Realmwalkers: The Homeworld Rosette (Spoiler Alert)

Greetings,

My friend Jack (co-author of Realmwalkers) has started a new story on Triond. It starts out on Tiaera but takes you far out into space and time. It will give you more insight to Alain's outer space realm where the Realmwalkers came from. If you enjoy Christian speculative (sci fi) fiction, the link is below. Enjoy!

*** SPOILER ALERT *****

This story takes place AFTER what happens in our novel REALMWALKERS. DO NOT READ THIS if you're reading or planning to read Realmwalkers as it will spoil the novel for you.  

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If you've read our novel and want to read more, enjoy Jack's latest creation.

 

 CHAPTER 01: TIAERA

Snow Birds and KABAM

With spring here, the weather has gotten warmer with only the occasional chilly morning and evening. Soon the temperatures will be up in the mid-90's and the multitude of "snow birds," we affectionately call those who come to spend the winter months here with us, will all be gone.  As a matter of fact, many have already left.

Word among my friends who have small businesses is that it's time to prepare for the fall. The crafters among them have already begun to make new items to sell.  Others who don't create their inventory will probably kick back and enjoy the season to swim, travel or whatever. Me? I continue to market and promote Realmwalkers any way I can.  Thanks to the Internet, I can do it in my air conditioned home. 
And besides, I need to start writing more again.  I am toying with the idea of writing another book. Yes, I know. I told many friends that Realmwalkers was going to be my only book, much like some women who promise that their first baby is going to be their last, I have changed my mind. So sue me.  Time passes and the mind forgets the agony, sleepless nights, moods, hassles, and worry.  Even my husband had to smile when he heard my news. In my defense though, things are going to be very different this time.  First of all, I am going to write this new book alone. 

No collaboration, no illustrations, no book design, and no bookcover and no self publishing this time (unless I decide it's only going to be an ebook). I won't be doing any of those things this time, just writing a manuscript. That's all.  I will continue to do drawings to post in my blog just for fun.

This should make the next book so much easier and painless for me. No, it's not going to be a prequel nor sequel. Yes, it will have a couple of characters you have met in Realmwalkers.  I will still need an editor, but I will worry about that later. First, I want to see if this story I am starting is even worth publishing.  I have at least two more stories inside me and the notebooks in my home wait until I am ready to use them. This will keep me busy in the next few months when the weather will be so hot I will do as all good desert dwellers here do: Swim, nap, stay indoors with the AC and work, BBQ alot in the evenings and go to the movies.

In May, I do have one last event I plan to attend along with another writer friend of mine, Kelley. Kingman is having it's KABAM Book Festival. And we are both registered to have a table there. It's so nice and cool up in Kingman and I look forward to it now that I have a book to sell there this year.  If anyone out there lives in the vicinity, please stop by and say hello!

Realmwalkers Story at Kingman's The Daily Miner

I went to Kingman last weekend for an interview at The Daily Miner, Kingman's local newpaper. Here is the article which came out in today's issue, just in time for Saturday's Book Signing. I will be at Hastings Bookstore from 11AM - 3PM.

The Daily Miner Newspaper Article

Book Marketing and Ebooks

Sorry I have been so quiet here lately. The holidays came and went and I was busy taking down decorations, storing them all for another year. January has been very cold and I find it hard to leave the comfort of  my home to go marketing, but I have been.  Excuses... excuses.. but I am BACK!!

Recently I arranged to have "Realmwalkers" available at a local store called Crystal Moon which is located at 1850 McCulloch Blvd N. After that I arranged for "Realmwalkers" to be at the Kingman Library. Some time this year, I hope to join a panel of several other local authors for an event called Kabam at Kingman.

I was also at the local Hastings promoting "Realmwalkers" and an anthology called "Offerings from the Oasis" where my artwork was selected for the front cover. Every year the Lake Havasu City Writers Group publishes an anthology and holds a book signing at Hastings. The sand castle sporting several books with a beach background was this year's cover graphic for our anthology. I also have a poem "My Typical Morning" in the book as one of the selections.

 

It was a fun event. Many members brought their own books to sell, including me. By the way, that large banner

you see in front of the table was also one of my designs. I have been designing almost all our marketing projects and enjoy doing it. We often use the banner for street fairs to promote our club. 

I just got off the phone and heard from one of the librarians in Kingman, which is about an hour's drive from Havasu, and she says the book is gaining some interest. It has been checked out three times since it was made available. Hopefully I will be seeing some of those readers later this month when I do my first book signing there at Hastings on the 23rd of this month from 11 - 3.

And lastly, I have been working away at creating my first "Realmwalkers" Kindle ebook. It's been really hard to do as I have literally had to learn how to do it. But thanks to some friends and the Internet and a very patient hubby, I am almost done with it. I hope to have it up and available for sale here at my blog and at Amazon.com. Stay tuned for my announcement in the near future.

Until my next post, take care, keep warm and healthy and KEEP WRITING!

The Gnomes of Tiaera

As promised, here is a new drawing of some gnomes. I decided to color this graphic for a change. All the illustrations I did in Realmwalkers are black & white. Tiaeran gnomes are like humans, but shorter and proportionally slender. They are usually about three and a half feet tall with large deep-set eyes, fair skin tones and in some rare cases, slightly pointed ears. Most live in the country of Vawdrey and they are often mistaken for halflings, who are slightly bigger in size. I have added these three gnomes to an image I found on the Internet (not my own) with some human dancers. This way you can see how small they are to humans.

The three gnomes are adult and yet to many they can pass off as human children, something they resent being mistaken for. Many wear wedding rings and grow facial hair to help avoid such embarrassing misunderstandings. From left to right is Tavisan and Audrey Swifter and Audrey's brother, Carlyn Brewer. They appear in Realmwalkers. Carlyn has "Mischief" perched on his shoulder, their pet dragonling.

The Hastings Book Signing Event

Well, I am pleased to say this was quite an experience. My first official book signing was a success. All my work and crafting paid off. I got to Hastings an hour early and brought the staff some fresh baked cookies. I went to each of them and introduced myself. Sadly, the table for my event was placed in front of a bunch of misc. gifts and toys as part of a display. It was distracting, but I didn't complain, just got to work decorating the table with my homemade garland. To my right, my good friend, Linda, came all the way from Parker to assist me. She was in charge of setup and having the buyers sign a raffle ticket and dropping part of it in a little card treasure chest. The raffle was for a decorated black tote bag with book cover artwork on it I had made the night before.

Although my marketing efforts (flyers, invitations, newspaper, radio, blogs, Facebook) didn't seem to do much good, the pedestrian traffic into Hasting's Book Store was plentiful. So as the customers entered, I stuck out my hand and introduced myself... rather aggressively. This was no time or place to be timid. The daydream of customers lining up at my table, waiting to buy my book was dismissed from my mind. I had work to do. Many allowed me to shake their hands and tell them about my book, but many also just rushed past my table like I was infected with the plague. To those people, I accepted their departure with a forced smile and tight stomach. I understood they weren't there to buy my book and tried not to let it affect me. Rejection, however is still rejection, something I had to accept with grace. They did what they had to do while others, at least, stopped long enough to hear what I had to say. I tried everything I could think of to make buying the book appealing, even handed copies to them to look over while they continued their shopping. Many resisted my sales pitch and politely moved on, but fourteen of them did not. =) When they bought the book and brought it to me, I signed each one with my purple feather pen.

A couple of friends came to visit and see how I was doing. I was so happy they came to show their support. When the first hour came and went without a sale, I felt nauseous. But when zero sales became two, I was relieved. When two became six sales, I was happy. But when six became ten, I was thrilled, too thrilled to stop and get something to eat or drink when lunch time came around. Then at around 3PM, an hour longer than advertised, I made my fourteenth sale to a small patient woman who was accompanied by four active kids. My perseverance paid off.

When it was all over, and Linda had packed up everything, I met with store rep to receive my cut from the sales. After I got my payment, Linda and I drove home to relax and have dinner with my husband, Lee. I felt proud and grateful over the success of my first book signing. It was hard, emotional, and stressful work and I was exhausted afterwards. I wasn't cut out to be a tough saleswoman, just an artistic and sensitive writer.  =)

Final Preparations

It's amazing how much effort can go into preparing for a book signing. It's a one woman event, but it has taken a lot of work publicizing this to the locals and on the Internet. Well, it looks like everything is coming together. I have spent the last two days working on my garland. I printed, cut, pasted and and coated a nice Realmwalkers garland to hang around the table for the book signing. I have made 80 more book markers and postcards. The books are here. Createspace got them all here on time. I also purchased some small pirate decorations and going to have a raffle for a free "Realmwalkers" tote bag. I will be decorating three of those with the book design on them later today. It's been a lot of work talking to many nice strangers for several weeks, trying to tell them about my book and event. Ironically, I have sold some books in doing so.

I know a lot of writers don't go through this much work, some are lucky enough to have an agent or publisher to assist with marketing materials or publicity. I guess you can say I am paying my dues and I am learning a lot. This is nothing special or unique. Authors have been going through this for ages.

The book industry has changed and times are hard with many Americans out of work so I am truly grateful whenever I am able to sell a book. My friends and family have been so supportive and faithful. And I can feel God's support in this also in the way things are all coming together. I often ask if this is what he wants for me. It seems his answer is yes, but I guess what will truly convince me will be the turn-out tomorrow morning at 11AM and the number of books I sell.

And I have only been doing this marketing/selling for 3 months and two weeks. And if I don't lose heart or health this may only be the beginning.

The Next Booksigning

E.V. Medina will be signing copies of "Realmwalkers."

There will be a raffle and freebies so stop by and visit.

"Realmwalkers" at the WNEA Shopping Extravaganza

I felt like a realmwalker as I arrived at the Lake Havasu City Convention Center last Saturday for the WNEA's Shopping Extravaganza. I was nervous, but enthusiastic. I only knew a few people there. I accompanied my writer friend, Sharon Poppen, author of "Abby, Finding More than Gold" and other great stories. We sat together the entire day, shaking hands with potential shoppers and signing our books. She was very kind enough to let me come along to share the table. The hall was crowded with eager shoppers and many stopped to look over my drawings and check out the various copies of Realmwalkers I had brought. I smiled a lot and answered their questions and before the event was over I had sold six books. It more than covered the price for the event space and I learned a lot about what to do next time. Some of that profit is going to go right back into buying more books and creating more promotional materials. It was a good event and a good experience overall.

If you are a writer and have any questions about doing a book signing and other promotional events, leave me a comment here. I will do my best to answer your questions. You may even have some tips on how to promote your self published book. Even those of you who have found publishers, like Sharon, may benefit as well. Sorry for the fuzziness of the photos. I guess my new phone camera is REALLY sensitive.

The Mother Goddess

 

Author’s Note: Long before the realmwalkers ever came to Tiaera, Priestess Azurene V’Nae lived in the country of Sangrey and was a revered priestess and healer. During that time of her life, she made it a point to teach the dark elven children about the world’s goddess. It was important to her even though most of the dark elves felt that the goddess favored humans and light-skinned elves over their dark skinned brethren. This jealousy grew over the decades, but little could be done as Tiaera had only one goddess who often stressed she loved all her children regardless of size, color or race. This is an account of Priestess Azurene’s teaching for your enjoyment.

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At the appointed day and time, dark elven children of all ages and their parents entered the great cathedral of Espion and headed slowly down the long aisle. The priestess gestured for them to sit in the pews closest to the altar so they could hear and see her despite the shadowy sanctuary that smelled of incense and death. Acolytes entered from behind the altar to light candles around the area where she stood dressed in her long elegant robe. Facing her audience, Azurene waited until everyone was seated and quiet.

After a silent prayer, the lovely priestess smiled softly and began, “Welcome and listen well. I know some of you were reluctant to come today, but try to open thy hearts and ears to what I have to say. You all know the importance of learning about our history and about our faith, especially those of you who are so young and have thy future before you. Listen well and I will try to make this brief. 

“Long ago, before the recordings of our people, there roamed a powerful spirit named Astria. Since she uses a feminine name and has appeared to us as a woman, we Tiaerans refer to her as a goddess. Our historians say that Goddess Astria danced on the stars above and visited many worlds until one day she came upon a world filled with such life and beauty she lingered for a time. This world had been made by a powerful god, known to us as the Hooded Man. When the two deities met, he welcomed her with love.  He allowed her to roam and learn about his children and his creation. ‘Tis said this world was called Earth and according to her it was the 15^th century, whatever that means.  When she departed that realm a part of her lingered in the memories of the people who began to call her Astria Cloudborne. To honor them, she lovingly accepted the surname.

“Astria then took what she learned about Earth and traveled afar until she came here. With her power and magnificent body, she created Tiaera. Her hands stretched and broke apart to create the countries and her fingers spread to form the mountains and valleys. Her long hair became the oceans and rivers that provide nourishment and pleasure. ‘Tis said she used her eyes to make the two moons above, but witnesses have vowed they have seen her beautiful eyes amongst the clouds. Regardless what some of us think of her, Goddess Astria Cloudborne bestowed on us her essence, which we call magic and to this day she is known as the ‘Mother Goddess.’ to us all. Aye, even those who carry hatred and envy in their hearts.

“Let not thy pride and jealousy cloud thy mind over what is true: we belong to the goddess and owe her all that we are. She and Tiaera are one. This is our home and she is our creator. Serve with humility and love. Heed my words lest thy malice towards her leads you or thy loved ones to death without no hope of resurrection. 'Tis what healers call Eternal Death. Any questions?”

The priestess observed the uneasy silence of those seated before her and hoped with all her heart this would help quell the talk of rebellion and potential violence she had heard about. Only time would tell if her efforts to reach out to her people on behalf of the Mother Goddess helped, especially the young, before it was too late.