Indie Author Day MEGA SALE!!

Indie Author Day Mega Sale

In celebration of the first-annual Indie Author Day, I've put ALL of my books on sale. For one day only (October 8, 2016), every one of my digital books is either FREE or 99 Cents (on Amazon only).

FREE BOOKS (TODAY ONLY):

Emily's Trial
H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath

     

99 CENT BOOKS (TODAY ONLY):

Emily's House
Emily's Heart
H.A.L.F.: The Makers

       

Thanks for reading!

Of Love Quadrangles and Paris

I can't believe it has already been a week since my new book, H.A.L.F.: The Makers launched! It has been one heck of a ride. The Makers had an awesome debut and the first book in the series, H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath, continues to climb up the charts on Amazon. *Happy Dance!*

I did the launch a bit differently this time than I have for past books and I promise to share what I've learned in future posts. Right now I'm busy getting ready to travel to Europe on vacation. I'm so excited!! This will be my first time to Paris and Germany. I'm looking forward to time alone with my guy and some relaxation.

Before I go, here's a little post about writing the relationships in The Makers. And, an excerpt!!

Enjoy :-)

Natalie

When I began planning the H.A.L.F. (Human Alien Life Form) series back in 2010, I created a female protagonist, Erika Holt, and two guys (H.A.L.F. 9, aka “Tex” and Jack Wilson). During the process of writing The Deep Beneath (H.A.L.F. #1), I assumed that I’d have a love triangle going throughout the three-book series.

But oh, how characters can foil plans! I had no idea that The Deep Beneath would end the way that it did. It’s pretty hard to write a triangle when one of the people in the triad flies away in an alien space ship!

Reboot. Book 2, The Makers.

How I see Jack Wilson

As I planned The Makers, a new character developed. Her name is Anna Sturgis, and she’s the niece of Commander Lillian Sturgis, the antagonist in book 1. In The Makers, Jack gets thrust into a situation where he has to be with Anna 24/7.

Given that Anna is the niece of his enemy, Jack wants to hate her. But it’s hard to hate someone when you’re falling in love with them.

Anna Sophia Robb as Anna Sturgis

A challenge for me with this situation is that there are fans of the first book who are rooting for Erika and Jack to end up together. I didn’t want to piss off The “Team Jerika” folks and have people hate Jack for moving on quickly to another relationship. At the same time, I had to stay true to where the story was taking me. 

It turned out that the unexpected relationship between Jack and Anna was my favorite part of The Makers to write. Their relationship builds slowly through time and circumstances. Their flirtations are awkward as flirtations often are. And I think readers will sense Jack’s sincere emotional turmoil as he is torn between his love for a woman he will likely never see again versus his natural attraction to a beautiful and kind woman he spends all day with.

At the end of The Makers, readers will be left wondering what will happen to this quadrangle. Will Jack and Anna end up together despite the odds against them? Will Erika ever come back to Earth? And if she does, will she still love Jack or will she fall or the human-alien hybrid, H.A.L.F. 9?

Excerpt from H.A.L.F.: The Makers (H.A.L.F. #2):

When he woke, the sun was just north of the horizon. The sky was deep coral and lavender with bursts of gold spinning away from a few low, wispy clouds.

He felt bad for snapping at Anna. It wasn’t her fault that his girlfriend had flown away from him in a spaceship or that he couldn’t go home if he wanted to stay out of jail and off Sewell’s shit list.

“Look, I’m sorry I snapped at you. I’m having a bad day, okay?”

Anna nodded and walked toward the restaurant. Her long hair bounced about her shoulders and her hips swayed gently as she walked. The setting sun shone on her hair and made it look like it was somehow lit from within. Jack wondered what it would feel like to run his hands through it.

The parking lot was long and wide, and Anna had parked near the back. There was a huge neon cowboy hovering over the restaurant by a sign that said ‘The Big Texan.’ Another sign announced it was home to the ‘72-Ounce Steak’. Of all the unlikely things Jack had done with Anna Sturgis so far, this was by far the most surreal. It seemed like the last place Miss Spinach Salad would choose to eat. Jack looked toward the horizon in every direction as he walked and realized she likely didn’t have much choice. There was nothing but open range in every direction.

They checked in at the hostess stand set below walls filled from eye level to ceiling with stuffed heads of dead animals. Erika wouldn’t have set another foot further in the place no matter how hungry she was. The thought of her made Jack’s hurt redouble.

The huge menu nearly covered Anna completely as she read it. Jack thought for sure she’d order water with lemon and a salad. But she surprised him and ordered a Shock Top and beef filet.

“I’ll have the same,” Jack said.

The waiter carded him and grudgingly accepted the fact that ‘Steve Harper’ was indeed twenty-two years old that day and of legal age to drink the beer he’d just ordered.

Anna maintained her aloof mask. Jack wished he could reel his angry outburst back in. He hated conflict.

When the beers came, Anna began to take a sip but stopped. She held her glass up. “A toast,” she said.

Jack halted himself from taking the sip he was ready to take. He raised his glass as well.

“To you, Jack Wilson. Happy birthday.”

They clinked their glasses and each took a long draw of the bubbly liquid. It went down smooth and warmed Jack’s insides.

After they sucked down half their beer and made the bread into a pile of crumbs, the mood had lightened considerably. They made small talk about inconsequential things and got into a raging debate about which franchise was better: Star Trek or Star Wars. Jack argued on behalf of Star Wars while Anna made a passionate argument for Star Trek. The truth was, Jack didn’t care. He was just happy to learn that his driving companion liked either. Most girls he’d met wouldn’t have known the difference between the two. Heck, even Erika rolled her eyes if he mentioned Star Wars.

They stuffed themselves with French fries and steak cooked rare. The waiter cleared the dishes, and Jack was getting ready to hit the head when a horde of servers came toward them, singing happy birthday and carrying a piece of chocolate cake with a lit sparkler coming out of the top. Jack had thus far lived his life without having to succumb to the embarrassment of a whole restaurant staring at him while having people sing happy birthday to him off key. The two beers he’d downed made him chill with it.

The sparkler reflected in Anna’s twinkling eyes as she sang along with them. She smiled, and the fire cast a soft glow on her pink skin. Maybe it was the beers talking, but Jack had the urge to kiss her. It was like for a brief moment, he was living someone else’s life. If someone was looking at them, they might think the two were boyfriend and girlfriend out for a special meal to celebrate his day. Kissing her would look natural. Be natural.

If she was his girlfriend. If his girlfriend wasn’t a billion miles away.

Jack forced the thoughts of Erika down and put a smile on. The sparkler died down and the magic of its fire was gone. Anna was a business companion forced on him by the situation, and he was no more than that to her. She was making the best of it. He should too.

He dug into the gooey cake and shoved the plate toward Anna so she could eat some as well. She ate a bite. A smile crept across her face as the sugar dissolved in her mouth.

“If we keep this up, I’m going to be as big as a house by the time this is over.” She took another huge bite.

Jack answered by digging his fork into the chocolate fluff icing. It wasn’t the eighteenth birthday he’d imagined or how he’d hoped to usher in adulthood. But he figured he’d always remember it, drinking beer and eating cake with one of the wealthiest and most beautiful women in the world.

They got into the car and Anna undid the top button on her jeans. Jack laughed and did the same.

They found a cash-only hotel. Jack was both relieved and disappointed when Anna requested a room with two beds. They wormed their way into sleeping bags so they didn’t have to take their chances with getting bedbugs. As Jack drifted off to sleep that night of his eighteenth birthday, he decided that life was better when he kept himself in the here and now without thoughts about his past or his future. Without thoughts about Erika and what might have been.

In the here and now, he had spent a very pleasant evening with a woman that, as it turned out, was an amiable companion. He was now Steve Harper. Jack Wilson’s past was full of might-have-beens. His future held the prospect of going up against Croft’s men to liberate Alecto, who was just as likely to kill him as help him. With his belly full of good food and drink, and Anna lightly snoring next to him, Steve Harper contentedly slept away the last few hours of Jack Wilson’s eighteenth birthday.

Exploring Modern Mythology: Aliens are the New Gods

When writing fantasy and sci fi stories, writers often tap into the great and glorious world of time-honored mythology to anchor their books in the fantastic. I accessed this ancient well of story fodder in my first series, The Akasha Chronicles, steeped in Celtic mythology and lore. It was great fun to research ancient myths and legends and explore how they still speak to us in our modern world.

But when I set out to write a new science fiction series (H.A.L.F.), I decided to focus on modern myth, legend and lore by focusing on alien mythology and the government conspiracies related to it. When writing H.A.L.F., I assumed that the myths surrounding the Roswell crash event were true. What if a flying saucer crashed in the desert on a ranch near Roswell in 1947? What if the military did, in fact, recover not only crash debris but also alien bodies?

It’s against this “mythical” backdrop that H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath is set. I chose not to create wholly new myth, but to add my own spin to some of the now nearly universally known stories of alien encounters.

I’ve been fascinated with all things mythical, paranormal and supernatural since childhood. I read every book in my school’s small library in the “Supernatural” section. I think I read A Wrinkle in Time two or three times.

Roswell Crash, Roswell UFO Museum

It’s no surprise that as an adult I’m intrigued by alien mythology (and my own sighting of the “Phoenix Lights” in 1997 fueled this further). As I read books on the UFO phenomenon, MUFON newsletters, toured the Roswell museum, and watched every documentary I could find about ET’s and UFOs, the more fascinated I became with the idea that a new mythology has developed over the past seventy years or so. Aliens have become our new “gods”. The idea that we were created not by a divine being or merely by the process of natural selection, but that we exist due to ancient aliens meddling with the gene pool on Earth has grown from fringe thinking to reality for many people. This thinking has been popularized and perpetuated by writers such as Erich von Däniken (Chariots of the Gods), Zecharia Sitchin (The 12^th Planet and other books), and by the show “Ancient Aliens” on the history channel.

Keeping with the idea that aliens have become our new “gods”, ETs almost always have “supernatural” powers of some kind. The idea that a being from out there – from the heavens – will descend to our plane, possess powers beyond our own and become a savior is a popular theme of legend and myth. The continued popularity of characters such as Superman and Thor (both aliens) attest to the idea that humans look to “out there” to help us solve our problems. We can’t seem to get enough of these humanoid characters that are relatable yet better than we are. They’re smarter, stronger, and have abilities we can only dream of. Perhaps these characters fulfill our wishes, dreams and desire to be bigger and better than ourselves. Or maybe it’s our fear of the dangers that plague our world – from natural disasters to war and terrorism – that fuels our unquenchable need for superheroes to descend from the heavens and help us out of this mess.

H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath, Audibook 

I had all of this in mind when writing The Deep Beneath. The story centers on a human main character, Erika Holt, and a human-alien hybrid character, H.A.L.F. 9 (aka Tex). In the first draft, Tex was a bit cute. He was more a mix of E.T. and Paul than like the murderous aliens in “Independence Day”. But as I got deeper into the project, I realized that a “cute” alien-human didn’t work. He was, after all, created (in my fictional world) to be a weapon. He’d been intentionally deprived of normal social interactions with humans and his education and access to information limited to what his creators deemed relevant. He needed to be more dangerous and less cute.

While reworking the character, I endowed Tex with telekinesis. It seemed a logical ability for him to have as he has far greater intelligence than a typical human (and a trait often linked to the greys which is where Tex’s alien DNA comes from). Tex has access to regions of his brain that most humans aren’t even aware they have. Tex has some other abilities but I’ll leave those as a surprise for the reader!

But I think the overarching reason that I write –and read – science fiction is to examine, through “alien” eyes, what it means to be human. Through alien characters, we can look at ourselves. Maybe this is what makes them so much fun to read, watch – and to write.

Writer Wednesday: How Losing Your Virginity is Like Writing Your First Novel

"The Birthday"
by Marc Chagall, 1915

If you follow this blog, you know my fourth book, H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath was released in January (see more about that here). As I prepare to write my fifth novel, I am plagued with what has now become the familiar feeling of fear about the blank page. The worry of "can I do this" doesn't seem to go away no matter how many times I conquer the mountain of crafting a novel.

And lately there's an added feeling. At first it was a vague worry, but soon grew to outright fear.

Is the spark gone?

Is there such a thing as a well of creative energy that we draw from but which can run dry?

And that got me thinking about sex. I'll get back to the sex part in a minute, but first a bit more about writing.

While writing my first novel (Emily's House), I felt immersed in magic. Granted, Emily's House is about a girl with magical abilities and she goes to a mysterious other dimension and time travels and what not. It wasn't just the subject matter that was magical though.

The process itself was like falling into a rabbit hole. Frightful at first, yes. But oh how amazing as the mysteries were revealed. It felt like magic. I vividly recall sitting at my desk, writing feverishly, my fingers unable to keep up with my mind. It was as though I had been transported to a divine place called "Creativity", fueled by a meandering stream of the imagination.

While writing H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath (my fourth book), the dark hand of fear took hold of me. The writing was less feverish and more measured. Where was the feeling of divine "Creativity"? What happened to the meandering stream?

The process of writing was still pleasurable. In ways perhaps more so. I didn't stress so much about where to put things or if I was doing it right. I had experience to guide me.

Yet I had this nagging concern that because I did not feel the strange, mysterious upwelling of creative energy, the story was not going to be as good. Would the writing be flat?

But as I rewrote, revised, got feedback, rewrote again, revised, etc., I saw that I had, in fact, written my best novel yet. And my loyal readers agree with me. Their praise of my craft shows that my writing has gotten better, not worse.

And now what I promised. Talk of sex.

Writing a novel is like having sex.

You never forget your first time. The first time was likely awkward and fumbling. But memorable.

To a virgin, sex - like writing - is a mystery. You wonder about it, consider it. Think about it (a lot) and long for it. You imagine what it will be like (over and over again), picturing in your mind an amazing upwelling of passion that culminates in the most beautiful moment in your life.

Oh, the build up. The excruciating anticipation.

And then it happened and it was …

Nice. Or maybe just okay. For some, downright terrible.

But memorable. You always remember your first time. It was the time that the mysteries were revealed. 

The thing about first times? They only happen once.

But if sex was never as good - as pleasurable - as the first time, some may never do it again. Instead, sex gets better with experience, not worse. And better and better. So we keep doing it because it doesn't stop feeling good. The pleasure does not end after the initial mysteries are revealed. 

We discover more mysteries. It's no longer a meandering stream but a never-ending well of discovery.

The first time may be the most memorable, but practice makes perfect. For both writing and sex.

Did this article make you think about sex or writing? :-) Please feel free to share your thoughts but remember, this is a PG blog so please keep the comments clean.

H.A.L.F. Is HERE! New Sci Fi Book by Natalie Wright

H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath
by Natalie Wright

What does it take to write a novel?

For my most recent novel, the stats are something like this:

Four years, three complete rewrites, four Moleskine notebooks, hundreds of cups of coffee, three content editors, six beta readers, several bottles of wine, two different covers, a gazillion Reese's cups, a trip to the Roswell museum of UFOs in New Mexico, and hundreds of hours with my butt glued to a chair, fingers virtually numb from typing.

There may be a few exaggerations in there, but it's mostly true. ;-)

But all the hours lead to this moment of Yay! Hooray! Booyah!

H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath e-book is available for pre-order on Amazon. *raises a glass and drinks* If you'd like to order your Kindle copy, click the Amazon link, hit pre-order and boosh! It'll be delivered to your account on 1/29 when it releases.

And, for those of you that enjoy the feel of paper in your paws, the paperback is available now on CreateSpace and Amazon. I've even got a spiffy coupon code for CreateSpace. Just enter this coupon code for 25% Off. You're welcome ;-)

And what's this? A hardcover is coming you say?

Yep. Hardcover baby. The firm feel and weight of a hardcover will roll your way in early March.

It's time to party. To raise the roof. To bask in the glow of pulling that manuscript kicking and screaming into the world!

I really did have a blast writing H.A.L.F. It's the most fun book I've written so far and I hope that readers have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

I'd love to hear what you think. Reviews on Amazon are a plus. Dropping me a line or comments for bonus points.

Now time to get back to work. I have four more books to write in the H.A.L.F. series. :0

From the Back Cover:

H.A.L.F. 9 has taken his first breath of desert air and his first steps in the human world. Created to be a weapon, he proved too powerful for his makers, hidden from humans and sedated. But H.A.L.F. 9 has escaped the underground lab he called home, and the sedation has worn off. He has never been more alive. More powerful. Or more deadly.

Erika Holt longs to ride her motorcycle east until pavement gives way to shore. She bides her time until graduation when she’ll escape the trailer she shares with her alcoholic mother and memories of her dead father. But a typical night in the desert with friends thrusts Erika into a situation more dangerous than she ever imagined.

Circumstances push the two together, and each must make a fateful choice. Will Erika help H.A.L.F. 9 despite her “don’t get involved” rule? And will H.A.L.F. 9 let Erika live even though he was trained to kill?

The two may need to forget their rules and training if either is to survive the dangers of the deep beneath them.

Judge this Book by the Cover - VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE & WIN!

It's time to judge a book by the cover! Those of you who follow my blog know that I'm working on a science fiction novel, The Deep Beneath, the first in the H.A.L.F. Trilogy. I'm hoping to have it in the hands of readers in May (*crosses fingers*).

My cover artist for this project, Derek Murphy, has created some draft covers. I don't know which concept to choose!? Can you help me decide?

Cover Option 1

Cover Option 2

Cover Option 3

Please submit your vote in the comments below by stating whether your favorite is Option 1, Option 2 or Option 3. And let me know what you like and what you don't like about these design concepts.


But wait! Why not make a contest out of it?! If you pick what ends up being the winning cover, you'll be entered into a drawing to win a signed ARC of The Deep Beneath!


Rules & Fine Print for the Contest: In order to win, you must leave your e-mail address either in your comment OR sign up for my newsletter (at the very top of my blog on the right side). Winner will be picked at random from all those who voted for the winning cover.


Thanks everyone!