Tag: Books

CoS Book 1, Curse Breaker, Fantasy, Mount Eredren, poem, poetry, Sarn, Shayari10 Comments

Curse Breaker | Defensive

Melinda Kucsera

  Curse Breaker | Defensive   “You have to go back,” Miren said in a last ditch effort to drag his brother back to the discussion. Sarn gave his brother a slow nod indicating that he’d heard, not that he agreed with that statement. Though Miren had the right of it as usual. Sarn’s indentured state conferred no rights. He had to follow orders and those orders had not included a dismissal yet tonight. He wanted to stay here far away from people who treated him like an idiot, but… “No. Papa stays here and we have ad-ven-tures.” Ran gave … Continue reading Curse Breaker | Defensive

CoS Book 1, Curse Breaker, Fantasy, Mount Eredren, Sarn, Shayari23 Comments

Curse Breaker | Homecoming

Melinda Kucsera

Curse Breaker | Homecoming “If you go back will you be in trouble?” “I—I don’t know.” Sarn had never gone awol before. He’d been an indentured servant to the Rangers for four years now and no Ranger had ever pulled a stunt like this. Not that he’d listened for any such stories. If a Ranger had pulled such a fool stunt, they never would have told him out of fear that he’d do it too. That didn’t bode well for him. Sarn ran a hand over his face. He hated trouble yet he couldn’t help falling victim to it at … Continue reading Curse Breaker | Homecoming

CoS Book 1, Curse Breaker, Fantasy, Mount Eredren, Sarn, Shayari21 Comments

Curse Breaker | Pursued

Melinda Kucsera

Curse Breaker | Pursued Vaulting from boulder to boulder, he crossed the white-capped river mere feet from the falls themselves. On the far shore, he broke into a run and hit the maze the rich had dubbed the Lower Quarters. Though squalor, even one with such a genteel moniker, was still rankest poverty. Reeking of urine, rotting food, and unwashed bodies, the stink grew stronger as Sarn fled the river and headed towards the galleries where the indentured dwelt. His footfalls echoed despite his attempts to run silently down twisting tunnels. He hurried, breaking off just before he reached one of … Continue reading Curse Breaker | Pursued

CoS Book 1, Curse Breaker, Fantasy, Mount Eredren, poem, poetry, Sarn, Shayari10 Comments

Curse Breaker | Intercepted

Melinda Kucsera

Curse Breaker | Intercepted “Easy,” said the newcomer, “It’s just Green Eyes.” Sarn risked a glance at the man standing at his elbow. Grime combined with the green glow of Sarn’s eyes made it impossible to tell what color the man’s garments were or if the fellow was sporting gang colors. The gap-toothed fellow waited for a response of some kind. Great, so word had spread that Sarn wasn’t mute. Damn it.  “How do you know me?” “Zaduke.” He owed Zaduke a favor. Anger flared up but Sarn squelched it and the memory of just why he owed a jumped … Continue reading Curse Breaker | Intercepted

CoS Book 1, Curse Breaker, Fantasy, Mount Eredren, Sarn, Shayari16 Comments

Curse Breaker | Falling

Melinda Kucsera

Curse Breaker | Falling Sarn gave the forest one backwards glance just to confirm that neither Nolo nor any other Rangers had appeared. Trees stood by watching him, no doubt waiting for him to make a move. Was this all a cruel game to them? His hands curled into fists; he was no one’s pawn. Other than the wind rustling leaves high above, he heard shouts that grew more distant the longer he stood there. Let those shouts not be about him. Let Nolo find someone else to badger. Didn’t he need to report all this madness to his superior? … Continue reading Curse Breaker | Falling

CoS Book 1, Curse Breaker, Fantasy, Mount Eredren, Sarn, Shayari30 Comments

Curse Breaker | Rift

Melinda Kucsera

Curse Breaker | Rift Sarn ran back towards the bodies. Dread dogged him. A branch shot out at chest level and Sarn struck it hard enough to bruise. He had managed to slow enough to keep from breaking anything but the impact still drove the breath from him. He ducked under the impediment and then had to throw himself backwards to avoid a head injury as more branches leapt into his path. He watched in horror as the ground opened up and that child’s body, along with all the others, toppled into it. He couldn’t tear his gaze away. The … Continue reading Curse Breaker | Rift

Curse Breaker, Fantasy, Mount Eredren, Sarn, Shayari69 Comments

Curse Breaker | Discovery

Melinda Kucsera

Curse Breaker | Discovery Passing between two trees, whose boles each had to be over a hundred feet in diameter, he froze. Bodies lay in a small clearing—or what was left of them. The stench hit Sarn full in the face as the wind, which had picked up over the last mile of his hike, shifted. He gagged, doubled over and retched. Sarn started as a hand landed on his shoulder. “You okay, Kid?” “I’m not a kid.” Sarn shot back as he forced the bile back down. “I’m twenty—” “I know,” Nolo gave Sarn’s shoulder a squeeze and then let … Continue reading Curse Breaker | Discovery

Curse Breaker, Fantasy, Mount Eredren, Sarn, Shayari36 Comments

Curse Breaker | Kidnapped

Melinda Kucsera

Curse Breaker | Kidnapped More shouts interrupted by tearing, scraping and the grating of sandpaper as something not human dragged Sarn into the forest. He ran his fingers along the grooves of the thing manacling his arm as he tried to figure out what had seized him. His fingers encountered tree bark and that made no sense. Why would a tree abduct him? It had never done that before. Why would it need to start now? What the hell was going on?   “Let go of me!” Sarn hammered the heel of his hand against whatever part of the tree that … Continue reading Curse Breaker | Kidnapped

Curse Breaker, Fantasy, Mount Eredren, Sarn, Shayari30 Comments

Curse Breaker | Commanded

Melinda Kucsera

Curse Breaker | Commanded “We don’t know if that Kid is a mage,” Jerlo corrected as he appeared between his two officers. At five foot nothing, the force of Jerlo’s personality took up more space than he did. Right now his formidable glare focused on a man sixteen inches taller than himself. Gregori could bench press one Jerlo in each hand. So whenever the commander scolded Gregori, everyone dropped everything and watched. “Oh yeah? Then why do his eyes glow all the damned time? That’s a sign of active magic and you know it. Hell it’s even mentioned in the Litany.” … Continue reading Curse Breaker | Commanded

Audiobooks, book review

Swashbucklers, Rogues and Assassins: The Bad Boys of Fantasy

Melinda Kucsera

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The bad boys of Fantasy, like the buddy cop flicks we all love, are full of friendship, ribald comments, one-upmanship and enough jokes to lighten up the darkest story. Set in places that range from the epic to the intriguing, their exploits run the gamut from world-ending to a simple heist gone hilariously wrong. Whatever these guys get up to for their clients, you can be certain of one thing: you’re in for a fun ride.  Without further ado, I bring you the bad boys of fantasy.

Royce & Hadrian

riyria

Royce and Hadrian’s exploits are penned by Michael J. Sullivan in his Riyria Chronicles series and in the Riyria Revelations series. The Riyria Chronicles series covers the twenty year period between the boys’ founding their unique partnership and the events in the Riyria Revelation series. Mr. Sullivan will keep writing those prequels as long as fans request them and I will keep requesting more. I love these guys!
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Audiobooks, book review

Audio Book vs Audio Drama

Melinda Kucsera

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in medias res continues its audio book obsession with a look into an emerging trend in the audio book world: audio dramas.

What’s the difference between an audio book and an audio drama?
A lot apparently. An audio book started out life as a book. Not a comic book or a screen play but a book. A book that sometime narrated. A book that included actual description of important things like wtf is going on in the action sequences, some kind of introduction to who the characters are and some reason to care about them.

Audio dramas start out life as a graphic novel or screenplay. They are meant  to be accompanied by visuals. The visual element is the important part of these works. Audio productions have no visual element. They are pure sound. Do you see a problem? I do and I’m not alone.

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Audiobooks, CoS Book 1, Curse Breaker, Fantasy, Mount Eredren, Sarn, Shayari, writing

Who Will Narrate: Listen and Cast Your Vote

Melinda Kucsera

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Okay, we’ve talked these last two days about audio books both the professionally produced variety and the self-narrated too. If you need a refresher, pop by this post here for a discussion of professional voice acted audio books and here for the DIY option.

You are armed with knowledge and ready to cast your vote an a very important issue. Who should narrate?

With the above posts in mind, I come to you, wonderful followers and one time visitors alike, to ask your opinion on the matter. Below I submit to you two scenes from my novella narrated by me, the author. Worry not, neither one is longer than 7 minutes. Together they comprise the first two scenes from my forthcoming audio book. It will be available for sale in 2016.

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advice, Audiobooks, publishing

Audio Book Meets DIY

Melinda Kucsera

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Yesterday we talked about audio books, specifically about the money side.  You can refresh your memory here about that. I also referred you to a great post that Cecilia Lewis wrote up detailing how you pick a narrator for your book. Read her article here. Yesterday’s discussion centered around the cost to produce audio books and the options you have about production–if you go the professional route.

If you, like me, have some skill at editing audio files on your own, there is another option. You can narrate your book yourself, edit the audio yourself and submit the files to ACX. They have guidelines and tips to help you navigate your way through the DIY option.

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