Book Trailer Reveal: Gwen Perkins' The Jealousy Glass

Today I have the pleasure of sharing the brand new trailer for Gwen Perkins' new novel The Jealousy Glass, the follow-up to her indie press hit The Universal Mirror!  These titles are from a press we consider family here at SSP, Hydra Publications, a great indie press spearheaded by that maverick and all-around good guy Frank Hall.  Below you will find the brand new trailer, information on the book and author, an international giveaway, AND and excerpt!  So get acquainted with a great author from a wonderful press and enjoy!
-Stephen

About The Jealousy Glass

"We came to stop a war before it came to Cercia. And it seems the war has come to us."

Responsibility and patriotism spur Cercia's new leader, Quentin, to protect his beloved country at all costs and he assigns Asahel and Felix to serve as ambassadors and secret agents to Anjdur. Their journey quickly turns awry and Asahel and Felix barely escape a devastating shipwreck, walk a tightrope of political tension, and rescue an empress before they learn they must face an enemy closer to them than they thought.

Will they be able to uncover an assassin's plot before it's too late? Will Asahel be able to unearth a secret that is vital to their mission? Will Cercia survive its own revolution? In The Jealousy Glass, Perkins boldly continues a series of unforgettable characters and events that will leave you begging for more.

AMAZON PURCHASE LINKS:

The Jealousy Glass: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFESVVQ

The Universal Mirror: http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Mirror-Gwen-Perkins/dp/0615596517



GIVEAWAY: (International prize)

In conjunction with the release of The Jealousy Glass, Gwen is running a giveaway for an autographed, first edition paperback of The Universal Mirror through Goodreads at: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/37726-the-universal-mirror

The giveaway officially ends on December 21, 2012—the author's birthday and supposed date for the oncoming apocalypse!




ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Gwen Perkins has always regarded the deep rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula as the one place that she feels most at home. Gwen grew up in small towns across the Pacific Northwest, going to slug races and strawberry festivals when she wasn't scribbling on any scrap of paper she could come by. She boasts the dubious distinction of going to a public school with only eight students, learning Irish sea chanteys from a man who sang with the Clancy Brothers, and catching tadpoles during classes.

Her adult life is generally just about as much fun.

She lives in the City of Destiny (better known as Tacoma, Washington). Her hobbies include wandering beaches, baking pies and lampworking. In between all of this, Gwen has written two novels in the Artifacts of Empire series: The Universal Mirror and The Jealousy Glass. The Universal Mirror has been nominated for a 2013 Endeavour Award.

She is presently at work on future novels in the Artifacts of Empire series while working on another series in collaboration with Wilson Fabián Saravia.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Website & Blog: http://artifactsofempire.com
Twitter: @helleder
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gwen-Perkins/227456783969902
G+: http://gplus.to/gwenperkins

Excerpt from The Jealousy Glass

From Chapter 1

The white monster swooped down.

           

All that Asahel could see was a cloud of pale feathers as the Rukh lashed out at the cannon that had fired.  Screams throbbed around him as the Rukh lifted, golden talons now rusted with blood.  Broken bodies lay on the wood, ribs smashed by the weight of unearthly claws.  The men were too distant for Asahel to put faces to as he fell to the deck, heart pounding at the sound of the wings beating once more.

           

The Rukh dove again, its beak rending the ship's prow.  The heavy timbers cracked like bones against the pressure.  A slow tearing sound cut through the haze of chaos settling over the ship as panic took hold.  Spice spilled out of the hold the beast had torn open.  Pungent scents of oil and cedar clouded the air as chests smashed against the bow, breaking apart into the water below.

           

Asahel crawled on his knees toward the heart of the battle, his eyes stinging red from the spices in the air.  The Rukh thrashed as another cannon fired its shot, black powder belching into the fading light.  Angry cries from the monster above filled his ears as it lurched down, plucking a sailor off the deck and squeezing its talons tightly around the man's midsection.  Another series of screams began as the ship's port side blazed into flames, but he kept moving toward starboard, trying to reach the first cannon that had been fired.

           

"Zuane!"  He called, hoping that the captain was near.  When that failed, Asahel shouted out for others.  "Felix!  Nicolas!"  His knee edged forward as he crawled, the coarse wool of his trousers suddenly damp.  He looked down to see the blood of the fallen pooling in the cracks of the boards.

           

He was near the side of the Serenissma.  Asahel stood, crouching each time the Rukh let out another shriek.  Black smoke surrounded him, choking his lungs as he turned.  The white beast had grown dim as the wall of fire leapt up, flames feeding on the ship's planking.

           

"Soames—" 

           

Asahel turned but did not see who could have called him.

           

"Where are you?"  He whispered, afraid to raise his voice.  He saw a pair of hands gripping the railing.  He reached out, his own strong fingers clutching them and pulling the man toward the deck.  He could feel Felix shudder as he came up over the rail, his thin body battered.  The older man began to cough almost immediately as Asahel helped him back to the deck.  They stared through the flames at the carnage.

           

The Serenissma wrenched sharply to the right.  The Rukh cawed as it rose, white wings blotting out what was left of the sun.  Water splashed across the wood, shooting up from the hold as the lower decks flooded.

           

"We've got to get out of here," Asahel said.

           

"There's no rafts." Felix coughed and leaned back against the rail.  His eyes were bright with a fear the other man had never seen. 

           

"Aye."  The fire was close enough to warm them both.  Which will it be?  Asahel thought.  Burning or drowning?

           

"I can't swim."

           

"Sure, and now you tell me."  Asahel steadied his expression for Felix's sake, more nervous than he let on.  The Soames family had been merchants and traders for generations.  Unlike Felix, Asahel had been raised at water's edge.

           

"I never expected it to come up."  Felix grimaced.  "I know.  We're on a boat.  Clearly, I was being an optimist."

           

"Ship," Asahel corrected gently, looking over his shoulder at the waves.

           

"Grave—if we don't do something shortly."  Felix inhaled, his body clenched as he turned his back on the flames.  The Serenissma was moving downwards rapidly.  The remaining sailors leapt from the deck, disappearing into the churning tides as they plummeted through the darkness.  He looked at Asahel, his mouth twisting into a crooked grin.  "No time like the present."

           

Felix climbed back up on the railing, sweat trickling down his forehead, his skin mottled with bruise and shadow.  Asahel followed, his own ungainly body slower to take action.  The two men looked at one another a last time, then back at the burning ship.

           

With one breath, they jumped.

*  *  *

You can find an audio-only dramatization of the entire first chapter for your use at: https://www.box.com/s/a997c064d4539c929739

The War Has Begun: Amazon vs. B&N

The War Has Begun
by Frank Hall

The War has begun!

Barnes and Noble drew a line in the sand, and an all-out war came into being. They decided that they would not carry Amazon's publishing house titles. This proclamation was felt at the headquarters of Amazon.com.

The building shook with the power of this decision.......actually it was just the people on the top floor falling out of their chairs and laughing their collective asses off at the stupidity of Barnes and Noble and the other Independent stores that followed their lead.

This is how I see it.

Amazon: We have a publishing house. We are going to not only sell books, but make them too.
B&N: WHAT!!!!! You can't do that! We wont stand for that!
Amazon: .....
B&N: We will not carry your books from your press in our store. If any of our customers want that book, they will need to get it from you.
Amazon: ....OK!

Seriously, does B&N not realize that by refusing to stock books from them they are only going to make their customers go to Amazon.com to buy the book? And hey, while they are there, why not just buy that other book they were wanting? Heck, who needs to go to B&N anyway, especially since they are not going to have the book I want?

And what is up with these small independent bookstores following along this line of stupidity. They are always complaining about losing customers, and here they are REFUSING to carry books.

Hell that is what they are there for. TO CARRY BOOKS!!!!!!

You can damn well believe that if I owned an independent bookstore and my competition said they would not be carrying a line of books, i would have all sorts of advertizing going.

Hey, come here! We have the books that you are looking for...unlike them -->

Hey wait! I DO own an independent bookstore. I also own a small press. So does that mean that B&N is not going to stock my books. Oh..wait...I am a small press that uses a POD to print my titles. I am just starting out, and have only a few titles out. They are not going to stock my books anyway. Yet on Amazon, several of them have several 5 star reviews....and ONLY 5 star reviews. Amazon sells my books. They have no problem with me owning a bookstore also.

This "WAR" that B&N is trying to create is only going to hurt them and strengthen Amazon.

~Frank Hall


Owner of That Book Place and Hydra Publications

Visit the sites for That Book Place and Hydra Publications:

www.thatbookplace.com
www.hydrapublications.com

An Emerging Issue With Online Book Ratings: The No-Review Review, and Non-Book Related Rating

An Emerging Issue With Online Book Ratings: The No-Review Review, and Non-Book Related Rating
by Frank Hall

There is an increasing problem that needs to be dealt with soon. Unfortunately, I am not sure what to do about it. It's been happening for years, but now that ebooks are really coming into the fold, it's becoming more and more of a problem.

Stephen King's newest book just came out. Now, this is Stephen King I am using as an example, so I know that he is not going to be hurt by bad reviews. As of right now there are 10 reviews that are 1 star reviews on Amazon. Of those, 9 are just complaining about the price of the ebook.

We license people to drive cars. If you don’t have a license, you can't drive a car. We do this because if you can't drive, you can hurt yourself or others. Maybe we need to license people to use the internet. Now this has been a running joke for a while, but I think it is something that might need to be done. Maybe not a license for the entire internet, but maybe websites like amazon should put a hold on people's accounts like most forums do. For the first 6 months, everything you post will be reviewed before it is actually posted.

Like I said, Stephen King is not going to get hurt by a bad review. But what about all of the indie authors out there that only get a small amount of reviews? What about someone who is not reviewing the book, but making a comment about how Amazon took three days instead of two to ship them their book, or the fact that the Publisher has set the ebook price at 8.99, and that is way too much to pay for an ebook. A single bad review wont kill someone like getting behind the wheel of a car might, but it will damage an indie author's sales and their ability to make a living.

The world has gone digital. We are a digital society, and we need to start putting common sense, and at least some guidelines in place in cyberspace, like we would in real life. Like I said, I am not sure what the solution is, but we need to work on finding one.

UPDATE (as I finished this blog post): There are now 14 reviews of Stephen King's book, 3 of which have actual reviews of the book.

--Frank Hall
Owner of That Book Place and Hydra Publications


Visit the sites for That Book Place and Hydra Publications:

www.thatbookplace.com
www.hydrapublications.com

Change is in the Air, Let's Work Together.

Change is in the Air, Let's Work Together
-by Frank Hall


Change is in the air. It is affecting every part of our life. Governments are falling all around the world, and democracy is taking root. Even here in the states, we have the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has spread across the country and the world. It does not look like it is going away anytime soon.

For those of us in the book industry, be it as publisher, author, bookstore owner or even reader, change has come, and if we don't adapt, we will fail. Chain bookstores are shutting their doors. Publishing houses who have been around for years are having financial troubles, not paying royalties, and some are even closing down. It is time for us all to work together, to make sure we get through this.

Capitalism is the name of the game for the economy. Make money. That is everyone's goal. But just because I am out to make money doesn’t mean I have to hurt others to do it. In fact, in our industry, if we work together we make more money then if we fight amongst each other. For us it all equates to readers. The more of them there are, the more money we all make. Bookstores need to work with authors and publishing houses, particularly small presses, and get events going in the store and community. Authors need to talk to everybody they meet about their books, get those books in people's hands, and generate new readers.

Books are addicting, we all know this. There will never be enough time to read everything we want to read. But most readers will try. It is impossible for a single author to write fast enough to keep any one person occupied.

We can help our fellow authors by telling our fans about them. I have yet to meet a writer who is also not a reader, so I know we all have books we like. We just need to understand that now is the time for us to work together.

Change is here.



-Frank Hall
Owner of That Book Place and Hydra Publications

Visit the sites for That Book Place and Hydra Publications:

www.thatbookplace.com
www.hydrapublications.com

The Value of Bookstores in an Ebook Age

The Value of Bookstores in an eBook Age
by Frank Hall

Ebooks are a wonderful thing to the book industry. They have increased the number of readers, and more books are being sold now then ever before. But there are still things that a bookstore can do for you that you can't get from surfing a website.

First, there is that personal touch. In our store we know our customers, and we know what they read. We can help find books that you might like, even when you are not in the store. Not every book is available as an ebook,and we can find those out of print ones for you.

Another advantage that I think we have as a physical store front is the ability to look at the book before you buy. Yes, I know nearly everyone offering ebooks now have the option of downloading a sample to read. But it is always the beginning of the book. Many of our customers flip to the middle of the book, and sometimes the end, to see what the writing is like there. Sometimes the first chapter or two of the book is not enough to decide if you want to invest your time in reading it.

Talking with people online is fine, going to a forum and using facebook to discuss the book you just read is great, but there is something about that human interaction face to face that appeals to everyone at some point in time.

What better place to talk about books than a bookstore? Well, maybe a library, but you have to be quiet there. Come in, sit down, and have a nice chat about books with us or a fellow customer. We see it happen all the time, and 9 times out of 10 you will learn of a new author you haven't read that you are going to pick up and try.

Despite naysayers, print books are not going away anytime soon. Ebooks have just helped spawn a change in the industry. For the better, in my opinion, as I stated in the opening. More books being sold more readers out there. What could be better then that?

But the smell of old books is still the best smell in the world!

-Frank Hall
Owner of That Book Place and Hydra Publications

Visit the sites for That Book Place and Hydra Publications:

www.thatbookplace.com
www.hydrapublications.com

A Look at Small Press Publishing in Hydra's First Year

A Look at Small Press Publishing in Hydra's First Year
by Frank Hall (Publisher, Hydra Publications, and owner of That Book Place in Madison, IN)

Over the years my family of antique dealers acquired a large number of books. After I left college I decided I would try selling them online. A little over five years ago, my girlfriend at the time, now my wife, and I decided to open a used bookstore. Last year we decided to step it up again and add a small press to the mix. Thus Hydra Publications was born.

The past year has definitely been interesting. Borders has come crashing down, e-book sales have gone wild, authors have had to boycott their own publisher when they stopped sending royalty checks. There is no doubt about it: the publishing world is in flux.

I see a lot of change coming, some voluntary, some not so much. The big houses are so entrenched in their ways it is hard for them to change. That is why this is a perfect time for Small Presses to take over. We are more willing to adapt to change. We are more willing to take a risk.

The glory of having your book published is a wonderful feeling. I see the look in authors when they are at their first signing, or when they see the copy of their book for the first time on the shelves of a store. At a store like mine, we have the advantage of being able to display local authors, or ones from a local small press. If you are lucky enough to get your title in big chain store you will be fighting for space with tens of thousands of other titles. Is that worth it? The odds of someone finding your book is pretty low. Indie bookstores are where you should be focusing. You will get more exposure there than in a chain.

That is where publishers need to focus. That and online. As a bookstore owner I really hate Amazon. As a small press owner I love Amazon. Anyone, anywhere in the world, can get your book from Amazon. It is the best venue for small presses.

We as small presses need to work on honing our online marketing skills. Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook will lead to more sales in the long run then anything else we will be able to do. Through our own marketing efforts and working with our authors to make them marketing experts online, sales can only increase.

As much as it pains me as a bookseller, ebooks are the future for a publishing house. They are outselling print books around 3 to 1 currently. This doesn’t mean that physical books are going away. Sales have been steady for them. It just means that more then ever, more books are being sold, a majority of them ebooks. That is a good thing.

More people are writing, more books are selling, and more people are reading. So the outlook is good in my opinion for small presses and for indie bookstores.




Want to try out some Hydra Publication books? Here are a few to look at:









Or a Hydra eBook!