Skyla Dawn Cameron

My characters kill people so I don't have to.

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“When’s That Book Coming?” Winter 2014 Update

So I can’t link to the old state-of-the-union posts because, as you can see, I have a new site/blog now and the old posts are gone. Last one was October and I was on a bit of a writing hiatus and had just lost/left/mostly-lost-but-semi-left my day job.

tumblr_mf1iyk7YaD1qi5njrFor the job thing? I am sublimely happy.

I mean, I spend a fair amount of time wondering how I’m going to pay my rent. It’s not just the unsteady income but the difficultly when relying on royalties that come from several different sellers who are all on their own payment schedule–it would drive me to drink if, y’know, I had the money to spend on alcohol.

And yet there is so much less stress. I can actually make a living wage now on things like editing and I dictate my own terms (no more being required to do content and copyediting AND proofreading for what amounts to pennies an hour), I get down payments up front and full payments immediately after work is complete, and thus far have worked with utterly fantastic clients. Plus no one screams at me constantly for other people’s fuck-ups. WIN.

But that’s not why you’re here; you come for book stuff! Since the last post…

 

Relaunch

Bloodlines-AReThere was the week-long blog tour and relaunch of the Demons of Oblivion series late October, as I had my rights back and wanted to give the books a push. Thank you so, so much first and foremost to Melissa of My World…in words and pages for organizing the tour and taking care of everything for me. And thank you to everyone who allowed a guest post, interview, or reviewed the books.

The result was around a bunch of new people getting Bloodlines while it was free, and a handful sticking around and picking up the other books over November and December. If you’re a new reader who came from that–hello! Nice to meet you. Thank you for reading, and if you also posted a review and told your friends, I really appreciate it. You are sexy and awesome.

This has also increased illegal downloader traffic by tenfold. Folks, the series will not continue without reader support. The books are extremely affordable and made available everywhere. I am not a popular enough author to justify publishing books that are stolen more than they are bought, especially not now that this is how I make my living. Rent comes first. If you stumble across this blog post while looking for torrents, please stop. /rant

 

New Releases

All the Demons of Oblivion novels and stories have been re-released in ebook. I’m not sure about print yet–the print rights for Bloodlines still lie elsewhere, and if I’m going to do print, I’d like to release all of the books together. Incidentally, Bloodlines is also now in audiobook if that’s your thing.

HungryLiketheWendigo-AREI also released a short story, Hungry Like the Wendigo, under the Tales from Alchemy Red banner. It’s a Ryann David short (well, a LONG short story at 9K words), includes Ellie and Nic, and takes place between Hunter and Lineage.

While it wasn’t exactly a “release”, I wrote a novella set way in the Demons of Oblivion ‘verse future called Dial V for Vampire and offered it as a Christmas gift to members of the Facebook fangroup. It’s Zara narrated, set after Solace (the theoretical sixth book).

I’m also serializing Soulless, which you’ll recall was a PWYC/fundraiser thank you gift for Sophie in 2012 when she was sick. Two chapters a week, and there’s a tip jar there–when donations reach $50, I post an additional chapter that Friday. Eight chapters are already live.

 

What I’m Working On

Uh…

ku-medium (20)

I tried to take January to just write something for me and failed at that because I hate everything I write right now. So I’m back to working on for-pay writing projects, which you (probably) don’t read, because I am officially a full time writer/freelance designer now and I need to be able to pay for heat during this -30C winter. Like a grownup. Which is my least favourite thing to be.

There are several projects on my radar, however.

  • Odin’s Spear (Livi #2) – the zero draft is such a damn mess that I decided to call it done despite the five or so missing chapters, and I’m now working on a decent first draft.
  • Amends – this is the old Zara serial. I’m not relaunching it until I have a draft done but it’s my intention to do that this year, hopefully after Soulless concludes.
  • Retrograde (Baptiste’s War #1) – formerly known as Nairobi Spy Book. Nothing I can say right now except that, though it’s been fighting me, I expect the zero draft to hit me like a freight train when it’s done simmering in my brain soon.
  • River (River Wolfe #1) – planning to work on the rewrites for this in the spring and eyeing a summer release if all goes well. This’ll require a Kickstarter/Indiegogo sort of thing, probably.
  • Oblivion – I’ll endeavor to get a zero draft done by the summer, with an eye on a possible fall release.

All of this is subject to change.

I hate being vague and not having firm dates for the books you’re waiting for, but to take the time to write projects with no guarantee of return on investment, I have to get a chunk of money saved up for rent and stuff first which requires focusing on paying work right now. I’d rather tell you that upfront than have to pick random release dates and then excuse away when they’re missed. With the lack of art patrons and sugar daddies nowadays, we do what we can.

I’ve also noticed a renewed interest in people hitting the old Children of the Apocalypse serial site. Book Three is still on hiatus; I pulled it out, I think, last year(?) with the idea to finish it at last and maybe start the fourth book, but there is so, so much I wanted to change with the whole thing, I realized that for me to revisit this series, I’m going to have to give it a total rehaul. Each book and short story, rewritten from scratch. And…you guessed it, that is just not in the cards right now for a freebie. I have hesitated even leaving the books up as-is because I dislike something out there that I don’t feel is my best work, but people still read it now and then and if they get some enjoyment out of it, I’d rather not take that from them, especially since I don’t know when I’ll have a chance to re-release it.

 

 Other New Stuff

There is a new…sort of addition to the home.

This is Vincent.

Vincent

He was outside my apartment building in December, crying every time he saw me (he is NOT an outdoor/stray cat), and I live on a busy intersection in town where he was at risk of being hit by a car, if he didn’t starve or freeze to death first (as the temperature was dropping really fast).

Extremely generous friends kicked in $ around Christmas to help feed him (and boy, does he eat) and send him to the vet (he’s about five years old and healthy), so things are well right now. He was already neutered, not mircrochipped, and despite looking for his possible owners I’ve had no luck finding anyone. He’s now BFFs with Rodney Ballsnomore and he worships me, so we’re figuring things out as we go since there are no open foster homes here for him. At this point if his humans show up, I am probably going to bitchslap them for doing such a piss-poor job of looking for him.

Also, he’s ginger. We all know how I feel about ginger cats, considering 1/3 of my felines are of the redheaded persuasion.

So. Y’know. Tell your friends to buy my books so I can feed my cats? (Failed Marketing Slogan #147)

loki

If you missed it previously, I have a newsletter signup page here. You can either have a quarterly newsletter delivered to your inbox or be notified when there are new releases only. Or both. I’m not opposed to both.

Next update coming in April!

By 1 Comment

This. This This THIS.

Usually I just RT or share a link to something, but this is such an issue for me, I felt it needed more than 140 characters can express. As someone who has heard about every. damn. heroine. she’s ever written that the character is “unlikable”, I urge readers and writers to read this article in its entirety and give it some thought.

Writers are often told a character isn’t likable as literary criticism, as if a character’s likability is directly proportional to the quality of a novel’s writing. This is particularly true for women in fiction.

At the risk of making myself unlikable (heh): I don’t care that you don’t like my heroine. Her likability is the furthest thing from my mind when I write.

There are of course considerations to be had. Ideally, sure, I’d like you to find the character livable–I’d like you to be okay with spending a couple of hours with her; I’d like you to understand why she is the way she is; I’d like you to find small moments when you can identify with her.

I don’t care whether or not you like her. Likability is subjective. I cannot please everyone, nor would I try to.

This is what is so rarely said about unlikable women in fiction — that they aren’t pretending, that they won’t or can’t pretend to be someone they are not. They have neither the energy for it, nor the desire.

The storyteller’s job–or at least MY job–is not to write someone you’d like to have over for dinner. I couldn’t even if I wanted to; I’m an urban fantasy writer, and interesting fiction hinges on character conflict. My job is to tell the character’s story as well and accurately as I am able to. This means they will do things you don’t like; this means they will do things I don’t like. But that’s okay. I’ve ranted on this subject before, but with women in particular there is enormous pressure to be “likable”, to be accommodating, and this is thrust upon fictional women as well. I do not play that game. I’m not trying to make anyone likable, nor am I trying to make them unlikable. I write them as who they are. I write them to be real. Period. Full stop.

Zara has, with no exaggeration, been called one of the least likable heroines in urban fantasy. Like, the whole genre.

So you don’t like one of these ladies I’ve written? You hate her? 

My response will always be: GOOD. Because that lady is a fictional person. She doesn’t exist. She doesn’t breathe or eat or talk or do anything outside of my brain. If you don’t like someone who doesn’t even exist, I have made her real to you and done my job.

Perhaps, then, unlikable characters, the ones who are the most human, are also the ones who are the most alive.

So I’m going to keep writing my “unlikable” heroines who say and do bad things, and make mistakes, and sometimes kill people, and swear a lot, because their stories are interesting to me and I don’t much care if it impairs their likability.

Or mine.

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Soulless Begins

Soulless_medWell, here we go!

Two chapters a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting today. There are forty-something chapters total (85K words).

It’s…an odd sort of book–Ani is a very non-traditional UF heroine. She’s a very internal character rather than snarky and full of banter; she doesn’t kick ass or swing a sword around (at least not well); she does not look hot in leather pants. She says the wrong thing, is completely socially inept, and hides from fate rather than chase it.

Also, she can eat the souls of monsters.

You can subscribe to chapters by email, if you want them delivered directly to your inbox. Coarse language, violence, some sex–you know, the usual. If you enjoy, please consider dropping some pennies in the tip jar on the site. I promise I won’t use it to buy cocaine.

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I Am So Sick of This Book

Bloodlines-AReMy KDP Select agreement has finally run its course (this is how I was able to do the free giveaway during the tour), so now Bloodlines is no longer Kindle-exclusive but available elsewhere in other formats.

Right now it’s on Smashwords and ARe in various ebook formats. Nook, Kobo, iBooks, and others will be forthcoming.

I never, ever want to see this book again.

I first wrote it nearly ten years ago, when I was twenty-one. I rewrote it. It was published in 2008. Then I got to rewrite it again in 2011 (left the bones but added scenes and changed other things, adding about 25K words). Then it has been read and tweaked and read and tweaked and proofed and fiddled with over and over–I did another cleanup of a handful of remaining typos before making the ebooks for the other stores, and I am just fucking done with it.

I’m glad you like it. I do. But I never want to hear about this goddamn book again. If I have to read it one more time, I am going to kill Nate.

And Ellie. I don’t care if he’s not in the book–I’m killing him anyway.

Ahem.

January 1, I’m likely going to post a series starter bundle for sale with the first three books and Whiskey Sour for $9.99. I have no idea if it’ll sell but it’ll be a deal for those interested, and it only cost me a bit of extra time to put it together.

There’s also an extended excerpt of Bloodlines on Scribd–ten chapters–embedded in the book’s site page here, if you’d like to try-before-you-buy.

Bloodlines has currently been pirated more than it’s been bought, however so many legal readers got freebies when it was available on Kindle for a week that I am not letting it keep me up at night. Much. But suffice to say I Am Very Cross and This Does Not Bode Well for the Future. Piracy killed River and it will not surprise me if this is the next casualty.

For now, you have a few days left to check out a glimpse of where things are headed with Dial V for Vampire. I have no idea if those who read it are terribly confused or what, but it’s there if you like.

Finally, Soulless starts on Tuesday.

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Dial V for Vampire for Christmas

shutterstock_62967208I wrote a Zara novella this fall, one not for release but mostly for me as it’s set waaayyy in the Demons of Oblivion future. After Oblivion, after Solace. It was a pressure-free way for me to write something fun. And I dig it.

A few people wanted to read it but, for obvious reasons, I’m not selling it right now. Instead, I’ve decided to add the PDF to the files at Alchemy Red (FB fangroup–you have to apply to join, but I’ll happily approve you) as a Christmas Horusmas gift. Hop on over to join and read, if you like. I only ask that you not share/distribute the story anywhere or I will be sad and probably never do this again. Don’t ruin it for the other kids.

It’s also only staying up until January 1st, so get it while you can.

Does it have spoilers? Yes and no. It references events that haven’t happened yet. It contains a handful of characters who are familiar; it is also missing a few. This does not mean anything; I intentionally only mentioned those 100% necessary. There are familiar characters still alive who simply weren’t needed, so I don’t reference them at all. Don’t read too much into who is there and who isn’t.

It’s about 25K, so a substantial chunk of text. Here’s a very brief excerpt, because it makes me giggle.

DialVforVampire-smWe stepped into the elevator and I hit the button to take us up. It shuddered and rumbled, always sounding less safe than it actually was—my building used to be a factory that was later converted into large apartments and the industrial elevator was an original feature.

“Okay,” I leaned against the metal grating side and fished the page from the motel book from my pocket, “I stole this from the manager.”

“Instead of bribing him?”

Shit. Nate was looking at me pointedly, too—I felt the weight of his eyes heavy on me. “Well, he wasn’t cooperating. So I punched him.”

He waited.

“Whatever, I’ll give the money back when we get upstairs. Anyway…” I smoothed the paper and glanced over it. “Not that I have spent extensive amounts of time studying it, but I’m not sure this is your signature.”

His fingers brushed mine when I handed him the paper; I pulled my hand back and stuffed it in my pocket.

Nate studied the sheet, his eyes scanning the page and not looking at me. “You don’t have to be so skittish.”

“I’m not—”

“Especially with your history of throwing yourself on me in my hot tub.”

“Excuse me, but that was to save you from the assassin coming to murder you.”

His head was still tipped over the paper but he lifted his eyes to meet mine. “You were naked.”

“Topless.”

He stared at me.

“I can’t believe you haven’t let that go yet.”

I, of course, I have a soundtrack, which is a couple of songs from Solace‘s playlist.

They’re very girly. Don’t judge.

 

And because it’s Zara’s theme for every book:

 

Well, that’s it for me for a few days–I do want to put up a few posts about my fave books/movies/games of 2013, but that might wait until the New Year. I’m bloody tired.

Best wishes for the holiday to your and yours. Remember, Soulless starts on January 2!

MEET SKYLA DAWN

Writer of urban fantasy, thrillers/mysteries, and horror. Fifth-generation crazy cat lady. Bitchy feminist. So tired all the goddamn time.

My characters kill people so I don’t have to.

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