NEW RELEASE: Stealing Time

Released 8/10/12

Time is tested when a sky-captain risks his life in a desperate move to keep secrets from sky-pirates; but a young boy proves worthy of the sacrifice, finishing the fight his father began.

STEALING TIME

by

C.K. GARNER

While testing time travel pods, Skyship Captain Acastus-Hale Atenai and Dr. Nikola Tesla fall under attack from coastal raiders called Phantoms trying to capture the technology. In a desperate move to keep the secret safe, Captain Atenai launches Dr. Tesla mid-battle in a time-pod. A few years later it is up to Captain Atenai’s son, Acastu, to take up where his father left off. The secrets of time travel must not fall into the wrong hands. Can Acastu prove himself worthy of his father’s sacrifice? Only time will tell.

EXCERPT

Jim, realizing that Tia Rosa had all the help she needed, shrugged Ligys off his back and thrust her at Acastu. “Here, take her, I’ll clear the way.”

No longer playing the friendly charmer, he plunged forward, years of street skills coming to the fore as the trio ran. He threw an elbow into the face of the nearest Pressman, who swore and threw up a protective hand against further attack as it connected with his magnifying-glass eye, a gruesome legacy of a lifetime amongst the Phantom fleet, who regularly altered their staff and crew like so many laboratory test subjects.

The pain, however, kept the recruiter’s grasping hands off his young friends, giving Jim time to knock the next one flat with a straight punch to the chin. Acastu, heart racing in fear, leaped over the body as it fell, his hand tight around Ligys’ small one to pull her along. They fled with the other urchins, moving to take any bit of space Jim created to shove forward, listening to grunts and foul language as Jim cut a path through the snarled humanity on once-organized wharfs. They plowed on, but even with his friend’s help, Acastu felt the frenzied crowd pulling his sister away from him in another direction. Desperate, he hung onto her, but soon was a good distance from their champion.

Acastu was scared; this was the largest run of Pressmen he’d ever seen, and nearly all of them sporting facial alterations, hideous gas masks, giant convex lenses replacing an eye, mysterious shoulder apparatus, some set with what looked to him like harpoons.

“Jim!” he shouted. “Jim! We’re over here!” But his words were lost in the melee.

He only saw a glimpse of Jim once more; the Champion of San Atenai, teeth locked tight in a grimace, fighting a futile match against a group of Pressmen…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Love the excerpt? Head over to the website and find out more

Interview with Sharon Ledwith

Sharon Ledwith is the author of the middle-grade/YA time travel series, THE LAST TIMEKEEPERS, available through Musa Publishing. When not writing, researching, or revising, she enjoys reading, yoga, kayaking, time with family and friends, and single malt scotch. Sharon lives in the wilds of Muskoka in Central Ontario, Canada, with her hubby, a water-logged yellow Labrador and moody calico cat.

INTERVIEW

What inspired you to start writing?

 Truth be told, a tiny voice whispered in my ear that told me I could write while I was reading a campy romance novel. Really? I thought. I’ve never had any formal training. I wasn’t a teacher or English major. Then weird things started to happen. I opened up a magazine to a page that offered a weekend college workshop on Planning your Novel, which led to a night course on Writing your Novel. It was all too surreal, but I’m glad I listened to that wise voice.

What are you working on currently?

I’m working on The Legend of the Timekeepers, the prequel to The Last Timekeepers series. It fills in some gaps and introduces readers to Lilith, the Fiftieth Magus of the Arcane Tradition and guardian of the seventh Arch of Atlantis, when she was the same age as the modern Timekeepers. After that, it’s back to the second installment of The Last Timekeepers, written in Jordan Jenson’s point of view.

What was your favorite scene to write?

 No contest. The dungeon scene, hands down.

What is your writing process like?

Groan. Pain. Lots of pain. And coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.  Seriously, though, I have many notebooks and pads and sticky notes at my disposal. I also have a file full of ideas. I guess I start with the characters and build the story around them. The characters, my characters, must carry the story to completion, give readers closure. It’s a must. In order to do this, I begin writing out character tracking sheets (stats on characters appearances, clothing, likes and dislikes, etc.) which have served me well throughout the writing process. Then the fun begins. Research, research, and more research. When you’re writing time travel, you’ve got to know your facts to create the fiction. I love this part of the journey too. Only when I have enough facts, and I feel my characters are fleshed out sufficiently, then I begin to start the novel. Sometimes I’m a pantser (writing by the seat of my pants), sometimes a plotter (outline entire storyline)—it all depends on the tone of the book and where my imagination directs me.

Tell me about your book THE LAST TIMEKEEPERS AND THE ARCH OF ATLANTIS?

 The blurb says it best:

When 13-year-old Amanda Sault and her annoying classmates are caught in a food fight at school, they're given a choice: suspension or yard duty. The decision is a no-brainer. Their two-week crash course in landscaping leads to the discovery of a weathered stone arch in the overgrown back yard. The arch isn't a forgotten lawn ornament but an ancient time portal from the lost continent of Atlantis.

Chosen by an Atlantean Magus to be Timekeepers--legendary time travelers sworn to keep history safe from the evil Belial--Amanda and her classmates are sent on an adventure of a lifetime. Can they find the young Robin Hood and his merry band of teens? If they don't, then history itself may be turned upside down.

What are you reading at the moment?

The Hunger Games. Finally. I know, I’m a slow reader.

Who is your Favorite character from the Last Timekeepers and the arch of Atlantis?

 Okay, truth be told, Treena Mui has a soft spot in my heart. She’s great with the comebacks. She’s a natural when it comes to one-liners and puns. That was me as a teen. I guess I relate to her warped sense of humor.

What do you do when you’re not reading or writing?

Oh, where do I begin? Promoting. Marketing. Planning. Dreaming. Oh yeah, and single malt scotch.

You have a catchy name for your book. How did you come up with it?

Originally my book was called The Timeliners: The Arch of Atlantis. The idea was that the kids had to keep time in line, with no changes to historical texts. Yeah, I know. Sounds pretty lame. But then, I was doing some research into the Mayans and how they were the original timekeepers with their calendars and study of astrology. Something clicked, and I played around with the idea until I came up with The Last Timekeepers. The rest is history. Pun intended!

Sum up your book in one sentence?

How about two? Children are the keys to the future. And now, children are the only hope for the past.

Sharon’s Website

Sharon’s Blog

Sharon’s Facebook Page

The Last Timekeepers Series Facebook Page

Twitter

Musa Publishing Buy link

Amazon Buy link

Smashwords

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Goodreads

-- 

Sharon Ledwith

www.sharonledwith.com

http://sharonledwith.blogspot.

Guest Post: Using Writing Prompts to Boost Creativity

Using Writing Prompts to Boost Creativity

by Margaret Lesh

Recently I wrote a blog post about too many distractions such as social media and life stuff keeping me from getting any writing done, so today, before I wrote this post, I finished the chapter I was working on in my work in progress. (It was only about three hundred words, but still, I finished. I will celebrate later with a bowl of ice cream because this is officially the Summer of Ice Cream, and we need to reward ourselves for all of our hours spent banging on our keyboards, don’t we?)

This post isn’t about distractions, but it’s about finding inspiration when maybe inspiration is lacking, which happens sometimes, or maybe there’s an area that you as a writer feel you need to work on, like dialogue. Writing prompts can be excellent tools for sparking creativity as well as working on trouble spots.

Since dialogue can be challenging to get right – often it may come across as stilted and forced – an effective exercise is writing a short story – say, 800 words or less -- that focuses on a conversation between two people. This might be two people in line at the movies or at the grocery store; maybe two people observing other people at the park. A setting for a story that I used to work on dialogue was a married couple who’d been called in once again to their son’s classroom to have another talk with his teacher. I called the story “Timmy Trouble” and had quite a bit of fun with the two parents blaming each other for their son’s faults. By the end of the story, they end up blaming the teacher for their son’s problems and leave to get lunch before the teacher arrives. It was kind of funny.

If you’re in between projects and find that your ideas have dried up, try using a prompt to fire your imagination. In her excellent book Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott’s thoughts about the writing life and tips for aspiring authors, she gives one very simple but hilarious tip: When a writer is out of ideas, write about school lunches. Who couldn’t fill pages about this subject? (Even the home-schooled can wax philosophical about the way their mother sliced the crusts on their pb&js or how Dad would fix the same lunch every day.) I can still remember that horrible slimy black spinach-like substance with the foulest odor. It had to be from another planet. Maybe it was.

Another suggestion Ms. Lamott gives is writing about everything that comes into view looking through a one-inch picture frame. What do you see? Describe it. When I was between writing projects, I wrote about an old family picture taken near the beach at my aunt’s house. I described the clothing my brother, sisters, father, and I wore, and also the emotional impact of seeing this picture now as an adult with two of the family members no longer with us. My writing took on an emotional level I hadn’t expected but which I think is necessary as a writer to access in order to connect with the reader on an honest level. I spent about three days writing about the photograph. It was a catharsis maybe, and when I was finished, I immediately got to work on my next book which will be published in a few months here. (Yay.)

Basically, unless work and family prevent it, there’s no real excuse not to write. Now, go get yourself a bowl of ice cream. Was that so hard?

Follow Margaret Lesh on Twitter (and she’ll follow you back, she promises): 

https://twitter.com/#!/MargaretLesh

Like her Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Margaret-Lesh-Author-Page/275437492511550

Her debut contemporary young adult novel Normalish comes out October 5 of 2012.

Guest Post: Write in the Rain by L. K. Mitchell

Write in the Rain

by L. K. Mitchell

We've all seen those yellow notebooks that you can use outdoors in the rain. Now there are even pens and pencils that can write in the rain. Some of them are even designed to write in the rain while upside down. No, I don’t want you to swing upside down from a tree, but I do want you to try writing in the rain. Don’t take out your pen and notebook and write until you’re soggy, I want you to write in your head. Write while walking. Write while hiking, strolling, or jogging.

You see, I live among the islands of Southeast Alaska in a temperate rainforest so it’s always raining. If I made an excuse not to go outside whenever it rained, I’d never go outside. With my dogs and raincoat and my ideas I take to my island’s beaches or trails. While walking I might work on a specific scene that’s troubling me. Or maybe there’s something about a character’s lines or personality that needs to be addressed; walking and thinking helps. I keep a notebook in my backpack or in my truck so that I can write down my trail epiphanies.

So don’t let the rain deter you from writing. Yes, you can get a special notebook and a pen that you can write in the rain or even write while upside down. Don’t always take a notebook with you every time. Let the world you’ve created flow and dance and skip about in your head. Let the act of walking refresh your brain. It’s okay to embrace a gloomy rainy day and take your characters along with you for a walk. But be careful—if you’re writing horror or adventure, the characters you’ve created might take you on an interesting walk.

BIO

L.K. Mitchell is a fifth generation Alaskan who was born and raised on a small island in Southeast Alaska. She now lives in Sitka and Kodiak, Alaska. L.K. Mitchell is from a multi-cultural family and is adopted into her children's Raven clan, the T’akdéintaan, a Tlingit clan from SE Alaska. Her Tlingit name is Yéilk' Tláa, Mother-of-Cute-Little-Raven. L.K. Mitchell is a mother and grandmother and she writes middle-grade and young adult novels in addition to poetry and non-fiction. She has won several awards for her writing. She's also the co-director of a non-profit called Raven's Blanket. She facilitates writers groups for teens and adults. Her young adult novel Keeper of Directions is available from Euterpe and imprint of Musa Publishing.

BLURB: Kids at school call Lance names like "brainiac" or "autie." But he's just a ten-year-old kid with Asperger's Syndrome. What would they call him if they knew he could grow wings on his back?

After returning from a vacation to the Tower of London, Lance is asked to join a clan of shape-shifting Ravens. The Ravens appoint Lance as "Keeper of Directions," which means he must learn how to decipher the prophetic "Book" that keeps the natural world in balance. But when he discovers the Ravens are in the midst of war preparations, he has second thoughts. What if he messes up and the Earth tilts on its axis and goes spinning off into space?

Links:

L.K. Mitchell blogs at Pocketful of Charms

Follow her on Twitter @pocketfulcharms 

Great News for Euterpe

Euterpe is bursting all over with good news!  We're excited about our program and want to share a round-up of recent good news and what's yet to come.

Our authors continue to win awards and garner fabulous reviews.  We congratulate Arley Cole, whose book The Blacksmith’s Daughter won 1st place in the YA long novel category of the Oklahoma RWA’s International Digital Awards!




New to Musa Publishing and Euterpe Books is the Pan line of quality GBLT fiction.  Our first release was Phoenix by Jennifer Mason-Black.  We're eager to find more quality GBLT stories to develop this exciting new imprint!
• We're also excited to announce that Euterpe continues to grow.  In the upcoming months, we will be branching out Euterpe to include picture books and chapter books along with our already excellent middle grade and young adult novels.  Picture book submissions will need to include illustrations.  To submit to any of these lines, please check our submission page.


• Finally, we will be participating in the Savvy Authors Summer Symposium by offering an all-day pitch session on Saturday, August 25.  Prepare your 3-line hook to pitch to Head Editor Ellen Brock and editor Susan Sipal.  While we're interested in finding strong voices and great stories for all YA genres, we're especially eager to acquire fresh scifi/fantasy/speculative fiction series and great GBLT stories for Pan.

Check this post on SavvyAuthors for more info on when, where, and how to participate in this pitch session.

Please help spread all our good news!  Follow us here and on Twitter.  We also have fabulous authors who would love to guest blog.  Just drop us a note.

Have you read one of our wonderful Euterpe books lately?

Euterpe News

Euterpe News

Read Sharon Ledwith's experience metting young readers signing her promo paperbacks on her blog!

Here's the link:

http://sharonledwith.blogspot.

ca/2012/08/being-author-awesome-meeting-reader.html

Lydia Sharp started a new Facebook account and Fan Page! Be sure to friend her everyone!

     Lydia Sharp on Facebook: https://www.

facebook.com/lydia.sharp.376

     Lydia Sharp, Author (fan page): https://www.facebook.

com/pages/Lydia-Sharp/337826472970569

You can also vote for Lydia's book on these Goodreads Lists.

     2012 YA Contemporaries: 

     http://www.

goodreads.com/list/show/12214.2012_YA_Contemporaries?page=2#15765122

    Young Adult Romantic Comedy: 

    http://www.goodreads.

com/list/show/14192.Young_Adult_Romantic_Comedy#15765122

    LGBT for YA:

    http://www.goodreads.com/

list/show/3392.LGBT_for_YA#15765122

BE SURE TO VOTE!!!!

Mindy Hardwick is giving one copy away of Stained Glass Summer over at Goodreads.com. Stop by and enter here

And over at the Musa Blog, M. C. Lesh is guest blogging on August 12.  The title is “Ten Things to do During the Dog Days of Summer.”

AND THAT'S IT FOR EUTERPE NEWS THIS WEEK!

Interview with HL Carpenter + Excerpt

Interview with HL Carpenter, author of The SkyHorse

HL Carpenter is a mother/daughter writing team. Their young adult novel, The SkyHorse, is available at Amazon.com and at the Musa Publishing web site. Read an excerpt of The SkyHorse atwww.TopDrawerInkCorp.com.     

                                                

                          The SkyHorse by HL Carpenter

Fourteen year old Tovi thinks finding a flying horse is fabulous luck - until a mysterious stranger says finders aren’t always keepers.

INTERVIEW

Could you start things off by telling us a little about yourselves? How did you begin writing together?

HL Carpenter sprang into life in a galaxy far, far away, when the once-warring worlds of Mother and Daughter signed a peace treaty. Under the terms of the treaty, these two former foes joined forces to create fine works of fiction - and soon discovered great cooperation begets great storytelling strength. Of course, like any fictional superhero, HL has a weakness...and, like any fictional superhero, she’s not going to reveal it.

Tell us a little about your novel The SkyHorse?

The SkyHorse is not “our” novel - that is, we wrote it, but it’s really the story of a very determined young lady named Tovi Taggert . She’s on a mission to keep flying horses safe, and she asked that we fictionalize the events surrounding  her discovery of a little winged horse from another world. She wanted the information to be available in case anyone else finds a SkyHorse, and she wanted to present it in a way that’s unreal, but not untrue.

Can you tell us a little about the main character in The SkyHorse?

Sure. Her name’s Tovi Taggert. She’s fourteen, and she and her mother just moved to Honeysuckle Hollow, a little town she hates. She’s tall for her age, she doesn’t fit in, and she tends to be impetuous.

Of all the characters in The SkyHorse, who do you feel you're most like?

Oh, the mother/daughter duo, of course, though it’s hard to say which of us is which. One of us is a little...shall we say...less structured...than the other.

Who is your favorite character?

The flying horse, hands down. His name is Zephyr, and the best word to describe him is the one our editor, Jenn, used - ADORABLE.

Which character do you feel has the most impact?

Zephyr. Everything changes when he arrives on the scene.

If you had to describe your book in one sentence, what would it be?

It’s a sweet, girl-loves-horse, wish-it-would-happen-to-me story.

What do you do when you're not writing or reading?

We sit around and think about writing and reading. Sometimes we think about flying horses, too.

Can you tell me a bit about your process of writing?

We write co-operatively. After agreeing on characters, motivations, plot, story arc, and a general outline, we take turns writing sections. We write linearly, from start to finish, passing the story back and forth. Once we get to THE END, we set the manuscript aside for a time before starting revisions, re-writes and edits.

Are you working on anything new at the moment?

Yes, we have four YA stories in varying stages of completion, and a cozy mystery we’re presently revising.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  

 BLURB:

When fourteen year old Tovi Taggert moves to Honeysuckle Hollow to take care of her grandmother, she has a hard time fitting in. For one thing, she’s been tagged with the hated nickname Too-Tall Tovi. For another, everyone at Honeysuckle Hollow High believes Tovi played the Choking Game with someone else’s boyfriend – and made out with him besides.

As if she doesn’t have enough problems, after the latest stand-off in the school hallway, Tovi finds a gorgeous speckled egg nestled in a feather lined nest.

She takes the egg home – and mysterious visitors begin appearing almost immediately. Even more worrisome, whatever is inside the egg starts chipping its way out.

When the egg hatches, revealing a winged horse, Tovi’s troubles multiply.

As she struggles to return the horse to the magical land where he belongs, Tovi must make a courageous decision – and accept what that decision will cost her.

Read an excerpt of The SkyHorse:

Amazon link: Here       

Musa link: Here

Club Euterpe

Euterpe is starting Club Euterpe! If you join, you will get to read select Euterpe books (in ebook form) before they're released for free! In exchange, Euterpe asks that you simply spread word about the book however you can (i.e. leave a review, post about it on FB/Twitter, recommend it to your friends).

Euterpe prefers that applicants be between ages 8 and 21 (members will be sent age appropriate books). Parents are welcome to apply on behalf of younger children.

To join Club Euterpe, simply fill out the application below and send it to: ClubEuterpe@gmail.com

Name:
Age:
Links to online presences (FB, Twitter, GoodReads, blog, etc.):
YA genres you love:
YA genres you hate:
How will you promote the book in person?
How will you promote the book online ( may not be applicable to those 13 or younger)?
How much influence do you have over what your friends read?
What e-reader format (or pdf) would you like your book to come in?

Club members must post a review on GoodReads and Amazon. Those too young to post reviews must have a parent do so on their behalf. Links must be provided to the review once completed.

Older members may be asked to verify that they have promoted the book elsewhere online by providing links. Members with the best promotional reach will be chosen to receive subsequent books.

Any questions can be directed to: ClubEuterpe@gmail.com

Thanks! 

Guest Post: How Important is Point of View

Linda Benson has written several young adult and middle grade books, including Six Degrees of Lost, The Girl Who Remembered Horses, Finding Chance, and The Horse Jar. Her passion for nature and animals often finds its way into her writing. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and a variety of animals. Watch for a new novel coming from Musa Publishing in September 2012, called Walking the Dog.

How Important is Point of View?

When you read a book, do you stop and consider from whose Point of View it is written? Is it in first person or third person, in past tense or present tense (or perhaps even a mix of some of these?) Readers might not consciously be aware of this important part of their reading experience, but I can assure you that authors definitely are cognizant (or need to be) of the point of view (POV) they use in each story.

I’ll try and make it simple for you to understand here by giving a few examples below:

One common POV used in stories is third-person. For me this works best, for both reading and writing, when the author uses third-person limited, which is in one person’s perspective, and told in the past tense. When the entire story is narrated from one person’s perspective, it allows the reader to feel very close to that character. Some writers, however, jump from one person’s head to another. You can do this, as long as it’s done correctly – with a scene break, or some way so that the reader is aware that they are now reading from another character’s viewpoint. (If it’s not done correctly, it’s often called “head-hopping” and the reader gets lost, not knowing who they are following.)

Here are three lines from my book The Girl Who Remembered Horses, which is written in third-person past tense, and follows the view-point of the main character, a girl named Sahara. The horses came streaming off the hill screaming notes of alarm. The moon glowed on their silken coats, and Sahara could barely breathe. She had never been so close to the creatures.

Now what if we re-wrote this same scene in first-person past tense, getting inside Sahara’s head even closer? First person means that the character is telling the novel in his or her own voice, using the word “I.” The horses came streaming off the hill screaming notes of alarm. The moon glowed on their silken coats, and I could barely breathe. I had never been so close to the creatures.

We could re-write this scene is first-person present tense, to make the reader feel even closer to the action. Here, not only is the character speaking in her own voice, but events unfold in real time. The horses stream off the hill screaming notes of alarm. The moon glows on their silken coats, and I can barely breathe. I have never been so close to the creatures.

While first-person present tense is often used in Young Adult novels, it does limit the writer in that everything must be explained through what that one character knows and sees. This can be a rather daunting task, and some readers (and writers) prefer a different method of telling the story. My newest novel, Six Degrees of Lost, uses first-person present tense, but in each chapter I alternate POV viewpoints of the two main characters: Olive and David. In this way, I’m able to explain more about what’s going on in each of their lives, as they essentially narrate their own stories. It was a little bit tricky keeping the narrative moving forward in this fashion, but it was a fun challenge for me as a writer, and I think it turned out well, allowing the reader to draw close to both characters.

Note: there are other POVs, too, that I didn’t touch on, like second person (using the pronoun “You”) and third-person omniscient, or even jumping from first person to third-person with different characters. But the three viewpoints explained above: Third-Person Limited, First-Person Past Tense, and First-Person Present Tense, are some of the most common ones found in literature today. So next time you read a novel, see if you can identify the viewpoint that’s used. It’s fun!

To find out more -

Visit her website: http://www.lindabenson.net

Her blog: http://www.lindabenson.blogspot.com

Find her on Facebook: http://facebook.com/LindaBensonAuthor

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/LinBenson

On Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3421565.Linda_Benson