A to Z Blog Challenge - BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE on Tour - M

On Day 13 of the A to Z Blog Challenge

M

is for

Mix of genres

Please join me at A Book Lover's Library for my fourth review as part of Black Lion Virtual Book Tours.

Rebecca writes that BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE "is a mix of genres."

When marketing a book, it's important to fit the story into a genre style that readers can easily identify.

When your story is a mix of genres, this becomes something of a challenge.

Young hero Scorpius grows from boyhood into a young man, and BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE is definitely a coming-of-age tale. Should it be marketed as Young Adult? As the author who knows the upcoming books will deal with darker subject matter, would this be a wise decision?

The story takes place in a fantasy world called the Eighth Dominion, yet the focus of the book is on Scorpius and how he makes his way through the world. Traditional fantasy elements are not highlighted as much as the political intrigue aspects of the story.

If I market it as fantasy, will readers who expect detailed glossaries of Eighth Dominion history and culture wonder where their genre went?

If I market it as political intrigue, will contemporary thriller readers wonder what on earth I was thinking when I placed BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE in their favorite genre?

This is the challenge for me with both of my releases so far. Fresh and new is often a mix of genres. A marketing challenge for me as an author, but as a reader these are the very books which attract me.

A to Z Blog Challenge - BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE on Tour - L

On Day 12 of the A to Z Blog Challenge

L

is for

Lord Thibault

one of the main characters in my dark fantasy

Please join me at Bookworm Babblings for my third review as part of Black Lion Virtual Book Tours.

It's always a good sign when the book review blogger posts this on her sidebar the day before:

As it turns out, her three exclamation marks weren't a typo. She gave BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE:

Now it's my turn for three exclamation marks!!! Drop by her blog to read the review. 

Getting back to A to Z--my dark fantasy BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE follows the story of unclaimed noble Scorpius, once raised to be a little lord at the nursery with the other boys and girls. When no one from his family comes to fetch him back to his ancestral home, Scorpius must go instead with a falconer who needs an apprentice.

Spending his boyhood with his first master Richolf, a deadly game of court intrigue sends a youthful Scorpius to serve his second master -- Lord Thibault, a young noble his own age.

I always have an actor in mind when I'm writing my characters, and for me Lord Thibault looks and sounds like English actor David Oakes. He's played quite a few nasty characters so far, but Lord Thibault bucks the trend of most nobles Scorpius encounters, who show themselves to be cruel and dangerous. 

In this fan vid, David Oakes plays Juan Borgia. 

A to Z Blog Challenge - BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE on Tour - J - Thursday Thirteen - 274 - 13 Things About Doing a Challenge and Tour Together

1 - For most of this month, my blog posts have been doing double duty: my dark fantasy BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE is currently on tour with Black Lion Virtual Book Tours. 

2 - I'm also taking part for the third year in a row, in the A to Z Blog Challenge.

3 - This week I've decided: 

Why not do a triple-threat post and combine the book tour, A to Z Challenge and my long-running Thursday feature, Thursday Thirteen?

Photo courtesy of How to Hunt Rabbit

4 - On Day 10 of the  A to Z Blog Challenge

J 

is for

Jesses and other falconry equipment

5 - Please join me at Deal Sharing Aunt for my sixth interview as part of Black Lion Virtual Book Tours.

Deal Sharing Aunt asks me: "What is a falconer? What does their apprentice do?" 

Find out why she asked me that question, and why falconers and their apprentices need to worry about being caught up in deadly court intrigue in my dark fantasy novel.

Deal Sharing Aunt also reviewed my book. Here's what she had to say:

"Not many fantasy books keep me attached to the last page like this book did. The main character...makes mistakes along the way, which makes him even more of a believable character. The world that the author created was a blast to read about...and I cannot wait for the rest of the books in the series."

6 - Because today is J Day, and because J is for Jesses here at A Piece of My Mind, let's go back to this basic piece of falconry equipment. 

7 - Jesses serve the same function as collars and leashes for dogs, or bridles and reins for horses. Hawks and falcons wear these traditionally leather--nowadays also nylon--anklets with loose ties. The falconer can hold the bird on his glove by the jesses, or secure the bird to a perch.

8 - Why do jesses often include bells? Bells help the falconer to locate his hunting bird when out in the field.

9 - In BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE, falconry bells lead my young hero Scorpius toward a memorable encounter with a market girl.

10 - In this clip, a red-tailed hawk is trained to fly to the falconer's glove.

11 - In this clip, a falconer lets us in on what attracts him to hunting with birds of prey.

12 - Only 26 additional Thursday Thirteen posts, and I will mark a milestone of writing 300 of them. Not long now!

13 - To new readers who are dropping by from the book tour, the A to Z Challenge or from Thursday Thirteen, thanks for dropping by! To my longtime readers--six years and counting for A Piece of My Mind, and I'm just as happy getting my posts ready as I've ever been. Thanks for making blogging so much fun!

A to Z Blog Challenge - BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE on Tour - I

On Day 9 of the A to Z Blog Challenge

I

is for

Writing Inspirations

Please join me at Pure Jonel for my fifth interview as part of Black Lion Virtual Book Tours.

Jonel asks me: "What are your biggest inspirations while writing?" 

Find out what sorts of musical playlists I created to set the tone for my dark fantasy BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE. 

Jonel also reviewed my book. Here's what she had to say:

"I dearly love the main character in this novel. Not only is he a brilliant individual but he is easy to relate to...I was actually sad that I had to leave him at the end of the novel, even knowing that there would be a sequel and that I'd see him again."

Rating:  ★★★★★

A to Z Blog Challenge - BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE on Tour - H

On Day 8 of the A to Z Blog Challenge

H

is for

Henry Ian Cusick

Please join me at I know that Book! for my fourth interview as part of Black Lion Virtual Book Tours.

Rhomy asks me: "Would you like your book turned into a movie?Do you have any actors in mind?" 

Find out why I think BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE would work better as a television miniseries, and which character I've always written with Scottish-Peruvian actor Henry Ian Cusick in mind.

A to Z Blog Challenge - BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE on Tour - F

On Day 6 of the A to Z Blog Challenge

F

is for

Falconer's cottage

Please join me at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer for my third interview as part of Black Lion Virtual Book Tours.

Billy asks me: "What is your favorite part in BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE? What was the hardest part to write?" 

Find out why the major set piece that takes place at the falconer's cottage is the answer to both of these questions. The young hero of my book is the falconer's apprentice, and in this section of the story the day time hunt at which he's accustomed to serving runs long. The nobles appear to have no intention of leaving, and all Scorpius and his master can do is bear witness and pray that they're not tainted by the nobles' cruelty.   

A to Z Blog Challenge - BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE on Tour - D

On Day 4 of the A to Z Blog Challenge

D

is for

My Dragonsfyre series

Want an intro into the world of Dragonsfyre?

Please join me at Laurie's Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews for a character interview as part of Black Lion Virtual Book Tours.

Laurie asks my young hero, Scorpius: "If you could apologize to someone in your past, who would it be?"

Does Scorpius answer her question, or does he try block the memories?

~~~

I'm also blogging at The Popculturedivas today:

13 Things That Happened to Me Today

A to Z Blog Challenge - BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE on Tour - C

On Day 3 of the A to Z Blog Challenge

C

is for

The naming of Characters

Please join me at KY Bunnies blog for my second interview as part of Black Lion Virtual Book Tours.

Suzie asks me: "When naming your characters, do you give any thought to the actual meaning?"

Find out why I would never pick a name that didn't suit a character, numerologically-speaking.

A to Z Blog Challenge - BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE on Tour - B

On Day 2 of the A to Z Blog Challenge

B

is for

Brainstorming

Please join me at Makayla's Book Reviews for my first interview as part of Black Lion Virtual Book Tours.

Makayla asks me: "How did you come up with the title?" for BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE. 

Find out how brainstorming was an integral part of coming up with a series name and the individual titles for each book.

I'm also being featured today over at Michael Di Gesu's blog, ... ... ... In Time

Michael is featuring 26 books as his theme for the A to Z Challenge, and today,

B

is for

BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE

Thanks, Michael!

A to Z Blog Challenge - BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE on Tour - A

Welcome to my third year participating in the A to Z Blog Challenge.

What is the A to Z Challenge? Bloggers post each day during the month of April, except for Sundays, and gear each post to the letters of the alphabet. You can continue to follow the regular format of your blog, or choose to do something special for the challenge.

For newcomers to my blog, A Piece of My Mind is an arts blog. My posts will showcase some aspect of the creative process.

When I'm not blogging, I'm a dark fantasy author, and it just so happens that today is Day 1 of my Black Lion Virtual Book Tour for BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE.

So for Day 1 of the A to Z Challenge

A

is for

AUTHOR on tour

CLICK HERE for the tour kick-off over at the Black Lion blog. You'll find an introduction to the book along with an excerpt.

I'd like to send out a very special thank you to Arlee Bird, the founder of the A to Z Blog Challenge. Arlee sent out a challenge in 2010 for the first A to Z event, and close to 100 bloggers joined in that first year. That's when I first bumped into it, and decided that I would love to take part in it.

So the following year, 2011, I was one of almost 1300 people blogging from A to Z. Only one year and it grew to over ten times its original size.

Last year it grew again to 1700 bloggers, and as of late Sunday night, the sign-up list has just over 1700 names on it.

This year, I'm blogger number 1324. I'm looking forward to meeting up with previous A to Z-ers as well as welcoming new visitors here, and I know I'll discover so many interesting blogs as I head out into the Blogosphere for the challenge.

Thank you Arlee for this annual event that has brought me several close online friendships I now cannot do without.