Month: August 2013

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The Talent Seekers for all eReaders!

The Talent Seekers is now on all eReaders, so those of you who have been waiting patiently to get it for your Nook or Kobo or iPad can now get your ePub file from Smashwords.  It is also in the major online stores, Barnes & Noble, the iBookstore, Kobo, Diesel and now in India at Flipkart.com.

Follow this link to find its nice shiny new page on Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/348829

It also has a nice shiny ISBN 9781301482900

Final_TalentSeekers_01In the fifth book in the Princelings series, we find the young outcast from the Lost City of Arbor travelling west as his mother suggested.  He is rounded up amongst other exiles, but escapes, and finds himself among people that could be his friends, something he has never had before.  But they are under threat, and Humphrey’s adventures twist and turn as he is called to his destiny by an unknown force, one that calls to his special hearing skills.  He meets other talented individuals and learns to be a team, to work with others for the common good.

It’s a tale of greed, of fighting, of cruelty and of a darker place than the ones we’ve met so far in the Princelings world.  Heroes and heroines emerge from the unlikeliest of places to find laughter and friendship and a place where they belong.

The Talent Seekers is a fantasy adventure story with paranormal influences and some pitched battles. It is set in the months between the Prologue and the Epilogue of the Princelings and the Lost City, but with otherwise little connection to the previous stories in the series so can stand alone.  It’s suitable for readers aged 13 and upwards.

“Another intricately woven story in the land of the Princelings. This time we journey with Humphrey. A gentle and trepid soul with a talent for listening to things above and beyond the realms of the everyday… Humphrey is tested beyond anything he has ever known, unsure of who is friend or foe. Using every ounce of knowledge from his books, combined with his unique and special talents, he bands together with his unit. They must prevail against a force so evil, that it threatens the livelihood of the entire land of the Princelings.”  Julie Grasso


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New drawing of the Castle in the Marsh

The first illustration in the Princelings of the East is of the Castle in the Marsh (generally just called Castle Marsh, except by the people that live there)!  I’ve done over one hundred chapter illustrations now for my books and short stories, I look at some of them and think – that’s not very good.  Some of them are a little bit messy, but ok.  It bugged me that the place where it all starts (who knows where it will end) was not a very good picture. Maybe 6/10.  So I’ve done a new one, which will head them all in the second edition of the Princelings of the East. Continue reading “New drawing of the Castle in the Marsh”

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The Talent Seekers FREE 7-8 August

It’s the last opportunity to download The Talent Seekers ebook free of charge on Amazon worldwide.  This is the story of Humphrey, who left the Lost City of Arbor to make his way in the big wide world.  He discovers that his talents are indeed unusual, and what’s more highly sought after.  The folks at White Horse Castle are desperately in need of extra help to fight off their avaricious neighbour, Lord Colman.  Humphrey finds friends, and a purpose, but not without heartache. Continue reading “The Talent Seekers FREE 7-8 August”

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A Second Edition of Princelings?

I’m thinking of revising The Princelings of the East – just the first ebook – and re-publishing it as the second edition.

Why would I want to do that when it’s just got a five star review from Readers’ Favorite, you ask.

Well, despite readers giving it five stars, they also give feedback on things that would improve it.  Especially so when they give it four stars!  I think feedback is valuable, and worth examining.  So when a range of readers say similar things about the sentence structure,  keeping track of characters, and managing to keep up with the plot (the time tunnel is explained very fast) I think it’s worthwhile revisiting it to see what I should do to improve it.

I wrote Princelings of the East in 2008.  It was my first venture into book-writing. I’ve done a lot more since, and in particular I’m a lot more at home writing dialogue that takes the story forward.  I remember wanting the pace to be fast (but some people say it might be too fast for this audience) and I did do quite a few things in flashback – as in… we’re three days on, these are the highights of what happened.  Some of that probably works, but maybe there’s too much of it.  Maybe I can tell the story better!

What do you think?  Have my author friends ever done a major revision of a published book?

And as I’ve got a major promotion planned for mid-late September, if I’m going to revise it, this might be a good time to get it done 🙂