I've changed not only the look of the blog, but also the name of the series. Admittedly, The Sentient/Feral Vampire Series was a bit cumbersome, but I wasn't really sure what to call the series (I suppose I should have thought of that, but that it became a series was as much of a surprise for me as writing the first book in the first place. It's a learning game). The series has its start in Chicago, and the characters have such a connection to the city, so I decided I would call it the Chicago Vampire Series. That seems to flow a bit better.
As for the look of the blog, I've been posting teases for the sequel Ujaali that feature some wonderful photographs of Chicago at night. They're unique photos of neighborhoods and alley ways that my friend Matt Teuter was kind enough to let me use. He's a talented photographer with a good eye in both day and nightime scapes. You can check out more of his photos at Matt Tuteur Photography Around Chicago at Night and Matt Tuteur Street Photography or click on the links. I decided to tile the blog with one photograph I find particularly haunting.
As I wrote, I've been putting up teases for the sequel to To Touch the Sun which was supposed to be out in July. Unfortunately, we've had an issue about the cover and are currently working that out. So I don't have a firm date for when Ujaali will be released, but I will keep you informed. And will try to put up some posts about the novel itself. I'm anxious for its release.
In the meantime you can check for further updates at my author page on Facebook, or my website, laura-enright.com which I don't get a chance to update as much.
In the meantime, the delay might be the perfect time for those who haven't had a chance to check out To Touch the Sun and catch up with the story.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Friday, July 10, 2015
Monday, June 1, 2015
Monday, March 16, 2015
To Touch the Sun Book Trailer
Well, just popping in for today. It took me a bit, but I finally got around to having a book trailer made for To Touch the Sun.
I think it turned out pretty cool! It's perched nicely on my YouTube channel which I hope to start populating soon with fun and interesting videos. I'll have to get to work on the trailer for the sequel, Ujaali, which is hopefully still due to be released in May or June.
I think it turned out pretty cool! It's perched nicely on my YouTube channel which I hope to start populating soon with fun and interesting videos. I'll have to get to work on the trailer for the sequel, Ujaali, which is hopefully still due to be released in May or June.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Happy Anniversary, Vampires!
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| Balloons to celebrate |
I have to admit there were times when I wasn't sure this was going to happen. As I've stated before, my writing a vampire novel was a calculated thing. I was hoping to interest an agent I was in pleasant communication with whose agency featured a vampire series. I enjoyed reading vampire novels, watching vampire movies, but I myself never had the urge to write one. I never had a character or story I wanted to present. Since I like to try new things though this gave me the perfect chance to try my hand at a vampire novel.
Unlike past novels I've written where I had the story and characters in my head before putting pen to paper, I went into this project cold. The only thing I had to build on was "vampire chef." Slowly, as time went on, the story grew, evolving as did the characters until at last I knew where I wanted to take the story.
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| Love how it looks on a library shelf. |
That's right: I started with two words and I now have four novels (written while hunting for a publisher for the first one) and a spin off novel featuring two paranormal investigators that appear in the third novel. (The agent, however, did not stick around. But that's a whole other story).
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| The cover makes a good poster too. |
So come celebrate with me. I'll probably be enjoying the glow for a few more days So drop in on Facebook and say, "Hi." Visit Amazon and get your own copy of To Touch the Sun. I hope people get as much enjoyment from reading it as I had from writing it.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
The Wait May Not Have Been So Bad
I make no secret of the fact that I never had an urge to write a vampire novel prior to To Touch the Sun. I liked reading the genre, I just never had a character in mind or story to tell.
That all changed with TTTS. There was a huge evolution that took place in that project. I decided to take on the project in the hopes of attracting an agent I'd been in cordial communication with, but I still didn't have a character or story in mind. Just a two word Idea: Vampire Chef. I played with plot, narrative, perspective. Eventually I came up with characters I really love and a plot that suits them. I'm sure that's why the series that grew from it is so close to my heart. It came about as such a surprise.
Once I had the novel (and the agent was a bust--a whole other story there) I became desperate to find a publisher. The desire was stronger with this novel than any other novel I'd written. It took years to find a publisher and I'm happy with Dagda Publishing, but those were frustrating years.
Looking back on it, however, I'm kind of glad for the wait because it offered me the chance to write the next three novels in the series and get to know my characters. Now when I talk of TTTS, I can also talk of the series which lends more excitement to talking about TTTS. I understand Narain, for example, in a different way then I did right after finishing TTTS. I understand the friendship between him and Dom, or the relationship between Narain and Cassie in a much more complete way.
Actually, I do have my moments of frustration having the next three novels written. There are some surprises in the next two novels that I have to be careful not to reveal. But there's an arc to some characters that I'm extremely anxious to talk about it.
Hopefully it won't be too long before the next book is published. In the meantime, I hope people are enjoying this first one (and looking forward to the next).
That all changed with TTTS. There was a huge evolution that took place in that project. I decided to take on the project in the hopes of attracting an agent I'd been in cordial communication with, but I still didn't have a character or story in mind. Just a two word Idea: Vampire Chef. I played with plot, narrative, perspective. Eventually I came up with characters I really love and a plot that suits them. I'm sure that's why the series that grew from it is so close to my heart. It came about as such a surprise.
Once I had the novel (and the agent was a bust--a whole other story there) I became desperate to find a publisher. The desire was stronger with this novel than any other novel I'd written. It took years to find a publisher and I'm happy with Dagda Publishing, but those were frustrating years.
Looking back on it, however, I'm kind of glad for the wait because it offered me the chance to write the next three novels in the series and get to know my characters. Now when I talk of TTTS, I can also talk of the series which lends more excitement to talking about TTTS. I understand Narain, for example, in a different way then I did right after finishing TTTS. I understand the friendship between him and Dom, or the relationship between Narain and Cassie in a much more complete way.
Actually, I do have my moments of frustration having the next three novels written. There are some surprises in the next two novels that I have to be careful not to reveal. But there's an arc to some characters that I'm extremely anxious to talk about it.
Hopefully it won't be too long before the next book is published. In the meantime, I hope people are enjoying this first one (and looking forward to the next).
Friday, December 19, 2014
Blog Radio Appearance
I'm pretty excited because later on today (Friday, Dec. 19, 2:38 a.m. is when I type this) I'll be doing an hour long interview on the Speculative Fiction Cantina. We'll be discussing To Touch the Sun, among other things. They also asked me to do a 5-8 minute reading from the book and choosing a passage that fits in that time has been difficult but it's been fun practicing with the possible choices.
There are a number of accents in my book: Heavy Chicago, light Chicago, Indian, British, I've always enjoyed playing with accents so playing with these (not to mention trying to pin down the male voices without it being too obvious that that I'm "husking" my voice) has been interesting.
I'll say this, I've often wondered why most authors don't read versions of their own audio books. You would think it would be perfect since they know the rhythm of the words they put down on paper.
It can be quite a challenge, however, as I discovered when I read the prologue of TTTS so that the publisher can put something on Facebook the day it was released. It was me, in my living room with a headset and a computer, trying to accomplish the task in a hurry and luckily it was mostly prose so that I didn't have to go in and out of too many accents. Even still, I found myself having to pause frequently to attend to sinal issues, or because I had a tickle in my throat, or Oliver T. Kitty decided I was spending far too much time with that and not nearly enough praising him so he tried to steal my focus with a whiny meow. Or, and this is a huge problem, you tend to assume what the next words will be only discover you're off by a word or a tense.
Now I know that most audio book readers are locked up in a quality studio with technicians to help them. Still, it has to be a daunting task.
If you want to hear a reader successfully attack a variety of accents in a book, listen to John Lee's exceptional reading of Ken Follett's "Century Trilogy." I have gotten through the first and half of the second book (hoping to finish it soon) and was blown away. I was made fully aware of his talent after listening to the audio versions of Follett's Pillar's of the Earth and subsequent books in that series. It was like listening to a radio play. But in the Century Trilogy, Lee is taking on a variety of British accents, a variety of American accents, German, Russian, male and female...and he does it all seemingly effortlessly. It's astounding.
Of course the audio versions of the Harry Potter books are classics unto themselves thanks to the voice talents of Jim Dale. He doesn't have the vast amount of different ethnic accents, but he does have the male/female, adult/child accents to perform. I had a friend who made a ritual of reading the Harry Potter book and then made a ritual of listening to it on CD.
I really enjoyed Ron Perlman's reading of The Strain, the first novel in a vampire trilogy by Guillermo del Torro and Chuck Hogan. His was a measured reading, but it was perfect for the subject and added to the tension.
Recently (well, several months ago--unfortunately, with my schedule, that's recent for fiction) I finished the audio book of The Martian by Andy Weir. It was a surprisingly engrossing book (I say surprisingly because it's very subject should have left my eyes glazed over from minutia). The performance by R.C. Bray only helped to pull me into the story.
Frequently I find myself listening to books on audio because my schedule leaves me little time to read. Popping a CD into the player driving from one thing to another is a lot easier. And if you have a great reader, it can be a fantastic experience.
If you would like to hear me take a stab at a live reading, tune into the Cantina tomorrow. And feel free to call in with any questions. I'll be on at 5 p.m. Central time. Visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/writestream/2014/12/19/the-speculative-fiction-cantina-with-anthony-metivier-and-laura-enright
There are a number of accents in my book: Heavy Chicago, light Chicago, Indian, British, I've always enjoyed playing with accents so playing with these (not to mention trying to pin down the male voices without it being too obvious that that I'm "husking" my voice) has been interesting.
I'll say this, I've often wondered why most authors don't read versions of their own audio books. You would think it would be perfect since they know the rhythm of the words they put down on paper.
It can be quite a challenge, however, as I discovered when I read the prologue of TTTS so that the publisher can put something on Facebook the day it was released. It was me, in my living room with a headset and a computer, trying to accomplish the task in a hurry and luckily it was mostly prose so that I didn't have to go in and out of too many accents. Even still, I found myself having to pause frequently to attend to sinal issues, or because I had a tickle in my throat, or Oliver T. Kitty decided I was spending far too much time with that and not nearly enough praising him so he tried to steal my focus with a whiny meow. Or, and this is a huge problem, you tend to assume what the next words will be only discover you're off by a word or a tense.
Now I know that most audio book readers are locked up in a quality studio with technicians to help them. Still, it has to be a daunting task.
Of course the audio versions of the Harry Potter books are classics unto themselves thanks to the voice talents of Jim Dale. He doesn't have the vast amount of different ethnic accents, but he does have the male/female, adult/child accents to perform. I had a friend who made a ritual of reading the Harry Potter book and then made a ritual of listening to it on CD.
I really enjoyed Ron Perlman's reading of The Strain, the first novel in a vampire trilogy by Guillermo del Torro and Chuck Hogan. His was a measured reading, but it was perfect for the subject and added to the tension.
Recently (well, several months ago--unfortunately, with my schedule, that's recent for fiction) I finished the audio book of The Martian by Andy Weir. It was a surprisingly engrossing book (I say surprisingly because it's very subject should have left my eyes glazed over from minutia). The performance by R.C. Bray only helped to pull me into the story.
Frequently I find myself listening to books on audio because my schedule leaves me little time to read. Popping a CD into the player driving from one thing to another is a lot easier. And if you have a great reader, it can be a fantastic experience.
If you would like to hear me take a stab at a live reading, tune into the Cantina tomorrow. And feel free to call in with any questions. I'll be on at 5 p.m. Central time. Visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/writestream/2014/12/19/the-speculative-fiction-cantina-with-anthony-metivier-and-laura-enright
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