Jaye Wells's Blog, page 10

RT Book Reviews announced their nominees for the 2014 Reviewers’ Choice Awards today, and I’m thrilled to announce that DIRTY MAGIC is up for Best Urban Fantasy Novel of the Year! The winner will be announced at the RT Book Lovers’ Convention in Dallas in May.

You can read the full list of nominees here.

This is my third time being nominated for an RT Award (I won it in 2012 for Blue-Blooded Vamp) and it just doesn’t get old. RT Book Reviewers is the only major book award that consistently celebrates the achievements of female authors in urban fantasy. I am honored that my work has been regularly recognized as some of the best books in the genre by RT’s top notch reviewers. It’s especially cool this year because the awards are taking place in Dallas, which means if I win, my husband can be there with me.

Congratulations to all the nominees! See you in May.

 

I have a couple of cool new toys to share with you today.

First, I’ve posted a printable PDF of my entire book list to date. This handy resource is perfect to take with you to the book store, and also an easy way to be sure you’ve not missed any of my stories. It will be updated as new projects are released, but right now it does have some upcoming projects on it so you can keep up with preorders. I hope you find it useful.

Second, there’s now a cool free extra for fans of my Meridian Six series. Red Means Life: A Meridian Six Survival Guide features extras about the characters and world, along with tips to survive the vampire dystopia. If you’ve yet to read the series, this is a great way to preview the stories. But be warned: There are a few minimal spoilers, but they shouldn’t ruin your enjoyment of the stories. Remember, the second installment is due out in March. Children of Ash will follow M6 and her band of rebels as they attempt to rescue a group of children from a blood camp. I hope you enjoy the survival guide!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blurb:

In the 1970s, Sabina Kane was a rookie assassin looking for her first big kill. But when the day finally comes to prove her skills to the Dominae, she finds herself shadowing Slade Corbin, a more experienced assassin with a huge chip on his shoulder. Together, they must track down a blackmailer who’s threatening to expose the existence of vampires to the world. Will Sabina and Slade be able to find the blackmailer in time, and, more important, will they be able to get through the mission without killing each other?

Buy Fool’s Gold Now!

Kindle | Nook | iBooks | Kobo

“‘Code 439?’ she said. ‘That’s assault, correct?’

I gave a jerky nod to confirm that was, indeed, the crime assigned to Code 439, but I didn’t feel the need to confess my innocence. After all, if things had gone as planned the charge would have been murder instead.”

Check out my novella, MERIDIAN SIX–now available in audiobook!

Buy it now: Amazon | B&N | Apple | Kobo | Audible

 

Hot on the heels of Cursed Moon’s release earlier this week, the audiobook for Meridian Six is now available! Meridian Six is the first novella set in a brand new, near-future world where vampires have imprisoned the entire human race in blood and labor camps.More novellas are planned in this story about a group of rebels trying to overthrow their bloodthirsty overlords.

The audiobook was narrated by the very talented Nicky Phillips. She did a great job capturing Meridian Six’s voice and was a dream to work with on this project.

Meridian Six remembers the days before the Troika enslaved humans. She also remembers her mother, a freedom fighter murdered in the final battle between humans and vampires. But it is her mother’s final words that have haunted her: Red means life. In the years since her mother’s death, she has been used as both a propaganda tool and a blood slave by the Troika. She’s withstood their indignities because the alternative meant bleeding out in a blood camp. But their abuses finally go too far, and she decides to run toward freedom and her mother’s red light. On the other side of the light, she meets a band of human rebels who want to take their world back from the Troika. The vampires used her famous name to keep human slaves biddable, but now the rebels will use it inspire a revolution. For Meridian Six, freedom is a luxury paid for with blood.

Buy the Audiobook now!
Audible | Itunes | Amazon 
Also available in both print and ebook!
Amazon | B&N | Apple | Kobo

Today is the day! Cursed Moon is finally out on bookstore shelves (both physical and virtual).

In this installment, a rare Blue Moon is about to rise over Babylon, and Kate Prospero and her team at the MEA are trying their best to keep the chaos to a minimum. Someone is stealing potions from the covens, and the MEA must find the responsible party before the Blue Moon rises and all hell breaks loose.

All the old characters you love are there–Kate, Morales, Volos, Baba, Pen, the MEA team, etc. But there are some new characters, too, such as Aphrodite Johnson, who is the leader of the Mystical Coven of the Sacred Orgasm. There’s a villain who believes he’s the second coming of Dionysus, and a henchman who dressed like a leprechaun. Oh, and horny Satyrs. And … well, I don’t want to give too much away. Needless to say, it’s full of all the things that make a story a Jaye Wells story–action, quirky characters, gritty situations, plot twists, and lots and lots of juicy conflict. I hope you enjoy it!

Buy Cursed Moon now!

B&N | Apple |Indiebound | Kobo |Audible | Amazon 

Lately, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to this writing life. It’s hard to ignore the upheaval in the industry and the number of authors abandoning traditional publishing–or writing altogether–because they’re not happy. But you want to know a secret? When you hang out with independent authors, they do the same thing the rest of us do–they bitch about writing, they angst about their careers and their stress levels Granted, they also talk about how much money they’re making and how much freedom they have, but it’s not like they’re all finally like, “Hey, writing makes me happy.”

Here’s the thing: None of this is new. There’s a long and rich literary tradition of the tortured writer. There’s a reason we’re all thought to be drunks and crazies. Some might say it’s a chicken or the egg argument: Did writing make us crazy or does writing attract crazies?

There’s little in the act of writing that fosters a feeling of security. Sometimes you’ll have glorious days when the stars align and you spend a few delirious hours in The Zone or write a passage of prose that is brilliant and down-to-the-marrow true. But usually, it’s an unglamorous slog through page after page while constantly worrying that the story won’t come together, or your editor will hate it, or your readers will hate it, or, or, or …

Beyond the somewhat bipolar existence of creation, there’s the absolutely erratic and fickle nature of the publishing business. Writers have some control but not much. It’s not uncommon for a writer to work their ass off and write a great book only to have some experimental pricing scheme by their publisher, a major retailer, a tanking genre, or a bad release date torpedo that book’s chances of success. Then, once the book comes out, you’re barraged with reviews and comments and emails by people who don’t know you personally but have no problem saying incredibly personal and insulting things about your life’s work.

Please don’t misunderstand. The writing life has a lot going for it. The truth is that this life wouldn’t break my heart so often if I didn’t love it so much. I love writing. I love, as James Michener said, “the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.” I love books and reading. I love book people, including my colleagues, editors, agents, and booksellers. I love meeting readers and being invited into their lives just because I managed to entertain them by spinning a yarn. I feel very blessed and lucky that I’ve managed to have the career I’ve had so far.

This is where someone will say, “Boohoo! No one forced you to be a writer. You knew what you were getting into!”

Well, yes and no. I did chose this. But I did not know what I was getting into. No one does. This comic gets pretty close to showing what it’s like. But even though I chose the life, and regardless of whether I knew what I was getting into, I am in this life. Writing isn’t just my job. It’s my lifestyle. It’s as part of me as being a mother or a wife is. Walking away from it would be as painful as divorcing my husband or sending my kid to be raised by someone else. I complain about it because I want to have a happier relationship with it than the dysfunctional one it has become.

I was thinking about all of this the other night wen I watched Twenty Feet from Stardom, a documentary about backup singers. Merry Clayton, who sang backup on The Rolling Stone’s “Gimme Shelter”, as well as some of the other biggest songs of the era, commented on her lack of success as a solo artist:

“I felt like if I just gave my heart to what I was doing, I would automatically be a star.”  

When I heard those words and heard the catch in Clayton’s voice as she spoke, I had a corresponding dip in my gut. This, I think, is at the crux of so much suffering for creative types. We’re told that if we work hard and are talented we’ll be successful.

Alas.

I recognize that this may sound childish. After all, no one is guaranteed success regardless of industry. Luck plays an uncomfortably large role in everyone’s lives. But we like to look for patterns. When our friends hit lists and score movie deals we try to figure what they did that we did not do. We wonder how we can shift our plans to increase the possibility of luck blessing us with its golden rays. We keep gambling on luck. We keep hoping that the next book will be THE BOOK.

If there’s anything I’ve learned in my own career, it’s that the Next Big Book mentality is a recipe for heartache. As I’ve said in the past, the writing life is not the work of weeks or months, but the work of years and decades–it’s the work of a lifetime. How, then, do we craft this life so that our happiness is not tied to the success or failure of an individual project? How do we shape our habits so that we can be happy day-to-day, week-to-week in this work of a lifetime?

1. Redefine success. I’ve said a million times that if you judge success as a writer based on income 95% of writers are miserable failures. You get to define what success means to you. Remember to make it quantifiable and within your control otherwise you’re making wishes, not goals.

2. Create habits that foster contentment. This year I started doing yoga a minimum of three times a week and I meditate often. These mindfulness practices help me battle my natural tendency toward anxiety. They also remind me to stay connected to the people in my life who love me regardless of the kinds of reviews my books get.

3. Spend less time online. Social media has lots of great things going for it for writers. But it can also be a huge energy vampire for us. Several days a week for the last few months, I have logged into Twitter or Facebook in the morning to see links to news or commentary by one of my colleagues on the Amazon-Hachette feud. How much writing do you think I got done on those days? That’s just one example. We have all had days ruined by shit online. Trivial shit, important shit, shit that had nothing to do with us but still altered our mental weather system. Choose your time online wisely.

4. Foster other interests. Writing started as a hobby for me when I was a stay at home mom. Writing time was my reward at the end of the day or during my son’s nap time. It was an escape and a joy. But then it became my job and suddenly I didn’t have anything I got to do just for fun. Now I cook and I do yoga, but for years I had no interests outside of writing. It consumed everything–hell, writing conferences were my only vacations. Not only does this make you a workaholic, it also makes you pretty boring. Have something else you can do that doesn’t have pressure attached to it.

5. Play. A few years ago I did a class based on Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. You can buy the book and go through the steps on your own, but I enjoyed having the classroom set up. Regardless, the best part of Cameron’s techniques for rediscovering your creativity was the concept of artist dates. These are opportunities you create for yourself to go do fun and creative things. During the class, I took myself on some cool artist dates. The point of them is to remember to play and also to get out of your comfort zone a little. Also, remember that play is the fuel of creativity. Remember to have fun when you’re writing instead of verbally abusing yourself and driving your muse like a task master. Trust me, your writing will thrive much better if you enjoy it.

6. Get help. A friend sat me down yesterday and told me it’s time to get a virtual assistant. For the last several years I’ve been managing to write multiple books a year and overseeing every aspect of my marketing efforts, which results in a really inconsistent shotgun approach but also a lot of stress as I try to keep all the plates spinning. Identify the areas that cause you stress or keep you from writing and see if you can abandon them or farm them out to someone. This is especially true for anything that causes you undue stress or that is a trigger for insecurity or an inability to write (like reading reviews or social media, etc). If you’re short on money, maybe there’s a trade you can arrange with an organized family member or friend. The point is, none of us is a superhero. Sometimes we need help. Our first job is writing, and if all the other tasks of being published are keeping that from happening, find someone who can help you.

I guess the bottom line is that writing won’t make you happy. Money and best seller lists won’t make you happy. Happiness comes from within and doing the work of getting happy is important. A happy writer will weather the roller coaster of the writerly life with more calm that one that depends on money and fame for self worth.

I don’t claim to have all this figured out, and I’ll admit one of my reasons for posting this is to hear how other authors deal with these issues. If you’ve got some happiness habits, I’d love to hear them in comments!

 

 

In anticipation of CURSED MOON’s release on August 12 (next Tuesday) I’m hosting a big contest in my newsletter.

Prizes include a copy of Dirty Magic (either a signed print version or ebook, winner’s choice) plus a Tshirt. But not just any T-shirt: a Laser Vaginas World Tour 2014 commemorative T-shirt.

Who are the Laser Vaginas? Some people believe the Laser Vaginas are a feminist punk rock band whose goal is to rock mysogyny off the face of the planet. Others believe Laser Vaginas is a joke that took on a life of its own. They’ve appeared in fiction (Kevin Hearne’s SHATTERED), have galleries full of bar napkin art dedicated to them, and may or may not be working on their official web site. Either way, across the globe, people have taken up the cry of PEWPEWPEW.

The design is currently owned by only three people in the entire universe: Kevin Hearne, Nicole Peeler, and myself. This means if you are one of the two winners, you will be part of the extremely selective Laser Vaginas Herd.

As I mentioned, two subscribers to my newsletter will win one T-shirt plus a signed copy of DIRTY MAGIC. This contest is open worldwide (because the Laser Vaginas know no borders), and no purchase is required to enter. Simply subscribe to my newsletter (the form is on the sidebar to the right). I’ll announce the two winners on 8/12 (Tuesday) in the newsletter. Easy peasy!

 

Even with all the blog posts I’ve written about the Prospero’s War series, it occurred to me this weekend I never wrote anything about the stages of alchemy. See, the magic in the series is loosely based on alchemy (called “bathtub alchemy” in the books). Loosely basing it gave me a lot of leeway, but I still had to do a ton of research into alchemy in order to make the magic believable. Unlike other forms of magic, alchemy has a long, documented history and, as a psuedo-science, has some basis in scientific fact versus more arcane or mystical magic systems.

Because I knew next to nothing about alchemy, I started with The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Alchemy to become familiar with the basic concepts and nomenclature. I moved on to more esoteric texts after (see list below), but the most important book ended up being not about alchemy as a science, but alchemy as a metaphor.

See, the coolest thing about alchemy is it’s a multi-layered concept. On the surface it’s a pseudo-science used to turn lead into gold. But alchemists weren’t merely scientists, they were believers. Thus, alchemy has a rich symbolic language, i.e. the language of birds, and uses many archetypes and metaphors that use alchemical processes to explore the theme of human individuation. Enter: Anatomy of the Psyche by Edward Edinger.

Edinger was a psychiatrist who was a preeminent Jungian analyst who taught at the C. G. Jung Institute. In the book, he breaks down each of the major steps of alchemy through analysis of the prevailing archetypes and symbols associated with it and uses them to explore the symbolic meanings of myths and the dreams of his patients. Further, it used each stage to explore the idea of self individuation, which, if you’ve studied any Joseph Campbell (also a student of Jung) you know that myths are symbolic representations of the journey a human takes to evolve into their true self. It was reading this book that gave me the spark for one of the biggest ideas in the Prospero’s War series.

I decided to base each book in the series on a different alchemical process.

Doing this accomplished several goals at once. First, it provided me with a framework for each story because I’d have a preset list of symbols and themes to explore in each story. Second, it gave me a really nice progression of character growth for Kate. Third, it allowed me to do something I really enjoy, which is taking preexisting myths and symbols and twisting them in a new way.

A side note about alchemical processes: Depending on your source, there are anywhere from three to one hundred and nine (!) stages in alchemical transformation. In addition, depending on the source, the stages can occur in different orders. To simplify things, I chose a seven-stage formula because Edinger and several other alchemical sources identified them as the major stages.

Seven Stages of Alchemy (from Anatomy of the Psyche)

1. Calcinatio

2. Solutio

3. Caogulatio

4. Sublimatio

5. Mortificatio

6. Separatio

7. Conunctio

For a complete list of symbolic correspondences for each stage, click here.

While I used Edinger’s list of processes, I varied the order based on the progression I felt was best for the stories. Thus, Dirty Magic is based on Calcination and Cursed Moon (out Aug. 12) is based on Solutio, but Deadly Spells (out Feb. 2015) is based on Separatio.

Since CURSED MOON is the next book out, I thought I’d list the major theme words associated with the story. But first, here’s the book blurb:

When a rare Blue Moon upsets the magical balance in the city, Detective Kate Prospero and her Magic Enforcement colleagues pitch in to help Babylon PD keep the peace. Between potions going haywire and emotions running high, every cop in the city is on edge. But the moon’s impact is especially strong for Kate, who’s wrestling with guilt over her use of illegal magic.

As I mentioned, Cursed Moon is based on the alchemical stage of Solutio.

Here is a list of words associated with the Solutio (also called the Dissolution) stage:

Water, Blue, white, Id, subconscious, emotional blockages, nightmares, moon, excess, greed, Dionysus, tears, intoxication, stalking, personal power, sexuality, sea.

Contained in that list is the plot for this book, as well as the key’s to understand Kate Prospero’s personal story arc for the novel. You might not knowing it from the list alone, but I guarantee if you read the book and then come back to read this post, you’ll have a major AHA moment.

Working with this sort of symbolic riddle for each book is really fun, and, I think, results in a really layered and rich story. If you’d like to learn more about alchemy as I’ve discussed it here, check out the following books and web sites.

Books:

Anatomy of the Psyche by Edward Edinger
Ego and Archetype by Edward Edinger
Real Alchemy by Robert Allen Bartlett
Spagyrics: The Alchemical Preparation of Medicinal Essences, Tinctures, and Elixirs by Manfred M. Junius
The Herbal Alchemist’s Handbook by Karen Harrison
The Alchemist’s Handbook by Frater Albertus
The Path of Alchemy: Energetic Healing and the World of Natural Magic by Mark Stavish
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Alchemy by Dennis Hauck
The Alchemists’ Kitchen: Extraordinairy Potions and Curious Notions by Guy Ogilvy

Web sites:

On the Language of Birds 

AlchemyLab.com: Great resource for alchemical information, including the chart of correspondences for each stage listed in this post

Alchemical and Archaic Chemistry Terms: Huge glossary of nomenclature

The Chymistry of Isaac Newton: A University of Indiana at Bloomington project on the alchemical experiments of Sir Isaac Newton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As some of you might have heard, I’m releasing a new Sabina Kane novella in October. FOOL’S GOLD is a prequel novella to Red-Headed Stepchild. It’s set in the late-’70s in L.A. and follows Sabina’s first mission as an assassin. Today, Orbit sent me the cover for the novella, so I thought I’d share it with you.

FOOL’S GOLD is an expanded and updated version of the previously published short story “Vampsploitation,” which appeared in an anthology years ago. I added about 10k words, so it’s pretty much a new story. The preorder links are not yet live on this novella, but they should be up soon. Keep an eye here or through Twitter, Facebook, or my newsletter (form is on the right-hand side of this page) for updates!

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!

 

A few years ago, I published a short story called, “Violet Tendencies.” The action of the story takes place between THE MAGE IN BLACK and GREEN-EYED DEMON, and answers the question of what happened to Valva the demon. Well, today, Orbit surprised me by sending me a brand new cover for the story!

For reference, here is the original cover. It’s fine, but I never really loved it because it departed so much in style from the series covers. Several months ago I asked to have the cover redone, but never heard anything else–until today when they surprised me.

 

But check out the new cover!

Buy it at  B&N |Apple | Kobo*

Read an excerpt here.

Gorgeous, right?!? I am so psyched that all of the Sabina Kane short fiction thus far now have cohesive cover designs. I have to say I’ve been very lucky in the cover department. I hope these get you excited about getting some more Sabina Kane fiction!

*It may take a couple of days for the new cover to get uploaded into the retailer’s system. Also, I am not linking to Amazon because of the current feud with my publisher, but if that’s your preferred retailer for ebooks, it’s available there, as well.