Romancing the Novel

As a writer of romance novels, one of my favorite movies is Romancing the Stone, which I saw as a budding writer. The movie starred Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito. It was a great romp and I still go back and watch it every couple years. Turner's character Joan Wilder struck a chord with the writer in me. Writing novels is a lonely business with paydays few and far between for those of us not lucky or talented enough to produce a best seller.


Joan Wilder writes over-the-top romance novels with macho heroes, perhaps like hero of her own personal romance. As the movie opens she is narrating the final scene as it plays out on the big screen. When it ends, Joan Wilder is sobbing at how good it turned out, and perhaps because the ride her imagination took her on was over. Joan is sitting at her typewriter in her plaid flannel night shirt. She reaches for a tissue; the box is empty. She goes to the bathroom, but there is no toilet paper then to the bulletin board and finds a note to buy tissues and uses it to blow her nose.


I laugh every time I see it and think that is so me. When you are really into the story and the characters, the writing can take over your life. Whether you admit it or not, you put a part of yourself in every character---part you, part fantasy, and part fabrication. Even when you base a character on someone else, you are the one putting words in their mouth or thoughts in their heads.


Sometimes when the writing is going well, I feel like the characters and the story take control of me. I write late into the night and get up in the morning and start writing again. I eat at my computer typing between bites as the novel romances me through the pages on the screen. I have not been the best company when I become so immersed in my stories; so from the first time I saw Romancing the Stone, I understood Joan Wilder.


One source suggested that to write a good novel, one should open a vein and bleed. Well, that would just make a mess. A better suggestion would be to open your mind and let your imagination take flight. Whether your story is based in fact or fantasy, the words come from inside you.

Copyright © 2016 by Christine Myers

Finding Your Audience

Do I know how to do that? I'm not so sure, but I am trying.  I've spent years writing the five novels I now have available on Amazon---The Aledan Series and a slightly related romance novel The Price of Love.  I'm beginning to see why it's so hard to get a publisher to take a chance on a new writer.  Just because you publish a book, doesn't necessarily mean people will buy it and read it.

Like almost every other writers of fiction, I believe that what I have written will be interesting and entertaining to at least some people.  After all, I wrote the kind of books I like to read---science fiction space opera and romance combined.  This year I decided to get serious about my writing after learning of a couple local authors that self published.

As I researched self publishing options, I discovered that I could publish my novels as ebooks at no cost on Amazon.  I sold a few and gave away about 100 as a special introductory offer.  The Aledan, Book One of the series is now available on Amazon, Kobo, and Nook for $.99. Two of the three sequels are still committed exclusively to Kindle Select for a few more weeks and are available for $1.99 each.  I decided to keep the price low because, while the goal is to make money for my work, I can't do that if nobody buys it.

To promote them, I created a website, a Facebook page and a blog for my books.  I embellished my Google profile and spent hours figuring out how to link up my website to Google.  I joined communities in Google+ of both readers and writers of similar genres. I even Twittered and pinned them on Pinterest. 

Once I published The Aledan on kobo, I created a virtual book tour with Google Tour builder based on "Indies4indies - An Online Tour Guide 4 Book Publishing". I just finished that project and put the link up on my Facebook page and Google+ profile.  I've done my best to tell the whole world about them on my shoestring budget.

Am I making money on my novels?  Not yet, not enough to pay for my website and the boosts to my Facebook page. It's disappointing after the hundreds, even thousands of hours I put into writing the novels that the books are barely selling. Do I give up? Do I quit?

Nope!  I still have more stories to tell.  I have to believe that I will find an audience willing to take the journey into the worlds I've created and get to know the characters there.   In any case, The Aledan Saga will continue. 

Copyright 2015 All Rights Reserved

Hendrix and The Martian

          Riding the bus home from work recently, the radio happened to playing the Jimi Hendrix version of "All Along The Watchtower", one of my all time favorite sixties songs. Every time I hear that song, I just want to dance with complete abandon, and sometimes I do when I'm home alone in my living room.

          I did some research about the song itself and what it actually meant. It was originally written and recorded by Bob Dylan, in a wholly different style than that of Hendrix. Wikipedia stated that “Several reviewers have pointed out that the lyrics in 'All Along the Watchtower' echo lines in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 21, verses 5-9"

          So I got out my bible, and went back and read the passage and I kind of agree. Others, seem to think the song was some kind of apocalyptic prediction. To me, it seems to characterize the unrest of the sixties with its rebellion against the establishment, the civil rights movement, and the protests against the military draft, and the Vietnam War. But, to me, in Hendrix version the combination of his guitar, the base guitar and percussion are diametrically opposite of the lyrics.

          Where the words seem to portend apocalypse, I hear pure joy in the guitar rifts. Now that I have some sense of the meaning behind it, it still doesn't change the way I will always feel about it.

When the song finished playing, the radio announcer happened to mention that one of the trailers for the new movie "The Martian" used the Hendrix version in the background. It took me awhile, but I searched through the station's face book page and found the trailer complete with a song in the background. However, when I went to see the movie this past week at the Spotlight Theater in Warsaw, I was disappointed that the song was not included in the movie.

          Aside from the obscene amount of salt on the popcorn, that was my only disappointment in my movie experience at the Spotlight theater. This is the first time I had been back to the theater since before it became Spotlight Theater.

          Ever since I heard they were putting three screens into the theater I wasn't sure how they could make that happen. There is still evidence of ongoing construction in the hall ways to the screen rooms, but the screen rooms seem to be pretty well finished. With the stadium seating, I was able to take a seat that put me right in the middle with a spectacular view of the entire screen. The new seating is much more roomy and comfortable than the original seating.

          Finding that the song "All Along the Watchtower" was not actually part of the movie was my only disappointment in the movie itself. The visuals of "The Martian" we're just spectacular and the script and the acting were totally believable. I also read that the science of the book on which it was based was right on the mark. It made the possibility of travel and colonization of Mars seem completely doable.

          If you like movies that are true to science and space travel, I can sincerely recommend "The Martian", and I would watch it again.

Journey of the Searching Star : Horse Clans Colony

The Aledan Hankura and his Terran lifemate Chelle have arrived on Belderon to rendezvous with the star ship Searching Star to join the Explorations after their stay on Aledus turned out even worse than he feared it would be. Still recovering emotionally, finding themselves among friends is just what they need to go forward with their life together. The mission of the Searching Star is to find new worlds for colonization and reconnect with lost colonies.

A few months into the mission Brandt McKell sends a message from an ancient space shuttle from the Mari-Sanna colonial ship that had been headed toward a world called Demus over five hundred years before this Journey of the Searching Star. Sabotage by a rival corporation sends the Mari-Sanna so far off course they land on a world at the edge of Federation territories, light years from the actual Demus. The rivalry spilled over to their new world where murder and revenge turned into a blood feud that lasted more than five hundred years.


Brandt McKell's ancestor who headed the colonial expedition was going there to ranch and breed genetically engineered horses. He managed to start a small herd before the warring factions destroyed most of the technology they'd brought with them. Their society devolved into rival clans who rode horses and fought each other with swords knives and crossbows.


On his way to send the message from the ancient shuttle, Brandt McKell, son of the Mountain clans' chieftain rides to help a lone rider being chased by four renegades. He can hardly believe his luck when that rider turns out to be the daughter of the Lake clans' chieftain---his deadly enemy. It's not exactly love at first sight, but sparks fly and passion ignites.


It's up to the crew of the Searching Star to determine if these people can settle their differences and claim their rightful place in the Federation.

 Book 2 of my Aledan Series should be available for Kindle on Amazon within 48 hours for $2.99.



(Rated for Adults: Sexual  content and violence)

Finding Michelle - An excerpt from THE ALEDAN: A Psionic Love Story

     He sensed Michelle reaching out to him, and he felt as though her soul were trying to meld with his own. Without ever having seen her, he felt physically aroused. He ached with the overwhelming need to join her body to his. He had felt the need many times before in the erotic dreams they had shared, but never with this intensity. He understood that this mating instinct was being triggered by the psi-bonding. At the moment, it threatened to overwhelm his other reasons for coming to find Michelle. He had never wanted anyone so much.

     Hankura sensed that he had been a cherished imaginary friend, sometimes more real to her than others. He kept her company when she was alone and afraid, and he shared her fears in his dreams.

Michelle didn't really understand any of it, though. Even when the voices came to her in the months before Jerry was killed, Hankura had seen that she didn't realize the power of thought she could control. She was a latent psion, wild and uneducated. She was everything Aledan society shunned in the people of the motherworld. The prospect of taking her there worried him because they would quickly see how different she was. He and Michelle would have to deal with that.

    Hankura felt her essence taking possession of him, and he didn't fight it. The bond was too strong. After fifteen minutes, Hankura knew he couldn't rest. He got up and assembled a pack for his journey, then changed from the metallic coverall he was wearing to a loose fitting shirt and trousers. On his belt, he hung a laser/stunner just in case . . .

    Although he was a physician by trade and didn't know if he could kill, he didn't dare venture out into this strange world unarmed.

    At sunrise, he left the ship to check the hull. It was marred by scraping branches but undamaged just as the computer indicated. Hankura paused to stare up at the trees towering over him. His rough landing had opened a gaping hole in the greenery that would expose his ship air crafts passing overhead.

    He couldn't risk having anyone find the ship--his only way off this miserable planet. So he used his laser and sheared off some of the surrounding brush to camouflage it.

Mother of Life, what am I doing here? He cursed silently as he tossed leafy branches on the pile that was beginning to cover his ship. Why didn't I just take a freighter?

    But it was not a valid question. He knew full well he had loved piloting the Mrans from the first time he'd sat behind the controls in space with the freedom of the stars in his grasp.

He'd sacrificed companionship for his freedom, however, on this journey back to Aledus. He'd hoped the solitude would help him sort out his life. Only now he was more alone than he ever thought he would be--except for her.

    Twittering sparrows startled him out of his thoughts as the birds rustled the branches overhead. He finished covering the ship and set out to find Michelle. As he moved through the trees and brush leafy branches and thorny vines to reach out and slapped him in the face. Brittle twigs snapped, and dry dead leaves rustled on the ground. His noisy tramping through the woods sent numerous frightened animals scurrying away. Although he saw few, there were living creatures all around him, and he sensed their fear of him.

    He could have reassured them, but his obsession with finding Michelle kept him moving. Only that obsession could have made him struggle so relentlessly through the thick brush of the mountain forest. He'd lost track time altogether when he finally saw an opening ahead that renewed the strength of his determination. Two tracks were etched in the dirt, a strip of green grew between them. This open path was less direct than his route through the forest, but it stretched out before him invitingly. He sensed that it twisted eventually toward the big clearing where Michelle lived. And taking the path was a lot easier.

                                                                               

    Hankura! As Michelle awoke, she felt his very real presence in her mind; more real than she had ever felt him before. He was coming to find her just as he'd promised all those years ago.

So many times Jerry had tried to convince her that Hankura was only a product of her imagination! She had started to believe her brother, but Jerry was wrong . . . Hankura was real, and no one would ever convince her other wise again. He was real and she had to find him.

    Following the tree-sheltered path deep into the woods, Michelle felt his presence long before she caught sight of him. It was a strange feeling--a kind of magnetism that made it impossible for her to turn back. It frightened her a little.

    Then images of places she had seen in their shared dreams started to unfold in her mind as the strange-familiar presence grew stronger. She saw the endless blackness of space and felt his loneliness on the journey to Earth. She didn't know how to shut out his memories.

Michelle stopped at the edge of a small clearing. The sudden urge to turn and run almost overwhelmed her. He--Hankura was coming nearer. She wanted him to come, but now that he was actually here she was afraid.

    They saw each other almost at the same time and stood staring in awe for several moments before either moved toward the other. Hankura felt her fear and awe entwine with his own, mixed with a compulsion to reach out and touch her . . .mind and body.

He was all she had expected physically--tall and well muscled with umber hair and emerald green eyes that seemed to look right through her.

    Michelle felt beautiful in his eyes in spite of the ragged overalls that clad her slim figure. She felt his sexual attraction as well, and it awakened feelings that she had suppressed for a very long time. A vision of them entwined in a sexual embrace accompanied that yearning.

    Her face flushed, and Michelle felt shaken as she realized her vision of them together touched his mind, too. His eyes were warm and he grinned, moving toward her with his hand extended. It was clear he meant to fulfill her sexual longings.

    "Nooo!" She backed away in unreasoning panic. She wanted him but she was afraid to give herself into his possession despite the bond of their minds. She was afraid of the way he made her feel. He moved closer, and she turned and ran...

Writing Again

I am so excited to get back to writing fiction. It's like the best role playing game in the world.  I spent years sending my manuscripts to publishers and getting them back with rejection letter. Sometimes, I never got my work back even though I always submitted them with the required self-addressed stamped envelope.  Some of the letters were really nice letters saying they liked my writing but that my book "wasn't right" for their line.
One small press publisher finally offered to publish The Aledan, but that fell through. A few years back, I built a website and tried to sell the novel as an eBook, but it went nowhere. I think I sold one copy. It was just in the last few weeks, that I started researching publishing the novel myself. That's when I discovered that I could publish to Kindle Direct at no cost. WhooHoo!!
The first few days, I sold 5 copies. I thought, 'not bad'. It was more than I ever sold before. These five people simply stumbled on it because it was new. My first move to publicize it was sharing it on Facebook. One of the tips in Kindle was run a free give away. In 5 days, 96 people downloaded my book.
Meanwhile I built a simple website for the series www.thealedanonline.com . Probably the same 100 people who downloaded the book have visited my site.
Yesterday was the last day of the free promotion. I will probably run it again when I publish the sequel sometime in the fall. I'm working on the next book of the series, now. The working title is Journey of the Searching Star. That could change.
Chris Myers

The Aledan: A Psionic Love Story

Kindle Publishing Direct has given me the opportunity to finally publish my sci-fi romance novel:



The Aledan: A Psionic Love Story


In the ancient ruins of Farringay, a city of Earth's distant future, a frightened five year old girl reaches out with her mind to Hankura, a young telepathic Aledan boy on his way to Velran aboard a star passenger freighter. When he feels her fear and despair, he wants to help her. He recognizes that she is a latent telepathic healer and feels a strong connection with her---so strong, he promises to come back.

Twenty years after that meeting, Hankura still feels the connection with Michelle Marlow of Earth. Her realities become his nightmares and his dreams are shared fantasies. After Michelle is nearly killed in a street fight in Farringay, Hankura is overwhelmingly compelled to go there and rescue her.
In this hypothetical future, the mother world of humanity is in a state of ruin 800 years after the Procyon Wars with an alien race decimated the human race. What is left is held by violently diverse political groups run by crime lords. Except for the Starport at Farringay Earth is a very dangerous place. Hankura makes ground fall and finds Michelle easily, but he needs new powers crystals before they can leave for Aledus.

Their bond was sealed twenty years before when their minds touched telepathically. But Chelle, as Hankura calls her is still a dawning latent and has a lot to learn about using her abilities. She doesn't really understand why he has misgivings about returning to Aledus. Chelle only knows he feels he has to return because of how of the anger and resentment he felt at being send away.

Aledus is a world where telepathic psions are a scorned minority that faces discriminatory laws and repression. All psions must wear distinctive patches on their clothing that designate them as such. Psionic children are taken from their parents at age ten and placed in the Aledan Psi Institute for indoctrination and brainwashing against using their gifts. It amounts to government sanctioned torture and so is the psi testing that Hankura and Chelle must endure at the Aledan Psi Institute before they can work and travel freely as any psion on Aledus.

Life on Aledus is further complicated by Hankura's mother, a powerful psion whose psyche was more seriously damaged by her time at the Aledan Psi Institute than anyone imagines. She is disappointed that her favorite son has come home with a lifemate, yet expresses reverence that they are psi-bonded.

As Hankura begins his position as a physician as Salla Medical Center, Chelle embarks on Med-tech studies at the university to help her understand and develop her telekinetic healing abilities. Life on Aledus for the psi-mates is more difficult than they ever dreamed. It could very well cost them their lives and nearly does.