NobleDead.org - High/Dark Fantasy Fiction by Barb Hendee and J.C. Hendee

Official site for the high/dark fantasy books of authors Barb Hendee and J. C. Hendee, including the Noble Dead Saga (a.k.a. The Noble Dead series), the Mist-Torn Witches series, the Vampire Memories series, and TNDS: Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga.

NEWS FLASH: New Books, Now You See Them…Oops, No You Don’t.

This morning, Barb came across the following article in the New York Times. Though it pertains to print books in physical bookstores (at this time), it is of interest to both readers and writers where print and electronic books are concerned for the future.

Special arrangements for display space and/or positioning of new books in bookstores has been the standard for a long time. This new battle affects wholesale purchase of books before display arrangements are made… specifically which books (or which author’s books) a vendor will purchase based on past sales records.

This is too close to the issue of vendor-based “culling” that J.C. speculated on in our recent edition of the “Writer’s Corner.” Chilling stuff for how it will affect which new books—and new authors—you will (or not) discover in stores into the future. So how long before the same happens in online stores? Please have a look right now!

Orders Cut, as Publisher and Retailer Quarrel
By LESLIE KAUFMAN
Published: March 22, 2013

Writer’s Corner: This Decade’s Challenge for Authors is… Exposure!

17889273-young-nude-woman-showing-open-book-to-you-isolated-on-whiteNo, not exposing themselves (come on now) but their books. J.C. here, this time, with some thoughts on this scary (rather than titillating) topic.

How is it that a reader (of fantasy or other premise genre) discovers not just a new book but maybe a new author? Both the casual shopper and the specific fantasy shopper are of great concern here. Neither are served by online stores the way they used to be served by physical stores. The author, as well as the reader, is shorted by this. Let us face some assumptions in place of hard facts...

Coming Next January… A Wind in the Night

S3B2_usaThe final detail—the title—of the next volume in the Noble Dead Saga has been settled after consulting with our editor. Series 3, Book 3 is officially titled…

A Wind in the Night

We will add it to the books listing at NobleDead.org, though further details are still pending. This next volume will again contain three stories intertwined.

You will briefly step back to the end of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark and catch up from there with Wynn Hygeorht, Chane Andraso, and Chap’s daughter, the black majay-hi called called Shade… as well as one other character we will not mention for fear of spoilers linked to the current book.

Nested within the first tale is a second one out of the past providing missing pieces and possible implications of how that fourth character was transformed. All four of these protagonists stumble upon a new adversary, perhaps linked to an old enemy they have faced more than once. And in their search for clues to another orb, they must protect a young sage from his own past.

MW1_usaAnd of course, the third tale intertwined with these two moves forward with Magiere, Leesil, and Chap, as they head onward in their own search for another orb, one of the lost Anchors of Creation. Along the way, something else begins to change with one of their other two companions that presents them with a puzzle. And there are more threats to their endeavors than they may be aware of.

As soon as cover art, content description, or other details come available for S3B3: A Wind in the Night, you will hear of it first if you stay tuned to various Noble Dead news and social outlets. In the meantime, do not forget that a whole separate series of adventures in the world of the Noble Dead begins in less than six weeks.

Excerpts for the first volume in the new Mist-Torn Witches series by Barb are now available in the “Books” page at both NobleDead.org and BarbHendee.org.

The Writer’s Corner: Authors and Their Books (and other Fairytales from the Internet)

J.C. here to introduce Barb’s new entry in this article series. You might think the internet’s rapid growth makes information more accessible to all. “Information” is not the same as “fact” or “truth.” Add in that the amount of misinformation (and disinformation) is growing exponentially, and the internet now empowers rumors like nothing else before it. It is probably not surprising to any of you that there are people who actually think those rumors are true… a fact.

All of this applies to what some readers think about authors and their works. Worse so, now that the e-self-publishing craze is approaching critical mass. Perhaps too many (or more) think all authors are now self-publishing every work that appears for sale on the Internet.

Does anyone look at the publisher of the works they purchase? Do they realize that the author is separate from what is listed there? Okay, so a lot of the e-self-publishers are faking that part with a made up imprint or house in order to look like a professional publisher produced the “product,” but still…

Here is a little tale from Barb concerning a reader who came across a listing for the coming first book in The Mist-Torn Witches series. The topic of Barb’s post might even become the first in a subseries about myths concerning authors and their works. I hope not too many of you are surprised by what we (still) hear about how people think we authors work and play…

The Mist-Torn Witches… A Preview

MW1_usa

A while back, we decided to discontinue hosting book “excerpts” at our sites, NobleDead.org and BarbHendee.org. Such are available at all online vendors for the ebook editions of our works. Hosting our own excerpts seemed redundant, but things change..

Excerpts of the first volume in the coming Mist-Torn Witches series are now available at both of our sites. Go into either site’s “Books” page, select the book’s title in the right-hand menu, and you will see the link directly below the book’s cover. Click it, and the excerpts will appear in an overlay panel. The prologue and the first two chapters are ready for you!

So now you have a little something to tide your over until MW1: The Mist-Torn Witches hits the shelves this coming May.

Noble Dead Raffle #6 — AND THE WINNER IS…

S3B2_gold_ribbon444Cheryl Minekime wins the surprise fourth signed hardbound first editions of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark.

Even now, Cheryl’s prize is in the mail and on its way to her doorstep. This concludes the sixth and final round of this current series of six raffles for signed volumes from the Noble Dead Saga.

Once again, we wish to thank all of you who got involved in this raffle series. If you were not one of the lucky winners, do not be too sad. More raffles will come in the future, one of them tentatively scheduled for late May.

And now it is time for Barb and J.C. to get to work on more offerings to come. Stayed tuned for some more breaking news to come later today, now that J.C. has finished a tiny bit more code work on our sites.

Noble Dead Raffle #6 — NOW CLOSED!

S3B2_red_ribbon_thumb214The current raffle for a signed hardbound first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark ended as of midnight last night. Hopefully all of you got your entry in before the deadline.

The winner selected via use of Random.org has been notified via email and has 48 hours to respond with verification of shipping address. If no response is received, a new winner is selected and verification repeats. Come Monday we should have either a winner to announce or notification of a redraw process. And now…

Noble Dead Raffle #6 — FINAL NOTICE

S3B2_red_ribbon_thumb244There is about 17 hours left in the Sixth and final raffle for a signed hardbound first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark. It all ends tonight, Friday, at Midnight PST. So if you have not entered yet…

Please see the “original post” and follow the instructions so your entry is confirmed in your first submission.

This raffle is only open to participants in the USA.

Tales Update, and What’s to Come

HW5_Tales_Logo_1284We have not done a general update since before the first of the year for “Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga.” There are a few changes to come, though they will not affect our current readers.

One thing noticed is that though these privately published short stories and novellas are doing fairly well, their readership is pretty limited to fans of the Noble Dead Saga. We would like to see Tales reach a slightly broader audience. We do our best to make them accessible to anyone, including those who have never read any volume of the saga. And so, some changes will be made to Tales “packaging” where coming works are concerned…

Noble Dead Raffle #6 — NOW OPEN!

S3B2_red_ribbon_thumb2_thumb337It is time for the sixth and final raffle in this series for books from the Noble Dead Saga. And since we know some people still want it…

For the fourth time, the prize is a signed hardbound first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark. Please follow the instructions below so your entry is confirmed on the first submission.

This raffle is open to only readers in the USA.