D. Renee Bagby / Zenobia Renquist Blog :: This is Renee's blog of randomness. Stay in the know about her books under either name (upcoming and backlist) and writing career. Also enjoy movie and manga reviews.
- What are the three MOST important pieces of advice you would give to a brand new author?
1. Develop a thick skin. There are many editors/publishers out there who like to dole out the insults just because they can—and they will. Let it roll off. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and send that manuscript somewhere else. (Later, when you're a famous writer, you can thumb your nose at them!)
2. Nothing comes without hard work. Think of how long it took George Herbert to get Dune published, or Barbara Taylor Bradford.
3. To thine own self be true; thou cannot then be false to any publisher. It doesn't hurt to accept suggestions and edits, if they help the story, but one does have to maintain one's own integrity and know when "to fold and when to hold 'em."
- What's your favorite way to advertise?
I do a lot of blogging and interviews. I have my own website, my space, facebook accounts, and my pseudonyms will soon, also, so the latest novels, trailers, etc., go on there. I also have a newsletter. Whenever I go to conventions, I print up post-size cards with book cover, brief blurb, and review excerpts, to put on the "free" table, as well as my business cards, and these I hand out everywhere. There's a comic store in Tustin, California, which puts a flyer about my novels in the sack with each purchase, and I'm looking for one here in Lincoln to do the same. I post trailers on YouTube. I tell as many people as possible. It's surprising how I manage to introduce, "Oh by the way, I have a new book coming out," into a conversation! (How many times have I used the word "I" in this paragraph?)
- What hard-knock lesson did the publishing world teach you (can be your own experience or someone else's that you learned from)?
One of the very first manuscripts I sent out was rejected by a well-known, New York publishing house, which was also just starting out at the time. The manuscript was sent back with a personal letter listing its faults and what to do about it. I, in my infinite ignorance, "filed" the letter, and set that manuscript aside. Had I But Known…! Later, I learned that editors don't send back personal letters unless they're interested! So, when Leucrota Press editor Danielle Kaheaku called me to explain why she was rejecting Blood Sin, I asked her to speak slowly because I was taking notes. I went to work as soon as the call was finished, resubmitted the story, and she accepted it.
For the Readers
- What are you reading, if anything, at the moment?
I just finished Night of Demons by Tony Richards. I had previous read his horror novel, Dark Rain, and wrote a review of it which was posted on amazon.com. Tony e-mailed me and asked me to do a pre-review of its sequel which I was delighted to do. It's a great story. In my review, I liken it to Law and Order meets the X-Files. I enjoyed the first book immensely and the second one is just as well-written.
Next, I'm starting on The Unscratchables. It's a hard-boiled, crime story but all the characters are cats and dogs! So far, it's hilarious and very entertaining. The author is very adept at transposing human attitudes onto animals and there are so many plays on words that I can't keep track of all of them.
- Do you prefer ebooks or print for your reading pleasure?
Personally, I like print books. I like to be able to look back at the cover while I read or flip through pages. I find it difficult to see the covers on a "reader" or to scroll backward and forward. That's just my own idiosyncrasy, however. Conversely, I take my Palm OS with me whenever I go anywhere I'm going to have to sit and wait a while—doctor's offices, etc. It's much easier to slip that into my purse than hanging onto a big, bulky book. I've heard that some schools are going toward e-books as their textbooks and I can see than would be cheaper and take up less room, and I admit that I can see how this would be convenient space-wise and financially. In a couple of my futuristic stories, the characters mention that a person owns "real" paper books, so I expect some day it may come to that—actual books becoming rare--but in the meantime, I'll continue to lean toward preferring the tangible item.
- Name three of your all-time-favorite, read-them-over-and-over books.
Wow, that's a difficult one. I've read so many books, some of them several times. I suppose I'd have to say Bram Stoker's Dracula, for starters. I have about five editions of that. I just ordered the sequel written by the author's grandnephew, also. Only three, huh? Hmm. Let's see. Vice Avenged, by Lolah Burford. This is a book I've had for probably thirty years. The original thing that drew me to it was that it was issued with two covers and I bought both because I couldn't decide which I liked best. It's a Regency romance about a young wastrel who dishonors a young woman on a bet, and the ramifications of that act on himself, her, his friends, and their families. It's an entertaining story where there are no real villains or heroes but everyone is a pleasant mixture of both. And the third book? It's a toss-up there. I'd have to say either one of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series about Chicago's only practicing wizard, or Charlaine Harris' tales of Sookie Stackhouse and the vampires of Bon Temps, Louisiana. I'm a faithful follower of True Blood, although I was tremendously disappointed by the way the Dresden series was handled on the Sci-fi Channel.
Idle Curiosity Compels Me to Ask
- What inspired you to be a writer?
That's a difficult question. As long as I can remember, I've been writing. I have a memory of being around five-year-old and writing the two words "cat" and "rat" on a piece of paper and showing it to my parents and feeling proud. I also remember wanting to write more words and feeling frustrated because I didn't know how. My mother loved the movies and we went to the theater several times a week. My father was a comic book fan and he used to buy me DC comics filled with the adventures of Superman, Batman, etc., so he aided and abetted my imagination. My parents had a friend who was an x-ray tech and she would give me the 18" x 2' sheets of paper which were placed between the films. I would draw my own comics on them. When I was seven, I received a toy typewriter, and later a small portable and I started writing in earnest. So—out of this long and rambling explanation—the answer is that my family and my own imagination were my inspiration.
Jumping forward several decades, I owe my being published to a fellow co-worker. Pam Woods. Everyone at the clinic where I worked was a reader. They always had a paperback handy during breaks. I would bring my manuscripts and they would pass them around. Once day, Pam asked me if I had ever submitted one anywhere. (She knew I hadn't.) She dared me to send one out, actually said, "I know you won't do it." How could I ignore such a dare? I did. It was rejected but the publisher was interested in another story (anyone who knows me knows this tale). I told them I had just what they were asking for. They requested it. I wrote it, sent it in, and it was accepted. A little belatedly—thank you, Pam!
- What do you do immediately after finishing a manuscript?
Lean back, breathe a sigh of relief, and say, "Okay. Finished. Now, what story do I do next?" (Renee note: sounds like me.)
- Do you talk to your characters or your muse or both?
If I ever start talking to either one, the boys in the white coats will probably be lurking outside the door! No, I don't talk to my characters, but I do sound out the advice of others about what I'm planning to have them say or do to get their reaction to whether it's feasible or realistic or not. Sometimes I even listen to their advice!
Promo Section
~ Most Recent Release ~
While my alter egos have been very busy recently, I've only had one novel released under my own name this year, although I do have the third book in the Adventures of Sinbad series –Sinbad's Pride—coming from Double Dragon Press in early 2010. I suppose I should let the pseudonyms take a vacation and do some work for myself for a change.
My most recent book is Blood Sin, which is the first in the series The kan Ingan Archives. I created my own galaxy for this set, so whatever happens there doesn't have to adhere to any of our rules. The kan Ingans are the ruling family of the Emeraunt Galaxy and have done so for nearly three millennia. Everything that happens to them is recorded in the Royal Archives, and supposedly, this series can be found there, if one cares to delve far enough.
In the distant past, the kan Ingans sent an exploration team to a newly-discovered planet in another galaxy. Most of the team was slaughtered by the inhabitants and the ruler of Arcanis—the Margrave—decreed that the planet would be under quarantine from then on. The name of that planet? Need you ask? Terra (or Earth, as we know it.) Two thousand years later, another margrave decides to try again. This time, they are greeted with peace, the margrave himself travels to Earth, and falls in love with a young woman he meets, Elizabeth Sheffield. He marries her, makes her his margravine, and the trouble starts. The Margrave already has an heir, his twenty-year-old nephew Aric, who was taken from his mother when he was twelve and raised to be the next ruler. Now, Aric has lost his place as Crown Prince and he isn't happy about that. Others in the kingdom are also displeased that an alien now shares the throne with their leader. They question the Terrans' odd customs and their warlike characteristics. They worry that the child Elizabeth gives birth to is part-alien, its loyalty to Arcanis questionable. (That's a theme I carry over into a good many of my books: the outsider, the "different" one because of age, sex, race, or species, who has to fight to be accepted.) Elizabeth and Aric hate each other and make no pretense of trying to keep it hidden, and then, the unexpected happens…through a set of circumstances they themselves don't understand, Aric and Elizabeth fall in love, and in doing so, they seal the fate of both the Empire and the kan Ingans who rule it.
Blood Sin was released as an e-book and in print by Leucrota Press in August, 2009. Another series, the Chronicles of Riven the Heretic, details the early years of the kan Ingans, though one doesn't necessarily have to read that series in order to enjoy the other one. The Chronicles is published by Double Dragon Press. Mention is also made of the kan Ingans in the Adventures of Sinbad, as well as Three Moon Station, tying all these novels together in the same universe and time frame.
~ Coming Soon ~
My next book is a departure from my other novels. It's called Serpent's Tooth, and is a contemporary horror story about "sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll…and demon worship." Part of it is set in Hollywood and part in the sandhills of western Nebraska. The first part is Faust-like in its story of an ambitious Midwestern college student who goes to California, is "discovered," makes it big as a heavy metal rock star, and gets involved with a devil cult. When he wants out, he has to disappear, leaving his career and life in the spotlight behind. So, he goes back to his roots in Nebraska, hiding out in the Sand Hills. Twenty-five years later, he meets a former fan and marries her…and the horror he thought he had eluded begins again.
I think the story has an interesting format because part of it is told in flashback—juxtaposing what is happening to the hero in the current world with some corresponding event that happened in his former life until both come together in the second half of the book. This novel also has a link to one of my other novels, by the way. The hero, Travis Brandt, is the great-grandson of Will Brandt, the protagonist of one of my Westerns, Walk the Shadow Trail. This fact is mentioned in the novel, when Travis tells his new wife that he's part Pawnee.
The Basics - Samantha Gail - Genre(s): Contemporary, Sci-fi, Fantasy, Paranormal and Time travel romantic fiction - Publisher(s): eXtasy Books
To Other Authors
- What are the three MOST important pieces of advice you would give to a brand new author?
1) Besides, never giving on the prospect of being published someday? I would say it is extremely important to learn the marketing industry. Take the time to research. Learn how to promote yourself and be realistic. It’s a fact that very few writers are able to support themselves with their writing alone.
2) Continued growth – Take writing classes, join critique groups, read and expand your abilities. My writing today is very different than it was even a couple of years ago. I am constantly evolving, incorporating new ideas and techniques into my writing.
3) A great editor can be your best asset…a divine gift. Find one, hire one, befriend one. They can help your creation become the masterpiece you envision. I know a few freelance editors. If you need a name, let me know.
- What's your favorite way to advertise?
Internet marketing on a wide variety of romance sites, author groups and search engines! I live on an island in rural Alaska and the internet has really been my lifeline. Conventions are informative and can be great fun. They help get your name out in the public eye. Just don’t expect an immediate return in sales. Everything takes time. I have a friend who took five years out of her writing career to do nothing but marketing – book signings, conventions and assorted guest appearances. That’s much more of a commitment than I’m willing to make, but she now has the fan following to support herself and is back to her first love of writing stories!
- What hard-knock lesson did the publishing world teach you (can be your own experience or someone else's that you learned from)?
The publishing world is myopic. A manuscript is judged by the internal standards of the individual reading it, so…DON’T GIVE UP! Write your story the way you want then revise it until you’re satisfied. My personal opinion is that the reading public is smarter than they are given credit for by the big NY publishing houses. Those same publishers have been hit hard in the pocketbook by escalating electronic book sales.
For the Readers
- What are you reading, if anything, at the moment?
I met Meg Gardiner at the 2009 RT Convention in Orlando. We sat next to each other at the book fair. She’s from Sacramento but lives in London with her husband and writes the most edge-of-your-seat suspenseful mysteries I’ve read in decades. The Dirty Secrets Club kept me up all night. The Memory Collector was equally fabulous. I’m making my way through her Evan Delaney series now.
- Do you prefer ebooks or print for your reading pleasure?
E-books. The ability to hold an entire library of books in my hand is simply exhilarating. I’m dedicated to my Kindle and don’t go anywhere without it. My only regret is that grandpa isn’t alive to see it!
- Name three of your all-time-favorite, read-them-over-and-over books.
WOW! Tough question :)
Okay, here goes: 1) The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 2) The Lover by Robin Schone 3) Odd Thomas (series) by Dean Koontz
Idle Curiosity Compels Me to Ask
- What inspired you to be a writer?
I got the "writing bug" during an English class in college. I had so much fun doing my homework assignments that I couldn’t stop once the class was finished. My little short stories eventually grew into full-blown novels and novellas.
- What do you do immediately after finishing a manuscript?
Take a deep breath, stretch my arms, call my husband, and tell him it’s time to pop the champagne cork.
- Do you talk to your characters or your muse or both?
My characters, mostly. I play their conversations over and over in my head. What would they do? Say? How would these characters respond to the myriad ways I can torture them by seriously "stuffing up" their lives? Tension powers a story. If it’s not there, the reader loses interest.
Promo Section
~ Most Recent Release ~
She Who Dares, Wins was released by eXtasy Books in June. It’s a spy thriller, action/adventure romance and the prequel to Guarding the Coast.
When the NSA picks up intelligence that the world’s premiere genetic researchers have been flocking to a small island in southeast Asia, they send their most productive field agent undercover to find answers.
It doesn’t take Isabelle Archer long to sniff out trouble.
The Sultan of the small, oil-rich country of Muldahar has been squandering his billions for decades. But oil reserves are dwindling and the desperate Sultan has a new plan to keep his coffers filled. For Isabelle, getting evidence of this experimental project gone horribly wrong will take a miracle – specifically, a miracle in the form of a burly blonde with the low, rumbling voice of purest sin.
A sexy bodyguard on temporary VIP protection detail with Australia’s Special Air Service, has been assigned to protect the Sultan’s ten-year-old nephew. Despite her better judgment, Isabelle’s attraction to Captain Quinton Herriman is irresistible. She can’t keep her hands off him. But to get his help when her mission turns deadly? She’ll have to trust more than just her body to his safekeeping.
~ Coming Soon ~
Amanda’s Glory is the last story in my erotic sci-fi FORESTAL series. I’m putting the final touches on it in time to be released this fall through eXtasy Books.
The Basics - N.D. Hansen-Hill (awa Melody Knight) - Genre(s): SciFi, Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, plus Romances in every sub-genre - Publisher(s): Red Rose Publishing, Carnal Passions, Five Star, Cerridwen Press, Linden Bay Romance, Double Dragon eBooks, Books In Motion, The Wild Rose Press
To Other Authors
- What are the three MOST important pieces of advice you would give to a brand new author?
Persevere
Do your research
Believe in yourself
- What's your favorite way to advertise?
Ads, though I also like to post excerpts
- What hard-knock lesson did the publishing world teach you (can be your own experience or someone else's that you learned from)?
If you cannot "see" your scenes on your inner viewing screen—if they’re not “real” to you—it means you don’t believe what you’re writing. Convince yourself, then you can convince your reader.
For the Readers
- What are you reading, if anything, at the moment?
Archaeology research papers
- Do you prefer ebooks or print for your reading pleasure?
I prefer print, but tend to read more ebooks for convenience.
- Name three of your all-time-favorite, read-them-over-and-over books.
The Sea Hunters by Clive Cussler
Masters of Deception by Al Seckel
Readers Digest Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers
Idle Curiosity Compels Me to Ask
- What inspired you to be a writer?
I checked 11 books out of the library and couldn’t “get into” any of them, so I decided to write what I wanted to read.
- What do you do immediately after finishing a manuscript?
I’m usually working on up to 5 at a time, so I put that one aside for a month and work on several others.
- Do you talk to your characters or your muse or both?
My characters do the talking, but I tend to be right there in the action with them! Many times, I’ll end up laughing or tense from encountering a ghost, climbing a cliff, etc. There are moments in my horror writing when I even scare myself!
Promo Section
~ Most Recent Release ~
Relic 978-1-55404-694-2
Zack Logan’s origins are far from "local". His family ties extend back five thousand years, to a time when Egyptians revered their Pharaohs as gods.
And his ties to god-status are much closer than anyone would suspect.
His life is disrupted by a few hours of unconstrained freedom, which unleash a craving for action he never anticipated. However much he may want to act on this inspiration, he is not a free agent. Whether he likes it or not, his destiny, and his life, are subject to scrutiny. There are designs upon his existence, which are about to come into conflict with Zack’s ideas...
When Penelope Mallory murders Rollyn Rys' painting, he has no choice but to track her down. After all, Rollie is a spy, frequently out of town while saving the world. He can't have people like Pen running around, devaluing art, particularly when his family maintains several of the most prestigious galleries in town. Things go terribly wrong, and instead of warning her away, Rollie somehow ends up instilling her in the Rys Gallery, where she can be nothing but trouble. He vanishes to parts unknown after giving her the best job of her life, but without arranging for her paycheck. Pen is near destitute when she decides she must take steps.
Challenges arise when one of the Gallery's newest acquisitions takes on an evil cast, and Pen realizes it needs only her touch to set it loose to wreak havoc. Demon or not, havoc abounds as Rollie determines that whatever Pen's effect on pieces of art, her touch is something he can't live without.
I'm happy with this review too. But, happy comes with a little worry since SR has requested to review Adrienne. I'm happy they want to read more of my work but history has shown that people who read Adrienne after Serenity tend towards the lukewarm end of the spectrum. They like it, but not as much. We'll see what the reviewers at SR think once it gets posted.
You'll remember back in March 2008, I mentioned there was no gray area for my book A Valentine's Gift for Tori. It's a love it or hate it kind of thing. Well, the light side of the force (that would be the people who hate it) got another vote. :P
Seriously Reviewed did a really fast turn around on two of my books (huge thanks for that) and here's what they thought of VDay Gift:
Okay, so I picked a good line. :P But it seems my warped sense of humor is yet again my own. While some might think a review like that would get me down, it didn't. I'm just happy to have another review and my book showcased on another site. :D
The Basics - Leanna Renee Hieber - Genre(s): Historical Fantasy / Paranormal / Fantasy - Publisher(s): Leisure Books / Dorchester, Crescent Moon Press
To Other Authors
- What are the three MOST important pieces of advice you would give to a brand new author?
Persist in submitting your work, be willing to work respectfully and graciously with your editor and keep writing no matter what.
- What's your favorite way to advertise?
Talking to people in person
- What hard-knock lesson did the publishing world teach you (can be your own experience or someone else's that you learned from)?
After about a 9 year journey to get the ‘book of my heart’ to publication, I learned that you just have to keep believing in your work as the rejection pile starts growing and you think you’re out of options. Especially for me, with a cross-genre book that is, in truth, a Historical-Fantasy-Paranormal-Romance with YA and Horror elements. I knew the story I had written, I had to stay true to it but be flexible with it. My editor asked for a revise and resubmit. If you’re asked for this, do it. You’ll learn something. An editor and you might not have the exact same vision, but you and your work need to be adaptable for an editor to work well with you. Thankfully my characters, like talented actors, are really good at taking direction, and I, as an actor myself, am pretty good at taking direction from an editor. That’s a familiar dynamic to me. I think getting your book published is a mixture of flexibility and tenacity, having a really good book and some luck along the way.
For the Readers
- What are you reading, if anything, at the moment?
Non-fiction research books about Victorian era Cairo and about World War I, research for upcoming Strangely Beautiful books, four in all.
- Do you prefer ebooks or print for your reading pleasure?
Print
- Name three of your all-time-favorite, read-them-over-and-over books.
The Harry Potter series, Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet (because I’m always inspired by something different every time I read his words) and then it would be a tie between Sense and Sensibility and Lord of the Rings – That might give you a clue as to why I write Historical Fantasy. :)
Idle Curiosity Compels Me to Ask
- What inspired you to be a writer?
One of my most vivid childhood memories was telling a ghost story to a group of enrapt friends. I was always a storyteller, so theatre and writing were natural pursuits for me. As soon as I figured out how to complete a sentence with a pencil, I started writing stories so I really can’t remember not writing. I was first compelled to write stories when I was struck by characters in other literary works who were alone and needed friends. So I would write them friends, like the Phantom of the Opera or Edward Scissorhands. Writing was my favourite, consistent pastime and this gave me the discipline needed to write regularly and as my confidence grew, rather than just expanding other writers’ worlds for my own enjoyment, I began creating my own worlds.
- What do you do immediately after finishing a manuscript?
I have a good cry. Then I’ll treat myself to something, a celebratory dinner or trip out on the town with my boyfriend or my best friend, nothing terribly fancy but something fun.
- Do you talk to your characters or your muse or both?
My characters talk to me. Loudly.
Promo Section
~ Most Recent Release ~
The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker Leisure Books (Dorchester Publishing) Historical Fantasy ISBN 13: 0-978-08439-6296-3
Blurb: What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Considering how few of Queen Victoria’s Londoners knew of it, the great Romanesque fortress was dreadfully imposing, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met the powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadow, the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She knew simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow-white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gifts. But this arched stone doorway offered a portal to a new life, an education far from the convent—and an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death….
"Tender. Poignant. Exquisitely written. A gem of a book." - New York Times Bestselling Author C.L. Wilson
"A strangely beautiful tale indeed! An ethereal, lyrical story that combines myth, spiritualism and the gothic in lush prose and sweeping passion.” – USA Today Bestselling Author Kathryn Smith
“A compelling, engaging novel that drew me in from page one. Bravo!” M.J. Rose, bestselling author of The Reincarnationist and The Memorist.
~ Coming Soon ~
- The sequel in the Strangely Beautiful series: The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker From Leisure Books / Dorchester Publishing on Feb. 24th 2010! Details forthcoming on my website.
(Just in case the FTC comes for a visit) All reviews posted to this blog are for entertainment purposes only, express my own opinions, and done simply because I want to. I am affiliated with 7Tavern Reviews and my movie reviews do appear there, however all books and movies (and whatever else) are acquired using my own means.
I do NOT take review requests/suggestions, nor do I receive or are given movies/books/manga et al for review.
Amazon Disclaimer
D. Renee Bagby / Zenobia Renquist is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Recent Releases
It's only an even swap when both parties are satisfied.
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Alex is firmly on the naughty list, and she wants Santa to join her.
own name this year, although I do have the third book in the Adventures of Sinbad series –Sinbad's Pride—coming from Double Dragon Press in early 2010. I suppose I should let the pseudonyms take a vacation and do some work for myself for a change.
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