Pax in the Land of Women is currently under review and in a few hours it will be available on Amazon. After hours of writing, reading, re-writing, editing, proofreading, the second book in The Ginecean Chronicles is out. My dystopian world is growing. My characters are roaming free, eager to love, fight, and conquer their fears. The sun is shining outside. Ciao.
The Waiting
Sunday morning, I’ve been awoken since 4:00 AM. Two espressos and two black teas already under the belt, going for the third espresso. Hands shaking, feeling slightly disoriented. Detachment from reality almost complete. Dog’s barking, outside. Rain softly drumming against the window. Green everywhere, fresh air. Summer, but not yet. Today is the day I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Friday Snippet #6
Pax in the Land of Women is coming out this weekend. Just saying…
Just a subtle way to let you know I haven’t written a great deal, in case it wasn’t clear. But, I worked a bit on TCOM and this is a snippet from today’s effort.
Marie shivered.
“Oh, no. Marie, you’re going to be fine. You’re just fifteen.” The redhead smiled at her. “The Captain has never picked a girl who was younger than eighteen. I think there must be some kind of rule.”
“And you’re so slim. Donors are never thin. So maybe, you’ll never be chosen.” Cina took Marie’s hand in hers to give her some comfort. “Look at Verena, she’s the perfect donor.”
“And I’ve just turned eighteen. Lucky me.” Verena nervously laughed.
“Maybe you’re going to be lucky this time.” It was Marie’s turn to console the girl.
“Chances I can escape it forever are slim. I’ll be eligible for seven long years and with my physique it’s almost a given I’ll be a donor sooner or later.”
“But I heard it’s not as terrible as it was for our grandmothers. Now, you won’t come in contact with the sementals at all.” Marie blushed red as soon as she said the word semental.
“Still…”
One Is Not Like The Other
Today I had a busy day doing little. It happens to the best of us. I should mention that it hasn’t rained so far, that should explain it all. But I went for a long walk with my loyal beagle, Nero, and I played with Artrage . This new piece was inspired by the words of one talented Positively Wyrde, the enchanting Bard from Twitter.
Le Me, But Whimsical
I haven’t played with my Wacom tablet in a while. I went for a self-portrait and a makeover at the same time.
Friday Snippet #5
It’s June! The sixth month of 2012 kind of snuck up on me. Yesterday, for the first time in twelve years, after having reminded my son he had a dentist appointment, I forgot myself. I was busy working on Pax; the last stretch of corrections is taking its toll. The document, in all its 106k words, came back proofread four days ago. I implemented all the corrections made and I went jihad on ‘that’. I erased ‘that’ like my life depended on it. I sent Pax back to my editor and she reinstated the 2% of them for clarity reasons. Pax is in my court again for the last reading. Then is out of my hands. Scary, isn’t it?
Despite a blurb I should be polishing and a document I should be reading, I took a vacation from all of it and wrote my 1k for the day. Fresh from the keyboard, here is a little something from TCOM.
Marie saw him coming closer to her, she raised her eyes to look at the same thing he was looking at, and saw the quartered chunks of what had been a big cow hanging from hooks over her hiding spot. He had already taken hold of the biggest piece, when steps resonated from far away and Marie’s name was called several times. He started running, but one of the loose sandals he was wearing slipped away and he almost stumbled. He reached the floor, but to break the fall and save his face from being smashed he had to use both hands and let the meat fall. It landed with a big thud only an inch shy of hitting Marie. He followed his prized stolen possession and found her as well.
“Where’re you, girl?” Verena called from the corridor.
Marie heard her friend, but she didn’t answer. The man had brought one finger to his mouth and was silently asking her to keep quiet. His familiar green eyes were staring at her and he was slowly shaking his head.
“You didn’t see me,” he whispered and, piece of butchered animal on his shoulders, left for the same route he had come from.
Friday Snippet #4
In the last two or three days, I haven’t written a lot. Probably, I needed a break, but it doesn’t feel right. My e-social life on the other hand has thrived and I had time to read the remarkable words of some fellow authors. And that is all good and well.
Today snippet is from TCOM again. Verena has just showed Marie her new living quarters at Redfarm.
Marie shrugged at the recent memories. Idra had saved her from the ire of an elder more than once. “When I’ll be an elder, I’ll never be like them.” A promise she had worded every time Idra had rescued her. Idra. What are you doing now? Dinner time at the Institute had already come and gone. Are you singing by the fire with Joanna and Marcia? They had sung every time one of their friends had left the Institute to learn a profession somewhere else. Are you singing for me? Do you miss me already? Marie had been so excited to leave the Institute, she hadn’t realized she was indeed leaving it for good.
“I never thought bathrooms could get people so emotional.” Verena laughed.
Marie got a glimpse of herself in the mirror and saw her eyes were liquid and a tear was hanging to her eyelashes. “The separate stalls undid me.”
The Muse
Art is a truly universal language. A song, a painting, a sculpture can all call to you in different ways, but when they do, you feel it deep inside your core. When Alessandro started working on Pax’s cover, he found on Deviantart a picture of a sculpture that perfectly matched the story’s mood. I fell in love with the clean lines of the Muse and as soon as Alessandro told me who was the artist behind the sculpture I contacted her. Julie Swan, the talented Australian artist who created the stunning Muse and other equally breathtaking works, graciously gave us permission to use the image for Pax’s cover. Once again, I’m reminded of how generous artists can be. Life wouldn’t be so rich and worth living without the beauty only a piece of art can convey. Thank you, Julie.
Happily Dizzy
Pax is officially in the hand of the proofreader
and I should be writing my daily quota of words for my wips, but I can’t. I’m too happy. It’s paralyzing. In the last three days, I’ve received two, not one, but two, amazing reviews for The Priest. The first is from an author, Javier Robayo who wanted to read it. The second is from a blogger I reached out to. In both cases, I was nervous about the result for different reasons.
Javier I’ve come to know and consider a kindred soul. I never ask people I know to read what I write. I don’t stop anybody, but I don’t encourage them either. It wouldn’t be fair to put them in a situation where they didn’t like the story but still felt they had to say something nice to me. I like honesty, but I understand it’s not easy to tell a friend, “Look, I truly hated your book, because of this, this, and also that.” Therefore, when Javier told me he’d bought the book and wanted to write a review about it, I hoped I didn’t let him down. It seems I have not.
Regarding the second review, I was nervous because I reached out to the blogger asking for her time. Finding bloggers who accept materials that is not YA is a time consuming task. I spend several hours every week looking for a book blogger who is willing to take a look at a science fiction/dystopian title meant for a mature audience. So far, I’ve found only a handful of them. Every time I send a copy to a blogger, I feel I’m sending my baby into the wild without a word of advice. Today, I was surprised to find the blogger’s review on Goodreads, and she didn’t spare nice words. Thankfully, Mauricio passed the test again.
I know the day will come when my books will have terrible reviews. For now, I’m just happily dizzy. Cheers!
Friday Snippet #3
Seven days have passed already. I’ve slept little or nothing, as my mind was busy thinking what I wanted to add in the final editing of Pax. Now that everything is done, I feel at the same time ecstatic and drained, but in a good way.
This week snippet is actually a surprise from my newest wip, one I’ve only started last week. Here is one of the first paragraphs from the T.C.O.M.
“I can’t get away from here faster enough.” She had said that so many times, the other girls had started repeating the words to her as a joke. I really can’t get away from here soon enough. She walked to the end of the room and looked at herself in the long mirror precariously hang to the wall. A pale blond, big blue eyed, freckled-skinned girl looked back at her. “Why you so gloom?” She went back to her bunk bed and jumped on, shoeless feet dangling down toward Idra’s bed. Idra hated when she did that. “Move away those dirty feet from my face.” Marie did that on purpose, she liked when Idra got all mad at her; her dark eyes staring up, her mouth pouting. It was worth the trouble, because Idra couldn’t stay mad long. He laugh was what had attracted Marie to her. Now, someone else was going to sleep over Idra’s bed. This is what I want, a chance to better my life.
Monica La Porta 