Scavenger Hunt!

Sponsored by Infinite Worlds of Fantasy Authors.

Tons of authors and tons of prizes, including three Grand Prizes of $100 gift certificates to your bookseller of choice.

My individual contest features a paperback copy of Starchild. Remember, it's SHINY!!

Run, don't walk... enter now!

Have fun, and happy holidays!

New Review for Where There's a Will

"Pick up this book and enjoy the highlands of Scotland and fall in love yourself with two of the best characters that I’ve met in a while."--Missy, Fallen Angel Reviews

Read the full review here.

It's Here!

Starchild is now available in paperback! I got my author's copies last week, and they are shiny.


A no-nonsense starship captain and a billionaire financier, Fairfax and Cavendish are the ultimate odd couple. Until an insidious government conspiracy leaves them with nothingexcept each other. When financier Harrison Fairfax boards the EarthFed starship Starchild, Captain Trieka Cavendish knows he'll bring trouble. Earthlubbers always do. But she has no idea "trouble" will come in the form of a vast government conspiracy that will turn her whole world upside down. Harrison Fairfax has spent the past seven years trying to find out what happened to his wife, an investigative journalist. But his wife's disappearance is only the tip of the iceberg. What lies beneath is biggerand much, much worse. It's a conspiracy reaching to the highest echelons of EarthFed. Government strongmen, who are on to Fairfax's meddling, drive him and Cavendish into the wilds of the colony planet Denahault, where they discover even more secretsand a passion that may be the only thing that can save them.

a Note from All Romance eBooks

Support for a worthy cause. Check it out!

*****

The idea that nature should be preserved is important to us here at All Romance eBooks. It's a core value and one of the reasons that we adore eBooks. We care about our carbon footprint, the world we live in, and the world that we're leaving to future generations. When we decided to create a gift calendar to entice some charitable giving this holiday season, it seemed a natural choice (no pun intended) to feature celebrating the beauty of men to preserve the beauty of nature.

Basically here's how it works: People donate $5.00 towards our charity fund and they get to select a free gift. Either a set of 2009 wallpapers or a 2009 wall calendar. If they choose the print calendar, they pay S&H. We donate the $5.00 to Conservation International. That's it!

New Earthchild Review

Vi Janaway, at Romance Reviews Today, just posted a lovely review for Earthchild.

"EARTHCHILD, the sequel to STARCHILD, is sweet and hot, a lovely tale of wonder, discovery, and re-discovery of what is truly important.... I liked this adventure story. Katriena Knights has written a well-blended delight of love and passion between two strong characters. I recommend it."

Read the full review here.

RIP to a fine author

I'm saddened this week by the passing of Tony Hillerman, author of the Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn series of mysteries. I was introduced to Hillerman by my mother, and quickly fell under the spell of his plain but poetic prose and layered representation of the Navajo nation.

If you haven't read any of his books, give them a try. He was really a masterful writer.

New Review for Where There's a Will

I just received a lovely review from LauraJ at The Good, The Bad and the Unread.

"I really enjoyed reading this. Ms. Knights brought Scotland vividly to life through her description of the country and the people who live there. In some books, authors try too hard to capture the Scottish accent that it becomes overwhelming and confusing for readers and sometimes distracting. I never once felt this way in this story. Malcolm will probably end up on my top heroes of 2008....

"I’m really hoping that Ms. Knights will write more contemporary romantic comedies (especially set in Scotland). This was a really fun book and enjoyable book that kept me turning the pages well past my bedtime. Now to convince my husband to take me to Scotland."

Read the full review here.

Thanks, Laura, for such a great review!

Ghosts!!

I wrote a short article for Samhain Publishing's newsletter, the Samhellion, discussing ghosts in Scotland and my new book Where There's a Will. Check it out here, at the Samhellion archive.

KK on the RADIO!

Is that anything like TV on the Radio? Right, probably not...

Anyway...

If you missed my appearance on BlogTalkRadio on Monday night, it's now archived here. It was a fun interview. It's about a half hour long, and I talk about current books, old books, and possible upcoming books, as well as a bit about the inspiration for and writing of Where There's a Will. Drop by and have a listen!

KK on the Radio! Reminder

Don't forget—tonight I'll be appearing on All Romance eBooks' "What's Hot in Romance" Blog Talk Radio Show this Monday night at 9:30 EST. I'll be answering potentially embarrassing questions and possibly reading an excerpt from Where There's a Will. I hope you'll join us!

KK on the Radio! And a Chat

I'll be appearing on All Romance eBooks' "What's Hot in Romance" Blog Talk Radio Show this Monday night at 9:30 EST. I'll be answering potentially embarrassing questions and possibly reading an excerpt from Where There's a Will.

Also, tonight at 9 EST I'll be chatting at Coffee Time Romance, with other Samhain Authors.

I hope you'll join us.

Where There's A Will--Now Available!

Where There's a Will is now available from Samhain!

The terms of the will seem crazy…until she meets the man to fulfill them.

When Chloe Sullivan’s great uncle dies, leaving her his house and a not-quite castle in the Highlands of Scotland, Chloe’s more than willing to take a vacation across the pond to check it all out. When she gets there, she finds out there’s a catch—if she wants to keep her inheritance, she has to marry a Scot.

And her great uncle even left her a suggestion as to who.

Malcolm MacTavish is taken with the lovely, straightforward Chloe the moment he sees her at the airport. But they can’t enjoy more than a brief fling, since she’s planning to go back to the States. The more he gets to know her, though, the more he wants to try to change her mind.

Until he finds out about the will…

Warning: This title contains a Highland fling (a.k.a explicit sex), Scottish accents and gratuitous jokes about the Loch Ness Monster.

Starchild Paperback Available for Pre-order

While I was poking around amazon.com looking for links, I discovered that the paperback version of Starchild, from Samhain, is available for pre-order. It releases on 11-25—pre-order it here, cause you know like a gazillion people are going to try to buy it on release day... :-D

For Those Who Kindle...

If you've succumbed to the shiny, shiny lure of the Kindle e-reader and are looking for reading material, Samhain books are available in Kindle editions. Including mine! Check them out at the following amazon.com links:

Starchild

Earthchild

Interesting Article on Language Evolution

This article, about the evolution of the English language as it collides with other cultures, appealed to the linguistic geeky side of me.

It's an interesting thought--how much will the language change in the next few centuries? Will readers of the future look back at today's books and be perfectly capable of reading the text, or will they struggle with it and need copious notes to understand what's being said? Will it be equivalent to a 21st century person reading Jane Austen, or to a 21st century person reading Chaucer? Or, even more extreme, equivalent to a 21st century person reading untranslated Beowulf? Or will all fictional experience be beamed directly into the brain, making the entire question irrelevant?

One has to wonder... Well, one doesn't have to, but it's still an interesting thought. If you're a geek.

Submissions

Well, I finished a book rewrite and submitted it to my editor. We'll see what happens--I haven't heard back yet, but if there's any news I'll be sure to let you know. In the meantime--on to the next project!

New Cover!

The cover for Where There's a Will is officially posted at Samhain now, so I can share it here.

Publication Date: October 7, 2008
Cover art by Angela Waters

The terms of the will seem crazy…until she meets the man to fulfill them.

When Chloe Sullivan’s great uncle dies, leaving her his house and a not-quite castle in the Highlands of Scotland, Chloe’s more than willing to take a vacation across the pond to check it all out. When she gets there, she finds out there’s a catch—if she wants to keep her inheritance, she has to marry a Scot.

And her great uncle even left her a suggestion as to who.

Malcolm MacTavish is taken with the lovely, straightforward Chloe the moment he sees her at the airport. But they can’t enjoy more than a brief fling, since she’s planning to go back to the States. The more he gets to know her, though, the more he wants to try to change her mind.

Until he finds out about the will…

Adventures in Reading

About a month ago or so, I bought an eBookwise e-reader. I've since devoured several books and a boatload of fan fiction on it, and I have to say I'm really enjoying having a portable library in my purse everywhere I go. Also, I've discovered that turning off my bedroom light and reading for a bit in the dark is a really good way for me to wind down and go to sleep. Although I've also discovered that the backlight attracts moths....

New Business Models--and Good Music, Too!

I've been following Christine Kane's music for a few years now, ever since I ran across her CDs in the library (I was looking for Christian Kane, but that's an entirely different story). She's a singer-songwriter with a folkey bent--I'd compare her to Patty Griffin in style and vocal quality. And she's really good.

She's also an independent artist trying out a new business model with her upcoming CD. On Be My Record Label, she's asking for pre-orders from fans to finance the release (packages include everything from just the CD itself to a package that includes a private concert and a song written just for you). In return, she's offering a fascinating look into her creative process, discussing all the steps of how a song comes together, and even vetting early draft versions of the songs to be included in the album, so those who have pre-ordered and are financing the album can comment on them as they come together.

I've been dropping by her site for a while (and yes, I have pre-ordered my album), and I'm finding it fascinating, both from the perspective of her creative process and her business model. At the same time, I've been thinking about how this might apply to publishing. The Internet has completely changed all the ways we can get our work out there, and the ways we can interact with readers. More and more creative folks are taking advantage of this to find a path outside the traditional big publisher/author relationship (or big record label/musician relationship--I find it interesting that more musicians than writers seem to be experimenting with all these exciting possibilities).

So drop by Christine's blog and her Record Label site. She's got free music for download so you can check out her stuff. If you like what you hear, buy a CD or two, and think about pre-ordering the new CD. Because I, for one, want to hear it--and many, many more in the future.

Why I Save Everything...

I've been working on tweaking a manuscript for submission, one I wrote quite some time ago that I've rewritten a couple of times since. When I hit a very important scene near the beginning of the story (the hero and heroine's "first time"), I realized it really wasn't working. The dynamic of the scene was totally wrong, and didn't fit the message I was trying to get across.

Faced with having to rewrite the whole scene, I started dithering. Then it occurred to me that, in an earlier draft, I had taken a completely different approach, one that I thought would fit much better with my new ideas of the story. Lo and behold, there was my earlier draft, saved from a desktop that's no longer with us, transferred to a laptop that I'm not using too much anymore, in a folder sitting on my external server where I'd backed everything up. One quick FTP from the server to my Mac, and I've got that old draft in Scrivener where I can cannibalize it.

Sometimes it's good to be a packrat...

More on Writing Process

While I'm working on tweaking a new manuscript to send to my editor, here's an interesting article on the writing process. This is very similar to the way I work, except lately some of my first drafts have been so riddled with plot holes I feel like I have to start over from scratch to get to draft two... My life, so hard.

Another Helpful Link About Promo

On this blog, a thriller/horror author discusses promotional strategies and different ways to get your name out there so people can find your books. If you're like me, you find all this a little overwhelming, especially when it's so hard even to eke out time to write, much less promote. But take a look, and weed out the ideas that'll work for you, and after a while you'll have a workable promotional strategy that'll keep your books moving into the hands of readers.

Cartoons for Writers

This is a fun blog with a cartoon called "Will Writer for Chocolate," which features writers. And it's funny! Check it out.

New Review for Starchild

"Ms. Knight’s writing is smooth and descriptive without being heavy-handed, a neat trick in a genre that can sometimes get mired in technospeak.
"Starchild is more sensual than spicy, but at about 82k words, it’s a satisfying read with plenty of excitement to keep you turning pages."—Seanachie, Erotic Romance Reviews

Read full review here.

And buy the book OVER HERE! :-)

What KK is Up To

This week, I'm working on the galley proofs for the paperback release of Starchild, scheduled for late November. (I might have said October before, but that is incorrect.) I'm very much looking forward to seeing the final product.

Infinite Worlds of Fantasy Authors

Here's a new one-stop shop if you're looking for info on your favorite authors of fantasy and speculative fiction--with a decided slant toward romance and erotic romance. Lots of awesome authors featured here, including yours truly, of course...

Drop by and take a look!

Multitasking

I almost always have several writing projects going at once, just because my brain seems to work better that way. If I'm a bit blocked on one, I can move over to another. And I try to have one thing in progress that's in a phase that doesn't require much thinking. Because there will always be days like today. when I don't feel all that great, but really want to accomplish something aside from going home early from work and being unconscious. So I have one very long book that I wrote quite a while ago that I'm re-reading and re-organizing in Scrivener so I can do some changes to it and hopefully submit it. So, even though my creative brain is a little bogged down at the moment, I can still make some forward progress between naps...

Website Revamp

I spent a good part of Saturday redesigning my website. I originally put the design together back when 1024 pixels was plenty wide enough for a background graphic, but sense then default resolutions on most screens have gotten big enough that the background was tiling. So I redesigned the layout so I could still use the same picture, but with a neater layout. I kept the castle picture because I'm a bit attached to it--I took that shot of Edinburgh Castle when I was in Scotland back in '86, so it has sentimental value.

Drop by and take a look!

Font Humor

This video completely cracked me up...

Font Conference.

Earthchild Trailer

I spent a couple of weekends fiddling with a new trailer for Earthchild. Normally I can do these in an evening, but this was my first time with iMovie, and I also did the music in Garage Band, which was a bit time-consuming. I probably won't use iMovie for future trailers, because I'm not completely happy with its limited options, but I think it came out pretty well for a first effort.

Take a look:

An Interesting Thing of...um...Possible Interest?

I'm not sure I get this, but maybe it'd help me type faster?

Where There's a Will

I've gotten a sneak peek at the cover art for Where There's a Will, upcoming from Samhain Publishing in October, and it's beautiful. I can't wait to share it with you all. :-)

How To Write a... Movie? Book? Anything?

The title of this article is How to Write a Movie, but I think there's a good deal of advice there that could be followed for writing a book, as well. Especially the bit about rewrites, read read read, and casting in your head. (Hey, I do that--doesn't everybody?)

Need Some Writing Prompts?

From the Romance Wiki, here's a list of common romance novel plot devices that might get you jumpstarted on a new plotline. I think I'm going to pick one from each category and stick them all in the same book...

Productivity

Follow the link to an interesting article about productivity. Basically, it talks about using heatmapping to work out your most productive times of day, and then how to increase those productive times through diet, exercise, etc. It's an interesting article with a lot of practical tips.

I think my most productive time is between 10 and 10:30 am. I wonder if I can optimize that so I can write an entire novel in that half-hour...

What I'm Up To

I just turned in the final line edits for Where There's a Will, my upcoming release from Samhain Publishing. It's due out in a few months--I'll keep you posted as news arrives.

Earthchild--"DVD Extras"

I wish I could remember as much about the origins of Earthchild as I could about its predecessor. I know I started thinking about a sequel to the original book when it was first published, and, having decided not to kill off Jeff this time around, I wanted to focus on his character. The White Fur People drew me to write more about them, as well, and it seemed like a good combination. So that was the germ of the romance between Jeff Anderson and Noisy Girl.

Noisy Girl really came together for me after I had started writing, and caught Aimee Mann performing on David Letterman. I'd been a fan ever since "Voices Carry," but when I saw her that night suddenly she was Noisy Girl to me in many ways. Noisy Girl's singing had already found its way into the story by then, but this solidified it, and brought her character much more strongly to life, much as had happened to me on the first book when I started identifying Fairfax with Fox Mulder in my head.

I had originally planned to write I think two more stories in this series, but when the first publisher of these two books folded, those plans were put on a back burner. I recently went through all my old hard drives and was unable to find the original proposal for the third and fourth books, though, and I can't remember what the fourth one was about... Ah, the joys of getting old. Maybe there'll be a third book, though. Only time will tell.

Starchild--"DVD Extras"

Just out of curiosity, I dug a really, really old manuscript out of my closet yesterday--the original version of Starchild. Why so old? Well, I put the first incarnation of this story to paper when I was in eighth grade. We won't discuss how long ago that was...

Of course the story was different back then, but what I found most interesting was how much was the same. The characters' names didn't change, although in the original version I referred to Fairfax by his first name. That changed in the later incarnations when Harrison Fairfax became, in my head, a sort of spin-off, personality/appearance-wise, of Fox Mulder. So Fairfax and Cavendish started referring to each other by their last names, a la Mulder and Scully. In the original story (which is, by the way, only 135 pages, typed on one of those things we used to have before computers, you know, um, what were they called? Typewriters, that was it...), Kate dies near the beginning. And I killed off Jeff, too, which might be part of why he ended up with his own book this time around. There was still a romance between the leads--I remember being quite embarrassed by it all at the time.

One idea from the book that I seriously considered keeping during the later rewrite was the concept of the aliens. My teenage self produced an alien race that appeared human, but whose body temperature was a few degrees lower than ours. They also could see on the infrared spectrum, so when they encountered humans, they interpreted the higher body temperature as a sign of greater power, and so saw the human settlers as a threat. I liked this idea, but I'd had the idea of a not-quite-human race that communicated via sign language rattling around in my head for quite a while, as well, and in the end that one won because it was more intriguing to me at the time. And another plot element that remained, oddly enough, was Fairfax's leg injury serving as a catalyst to bridge the gap between the human and alien races.

So there you have it--the short version of the journey of Starchild from a teenage effort to a real-life novel. It still makes me smile to think that something I wrote that long ago grew into a publishable work. Maybe I'll pull out some of those old folders and see what other gems I can find...

Another Useful Promo Link

20The Author MBA Blog has lots of free and immediately usable tips for promotion for writers. They also offer classes on promo and branding. Check them out! You might find just the thing you need to jumpstart your promotional efforts, and thus your sales.

What I'm Working On

Just a couple of days ago, I handed in my first round edits for Where There's a Will, There's a Way, which will be arriving from Samhain Publishing later in the year. It's a contemporary romance set in Scotland, never before published. So yes! Brand new stuff from me...

After that, I have another project in mind, but I'm not sure when I'm going to get it underway, so I'll keep that one under my hat for the moment. As soon as there's more news, you'll be the first to know.

Another Nice Earthchild Review

"I love being able to discover a new-to-me author. It's one of the greatest perks to reviewing, but more often than not, my new author discoveries aren't really all I wish they were.

Then again, sometimes I get a book like Katriena Knights' Earthchild which manages to do pretty much everything right and leave me with a smile on my face and hope for one of my favorite romance subgenres."--Shannon C. for The Good, The Bad, the Unread

And Yet Another Useful Link...

The Write to Done blog offers twice-weekly tips on writing productivity. How to take a fresh approach to your writing, how to stave off writer's block, advice from guest bloggers...many topics are covered here in nice, bite-sized pieces. While much of the advice is geared toward bloggers, it's just as relevant to the fiction writer. Stop by and see what might get you jumpstarted.

Nice Earthchild Review

Earthchild has received a nice review from Coffeetime Romance.

Rating: 4 cups

"Miss Knights has a clever way of leading a reader along without them realizing they have read the entire book. The use of only a complex form of sign language for the White Fur People is expertly written and gives the book an extra twist not often found."--Hollie

Thanks to Hollie and Coffeetime Romance for the great review!

Also, this week, Earthchild got an 87 rating from Mrs. Giggles. It's nice to know folks are enjoying the book. :-)

The Writer's Database

Here's an interesting link--the Writer's Database. It's a website that provides tools to help out with the business side of writing--submissions, markets, writing schedules, etc. I haven't taken an extensive look at it yet, but it looks like it's probably got a lot of helpful stuff. Check it out and let me know how it works for you.

Earthchild Has Arrived!

Earthchild arrives today in e-book format at Samhain Publishing. A sequel to Starchild, it tells the story of Noisy Girl, a human raised by the White Fur People of Denahault. In her search to learn about her origins and her true people, she encounters Jeff Anderson, erstwhile second-in-command of the Starchild. When their feelings begin to deepen, can they find a compromise that will satisfy both a man of the stars and a woman who's never left her adopted planet?

Read an excerpt here.

Just to Prove you can put Bacon in Anything...

Candied bacon ice cream. I don't think I'll be trying it soon, but my best friend swears bacon makes everything better. Even ice cream, apparently. And according to the Foo Fighters' 2008 catering rider, bacon is "God's currency." Hm. Maybe I should try it, after all...

If you like LOLCats...

Check out LOL Manuscripts. Hysterical!! I'd include a sample graphic, but you really have to read the commentaires.

How to Plot a Novel

http://explosm.net/comics/1295/

Waits...

What? Doesn't everybody do it like that?

Nice Review for Starchild

Romance Reviews Today has posted a very nice review for Starchild.

"With STARCHILD, Katriena Knights blends social awareness with a first-rate, danger-filled, science fiction story. Faced with pain, suffering, greed, and political intrigue, two highly intelligent, self-sufficient people make this book a riveting tale."—Vi Janaway

Read the full review at the link above. Thanks to RRT and Ms. Janaway for a wonderful review.

Using Your Writing Tools

This is a great post, about the importance of learning to use the writer's most important tools: words.

Certainly some food for thought there, and some good inspiration/advice for all aspiring writers.

EDIT: And because I am so paranoid about giving other people advice about grammar usage and such, I just had to pull this post up in the blog to be sure I didn't accidentally link you to a picture of Gerard Way's crotch or something... Ahem.

Progress, as Things Progress

I've seen a semi-final version of the cover for Earthchild, but it's only semi-final so I can't share yet. Let's just say I'm happy, and I will share as soon as I can.

In the meantime, I'm tackling final line edits on the book, which will be done oh, maybe tonight if I can stay awake. Insomnia seems to be the theme of the week.

New FREE Promotional Resource

I just set up an author page for myself at Manic Readers (see sidebar for link to my page). They offer a free membership, and with that you can set up an author page with listings for all your current and coming books, as well as photos and info and all kinds of things. It's a pretty comprehensive page for a free offering. Setup was straightforward and fairly simple (except for last week when Firefox kept crashing on it--but Firefox was crashing on everything and I think my PC was just being bratty because it's jealous of the Macbook). Oh, and the part where I accidentally added Rory Campbell twice and then couldn't figure out how to delete the second one, but, well, see the tag.

So if you'd like a free place to showcase your books, drop by and sign up.

Checking In

I don't really have any news, but I figured I'd better post something before I forget my password again...

Thanks to those who stopped by the chats at TRS and Coffee Time Romance last week. It was good to see you! Sorry I didn't announce the chats ahead of time--I kind of jumped in at the last minute. I'll try to do better about that in the future.

I Suck at Blogging...

I haven't posted here in a while. This is partly because I've had my head deep into writing a new book. That sounds way cooler than the other reason, which is that I completely forgot my login and password for this blogger account. *facepalm* Anyway, after about ten minutes of trial and error today, I finally managed to get logged back in, and now I won't forget how to get here because I WROTE IT DOWN. What a concept...

Anyway, here's a new review for Starchild. Enjoy!

"This story fulfills everything you could want in romantic sci-fi. Ms. Knights’ characters are expertly developed. Her wonderful storytelling puts the reader right there with them. She gives her characters a real depth of feeling, even those not of this world. Trieka and Harrison are two very dominant personalities, and their conflicts enrich the story with a much more realistic feel. I very much enjoyed Starchild, and eagerly anticipate Earthchild."

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! I'll be posting publication news, reviews, meanderings, and whatever else I feel like posting.

My first book from Samhain publishing was released on January 4th. I have two more books contracted with Samhain, both scheduled for release this year, so keep an eye out for news! In the meantime, check out Starchild. I suppose it's technically a futuristic romance, but I like to call it a science fiction romance. Most books classified as futuristic romances take place on other planets with a sort of medieval air to their society. Starchild is set in a near-future society, where settlers from Earth have begun to make themselves comfortable on a colony planet that they believe is uninhabited. So the feel of it is a bit different than many other futuristics. I hope you'll take a look, and if you do, enjoy!