The Very First Published Author to Join TOL

Well, a published author has finally joined Tower of Light Fantasy Forums and requested her own board at that! Her name is Laura Stamps and she writes urban fantasy, although she markets her work mostly to women readers. I'm still glad to have her on board, and I hope it brings more traffic to the forum (and the magazine by extension). Anyone who is interested in her work, you can check out the Laura Stamps sub-forum under "Authors and Writing: Author Forums" at Tower of Light Forums.

Tower of Light is, of course, open to anyone who wishes to join, but I'd like to take this opportunity to extend an open invitation to other published authors of fantasy or sci-fi. You'd be very welcome, and you can also request your own sub-forum.

All you fans and aspiring writers are still welcome too, so come on over if you like!

I Got a Review!

Okay, so it isn't a professional review, but I'm still glad to get it. It shows that someone has read my story Sanctuary of the Mind (which is still free, by the way) all the way through and enjoyed it. I've also had some very encouraging comments from a couple of other people at the Lulu forums, for which I'm very grateful.

You can read the review by clicking the title at my Lulu storefront, but I'd like to post it here anyway. If anyone's interested, I'd love to hear your comments about it.

A novelette that will make you think... [ No Rating ] 16 Jul 2007 (updated 16 Jul 2007)
by Kody Boye

I'll just start this out by saying that I dove into Sanctuary of the Mind without any recognition of the author or his work. But I must say that I was not disappointed.

Sanctuary of the Mind is about a man named Leslie who--like some of the men and women who live on the outskirts of society--is addicted to drugs. He and his girlfriend have been living off drugs for a while and Sanctuary of the Mind delves into what drugs can do to a person.

I can't say too much about the novelette because--due to its length--I would end up spoiling it, but I will say right now that I really enjoyed reading this. It's a good 36 pages of material and not once does the author let you down.

A thriller, a suspense, a deeply-involved plot that keeps you reading... That's all I can say about Sanctuary of the Mind without spoiling it for the readers. I'd recommend downloading this from Lulu; it's in an e-book format and if you make a Lulu account for anything it should be to download this novelette.

I applaud Mr. Southard on this piece. It kept me reading the whole way through.

The Baker's Books: H von D Meme #1

I read Howard von Darkmoor's very first meme done his way, "The Baker's Books," so I'll consider myself tagged. What the hey, right? The rules are to provide a list of books that you have on your shelves to see if anyone can learn about you from them - but not just any books. They have to be books that you've actually paid for, nothing given, borrrowed, stolen, or whatever.

From reading Howard's list, I get the impression that he likes a lot history and mythology...otherwise I can't say I've learned much.

Okay, so here's mine:

1. The Hidden Stars by Madeline Howard (2004)
2. A Handful of Men, a four-book series by Dave Duncan, which includes:

a. The Cutting Edge (1992)
b. Upland Outlaws (1993)
c. The Stricken Field (1994)
d. The Living God (1995)

3. The Cursed by Dave Duncan (1995)
4. Nemesis by Bill Napier (1998)
5. Resurrection by Steve Alten (2006)
6. The Second Coming by John Dalmas (2004)
7. The Dark Portal by Robin Jarvis (2000)
8. The Swords of Night and Day by David Gemmel (2004)
9. Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn (1999)
10. Playing God by Sarah Zettel (1998)

Of course there's more, but I can't possibly list them all. I know some of these books are kind of old, but I buy a lot from Wal-Mart, CVS, going-out-of-business sales, and used book stores (haha), so most of them were actually bought recently.

Well, Howard's way was to tag anyone who read his post. If you're up to it, go ahead, feel free to accept a random tag from me. Otherwise, I suppose I'll single out Jim Melvin at The Death Wizard Chronicles.

Hey, Jim : TAG! You're it!

Blogger Death!

I hope it isn't the case, but it seems like my blog is about to die one me. Not only have I neglected to keep it updated, I've been having problems with the comments - and not just on my blog, either. I've tried to post comments here and on other blogs several times and can't seem to get in. I'm sorry to all who have left comments for me and I appreciate all the kind words about Sanctuary of the Mind. The good news is...I've had 5 downloads for it already! Yay! As soon as I can work out the problem, I promise I'll be commenting again on all my friends blogs. Cheers!

Sanctuary of the Mind is Free

In an earlier post I announced that I'd published a novelette through Lulu as an experiment. So far I've had a couple of unofficial but encouraging comments from three of the reviewers at Lulu about Sanctuary of the Mind. They pointed out some problems with the manusript and I endeavored to correct them, and I gave it a new cover that I think looks much nicer.

I also did a short book of poetry called Fire and Other Poems. Both are available as PDF downloads at my Lulu storefront. Sanctuary of the Mind is FREE for a limited time, so if you like thrillers please check it out, and Fire and Other Poems is only $.94.

Here's the description for Sanctuary:

(WARNING: Mature Content) Leslie Perk was not a good person. There was a time when he might have cared but it was long gone. He was a drug addict and a thief, and his feelings for his girlfriend were offensive at best. Still, he might have changed, might have become a better man and salvaged his love for Jackie, until something sinister occurred that seized control of his life…

I hope you like them!

Science Fantasy in Progress

I have started on a short story set on an alternate Earth that incorporates some paranormal psuedo-science for the background, and I've pretty much worked out the plot. There are some problems I need to overcome. For one, I intend to take the advice of one of the veteran's at Baen's Universe who commented on Hex Moon and will attempt to refrain from using too many names for characters the reader has no reason to care about.

This story (also to be included in a future novel) involves a world in which several lifeforms experience spontaneous evolution, gaining abilities their predecessors only dreamed of, and how these new species clash and/or learn to co-exist. Of course I don't want to divulge too much detail since it isn't finished, but this story should hopefully express my desire to create genre cross-overs even more so than the Avatar stories.