Awakening accepted!

I just keep having more and more good news to post on here, don't I?

My good news for today is that I just got an email reply from my editor, informing me that I should please consider printing out the contract enclosed and send it back to the publisher for my follow up novel to Unity.

Where Unity tells the story of Darcy's first awareness of the world of Faerie, and her struggle to find balance between it and her real life, Awakening follows her story as she leaves Kinvara and tries to make a life for herself in Killarney. Little does she know that the world of Faerie will follow her down into that town, and Faerie itself will not remain so removed from her world as it used to be.

The story is set in Ireland and shares the mystical history that the land is rich with. I'm very excited to be told that this story has a tenuous release date of March, 2009. So keep a look out for it!

And Unity is still currently available at http://allromanceebooks.com/product-temperanceunity-9894-140.html

I'm a Tease author!!


Nikki Watson.

What does my Dark Tarot card mean to me?

I seem to be posting a fair bit in this half of the month. Must be a sign that I have more time available to me. Or maybe, since I just started university last Monday, it's a sign that I'm starting to better manage my time.

We can hope. :D

On one of the the chat loops to promote our books, a very good question was asked. "What does your card mean to you?" And it got me thinking.

I was very lucky when I finally submitted my story into the Dark Tarot series. The Temperance card was still available to submit FOR! Unity was already on my computer and written, and I knew the sorts of themes that it explored, yet there were a few cards that I thought it could fit well under.

For me, what cinched it was the wonderful cover art. I mean, look at
it. Those colors, and patterns, my name there in the middle of it. *grins* Isn't it beautiful?

In Unity, I explore the idea of two girls falling accidentally into
the world of Faerie, a fantasy world above or behind this world. As
fairies and elves are commonly attributed to have wings at their back,
what better for me to find than a cover with that very same
illustration? Add to that the fact that the Temperance card itself
means balance -something that my girls Celeste and Darcy find through
the passage of their travels- and I was sold! I hope you all are too. ;)

I'd like to thank the creative team at Tease for creating something so
perfect. I know I'm not the only author here to think so.

Unity, published by Tease Publishing. Available Now!
http://allromanceebooks.com/product-temperanceunity-9894-140.html.


Nikki Watson.

More on my take of Fellowship of the Ring ;)

I realised a little while ago that someone replied to my last post on Fellowship of the Ring, and I realised, I had more of this written, but hadn't shared it on here yet.

So, here are the chapters four to seven, just for something a little bit different and more fun. ;)

*~*

Chapter four
Frodo: You're seriously still coming with me on this quest?
Sam: The Elves told me to. 'Don't you leave him, Sam' and I don't mean to.
Frodo: I thought Gandalf said that to you...?
Sam: Do you see Gandalf anywhere around here?
Frodo: Well, that's a point.
Pippin: *wakes up*
Farmer Maggot: *hoists scythe over fields*
Frodo: Eep!
Pippin: Huh?
Frodo: You know, Farmer Maggot! Eep!
Pippin: What are you talking about? He's great, and he gives me and Merry mushrooms whenever we want!
Hobbits: Mmm Angel mushrooms!
Pippin: So, onwards! Farmer Maggot! It's me! Pippin! And here's Frodo Baggins, and...
Farmer Maggot: Baggins, eh? Oh, do come inside. I have mushrooms. You'll be wanting to get to Buckland soon. There's been people looking for you.
Frodo: Umm... yeah, I don't really wanna talk about it.

Chapter five
Hobbits: *arrive at Buckland*
Frodo: *still procrastinates about talking about it*
Merry: Stop shuffling, Frodo. Let me tell you your own story.
Frodo: You want to what now?
Merry: Well, once upon a time, there was a Ring, and it was bad. And then your Uncle Bilbo found it, and that was bad. But he was older and so harder to spy on, so I only really found out about everything once he gave it to you. And it was still bad.
Frodo: ... How do you know all of this?
Merry: Pippin knows too.
Frodo: I thought I had been so good at keeping the secret.
Merry: Oh, and Sam knows. It was Sam who told us everything.
Sam: ....
Frodo: ... Sam?
Sam: ... *blush* I only had your best interests in heart, Mr. Frodo.
Pippin: And now, since you're going, you realise we have to come with you.
Merry: And you can trust that we'll stick to you like glue.
Frodo: You're all coming with me?
Fredegar: I'm not!
Frodo: You're not?
Fredegar: Well I'm not going into the Old Forest! It's scary. You'll see that I'm right! Don't worry though, I'll stay behind and tell Gandalf where you went, when he finally comes. If he finally comes...

Chapter six
Old Forest: We.... don't............like....................you......... here.................
Merry: Okay, I respect your right to say that, but I don't think you really needed 10 pages to do it, do you? Carry on everyone!
Pippin: Yeah, I really don't like it here after all. Fredegar was right. :(
Merry: I'm sleepy.
Pippin: Yeah, me too.
Sam: *looks sleepy*
Frodo: Don't be sleepy! We have to get.... I'm sleepy...
Hobbits: *falls asleep*
Sam: Well, I guess if everyone else is going to let the horses go free, I'll have to be the one what goes after them.
Frodo: *splash!*
Sam: Frodo!
Frodo: The tree tried to drown me!!
Sam: Now Frodo, are you sure you weren't dreaming?
Frodo: No, I... well, maybe... Hey, where are Merry and Pippin?
Sam: The tree! The tree swallowed them!
Frodo: Doesn't seem so strange that the tree tried to drown me now, does it?
Sam: Let's burn them out!
Frodo: You know, burning things just doesn't work in these situations...
Merry: Stop, stop the burning! He'll kill me!!
Frodo: See. Told you.
Tom: *sings*
Frodo: Eh?
Tom: *SINGS*
Frodo: Help!!
Tom: Oh! What are you doing here? Rather silly to get caught in tree roots, don't you think? Here, let me help you out. Now, follow me, but I'm going to run faster than you can follow. Come on, follow, it's getting derry dol dark!

Chapter seven
Goldberry: Hello, I'm Goldberry the River-daughter. Tom will be back soon, and then you can sleep safely here.
Tom: Oh now, look at that weather. Don't think we'll be seeing much of the sun today.
Frodo: Yay weather, now we don't have to go anywhere further just yet. In fact, I'm sick of all this traveling. My feet hurt already.
Tom: Then let me tell you a story! It's about the age of trees, and of men, and of the kingdoms, and wars they fought, and in the beginning, only the Elf-sires were awake....
Frodo: I think he's falling asleep...
Tom: Not asleep. I am older than you, and was here before Big or Little People arrived. I was here before the kings and those kingdoms. Before the Elves and before the Dark Lord...
Goldberry: Alright, that's enough of that. How about some food, hmm?
Tom: Yes! Food! And then we can talk about you. Like your Shire, and the flight from it, and the Riders, and oh, hey, that reminds me, let me have a look at your Ring.
Frodo: Sure, here you go.
Tom: Thanks!
Frodo: ... Hang on...
Tom: Haha, look at me juggle and look at me wear it and lo, I have not disappeared, and oh dear, where has it gone?
Frodo: Where has it gone!
Tom: Fooled you. Here it is. :D
Frodo: Is that still my ring...? *puts it on*
Merry: Hey Frodo... Hey, where did you go?
Frodo: He he he.
Tom: Now now, not everyone is as cool as me. I can still see you and I say take it off.
Frodo: Okay.
Tom: Good. Now, where were we? Ah yes, completely belittling the power of the Ring...


Nikki Watson.

Unity Release!

Well, it's that time you've all been waiting for. Well, it's what I've been waiting for, at least!

All Romance eBooks now has my novel Unity on sale. http://allromanceebooks.com/product-temperanceunity-9894-140.html or click on the picture to the right for the buy link.

Now that I've wet your appetite for that much, let me share with you an excerpt from the novel.

***

Night art classes were held at the local dojo twice a week. Celeste's teacher was a slight blonde woman who had missed her calling as a teenage cheerleader and, through affiliation with the younger--and therefore cooler--students of the class, was trying to recapture her youth. Currently, Susanna was strolling up and down between the crooked rows of canvases in her class, murmuring, “Yes, very good, very good”.

When Susanna arrived by Celeste's canvas, the dark haired girl looked at her expectantly. As Susanna stared at the half finished painting, Celeste expected her to make some original comment. When Susanna only smiled accommodatingly and told her to “Carry on”, Celeste deduced her teacher was quite blind or very deluded. She had been trying for something abstract against the central figure, but the perspective was all wrong, the colors didn't quite mesh, and there was a weird thing going on with the eyes that she couldn't quite seem to fix.

'Creepy, 'Leste,'

Jasper said to her, taking some time apart from his current work of art as Susanna moved on to another round of appreciative, “Ooh, very good” to other students.

Celeste shot him a sideways look at his sudden appearance there. Jasper shrugged.

'So, who's he supposed to be?'

Celeste looked back at the canvas. There was no salvaging it now. The best she could hope for was that Susanna's blind streak would continue into the marking phase, but at the same time, she didn't really want to depend on an ignorant eye for the benefit of her marks.

'I think I saw it in a dream.'

Celeste answered him shortly, pulling the canvas down from the board and turning to the paints on the table behind her to start putting them away. From the floor, the man stared out in all his magnificence, garbed in a medieval style tunic bearing some sort of intricately designed crest on the front of it.

As Celeste moved away and started sorting through the brushes she was going to have to wash, Jasper stepped closer to the discarded canvas, still staring, bringing his hand to cup his jaw as he studied Celeste's work.

'His gaze is striking… and the colors…'

'You're my friend; you have to say that,'

Her words were dismissive. Celeste walked to the sinks and started soaking her brushes before washing them there.

'Anyway, are we on for tonight?'

'Photography at the beach? Wouldn't miss that for the world. What time were we meeting up again?'

Jasper didn't pause at her change of subject as he answered. He straightened, easily coming back to remembering there was a whole other world outside of Celeste's painting.

All paints were packed, and Celeste stuffed the ones that were hers in her bag. The others she returned to the cupboard in the back of the room.

'After dark. Say about ten?'

Jasper nodded. When she returned to the stand she had borrowed, Jasper had her canvas in his hands and was holding it up to her attention with curiosity.

'So, what are you going to do with this?'

'Nothing. I'm heading off now. It's not like I'm going to get anything more from today. If you want to come around to my place early, Natalia's making chicken curry, mild.'

Celeste was busy picking the canvas and the stand up as she spoke. She laid the stand next to the others on the rack and then the canvas, she put with the rest of the used canvases, ready to be painted over and used anew. Jasper had his eyebrows raised; she was not usually so dismissive of any artwork she made. However, he returned his expression to normal well before she turned to look at him again.

'Ooh, just the way I like it. Tell her to make lots. I'll definitely be there.'



Unity, published by Tease Publishing. Available Now!


Nikki Watson.

Line Edits -- Check!

I have just handed in my line edits for Unity and I'm feeling just fine!

It's getting close now. Just look on the right hand side of this actual blog for the cover image of Unity, due out in e-book later this month, and only a little longer for those people who absolutely love the print books (like me!)

And here's a synopsis for anyone who's missed it previously posted:

Obstinate Darcy and artistic Celeste lives cross, starting them both on a path into the world of Faerie, which draws them in and comes alive for them. Their lives become those of true ladies, of balls and gorgeous men in dark cathedrals, as the world of abusive stepfathers and fits of depression are left behind them. As they change for their experiences, they realise that they a balance must be found between their Faerie travels, which they visit in their dreams, and the Real Life of their waking world.