Sunday Drive for 5 to Help in Our First Media Project - Rayden Valkyrie TV Pilot

Today we are doing a special drive to seek some $5 pledges in our campaign to bring to live a Rayden Valkyrie TV pilot, which represents our very first visual media project at Seventh Star Press. Some might not think a $5 pledge matters, but growing our backer family in a Kickstarter campaign makes an impact and helps more than you might know.

We're making headway for sure, but it's not an easy road to bring this Kickstarter Campaign to the goal line. And in a Kickstarter campaign you don't get the funding unless you reach the goal. It's all or nothing, which is a good thing as it ensures that the project is genuinely funded before it is confirmed.

Five dollars, in other areas, might mean a pack of smokes, a couple gallons of gas, 2 bags of chips, a couple gallons of milk, maybe a matinee movie, which are all gone quick, but the $5 pledged in our campaign will set in motion a tv pilot that we intend to grow into a full blown television series, something to entertain you for a long time to come and employing people and creating opportunities for a long time to come.

That's all we are asking on our Sunday Drive for 5. One day to encourage some folks to come aboard our backer family and just make a $5 pledge.

Don't forget, a $5 pledge also gets you an eBook copy of Heart of a Lion, the first novel that Rayden Valkyrie starred in, and it also gets you entered into the Imaginarium Convention contest that includes 2 hotel room nights, 2 weekend passes, and 2 award banquet tickets where the winner will be seated with our guest of honor and other major writer/filmmaker guests!

It only takes a few moments to make a pledge, so join us today on this Sunday Drive for 5! You can help us make this project happen!


To make a pledge, visit:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/seventhstarpress/rayden-valkyrie-tv-pilot

Links for the Kindle Sales Titles from Seventh Star Press

Seventh Star Press Holiday Kindle Sale Through December 31

Running through December 31st, Seventh Star Press has an ongoing big sale involving all of our author family!  Every title listed below is just 99 cents on Kindle right now, so you can try out and add some great authors to your eReaders, whether you just got one for Christmas or had one before!  Steampunk, Fantasy, Horror, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, Cross-genre, and much more!

The full list of titles offered at 99 cents with direct links are:

D.A. Adams The Brotherhood of Dwarves

John F. Allen Codename: Knight Ranger

H. David Blalock Angelkiller 

Elizabeth Donald Nocturne Infernum

A. Christopher Drown A Mage of None Magic

Southern Haunts: Spirits that Walk Among Us (Anthology) Ed by Alexander S. Brown and J.L. Mulvihill

Bob Freeman Shadows Over Somerset

Jackie Gamber Redheart

E. Chris Garrison Four Til Late

Crymsyn Hart Death's Dance

Selah Janel Olde School

Brick Marlin Shadow Out of the Sky

J.L. Mulvihill The Boxcar Baby

S.H. Roddey Armageddon Rising

Steven Shrewsbury Overkill

Jason Sizemore Irredeemable

AshleyRose Sullivan Silver Tongue

R.J. Sullivan Haunting Obsession

Michael West Cinema of Shadows

Peter Welmerink Transport

Stephen Zimmer Chronicles of Ave, Volume 1 and Crown of Vengeance


Check them out and discover some great reads and writers! 

Do Yourself A Writer's Disservice

By Peter Welmerink

Photo by Peter Welmerink

Do yourself a writer's disservice and...

DON'T WRITE.

Only for a little while, mind you. Because, like me, if I don't write after a while I tend to build up with all sorts of stories and ideas and insanity and threaten to explode.

Sometimes though, as a writer, you need to turn off, well okay, reduce the volume, put the writer's clock on SNOOZE, and get out there, get outside, and breathe the air, stick your toes in the sand, and revel in life.

I don't care what you do. You can hang out with some friends for the weekend. You can go for a long drive, with all the windows rolled down (keep the AC on if its just too hot), or simply take a step outside, drag a lawn chair along or whatever you have, and take a seat and just look at the blue sky and nature and everything around you. Even if it is a cloudy, crappy day, with rain, shut off the writer's chatterbox for a bit and go and...

RE-CHARGE.

Sometimes, like Facebook, you just need to shut things off, shut things down, and go native. You know, native, like before the writing bug bit ya and you were forever happily afflicted with having to write and weave stories in whichever you were blessed to weave them.

There is no harm and no foul if you get out, spend a little time with your family, your friends, even just some down time with yourself, and breathe the air. In fact, just as not writing will make your head explode, so will not going out and living and seeing what the real world is up to.

It doesn't count, checking into the real world, if you simply grab a newspaper or watch the television news or check the latest horror story on Yahoo. No, you need to disconnect and go outside, go to a favorite park, a lake, a high, OPEN AIR, vantage point over your city...and breathe and take it all in.

We get wrapped around the axle with writing. It's in our blood and we have to do it, MUST do it to survive. But you will grind yourself and your imagination, your creativity, down to a little frustrated nub if you ignore life and living and the natural world.

Do yourself a writer's SERVICE and get out there and breathe the air once in a while, take the world in, re-charge the literary batteries...

Then go back and abuse the keyboard, or blank pad of paper, and write write write!

###

Peter Welmerink has been writing since he found a stash of notebooks in a hallway cabinet drawer in grade school and began to scribe incredible tales of adventure and mayhem. He writes Epic Fantasy and Military Adventure fiction. He can be found at peterwelmerink.com, grandrapidsaltered.blogspot.com and darkheroicfantasy.blogspot.com.

TRANSPORT, his fictional Military Post-Post Apoc Zombie Thriller series, is available now. The events of the tale are set in and around Grand Rapids, Michigan. Childhood dream of massive adventure in his hometown brought back to life and published. Bazinga! Dream it. Do it. 

Where did it all begin?

By Peter Welmerink

 

 

 

Do you have writer's block?

 

Are you wondering why you do this thing called writing, called creating?

 

Have you felt you've lost your writing mojo? Saying, "Dang! What happened to those good ole days when I could just vomit forth lines and lines of adventurous words and create fabulous tales?"

 

Answer: if you have stuck with it (writing, creating) for this long, I can assure you...

 

YOU STILL HAVE THE MOJO.

 

You may just have to hook a chain around it, a tow strap, hook it up to your monster truck, and pull that SOB out and make him/her/it work.

 

And... !!!

 

IT CAN BE DONE.

 

#

 

In my own life, I can't say exactly when the writing bug bit me. I grew up in a middle class family, working mom and dad, just me and one sibling. Folks got separated when I was in 4th or 5th grade. I went to a parochial school, paddled with a yardstick by the nuns. Living in a neighborhood close to downtown, the bustling metropolis of Grand Rapids. Lived IN THE CITY for sure as the family home was situated on one of the busiest east/westbound streets. There were woods near the house though for traipsing through. There was the John Ball Zoo a block away. More woodland (the boonies) further southwest, and the Grand River.

 

It's not like my mom or dad tossed a pencil and notepad at me and said GO WRITE. It was just something I did. School had some one-subject notebooks, wide rule lined paper. The blank page. The empty line. I just felt the need to... fill it, fill the line, fill the page and pages with whatever came to mind.

 

I wrote about my life as kind of a lonely boy growing up in the 70's. Lots of love songs played on the radio. Sweet Life by Paul Davis. Afternoon Delight by Starland Vocal Band. You're in my Heart by Rod Stewart. Sharing the Night Together by Dr. Hook. I typically wrote about LOVE or adventures in finding it.

 

I won't even get into the ROCK MUSIC or the movies I watched. (Foghat, Boston, BOC, Black Sabbath, Led Zep...and Planet of the Apes (Heston), Dirty Harry (Eastwood), Kelly's Heroes.)

 

Stir in reading Sgt. Rock comic books, GI Combat, Robert E Howard's Conan, Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter of Mars...

 

Crazy mixed up kid.

 

Was that why I wrote? All that stuff sloshing around my brain.

 

I don't know.

 

I had friends. I wasn't that lonely. Yet, I would often squirrel myself away and write adventure stories. Stories of war. Stories of saving the girl. Stories of being the hero. Stories of superheroism. Adventure. Adventure. Adventure.

 

Whatever the reason, I kept writing, felt the need to fill the blank page, create, tell a story even if I was the only one reading it. I didn't care if I was the only one reading it, I simply HAD TO CREATE.

 

So, to stop my rambling, let me say to you this:

 

IF YOU HAVE BEEN WRITING FOR THIS LONG, YOU STILL CAN AND YOU STILL WILL.

 

Remember back to the day when you first started writing, when you first started creating. Do that again. Just let it go and let it flow. Just write. Write some silly yarn. Ramble freely and abandon all thought on doing it for publication or even having any of it make sense.

 

As the music artist Seal says: "We're never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy."

 

Go back to those early childhood times, let your mind go, and create.

 

Adventure! Adventure! Adventure!

 

###

 

Peter Welmerink has been writing since he found a stash of notebooks in a hallway cabinet drawer in grade school and began to scribe incredible tales of adventure and mayhem. He writes Epic Fantasy and Military Adventure fiction. He can be found at peterwelmerink.com, grandrapidsaltered.blogspot.com and darkheroicfantasy.blogspot.com.

 

TRANSPORT, his fictional Military Post-Post Apoc Zombie Thriller series, is available now. The events of the tale are set in and around Grand Rapids, Michigan. Childhood dream of massive adventure in his hometown brought back to life and published. Bazinga! Dream it. Do it.  

 



Reloaded, Recharged & Ready to Rock.

Good morning, Internet!

My, oh my, it's been quiet around these parts lately. Let me assure you, while the silence has persisted (we apologize for that), Stephen and I have been quite busy behind the scenes. Back toward the end of last year, he invited me in to help out a little bit with some of the admin work. We decided shortly after to take a bit of a publishing hiatus to get SSP's affairs in order, but we're in a good position now, and we're coming back stronger than ever.

February marks the beginning of a new journey for the Seventh Star Family. 2014 was a less than pleasant year for quite a few of us, so we've made it a personal goal to make 2015 spectacular. To do that, though, we have to make some pretty big changes. They're all good changes, I promise.

The biggest change you out there in Bloggerland will notice is the introduction of guest posts from SSP authors to this blog. On a regular basis our authors will be in to discuss all manner of topics related to the speculative fiction universe. We'll be making bigger, better announcements, and putting this space to good use.

Over the coming weeks we'll also be updating the main website and storefront in preparation for some big events coming down the tube. I'll leave you to wonder about those, but I can promise you one thing: they'll be awesome.

On the admin side, we're moving into a more streamlined production schedule. You'll start to see new releases roll out again in the next few weeks, and we have some exciting announcements coming up! I won't bore you with the details right now, though. You see, our little family is important to us, and we feel it's best to put the focus on the books and their creators, not what we're doing behind the scenes. We're the support team for creativity and talent. Each book in our catalog is its own work of art, and it's our mission to provide the world the opportunity to witness the spectacle that is these amazing authors.

In keeping with the "Authors First" tradition, the admin team is committed to producing and marketing the best possible product. We have to stick together, because in the end, family is all we really have. And we have such a great family here! So much talent, so many great personalities... I love each of them and feel honored to be part of such a special group.

Stay tuned, kids. There's lots more fun to be had in Camp SSP.

Cheers!
Susan

Seventh Star Press Announces New Speculative Fiction Romance Imprint, Seventh Starlight

Seventh Star Press is proud to announce a brand new imprint, Seventh Starlight, which will feature paranormal and speculative fiction romance novellas, novels, and anthologies. The brand new imprint will issue releases in both digital and print formats.  The first titles will be released later this fall and a new website for Seventh Starlight will be unveiled soon.

The new logo for Seventh Starlight is below, created by David Rupp of Ninth Circle Designs:

Spearheading the new imprint as the edtior for Seventh Starlight titles is Jessica Glanville. Jessica  holds an M.A. in English from Winthrop University and is a graduate of the SC Governor’s School of the Arts in creative writing.  She was a teaching assistant in composition in graduate school at Winthrop and taught composition and communications at York Technical College before becoming a published author.

Under various pseudonyms, she has published nine works of fiction, including a TV tie-in novel published by Berkley Books (Penguin Group), six historical paranormal romances published by Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster), one self-published short story collection, and a horror romance published by Purple Sword Publications.  Seventh Starlight represents her first post as an editor-in-chief.  She lives in Chester, South Carolina, with her husband, artist Justin Glanville.  

Continuing the Seventh Star Press tradition of presenting titles featuring high quality artwork, Seventh Starlight titles will also feature illustrated covers. The artist selected for cover art on the new imprint is Anne Rosario. Anne is a self-taught Filipino visual artist specializing in both digital and traditional mediums.  Her style is a unique mix of the naturalistic and the whimsical, combining the elegance of fine art with the edgy grit of contemporary Manga. She has worked as a 2D artist in the game development industry since 2006, and has recently branched into creating illustrations and exhibiting her traditonal artworks in group exhibits.

She's also a part of two local organizations, "Ang I.n.K" (Illustrador ng Kabataan - a group that promotes the rights and artworks of artists in children's book illustration industry) and "Kasibulan" (Kababaihan sa Sining at Bagong Sibol na Kamalayan - a group composed of filipina artists in different fields and genres of visual, literary, and performing arts.)

Three exceptional authors will be spotlighted in the first wave of  releases from Seventh Starlight, Alexandra Christian, Crymsyn Hart and Siobhan Kinkade.

Alexandra "Lexxx" Christian

Alexandra "Lexxx" Christian's work primarily involves paranormal erotic romance and horror. Lexxx is a native South Carolinian who has published several novels, novellas and short stories with Ellora’s Cave, Purple Sword Publications, Mocha Memoirs Press and most recently, Seventh Star Press.

Crymsyn Hart

Crymsyn Hart is a best-selling author who has written over eighty novels all falling in the paranormal romance, supernatural, dark fantasy erotic category.  Her latest is the Seventh Star Press release Death's Dance, Book One of the Deathly Encounters Series. With a love of the macabre and a bit of a Goth, Crymsyn worked as a psychic medium while she went to college in Boston at one of the country’s oldest tearoom. She attended Emerson College and graduated with a degree in Writing, Literature and Publishing.

Siobhan Kinkade

Pronounced Shi-von, Siobhan Kinkade originally started out as a Dungeons & Dragons character. True story! She was an obnoxious little blonde-haired, violet-eyed half-elf rogue who had a bad habit of screaming at random and stealing things from her fellow travelers. She made the transition from fantasy RPG character to fantasy literary character in 2011. S.H. Roddey wrote a story out of her usual genre, and she decided she needed a pen name rather than confuse her audience. The romance is strong with this one. Some is sweet and some is spicy. It’s about half and half on the paranormal/contemporary fields, and all of it is quite good! 

Fans of romance and speculative fiction everywhere should look to the stars, as Seventh Starlight will be shining down upon the book world very soon!


For further information on Seventh Star Press or Seventh Starlight, please visit www.seventhstarpress.com

SSP's 7 Day Holiday Sale Now Underway! Great Deals!

Holiday Week Sale! From November 23 through November 29, covering Black Friday, Cyber Monday and more, shop at the SSP online store!

All softcovers, t-shirts, and poster art are 15% off! 

Browse softcovers

Browse T-shirts and Poster Art

Buy one, get one free eBook offer! (further information below)

Plus more additional offers:

With EVERY softcover order made through our online store, receive the full set of art cards and bookmark produced for that book (all our softcover titles have associated art card sets and bookmarks), AND a free ePub or Mobi copy of the book!  Visit our softcover page to browse available titles.  We will email you following your order to ask whether you would like your eBook version in ePub or mobi format.

Buy One, Get One Free eBook Offer!  
Buy any SSP title at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble for your Nook or Kindle, and receive 1 SSP eBook of your choice free from us in ePub or Mobi format!  

To claim your free eBook, just email us a copy of your dated email receipt  for your Kindle or Nook purchase made between November 23 and November 29th, 2012, to sspstore (at) seventhstarpress.com and tell us which title you would like for your free selection, and whether you would like an ePub or mobi version.

Choose from any of our novels or Seventh Star Single releases!  All titles in the SSP catalog are available in eBook editions.

Be sure to send in your receipts immediately as this offer ends on November 30th, 2012.

And there's more!  Some catalog titles carry additional Seventh Star Single eBook bonuses!

Order Steven Shrewsbury's Thrall in softcover, and receive the ePub or Mobi versions of Steven's short stories Insurmountable and Author and Finisher of Our Flesh.

Order Steven Shrewsbury's Overkill in softcover, and receive the ePub or Mobi version of Steven's short story Beginning of the Trail.

Order R.J. Sullivan's Haunting Obsession in softcover and eBook, and receive the ePub or Mobi version of Rj's short story Backstage pass.

Order Michael West's Cinema of Shadows or Spook House in softcover and receive the ePub or Mobi versions of Michael's short stories Goodnight and For the River is Wide and the Gods are Hungry

Order any of Stephen Zimmer's Rising Dawn Saga novels in softcover (The Exodus Gate, The Storm Guardians, and The Seventh Throne) and receive the ePub or Mobi version of his short storyTemples Rising

Order any of Stephen Zimmer's Fires in Eden novels in softcover (Crown of Vengeance, Dream of Legends, and Spirit of Fire) and receive his short stories Lion Heart, Into Glory Ride, and Land of Shadow in ePub or Mobi versions

Personalization Requests for Cinema of Shadows Need to Be in by Thursday Night

Personalization Requests for Limited Edition Hardcover and Softcover Versions of Cinema of Shadows Reminder!


If you would like to have Cinema of Shadows personalized by Michael West, you will need to get your order in by Thursday night. Michael will be signing them on Friday. Be sure to include a note with your personalization request when you order. They will be shipping early next week.

to order, visit:

http://seventhstarpress.com/documents/books.html

Seventh Star Press Announces Launch of Stephen Zimmer's Crown of Vengeance

Begin an Epic Journey...


On a night that begins no different from any other, strange mists engulf Janus Roland, Erika Laesig, Mershad Shahab, and several others going about their lives in a quiet midwestern town. When the mist dissipates, they all find themselves looking up into the bright skies of a new, incredible world.

Without explanation of why it has happened, or any notion of where they are, they embark upon a grand adventure within the fantastical world of Ave. Some find themselves in the lands of the Saxan Kingdom, while others have emerged within the lands of the Onan, one of the tribes in the Five Realms confederation.

Storms of war loom over both Saxany and the Five Realms, as invasion forces mass under the inspiration of The Unifier, a mysterious, captivating figure whose influence has swept across the surface of Ave ever since His rise to power in the Gallean duchy of Avanor. It is a war that will be fought in the skies, upon the seas, on land, and even in places non-physical in nature.

A majestic, epic fantasy that begins many adventures and journeys across a diverse and enthralling world, filled with races and creatures both familiar and new, Crown of Vengeance lights the flame of the Fires in Eden series, bringing to life a bold, far-ranging, and grand new venture within the realms of fantasy literature.

Pre-Order Announcement for Crown of Vengeance:

Seventh Star Press proudly announces the release of Crown of Vengeance, the first book in the new epic fantasy series Fires in Eden, by author Stephen Zimmer (The Exodus Gate).

To commemorate the forthcoming release, publisher Seventh Star Press is offering pre-order packages for Crown of Vengeance, including a very special, limited edition hardcover version that is strictly limited to 100 copies.

To ensure full authenticity, the limited edition hardcover will be hand-numbered and signed by Stephen Zimmer, and also signed by editor Amanda DeBord and illustrator/cover artist Matt Perry. It will include an extra illustration, and designation plate as a limited edition within the book.

Both the limited edition hardcover and first edition trade paperback pre-orders come with a special package of collectibles, including a numbered set of art cards, a collectible set of 6 bookmarks, and a full color poster of the cover art.

Information on the pre-ordering options can be found at the new site for the Fires In Eden series, located at www.firesineden.com

For information on the publisher visit www.seventhstarpress.com, and for the author visit www.stephenzimmer.com