Cover Reveal for C.L.

Cover Reveal
He’s paid for his addiction. He’s been scarred by his spells. He’s borne magic’s weight, its pleasure, and its guilt. But will he surrender to it when the realm needs him most?
Magic-Borne, the final installment of my epic fantasy trilogy, The Crown of Stones, is almost here! The Crown of Stones follows the trials of Ian Troy; a man struggling with an inborn addiction to magic in a world where magic is reviled, not revered. Have a look at the synopsis and the brand new cover of Magic-Borne by Alan Dingman.
Synopsis:
In one fell swoop, the resistance was shattered. Lives were taken. Hope was lost. Peace slipped like grains of sand through his fingers. So did the Crown of Stones. Now, forced into hiding, Ian Troy grapples for a way to save the realm—and free its people—from the sadistic clutches of Jem Reth; Mirra’kelan’s new self-appointed emperor. Plagued with the knowledge of a tragic future, he strives to influence events and save those he cares for. But his magic has betrayed him, and Fate has other plans.
Scarred by the crown, hindered by the transformation spell contained within, each cast brings Ian one step closer to becoming more beast than man. Each move brings the death and destruction foretold in his vision inexplicably nearer. With Langor on the brink of war, and King Malaq’s plan for peace hanging in the balance, Ian returns to the ancient past; seeking an end to the eldring spell and a means to thwart Jem’s growing domination. What he finds there sets off a chain of revelations that leads Ian places he never thought to go.
Entrusted with the future of his race, Ian becomes the linchpin for lasting change. But how much weight can one man carry? And how much is he willing to sacrifice in the name of peace?

 

Haven’t read book 1? There’s still time to dive into the adventure before book 3 is released!
Book 1
Magic-Price Kindle
Magic-Price PB

Book 2
Magic-Scars Kindle
Magic-Scars PB
Visit my Website to read excerpts from books 1 & 2 and teasers for book 3!
Bio:
C. L. Schneider is a self-published author of adult epic and urban fantasy. The first two books in her Crown of Stones trilogy, Magic-Price and Magic-Scars, are available on Amazon. The third installment will be released in February 2016. She is currently working on Nite Fire, an urban fantasy featuring a shape-shifting dragon hybrid named Dahlia Nite. Married with two sons, C. L. Schneider lives in the scenic Hudson Valley of upstate New York. She spends her days torturing characters, overdosing on coffee, and daydreaming about the zombie apocalypse.

Catch up with C. L. Schneider on social media
Website http://www.clschneiderauthor.com/
Twitter https://twitter.com/cl_schneider
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CLS.Author
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/goodreadscomCLSchneider
Amazon Author Page http://bit.ly/CLAmazonPg
Google +http://www.google.com/+CLSchneider

Post a Picture and DIE!!!!

So, this is going to be a bit of a rant. Just so you’re prepared. It started about a month ago when I came across a picture that really captured the essence of the heroine of my book, The Last Ranger of Sarn. Of course, like almost every piece of art that floats about on the internet, there was no artist signature.

Still, I loved the look and put it on my website. Not as a cover to be released, not as a poster, coffee mug, book marker…absolutely nothing that would make me a penny. I simply put a statement saying what the picture conveyed to me and also asking that if anybody knew the artist, to please let me know. I wanted to buy the pic if possible or at least give the artist credit for doing such a great job.

Yesterday, I get this irate person yelling at me all over facebook and twitter that I had stolen his work and illegally put his image on my webpage. He ordered it taken down…or, I should pay him for having it there. Well, even with his acerbic attitude, I was very tempted to buy the picture. I apologized and started removing it from my website. I even wrote a nice little thing about it on my site where the picture had been explaining I had put it up mistakenly, not with any intention of “stealing” it.

Now, it was a bit late when I started doing it and I had work the next day. I figured I could finish removing it from all of my social media the next day. Oh nooooo… This cheeseball continues the harassment, placing his little attention-seeking rants about how I stole his work and how I was the world’s biggest art thief and so on. He floods my Facebook and Twitter with this nonsense and doesn’t let up for a minute.

Now, I design book covers and I use paid images when I need specific things. Any other pics I use are under Creative Commons license. When attrition is called for, I graciously give it…it’s only fair. I’m not a thief. I’m no more a thief than any of the millions of people that post pictures to their social media pages. But this little twit, has the brass balls to create this huge fuss about it and it had me wondering why.

Then it came to me. He has a total of 8 followers on Twitter. There’s hardly any interaction on Facebook. A handful of connections at LinkedIn. So, despite every effort on his part to act as if he’s a normal person going about his daily life, it seems to me that he’s what’s known as an internet troll. Someone that takes a very small bump and rubs it until it’s the size of Vermont and festering. An attention whore to put it bluntly.

So, take this as a warning. Don’t post pictures. None. Not even the cat with the frown. You might get called out on it. You might wake up with 3 dozen posts on your social media pages about what a terrible human you are. The world will turn against you until you’re just a sad excuse for the person you used to be. And then one day, you’ll open your mail and there it is…poop from the frowny cat. All because you posted a picture.

What’s Happening…

What a time to be alive…at least for me. Besides finding the recipe for bacon-wrapped pineapple stuffed with boneless pork ribs, there are so many things happening. First of all, I’ve gotten myself a big-boy website that I would love for all of you to go see. You can click here and be sure to sign up for the members area.

Lets start with the early spring, like March-ish. My book The Last Ranger of Sarn will be released. It starts the Journals of the Huntress series. It’s under the banner of Snow Leopard Publishing and it proves to be a contender. It’s got a bit of everything in it like an undead army, romance, tragedy, war… all set against a high fantasy backdrop. I’d love to show you the new cover for it, but that comes later…along with a new trailer. I’ll be posting those links here when they become available.

Then, in April it’s time for the 2nd annual Brain To Books Cyber Convention. If you saw last year’s cybercon, you know what a blast it is. There will be tons of freebies and giveaways, lots of authors set to chat about their books, the shape of the writing world, the weather and in some odd cases, what intimates they might be wearing. For those of you that have not been initiated, set foot in Angela’s Corner and get all the facts. By the way, Angela is the fantastic lady that sets all this up and a brilliant author to boot. Her website can be found here.

After that, I’ll be sitting down with my publishers and discussing when the second book of the series, Blood Moon Sacrifice should be released. I’ll be setting up the release of the first book of another story as well. That one is entitled Fire At Dawn and starts the trilogy of the Chronicles of the Free People.

For those that don’t know, all of my works have been self-published. There are eight books in all. Two of them are in the crime genre and one is a collection of short stories and poetry. In addition to all that is going on, I’ll be working on book three of the Huntress series, The Broken King. There is also a cookbook in the wings called The South Philly Smartass Guide To Good Food, another crime drama about narcissism taken to the extreme called Foremost Authority and maybe another short story compilation.

Finally, I expect a slew of interviews after the release of Last Ranger that will cap off in September when there will be a book club video interview conducted by the lovely Aurelia M. Casey. She’ll interview in early September and then she and her club will read and discuss the book in another video at the end of September.

So, as I have said, it’s a great time to be alive. Now, with the help of my wife and daughter, the four hooligan cats and Noob the Wonder Dog, hopefully I can stay alive until this wondrous year is over.

Sunshine Blogger Award

And so, imagine my surprise when my buddy and fellow writer CP Bialois put my name in for this. Everybody knows that when you go in search of sunshine and wholesomeness, I’m the last stop. In fact, as the saying goes, I’m just one big ray of f@*#ing sunshine.

But, the gauntlet was hurled and I’ll stand at my end of the arena and do my part. As I see it, I have to answer some questions and then make up my own questions and hurl them at other bloggers. Heh heh, I knew I would get some kicks from this. Here goes…

Do you write to the TV, music, or in silence?

Well, there’s no music or television. I guess there’s silence in the room however, it’s hardly quiet. My characters have this annoying habit of insisting that they tell the story.

Do you imagine movie stars as your characters? Which ones?

Yeah, this is the weird, spooky part. As I said, they talk to me while I write. Sometimes it takes a while for me to figure whose voice they have stolen. Other times, like in the case of one character named Titan, I know immediately. He channels Sean Connery.

If you could sit down with one author, who would it be?

Without hesitation, it would be my master and inspiration, Mr. J. Ronald Tolkien. I haven’t a clue as to what I would say to him, except thank you for writing the stories that would echo in my head for so many years. To me, his work has always been the beginning and ending of high fantasy.

When’s your creative time?

I’m an extreme early bird and I love the time of day around 5-ish in the morning. The world is just waking and it just smells so clean. It allows me to be very creative in its silence.

What vices do you have when writing?

Well, I’m not sitting around naked and chain-smoking stogies. My worst vice is cursing too much. I never knew it was a problem until I heard my daughter yelling at a driver that honked at us by referring to him as a “dumbass sunuvabitch”. So now, I keep that in check. As for writing, I have an odd ritual. I start with a piping hot cup of Earl Grey tea and 4 (not 3, not 5) Chips Ahoy cookies. I eat, drink and let the voices get started.

So that was my part. I’m bloodied, battered and bruised…but I’m alive! Take that Ed! I made it through. Now it’s time to send this on to other unsuspecting souls.

1. Charles Yallowitz
2. Kristen Lamb
3. Angela B. Chrysler
4. Trista M. Bogwardt
5. Chess Desalls

And my questions are;

• What are your favorite things to wear while writing?
• Who inspires your works?
• How much are your characters a copy of real people? Who are they?
• Are you a planner or a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pantser type writer?
• Aside from what your preferred genre is, what other type genre do you enjoy writing?
• What famous faces are behind your characters? Start the casting call.
• Which modern writer do you find fascinating?
• What famous voice would you like to hear reading your book?

And that’s it. Hopefully this goes on and on and on, until it falls right back into Ed’s lap! LOL, love ya big guy!

 

Q & A with Vespias

In my book, The Last Ranger of Sarn, soon to be published by Snow Leopard Publishing, a few characters expressed a desire to allow our world to get to know them better. They are;