With such a preface, how can you resist? Read my first post on "Here Be Magic," the Carina Press fantasy authors' blog: Ring the Bell, Close the Book, Quench the Candle. Sure, it's a little long, but you people are readers, aren't you? So act like it, and suck it up! And then be grateful it will be another six weeks until you have to read one of those from me again. ;)
C'mon, I even bought an image for it. It's classy.
I'm insufferably pleased with myself right now. After much hair-pulling, wailing, and human sacri—er, I mean, "positive thinking," I have finally figured out how to make my blog navigation work the way I want it to. There is now a handy-dandy home page separate from the blog. (The hyperlinks are also now in a matching and visible color, the italics finally work, and I have title images on the pages I want them on. Woohoo!) I even figured out how to back up my site and database so I could finally upgrade to the latest version of WordPress. (Yesterday. Today there was a new version. LOL.)
The only thing I'm not pleased with is the slide show. It's not that I don't know how to make it work; I do. It's that I have no images to share from my Flickr account right now that don't make the site look goofier than it already does. So I'm now displaying the default photos from the theme. (Yeah, those lovely flowers are not mine. Can't take credit.)
Ah, well. I'll take what I can get. (Otherwise known as the Belphagor philosophy.)
A fabulous group of fantasy, paranormal romance, and steampunk authors at Carina Press have recently joined together to create Here Be Magic. You'll find me in good company there, with some fantastic writers published or soon-to-be published by Carina Press and elsewhere. Look for my first post on New Year's Eve. I'll be blogging about endings and beginnings.
Most of my readers are aware of my ill-fated publishing journey earlier this year with my novella The Devil's Garden. TDG had been eagerly acquired and edits were under way, when Ume and Cree suddenly found themselves floundering in open water. (And Ume was seriously displeased at the damage to her finery.) I am happy to announce that The Devil's Garden has found a new star to sail by and has a tentative release date of June 27, 2011 with the awesome Carina Press!
In case you're wondering what's up with the maritime metaphors, I was quite taken with the meaning behind the name Carina. From the FAQ at Carina Press:
Carina is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the keel of a ship, and it was formerly part of the larger constellation of Argo Navis which represents the Argo, the ship from Greek mythology that carried heroes Jason and the Argonauts on their successful voyage to capture the Golden Fleece.
We’re suckers for a great story, and Greek mythology is full of fantastic stories — when we came upon Carina, the sailing imagery really appealed to us (we even included sails in our logo). We’re sailing in a new, exciting direction into uncharted waters.
And I am thrilled to be sailing with them. They're nautical, but nice. ;)
Jane Kindred is the author of the Harlequin Nocturne series Sisters in Sin and of epic fantasy series The House of Arkhangel’sk, Demons of Elysium, and Looking Glass Gods. She spent her formative years ruining her eyes reading romance novels in the Tucson sun and watching Star Trek marathons in the dark. She now writes to the sound of San Francisco foghorns while her cat slowly but surely edges her off the side of the bed.
