Blood Sin cover art has arrived. The second novel in Blood Chimera, a noir urban fantasy series that will have you redefining the word "vampire," by Jenn Lyons -- available for pre-order today.

Pre-order an ebook copy for Kindle or Kobo. Pre-order a paperback through World Weaver Press. 

And check out book one of the series, Blood Chimera at these retailers: Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Goodreads | Independent Bookstores | Kobo |Omnilit | WorldWeaverPress.com

Wow. There’s only just over a month left to submit to Corvidae and Scarecrow. Where does the time go? Seriously. It doesn’t even feel possible that we could be coming up on the deadline so soon, but the calendar doesn’t lie.

So far Corvidae is getting a lot more love than Scarecrow is. I’ve read about the same number stories for each anthologies but at the time I’m writing this blog post, there are fifteen unread Corvidae stories in my inbox and only one Scarecrow story. My shortlists are of equal length, however: short.

I’m seeing a lot of great stories, but not a whole lot of variety, and to get onto the shortlist a story really has to stand out from the rest. Also? I’m totally missing a whole lot *cough* most *cough* of the things from my wishlists. Let’s look at them again, just in case you’re thinking of submitting but still struggling with what to write and please consider these springboards for your ideas, not rules:

By Amalia Dillin.

I’ve been writing pieces of BEYOND FATE (book three) since before FORGED BY FATE (book one) was even close to finished. Almost from the start of the project that would become Fate of the Gods, I was thinking about Adam and Eve, and the forbidden child they were fated to conceive. I jumped ahead to that part of the story years and years ago, and even while I was putting the finishing touches on the manuscript that became FORGED BY FATE, I was still cheating on it with little bits and pieces of scenes that would eventually turn into the bones of BEYOND FATE.

Of course, those first and earliest writings (I can’t even bring myself to call it a draft, so let’s just refer to it as “source material”) weren’t all workable. Adam, Eve, and Thor’s stories all evolved as I wrote FORGED BY FATE and FATE FORGOTTEN, and even the first real draft of BEYOND FATE, drawn from that source material, wasn’t meant to be. Ultimately, after sending it off to my editor at WWP, and receiving Eileen’s (many, many) excellent notes, I realized that I had to start again and rebuild the book (and the story) from the ground up for a second time.

I’m so happy I did. As a writer, I’d matured and grown hugely from those first drabbles, and even that first draft. What came out of that rewrite was a much, much stronger book — one in which I was finally able to do the Grown-Up-Writer thing, and torture my characters properly. But it isn’t just the torture that I love, it’s also the small fun moments in between. I love how Adam’s character came together, how Eve’s sense of humor surfaces in the strangest places, the way Thor and Asgard were given room to shine, and the opportunity to be seen through new eyes.

BEYOND FATE wasn’t an easy book to get right — or to get written — but the result is definitely something I’m proud of, and I’m so, so excited to be able to share it with you, finally and at last, in all its rewritten glory. There’s no question in my mind that this book was worth every last drop of writerly sweat and tears — and I hope you’ll feel the same about the time you invest in reading it!

Amalia Dillin began as a Biology major before taking Latin and falling in love with old heroes and older gods. After that, she couldn't stop writing about them, with the occasional break for more contemporary subjects. Her short stories have been published by Daily Science Fiction and Birdville magazine, and she's also the author of the FATE OF THE GODS series and HONOR AMONG ORCS, the first book in the Orc Saga. Amalia lives in upstate New York with her husband, and dreams of the day when she will own goats — to pull her chariot through the sky, of course.

Learn more about Amalia at www.amaliadillin.com.

Introduction by Bascomb James.

Noir science fiction emerged at the end of the Golden Age (1938-1950) when a number of established writers began to explore new themes and new science fiction styles. The cynical and stylized perspective of classic noir fiction became increasingly popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Jack Finney’s The Body Snatchers (1955), Harry Harrison’s Make Room! Make Room! (1966), and Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) are some of the best known examples of noir science fiction of the era. Noir SF had a significant impact on science fiction films and the cyberpunk movement that emerged in the early 1980s. “Composition in Death Minor” continues the noir tradition and infuses it with modern tech-based world building. Author K. G. Jewell introduces us to Sophie Devine, a hard-as-nails assassin and concert cellist. She has a job to do and doesn’t like assholes.

K.G. Jewell lives and writes in Austin, Texas. His stories of short speculative fiction have appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show, andUnidentified Funny Objects. He’s working on a novel relating the further adventures of Sophie Devine, cello player and intergalactic assassin. His website, which is rarely updated, is lit.kgjewell.com.

Today Jenn Lyons, author of Blood Chimera and the forthcoming Blood Sin will be doing a live author chat on the awesome paranormal book site Bitten By Books.

If you haven't seen the other posts in Jenn Lyon's official blog tour, she's articulate and has a terribly fascinating explanation of the process that led her to creating the mash-up-vampires of Blood Chimera -- they are, in fact, vampire-monster-chimera creatures. Blood Chimera is a noir paranormal mystery featuring main character Jackson Pastor, a kidnap and ransom expert who's worked in all the world's backwaters -- places where bringing in a K&R expert is the only way you'll ever see your kidnapped loved ones alive again -- he's jaded and capable, an ex-soldier... and a newly minted monster.

The chat starts at Noon Pacific Time (so 3:00 PM EDT) and goes through the evening. Here's the link -- there's also a $25 Amazon gift card being given away to participants and RSVPing gets you an obscene amount of extra entries. 

A short TED ed video on the basics of fantasy world building.