The Monstrum Chronicles Cast… I Wish

Good evening, readers!

A while back, I promised to write a post showing you a few of the choice actors I would pick for some of the main characters in The Monstrum Chronicles series. Everyone will imagine a different person filling the characters shoes, but to me, these are the people who I envision every time I write their characters. This is meant to be a short, fun post. I’ve honestly been so crazy busy this past week I haven’t been able to blog much. And that makes me a silly goose. Once I get passed this week, I’ll be able to focus a little bit more on things and I’m excited for that! But… back to the casting of the Monstrum Chronicles…

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Aequitas! A sneak peek at what’s ahead!

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.]

Goodbye 2011! Hello 2012!

Good morning, readers!

Today marks the end of 2011. And though this year was a year of wonderful opportunities and many crazy happenstances, I can happily say that I’m ready to see it go.

2011 was a year of many firsts for me. First book signing, first time having a book on Kindle, first book-reading… etc. All of these experiences have opened my eyes to how truly great the world of self-publishing really is. It’s the latest and greatest thing. A few years ago, I never would have dreamed of being an author or having the opportunity to get my book out there, not only in paperback form but digitally as well. I couldn’t have done this though, without help from my friends, family, and fans of the series!

In the last two weeks, The Monstrum Chronicles has grown by leaps and bounds. On December 14th, when I posted the infamous I Need a Christmas Miracle post, I had 108 fans on Facebook. I had 26 Twitter followers. 1 review on Amazon and no likes. ‘Vox was in 672,oooth place on the Kindle best-sellers market. ‘And I had 2 subscribers on the blog.

Since then, here are the stats: On the facebook page, there are 115 fans. I have 70 followers on Twitter. There are 5 reviews for the Kindle version of “Vox” and 2 for the paperback. There are 4 likes for the book (and two for me!) “Vox” is now at 234,194th place on the Kindle best-sellers market. (At one point, it was at 97,000!) I have 5 subscribers (but several other readers) on my blog. I’m absolutely ecstatic! Thank you all so much for everything you’ve done in the last couple of weeks! You truly are some awesome people!

In 2012, I’d like to take it up a notch! (Sorry, Emeril, not trying to take your catch phrase or anything.)

My New Years Resolutions for 2012!

1. Better management of time: There aren’t enough hours in one day, to be true. So I need to learn how to organize all of my activities better so that I can do more without stressing. (Such as blog before work!)
2. Money management: In order to really market “Vox” and its upcoming sequel, “Aequitas”, I’m going to need to crack down on the way that I spend money and lay out a budget for buying ads and such.
3. Read more!: I don’t read enough. In the last couple months, I’ve gotten back into it and would love to get to a point where I can fly through research books while gleaning valuable information from them as well as enjoying genre and literary fiction without taking 6 months to get through a book.
4. Write more!: It’s true. I say I write in all of my spare time but more often than not, I’m so tired that I just sleep! Or slip into a vegetative state on my couch, while staring out my window. This fits in with my “time management” resolution as well. I hope to write more short stories and upload them to Kindle next year in addition to finally finishing “Aequitas” and uploading that, too!
5. Exercise program: This is about energy! I collapse when I get home from work every night. In the mornings, I never want to get up. At night, I’m so restless I can’t sleep. My solution? Exercise. It will tire me out before bed, invigorate me in the morning, and keep my muscles from feeling like goo.
6. Don’t be afraid to try new things!: Yes. I am a homebody. I don’t go out much and yes, I am hesitant when approaching things I’ve never done before. I’d like to try and come out of my shell more this year and do things I’ve never done before! (okay, a bit dramatic, I apologize.)
7. Try cooking different recipes!: Here’s a secret: I practically cook the same stuff every week. Its easy and it’s usually cheaper. But its also boring. I’d like to do a new recipe once every two weeks, if I can. And definitely try some international dishes. Any endeavors I take in that area, I’ll post here. And if it’s not too much trouble, I’d love to learn how to bake. Oh yes, some of you know how I excel in crumbling cakes, creating “grunge cakes” (the long-lost, black sheep cousin of the cupcake) and burning cookies. I’ll be working on this.
8. Lastly, I’d like to put away some of my resentments, turn the burner down on my anger, and attempt to leave the past in the past. Everyone holds onto unnecessary bad mojo. It’s time I said “Au revior!” to mine.

And I need to figure out how to tame the wild, demon that I live with; Lemon Jelly.

He may look all cute and fuzzy... but...

He’s actually mellowed out quite a bit over the last year. However, he’s still capable of douchey things. Last night, one happened to be leaping across my laptop, while I was holding a mug of tea and making me spill it on the keyboard. He did the same thing with a cupcake I was holding at the beginning of the month when I was having a particularly bad day.

And my time is up for the morning. To one and all, have a Happy New Years!

~KSilva

Aequitas Cover Photo… Help Me Decide!

Good morning, readers!

I woke up late and I need to start getting ready for work! This post will be kind of short… hope you can forgive me! I realized last night that I still had not quite decided on the cover photo. I’ve been going back and forth between a couple of them. Your input would be fantastic, readers!

Option #1

The Basilica Cistern, an important location in the book.

This was my number one choice in the beginning. I’d had it in my head that I wanted the covers of all the books to include photos of important locations in the books and not necessarily characters. Everyone has a different image of Torrent and Reid in their heads… so I’d rather not force feed you an image of two guys that don’t fit your expectations for the characters. This photo is a public domain photo. I altered it slightly by increasing the contrast and tinging the colors.

 

Option #2

A dark statue, appearing on the headquarters of The Council of Thema

This is the more dramatic option of the two in my opinion. This statue, while actually being on Westminster Abbey, would theoretically, in book 2, exist on The Bion Fortress, the home of the Council of Thema. Because “Vox” used a photo of a Paris Opera House (The Primavera) which included statues, I thought this one might fit the bill for “Aequitas”. However, I don’t intend on using statue portraits for the remainder of the series… so it might be odd choosing this one now. This photo is also public domain. I photoshopped it, increasing the contrast to darken the shadows and changed the color to a sort of bluish-pink taint.

As for the font, I’d hoped that my dad would draw the title word but I’ve found a neat new font called Daemonesque, which should look very spiffy against either one of these cover images.

Now, its your turn! Please give a vote and tell me which one you prefer more! If you have another suggestion, please tell me about it! I’d love to hear it.

Thanks!

~KSilva

Amazing Fans – I Still Need Your Help!

Good morning!

Yesterday was a big day for “Vox” in a number of ways. I’m pretty sure that since its release yesterday was one of the best growth days in terms of spreading the word about this exciting new series.

THE FACTS:

Facebook Author Page: 2 new fans

The Blog Post: 10 shares through Facebook (that I know of). 1 Like.  1 comment. It was also the most read blog post for The Monstrum Chronicles Blog so far this year!

Twitter: 10 new followers

Amazon: 1 Kindle Sale, 3 new reviews. 1 Like. At one point, the book moved up 600,099 points in the Kindle Best Sellers List to 71,541. (It has since dropped back down into 107,927.) I still consider this a victory because there are over 750,000 books in the Kindle Store!

 

All in all, it’s been a great start for “Vox”‘s come back. However, it’s not over yet…

You’ve proven yourselves to be devoted fans and amazing friends. There are no words to express how thankful I am for your support in this difficult time.

I still need your help though.

It’s the week before Christmas and things are hectic. I, myself, am still rushing around trying to get things done. I understand if you don’t have time to write a review. But there are still other things you could do!

1. Please “Like” the facebook page here if you haven’t already done so. Encourage others who are fans of vampire fiction to join the fanbase, too!
2. Please “Like” the Amazon Kindle page here. The “Like” button is near the top of the page under the book title.
3. Please “Like” my Goodreads Author page here. The “Like” button is under the profile picture to the left. If you have a Goodreads account, please “friend” me, too!
4. Please “Follow” the twitter account here.
5. If you have a wordpress account, please “Follow” the Monstrum Chronicles blog. Also feel free to comment on and like posts you see!
6. If you have a youtube account, please subscribe to constantwriter17’s channel here. Please “Like” a trailer of your choice as well!

For those of you whom would like to write reviews for the book, please post them on the Kindle version here or on the paperback version here. It doesn’t need to be in-depth and long (though I wouldn’t mind if they were). Sometimes the shortest reviews are the best ones!

Again, I thank you all for the great start that we had yesterday. I hope that you can continue to help me achieve this Christmas miracle that I need to revitalize “Vox”.

Thank you everyone!

~KSilva

The End is Nigh!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted so I figured it was time to give you all an update. Yes, the sequel is almost finished. I have just one and a half chapters and an epilogue left to write for content purposes. Then begins the arduous sometimes painful process of editing the thing, ha ha.

I admit that I am relieved that the writing part of the project is coming to a close. I started writing this at the beginning of 2010. So far the book has gone through four rough drafts, all of which have been drastically different from one another. In that time span, I’ve started five other stories, three of them short, and two of them novels. I desperately would like some time to commit to those once I’ve finished the editing on ‘Aequitas’.

I love writing this series. I love the characters and the way the story is twisting in my brain. So much is happening in it that I had not at first expected. Torrent’s and Reid’s personalities have flourished and its now so easy to write as them that I can do it without much trouble at all. In the next three books, there are so many other fascinating characters to be introduced that I can hardly wait to get to them! But until I am able to do that, I will concentrate on finishing up ‘Aequitas’. If all goes according to plan, I should expect to start the self-publishing process with Maine Authors Publishing as early as January of 2012.

In other news, next week I’ll be running a week long Halloween special promotional and give-away that I’m very excited about. For more about that, please be on the watch next Sunday for my facebook author page as I will post details of it then. Then in another couple weeks, I’ll be involved in a reading at Slainte Wine Bar and Louge in Portland, Maine. I’ll be reading selections from “Vox” as well as a few from my upcoming sequel, “Aequitas”. I’ll have up to 15 minutes of reading time (which I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous about). Thankfully, some of my fellow authors from MAP gave me some helpful advice today. Thank you, Carol and Jeff!

News about other projects: I started a short story last week that tells the back story of a character named Cardea whom is introduced in ‘Aequitas’. It’s content that couldn’t be included in the book but is interesting as background character information. I’m planning to write two more pieces based on other important events in the sequel and publish these three stories in a companion book to go along side ‘Aequitas’ in the near future. Heh, that is if I ever find the time. (Ha ha…)

That’s all the news I have for today! Stay tuned for the blissful announcement of me being done with ‘Aequitas’ and other exciting things in the coming days!

Until then, good afternoon and happy writing!

~K Silva