Welcome, new folks!

Hi, there. If you've joined the mailing list recently, I want to make sure you get your free Frosthelm book, Traitors Unseen. If you haven't gotten it, you can get it free here (the site will ask you to sign up for this newsletter, which you're already getting) or here from Smashwords. It's also on Apple Books, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. Please, enjoy with my compliments.

A Visit to the Uncanny Valley

I subscribe to a number of author marketing lists, and sometimes they give really good advice. This month, one of them suggested created an animated cover using AI. He showed a couple videos of his book covers, which are romance novels, where he'd animated the dashingly handsome male cover models to talk about the novel. It was more weird than cool, but I figured I'd give it a try, because ignoring advice is generally not a success strategy. The only book I have that has a person's face on it is Kenai (other than a teeny little woman reflected in the dagger on The Woeling Lass), so I found an AI site and gave it a whirl. I didn't figure I'd use it, but I thought it might be an interesting exercise.

It was not a success. To a person, the people I shared it with found it off-putting and unpleasant. My wife's one-word response was "Nope." The AI turned my main character, Jess, into a kind of rubber-faced homonculus, and the AI voice wasn't too inspiring, especially compared to a real person, like those gifted narrators who've recorded my audiobooks.

In the spirit of that fundamental human urge to have other people experience the unpleasantness that you just have experienced (i.e. "Hey, this tastes terrible! You try it!"), I'm sharing it here. Judge for yourself.

Creepy Talking Kenai Book Cover

Update on Kenai

In much less creepy news, I've made a lot of progress on getting Kenai finished. I'm about 70% of the way through the current rewrite. When that's done, which should be this week, it will be off to the editor, then any final changes she recommends, and then it will be ready to go! Look for it later this month if everything goes smoothly.

Some stories to try

I'm part of several author collectives, and we share each other's work to try to help all of us reach more readers. In many cases, the books we share are are free or discounted. Sometimes, they ask that you sign up for a newsletter like this one. Here are some new books I have to share this month:

First, I have Cave of Time, a free short adventure by prolific partnership Luna Fox and F. Lowberry. This story imagines a druidic culture that has lost its magic. With their village suddenly under attack, a boy and a scholar work together to recover what was lost.

Second, I have Moon Hunters, a free short story by the awesomely-named Catty Diva that leads into the Moon Hunters series. Space guys recovering kidnapped girls - great stuff.

Third, I have Cliff Hock: Right Place, Right Time by M. Rothmus, a free sci-fi adventure and part of the Cliff Hock space bounty hunter series. This shorter work has Cliff investigating a guy who turns up very far from where he belongs (and also dead).

And finally, I have Shadows of Insurrection by the also awesomely-named Vanessa MacLaren-Wray. This is the first book in Vanessa's Unremembered King series. A leader of the King's Guard faces a missing father, a meddling foster brother, and an otherworldly shaman. Sounds like great stuff!

Thank you!

Thanks for keeping up with my writing. I am excited to have Kenai nearly ready, hopefully before the next newsletter. I'm excited to add another sci fi book to my list, and I hope you'll enjoy following Jess' adventure on a planet full of history and paradox. I promise, no more weird talking book videos! :-)

May the Bloodmother watch over you - 

Dave