C. Gockel's Blog, page 143

saathi1013:

cypheroftyr:

rhiannon42:

laughingsquid:

Friendly Platypus Plays Around & Gets Belly Rubs

#nO #NOT ALLOWED #IT’S LIKE A WATER PUPPY #I WANT SEVEN

I need one stat

Reminder that these things can be poisonous.  Which means they are adorable as fuck and also dangerous.

Of course, this only makes me want one *more.*

Magical…adorable…and DANGEROUS.

Enter to win one of 1 free copy available. Giveaway dates from Dec 12-Dec 19, 2013. AUTOGRAPHED PAPERBACK COPY of I Bring the Fire Part I: Wolves A sto…

Hey guys — you can still enter to win until Thursday!

(Please reblog)

vaneluzimoura:

By Anne Hill:

Authors have come a long way in the past few years. We understand that we have to be marketers as well as writers. We know that the best book marketing involves two-way communication with readers and not just sales pitches. Some of us even enjoy it.

But while blogs and social media have made those conversations easier to have, selling books through Amazon and other online retailers prevents us from connecting with readers at the critical moment of sale. Amazon knows more about who buys our books than we do, by design.

We get sales figures, but we don’t know anything about who bought our books. And the more we know about where our books are being sold and to whom, the better all our marketing can be.

The solution is to sell books directly from author websites—and I don’t mean linking to your book listing on Amazon. Through direct sales, we learn where our readers are geographically, what brought them to the site, and most importantly […]

I’ll probably be setting up a dedicated website pretty soon, one with the first book in my series being offered free…this is useful.

facina-oris:

MYTHOLOGY MEME - [6/7] NORSE GODS/GODDESSES: LOKI

"Hail to you, Shapeshifter, skilled thief and magician,

Always surprising with your sly, bold ways;

Bringer of unforeseen gifts, bringer of changes,

Bringer of endings and new beginnings.”

Can’t imagine Loki’s hair ever being that neat…but maybe the freckles.

Official website for Robert Bidinotto, author of HUNTER: A THRILLER.

Hmmm…so how to design a marketing strategy for mythology meets magic, meets quantum physics and science, meets history…with a splash of romance and a quiet inditement of the fascism of the fantasy genre on the side (what’s with all the kings and queens?)

I wonder if I can build up a marketing strategy on being eclectic?

vaneluzimoura:

By Joanna Penn:

Two years ago, I gave up a secure career as an IT business consultant for large corporates, earning a six-figure income, to become a full-time author-entrepreneur.

Yes, I understand that writing is not just about the money, and yes, I do value creativity for its own sake. But this is also my life and pays the bills these days.

I also don’t buy into the […]

“I’m not one of those authors who have had lightning success, there has been no crazy sales spike, no film deal or runaway Amazon Daily Deal. I hope this encourages you, because basically I am just putting in the time, learning the craft and trying to produce good books that people want to read. I work every day at writing as well as connecting with readers, peers and other entrepreneurs. This is a long-term game, a career for the rest of my life, so there’s no hurry …”

Well this was awesome and inspirational.

Hey everyone! I’m doing a giveaway of an AUTOGRAPHED COPY of I Bring the Fire over on Goodreads. (Yes, it’s real, there it is, in my hands!)

A Story of Loki in the Modern World.
I Bring the Fire has over 100 reviews on Amazon, of which more than 60 are 5 stars. The paperback version, sans-autograph, is available for sale on Amazon.

The ebook will continue to be free until December 31st. Download it at Amazon, B&N, Apple, and Smashwords.

…and please…REBLOG!

amjosa:

Pants ‘09 by tkpants

This is seriously a perfect modern-day myth!Loki.

cgockel:

scyllaya:

thorsswagga:

litzebitz:

Laufey - Queen of the Frost Giants

Crossover between the Marvel version (armor and stuff) and norse mythology were Laufey is actually a giantess

OH

The thing is. They probably only changed Laufey’s sex (and gender?), cause the Thor story started back in the 60s or something. In the myths it was pretty damn interesting that Loki was almost the only one who was referred to by his matronym “Laufeyson”, instead of a partonym like all other main gods (e.g. Thor Odinson).

It had to be important to point out that he was his mother’s son, or they would have called him Farbautisson. So Laufey was the more important parent in Loki’s story. So of course they had to turn her into a man, they couldn’t have the mother be more important than the father. 

It’s just… look at this picture above. You can’t tell me that having a cold and merciless Frost Giant Queen as Odin’s big enemy wouldn’t have been more interesting. 

Also, it’s so weird that a male character is called “Laufey” when it’s a feminine name still used by many women even today.

Maybe some next reboot (parallel universe) in the comics will show a world where Laufey is really Laufey instead of Farbauti with his wife’s name.

Actually, Laufey means “leafy isle” or “full of leaves” — kind of a peaceful sounding name. Sometimes Loki’s mother is also referred to as Nal, which means “needle”. Loki’s father’s name is Farbauti, which means “cruel striker”.

Finally, according to Wikipedia: “ In chapter 22, Fárbauti is referenced in the Haustlöng of 10th century skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir, where Loki is referred to as “Fárbauti’s son”.[4]

So at least traditionally, Loki was Fárbauti’s son, not necessarily Laufeyson. (the Norse Gods covered a lot of territory, how they were referenced varied from place to place).

I heard that Marvel just used the name Laufey because they liked it better than Farbauti.

You will notice that there weren’t any female frost giants in Marvel’s version of Jotunheim. In stories where authors are trying to paint “great evil”, typically there are no women on the “evil” side. Think the Empire in Star Wars—all the women were in the rebellion. Maybe because men like to imagine that the good guys are always fighting to protect "their women and children”—and bad guys can’t be motivated by such altruism. (This isn’t saying such representations are beneficial to anyone, just an observation).