Rebecca Bloomer's Blog

Hi All,[image error]

Well, this is the big day.  The first two books of my Travellers Fate series, Old Soul and Soul Revival, have been released into the wild!  I’m excited and nervous.  Please take a look over at either Amazon or Smashwords where they are available as both paperback and ebook.  If you’re feeling the need for a Christmas read, why don’t you try a little of the Travellers Fate?

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Today is my day to participate in this fab blog chain called The Next Big thing, where we target our favourite authors and people whom we believe will be the next big thing (okay, self explanatory, I’ll stop now).  I was lucky enough to be selected Sarah Jansen as someone to watch…part of agreeing to her nomination means that I now have to tell you all about my current works and work in progress by answering ten specific questions.  So, here we go!

[image error]1) What is the working title of your next book? My next book is the last in my ‘Travellers Fate’ series.  It’s title is Soul Survivor.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
 All the books in the ‘Travellers Fate’ series concern Roxy Hart, my time travelling gypsy.  Roxy was gifted to me by my friend Ashlyn Chase, who is a romance writer.  She wrote to me and told me she had this great character with who had a tremendous gift but she couldn’t write the book because there was no sex.

As with the other books in the series, Soul Survivor lands Roxy in the midst of a time that was pivotal to the Rroma people.  In this case, the beginning of the second world war.

Also in accordance with the other books, I gave Roxy a twist, [image error]a history, a mystery, a tribe of relatives and a romance. YA readers love a good romance too, especially a paranormal one J

3) What genre does your book fall under?
 It’s a YA paranormal romance (It’s a mouthful, right? But if you put Twilight, The Protector Of The Small and the Luxe novels in a blender, you get my ‘Travellers Fate’ series)

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
 Roxy would be played by someone who looks like a young Catherine Zeta Jones. [image error] Having seen Johnny Depp play Roux in Chocolat…well…it has to be him, doesn’t it? (Johnny Depp in chocolate…Santa, are you reading?)[image error]

 

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? (So I can just take all the full stops out of my blurb right? No? Oh…) ‘Save one to save them all’, that was the mission but will Roxy Hart save her people only to lose ‘the one’ for whom she has waited, the one who waited throughout time for   her?

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? This particular trilogy is my first ever effort at being completely self published.  I’ve enjoyed the process of turning something abstract like a story into something concrete like a book (no the book isn’t literally concrete, it’s paper, stone tablets are for others…).

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? It took about three months to write Soul Survivor (with stops for coffee, child rearing and…um…a party or two)

8)
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? So, I mentioned the blender, right? Well let’s take that adventure, romance, paranormal slushy and give it a shot of smart aleck Juno and some chocolate (because Johnny Depp is distracting me).

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book? Well obviously it started with my friend Ash giving me a character.  Then I found out about the Rroma woman lost somewhere in my family tree (I’m as close to being Rroma as McDonalds is to being food…there are probably some similar components but in the end, they’re nothing alike).

After that I started researching.  The history of the Rroma people is horrifying to the extent you can’t stop reading (I believe it’s called a morbid fascination).  The events, stories, people and culture I found in my research were truly inspiring.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest? If you love a strong heroine, a cheeky (but humble) hero and an intense story, you’ll love this whole series.  Please check them out for yourselves at either Kindle, Amazon or Smashwords.  You can also order them through Barnes & Noble and many other bookstores.

Now for the share to care part of this blog post.  My five fellow authors selected to be part of this Next Big Thing chain come from both parts of my writing career, the romance portion and the YA portion.  They are (in no particular order, not age, not beauty, not distance from my home town) as follows:

[image error] Maggie Nash (romance)   [image error]

Josh Donellan (YA)

 

 

[image error] Candice Lemon-Scott (YA and not-so YA)

Ashlyn Chase (romance) [image error]

[image error] Cynthia Cypriano Bullard (YA)

Hi Everyone,

Well, my new covers had their big launch on Friday last week. The general consensus is that they’re fabulous and I must say, I completely agree.  I’ve had a lot to say about covers in the past, how I think they really do speak for the book, and how, despite old sayings to the contrary lots of people buy books for their covers. Also, I think in this day of e-books, one of the advantages paper books still have over electronic, is the fact that they can be truly beautiful objects. I like to think mine fit that bill.

Those who know me, also know most of my covers have a story behind them.  These are no different.  The images used on the covers came from Deviantart.com where I met a fabulous Greek artist who goes by the name Chryssalis on the Deviantart website.  Chryssalis gave me the art in return for undying gratitude and a mention in the books’ cover pages (done!).  If you really love the artwork, you can go to her gallery on deviant art and buy poster sized prints etc.

If you just love the covers, wait ’til you read the books.  They’re due for release on the 15th of December, so write it on your calendars, note it in your diaries and post it in your ‘to do’ list.  Roxy Hart is coming and she’s not one to be missed!

So, without further ado, here are my new covers! TA DAAAAH!

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My new most hated meme, “Worst. Day. Ever”.

I mean really?  Anyone who knows anything about neuro-linguistic programming, knows that our words create thoughts and thoughts create attitudes and attitudes create behaviours.  Effectively the people who howl these words regularly, are modern day versions of Chicken Licken.  The sky isn’t falling, but if you will create drama where there’s none, something bad is bound to happen.

I’m so insulted and disgusted by this meme at the moment, that it inspired a scene for me.  A scene I dream of one day enacting.  It reads as follows:

Madeleine Bower eyed her friend Sophie across the coffee shop table.  Sophie was lucky the table was so heavy.  “Let me get this straight,” Madeliene arched a brow, “you’re telling me this story because this has been your ‘worst day ever’?” She made air quotes and mimicked Sophie’s tone.

Sophie’s green eyes grew wide, she gulped and nodded very slowly. Madeliene took a deep breath. 

“Sooo…no beloved relative died, in fact not even a pet died.  You did not come home to find your boyfriend in bed with some unknown and uninvited woman.  You did not discover your bank account is empty or your identity stolen and you’ve not been diagnosed with cancer.”  Madeleine stood up and pressed her fingertips hard into the table top.  “I don’t think we can be friends any more Soph.  This isn’t gonna work for me.”

“But Mads, I was just…”

Madeleine snapped her hand up for silence.  “I know what you were doing Soph, you were exaggerating, creating a drama where there was, in reality, very little.”

Sophie opened her mouth to argue.

Madeleine slapped her hand down on the table. Her friend stayed silent.  “I know, Sophie, that a bad day with your otherwise perfect boyfriend can feel like utter crap but if this is honestly your ‘worst day ever’, then you’re pretty damn lucky.”

Sophie gobbed like a landed fish.  Madeleine ignored her and continued.  “Because for those of us who did come home to find their husband of eight years in bed with another woman and who did just recently have a relative die AND who just had her first ever ‘anomaly’ show up in a pap smear, I’ve got to tell you Soph, your exaggeration is just a shitty slap in the face.” 

So tell me, am I wrong?

On the upside, it’s inspired an entire novel…so maybe I should downgrade meme from ‘most hated’ to ‘seriously disliked’.

 

Because the Book Fair was enormous, I’ve decided to break what I learned into halves. 1)  What I learned about the business side of books and 2) what I learned as a writer.  I’m going to start with the business bit because it was such an eye-opener for me.

 

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Everybody loves a book…good news for the industry.

1) Books are big business.  I know, that’s like saying China has a wall, but really, until I was there in amongst it, I could never have imagined exactly how big of a business books truly are.  To help those of you who weren’t there, think on this:

Think eight giant halls filled to capacity with publishers, agents, printers and rights management companies. It took me all day to work my way through one hall.

Think one entire week where the public are not welcome but during which publishers, agents and rights management agencies schmooze and do deals.

Think on one small publisher talking about how they plan to grow their business from an annual turnover of 21 million dollars to 40 million…by the end of next year.  That’s a small company.

2) Publishers are not stand alone entities. They’re less like polyps and more like coral in that they exist as a giant, tangled mass of connections across multiple countries. They build off and grow on each other in an ever expanding mass.

In order to overcome language or cultural difficulties, polyp publishers (as I like to think of them) hire translators and ‘rights agents’ who are clever, multi-lingual negotiators.  Rights agents, take what a polyp publisher has on offer in their own country and sell it to polyp publishers from other countries. Thus they become coral. Each one using and building upon the other’s input.

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New generations of book people.

In this negotiation of shared resources,  reinvention is unnecessary. Each polyp publisher receives maximum benefit for minimum effort.  One small UK publisher of children’s books told me it was his aim to have at least one of his books in every country in the world…he’s almost done it and that’s thanks to his awesome agent.

3) Books are not dying.  Not even close.  They might be morphing, new trends are always washing through, but they are, quite frankly, too big to fail.  Alongside the multitudinous displays of paperbacks and hard copy books, there were ebook publishers and ebook manufacturers (notably Nook was present but Kindle was not). At the Frankfurt Book Fair there was no divide between electronic and paper the way we feel it in the writing world. All things book were considered equal…that was rather nice.

Now, onto what I learned as a writer.  I’m doing this bit second because what I learned as a writer largely relates to the eye-opening experience of books as business.

1) Because books are a big and international business, publishers don’t see your book as a unique, thoughtful, wondrous work of art (the way you do). They don’t see your book as a mindful, thought provoking, inspirational work (as a reader might).  They see your book as a product.  A product they want in as many countries as possible.  For writers that means your book must be translatable. So, ask yourself the following questions:

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Can you guess why children’s books look so similar?

- Is my book so specific to a place/location/way of life that someone from another country will have trouble relating?

-Does my language/jargon/slang translate?

-Will the jokes work in other languages?

-In the case of children’s books, will the story still work without the rhyme? (I know, I can feel Dr Seuss spinning in his grave).

On the one hand I can see how this works for publishers; but on the other hand, as a writer, I’m mortified.  The uniqueness of books is dying in favour of a homogenous (read ‘flavourless’) product. In this global industry, very few of my childhood favourites would ever have seen the light of day.

 

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Just a small sampling of the supernatural and paranormal bent YA is currently on.

2) Childrens books and young adult novels are huge in every country, however they deliver less diversity than that offered by adult fiction.  Paranormal and fantasy novels are still going strong within the YA category but there is very little by way of ‘reality’ or ‘life experience’ (refer to point 1, lifestyle is not homogenous). Also, a large portion of the YA books on display, specifically targeted girls.  Is that because girls read more, or do boys stop reading when all that’s available are books for girls?

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Who’s your favourite anime character?

3) Comics and graphic novels are a very big deal.  Anyone who ‘pooh poohs’ them has missed the boat. Every country imaginable was present in the comic/graphic novel/manga/anime hall.  Adults, young adults and children attended the fair, dressed as their favourite characters, complete with colourful hair and oddly uncomfortable shoes.  Fans of these genres are obsessive in their attention to detail and enthusiastic in their support for favourite authors. In fact this whole department  and the atmosphere surrounding this area within the book fair made me wonder if I oughtn’t try for a ‘cross over’ into this world.

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Allyson Noel doing her book talk.

4) Book talks by authors were crammed events, so the idea that publishers buy an author rather than a book, is absolutely true.  I can’t imagine the number of books Alyson Noel sold off the back of her interesting and thoughtful interview regarding shamanism and the soul-seekers series.  What I saw was every person in the crowd clutching a copy.

5) Adult fiction and non-fiction across every culture and boundary were also present at the book fair.  Niche markets in non-fiction are definitely ‘the go’ (niche but not too small, don’t forget the international rights).  In the adult fiction world there seem to be fewer ‘rules’ than in the YA market. There was more diversity on offer and publishers seemed to be taking more risks.

I was left with mixed feelings at the end of the Frankfurt Book Fair. One part of me felt a sense of boundless possibility.  If there are so many publishers, surely it shouldn’t be so hard to find ‘the one’.  Yet at the same time, I came home to cry on hubby, because underneath all those publishers with all their connections, their rights and their business plans, there are authors. To satisfy the nutritional needs of the giant reef that is book publishing, there are more authors than could fit onto a stage at the fair. As one of those authors, being just  a lone little person clutching my bag of goodies in one hand and my dreams in the other…I felt incredibly small.

Statistics at a glance: More than 110 countries with 7500 trade exhibitors and 300,000 visitors over 5 days.  That’s a BIG book event.

It was always going to happen. My love of sweet things and butter was inevitably going to lead me toward a tasty space-based treat, wasn’t it?  These began as an attempt at making choc chip cookies.  I didn’t have everything the recipe asked for but I did have other things, so I made substitutions, messed around a bit and came up with really delicious, highly dunk-able cookies!

[image error]Moon Rock Cookies consist of:

2 cups of flour (I used half white, half wholemeal…because that’s what I had), 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda (I used baking powder, they’re different).  1/2 teaspoon of salt, 2 cups of sugar (the recipe said brown sugar and white sugar…I had raw sugar so that’s what I used).  3/4 cup of melted butter, choc chips (insert smashed up block of dark chocolate), 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, a splash of milk (the recipe didn’t involve milk but I thought the mixture was a bit dry).  Vanilla (ummm…no vanilla in my cupboard – don’t know why – so I used a bit of vanilla sugar as part of my sugar component)

In one bowl, beat together the melted butter and sugar (If you’re using raw sugar this takes a little while).   Add the egg components one at a time. When that’s done, create a bowl of all the dry ingredients.  Add the wet to the dry anyway you like (I know it works either way because I did it the opposite way to the recipe) and mix it all up well.

Make little dollops of mixture (or if you’re a kid and enjoy getting into your cooking…roll little balls of the mixture) and place them on a greased baking sheet (or you can use baking paper instead of greasing).

Put them in the oven at 160-165 degrees C and cook them for between 12 and 15 minutes.

My kids refer to the dolloped cookies as moon rocks and the smoothly rolled versions as planets.  I have not bothered explaining that planets are neither perfectly spherical nor smooth…that’s not the point…

[image error]Happy munching!

(Oh! And don’t forget to comment with your favourite recipes made with items from the previous post...win yourself a book!)

 

 

 

[image error]During the research for my last book, I discovered a list of crops suggested as those first grown for the new Martian colony.  This matters to me because food is a subject very close to my heart. I mean any girl who wants to participate in interplanetary exploration is going to need energy, right?

So, while pawing my author copies of UnEarthed, I reviewed the list.  Now I’m thinking about what I’d cook if I were an Anphobosite (Martian colonist).  The list is as follows:

wheat, soyabeans, lettuce, potato, tomato, spinach, sweet potato, peanuts, cowpeas, dried beans, cabbage, chard, carrot, strawberries.

At first all I could think was ‘salad, vegetable soup, salad…”  Now I’m feeling more creative.  I’m thinking a sweet potato curry.  Being the food junkie I am, I Googled up this recipe from Food.com

1/2 large sweet onions, chopped or 2 scallions, thinly sliced 1 -2 teaspoon canola oil 2 tablespoons curry powder 1 tablespoon cumin 1 teaspoon cinnamon 10 ounces fresh spinach, washed, stemmed and coarsely chopped 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (about 2 lbs) 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1/2 cup water 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes, can substitute fresh if available 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

Basically, you whack it all in a pot and make like curry! It’s supposed to finish up looking like this.

 

 Tomorrow after shopping, I think I’ll make it.

Anybody else up for a challenge?  Martian Munchies? Space snacks? Nebular nibbles?  What would you make with these ingredients and dare you try?

There’s a signed copy of UnEarthed for my favourite recipe and discount voucher for the e-book for everyone who submits a recipe.

[image error]I’ve been a little bit sickened lately, by the number of fantasy and paranormal novels showing up on sci-fi shelves.

Sci-fi and fantasy might both fall under the banner of ‘speculative fiction’ but they’re not the same thing.  Horror also falls under that banner but nobody seems to confuse sci-fi with horror or horror with fantasy.  So, what’s sci-fi and, if it’s not fantasy how can it be magic?

I’m so glad you asked.

Just for the sake of clarity, let’s start with a the actual name of the genre. It’s called ‘science fiction’, we shorten it to sci-fi because we can.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary says the definition of science fiction is as follows:

 “fiction dealing principally with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals or having a scientific factor as an essential orienting component”

Being a writer of science fiction, I have no problem with this definition.  In fact, because I’m a bit of a science nerd, I quite like having solid definitions and categories around which to base my imaginings and **cough** my life.

Problems really only occur for me, when I start scrolling through the sci-fi section of online bookstores…where I find dragons.  Dragons, magic swords, people with unearthly and inexplicable powers do not belong in the science fiction section.

Oh yes, fantasy authors everywhere are yelling about how I’m being a science snob and far too sectarian for my own good.  Be quiet, I write fantasy and paranormal as well.

Here’s the thing.  Science-fiction, should involve some form of science.  Note the definition above;  ‘Actual or imagined science’.  Most of the classics and many of the greats involve what I like to call ‘extensions’ of existing scientific processes or theories. These writers take what they know is already happening in the science world and stretch those processes just as far as they can imagine.  That’s where the real magic happens.

The magic of sci-fi is the magic of wonderment, of possibility and of horizons far beyond our own.  This magic is not unreachable or unattainable, it’s ours, it’s so close we can smell it. With a good telescope we can begin to see it take form. Science fiction isn’t a dream universe that will remain forever beyond our grasp, it’s inspiring and hopeful and stretches the boundaries of human endeavour beyond current horizons.  That’s what attracts readers and it’s what puts the onus on sci-fi writers to make a damn good job of what they do.

Doing a good job means a good writer of science fiction should know what’s possible and what’s not.  Then they need to make the impossible at least seem as though it could happen. I always think of Michael Crichton when it comes to this aspect of writing sci-fi.  Michael Crichton wrote physics text books long before he wrote Jurassic Park. What happened in Jurassic Park is not possible, he knew that, but he wrote it so well and provided just enough truth, that we believed the lie…many people still do.  It’s the writerly equivalent of a magician’s ‘sleight of hand’.  We show you the card, we remove it from the deck…but we still have readers believing it’s there.  Magic.

So, if you’ve never read a sci-fi novel, do yourself a favour and next time you’re browsing buy yourself a book about some real magic!

In the meantime for a new horizon, you could visit this link to NASA. http://www.panoramas.dk/mars/greeley-haven.html

When I wrote UnEarthed, I expected it to be a singleton.  I thought I’d told the story and was ready to move on.  Then I found myself discussing cover art with my publisher.  Cover art, edits, and general topics like Mars and space colonisation, got me to thinking.  Had I told the whole story? Was there more to say? Did my characters have more to give? The answer to all these questions was yes. A great big, loud, howling YES.

So I began.

I was surprised by how easily the story came.  My characters developed all kinds of new and unexpected facets and personality traits.  I was entranced (again) with the possibilities offered by a Martian setting.  New frontiers developed every time I turned around or started a new page.

So here it is, my surprise new book, UnEarthly.  I hope you enjoy the reading as much as I enjoyed the writing.

             ”The Fearless have triumphed. Astrid and Jodi remain unincarcerated and gainfully employed.  Most people have forgotten that Jodi was once ‘Scar’ or even what that meant. Life on Mars is in danger of becoming routine.  Then noobs arrive, a tunnel collapses and Astrid turns into a walking fossil.  That’s when everyone discovers the real meaning of life on Mars…”

Amazon           Smashwords

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I haven’t blogged for a while and I have good excuses.  In no particular order they are as follows:

I moved house from the south of France to Paris (very exciting)
I have since been flooded with visitors (very flattering and wonderful fun)
I have been exploring Paris with my visitors (enlightening and enjoyable)
My husband has been sick (no need to panic he’s getting better now)
My novel UnEarthed has just been released in paperback (WAY cool) so there was a bit of work associated with that.
I’ve been editing UnEarthly in preparation for its release as an ebook (YAY).
The Higgs Boson made the news so I had to research in order to be sure I was correct in my understanding of what it really is (nerdy but true)

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That's right, LEAVE your workspace!

While some writers will tell you that they couldn’t live without writing (and that might be true), I work in the opposite fashion.  I can’t write without living.  Were it not for the people I meet, the places I visit and the things I do, I would be lacking not only in material but also in motivation.  I need life to provide me with the energy and motivation to write.  Living probably slows down my productivity a little, but it definitely increases the quality.

So if you’re an emerging writer who feels stifled by the stereotype of antisocial, introverted author, BREAK OUT! If writing is your thing, do it your way.  If you’re an established writer who is staring at a blank page, aghast by the bleak knowledge that you’re stuck, stifled and flat out of words, then LEAVE THE ROOM.  Go meet some people, laugh until your face aches and explore your city.

When you’re done with that, sit down and pour life onto your pages.

That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!