Fantasy Review: ‘To Whatever End’ by Claire Frank

This is an unusual book in a couple of ways. For one thing, the main protagonists are a happily married couple. When Daro is kidnapped, Cecily sets out to find and rescue him. No, no, that’s not the other unusual thing. Surely it’s not unusual for a woman to rescue a man? The second unusual thing is that this story is set some years after a major upheaval in the kingdom. The old king was overthrown and his son and heir killed in a bloody war which Daro, Cecily and their friends helped to orchestrate. The first section of the book, where we meet the companions in ones and twos, and they mull over the previous events and remind each other of this or that close shave or dramatic moment, made me wonder if I’d strayed into the second part of a trilogy. Actually, no, this is the first part. […]

Posted January 20, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Review / 2 Comments

‘The Fire Mages’ still at a special low price

Just a reminder that ‘The Fire Mages’ is still available at the new-release price of $0.99. To buy, click the link in the box at the right, which takes you to your local Amazon. You have a few more days to buy before it goes to the normal price of $3.99. If you’ve already bought it – thank you! Please tell your friends about it, too. And if you’ve read it, an honest review on Amazon, Goodreads or your blog would be very much appreciated, to help other readers decide if they would enjoy it. The book has had a few reviews already. Here’s a snippet from the first to hit Amazon.com: “The main characters were more authentic than I think you usually get in fantasy stories, but just like Robin Hobb, Ross is a master at crafting authentic characters. This story had everything I look for in a fantasy […]

Posted January 17, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing, The Fire Mages / 2 Comments

For fans of libraries…

wouldn’t this be an astonishing place to read in? This is the National Library of Prague. Lots more amazing libraries at BoredPanda.

Posted January 10, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in General / 0 Comments

‘The Fire Mages’: now available!

My new epic fantasy ‘The Fire Mages’ is now available to buy at all Amazons! The first review at Amazon.com starts: “I could not put this book down. The pacing was perfect and kept me engaged from beginning to end.” For the next two weeks it will be priced at just $0.99 (regular price $3.99), so this is a good time to pick up a copy. The paperback is also available, at a regular price of $11.99, but Amazon is offering it at $10.79 at the moment, and if you buy the paperback you get the ebook for free. If you have a subscription to Kindle Unlimited or Prime, you can also borrow the book for free. ‘The Fire Mages’ is an epic fantasy coming of age adventure with (naturally!) a bit of a romance. It’s 150,000 words, or 386 pages. Here’s the blurb: Kyra has always been drawn to […]

Posted January 10, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing, The Fire Mages / 0 Comments

‘The Fire Mages’: coming soon!

‘The Fire Mages’ will be published this Friday, January 9th! An early Goodreads reviewer said:‘This is one of the best epic fantasy books I’ve read in a long time and I don’t say that lightly.’ To get your copy as soon as it’s released, you can now pre-order at Amazon (the link takes you to your local store). For a limited time, it will be priced at just $0.99. And it’s available right now as a paperback, priced at $8.39 (buy the paperback, and you can get the ebook free!). ETA: As part of the pre-release build-up, Enchanted Blog Tours arranged a cover reveal party for me – a dozen blogs, all showing the cover and blurb. Karen, at ‘Karen Writes Stuff’ (great name for a blog!), got quite excited about it. Thanks, Karen, I think it’s an amazing cover too (designed by Streetlight Graphics). ‘The Fire Mages’ is an […]

Posted January 4, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Current writings, Publishing/marketing, The Fire Mages / 1 Comment

Happy New Year!

The turn of the year is a time for looking both back and forwards. This is probably the forty seventh you’ve read, so to keep it brief, here’s a quick summary of my year: Memorable events of 2014 (good and bad): I published a book! ‘The Plains of Kallanash’ went live on 12th September 2014. [Kind of a roller-coaster, but mostly good] I learned that when you spend time writing, you get less reading done. [Bad] I taught myself the 400 steps necessary to obtain an EIN from Uncle Sam to avoid withholding tax on my book royalties (ha! If only…), which involves dancing naked with unicorn feathers and the sacrifice of one’s first-born (sorry, James, but needs must), not to mention visiting the American Embassy in London, which is almost as far from here as it’s possible to get without falling into the ocean. And then the system was […]

Posted January 2, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in General, Writing musings / 0 Comments

Fantasy Review: ‘The Healers’ Road’ by S E Robertson

This is an unusual book. Yes, yes, I know I specialise in unusual books; not for me the dull old treadmill of mainstream popular works. I read stuff you’ve never heard of. But this book is special: I came across it on a forum where the author lamented that she’d only sold… no, let’s not put a number on it. Let’s just say: not very many. So this is a book that nobody has ever heard of. So what’s it about? Well, let me tell you first what it’s not about. It’s not about saving the world. It’s not about finding the lost heir to the kingdom. There’s no quest, no named sword, no moustache-twirling villain, no prophecy. There are no orcs, dwarves, elves or goblins. No dragons, either, sadly (every fantasy book should have dragons, in my opinion, but there you go). There are no witches, werewolves, vampires. OK, […]

Posted December 25, 2014 by PaulineMRoss in Review / 0 Comments

Ode to Amazon

Once upon a time, Christmas was easy. I didn’t even think about it until mid-December, and then I went out and bought three presents: one for my mother, one for my father and one for my older sister. Price wasn’t an issue, I bought whatever my pocket money could cover (yes, this is pre-history, folks). Wind forward a few years, and there were husbands and children and in-laws and their children, and things got more complicated. The number of presents and Christmas cards multiplied geometrically, the list of Things To Be Done got longer and longer, and it all became rather fraught. There was one memorable year when I bought and wrapped and (mostly) parcelled up and shipped halfway round the world 56 separate presents. I hated Christmas. I learned to cope. I started early, in October, making the Christmas cake, and making lists (lots of lists). I discovered mail […]

Posted December 24, 2014 by PaulineMRoss in General / 0 Comments

‘The Plains of Kallanash’: another promotion

With ‘The Plains of Kallanash’ nearing the end of its first 90-day run in Amazon’s KDP Select, I had three more free days to use up. I chose Wed to Fri 3rd/4th/5th December for no good reason, other than I’d picked a weekend last time, and it seemed a good idea to try something different. The first 2 free days, back in October, were a modest success, with almost 800 downloads with only one paid promotion site (Bknights, $20), although resulting in no additional sales or reviews. This time, I thought I would experiment by paying a little more to promotion sites, and see if the combined effect helps. Each promotion site features the book on a combination of bulk emails to subscribers, websites and Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and so on. My expectations weren’t high; I hoped for 2,000 downloads overall. Here’s what I booked: Day 1: BKnights ($20), […]

Posted December 16, 2014 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing, The Plains of Kallanash / 0 Comments

‘The Fire Mages’: Chapters 1-5

1: Refusal I was fourteen when the Kellon’s Steward first came for me. Well, blow that. I had my life all planned out, and the Kellon had no part in it, I was sure of that. Still, the Steward was waiting for me, and the question had to be asked before it could be refused. Head high, I crossed the tiny hallway of the cottage, my boots clumping on the wooden floor, and strode into the parlour.

Posted December 16, 2014 by PaulineMRoss in The Fire Mages / 0 Comments