OSK Available in Paperback

See? I told you! Only The Stars Know is finally available in Paperback from CreateSpace.

Super Special Preview available....

Where to Buy the book

Also, for those of you local to me, I will soon be placing copies in

Discount Books, Oroville CA
& Lyon Books, Chico CA

Where's My Credibility Gone?

I wouldn't be surprised if you no longer believed that Only The Stars Know is actually going to ever reach a paperback form...It has been much longer than I ever wanted us to wait.

My poor explanation is that I now fully understand what I paid Author House for, when they created the paperback version of Submerged In Darkness. They made it easy on me, I just wrote the book and told them what I wanted it to look like. This time around, using CreateSpace, is worlds apart. Since I do not have to pay them to do the work, I must do it.

The end result is something I am so incredibly proud of. Every page, every letter, every single piece of formatting is ME. The only thing that's not is the barcode on the back. I am not exaggerating.

I tried to make Only The Stars Know as similar to Submerged In Darkness as I could. I think I succeeded right to the perfect point. They look like the same series, but different books, perfect.

My hope is to approve the book for distribution tomorrow, but it may not happen until Wednesday. I am waiting for the files to be reviewed and approved, which I have no doubt they will, but it takes up to 48hrs. Cross your fingers and pray they get back to me in only 24.

I apologize heartily for the delay, but I hope you beautiful readers can understand that you are getting a much better product for your wait.

It has been through this process that I have discovered a passion for book design. If the writing gig doesn't work out I could always get a job at a publishing house in design. :)

Thank you for your patience (or at least for not voicing your impatience) and feel safe in the reality that you will only have to wait a couple more days.

So...what now?

Only The Stars Know is now available for only $0.99 as an Amazon ebook. You can even download Kindle for PC for free! (and it's pretty dang fast too)...I mean, what could be better? Plus, the paperback version will soon be available from CreateSpace and then you (and I) can hold it, smell it, reread it and place it on our treasured bookshelves.

So, what's next for the Shanco team?

Here's the plan:

1. Find book reviewers to tackle OSK and (hopefully) tell me they love it!

2. Travel to the ocean to do some much needed research on my next project, tentatively titled Selkie Dance.

3. Finish Selkie Dance so that I can actually concentrate on The Immortal World again.

4. Start work revising Shadows On The Wall. This is going to be the biggest task, because it needs so much work.

By far, Shadows On The Wall was always the fan favorite. Don't ask me why, it was my least favorite. But, I think the revision is going to be fantastic. I just have to get disciplined enough to sit down and do it.

I will leave it up on Fiction Press for jut a little longer, so you can refresh your memories. But be warned, it is going to change almost as completely as Blood's Faith did when it became Only The Stars Know.

Check out http://ShannonAHiner.com for some personal life updates!

Only The Stars Know Available as An Ebook!

Only The Stars Know is now available as an ebook through Amazon.com! Even if you don't have a Kindle, I know from experience that downloading the Kindle for PC is a piece of cake! (Delicious, booklike cake!)

It will only cost you $0.99 and it's so instantaneous it brings on a whole new level of instant gratification!

I'm still working with CreateSpace to make some nice paperbacks for you, we're in the review process now so hopefully it won't be long.

Don't forget! Interview with Romancing-The-Book in less than 2 weeks! (8/20/11)

Excerpt from Only The Stars Know

I'm giving you a Sneak Peek at Only The Stars Know until you are able to get your own copy to read! This will have to tide you over until you sit down to read the whole thing!

Without further ado, from one of my favorite scenes, I present you,

Only The Stars Know

.....

The animals were moving about the woods freely, that was a good sign. A herd of deer were a ways off. She could hear them chewing the leaves from surrounding trees. It didn’t calm her like normal. The air around her was tainted with her fuming rage. The animals gave her a wide berth. She wanted to scream that she was not a predator to them, but it seemed too much like a lie. Another lie.

No, given the chance she would change into a giant cat of prey and tear through the forest. The very thought made her muscles twitch. Her fingers flexed, trying to ease the itch in her palms. Her eyes burned and her vision shifted. The forest was more than just shapes in the darkness now. Everything had a color now. The trees were swirls of brown and green, the ground was gray. The creatures she had heard with such clarity before were now spots of red on the edges of her vision.

Her stomach rolled and she fell to her knees. The earth felt warm beneath her palms. The animals sensed the change. Each squirrel, jackrabbit and deer fell utterly still. They turned in her direction as one.

Run.

The word was a command in the darkness. She wasn’t sure if it came from them, or her…or both. They didn’t wait. Every beast bolted.

Prey. Her muscles twitched all together and she fell on her back.

“No!” She screamed, the agony was ripping through her in waves. She had to fight it. Not again. Please God, not again. Kali fought herself. When her muscles tried to make her rise, she threw herself back to the ground. It was long minutes before she could breathe the cool air again. Her eyes finally shifted back.

The forest was utterly silent. The animals would not return here for days.
Kali curled into herself on the ground as the sobs took over. She could not get angry...She could never allow herself to revel in that emotion. Because it would happen again.

When she could finally control herself, Kali lifted herself from the ground. She wiped the dirt from her arms and shook it from her hair. The bottom of her shirt would do for wiping away the tears. When she felt relatively whole again, she starting walking back down the road. As if nothing had happened? No. She could never pretend it away. The monster inside would never go away. She would never be truly alone.

Kali folded her arms around herself and walked faster. Up ahead the forest ended and Rowan came into view. The town was built in what used to be a large meadow. The buildings lined the outer circle, and in the middle was the Rowan tree. The path to Grandma Ivana’s was almost directly across the town from the Verbotsch’s.

As Kali entered the town she again had the feeling of being watched. She slowed down and glanced around cautiously. The town had gone to sleep for the night. Most of the houses were dark, but the windows that shone light had curtains drawn down as well. There was absolutely no one in sight. She raised her nose and sniffed warily.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

She walked faster again, keeping her head down and her ears peeled. As she approached the Rowan tree, the feeling of being watched grew. Her shoulders were tense and she was ready to run at a moment’s notice. When she was directly underneath the Rowan tree she could suddenly smell cotton and soap. She stopped moving.

A twig snapped just before something hurled itself out of the Rowan tree and at her. The man landed gracefully about three feet away and stared down at her. In the dark she could not make out his features, only that he was tall, imposing, and angry. She could also smell something else on him, something strange that she had never in her life smelled before. It reminded her of the predator smell that the dangerous animals always carried. It was sharper though, and more sweet.

Kali took a step back.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” His voice was soft and dangerous, but somehow she recognized it.

The blinding hatred that drove him was vaguely familiar, but Zane wasn’t in the mood for placing it. At the moment he was doing all he could not to strangle Kali before she explained herself. Her scent carried something new with it this time, forest and predator. If he hadn’t been so angry he might have questioned what she must have run into in the forest. That would be later, after he killed her.

“Zane?!” She whispered in surprise and fright.

He stalked toward her, cutting the distance between them in half. Her fear seemed to be converting to anger. Good, he detested the smell of fear. “What are you doing with my family?” He tried to keep his voice low, he wanted to shout very badly. If he shouted though, the rest of his anger might release. He would not kill her before he knew what game she thought she was playing.

“You’ve been spying on me!” She exclaimed, “Instead of going into that house and telling your family you’re alive you hid outside and spied on me!”

He growled, a barely controlled sound that seemed to rip from the back of his throat, “I wasn’t spying on you. I was looking in on my family. You should not have been there!”

“Hah! I shouldn’t have been there?!” She crossed her arms again, “They think you are dead!”

“I am dead!” He yelled finally. He could not hold the fury anymore. Grabbing her shoulders he lifted and shook her, “I died twelve years ago! I am never coming back!"
.....

Check in tomorrow and the next day for details on where to find Only The Stars Know published!

Only The Stars Know Pub Update

Monday the 8th!!! (Of this month, of course)

The cover is done, and I am sitting down to a very long night of final edits.

On Monday I will spending the whole day online (no, seriously) to put my book up as an ebook.

As for it paperback date, I'm not positive yet.

Many more details will be coming!

A Few Comments And A Scrap

The lingering question kept me up. 2 am. Who do you love? I wonder till I'm wide awake. --Taylor Swift "Enchanted" (I don't care what anyone says, Taylor is wonderfully talented and her lyrics echo many driftings of my soul.

Hello dearies! I realize I haven't posted any scraps lately and I apologize. I have been struggling wondrously with a new storyline. It is taking up all my energies currently. As I know it is annoying not to see updates from writers you love (allow me to flatter myself, if you will) I am going to give you a little taste of this new storyline. Just a taste! I cannot allow full access until I am sure it is quite firm.

As Yet Untitled

“What exactly are you wanting from me?” She fingered her keys while watching him carefully. Her confusion was starting to give way to suspicion. Why tell her all of this? It couldn’t just be random. He couldn’t trust a total stranger so much, could he?

“I am asking for your assistance.”

Oh, shit. That’s what she had been afraid of. And it probably just got better and better. “In what way?”

His stone cold black eyes never left hers, making her feel trapped and more vulnerable than was comfortable. “I am, at present time, stuck here-”

“On land.” She said with the pretense of clarification, but in reality was testing how solidly he would stick to his story.

“Yes.” His sharp eyes missed nothing and she felt as though all her thoughts were exposed.

She shifted uneasily and managed to tear her eyes from his entrapment. “Go on.”

“As I was saying, I am stuck here until my skin is returned to me. You may imagine that leaves me in a rather bleak position.”

She frowned up at him, “How so?”

His eyes bore into her and she felt as though her intelligence was being undermined, “I am without shelter, food, and proper clothing, and I have no idea of how long I may be stuck here. I do not know any humans in these parts that may help me.”

“Oh dear.” She bit her bottom lip, “But why did you pick me?”

“You are the first human I came across after discovering the theft of my skin.”

She wasn’t sure what she had expected to hear, either that she was special or that he liked her for some reason, but what she got wasn’t anywhere close. It could have been anyone as far as he was concerned. Male or female, young or old, pretty or not…there was nothing special in his selection of her.

Illusions firmly shattered, she singled out her car key on the chain and unlocked the driver’s side.

“Well, I’m certain the second human you come across will be more helpful to you. Sorry and have a good night.” She opened the car door and tossed her towel in.

His open palms hit the roof of the car from the other side. “You will not help me?”

She hesitated and then made the mistake of meeting his eyes again. They burned with some fiery light she could not quite identify. It wasn’t desperation or hurt or betrayal. They just burned, deep into her own mind and she could almost swear she felt the effects in her very soul.

“Or is it that you don’t believe me?” He said quietly. He didn’t move, but as his voice lowered she felt strangely as though he had moved closer, as if he were crowding her.

And in that moment she discovered something rather horrifying. She did believe him. She did not know how or for what reason, but she did believe.

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing would come out. It was like being a fish out of water, knowing what she had to do, what she needed to do, but being unable to do more than flop about in confusion.

She cursed suddenly and threw herself down into the car. She reached across the passenger seat to unlock and open the adjacent door. “Get in.”

He slid in next to her and dragged the door closed.

“What is your name, anyways?”

“My name?”

She started the engine and adjust the air dials for something a little warmer, “Yeah. You know, what does your family call you?”

He shook his head briefly, “That would not be easily pronounced with a human tongue.”

“Well what do they call you on land?” She put the car in reverse and the slid of the parking space.

He looked at her steadily and said without emotion, “We do not speak much on land.”

She frowned, “What do you do on land?”

“Sing, frolic, dance.” The last word seemed layered with meaning as they stared at one another.

All she could think of was her own dance on the beach. How that could compare to the dancing of magical creatures she didn’t want to imagine.

“Well,” she said slowly, “What would you like me to call you?”

He shrugged, an unnatural lift of his shoulders that he didn’t seem entirely comfortable with,

“Whatever you wish. It matters not to me.”

She sighed, “Not going to make this easy on me, are you?”

“I am being difficult?” He frowned.

“Not at all.” She sighed again.

“I am unfamiliar with your tone, but it does not sound as if you mean what you say.”

“It’s called sarcasm.” She kept her eyes trained on the road, glad for a reason not to meet his gaze, “What, seals don’t practice it?”

“No, we are a very straightforward lot.”

“I’m noticing.” She commented dryly.

~.~.~

So, you see, these characters are very interesting and have about %60 of my life's attention, (Another %20 is for my actual job, %10 on eating and sleeping, %5 on not going to jail for homicide and the last %5 is taken up on keeping track of the rest).

I am afraid it really leaves no room for idle scraps. But I will try to share more of this project in the next few weeks.

Commentary appreciated!