Choose Ghosts or Valkyries for less than a dollar!

July 1st we'll celebrate Indie Pride Day. Last year #IndiePrideDay was a trending topic on Twitter. Who knows what we can do this year?

Indie Pride!

To add to the festivities I'm offering my newest book, The Falstaff Vampire Ghosts for 99 cents.

Also 99 cents, the first book in the Sybil of Valkyrie series Gravitas Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone

Series versus standalone novels and Sybil of Planet Valkyrie

This week I’m publishing the second book in the Gravitas series, featuring Sybil of Planet Valkyrie. I’ve given some thought lately about the controversy around series books in genre fiction. The main complaint I hear from readers who dislike series books is when the story ends with a cliff hanger and the reader must get the next book to find out what happened. I agree that this is a shameless tease that should be avoided at all costs. I think any author who indulges in it is not doing their job as a writer. It’s one thing to leave some loose threads to pique the curiosity to know more. It’s quite another to say, in essence, “Tune in next week to find out what happens...”

That said, when each book in a series tells its own tale with a satisfying ending and when I love the writer and the characters, I’m happy to read every book in a series and to look forward to new developments. Sometimes a series loses momentum after several books and that’s a pretty good time to let the characters ride off into the sunset, live happily ever after (or if you’re of a sadistic bent) fall off of Reichenbach Falls--we all know how that turned out, even Arthur Conan Doyle couldn't kill Sherlock Holmes.

When I came to write Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone, I had no thought of making it a series. I had wanted to write about alien-human first encounters leading to religion since I first read Carl Jung’s Flying Saucers : A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies. Jung saw the UFO craze as a "living myth" and a religion being formed before our eyes. I was intrigued by the idea that this might have happened often in human history and it night not be good for humans or the survival of the planet.

That was the seed of the book and many other elements arose when I started to write. I was coming off a year of being very ill when I started to write Gravitas and I think the book reflects how happy I was that my brain had come back online and I was again able to spark new ideas and spin stories.

Once the book was done, Debbie Notkin was kind enough to look it over. One suggestion she made was that the Furies should play a larger part in Gravitas. I expanded their role a little and in the process, I started to think about who these creatures might be when they’re at home. The Furies inspire such dread (particularly in men, I think because they are the opposite of controllable women) that I realized Sybil of Valkyrie needed to pay a home visit to them and that she still had some adventures to live through. So Valkyrie on Planet Fury needed to be written.

That’s how series books evolve for me. Your mileage may vary.

Once Upon a Cover

Here it is, and I love it--the cover Julie Nicholls designed for Valkyrie on Planet Fury. The book is in the editing stages and will be available soon.

Valkyrie on Planet Fury, coming soon... What a long, strange trip it’s been. While we were discussing possible images, typefaces, etc., Julie reminded me that a cover has only a few seconds to tell the browsing reader what the book is about and lure them to look closer.

Book covers can even change the book for the author. Halfway through writing the first book about Sybil--Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone, I encountered a pre-made cover from James at GoOnWrite.com. It was so evocative that it even changed the character while I was writing. Once I fell in love with that cover, Sybil had to have red hair.

Fast forward a year. When I came to Julie to do the cover for Valkyrie on Planet Fury, I explained that Sybil would be going to the House of Darkness, where the rulers are the Furies, professional hit women who wear snakes in their hair.

Julie nailed it with lightning speed—also with actual lightning, as you can see from the cover. She’s a genius!

I'll let you know more soon.

Try a little Gravitas....now on Kindle Unlimited--in the "what's an author to do?" department

Long story short, this author is now experimenting with Kindle Unlimited. The first book featuring Sybil from the Planet Valkyrie Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone is now available for KU borrowing.

Why?

Math has never been my strong point, but those who keep track of the publishing business report that hundreds of thousands of books are now being published every month. Or maybe that was billions every hour, the numbers are so cosmic that I don't dare take my focus off of writing fiction to count 'em and weep. How is any given book to get noticed? Particularly a self-published book with no budget for advertising. This is an obsession with me and I'm constantly seeking ways to do that.

Writing a short story in the same "world" as the novel is supposed to help. Check. See my free short story Valkyrie in the Demon Realm below. All experts agree that compelling covers are essential (more on that next week)! The Demon Realm story has a new cover. Checked that box.

The story of Sybil's adventure just after leaving The Forbidden Zone is told in Valkyrie in the Demon Realm. Still free in all formats.

Some experts say writing more books helps. I'm doing that, well, basically it's done. A new book Valkyrie on Planet Fury is on its way. Featuring Sybil from Planet Valkyrie, it's in the editing stages--watch this space to see the stunning cover next Monday.

I've decided to go all-Kindle on both books so that Kindle Unlimited readers can sample it free. I'm checking off tactics as fast as I can. Still not at checkmate, but it's not for want of trying.

A great week so far, Survived Facebook Event, Happiness from Julie's Book Review & an Awesome Gang Interview

Well, I survived Saturday's Facebook event and here's my new author photo:

Okay, I'm an introvert, so sue me.

Then on Sunday I found that Clabe Polk gave Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone five Stars at Julie's Book Review:

Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone is a quick reading science fiction/fantasy novelette that is terrifically entertaining. Lynne Murray has managed to weave a fine story line that includes sex, and pheromone-based sex appeal, female-v-male dominance, male disrespect/abuse of women, and the social pressure on modern women to adhere to an unrealistic physical image prescribed by modern culture. Read the whole review at Positive thinking leads to positive outcomes!!! Julies Book Review: Review of Gravitas by Lynne Murray Then a fun interview with the Awesome Gang showed up.

One cool question:

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?

Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone came from two ideas and my own, as usual, contrarian reaction to them. One was a book by Carl Jung,, Flying Saucers : A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies. He suggested that we are witnessing the formation of a religion in the shape of the UFO craze. The other was reading paranormal romances where the heroine has many lovers (just can’t help herself). I thought, what if that was the rule, and women who only wanted one husband were mistrusted. Then it was a matter of turning the world upside down in the book, which is one of my favorite parts of writing! You can read the whole interview here!

Three-Day 99-Cent Sale of Gravitas to go with Saturday Online Event

Jessica Wren and fellow Indie Author Promo authors on Facebook are hosting an event to celebrate Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone and maybe some other stuff I've written. I'd love to hear from anyone who feels like clicking over. Everyone's welcome and we can discuss whatever strikes your fancy. We may get wild, we may go deep or we might even get radical!

I won't be able to attend till around noon Eastern time (aka 9:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time here at House of Happy Cats where I live. So I'll provide a couple of special treats for anyone who shows up earlier. I'm putting Gravitas on sale for 99 cents on Amazon from Friday through Sunday.

The other treat is a snippet from my next "novel with Gravitas" -- Valkyrie on Planet Fury! It's not here. But I'll post it late Friday night at this link! Saturday Sept. 5th Event, click to attend!