Is it time to make vampires scary again?

Are we currently seeing a lull in the production of (good) vampire stories? And if so, is it time to make the vampire scary again?

When was the last time a vampire story actually scared you?

The Earl's Daughter has launched!

The long-awaited sequel to The Viscount's Son has been released!

Why vampire fiction doesn't suck (or, don't judge a book by its trope!)

"I don't read vampire books."

– a frequent lamentation of some readers on the interwebs

Should you not choose a book just because it has a vampire in it?
Image care of GDPrince

Vampire

"The skin of my throat gave way under the piercing bite."

It all began with the Gypsy woman
Image care of Peter Gundry

Pentagram

"A black carriage, led by a solitary black horse, followed the caravan. It was enclosed completely – no windows. All manner of symbols and pentagrams were painted across it."

The pentagram becomes an important symbol in The Viscount's Son trilogy
Image care of pinterest

Nathaniel

"A man sat a a shadowy corner table. He swirled a glass of wine. The momentary glow of his cigarette as he inhaled revealed a handsome face, framed in black silk hair, and dark eyes that looked directly at me."

Colin Farrell has the right 'look' for Nathaniel
Image care of Collider

Historical Fantasy

"Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into the narrative." – Wikipedia

Dracula was inspired by the real life Vlad the Impaler

Emma

"My name is Emma. I work at a very large and famous museum, in a city that is also large and famous."

Felicity Jones would be a good fit as Emma.
Image care of Radio Times

Chapter Sneak Peek – The Earl's Daughter – Chapter Two

Chapter Two of my next release The Earl's Daughter can be read below.

Chapter Sneak Peek – The Earl's Daughter – Chapter One

Last week I revealed the cover for my next book, The Earl's Daughter.

The Earl's Daughter – Cover Reveal

Without further ado, here it is...

Yet another cover design by the brilliant Taire Morrigan

All my books are now available in Kindle Unlimited

I've been very pleased with the release of my latest book The Raven and the number of reads it has been getting on Kindle Unlimited.  It's no secret that I'm an Indie author, and as I'm still relatively new to the world of publishing, getting more exposure for my books is crucial. So, I've decided to add my other two publications to Kindle Unlimited and see if I can garner as much interest for them.

All of my books are now available to borrow or buy at Amazon.

'The Viscount's Son' has a new cover

I'm excited to announce that my first publication, The Viscount's Son, now has a shiny new cover:

Another cover design by Taire Morrigan.

Writing Update

I thought some of you might be interested in what my current WIPs are. So this post is about what I'm writing now and what I hope to publish next.

I've written a standalone fantasy novel called 'The Raven'. It has nothing in common with Poe's famous poem of the same title, but I hope it's just as dramatic. Here's a rough blurb for the story:

It is the darkest time in winter and the beginning of Ilun - when suns, stars and moons all disappear from the sky. In the Wolf clan a baby is born and she has a gift that only the clan's soragan, Izhur, can see. But the Circle of Eight is not pleased with the ill omens the baby signifies and orders Izhur to enact the babe's fate.

The story is set in a prehistoric world and follows the Wolf Clan over a span of years. This will be the first of many novels to come set in this newly created world. I hope to publish it before the end of the year.


I'm currently writing the first draft of 'The Earl's Daughter', which is the follow up novel to 'The Viscount's Son'. I'm having a lot of fun learning what happens next. There is a new character who is giving me lots of surprises and I quite like him - hopefully readers will to. I aim to have the first draft finished soon, then it will be workshopped and edited. But, hopefully I can publish it at the end of the year.

#AmWriting - in pics 1

When writing there is always an element of research - no matter the genre or setting. For me, a part of research is to look at images that show the visual detail of what the characters are seeing. Often these images are beautiful or gruesome; whatever they are I frequently want to share them!  So that's what this post is about. I hope you enjoy these images as much as I did :)

This week I've been editing my standalone fantasy novel called 'The Raven'. In this novel we follow the life of a clan who live in tree shelters. These mud-hut like structures have to be built in old trees with thick boughs that could support such a shelter. Like this one - beautiful pic!

I've also been writing the sequel to 'The Viscount's Son' in which a new main character stops by Notre Dame to observe the gargoyles on its rooftops. Fascinating!

Pictures - they're a great way to research.

Indie Book Marketing 101 - Build a list for crying out loud!

I've been fluffing around on this blog and twitter for a while now, mostly procrastinating, but every now and then making a serious attempt to 'market' my humble debut publication 'The Viscount's Son'. I am about to release my second publication and I thought maybe it's time I get my butt into gear with the whole marketing thing.  After all, the indie author - especially the newbie indie author - has to do everything themselves. There's no PR department in a big publishing house to do the hard yards for us. As much as most of us hating blowing our own trumpet, it's that trumpet that will get our books read.

Guard your email list like it's a magic scroll!

'The Viscount's Son' - free for one week!

It has been a month since the publication of my debut ebook, 'The Viscount's Son'.  To celebrate, I will be giving the novelette away for free for one week!

I have been very pleased with the sales performance of my little book, and this is 'free deal' marks the last week of my 'official' launch.  So, if you haven't had a chance to get a copy of 'The Viscount's Son', now is your chance.

What would I like in return?  Nothing, I just hope you enjoy it :)  Of course I'd love to hear about it in an email, comment here or even better, a review on Goodreads, Smashwords, Amazon, or your blog if you have one.  I'd like to thank all the readers and reviewers who have given me feedback, I very much appreciate the encouragement.

This will be the only free deal I'll be making for quite some time, so make sure you get it this week.  I hope you enjoy it!

'The Viscount's Son' is currently available for free at Smashwords.  It will also be free at Amazon and everywhere else soon - but remember, for one week only.

The Viscount's Son - now available!

I am very excited to announce that my first publication, 'The Viscount's Son' is now available!

'The Viscount's Son is perfect for a quick, interesting read.  The novelette is a fictional blog that tells the story of book conservator, Emma, and her online project - to transcribe an ancient and mysterious text.  The trouble is, Emma's colleague, Jack, believes the medieval 'diary' is a fake.  Emma decides to translate the text and leave it up to her readers to decide - so what will you think?  Follow Emma's journey to discern the mysteries of the medieval memoir. 

Watch the trailer to learn more:

This book is available at Smashwords and Amazon.

Read a sample here:



I am also giving away 10 copies of the Kindle Edition on Freado, you can win it easily here:

Reviews:

From Smashwords - Review by Kirshy McAinch (5 stars)

If this is a first effort then I can't wait for the next instalment from Aderyn. I found this novelette incredibly enchanting and yet easy to read at the same time. The format of the blog style narrative was very clever and transitioned seamlessly. I was particularly impressed with the knowledge of the Latin language and English history and with a slight blush of my cheeks, admit that I found the sensual aspects of this story, quite captivating! Can't wait for the sequel Aderyn.

From WebFiction Guide - Review by Verydian

I am the type of reader who enjoys most things fantasy, but what drew me to this story, was not only its familial fantasy genre, but also the obvious historical atmosphere as well. "Historical fantasy" is not something I see very much of on the web, whether from my inattention, or its lack of popularity, you be the judge, but I was quite excited to begin reading . . . .

The author of the piece Aderyn Wood has only just begun to post the ‘fictional blog’, with only four chapters to date, but I still found it intriguing enough to swallow me into her world.

The story itself starts off with the narrator introducing herself as Emma, a book conservator at an unnamed famous museum in an unnamed famous city, hmm . . . ..Through chance she acquires an old diary thought to be from the 16th century, but apparently deemed fake by her colleague Jack for some particular reasons. The diary itself is in Latin, so in each of the chapters—which is Emma posting on an online blog—Emma tells the reader a brief telling of her own personal life usually relating to the book, and then an entry.

What makes it so interesting and enjoyable to read is the fact that although the important bits are really the diary entries, you also begin to enjoy Emma as well, as Aderyn writes enough detail about Emma’s encounters that she develops her own quirky little personality (oh the AC unit!). For me, it arouses the desire to see what’s also going to happen with Emma, not just the Viscount’s son.

Aderyn’s wording is clean and descriptive which I like, because she gets to the point, but uses enough detail that you can clearly visualize what it is the character’s are talking about as well as their setting. It’s also obvious, in my opinion that either Aderyn knows a lot about museum book conserving or she did enough research on the subject to make sure you believe that Emma might actually be of that occupation. The translations of the entries are nicely worded to seem like it might be from the 16th century as well with more classical descriptions.

I felt that at a few points, I was hoping for the story to pick up a bit as far as the diary went, but I also think that it is a work to ease into since the chapters are short, and there’s only four of them. The entries could still maybe be longer and/or contain more content, but that might be my own personal taste. So far, I can begin to see hints of the supernatural, but whether it full on becomes more fantasy, I will have to wait and see.

Overall, I feel this webfic is great, and I’m looking forward to reading more from it. At this point in the game, I say it’s too early to tell where exactly the story is going, whether Emma plays a bigger role aside from translator, and if the author plans on writing longer entries in the diary, but the story is still intriguing and gives you something to think about if you enjoy history

I'm Baaaack!

Yes I am!  Where have I been?  Stuck in Busyville I'm sad to say.  

As usual, the New Year has had an inspirational effect on me.  Let's see if I can make it last longer than six months this time ;) I haven't been entirely lax.  I have completed my first novel and novella.  They are both in the process of being workshopped.  The novella is an extended version of my old blogfic serial, 'The Viscount's Son'. I took it down from this site and decided to get serious about it.  I will be releasing it as a novella on the March 3rd, so put that in your diaries. Obviously, I will be revealing more about my first publication soon.  

In the meantime, you can get a little glimpse of what is to come by heading over to Dawn Pendleton's blog.  You'll see a little spiel there about me and my upcoming novella.  She's also listed some other indie authors who are definitely worth a look. 

That's it for this first 'return' post.  It's a good feeling to dust off the old blog and get stuck into building my writing profile again.  I could have waffled on about why I dropped my bundle in July, but I think you probably know why.  It's not all that interesting, really.  Life just has a way of taking over. 

Anyone still out there? 

Aderyn.

My Writing Process - Step One - Thinking of a story

So, the first step is to think of a story right?  Right.