and the winner of the Koan eARC is...

I want to thank everyone very sincerely for playing along. This was great fun for me, and so interesting to see what you all came up with. I’m going to share the answers with you, but let this serve as a warning to anyone who hasn’t read Ghost or Weregild that there are some major spoilers to follow. There were a ton of great answers to the question What happened to the braid after Malick cut if off? Some of them surprised me, some of them didn’t, but there were plenty to pick from—hilarious, thoughtful, a little bit bizarre, poignant… they ran the gamut. There were many variations on ‘Malick secretly kept it’, though Marleen’s was the one that stood out there: Bitch, please, the answer is so obvious. Malick keeps the braid. Helloooo? Can you say 'FETISH'? Pretty soon, (when Fen's a little more stable), he'll be using it to tie Fen up during sex. Duh. *snicker* She definitely knows Malick. And Fen, as you’ll see when you read chapter two of Koan. Addie, Aaron, Jelena, Russ S., Brandi, Dawn, Jeff and Michelle all gave similar answers, though Marleen gets points for the duhness of hers. ;) To be quite honest, this was the first answer that popped into my head when I asked myself the question, so it’s definitely not wrong. But there were others. Addie kept me entertained this morning as I went through all of hers: There was 1) It was donated to the cancer society of Ada for wigs. And then there was 2) It was used at Immortals’ parties to play ‘Pin the Braid on the Untouchable.” OMG. *falls down* For whatever reason, I started picturing piñatas and all the unfortunate possibilities that come along with them. But then she sucker-punched me with 3) It was kept in a glass case at the Court building in Fen’s honor and as a reminder to all citizens of what the Untouchables suffered. Oooooh. That one hurt. In a good way. Nikki R. thought Shig stole it, though Shig’s so weird, who knows why? Even she doesn’t know. Somehow, I think Joori would agree with that assessment. Speaking of Joori, Erin B. thought he took it and is keeping it hidden away in case he ever has to disguise himself as Jacin. I’m not sure if that’s kinkier than Malick taking it or not. Though Erin also thinks there’s “twin-cest” going on off-screen, so I’m thinking yes. ;) Nikyta almost took it with this one: After Malick cut off Fen's braid, the braid took on a life of its own and started attacking people and causing them to freak out because now they were hearing the ancestors in their heads. It spread like wild-fire. Poor people had no idea what was coming when Malick freed Fen. Sad, sad. I mean, come on! The mental pictures alone are going to keep me chuckling for a week. And then Robin caught me off my guard with this one: Husao took it and dropped it into the remains of Subie along with the amulets. Husao never even crossed my mind, so that one made me sit up and really think about it. And it’s very plausible. It might have been what happened. But then CindyR completely blew me away with her answer, and I think you’ll see why when you read it: After Subie was destroyed, after the Ancestors went home to Wolf, after Malick cut Jacin-rei's braid, after Jacin-rei wasn't dying anymore, after, after... The braid was a symbol, and maybe the way to take power away from a symbol is to ignore it, let it be trampled into the earth. But Morin didn't feel that was right. Didn't Jacin-rei bind Asai's spirit to the earth by stomping his heart into the ground? Maybe for Jacin-rei to be free, the braid must be burned. Well, Morin wasn't going to give the damn thing it's own pyre, but maybe there was a more fitting way. When no one was paying attention, Morin gathered the braid up. When he found his mother, he would put the braid in her hands, send her to the afterlife with the proof that her son was free. She would like that, Morin thought. She had tried to shield her Untouchable son from the Ancestors. She would want to know that he was free of them. That's what Morin would do when they found what was left of her. After he'd ended her tormented existence. After. Because he would be the one to do it. Jacin-rei wasn't able, and Joori was mostly concerned with Jacin-rei. Damn this thing was heavy. How had Jacin-rei been able to move with the braid weighing him down, physically as well as symbolically? Maybe Jacin-rei would be just Jacin now, no longer the ghost. His mother would have liked that, too. I know, right?! That’s it. I mean, tears. Actual honest-to-god tears *sniffle* That’s the one. I wish I could give everyone who entered a copy, but this one has to go to Cindy. Thank you to everyone who played, and thank you so much for your support of this series. I hope the rest of it makes you as happy as you all have made me. xoxo Carole P.S. The random drawing giveaway for Ghost and Weregild continues until Monday. I'll announce the winner when Koan is officially released.

eARC

Two days left to enter to win an advance reader copy of Koan. See THIS POST for details. The random drawing for Ghost and Weregild goes until Monday.

GHOST, WEREGILD and KOAN giveaway

For those of you who have not read them but were thinking about it: GHOST and WEREGILD e-book May 14th - May 21st Random drawing for e-books. That's it. To win both books, just email me at carole AT carolecummings DOT com (SUBJECT: Ghost/Weregild) or leave a comment here within the timeframe and I'll choose a name at random on the 21st and notify the winner. One entry per person, please. You will need an account at Dreamspinner Press in order to collect your e-books. If you don't have one, it only takes a minute, and there is no credit card info or anything like that required. Now don’t peek at the next one, because there are spoilers. ;) For those who’ve read the first two: KOAN e-ARC May 14th - May 18th Simply answer the question: What happened to the braid? and email it to carole AT carolecummings DOT com. Make sure you put KOAN CONTEST in the subject line. You will need an account at Dreamspinner Press in order to collect your e-book. If you don't have one, it only takes a minute, and there is no credit card info or anything like that required. A winner will be chosen by me on May 18th and awarded the e-ARC for Wolf's-own, Book Three: Koan. Just in time for weekend reading. ;) There is no right or wrong answer. There is no answer at all, which is why I'm asking the question. And there will be no blind drawing or objective criteria for awarding the prize. 'Wow' me, entertain me, make me think--whoever gives me an answer that makes me laugh or groan or say 'Ah-ha! That's it!' gets the advance copy of book three. You can enter as many times as you like, but please do not comment here with your answer. Email only to the above address. My daughter will be screening my email for me so that all I see are the answers with no names attached to them.

Cover art

By the always fabulous Anne Cain

Two Temshiel walk into a bar…

I still like that synopsis better.

RAPPORT—just a little short about Malick’s first meeting with Skel—is now available for free download from Dreamspinner Press.

SYNOPSIS: Life for an immortal can get a little dull. But Skel has just found a new spark of interest in Wolf's new Null, and he's taking another look at life, love, the world, and Kamen Malick.

Anyone who plans to buy any book in the Wolf’s-own series should go take advantage of the offer, even if you’ve already read this particular story, and be sure to check out every last page. (*cough*easter egg*cough*)

Also, while I’m here, I want to do a quick FAQ for anyone who might be paying attention. These are a few questions I’ve had posed to me consistently since before the first book in the series even came out, so here are the answers:

Is this a shifter story?
No. The possibility of the misconception hadn’t even occurred to me until someone asked the question when I announced the contract for publication. Oops. No shifters.

When will you be done writing the last book?
I was done before I even submitted the first one. I don’t submit anything in a series until all of the story is complete. There are four books in the series, and there will only be four books in the series.

Cliffhangers between books?
Well, it depends on your definition, I guess. I really didn’t think so, but some readers begged to differ. Strenuously. So you’re probably better off listening to them on that one.

Books one and two are one complete story arc, and books three and four are a different but intricately related and complete story arc. So, if you’re wary of cliffhangers, you might want to read one and two together, and then wait until four is out to start three.

Four books? Four? Really?
Sorry, but it’s the reality of small press publishing. Small presses cannot economically handle more than 150K words in one shot. The first story arc clocked in at around 350K and the second arc finished at around 200K. And that was after some pretty hefty cuts.

You should know, though, that you can read the first two books and walk away with a complete story. Books three and four are necessary additions to the overarching story as a whole, but not to that first arc.

Also? If you’ve read one and two and Fen got on your nerves, you can pretty much just pack it in now and not bother with three and four. The first arc was about Malick becoming who he needed to be; the second is pretty much about Fen learning how to be an actual person.

When are the publication dates for books three and four?
The contracts specify May/June for book three and June/July for book four. Last I heard, everything was ahead of schedule and the plan was for mid/late-May for book three and then mid/late-June for book four, but it’s possible the dates could get pushed out for unforeseeable reasons to June and July. (For instance, I haven’t gotten the cover art yet, and I believe they wait to schedule an actual print run until that’s done and approved, so delays are possible.) So if things keep to the pattern set with the first two books, the last two should be out no later than the end of June, but you never know. I’ll post when I’ve gotten cover art and specific dates.

Any other questions, let me know.

Wolf's-own, Book Two: Weregild

Now available from Dreamspinner Press HERE.

John Carter

So I’ve been really looking forward to seeing John Carter when it comes out. In fact, I think it’s out this weekend, so yay! Or maybe it’s next weekend. Hm… Anyway, so I’ve been looking forward to it and reading any preview reviews I’ve come across—as you do—and I have to say, I’m getting a little tired of reviewers who don’t know WTF they’re talking about.

You have to understand—I read the John Carter books when I was a kid. John Carter was my pre-adolescent not-quite-lust object and kind of my friend. He was cool, he was tough, he was smart, he had a big squishy heart, and—at least in my mind’s eye—was at least as handsome as Natty Bumpo. Maybe not quite as handsome as Frodo, because, y’know—Frodo. *dreamy sigh* (Hey, shut up, he was just about my height back then.)

Anyway, so I’ve read two reviews in two days that have completely panned this movie, and that have in the process missed the point so badly that I want to write to the magazines these reviewers work for and demand their resignations. I mean, saying that John Carter has echoes of Star Wars and Avatar is like saying Socrates has echoes of Bertrand Russell. Because dude! Edgar Rice Burroughs was around way before George Lucas and James Cameron. He paved the way for them, ferchrissakes! Some of those things you’re whining you’ve seen before and been-there/done-that? Yeah—he came up with them in the first place. You don’t get to take points off for ‘copying’ when you’re reviewing the story they copied from.

The flashbacks (character development OMG the horror!) made the story too confusing? All that tells me is that you’re not smart enough to multitask and understand how past experiences inform and motivate present actions. I mean, I don’t recall having any trouble understanding that, and I was twelve!

And then! AND THEN! (!!!!) One of them whined that Taylor Kitsch was ‘too pretty’. *boggles* I mean, really? And my first thought was, You’re a straight guy, aren’t you? but my second thought was, when was the last time you heard a reviewer complain that a female hero was too pretty? I don’t remember anyone complaining that Leeloo was too pretty, or that she spent a great deal of The Fifth Element walking around in strategically placed bandages. And anyway—WTF has that got to do with anything? I can’t have eye candy while I’m watching my SF/F action flick? And if I get some, that’s just another reason why the movie sucks? Would they have been happier if Harrison Ford and his manboobs were the ones in a chest plate and loincloth? ARGH!

Did the movie fall down on characterization? Did it fail to realize its plot? Did the world it built crash and burn on too many logic flaws? Well, I don’t know, because these reviewers were too busy complaining about their own misinformation and the ‘too pretty’ thing to tell me. (Seriously—an entire paragraph of a three-paragraph review spent on ‘too pretty’. *bangs head*)

Maybe the movie does suck. Maybe the acting is horrible and the effects are awful and you can see the zippers up the backs of the aliens’ suits. Maybe the director completely mishandled a classic I grew up with and love to this day. It wouldn’t be the first time. *cough*LOTR*cough* Maybe John Carter is cheesy and predictable and juvenile. Maybe I’ll end up throwing popcorn at the screen and groaning out loud. (Or crying, like I did when they wimpified Frodo.) But it won’t be because it’s using ideas that the author of the books dreamt up, and it certainly won’t be because the protagonist is ‘too pretty’. It’ll be because… um, well, I don’t know, because I haven’t seen it yet.

You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.
― Harlan Ellison

I would have figured reviewers actually getting paid for having an informed opinion should be more informed than I am. Just sayin’.

(Of course, now that I’ve opened my mouth, the movie probably will suck. I hope not. John Carter deserves better.)

On a more optimistic note: in my review/trailer-seeking, I came across a couple of animated movies that I'm really looking forward to. Brave looks like a movie every mother should take her young, impressionable daughter to see (Disney! Whooda thunk?), and ParaNorman just looks like some kick-ass fun.