Saturday Scramble

This was my morning scramble. Yum!

This is a new weekly post I'm going to start where I'll list my favorite blogs/articles for the week. I usually retweet them throughout the week, but this will make all those awesome posts so much easier to find. Enjoy!

Bring Out Your Dead -Merry Farmer An interesting look at the Black Death
Comfort Food: Chili - Dana Britt Nom nom
Firefly Friday - Angela Quarles This is a neat new thing where Angela uses one of my favorite TV shows to illustrate writing tips.
Amazon Takes On Publishers
A Healthy Alternative to Drugs: Burnt Toast (This was from last week, but it's really interesting.)

So there ya go! My favorite reads this week.

And here are some other neat things that happened this week:
-John Locke followed me on Twitter (And it wasn't an auto-follow, because I wasn't following him. Cool, huh?)
-Vampire Assassin (which is free) was downloaded 10190 times on Amazon.
-Jane (Vampire Assassin Books 2-4) sold 147 copies in it's first week and a half.

Going Viral and Other Updates

As I'm sure most of you know, Vampire Assassin is now absolutely free on all formats, including the Kindle. It went free on Wednesday and since then it has exploded! 7000 downloads as of today, when before Wednesday there was only 1, and it's sitting at #40 on the free list. Maybe it's not the definition of viral, but it's huge for me. I want to thank each and every one of you who may have downloaded it. And if you haven't, what are you waiting for??

In honor of the first book in the series going free, I bundled books 2-4 into one, aptly titled Jane (Vampire Assassin Series, Books 2-4). Let my creativity astound you! The bundle is available for just about half the price of buying each book separately. As of today, it is #68 in contemporary fantasy and #3,543 overall. New Blood (Jane #2) is #17 in fantasy anthologies and #8,055 overall. None of my books have ever been out of the 100,000s, so this is absolutely amazing. It's been a very great week for me (I also got a bunny!), and it's all thanks to you, my readers (well, except for the bunny). If I could hug you each individually, I totally would!

Meet Miss Betty, a 1.5-yr-old Mini Lionhead

Now for an update on my other series, Blood of the Dragon. I am currently editing Winds from the North, which is the sequel to Blood of the Dragon. It heads to the real editor (hi Anne!) at the end of this month. My best friend Katie is absolutely wonderful and she is working on a cover for it. She has amazing talent, so I can't wait to show you guys what she's come up with.

And last but not least, my blog is now available on the Kindle. Sadly, there is a subscription fee, but it's only $0.99. All posts will be available for free here, always, but if you like the convenience of reading on the Kindle, you can check out the 14-day free trial with no commitment. 

Last last but definitely not least, for all you writers out there, I am starting up a weekly guest/interview post. If you're interested, shoot me an email and we can discuss details.

Again, thank you to everyone for your support. Self-publishing has truly been the most wonderful experience and I plan to continue for many years to come.

Vampire Assassin is FREE!

Vampire Assassin is now free on all formats, including Nook and Kindle. Go grab yourself a copy and get ready for the omnibus release of books two through four!

Review: The Weight of Blood

The Weight of Blood is the first book in the Half-Orcs series by David Dalglish. I was initially going to purchase the Half-Orcs omnibus, but Weight of Blood went free on Kindle, so I decided to snatch it up. I'm a bit glad I didn't spend the money.

Brief Summary: Weight of Blood follows brothers Harruq and Qurrah. Their mother was an orc and their father was an elf, making them a strange mix in a world where orcs are despised. It is all they can do to survive in the harsh world of humans. That is, until a lovely elf and a strange man in a black cloak arrive and test their loyalty to one another.

My Thoughts: I did not enjoy this book, plain and simple. From the get-go, I had trouble getting over the similarity to the brothers in the Dragonlance series. Harruq is the strong but dumb one who sacrifices everything for his brother, the physically weaker mage with aspirations of power. I don't know if Dalglish read the Dragonlance series before writing this, but it's impossible to read one without thinking of the other. On top of that, the characters had very few redeeming characteristics. They slaughter children without a thought, take out an entire village without even asking for a reason, and blindly follow a man who is clearly the most evil person they have ever met. There is the occasional glimmer of hope throughout the book that they will change, but when they do, it is almost too sudden and kind of weak, really. Then there is the love story that does not get fleshed out and seems like something thrown in just to have it in there. I've heard great things about Dalglish and I think I'll try something else in his repertoire in the future, but this piece definitely fell flat for me.

Rating: ☻☻☻

July Indie Book of the Month - Legacy of the Empress (GIVEAWAY!)

This month, my pick is a book I have not read yet*, though I've read some of the author's other work and absolutely loved it. Legacy of the Empress is the debut novel for Rebecca Knight. It's only $.99 right now, and we're giving away three copies! Giveaway information is below.

A dark magic spreads through the kingdom of Taleria, feeding off its people. The queen is corrupted, seduced by its evil promise. Princess Astrid, held prisoner in the castle by her mother for years, discovers a book of magic, and uses its power to escape.

The only way to save Taleria is to free the Empress of legend who banished the same dark magic centuries before. Astrid doesn't know the first thing about being a hero, much less journeying to the Crystal Fortress where the old woman is imprisoned. She's never been outside her mother's grasp, and now the queen's spies are hot on her heels.

Beautiful creatures twisted into monsters, uncertain allies, and the deadly mystery of the book she possesses are the least of Astrid's concerns. As she faces the darkness before her, she discovers that saving the land she loves may ultimately mean watching it burn.

Rebecca Knight is a fantasy writer living in the Pacific Northwest, and a devout lover of all things geeky. Legacy of the Empress is her debut novel, but she also has several short stories published, including the Fairytale Assassin series on Amazon. For more info, check out her author page: http://www.amazon.com/Rebecca-Knight/e/B004XK8NNE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Rebecca has been so kind as to offer three copies of Legacy for a giveaway. To enter, simply comment below and include your email. Tweeting this post will gain you an extra entry (remember to put @_SamanthaWarren in the tweet so I see it!). Contest ends July 15th. Let's get reading!






*I started Legacy of the Empress a little early. I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far.

Review: Saying Goodbye to the Sun

Saying Goodbye to the Sun is David McAfee's first novel. I discovered it where I discover many an excellent new novel: Kindleboards. I believe it was in a thread where he posted that it had finally become free. I'd already spent my budget for the month and figured I'd try it before I picked up another of his novels that I'm interested in, 33 A.D. I'm very glad I did.

Brief Summary: Saying Goodbye to the Sun is a first-person story following Vincent, a young man who meets a beautiful woman one night and finds his life turned upside down. Raine is unlike any woman Vincent has ever met, and she actually seems to like him. But she has a secret: she's a vampire. After he finally hunts her down, she does the unthinkable by turning him into a vampire. That is forbidden, and now he has to either track her down and bring her in for punishment, or risk punishment himself.

Why You Should Read It: McAfee goes back to tradition in this novel. There are no sparkly, vegetarian vampires who only want to live peacefully with the humans. They are killers, and they make no bones about it. Despite the fact that you know essentially what happened to Vincent from the very beginning of the novel, I found myself eager to find out how he was turned, why Raine had two very angry men chasing after her, and whether Vincent would do the council's bidding or try to save the woman he loves. I didn't realize this was McAfee's first novel until I read a note from him at the back of the book, and if I hadn't read it, I wouldn't have believed it. This is a very engaging, intriguing book and it was very well written. I'm excited to read more from this author.

Rating: ☻☻☻☻

Win a free signed copy of Blood of the Dragon and a $10 Amazon Gift Card!

Do you like to write? Create a short story between now and May 31st and win a free signed copy of my debut full-length novel Blood of the Dragon and a $10 Amazon gift card. The story must be between 1,000 and 5,000 words and feature dragons as the theme. My favorite 5 will be posted here for my fans to judge and a winner will be chosen. The runner-up will receive a free copy of the book for either Kindle or Nook (the platform of your choice. If you've already purchased the ebook, you can choose one of my others instead).  Please email submissions to samantha@redinkrevision.com and paste the story in the body of the email along with your name and preferred email address (Sorry, I don't accept attachments. They're too scary.). I will contact the winner to get their shipping information. The winner will also get the option of having their story included in the back of my next ebook (with full credit, of course). Questions? Email me!