover for your print book.
We can also make the entire full-wrap cover for you.
And, once you've approved the files, we can even upload the files for you.

If you want to know more about author services, come talk to me on Facebook. Or if you want to talk about publishing your book with us. Or if you want to just talk.

What's a Klodfon?

Suddenly Glen realized what he was seeing. These must be Clod-fawns. They were huge! Jenna had been conservative in her description of seven foot lizards. These lizards walked on two legs and used their tails for balance. Covered from head to toe with bright, neon green scales, they reminded him vaguely of a tyrannosaurus rex, only with well-muscled, usable arms attached on the sides of their shoulders.

The helmets they wore were shaped wrong for any dinosaur. Glen rather thought they would fit on his own head, though the squarish corners might be uncomfortable. Their faces were different, too; he could see them through the helmet’s clear front covering. They were definitely lizardish; red eyes with a slit for a mouth, and absolutely nothing where the nose should have been. Glen wondered absently what they would do if they needed to wear glasses, with no nose to hold them up.

They wore black bits of stuff strapped to various parts of their bodies, and Glen recalled Jenna saying something about blast armor. It certainly looked like armor. Not the kind knights used to wear; more like a Roman soldier’s. Breast plates and back plates, helmets, and guards on the forearms and shins.

Other than the helmets and armor, they wore no other clothing. Apparently the lizards had no problem with nudity, but then, Glen couldn’t recognize anything that modesty should prompt them to cover. (from Assignment to Earth by Scott Ashby) http://tinyurl.com/kr2uyh5

Inside Cell

Jameisaan looked around, assessing the situation. “We’re in an inside cell,” he said calmly.

“Why do you say that?” Fergasse’s voice reached out in the near pitch darkness.

“No windows in the walls,” was the answer.

“None of the cells have windows, as they’re all underground. We could be anywhere.”

“Oh.”

“We’re lucky in one respect,” Fergasse said, as calmly as Jameisaan had been speaking.

“What’s that?”

“They didn’t chain us to the walls.” Fergasse rattled the chains of a set of manacles bolted to the wall.

“That was nice of them,” came the acerbic reply.

“Very nice. The manacles are measured so you can’t sit or lie down.”

“I see. In that case, I’m really glad they decided to forgo the formality.”

“Absolutely,” Fergasse agreed. (From The Siege of Kwennjurat, by Scott Ashby) http://tinyurl.com/nw4lfsb

Invisible Servants

Ez sat down at the table and drew out her wand, and with a few flicks and several muttered incantations, her kitchen was alive with what looked like invisible servants. The eggs floated from the refrigerator and broke in mid-air, throwing their contents into the frying pan which materialized beneath them just in the nick of time. A few slices of bacon made their stately way to the pan, and began sizzling on contact. The pan hovered merrily above the stove as it cooked the food, even though Ez had forgotten to turn the gas on. The bamboo spatula stirred the eggs, scrambling them beautifully, while the tongs darted in and out of the pan, turning the bacon as needed. (From "Scrounger Ez" by Scott Ashby, Bits and Bites) http://tinyurl.com/mc4vbh5

Death in Waiting

Wading back across the stream, he found the best place to give adequate view of his quarry while concealing his own presence and settled in for the wait.

A scant brace of hours ambled by with few riders and only one coach passing before the small lad wearing Kwenn’s livery cantered into view. Always an exceptional marksman, Rocnar took careful aim, allowing the horse to bring the boy closer. The sound of the shot rent the air and caused the horse to plunge and buck as its rider slipped onto the roadway, blood staining his jerkin from the neat new hole over the center of his heart. (From Tanella’s Flight, by Scott Ashby)  http://tinyurl.com/mc4gp2l

Fire in the Night

A blazing light awakened Gladiola, and her first thought was she’d overslept and the sun was shining in her eyes. She smelled smoke and sat upright in her cot. She’d not overslept. The sun was not in her eyes. It was still the middle of the night, and the light was caused by the burning tent around her. (From Crown of Tears by Scott Ashby) http://tinyurl.com/pf2m49s

A Delayed and Secret Meeting

“Something’s happening, something’s wrong,” he whispered into her ear. “When everyone’s here, don’t wait for me. Take them all back to our camp. Tigano couldn’t talk, but wants to meet me later. I’ll make my own way back after I’ve talked to him, but it’ll be late. He’s set the eleventh hour as the time.”

“Bring him with you afterward,” Dexya said grimly. “He’s risked enough on our behalf.”

“I will, if he’ll come.”

“If he won’t come willingly,” Dexya said, “then whack him over the head and bring him anyway.”

Quibell chuckled at her proposed solution as he moved away from her position and melted into the darkness. (From Fabric of the World by Scott Ashby) http://tinyurl.com/ophfp6u

Special Equipment

Mike hurried to catch up to where Skylar was walking with Jenna. He opened his mouth, then glanced at Jenna and shut it. Skylar watched him and could see the tussle between curiosity and caution written on his face.

Curiosity won. With another sideways look at Skylar, Mike softly commented, “I see you got yourself a kitty. What’d you hit him with, a club?”

Equally quietly, Skylar said, “I shot him.” He looked at Mike’s shocked and disbelieving face and grinned.

Mike snorted. “With a wet pistol,” he said, “Right!”

Skylar’s smile widened. “Special equipment.”

Mike cut in, a bit of frustration showing. “Let me guess, it’s experimental and you’re not allowed to talk about it. Are you in the air force or something?”

Skylar choked back his laughter. “Or something,” he agreed.

 “Skylar, that cougar’s dead and there’s not a mark on him! What on earth did you use to kill him?”

Skylar placed a hand on Mike’s shoulder, facing him squarely, and with a serious tone which told Mike not to push too far, replied, “Let’s just call it space-age technology and leave it at that, all right?” (from Assignment to Earth by Scott Ashby) Read more here.

Not as dumb as he looks

“Hey!”

One of the soldiers, who’d been watching their approach, leaned out over the battlement.

“Hey what?”

“What’s the gate closed for?”

“It’s closed, is all. Especially to you.”

“Well, open it then.”

“Can’t”

“Why not?”

“Because my orders is to keep the gate shut. So if I was to open it and let you in, my boss would be plenty mad, see?”

Fergan nodded his understanding.

“Can I talk to him?”

“Who?”

“Your boss; the one who told you to keep the gate shut.”

“Whaddaya wanna talk to him for?”

“Well, so’s he can open the gate for me.”

The soldier on the wall sighed. Some of his companions hid their smiles behind their hands. The sight cheered Fergan’s heart. They thought him a farmer, and not too bright. Good. (From The Siege of Kwennjurat, by Scott Ashby) Read more here.

Tree Through the Roof

“Lightening usually hits tall things. We’re surrounded by very tall trees, so we should be okay with that. Light the fire and let’s keep watching.”

She’d no sooner spoken the words when the air in the cabin turned blue with lightening while thunder showered an angry roar around them. The crack of splintering wood followed the sound. Frozen in petrified horror they watched as part of the tree barely five yards from their front door disintegrate ten feet above the ground. The balance of the sixty foot pine shuddered, briefly suspended in the air before it tilted, gathering momentum and closed the distance to their cabin’s roof.

Matt yelled. Katy screamed. Melanie automatically gathered Katy in her arms. The tree settled with Melanie half sitting, half lying on the floor still clinging to Katy, who had buried her face in her mother’s neck. Melanie looked for Matt amid the debris which had been the living room just moments ago. Rain was pouring in on them where the roof had been destroyed, but Melanie ignored it as she turned her attention to finding her son.

“Matt!” Panic filled her. “Where are you?” (From "Hidden Strengths" by Natalie Peck, Bits and Bites) Read More Here

Broken Heart

So what if her heart was breaking? She was a princess. In time, she would be a queen. She was determined to be a good queen and rule together with Prince Fergan. It wasn’t his fault her heart was broken beyond repair. (From Tanella’s Flight, by Scott Ashby) Read More Here

Getting past the Guard at the Gate

Annette stepped forward and positioned herself about two inches in front of the gate guard, with her face right up against his nose.

“Listen up, you!” Annette screamed into his face. “My mistress is Princess Gladiola of Notia. She’s here by appointment to see your worthless ruler! Now I don’t know how things are done in this mud-hole you call a kingdom, but in Notia, royalty is given respect!

“You have about three seconds to acknowledge my mistress and open up this here gate and let her in, or I’ll be telling your dim-witted prince you ought to have your head chopped off for being so rude to a royal princess! Do you hear me?”

The gate guard, his face now a pasty white, nodded his head. “Aye, I can hear you. So can the whole street. For that matter, they might be able to hear you clear out to Land’s End, the way you shriek like a harridan.

“In your precious Notia they might cut your head off for being rude, but here they’ll cut it off even faster for disobeying orders. My orders this morning were to keep the gate shut and not let nobody in.”

During her speech, the guard had been backing up, and Annette had followed him, never allowing more than a few inches between them.

“Well, somebody’s head is going to roll, and that’s for sure,” Annette said in a normal tone, though she didn’t move away from him. She pulled a folded piece of paper out of the pouch she wore at her waist. “Can you read?” she asked in a condescending tone.

“Nay, ain’t nobody on the island can read, ‘ceptin the prince hisself and maybe the vicar.”

“Well, if you could read, I’d let you read it for yourself, so you could know I’m not lying. But since you can’t read, I’ll just have to tell you what’s in it. When we got here last night my mistress, Princess Gladiola of Notia, sent a note to the prince.

“This here,” she said, waving the note in his face, “is the note we got back, and it says we’re to see the prince in his throne room three hours after sunrise. Now, it’s almost that time. So somebody has given the wrong order, because the prince has invited us in, you see. If the prince invited us in, like this note says he has, then whoever gave the order to keep us out is doing what the prince doesn’t want him to do and, like you said, he may lose his head for disobeying the prince’s orders. So you’d better let us in, so we can see the prince, like he wants us to.”

The gate guard nodded, but didn’t move.

“Well, are you going to let us in, or do I have to smash down your rickety little gate and go find your boss and tell him you’re refusing entrance to a guest the prince has invited to the throne room?”

The guard shook his head violently. “I would be letting you in, Miss, ‘ceptin you got me backed up clear against the wall, and I can’t move to get to the gate.” (From Crown of Tears by Scott Ashby) Read more about this book here..

News from the World

“When will the others be back from their exercises, and more importantly, do you know when I’ll be able to see Amityn? I’ve news for him from the world.”

Dexya smiled into her cup of tea.

“What?” Quibell demanded.

“Nothing,” she said, and then broke into a small giggle. “It’s just…do you know how pretentious that sounds?”

“Pretentious?”

“‘I have news for him from the world.’” Dexya mimicked Quibell. “I mean, I know you communicate directly with the Heart of the World in ways no one else is able to, and honestly, you’re the least pretentious man I know. It just comes out that way!” She dissolved into giggles, and Quibell, seeing it from her point of view, joined in her laughter. (From Fabric of the World by Scott Ashby) Read more about this book here.

Weekly Update - 11/30/15

This week I spent two days in the kitchen with my daughter, baking pies and a turkey, whipping cream, and mashing potatoes. Time well spent, we had a lot of fun and also washed a mountain of dishes.


We published Natalie Peck's Sirens in her Heart on November 27th. Sirens isn't the first book Natalie's had published, but it is the first she wrote, and the only one of her works that her author mother got to read before her passing. The book was published on Natalie's mother's birthday. Sirens is available here, or at the usual retail outlets.


The office renovations continue: I sewed the panels for my screen, and also the curtain that will hang above it to block the rest of my closet from view of my office. The curtain still needs to be hung up. I promise there will be before and after photos when we're finished.


My daughter's birthday present this year is fabric to sew her own set of Jedi robes. I got it for her early, since her birthday is rather close to the movie's release date, and she wouldn't have time to finish it beforehand. We've been doing a lot of sewing. I use a rolling computer desk for my sewing table, and both of our machines will fit on the table back-to-back so we can both sew at the same time. I told her the other sewing that's been sitting around forever has to be done before the Jedi robes, because otherwise it will never get done. I've hemmed ten "wedding" tablecloths (don't ask, not an imminent event, but needed to be done), discovered that my sewing machine is violently allergic to the magenta thread that matches the curtain, sewed the aforementioned screen panels and curtain, and discovered that a long-awaited blouse that's been cut out for two years was cut wrong...I had two left halves of the back, and no right half...and I cut it out two years ago from old fabric that was lying around, so I can't just re-cut another back panel. I nearly cried. I really wanted that blouse. My daughter's been working on a Christmas present for my Dad and doing an excellent job of it. All that's left is to finish the Christmas present, assemble two nightgowns that have been cut out for a couple of years, and then we can start on the Jedi robes.


I've also done a bunch of editing:

• Misty was sent from one of my editors back to the author for more work. It's just finishing the first round of editing and we expect to publish by April's end. It's the second book in Marie Evergreen's Travelers series. The first book, Quinn, is available here, or at all the usual retail outlets.
• I did initial rewrites on Encounter at Kiral - it's the second book in Scott Ashby's Cavaliers series. It should be out in October. The first book, Assignment to Earth, is available here or at your favorite retail outlet.
• C R Simper's Rift Watcher has been sent to the final copyeditor. It's the first in the Rift Watcher series, and should be out by the end of December.
• I started edits on The Blogger, a novella that should be out in June. I'm not mentioning the author's name here yet, because I haven't asked him if he wants to use his own or a pen name.
• We're also deep in edits on Bolts from the Blue (A M Jenner), An Independent Love Affair (Natalie Peck), and an as-yet unnamed thriller by A M Jenner.
• Also, A M Jenner is in the midst of two more novels; Corpse on the Porch, which is this year's NaNoWriMo winner and Pushing up Roses.

No, I haven't done much sleeping.

Exciting things happening!

Scott Ashby's book Crown of Tears was published October 31st. It's another great fantasy. What's it about? Only the magical coronation band can name the true heir - and next ruler - of Notia. However, the band has been stolen. King Kaddick is dying, and his three daughters, Calla Lily, Gladiola, and Marigold, must find the coronation band before it's too late.


Natalie Peck wrote her first romance novel over a quarter century ago. It was the only one of Natalie's novels her author/mother got to read before her death, and although she rarely read fiction, she told Natalie it was an excellent book. Last year, Natalie was cleaning out her storage room, rediscovered the original manuscript, dusted it off, updated the technology, and submitted it.
The Electric Scroll editors agreed with Natalie's mother - it's an excellent book. Sirens in her Heart will be published on November 27th, Natalie's mother's birthday.


We're pleased to welcome C R Simper as an Electric Scroll author. She has two short steampunk stories published in anthologies, and her first novel, Rift Watcher, will be coming out in December.

Fabric of the World

On April 25th, Scott Ashby's Fabric of the World was finally republished. I know there's been a lot of people waiting very patiently for the editing to be completed and the book to be available once more.

Although the story is largely the same, the presentation is much improved. What changes were made? For one thing, the first five chapters were removed completely. Most of the writing was tightened up and made a little less formal. And this time, I think we got it right, because Scott says his characters now trust him enough that they've started talking to him about the next part of the story. Yes, there will be at least one other story set in this world.

Also those chapters that were removed are awesome short stories on their own, and the possibility exists that other short stories may be written and the lot of them released together.

For those who haven't met Quibell yet, I'll tell you a bit about him. His unwed mother was thrown out of her wealthy household because of her pregnancy. When Quibell showed all the signs of being mageborn, she was Burned at the stake for the crime of sleeping with a mageborn man. Quibell was then raised in an orphanage.

On his seventeenth naming-day, the day he officially became an adult, Quibell left the orphanage for the last time. He'd arranged an apprenticeship, and was on his way to learn to become a Healer. His life would have been unremarkable had he not passed through the square where there was yet another public Burning, so like his mother's. Overcome by his emotions, Quibell lashes out with his untaught power, and the executioner ended up in the flames with his victims.

The murder of a Mage is a capital crime. Having used magic to do so made it worse. Quibell runs for his life, fleeing the city of Turpan forever. By the end of the day, he's fallen in with a tribe of nomads, though he's not sure whether he's a prisoner or an honored guest.

He has an important choice to make, though. He can stay with the nomads, marry the chieftain's daughter, and become a nomad prince...or he can try to find a way to return to Turpan, overthrow the evil Mages that run the city, and free his people. Either way, the choice he makes has the possibility to change the world.

Exciting! And a little Crazy!

Publishing is a strange world to live in. It's a world of hurry up and wait.
You send the manuscript back and forth between the editors and the author. When it's your turn with it, you work like mad, then wait several months until it's your turn again. There are sometimes delays because, well, life happens. And sometimes there are serendipitous moments when you realize you can bring a project in ahead of schedule.

Take April for example. We're publishing three books at or near the end of April.

Inherit My Heart, by A M Jenner, is a romantic suspense about a woman who's running from an abusive relationship, and what happens when a lawyer inadvertently leads her husband to her.

Inherit My Heart was originally intended to be (re)published in February, but some family funerals and unexpected travel delayed its release.

Jenny's Daughter, by Jaqi Wade, is a nonfiction memoir of a fascinating life. Jaqi grew up in depression-era California. At the age of 40 she and her husband packed up their children and went to live as missionaries in Brazil. The culture shock of moving there was nothing compared to the shock of moving back "home" again twenty years later.

Jenny's Daughter is being published right on time.

Fabric of the World, by Scott Ashby, is a fantasy novel about a young man who accidentally kills the Archmage on his seventeenth naming-day, the day he becomes a legal adult. By the end of the day he's been forced to abandon his plans for his life and flee the city...and he's been kidnapped by a band of nomads, to boot. As he tries to find a place in the world, he has two choices: stay with the nomads, marry the chieftain's daughter, and become fabulously wealthy as his adopted heir; or return to Turpan and fight the rest of the corrupt mages who rule the city to bring freedom and justice to all the city's inhabitants.

Fabric of the World was scheduled to be (re)released in June, but the work went faster than expected in every phase of development, and it's ready now.

All three books have been sent to the printer, and we're waiting for the proof copies to arrive. In the meanwhile, we're putting information about them on the website as it becomes available, and working hard to prepare the ebook versions.

Tanella's Flight Nearing Release!

We're so happy to share the brand new cover for Scott Ashby's book, Tanella's Flight. The book is in the final stages of publication. The various formats will be released as they are ready, over the next three weeks.

The next projects will be Natalie Peck's A Gigolo For Christmas, and the short story anthology Bits and Bites. We're looking forward to getting the new covers from the art department and showing them to you soon.

Chatting with Scott Ashby

The Electric Scroll will be interviewing authors on a regular basis. You don't have to be published by us to be interviewed. If you're an independent author and you'd like to be interviewed, please contact us at secretary@electric-scroll.com, and we'll be glad to get you set up.

Our first interview is with Scott Ashby, one of our authors.

ES: Tell me a little about yourself as a person.
SA: I’m Scott Ashby. I’m single. I don’t date much. I probably get along with computers better than people, partially because computers don’t go confusing me by changing their appearance. It’s called face blindness, which means I have a very difficult time identifying even good friends when they’ve changed their hair color or style. I’m ADHD. What else do you want to know?

ES: What genre do you write, and Why?
SA: I write SF/Fantasy because I’d rather make up a world to fit my book than try to make my stories fit into a particularly shaped hole in the real world.

ES: If you threw a cocktail party and invited all of the characters in your books, who would be the least likely to come, and why? Who would you really hope to see at the party, and why?
SA: Prince Liammial from Tanella’s Flight and The Siege of Kwennjurat is the least likely to come, because he wouldn’t see any advantages for him in coming. He already knows I don’t like him much. I would hope Lt. Jenna from Assignment to Earth comes, because I’d really like to get to know her better.

ES: If you had unlimited money, what’s the first thing you would spend it on?
SA: A trip to Europe to take awesome pictures of castles for my book covers.

ES: There are an estimated 535,389.7 unique ways to die. How do you hope to meet your maker?
SA: I don’t plan on dying.

ES: If you could have one super-power, what would it be?
SA: I’d like to be able to kwim. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s the ability to teleport anywhere, instantly. Also they should read Fredric Brown’s Martians Go Home.

ES: What’s your biggest fear?
SA: When I was very young, I was climbing a mountain with my parents. It started to rain while we were on the mountain, and as we were coming down, I slid down some of the stairs. Ever since then I’ve been terribly afraid of heights, and also of falling.

ES: What is your favorite color?
SA: Blue.

ES: Tell me about your current work in progress.
SA: Mind Touch is about a group of people called Teeps, with various telepathic and assorted other mind powers in a post-apocalyptic world who are being persecuted by the Normals, and who must work together to solve the most important puzzle ever posed to the people of their world.

ES: Tell me about your most recent published work, and why people should buy it.
SA: The Siege of Kwennjurat is the sequel to Tanella’s Flight; both books deal with the machinations of a man who’s been scheming for more than thirty years to take control of the kingdom and declare himself king. You’ll want to read both books, actually, to find out just how far Liammial’s willing to go in order to get what he wants…and whether he gets what he deserves.
At the moment, they’re still listed under my friend A M Jenner’s name, but soon they’ll be properly republished as mine. You can find out more about Tanella's Flight and The Siege of Kwennjurat at their pages on the Electric Scroll.