What I’ve Been Up To!

So! It has been quite the busy summer! Aside from kicking it back at the wonderful New England Authors Expo in July, I also had the chance to get in on the action of New Hampshire’s Granite State Comic Con! What a joy that was! I manned (or shall I say womaned?) the New England Horror Writers table with my fellow authors Scott Goudsward, Rob Watts, Gordon Bean, and Matthew Bartlett on September 13th and 14th, a midst a sea of Harley Quinns, Arya Starks, and Starlords. I even had a run-in with one of my worst fears…one that I couldn’t have even imagined would be present: a stilted devil clown that continued to haunt me no matter which direction I looked in. I had copies of my Monstrum Chronicles series present and was promoting the upcoming 3rd book in the series, Memento Mori. I made a few sales, enjoyed getting to know my fellow writers, and checked out some of the many other vendors at the show. (I came close to getting vampire fangs. Maybe next time?)

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HAPPY FREAKIN’ NEW YEAR!

Hello, folks! As I sit here sipping my coffee and enjoying the scent of fresh peppermint chocolate scones, I’ve decided to unveil to you one of my New Year’s resolutions: BLOG MORE! I totally dropped off the earth with both my cooking and music blogs this year and that put me in a bit of a funk. So, this year, I’ll be returning with new weekly Cooking Adventures blogs, and Inspiration Through Music blogs. Having taken the last several months of 2013 away from the blogging scene, I’ve uncovered a dazzling array of glorious new recipes and inspiring music to share with you.

I’ve also got something else for you today: a copy of my first book, “Vox”, free on Amazon Kindle! And, later on today, the sequel, “Aequitas” will be available for 99 cents! Too good to be true right? In exchange, I ask only a favor. If you enjoy one or both of the books, would you please consider leaving a review on Amazon? Reviews are quite helpful to us struggling authors. It lets us know what you (the reader) likes (or doesn’t like) about our work and helps us improve ourselves in future projects.

Follow the link here to grab a copy of “Vox”! http://www.amazon.com/Vox-Book-1-Monstrum-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B004VSZQTW/ref=la_B004W4P690_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388577478&sr=1-3

Don’t have a Kindle? You can read it on your smartphone, IPad, or computer, too, with Amazon’s Cloud Reader (which is totally free!) How do you like that?

Enjoy your first day in a brand spankin’ new year and stay tuned for a whole host of exciting blogs!

KSilva

Inspiration Through Music: Celldweller

Ever have a morning where you can barely crawl out of bed? What am I saying… of course you have. Everyone has. That soft velvety feel of the sheets and the warmth call back to you as you trudge toward your bedroom door and out onto the always cold kitchen floor. Don’t fear, my friends. There is music that can help that feeling. And that music is Celldweller. In most cases, I have a little bit of time first thing in the morning to get some writing done before I have to start getting ready for work. Those are the reasons I rip myself out of bed at six a.m. every morning. This morning, I had some trouble though. I was very, very tired and almost just wanted to stay in bed. But, I knew that I had an action scene that was waiting for me to write and that in order to do that, I’d have to call upon the services of one of my favorite rock groups, Celldweller.

Aequitas is now on Kindle!!

Dear readers,

Two years ago, I started writing my second novel, one that I knew was going to be a challenge for a couple of reasons. I’d committed myself to writing a series of books. I, therefore, had to keep the characters, plot, and locations engaging. I also had to show that I’d learned more about the writing craft and was actually using this knowledge to better my own writing. I wanted my second book to be more jaw-dropping than the first, more edge of your seat, and bring more into the fan circle associated with The Monstrum Chronicles.

Two years later, and that book is now out on Kindle. In certain ways, it’s a relief as well as it is stressful. I worry about getting bad reviews, I worry about it not being purchased at all! There are so many different books out there that are wonderfully written and yet, haven’t been read by anyone, and so many of them are paranormal or horror fiction. That being said, I’m doing my utmost to make sure that this doesn’t happen with “Aequitas”.

Today, both my first novel, “Vox” as well as a companion short story, “Acquolina” are free on Amazon Kindle! I’m hoping that I can get some people hooked on the series or bring back people who have purchased and read Book 1 so that they realize Book 2 is now available. It is still early but already, Vox has gone from 500,000th place up to 31,000th. And that’s only with 8 copies being sold. Having created ads for Facebook and Goodreads as well as contacting several Kindle free e-book websites ahead of time, I’m hoping that all of my hard work pays off over the next two days.

For those of you who are fans of my Inspiration Through Music blogs and Cooking Adventures, please take a moment to go and look at my other works. If you have a Kindle, feel free to download copies of Vox and Acquolina if you are curious about the other writing that I do. If you don’t have Kindle but still want to help, please spread the word via twitter, facebook or your wordpress blog about my book. I would be most grateful for anything that you could do to help me get this book out there.

Here you can find “Vox”.

Here you can find “Acquolina”.

And here, you can find my newest book, “Aequitas”.

Thanks, all!

~KSilva

Exciting Updates!

Good morning, all!

‘Tis officially October, the pic crafty month. That means fun and exciting things happening here at The Monstrum Chronicles. All month long, we’ll be celebrating the new release of “Aequitas: Book 2 of The Monstrum Chronicles” and of course, Halloween! That entails special things!

Inspiration Through Music blogs will be focused on music that will inspire those writing horror, paranormal, thriller, or mystery stories. We’ve already kicked off the month with a post about Petri Alanko’s music from Alan Wake and next week, we’ll be listening to VAST. Expect some more spooky original score music coming up this month as well as one more band that conjures unexpected spooky images. I’ll prove to you that just about any type of music can work while writing a horror story.

All month long on Cooking Adventures, we’ll be having delectable Halloweeny/Fall treats starting tonight with Apple Crisp. Next week, on Cooking Adventure Co-0p number 3, I’ll be tackling some special cupcakes inspired by ideas found on Pinterest. Want to know more? Tune in tonight for the next Cooking Adventure and find out!

In addition to both of these, each week, I’ll be doing a special Monstrum Craft project from now until the end of the year. Expect to see some fun autumn crafts as soon as next week!

And let’s not forget that my second book also debuts on Kindle this Sunday, the 7th! Fans of the first book, Vox, won’t want to miss this special promotion, as both Vox and Acquolina, the short story to accompany Aequitas, will be free for download on Kindle as well! Pre-orders for paperbacks will also be available at the discounted price of $15.00! Please email me at info@voxthebook.com to get in on this special deal! The paperback will be released October 28th!

Oh, and just because October can’t be crazy enough, I’ve also got two, count ’em TWO readings coming up on the 23rd and 25th with fellow writers Jen Blood, Peter Dudar, Kate Cone, and EJ Fechenda at both the Camden Public and Rockland Public Libraries. This month is going to be ca-razy! But, I like it like that. 🙂

Stay tuned this weekend for more information about the release of Aequitas, and don’t forget to catch Cooking Adventures tonight!

~KSilva

July Photo Contest: Take 2

Good evening, all!

Just wanted to shout out a reminder that I have a photo contest going on right now! Enter your photograph of a rowboat on a pond (preferably at either dawn or sunset) and your photo could be chosen for the cover of Memento Mori: Book 3 of The Monstrum Chronicles!

I’ve had only a few submissions so far and a few people who have said they will dig through old photos to see if they could find something. We’re already halfway through the month, though, so time is running out! If you have a photo, please send it in. If you’re not much of a photographer, please share this contest with any friends or family members who like to take pictures.

Winners will not only have their photos used and credit given inside the book, they will also win free copies of Vox: Book 1 of The Monstrum Chronicles and Aequitas: Book 2 of The Monstrum Chronicles (when it releases in October). You also win a $25 gift certificate to Amazon. Lots of free stuff for one photograph. I say that’s pretty sweet.

Here’s a link to the official rules and regulations! http://voxthebook.com/Photo_Contest.html

Remember, all entries must be in by July 31st at midnight. I’ll be judging them that weekend and making my decision August 4th!

Now I’m also attaching a link to a videoclip from the game “Cry of Fear”. It’s this particular scene which has inspired the cover idea for Memento Mori, so I think it’s good that I share it with you. Maybe some of you will be inspired by it. Take a look here.

Stay tuned for my Inspiration Through Music blog on Monday. Until then, have a great weekend!

~KSilva

Website Update! Woot, woot!

Good morning, readers!

Just wanted to pop in and let you all know that I have been doing some major updates to my website and now they are available for you to see! I was looking at my website earlier this week and shaking my head. There wasn’t enough information on it, it was kind of boring, and I personally wasn’t happy with it. So, I spent about 5 hours this week fixing things.

There are a few new pages to check out including an Events page, a News Page, and Upcoming Projects. People can now also find links to Cooking Adventures and Inspiration Through Music there. And one of my trailers shows up right on the main page for people to watch.

As we get closer to the release of “Aequitas”, I’ll change things with the page. Starting tomorrow, I’ll have details of a photo contest that extends through the month of July. I’ll also write a post here for those interested!

Now, what was I saying? Oh yeah. Go to the website, check it out, let me know what you think. http://www.voxthebook.com

Stay tuned for a post about the photo contest tomorrow and Inspiration Through Music on Monday!

~KSilva

June “Vox” Promo and Other Summer Suprises to Come!

Good morning, readers!

I have good news. I have “Aequitas: Book 2 of the Monstrum Chronicles” back in my grasp for the last round of editing. I hope to finish it this week (in reality, it will probably take me 2 weeks). Then I’ll begin the oh so painful process of formatting the book into a PDF file. And so I have concluded that Book 2’s release date will indeed be this fall. In fact, it will be a little sooner than I thought it would be.  The release date has now been scheduled for October 4th, 2012!

In the mean time, I’m running a couple of special promos on “Vox: Book 1 of the Monstrum Chronicles.” The first starts this week and ends on Sunday, June 24th. For a limited time, “Vox” will be available for only $0.99! This special pricing will begin this evening and run until Sunday morning at 7, eastern time. You can find the book by clicking on this link here.

Later this summer, I’ll also be holding a photo contest for the cover of Book 3. I had attempted to take a photograph myself and it turns out my photography skills really aren’t that fantastic. More details will emerge on this in July.

I will also be releasing several short stories this summer with events that pertain to The Monstrum Chronicles series. There are three in the line up and the first will probably be released in August, the next two in September. I’m very excited to get those out and introduce people to a new set of characters that will be integral to the events of “Aequitas.”

With that being said, I will now return to my editing of “Aequitas.” I’m currently on Chapter 8!

Have a wonderful week! And stay tuned for my Cooking Adventures blog tomorrow!

~KSilva

Inspiration Through Music: Qntal

We’re going to time-travel all the way back to October of 2009. I was still working on my first book, “Vox”. I didn’t get out much that fall. In fact, I spent most of my time sitting on the couch in my parent’s computer room on my laptop just pouring out word after word, chapter after chapter. This was also a point that I began discovering new music through Pandora. Pandora, for me, holds a bevy of unknown, sometimes undefinable songs which are just waiting to be discovered. Usually, I’ll throw on a station based off of one song I like of a certain genre and let it toss out suggestions from there. When I chose a Loreena McKennitt station while working on my Ireland chapter of “Vox”, I was introduced to the musical stylings of Qntal. And boy was I hooked.

Qntal is a German “electro-medieval” band. You might be saying to yourself “what on earth is that?!” Basically, they incorporate some techno-like stylings into what would otherwise be music you’d hear at a Renaissance fair or in a movie about King Arthur. Often they use the language they would have spoken back in the Middle Ages as well. I’m an absolute sucker for stories about knights. I love the King Arthur legends, really enjoyed watching Game of Thrones, and was completely hooked by the tv adaption of Pillars of the Earth. (I know… I should read these.) The reason I chose to incorporate Qntal into “Vox” is because the Savaric bloodline who are encountered in this chapter, were actually created during that time period. They are an old and noble blood and I felt like I could be better in touch with them by listening to Qntal’s music. Today, I’d like to share 6 of their songs with you and tell you why they are so special to me.

Spring Promo Stats!

Good morning, readers,

So the spring promo has officially come to a close. In the course of 48 hours, “Vox” was downloaded 279 times and climbed all the way up to #28 on the Kindle free Action & Adventure bestseller’s list! That’s quite an accomplishment, seeing as how it was in 700,000th place before the promo began.

Of course since the promo ended, the book has back slid a little bit into 55th place and is now in 1,600th place overall. Seeing as how there are over one million books in the Kindle store, I’m going to take that as a pretty good sign that things went well! A thanks to everyone who purchased a copy of the book this weekend, anyone who helped promote it, and anyone who encouraged me while I marketed it!