Come take a look at Jaleta's writing process today in her blog tour stop here :)

Let's give her a warm welcome and don't forget to sign up for the rafflecopter at the end of the post!

Peeking Inside My Writing Process or Where Do My Ideas Come From?  

Peeking inside my writing process is like stirring around in a algae-choked pond. You never know what's down there that might surface. In Dark Dancer, the Summerlands are ruled by the Seligh Lords, each Archon controlling his own demesne. Let me explain where this came from and what it means.  

Somewhere down in the recesses of my brain, in the very deep dark dungeons, is a place where thoughts and random things are stored. They kind of ooze and jiggle and merge and do all sorts of things in that dark space that I really don't want to know about. I let my subconscious play with them because I know, eventually, something shiny and bright and new is going to float to the top. In this sludge, my teenage devouring of all things Shakespeare was having a party with all the fairy-tales and folk stories I've also read over the years. I was the devourer when it came to those kinds of books. I still read them. Add in a good dose of historical trivia, some archaic words that no one uses anymore, and a fascination with mechanical things and weird architecture, and you have the setting for my version of fairyland.  

The fairy world is split into three general areas. The Summerlands are where the Seligh Lords rule. This is the more typical fairyland setting, closer to Titania's court than Tinkerbell's. I even have a character based off Queen Titania who lives in a magical forest glade and revels with her forest subjects - dryads, satyrs, fauns, and the like. The other Seligh Lords have taken the magic of their land and bound it to themselves. The ruler of each demesne, an archaic form of domain that is pronounced pretty much the same way but is way cooler to write, is called an Archon. I stole that from the ancient Greek city-states. Their rulers were called Archons. The Archons use their power to bind anyone with any kind of magical gift to their demesne. That pool of power is used to create steampunk technology. So they have machines, but the power source for them is not fossil fuels or solar energy or mechanical energy, but rather magical crystals that can store the Archon's power.  

And yes, they have ships that fly. Because I fell in love with the idea of fairy elves flying around in wooden sailing ships. One of them is a renegade, a pirate based off Errol Flynn's Sinbad character. Because I've always had a thing for Sinbad.  

I hope you enjoyed this romp through my subconscious. It can sometimes be a very scary place, but for this story, it's all about adventure and romance. And flying ships powered by magic crystals and crewed by elves, not the tree-dwelling cookie bakers or the winged fairy kind, but more like Tolkein's elves. Sort of.  

You can find a complete list of all my work at http://www.jaletac.com  

Dark Dancer -







































A strange prophecy haunts the Seligh lords, rulers of the Fey and controllers of all magic in the Summerlands, a prophecy that foretells their fall. At its heart, is a young human woman with no memory of her power or potential to destroy their world.  

Available in ebook and print.


Smashwords (all ebook formats)- https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/465920


Kindle- http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Dancer-Jaleta-Clegg-ebook/dp/B00MRANX5A

I love new takes on Greek gods and myths. The second book in Voss' King Jester trilogy just came out and he's started on tour. Here is a list of the schedule.


Wednesday, August 13th: Voss Foster: Demon Hunting and Tenth Dimensional Physics (Http://Vossfoster.blogspot.com)

Thursday, August 14th: Siana Wineland: Siana's Place (http://www.sianawineland.com)

Friday, August 15th: S.Evan Townsend: Writer's Thoughts (http://blog.sevantownsend.com

Saturday, August 16th: Iyana Jenna: Iyana Jenna (http://iyanajenna.com)

Sunday, August 17th: TR Goodman: trgoodman.net (http://www.trgoodman.net)

Monday, August 18th: T. Strange: T. Strange (http://tqstrange.blogspot.com)

Tuesday, August 19th: Frances Pauli: Speculative Friction (http://francespauli.blogspot.com

Wednesday, August 20th: Jennifer Willis: Jennifer Willis (http://jennifer-willis.com)

Thursday, August 21st: Cathy Hird: Open One More (http://openonemore.com)

Friday, August 22nd: J.J. DiBenedetto: Writing Dreams (http://writingdreams.net)



Pop on by at any of the stops and see what's going on. Now read on for a looksee both past and present.



In such a small space, he caught up in twenty seconds. Lou stood in front of the refrigerated section, about two yards from a woman. She wore a long, white dress, a striking contrast to the black curls flowing halfway down her back. Her skin gleamed, dark olive. She wore open-toed, leather sandals.  

"Well, come on, Lou." The woman looked over her shoulder, flashing blue-gray eyes and bright red lipstick. "Did you think I hadn't noticed you?"  

"Arachne." Lou stayed right where he was. "What are you doing here?"  

"Passing through." She turned all the way around. A metal spindle hung from a beaded cord around her neck. She spoke with hard H's, rasping in the back of her throat, and long vowels. English almost sounded hesitant to come off her tongue. "But I stopped when I felt some familiar energy in the area. I would have left eventually, if no one came."

-The Jester Prince

 
The story of Arachne is a story that, unlike most Greek myths, does not set up deities to be infallible and perfect. Arachne is a very skilled weaver, but she refuses to admit that any of her talent came from Athena, or any other deity, for that matter. When confronted, she challenges Athena to a contest of weaving prowess.  

And she bests that goddess. Not only is her tapestry better, but it depicts scenes of gods and goddesses abusing and lying to mortals. In a rage, Athena destroys Arachne's tapestry, turns her into a spider, and a curses her and her descendants to weave forever.  

What a bitch.  

It got me thinking, though. What would Arachne, punished by the gods, be like if she was to join their ranks? I tried to keep her playful attitude, but I also wanted to make her more aloof. After what happened to her with Athena, I wouldn't think she would be one to flaunt her own superiority.  

Get to know Arachne, as well as the other immortals, in The Jester Prince, Book Two of the King Jester Trilogy.


With the destruction of Zirkua Fantastic, King Jester, the spirit of discord, has been unleashed once more upon the Earth. Only Toby, a fresh, untrained immortal, and the other former members of Zirkua Fantastic dare to stand against his chaos. But their hold is tenuous, and they are only truly safe from his power within the bounds of their camp. King Jester grows more powerful and more dangerous with each passing day. But he's made one mistake. That mistake could be his undoing. He's stolen Toby's soul mate, Marley. When he discovers Marley's location, Toby knows what he has to do. He will rescue Marley, even if it means he has to face King Jester alone.  

But the others don't let him go at it alone. Marley has information about the resistance. They can't afford to let him stay in King Jester's control. In desperation, the immortals raise an army to storm the compound. But will it be enough to challenge the embodiment of chaos himself? All they can do is hope. Hope and put their faith in love.  

Available from Prizm Books.


EXCERPT:

Arachne sighed. "I can see why you'd be afraid to be around me. It's not the most friendly climate right now." She held the door open and gestured him out. "If you're anything like your parents, you should be fine."  

Don't tell her I'm untrained. "I just hope it won't come to that." The doors to the supermarket slid open when they stepped into the sensor's range. Toby went to the back, started loading bags with fresh produce. "We need as much citrus as we can get. And carrots, turnips. Anything that'll keep for a while."  

She grabbed bag after bag, loading them so full the bottoms stretched down under the weight. "Nuts. If you're not getting nuts, you really should." She pointed to the bulk bins. "They're good, high calorie food."  

"You talk like you've done this before."  

"Quite a while ago, but yes. Had to hide out and I definitely had to eat."  

Toby stopped. "You were human?"  

"At one point, yes. Before Sascha awakened me." She pulled ahead of him, started loading another bag with mixed nuts. "Of course, back then, we had a lot more direct interaction with the immortals. Not like today." She scribbled the bulk number on the twist tie, wrapped up the opening to the bag, and stuck it under her arm. "What else do we need?"  

"Well, Madame Zerga wants some scotch, and a few of the humans drink coffee."  

"All right. You get the coffee, I'll get the scotch." She smiled, eyes bright. "And maybe I can find some ouzo."


You can find more about Voss at,

http://vossfoster.blogspot.com 

And here's a buy link for the book,

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=83&products_id=4250

What an awesome summer so far. I've been meaning to post forever now but it's been a go go go kind of season. But between the first rain we've seen in weeks and a guest blog post tomorrow I wanted to prepare for, I've finally sat down to hammer this out.

The Pacific Northwest has had a beautiful, warm summer. The kind where I'm out doing all sorts of things with the kiddo's. We've been to the zoo a few times. Spent two weeks camping with family. Had the most awesome birthday bash for my now 9 year old :) With more birthdayness to come as family from out of state arrives this week.

But the best summer activity has been biking. I finally managed to get my bike. I'll try and get pictures at some point. With the addition of a kangaroo seat for my younger daughter the three of us have been out and about in the sunshine. And wonder of wonders my husband's bike that has been stored for years, still seems to be in decent order. So with a small amount of servicing we will all be on the go :)

This summer break has gone by way too fast, sigh. School is just around the corner along with the fall. My daughter's materials from K12 arrived so she is all set to start kindergarten. But until then we still have fun left to do. The fair is looming and hopefully a visit to friends on the other side of the mountains will work out before we have to knuckle down.

So now for news on the writing front. Flight is off with the editor. I can't wait to get it back and dig into it. Unfortunately my hoped for release of it during the summer is not to be. It'll be closer to the holiday's before it's out. Just think of it as a yule present :D

I'm hoping to have the first two Cambion books ready to go at about the same time. We'll see how that works out. Some fun paranormal romance. Incubi and Succubi anyone?

Tomorrow I have a guest on a book tour joining us. Voss Foster's The Jester prince trilogy has it's second book coming out. The Jester prince: Arachne.

Check back tomorrow to learn all about it.

Happy summer everyone.