Tag Archives: fantasy

December 23, 2023

New Book–Sun’s Guard: Queen!

By Rebecca M. Horner

Hello everyone! Surprise (or not so surprise if you have been reading Rise of the Lunar Champion) Christmas Eve-Eve post to announce that Sun’s Guard: Queen, the fourth book in the Sun’s Guard series in the Arcana Realms Universe, is officially available for purchase up on Amazon. Here’s the link, and then I’m going to babble for a little bit about the writing process for this book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQTS9N9R

So when I looked at my little blurb for this book to start plotting, I realized structurally it was very different from the other three. There wasn’t a lot of lead up to the final villain, so the supporting plot really had to stand on its own. I also knew that while I had a very, very clear image of the climax, it wasn’t going to be enough to help me do long sessions of writing. I decided to try to write a set amount everyday–250 words was my magic number.

Now, I wasn’t STRICT about this. If I had something happening that I knew was going to give me no writing time, I didn’t push myself to work on it. If every word was a struggle and I only got to 100, okay then. Try for 250 next time. (So it didn’t move and start stacking and create a mountain.) The point was just to keep steady work happening because the big drive wasn’t going to be there like it was with prior books, where I could see certain scenes in my head and I desperately wanted to get to them.

That isn’t to say that I don’t love the book or the scenes that happened. I do. I think it is a solid part of the series, and it’s a good read. It just wasn’t a visible thing in my head this time. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn’t, at least in my experience of the plotting process. Reading it is of course very different, and I can now see it playing out and have favorite scenes. (The scene in the kitchen with shipwreck, I felt so deeply, lol.)

Character-wise, this book has a lot of growth that happens, both on screen and off. Things are very rapidly changing for the set up for the final three books. We also get to meet a character who has been mentioned many times but hasn’t made a physical appearance yet who I hope fans are excited to meet. (Caley also gets a Christmas surprise, which is fun.) I also feel like Caley’s dilemmas in this book are things real teenagers face rather than being magic in any nature. Since Knight was more of that then practical, I really felt like I was calling back to Ten and Page which had direct issues like moving in with a new family or dealing with a bad relative.

Queen is also the first book that I really feel like you can’t just jump in. There’s so many references to events of the first three books, it’s just hard to imagine it not being confusing to me. But that’s as the writer, and your mileage can vary. I was careful with the first three, but this time I lost it, so I imagine going forward, it is going to stay about the same as Queen. Not too bad to make it halfway, though, right?

The cover art is really great. I didn’t have as firm of ideas for this one, and Ginny really found something that worked to make it dynamic rather than odd. I really like the new look of the covers, it just took someone with a more visual/art eye to translate my idea into something that is workable. Not one of my strong suits, I’ll admit it. I don’t do well in decorating in video games either, I try too hard not to crowd things and so it looks too sparse, lol.

Hopefully everyone enjoys the fourth book in Caley’s series and the new covers. I, for one, am glad the craziness of the last year is over and I get a couple months peace before I start Sun’s Guard: King, which is tentatively set to release in January of 2025. (Maybe I’ll release it on my birthday? LOL)

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October 12, 2013

New Story: Threads

By Rebecca M. Horner

I meant to do this last week but… *eyes self* Yeah. I need to get my stuff together over here. Anywho, yes, there is a new story available on Kindle!

Threads is one of my attempts at playing with Greek myths, transporting them into modern times or other such weird quirkiness. I have plans to do something with the Minotaur myths, Selene and Endymion, and then from there we’ll see. It is definitely the more romantic/sickly sweet of the them, though then again, Selene and Endymion keep trying to get a piece of that action too… *whacks at them*

There were a couple of quirks with writing it. One was trying to write flirting. This is where being a social hermit finally bit me in the butt. I tend to get friends by accident rather than by any conscious choice, and if I’ve flirted with anyone, it’s gone right over my head (a trait that Katherine inherits). Thank God I had Mel to help get Zag and Katherine going. After that, I managed on my own fairly well. I really focused on the feelings I wished I experienced when I was her age, or even that I would feel now that I’m older, to a certain extent. I’m a little sappy and a big believer in true love, so I always try to give that to my characters in a romance. I just have to make some of them work for it.

I think I had the most fun writing Persephone and her daughter Melinoe. Rather than the naive damsel or the Stockholm Syndrome sort that she tends to get typecast as, I slid Persephone into a more…sneaky role. Oh, she still is on the naive side, but she also tries to manipulate the world to her own advantage. And her advantage, in her opinion, is whatever it takes to stay with Hades. She is very much in love with him, but was also smart enough to figure out a way to be with him when her mother threw a royal hissy fit. I thought it would make her a good ally for Katherine.

As for Melinoe, well, along with Zagreus and another immortal, they are considered the children of Persephone and Zeus. But I looked at more direct translations, which called their father Zeus Underworld. I honestly think it was meant as a comparison, since Hades is the king of the Underworld just as Zeus is the king of the Heavens. It just got skewed by the view of Zeus and how it doesn’t matter if the goddess is married (to an extent), he will try. Anyway. Melinoe was interesting because of how insane she is. I loved that I could make the threats to Katherine more psychological with her as a midway villain.

Which brings up bad decision number two. I won’t go into specifics, except… Damn it, I should have made Katherine afraid of something that I don’t have a phobia about. I know about having a fear of heights, they justifiably make me nervous, I should have gone with that. But nooo, I had to go with the first thing that popped into mind for a nightmare, and then when Mel said my ending needed more confrontation, it left me only one myth to turn to, the very first Greek myth I ever read. So I guess yay for hitting two myths with one story, but… I gave myself nightmares. Greaat.

Overall, I’m really happy with how this story came out. I had to do a little fighting, I had to do a lot of evaluating human behavior, but I think it came out right. And then comes the fun part: finding an artist to commission for a cover. Because I was doing a straight romance, I actually turned to an artist I knew who specialized them in a way. I’ve been reading The Way to Your Heart, an online manga by Emily Muto, for what I think is over a year (about when Yayoi went off the deep end is when I started reading). Her art has approved so much over the course of the comic so far, and I know she puts all herself into her pieces, which made her the perfect person. And the end result was well-worth it, a bit like she plucked the picture out of my head and just recreated it. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to work with, and if I continue this series, she will definitely be my go-to for future work.

Well, I think I’ve rambled enough. Go check it out for yourself!

Threads on Kindle

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May 16, 2013

New Story: The Last Guardians 3-Guardians Ascending

By Rebecca M. Horner

Currently Working On:
The Shadow Day Quartet Book 1: Bandit’s Escape
Commission References

Yep, it’s official. I’ve finished the Last Guardians! So excited, you wouldn’t believe it.

The delay on me posting both the story and my blog post has two reasons: 1, noble took her time on this book cover, and wow, does the effort show. It looks AMAZING. I especially love how the city stretches out in unorganized chaos, perfect for the Lower Circle. 2, I got swamped in medieval fair stuff and wrapping up not only my own finals, but the finals for my students (I TA for a large class, scary stuff).

That said, I am so proud of this trilogy. (I’m sure I’ll hate it later, but right now I love it.) It wrapped up just the way I wanted to, and not only that, but everything fits together but is capable of standing alone. Writing from Rim’s point of view was definitely interesting. She’s younger than I usually write, and definitely different from writing either of the two Guards. I had to constantly remember the differences, especially since the Upper Circle and the Lower Circle raise completely different children. The ending came out a little differently than I expected, but that was more Rim going down an unexpected career path than anything else.

This is the story where I had the Bell Moment, as I like to call it. I was sitting here, needing something because I’m an IDIOT, and was trying to figure out how to make a signal in the dark, when I remembered a moment-of-random from the second story that was just a very minor detail at the time. My brain went, “OH! OH!” and it solved all my problems. So I call them “bell moments” ever since. Want to know why? Read the story.

Next is the anthology, but first I need to commission noble for both the anthology cover AND a less craptastic cover for the first story. Which means finishing reference pics. But first, must finish Mari’s first story and plot the second so I’m ready for the fall. Well, and finish my video game class this summer, and the summer play… For now, read the final(ish) part of the trilogy!

The Last Guardians: Guardians Ascending on Kindle

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August 2, 2012

MAPS!!!

By Rebecca M. Horner

Currently Working On:
Kindle-Formatting Guardians Ascending
Eresith World Building

So, this post might end up being a little pathetic, because I’m not really talking about anything, I’m updating. But, SQUEE!!! An artist friend of mine, Tristen Anderson, was very, VERY nice (and exceptionally patient) and made a map of Eresith! DOUBLE SQUEE!!!

What this means is if you are a fan of The Last Guardians, you’ll be able to see the Spiral City in relation to the rest of its continent. That is HARDLY the rest of the world… I’ve kinda described Eresith as Saveer’s Europe more than once. There’s a land bridge to a larger, southern continent, and then who KNOWS what’s on the other side of that forest (I don’t want to know, I know there are things besides trees that keep people from crossing it, and that’s enough).

I am SO excited that I’ve gotten a little more of this world fleshed out. The Slayers Empire is a really big deal, since it is so important to the Spiral City’s history, and now I have a whole story that happens there…which is also mildly annoying. Because I’m not certain if Sal (new character) and that crew’s story happens chronologically before my little half-changeling’s trilogy. *le sigh* And I’m not certain if it IS a single story, I’m worried it needs to be a trilogy and that’s… typical.

I’ve color-coded the map in two ways: one is topography, the other is where all the countries lay out. I’m HOPING I’ll get my Spiral City map that I have scribbled somewhere scanned in and up so you all can see that too. 😛 If I do, I’ll just edit this post. I can’t remember which of my notebooks I put it in. But yes, new page on the website coming up in a few seconds! *happy dance*

Edit: I found my scribbles and made them pretty in Photoshop. 😀 So enjoy! And I shifted things around on the site…

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July 21, 2012

New Story: The Last Guardians 2–Guardian Proving

By Rebecca M. Horner

Currently Working On:
World-building the lands of Eresith
Formatting Guardians Ascending for Kindle

Yep, the Spiral City world has a name. The world is Saveer, the continent is Eresith, though it’s a bit like Europe since there’s another part of the continent that I haven’t touched yet, and I know for a fact it has a land-bridge to yet another continent. I may even have a map after this week. ^_^

In other news, the second part of The Last Guardians is up on Kindle! And this one has a much more impressive cover page, thanks to the amazing artist on deviantart, the user noblestallion. I love commissioning her for work, she does amazing pictures. This is the first time she’s done a city scape, but I wouldn’t have known it. (If ANYONE cripes about it being “too perfect,” please remember that this is the Upper Circle, the place that prides itself on being near-perfect.)

For the second story, I knew it had to focus on Liv. But like I said in the first book, she is so passive, it was hard to get her to take the step forward. Which gave me the idea that maybe something needed to happen to give her the initiative to do things herself. So I knew she needed a crime or criminal to deal with that required logical thought and examination of evidence, what she brings to hers and Mai’s partnership, which is how I came to an arsonist.

A character I unexpectedly brought back in was Sul. He was name-dropped in the first story, but I honestly didn’t expect him to reappear…I didn’t even know he was a him to begin with! But he was a fun character to flesh out, especially his different relationships between Mai and Liv respectively. Liv’s grandmother was also a piece of work. Liv herself though was the biggest surprise. She had so much going on, and how she felt about her partnership with Mai and being a guard surprised me. I don’t know if some of it was her getting a couple of years under her belt between this one and the previous story, or if it was just learning more about her, but I became just as attached to her as I am to Mai and Ava.

The Last Guardians: Guardian Proving on Kindle

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June 25, 2012

New Story: The Last Guardians 1–Guardian Seeking

By Rebecca M. Horner

Currently working on:
Getting the world-building for the Spiral City and surrounding areas organized
Getting Guardian Proving formatted for Kindle

Thought I’d start sticking that *points up* in here so you all know what I’m up to. But yes, the first of the Last Guardians trilogy is up on Kindle! *happy dance* Okay, the cover art is temporary, I’m still waiting on the “official” stuff I paid for. I’m still excited for the story to be up. It’s the first in this world, but there’s a LOT that’s going to happen in it.

The story really started with the idea of the city. I loved the idea of a city being so isolated, and so physically divided that it became socioeconomic as well. (See my world building post for more about this process.) From there, the idea came around for the main character, and with the help of my short story professor, Mel Odom, her motivation for going after the serial killer. Mai was such a strong personality, I knew I had to have someone to balance her, which is where Liv came from. A rookie, awkward in her role, I didn’t know a lot about her in this story, but I knew there was a story to her, but I’d have to dig for it and I didn’t have the time for it at the moment. But she helped pull Mai back from being a complete maniac, and slowed her down, as well as showcasing elements of the culture that Mai tends to disregard…Mai is not a polite person.

Writing Mai’s story didn’t feel like any kind of work–and it is definitely Mai’s story. It literally poured out, and I had to force myself to take breaks for important things like food and water. The only thing that kept biting me in the butt for a couple of drafts was the ending. I had a hard time not setting the story up for the trilogy or changing character point of views. Thank God for Mel, who helped straighten me out and get an ending that worked. He also was instrumental in pointing out other slight problems that I didn’t notice while writing it, but would throw a reader off.

Overall, I’m very proud of this story, and that it’s the beginning of my introduction to this world. Mai is the kind of protagonist I like to put out there, strong but flawed, human but willing to go to extraordinary measures for what she believes in. The fact she’s female is just a bonus. 😛 A really, really big bonus.

The Last Guardian: Guardian Seeking on Kindle

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