Back Cover Blurb Test--Please Vote

As some of you know, I'm looking to self-publish a DragonEye novella, "Greater Treasures."  This will be my first foray into the self-publishing world, and I think folks are going to love the story. While it's with an editor, I'm working on the rest of the materials.  I have an awesome cover, and now I'm asking your help on the back-cover blurb.

Coming April 2013.

After some discussion with FB friends and my buddies in The Writers Chatroom, I have come up with these.  (Actually, Ann Lewis wrote #3.) Please vote on a blurb below.  I'll select someone at random to receive a free copy when it comes out.  Also, if you get a friend to vote and mention your name, I'll put your name in the pot a second time.

Which one would most make you buy the book?  

Vote in the comments section.

1.  In the spirit of The Maltese Falcon comes a DragonEye story like never before.

Hitler believed the Lance of Longinus would help him conquer the world, but could never activate its power.  Now, a modern-day Nazi with access to the Faerie would become the New Fuehrer—and destroy any race—Mundane or Faerie—that does not match the Aryan ideal.

Vern, a Faerie dragon of diminished power, can stop him—but will he do it if it means sacrificing the life of his dearest friend?

2.  Being a private detective in the border town of the Faerie and Mundane worlds isn’t easy, even for a dragon like Vern.

A simple stake-out goes horribly wrong when Vern's partner, Sister Grace, gets shot with a poison dart--a dart, police say, meant to take down a dragon.   A beautiful damsel in distress leads Vern on a path of lies and false hope.  Meanwhile, evil men tempt Vern with a cure for Grace--in return for an artifact with the power to rule men.  Can Vern find the artifact? Which will he sacrifice: the fate of two worlds or the life of his best friend?

3. Being a private detective in the border town of the Faerie and Mundane worlds ain’t easy, even for a dragon like Vern.  Nonetheless, when Vern’s partner Sister Grace gets hit by a poison dart meant for him, all bets are off! He takes the offer of a cure in return for finding an artifact with the power to rule mankind, while a beautiful damsel in distress leads him down a rosy path of false hope. Can Vern find the artifact, and will he sacrifice the fate of two worlds for the life of his best friend?

A Little Taste of the Weird Noir

Weird Noir is live on Amazon! 

On the gritty backstreets of a crumbling city, tough dames and dangerous men trade barbs, witticisms and a few gunshots. But there’s a new twist where urban decay meets the eldritch borders of another world: WEIRD NOIR.

Featuring thugs who sprout claws and fangs, gangsters with tentacles and the occasional succubus siren. The ambiance is pure noir but the characters aren’t just your average molls and mugs—the vamps might just be vamps. It’s Patricia Highsmith meets Shirley Jackson or Dashiell Hammett filtered through H. P. Lovecraft. Mad, bad and truly dangerous to know, but irresistible all the same.

With stories from Chloë Yates, Richard Godwin, Karina Fabian, Hector Acosta, Jan Kozlowski, Andrez Bergen, Carol Borden, Paul D. Brazill, Jennifer Martin, Katherine Tomlinson, Jason Michel, Asher Wismer, Michael S. Chong, Leeyanne Moore, Christopher L. Irvin, Joyce Chng, W. P. Johnson and an introduction by K.A.Laity

Here's an excerpt from my story, "Sins of the Brother":

Dante assigned Judas his own special place in Hell for betraying his Savior. What horrible sin had I committed to deserve my own unique inferno?

I slunk my way along the streets of the Faerie side of Los Lagos, trying to ignore how the glare of neon signs and pixie flash did nothing to dispel the gloom. A temperature inversion had trapped the noxious fumes of Mundane technology, shrouding the autumn afternoon in a dismal, dirty gray fog. People had been warned to stay indoors. The Mundanes, insular by nature anyway, gladly holed up with their televisions and Xboxes, but the Faerie were still too new to this dimension to give up their social ways. The many races that made their homes in this “brave new world” wouldn’t let a little smog get in the way of their gossip and shopping.

With my treasure left behind in the mountains of Caraparavalenciana, I didn’t have the means for shopping—even if dragons did shop—and I had hoped to avoid any gossip about why the resident undersized drake was prowling the streets. Unfortunately, the higher you got, the thicker the air; my nose balked at the idea of flying. I kept to the back alleys until I got to my destination, then flapped my way to the second story of a ramshackle hotel that dared to call itself The Ritz. It was putting someone on, that’s for sure.

I didn’t care about the digs. I’d come to visit another Judas in his hell.

The rusted fire escape made a precarious perch, but my friend saved me the effort of scratching at the window by flinging it open and stepping back to let me in.

“Vern! Thank God you got my message.”

I blinked. Brother Abel breaking his vow of silence? I gave him the dragoneye as I looked him and his flop over. The tiny room hardly rated the rats I’m sure he shared it with. Maybe I’d do him a favor and snack on them before I left. With a stylish Mundane haircut and civilian threads, he didn’t look like a religious, even with the second-hand clothes, and with his clean-shaven face, he could attract many a fair damsel despite his religious vows. Right now, those good looks were as clouded as the sky outside the filmy window. I knew what that meant.

“What’s Cain gone and done this time?”

Abel started to pace, wringing his hands like an old woman. Couldn’t blame him. This wasn’t the first time Little Brother had stuck his head in a noose that Abel—with my help—had to get him out of. In fact, the last time, it had almost been a literal noose. Guess the blood didn’t run so true in Abel’s family.

Still, even then, he hadn’t broken his vow of silence. Believe me, it put a crimp in our rescue mission. The fact that he’d break it now did not bode well.

“I don’t know. He was so excited at first—still is—but now, he feels afraid. Trapped.” Abel hugged himself.

I bit back a sigh. Corsican twins are the stuff of myth and comic books in your world, but in the Faerie, psychically linked twins are rare but real. Years of training had helped him block Cain’s emotions, but sometimes, love trumps training. He’d always know when his “little” brother, younger by mere minutes, had gotten himself in deep, and fishing him out was as much for himself as for Cain.

Of course, how’s a monk on the wrong side of the Interdimensional Gap going to save his wayward kin? That’s where I come in—DragonEye, PI, the professional problem solver for people on the right side of Good but the wrong side of the law, or who want to keep things off the Mundane lawman’s radar.

Next DragonEye Story coming in Weird Noir

Woo-hoo!  My DragonEye story, "Sins of the Brother" is coming out in Weird Noir from Fox Spirit books! http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/

 “On the gritty backstreets of a crumbling city, tough dames and dangerous men
trade barbs, witticisms and a few gunshots. But there’s a new twist where urban decay meets the eldritch borders of another world: WEIRD NOIR. Featuring thugs who sprout claws and fangs, gangsters with tentacles and the occasional succubus siren. The ambience is pure noir but the characters aren’t just your average molls and mugs—the vamps might just be vamps. It’s Patricia Highsmith meets Shirley Jackson or Dashiell Hammett filtered through H. P. Lovecraft. Mad, bad and truly dangerous to know, but
irresistible all the same.”

Here's a story I was asked to write about its creation.

 

“It’s been done, Kitten.”

I sighed.  Talking to my well-read husband could be like sleeping on a bed of tacks—everywhere you turn, there’s a sharp point. For half an hour, I’d brought up story ideas only to have them shot down.

“Fine, but I need a unique angle for a dragon story.  I want to be in this anthology.”

He shrugged, his deep brown eyes echoing my frustration.  That’s when the kids called us down to watch Whose Line Is It, Anyway.  It’s a comedy improve show, where the actors perform sketches.  Much of the humor flew over the kids’ heads like a Concord, but we loved it anyway, especially when they did the noir skits.

That’s when it hit me:  I could do noir…with a dragon.

Meet Vern: an undersized dragon working off a geas from St. George to regain his dragon greatness.  Vern lives on the wrong side of the Interdimensional Gap and works as a professional problem solver for people on the right side of Good but the shady side of Law.  Vern first appeared in “DragonEye, PI” in Firestorm of Dragons, and has been in two published novels and numerous stories since.  He’s uptight, cynical, and sometimes, very funny.  

But not in the case of “Sins of the Brother.” Patterned after the 1954 movie, World For Ransom, Vern has to solve a kidnapping while protecting the kidnapper.  Rather than a femme fatal, Vern’s doing it for a friend who sacrificed his life to protect Vern in the past.  The romantic tension is replaced by the tension between Corsican twins, and the political backdrop of two worlds—one of magic, one of technology--forced to get along.

I hope you enjoy the story, and if you like it, you’ll check out Vern’s website at http://dragoneyepi.net.  There, you’ll find a list of his books and stories, plus his newsletter and blog.

How I Started Writing DragonEye, PI--from Vern's POV

Natura had invited me to her restaurant. In those days, I didn't pass up free meals, even when I knew a catch was coming. She'd set me down at the table with a friend of hers, Karina Fabian, a middle-aged mother of four with a huge mop of hair--dark brown with streaks of silver, the shiny kind. I like silver. She was nervous, but who isn't when first confronted by my grandeur? She relaxed as we ate, traded small talk and puns, and I waited to find out what this meal was going to cost me.

Natura waited until after the second course.

"So, like, I think you need some good publicity," Natura said.

"I don’t like reporters," I growled, then turned to Karina. "No offense."

"No,none at all," she agreed.

Natura made a tsk sound. "Karina isn't a reporter. She's a writer! You know, like fantasy and science fiction? Totally open mind, and she's like Catholic and everything. You should let her write your stories."

"You don’t think McGrue does enough of that?" Kitty McGrue, reporter for the Los Lagos Gazette, seemed to want to make a career out of twisting my successes into some kind of diabolical Faerie plot. Didn't Natura think I had enough punishment?

Natura huffed. "Let Karina tell them from your point of view. Like, I've already told her some of your cases and she's was really grooving on you. She'd be able to share your story, Vern, how you want it. She'd get stories, and you'd get good press. I think you'd be good for each other."

"My point of view?" I didn't mean to ask. I didn't mean to consider it. Was it the food or Natura?

Karina said, "First person, even. I'll record the stories, write them up, and run them past you for approval."

"And I can make changes?"

She shrugged, "I do it for the priests and deacons I interview for Montana Catholic. I am a reporter, too, but mostly positive features and how-to stuff. I'm not into mudraking."

"See? Like, priests even!" Natura enthused. Not that she cared much, but she know it'd win points with me.

I looked at my empty plate, considering.

"I'll feed you," Karina said.

"Deal."

"Dragon Eye, PI" appeared in Firestorm of Dragons. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

Video Trailer for Live and Let Fly adn Excerpt Picked!

by Karina Fabian

I was goofing around with my new video maker and created this trailer for Live and Let Fly.  Don't forget; it comes out in April!

I've taken all the comments on the mini blurbs into consideration and am going with #3:

Festival was Friday. We had two days to stop a Nordic demigod evil overlord—overlady, overbeing, whatever—from blowing up a nuclear power plant, possibly destroying half an island full of revelers in the process, and creating an Interdimensional Gap through which she can bring the rest of her giant relatives to set up housekeeping where the Faerie Catholic Church didn't have the power to control them. In other words, two days until Hel broke loose.

I've had worse deadlines. I could afford a long bath in our whirlpool tub and a good meal first.