The History of Speculative Fiction

I’m excited to share that I have a new article appearing on Campfire Learn: “The History of Speculative Fiction and How to Write It“.

Image (C) Campfire Technology, LLC, 2023

From the article’s introduction:

A multiverse of possibilities may spring to mind when considering the term speculative fiction, from dragons soaring over verdant meadows to massive starships exploring the cosmos.

By contemporary reckoning, it comprises many genres and has a lineage that far predates its name.

To better understand speculative fiction, let’s go on a journey through its rich history and discover what its exciting future may hold.

Be sure to check out the full article here, and discover more amazing writing and worldbuilding advice on Campfire Learn!

Warriors Of Understone is back!

After a long hiatus of waiting to be revised, then being revised, the second edition of Warriors of Understone is finally here! Embark on a heroic fantasy that tackles surprisingly deep themes, including class struggle, social mobility, bullying, discrimination, and women’s empowerment. Become immersed in a dwarven kingdom that’s lovingly crafted to bring these fantasy side characters to the center stage and give them a vibrant culture and rich history. Along the way, root for a budding will-they-or-won’t-they romance.

What readers on Goodreads said about Warriors of Understone

“I was immediately immersed into the detailed society and caught up within the caste structure and setting completely. Each character spoke with their own unique voice and pursued a grounded agenda. Their interactions wove seamlessly into a rich tapestry of visceral reality.”

“This book takes you deep into a setting rife with tradition and the stuffy winds of change. The culture is done well and the flavor it is written in is fresh. If you like fantasy at all you will love this book!”

“This book was amazing, and I would recommend it to anyone.”

B.K. Bass proudly presents: Warriors of Understone

The kingdom of Understone is enslaved to tradition and stagnates in isolation.

When an incident in the quarries drags Durgan away from the only life he knows, he becomes entangled in webs of political intrigue, domestic turmoil, and romance.

He must struggle to overcome his common birth and the prejudices of a stagnant society to become one of the warriors of Understone — a sprawling dwarven city deep beneath the mountains, at the heart of a kingdom that has not changed its ways in centuries.

Durgan may overcome opponents with axe and shield, but can he change the values of his people with the same tools?

Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Heroic Fantasy
Tags: Dwarves, Urban, Subterranean, Social Justice, Political Intrigue
Length: Novella (Approx 125 pages)

Find it now on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited!

(Paperback coming soon.)

We are all challenged To Trust and to Touch

As we go through this journey called life, we all have wildly different experiences, but there are common threads—things that we can all relate to no matter what our journey has been like. The most prevalent of these unifying factors of the human experience is, unsurprisingly, interacting with other humans. As social animals, our relationships often define our entire existence, and the foundation upon which we build all relationships—be they personal, professional, or societal—is trust.

In Vivi Anne Hunt’s latest novel, To Trust and to Touch, the author gets to the heart of this matter using two characters who are fantastic foils for each other. One is trusting, perhaps to a fault, while the other is unwilling to trust at all.

Disclaimer: As the editor of To Trust and to Touch, I am unable to give an unbiased review on the book. However, I still wanted to share my thoughts on this wonderful story.

Once again, Vivi Anne Hunt managed to draw me into the kind of story I wouldn’t normally read if it weren’t for work. I’m not the type to pick up a romance novel off the shelf. Despite this, I was drawn into and engaged with the story of Cyrill and Alex. It was clear why this was: I could relate to the challenges the characters were facing. Again, something we can all relate to is having to trust others, and this book is all about trust.

I mentioned the characters act as foils for one another, so let’s dig into that further. The first I’d like to discuss (but not the first we see in the book) is Cyrill. On the surface, he’s a typical divorced, middle-aged single father. A couple of things shake up this formula. On one hand, he’s bisexual, though he’s not hiding this from anybody. Also, he’s part owner of an adult club, though a hands-off partner. Once we dig further into the story, we find that Cyrill is a very trusting person and even runs a charity to give abandoned LGBTQ+ youngsters a chance to get back on their feet. He’s quick to invite people into his life, even trusting others outside the family to help care for his young daughter, and is open about his past. In some ways, he might be too trusting, which is why he’s such a great foil for…

Alex, an enigma of a young man who has shuttered himself off from human contact. Something happened to cause this, though what this is remains a mystery for much of the book. He fends off unwanted contact with equal parts disinterest and hostility. He uses an abrasive attitude as a defense mechanism, and has done this for so long that he has acclimated to it being the norm. He can’t imagine himself trusting somebody by the time we catch up with his story, and he even surprises himself simply by sharing his phone number with Cyrill when they meet.

I think we’ve all been there to some degree. We’ve either trusted somebody too much and been hurt, or if lucky, we’ve had the opportunity to look back with relief that nothing bad came of it. If we were hurt, we probably shut ourselves off to a certain degree, putting up walls to prevent that pain from happening again. Life can be a cycle of this. Trusting others until somebody betrays that trust, putting up barriers, then adjusting over time to a healthier balance between openness and defensiveness.

To Trust and to Touch places a microscope over this journey by inflating it to the extremes. Cyrill’s trusting nature opens the door for Alex to start bringing down his barriers and simultaneously acts as a contrast to show just how different these two approaches to life—completely open or completely shut off—can be. It’s this cycle of trust, betrayal, and healing that I think we’ve all been through that makes this book one that I believe anybody can relate to, be they a fan of romance or not.

If you are a fan of romance, I can assure you—objectively—that is has that as well!

You can watch, but you can’t touch.

Alex performs at the infamous adult club, Kink World. He’s only in it for the money, and he has one rule: no touching. He doesn’t trust anybody that much. However, a chance encounter with a man who is the very epitome of the word safe may change all that. A man who runs a charity for abandoned queer kids, who has a five-year-old daughter, and who is unlike anyone Alex has ever met.

After years of focusing on raising his daughter and running his charity, Sigh’s status quo is shaken up when he meets a man covered in vine tattoos outside his brother’s club. The young man stirs a longing he has ignored for far too long. However, he seems unwilling to let anybody in, so Sigh faces an insurmountable challenge to overcome these barriers and find some way to connect.

Will Alex ever let someone touch him? Will Sigh find somebody to fill the emptiness? Will the men find a way to heal together?

To Trust and to Touch is available now. Find out more about the book below:

Amazon

Goodreads

BookBub

Meet Vivi Anne Hunt, the author of To Trust and to Touch.

Vivi’s Website
Twitter
Facebook

Vivi Anne Hunt writes steamy m/m romance books about men who love and protect each other fiercely. She’s a big fan of age difference and hurt/comfort, so you will often find those elements in her books.

As a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, she advocates for more diverse representation in books. As a proud self-published author, she supports the indie author community however she can.

Vivi lives with her cat and her bossy muse. You can find her tweeting obsessively @ViviAnneHunt. Come say hi.

Did you find this interesting? Check out “The Emotional Power of Kai’s Healing Smiles” for my reflection on Vivi’s first novel, Kai’s Healing Smiles.

New Release: Into the Red Wastes

The second book of The Burning Sands is now available! The story of Brego, a desert nomad and escaped slave, continues, along with his companions: Apa, a disgraced magi on the run from justice, and Khag, the kind-hearted orc. The story picks up a short time after the end of Blood of the Desert, and we find our trio of unlikely friends settling into a new life among Brego’s people, the Taerwyn, in the Great Sand Sea. However, an unexpected raiding party of orcs turns an idyllic night into one of fire and strife. In the ashes, they find the chieftain’s son, Timik, has been abducted by the orcs. In search of the boy and answers, they set out Into the Red Wastes.

War looms on the horizon, and the chaos centers around the fate of one boy. Timik, son of of a Taerwyn chieftain, has been taken by the orcs of the Red Wastes.

As his people prepare for battle, the Taerwyn nomad Brego sets out across the unforgiving desert to find the boy with his two brothers-in-arms: the Cressian magi Apa and the orc warrior Khag. They hope to find the boy and rescue him to prevent further bloodshed and discover what sinister plan led to his abduction. However, they may discover things are not as simple as they expected as they journey into the Red Wastes.

Genres: Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, High Fantasy
Tags: Desert, Bronze Age, Nomads, Orcs, Action Adventure
Length: Novella (Approx 125 pages)

Great news for members of Kindle Unlimited is that not only is Into the Red Wastes available to read for free on the service, but the first book, Blood of the Desert, is also now available on Kindle Unlimited for the first time! For those without Kindle Unlimited, the first book will be temporarily free for everybody starting tomorrow, from December first through the fifth! If you haven’t read the first book yet, now is the perfect time to venture to the desert world of Erimos.

Book one on amazon
Book Two on Amazon

Praise for Blood of the Desert

“I was thrilled at the level of world building that went on in this book. The setting is every bit as I imagined it would be with a dashing title like that, and the characters jump off of the page and into you head like you’ve known them all your life.”

“I could not put this book down. I finished it in one sitting. If you like a great, fast read, this is for you. The characters came alive, and their adventures have you wishing for more.”

Brego, Apa, and Khag’s journey will continue. Keep an eye out for more news about the third book in the series, Empire of the Scale, in the future!

The Emotional Power of Kai’s Healing Smiles

Losing a soulmate is like losing two limbs, or all of them at once. Suddenly, you don’t know what to do with your body. You go through life like a zombie, with infrequent flashes of awareness which anchor you to the world around you, if you’re lucky.

There are many things that go into making a good book. Some are subjective, like evocative storytelling, interesting settings, and exciting action. Others are more objective, like a good plot structure, adherence to genre traditions, and quality writing.

I’ve edited dozens of books over the last few years. I’ve worked on everything from middle grade fantasy to war memoirs. There is always something that the “good” ones have in common: Characters that pull the reader in and form an emotional attachment to the story.

Kai’s Healing Smiles by Vivi Anne Hunt pulls this off masterfully.

For me, that flash was Kai.

However, before we can talk about Kai, we have to talk about coffee.

Disclaimer: As the editor of Kai’s Healing Smiles, I am unable to give an unbiased review on the book. However, I still wanted to share my thoughts on this wonderful story.

Despite romance not being a genre I would read outside of work, I found myself enthralled with Kai’s Healing Smiles from the first chapter, snippets of which appear throughout this article. The story opens on Silas, a middle-aged widower who is exceptionally average in every way. He has a good job and is rather well-to-do, but not rich and famous. He’s an architect, so nothing as exciting as an astronaut or race car driver. However, an emotional connection is almost instantly established as he reminisces about his late wife. We see him trapped in a routine where he lives almost entirely in the past and never looks forward to the future.

Even though I could afford it, Starbucks always seemed overpriced. Ellie and I argued about it endlessly. She would drag me inside and make me order the most ridiculous drinks with the most ridiculous names and pay a ridiculous price for the privilege of imbibing at that shrine to the holy bean.

After she was gone, Starbucks was the only place I went for my coffee. I would torture myself, recounting every conversation we had ever had inside, then go home with tear stains on my cheeks and a hole in my heart.

Then, we meet Kai, the namesake of the novel’s title. He’s essentially the complete opposite of Silas: Young, awkward, a bit goofy, and always looking forward to something grander than where he is in the moment. He has his future ahead of him and isn’t burdened by the scars of the past. He’s a charming character with a sense of hopefulness that is a breath of fresh air, especially in contrast to the mourning and robotic routines of Silas. It is little surprise that the positivity and enthusiasm that Kai radiates triggers something in Silas and inspires a change to his years-long status quo.

Despite that, I would go back. One day as I walked inside, before I even smelled the brewing coffee, I saw him. A new barista. Kai. Out of nowhere, this young, outgoing, smiling creature with a bright smile and eyes appeared—and he never left. For five months, he has been the only shot of energy I’ve needed. He is my color and light throughout my gray days.

Vivi approached this change in a very clever way, though. A way that makes this story feel more real. Silas doesn’t just open his eyes one day and decide his life would be entirely different. Meeting Kai doesn’t make him instantly abandon his emotional baggage. Just like people must do in real life, Silas must struggle to incorporate these changes into his life alongside the past he has lived, and Vivi shows us this in many ways. Right from the start, it is clear that Silas must struggle with this duality of mourning the past while attempting to look forward to the future. I think this plays a large role in making Silas’s story more believable.

I start my day with Kai and finish it with… well, staring at a photo of me and Ellie. The only one I kept in our bedroom.

However, this isn’t only Silas’s story. We get to see both his and Kai’s point of view. We get to see that hesitation about meeting somebody new and not knowing what the other person may or may not feel from both perspectives. Later, we get to see their relationship grow from both sides, and the troubles from both sides, and more. This goes a long way toward forming an emotional bond for both of the main characters in the book. Even when there are disagreements, we can empathize with both perspectives. It makes the roller coaster journey of Silas and Kai’s relationship all that much more thrilling.

In addition, the story is supported by a wonderful cast of colorful characters. This isn’t just two lost souls in the void, but an entire community brought to life. Again, this isn’t the kind of book I would normally read, but I enjoyed it far more than many books that are of the kind I would normally read. Why? Because Vivi Anne Hunt did such an amazing job bringing the characters to life and making me care about them. Because I cared about the characters, I care quite a lot about this book.

Kai’s Healing Smiles is available now. Find out more about the book below:

Amazon

Goodreads

Bookbub

Meet Vivi Anne Hunt, the Author of Kai’s Healing Smiles

Vivi’s Website
Twitter
Facebook

Vivi Anne Hunt writes steamy m/m romance books about men who love and protect each other fiercely. She’s a big fan of age difference and hurt/comfort, so you will often find those elements in her books.

As a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, she advocates for more diverse representation in books. As a proud self-published author, she supports the indie author community however she can.

Vivi lives with her cat and her bossy muse. You can find her tweeting obsessively @ViviAnneHunt. Come say hi.

Book Recommendation List

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Isaac Newton, 1675

When Isaac Newton said this, he naturally was speaking of the progressive nature of scientific advancement. However, the same can be said of many things. In no small way, this applies to literature. Every author has their inspirations, and every book has a lineage that can be traced back to stories that inspired it in the author’s mind.

What Once Was Home, my post-apocalyptic alien invasion novel, is no exception. There is a long history of stories that inspired this book, stretching back through the families of post-apocalyptic and alien invasion books. These families have something inspiring in common: Survival.

I have recently had the privilege of partnering with the wonderful folks at Shepherd.com to present my thoughts on a list of five books that I feel were important inspirations for What Once Was Home. In The Best Science Fiction Books Where Ordinary People Survive the Extraordinary, I share what struck me about five books that inspired my writing. Click the title above or the image below to check it out!

For more recommendations along a similar theme, also be sure to take a look at Shepherd’s Survival Bookshelf for more recommendation lists.

The Pirate King is Getting a Facelift

Two of my favorite novellas that I have written, Curse of the Pirate King and Shadow of the Pirate King, were originally created to facilitate a marketing strategy to build my email newsletter list. Curse was given away free through retailers, and Shadow was offered as a gift for those who signed up for the newsletter. Both books are part of my ongoing dark fantasy series, The Ravencrest Chronicles.

Since This was implemented over two years ago, the results have been less than stellar. Many people have downloaded a copy of Curse, but a very small percentage actually signed up to get Shadow.

A result of this is that one of my books was locked behind a gate most readers seemed uninterested in opening. My primary goal is to get people to read what I’ve written, so I decided this barrier was counterproductive. Also, I have worked through most of my back catalogue over the past two years to revise all my books with fresh editing and new covers, then issue new editions. These two books have not yet had this treatment.

Thus, I’ve decided to pull Curse of the Pirate King from circulation for the time being and remove the free eBook offer from my newsletter for Shadow of the Pirate King. I have begun work on the revision process on both titles and will be re-releasing them alongside my other titles, though the particulars of release date and pricing are yet to be decided. I plan to release both novellas in paperback for the first time as well.

For more information about The Ravencrest Chronicles, visit my books page!

New Article: From Protagonist to Antagonist

From protagonists to side characters and from heroes to villains, we often think of our characters in terms of the roles they play in the story. There is much terminology used for various roles, often with overlapping meanings, and this might seem daunting to a new student of literature or an aspiring author. An example of this would be the aforementioned protagonist and hero, which on the surface seem synonymous, but are actually denoting two very unique roles in a story that—while they often are merged—are not mutually inclusive.

In this article, we will first explore the historical origins of some familiar and some less common terms from the traditions of Greek drama, then move on to comparing them to modern cinematic and literary terminology. After this, we will explore the different roles characters play in storytelling apart from their prominence in the story. While many of the terms we will be addressing draw from stage and screen, they apply equally to literary theory.

Read the full article here

My Journey Through Avalion

Flame in the Palace by Seluna Drake, Book One of Lady of Avalion: released today!

Avalion is a kingdom of magic and mystery. It is a land of rolling hills, lush forests, flowering meadows, and towering mountains. Imposing castles, sprawling cities, and grand manors lie at the heart of its five duchies. Around these, the landscape is dotted with roadside inns, small towns, and humble villages. Each duchy is unique, specializing in different trade goods and occupying distinct geographic features that set them apart both physically and culturally from one another. At the heart of all this is Ilona, a sweeping, bustling city anchored by a magnificent, towering royal palace. While the island kingdom seems a unified monolith, undercurrents of political machinations fueled by jealousy and greed threaten to tear it apart.

Flame in the Palace by Seluna Drake launched today! I wanted to take some time to help spread the word about this wonderful story and share my own journey through Avalion.

I must be honest; I am biased when it comes to Flame in the Palace. Seluna Drake hired me to edit this book, and over the course of our collaboration on the project, we became good friends.

However, I would not be putting my professional credibility on the line if I didn’t think this book deserved the attention. Also, I’ve gushed about other titles I’ve edited when the author has publicly acknowledged my involvement, such as with The Quest for the Golden Plunger by Jackson Dickert or They Stole the Earth by D.W. Hitz, so my friendship with Seluna Drake has also not created a unique situation in regard to Flame in the Palace.

All that said, I’m too close to the book to write an unbiased review, but I didn’t want that to stop me from sharing my journey through Avalion.

As mentioned, Avalion is an island kingdom. The setting is a medieval fantasy world filled with magic, but it is unlike many of its kin. It is low fantasy in many regards, with no elves, dwarves, or goblins. There are rare instances of fantastical creatures, and a solitary minotaur features early in the book. Magic is a closely guarded secret of the nobility, a thing of mystery and wonder to most.

Noble houses lord over the five duchies of Avalion, and the king rules from the central palace of Ilona. The books protagonist is Myria, a humble maid working at her grandmother’s roadside inn near the town of Everhaven, in the duchy of Fairthorne. She is an estranged member of House Bramble, the lords of Fairthorne, and cousin to the duke. Little does she know that this strenuous tie to the nobility will soon thrust her to the center of a web of political intrigue and romance.

The main thrust of the plot in Flame in the Palace is the custom the royal family uses to arrange marriages for their heirs. Prince Leor, soon to be King of Avalion, is in need of a wife. Thus, as is customary, each of the five ducal houses sends an eligible suitor to compete over a summer of contests and social events, ranging from state dinners and ballroom galas to a joust and other adventurous challenges. Duke Bramble, having no eligible daughters of his own, must turn to his cousin should they wish to participate.

Myria has little desire to enter the theater of politics, but upon meeting Leor, she is smitten by the charismatic prince. Her cousin the duke promises to save her grandmother’s financially struggling inn and the only home she’s ever known, and she is promised access to the arcane secrets so jealously guarded by the nobility.

Thus is the fiery, fiercely independent Myria taken from the familiar comforts of the Morning Glory tavern and the surrounding Talking Tree Forest to be plunged into a world of political intrigue. Along the way, she gets to know the other members of her family and is mentored by her aunt, the dowager widow Olympe. She also must contend with her rival suitors, some with whom she forges bonds of friendship, others from whose machinations she must guard herself.

Chief among these new friendships is Emiri, the court mage of the royal household and close friend—nearly a brother—to Prince Leor himself. As Myria contends for Leor’s favor in hopes of one day becoming queen, she also studies under Emiri to learn the secrets of the nobility’s magical ways.

While Avalion is full of lush forests, sparkling rivers, and soaring palaces, there are shadows in the cracks that threaten the foundation upon which this peaceful kingdom is built. And as Myria peels back the layers of these mysteries, she finds herself at the center of an existential crisis for the entire island nation.

I wish I could say more about Flame in the Palace, but I don’t want to spoil the journey for you.

I normally am not a fan of romantic tales. I stick to fantasy that concerns itself more with battlefields than ballrooms, but Flame in the Palace struck a chord with me. I found myself enthralled by the large, wonderfully well-rounded cast of characters and the detailed, varied, and immersive environments. As Myria travelled across the kingdom, I felt like I was along for the ride. When she felt sparks of love and pangs of loss, I felt them as well. I dove deep into this story and was forlorn when I had to leave Avalion to come back to our reality. I’ll be returning to Avalion for the second book, hopefully sooner rather than later, and I am confident the sparks kindled in the first book will grow to a raging inferno in the second.

Get your copy of Flame in the Palace today! I am confident your will enjoy your journey into Avalion!

Find Flame in the Palace in paperback or for Kindle at Amazon.

Find Flame in the Palace at other eBook retailers.

About the author of Flame in the Palace

Seluna Drake is a high school English teacher who writes and independently publishes a variety of fantasy novels, poems, and potentially narrative-based games. Most of the time she passes as a chaotic creative who spends way too much time on video games and not enough time talking to her therapist.

Blood of the Desert available now!

New Release!

After escaping a life of slavery, Brego crosses the wastelands fleeing slavers and bounty hunters. Allying with an assortment of misfits, he must fight his way across the badlands to reach his people’s home in the Great Sand Sea. As he seeks to shed the iron bonds of his youth, he searches for something he has never known: a home. In the process he finds something he never expected to find: a family.

Kindle & Paperback

Other eBook retailers.

$9.99 Paperback, $2.99 eBook

Genres: Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, High Fantasy
Tags: Desert, Bronze Age, Nomads, Orcs, Action Adventure
Length: Novella (Approx 105 pages)