I know I’m in the non-unique position of having read Josh Malerman’s Bird Box after having first seen the Netflix film adaption. Bird Box was a book that I always had on my list of “must-reads” but just never got around to. With the news of the upcoming sequel, Malorie, releasing later this month, I decided it was high time I order and read one of the top horror novels of the last few years (as it has been purported by many reviewers). I wasn’t disappointed.
Warning: spoilers ahead.
Oh, hey there. It’s been a while. Let me just say that I haven’t been spending this time away from the blog idly; much has been going on. So much that I don’t think you guys can handle it. Are you ready for the list of awesome things that I’ve made happen for you to indulge in? Get ready. Here it comes.
I released a new book! That’s right, folks; The Collection: A Novella is now available on Kindle and in paperback. If you follow this link, it’ll take you to the website shop where you can order yourselves a copy. P.S. My other works are available there also. Speaking of which…
I’ve designed a new website! Now not only can you find information about each book and order copies, you can read about upcoming events, listen to soundtracks that inspired the books, and take a gander at my author bio. You can find all that and more at www.katherinesilvaauthor.com.
I have a ton of upcoming events scheduled in celebration of the release of “The Collection”! Book-signings and readings galore all beginning next month and going into the fall! Here’s just a few to get excited about:
Thursday June 28th at 6 PM at the Warren Public Library
Tuesday July 24th at 6 PM with authors E.J. Fechenda, Meg North, and Lynda Styles at Topsham Public Library
New England Authors Expo on July 25th at 4 PM @ Danversport Yacht Club in Danvers, MA
And there’s plenty more where those came from! Check out the list on the events page of my website for the complete line up!
So much new stuff! But what am I working on now?
To be honest, I’ve been busying myself with marketing the new book and getting psyched up to appear at all these wonderful events. As far as new writing material goes, I’m currently trying my hand at a sci-fi tale that combines the desolation of Gravity with the story-telling aspect of Elegy for a Dead World. Not sure exactly where I’m going with it yet, but I’m letting the characters take me there. I also have a speculative detective fiction series in the works that takes place in a Santa Monica-esque locale and combines wit, murder, and monsters. Beast of Burden is the working title on this project and is at the forefront of my current WIP’s.
Where can you stay up-to-date on everything that’s going on? Follow me in the places where I hang the most!
Good day and stay tuned!
~KSilva
Hello. Yes, I have been woefully absent on the blog yet again due to being crazy busy with work and life and the usual. Unfortunately, I haven’t been working on any new Cooking Adventures, nor any new Inspiration Through Music blogs. I have, however, developed a new idea for a bi-weekly/monthly blog that I think could be quite interesting.
Not too long ago, Amazon released a list of “A 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime”. In that list are several classics such as Orwell’s 1984, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and Ellison’s The Invisible Man along with newer classics like Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, and Zusak’s The Book Thief.
Out of the 100 books on this list, I’ve read 13, and started but didn’t finish 2 others. Several of these are classic novels that are usually required reading in school. I’ve decided to work my way down the list and read the books I haven’t read, including the ones I started to read but didn’t finish. My goal is to finish them, however, if I find that I’m dragging through them, I will probably set them aside and move onto the next book.
KNOWING WHEN TO START OVER…
Last night in an effort to sit down and finally make some headway with my current WIP, I plopped down in front of my word processor, brewed a nice pot of coffee, and opened up the story. It’s sitting at page 200 and in my mind, I’m about 2/3 of the way done with the novel. I had hopes of finishing it up by the middle of September and then allow it to sit so that I could come back with fresh eyes later. Except that I have now found myself stuck between a rock and a hard place with my protagonist. She’s injured, in confinement, and with very few (and I mean VERY few) options of escape. As I’ve plugged along, I’ve known that this was going to take lots and lots of revising and editing, that the story seemed off-kilter the way it was and could use tweaking. But I wanted to save it for when I’d actually completed the 2nd draft of the book. (The first draft was only fifty pages long and I’d decided to reinvent everything and start over).
So…if you hadn’t already guessed, the lack of posts has been because I’ve been battling a pretty major headache the last few days. I thought the photo above was fitting because the new Avengers movie comes out at the end of the week! AHH! So exciting!
I should have a new Inspiration Through Music up for you next Monday, a new Horror-FAIL Friday up on Friday, and a surprise Cooking Adventure up for you all on Thursday to make up for this. Since this is practically the first time today that I haven’t been asleep or away from the computer, I thought I’d take a moment to update you on some new things happening around here.
My current WIP has been a dark quasi-apocalyptic literary fantasy thing for the last several months. I’ve actually been working on it for almost two years, taking significant breaks here and there to pursue other projects. After doing a recent poll on my facebook page, I decided to give it a new title, as it had been untitled for some time. It is now called “The Wild Dark” and I’ll be continuing work on it over the next several months.
The paperback version of “Memento Mori” has been delayed yet another month. My apologies to those who have been patiently waiting. It’s been a very busy last few months and I have been chipping away at getting it done. I’m looking at a late May release for that at the moment. What you might find exciting is that I will be having a book release/reading/signing for it at the Vose Library in Union on June 18th. More details will follow about this and I’ll be updating the website soon.
What else? I’m afraid that’s actually all for now. I’m sure I’ll remember something important after I’ve posted this. The pounding in my head is making it difficult for me to concentrate though. Rest assured if I have forgotten anything, I’ll update the post and put it in the spot hereafter.
~KSilva
Admit it: if you are an author or a professional writer in any capacity, then you have probably spent several nights (or days) looking like this while sleeping in a puddle of drool next to your computer:
Lately, I’ve been feeling like that a lot. This fall in particular, I’ve been feeling it hard. And it’s my fault, of course. Having booked five events practically back-to-back (three of which I was organizing) while working full time and trying to finish a manuscript to be published by December 7th… It kind of sounds like I’m becoming a literary masochist. I didn’t want to admit that it was too much to handle but here’s me admitting it now. I stressed myself out to a point where writing, editing…everything about writing a book hadn’t become fun anymore. It was just an obligation. And that isn’t why I wanted to become an author. It isn’t why I pursued that passion. This ended up being much more than just a “healthy dose of stress” and it got to a point that while on vacation…I couldn’t make myself relax enough to enjoy it. I had temporarily forgotten about how fun it is to be an indie author, to make connections with other authors and fans, and to continue aspiring to be a better writer.
Good evening folks!
Well, I realized today that it’s impossible for me to choose only 5 songs to talk about for Vox. My first book is incredibly special in that I listened to so many varied songs and artists while composing each chapter. Allot of music isn’t even listed on the website under the soundtrack list. What I’d like to do is choose the songs that had the most meaning to me (which will definitely be more than just 5) and explain what it was about them that inspired certain things in the book. So relax back in your computer chair, get a warm mug of tea, and venture forth into Inspiration Through Music!
Good evening, readers!
A couple of nights ago, I was listening to some lovely music on my Rachel’s station on Pandora. Rachel’s is a little known instrumental band. I’ll detail them more in tomorrow’s Inspiration Through Music post…
As I sat listening to them, I let my mind wander and found myself imagining a farm at night. A blue blanket of darkness basked the quiet world and the animals were fast asleep in it. I always imagine for some reason that I’m standing in my kitchen in the darkness of this farmhouse, staring out my backdoor at the tall grass in the field, which gently sways in a light breeze. The moon is full and highlights a stretch of land that rises up into hills before fading into clusters of trees.
The kitchen I’m standing in isn’t the one I have now, nor is it the one I had growing up. It’s the kitchen of my dream house. The walls are painted navy blue. Old antique furnishings are placed around the room, and small red and yellow accents can be picked out here and there. It’s large and homey and smells of a recently cooked potroast or a warm sugary dessert. I can see myself perhaps twenty years from now living in this old farmhouse on a tranquil country road in Maine and sigh with anticipation for it.
Then the song is over and I open my eyes.
Good evening, readers!
As promised, I’ll be talking about a few of the songs I’ve listened to that have inspired key scenes in “Aequitas”, the upcoming sequel to “Vox”. I’ve also decided to make a permanent “Inspiration Through Music” weekly post in order to focus on one song and/or musical artist that has inspired my writing in some way. I will be creating a page where all of the links will be posted. It will be located on the blog roll in the right hand column. I have also placed my “Food Adventures” page there for you to find the links to those. [I’ve decided to try making a cheesecake for this week’s project! Hopefully it goes better than the pastitsio…]
I will be discussing five songs which I listened to in order to help inspire certain scenes in “Aequitas.” All of them are very different from one another, but are incredibly expressive and always drop me into the scene with ease while I listen to them. I don’t want to give too much away as to what happens in these scenes so I’ll be doing something that my favorite writer, Anthony Bourdain, did for a chapter in his book “Medium Raw.” The best way to do this is to open the link in a separate tab and listen to it as you read the vignettes below. Once you’ve read them, feel free to check out the corresponding youtube videos (especially the one for #3).
Good Morning!
The last two days, I’ve been able to do get out of bed. Migraine, head cold, sore throat… it’s been a miserable time. Even today, I’m still not back on my feet completely. I’ve successfully used up two boxes of kleenex, drained a pot of chicken soup, and was successful in making my cat sympathetically sick as well. He left little presents for me on my carpet yesterday.
Dreadful as I feel, I have returned to the blog to do what I said I was going to do, update you on what you can expect to see in “Aequitas”.
I don’t want to give too much away but I do want to give you a brief synopsis of who will be returning, the new characters you’ll meet and some of the bloodlines that feature prominently in book 2.
MAIN CHARACTERS RETURNING!
A few times, I’ve mentioned that Reid and Torrent will both be back in the sequel. Unlike “Vox” where we went back and forth between three pov (Torrent’s, Eileen’s, and Sean’s), “Aequitas” will slingshot between Reid and Torrent, whose stories will come together eventually. Torrent was the major protagonist in “Vox” and it was his story that we got to know the most. In “Aequitas”, it will be Reid who we learn the most about.
Aside from Reid and Torrent returning, we will see the return of Eileen (though not as a principal protagonist), Vinh (Akane’s childe), and the Councilmen. Sean and Jill will both return for a short period.
NEW CHARACTERS!
An old ex-Council friend of Reid’s will join him in his adventures. Sassy, charming, and dangerous, Cardea is a Nephythys not to be trifled with. Will she and Reid be able to trust one another after the terrible events that shattered their friendship years ago?
Harper is Torrent’s first fledgling and the one who reported him to the Council of Thema after he destroyed Seraphim City. Harper has been elected as the replacement Citius judge on the Council. But does he have more sinister intentions with his new post?
We’ll also meet Reid’s sire, The Artigiani di Alta, a group of Kume artisans with connections to both Reid and Torrent, and the mysterious Leach, a figure with connections to a series of macabre murders occurring all over the globe.
LOCATIONS!
For fans of “Vox”, you already know how I love to send my characters globe-trotting in my books. In “Aequitas,” the characters will travel to several exotic and dark locations including but not limited to:
Linz, Austria
Montreal, Canada
Istanbul, Turkey
and finally,
MAINE!!
(P.S. Epic stuff happens here.)
BLOODLINES!
In “Vox,” we learned allot about the Citius, Amalric, Savaric, and Haru bloodlines because the characters spent a bunch of time in their home territories.
In “Aequitas,” we will learn more about:
The Elias (Reid’s bloodline)
The Kume
The Nephythys
and The Rain!
AND THAT’S JUST THE BEGINNING…
A dangerous monstrum unlike anything Torrent and Reid have faced before, zombies (or as Torrent would say “Aegruses”), giant man-eating fish, an underground red market, big guns, more blood, lots of water, and plenty of fire…
Oh yes. It’ll be one thrill-ride of a book.
Next week, I will reveal a few songs from the Aequitas Soundtrack! I’ll also treat you to the “If The Monstrum Chronicles were to be a movie, who would play the main characters?” post. And I’ll be sure to keep you updated on tips, tricks, and other writing-related blog posts as I see fit!
Now, off to revise (and then probably nap!) Hopefully this cold will mostly gone by the end of the week!
KSilva
[EDIT: There was apparently an issue with the source of some of the pictures that I posted. Everything should be fixed now.]
The Kat At Night 