Author Archive

2019 Tour and Life Updates

I’m super excited to share that I will be going on tour again next year, this time to promote the release of my newest book, WARRIOR OF THE WILD.

We will be announcing tour stops later this year, so stay tuned!

In other news, we’re less than five months out from the release of WOTW. This year has been so fast for me. I went to a lot of fun places (see the Events page for specifics) and met a lot of fun people. I can’t wait to do it all again (and more!) next year. My launch party will be on February 26^th at the Provo City Library, so be sure to mark your calendars if you’re local!

In the meantime, I’m working on my 2020 novel, which I’ve almost finished drafting. I can’t wait until I’m allowed to talk about it!

This year, I read my first graphic novel (Check, Please), and I’ve decided the medium is fantastic, and I can’t believe I’ve been missing out. My favorites so far have probably been Saga and Rat Queens. No matter what medium, whether book or movie, my tastes always tend to gravitate toward sci-fi/fantasy.

Other highlights of the year have been going to the Oregon coast with my family, moving to a bigger apartment, where I actually get to have an office to work in, and redesigning my website!

 

 

 

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Book Tour, Caitlin Sangster, Erin Summerill, Events, Once A King, Rebel Warriors Tour, Scatter the Suns, Updates, WARRIOR OF THE WILD

WARRIOR OF THE WILD Cover Reveal

For those of you who aren’t on Instagram, I wanted to make sure you had a chance to see the cover for my next book! WARRIOR OF THE WILD is a Viking-inspired standalone fantasy that will release February 26, 2019.

Here’s a bit about the book:

How do you kill a god?

As her father’s chosen heir, eighteen-year-old Rasmira has trained her whole life to become a warrior and lead her village. But when her coming-of-age trial is sabotaged and she fails the test, her father banishes her to the monster-filled wilderness with an impossible quest: To win back her honor, she must kill the oppressive god who claims tribute from the villages each year or die trying.

I’m completely in love with the cover! What do you think?

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Cover Reveal, vikings, YA Historical Fantasy

Fierce Reads Tour

Have you visited my events page recently? I have a ton of new events coming up this year, and I want to make sure you know if I’m coming near you! Check out my events page here for more details. Below I’ll be posting the stops for the Fierce Reads Tour, which I will be a part of along with authors Mary E. Pearson, Maurene Goo, and Taran Matharu.

5/8
Schuler Books
Grand Rapids, MI

May 9
Red Balloon
St. Paul, MN

May 10
Boswell Books
Milwaukee, WI

May 11
Main St. Books
St. Charles, MO

May 12
Tattered Cover
Denver, CO

May 13
University Bookstore
Seattle, WA

May 14
Books, Inc.
San Francisco, CA

Please visit each bookstore’s website for times and details. Hope to see you on the tour!

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Books, DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING, Fierce Reads, Tour

Brave Girls Tour

Erin Summerill and I are excited to announce the full line up for our #BraveGirlsTour! We will be hitting four bookstores in the Pacific Northwest as well as making a one-day stop for a comic convention! See the graphic below for details!

We’d love to see you! Come by to see us and get your books signed!

I will also be participating in the Fierce Reads spring tour, which is happening in May! The locations for that tour will be announced February 28th! Be sure to check my events page regularly for new stops!

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Books, Brave Girls Tour, EVER THE BRAVE, YA, Young Adult

February Releases

It’s February! You know what that means? DAUGHTER OF THE SIREN QUEEN releases this month! The 27^th is only a few weeks away. I’m having such a hard time being patient for it to get here, so I thought I’d talk about all the other awesome February YA book releases I’m looking forward to!

1. SHADOWSONG (Feb 6^th) by S. Jae-Jones, the sequel to WINTERSONG. This book is perfect for those who love strong romantic plot lines; beautiful, atmospheric writing; and fairytales.

What it’s about: Six months after the end of Wintersong, Liesl is working toward furthering both her brother’s and her own musical careers. Although she is determined to look forward and not behind, life in the world above is not as easy as Liesl had hoped. Her younger brother Josef is cold, distant, and withdrawn, while Liesl can’t forget the austere young man she left beneath the earth, and the music he inspired in her.

When troubling signs arise that the barrier between worlds is crumbling, Liesl must return to the Underground to unravel the mystery of life, death, and the Goblin King—who he was, who he is, and who he will be. What will it take to break the old laws once and for all? What is the true meaning of sacrifice when the fate of the world—or the ones Liesl loves—is in her hands?

2. THE QUEEN’S RISING (Feb 6^th) By Rebecca Ross. Perfect for fans of political intrigue and historical settings.

What it’s about: When her seventeenth summer solstice arrives, Brienna desires only two things: to master her passion and to be chosen by a patron.

Growing up in the southern Kingdom of Valenia at the renowned Magnalia House should have prepared her for such a life. While some are born with an innate talent for one of the five passions—art, music, dramatics, wit, and knowledge—Brienna struggled to find hers until she belatedly chose to study knowledge. However, despite all her preparations, Brienna’s greatest fear comes true—the solstice does not go according to plan and she is left without a patron.

Months later, her life takes an unexpected turn when a disgraced lord offers her patronage. Suspicious of his intent, and with no other choices, she accepts. But there is much more to his story, and Brienna soon discovers that he has sought her out for his own vengeful gain. For there is a dangerous plot being planned to overthrow the king of Maevana—the archrival kingdom of Valenia—and restore the rightful queen, and her magic, to the northern throne. And others are involved—some closer to Brienna than she realizes.

With war brewing between the two lands, Brienna must choose whose side she will remain loyal to—passion or blood. Because a queen is destined to rise and lead the battle to reclaim the crown. The ultimate decision Brienna must determine is: Who will be that queen?

3. THE ROGUE QUEEN (Feb 13^th) by Emily R. King. I loved Emily’s first two books in this series. This book will appeal to fans of elemental magic systems, strong female relationships, and well-choreographed action sequences.

What it’s about: Despite the odds, Kalinda has survived it all: Marriage to a tyrant. Tournaments to the death. The forbidden power to rule fire. The icy touch of a demon.

That same demon now disguises itself as Rajah Tarek, Kalinda’s late husband and a man who has never stopped haunting her. Upon taking control of the palace and the army, the demon brands Kalinda and her companions as traitors to the empire. They flee across the sea, seeking haven in the Southern Isles.

In Lestari, Kalinda’s powers are not condemned, as they are in her land. Now free to use them to protect those she loves, Kalinda soon realizes that the demon has tainted her with a cold poison, rendering her fire uncontrollable. But the lack of control may be just what she needs to send the demon back to the darkest depths of the Void.

To take back the empire, Kalinda will ally with those she distrusts—and risk losing those most loyal to her—to defeat the demon and bring peace to a divided nation.

4. SIGHTWITCH (Feb 13^th) by Susan Dennard. This book is for fans of epic fantasy! With fantastic character dynamics, a touch of romance, and epic magical battles, this series will appeal to fans of THRONE OF GLASS.

Set a year before Truthwitch, Sightwitch follows Ryber Fortiza, the last Sightwitch Sister as she treks deep underground to rescue her missing best friend. While there, she encounters a young Nubrevnan named Kullen Ikray, who has no memory of who he is or how he wound up inside the mountain. As the two journey ever deeper in search of answers, and as they brave one close call after another, a tentative friendship forms between them—one that might one day grow into something more.

Sightwitch is told through Ryber’s journal entries and her sketches, as well as through supplementary materials (such as other journals, pieces of songs, clippings from history books, flashbacks, etc.). Though meant as a companion novella, this story serves as a set up to Bloodwitch as well as an expansion of the world.

5. PITCH DARK (Feb 20^th) by Courtney Alameda. The best way to describe this book is sci-fi horror! Courtney has such a way with creating unique, terrifying monsters. The pacing is spot on in this novel, and the characters jump off the page.

What it’s about: Set against a future of marauding space scavengers and deadly aliens who kill with sound, here is a frightening, fast-paced YA adventure from the author of the acclaimed horror novel, Shutter.

Tuck has been in stasis on the USS John Muir, a ship that houses Earth’s most valued artifacts—its natural resources. Parks and mountains are preserved in space.

Laura belongs to a shipraiding family, who are funded by a group used to getting what they want. And they want what’s on the Muir.

Tuck and Laura didn’t bargain on working together, or battling mutant aliens who use sound to kill. But their plan is the only hope for their crews, their families, and themselves.

In space, nobody can hear you scream . . . but on the John Muir, the screams are the last thing you’ll hear.

6. HEART OF IRON (Feb 27^th) by Ashley Poston. Another totally original sci-fi!

What it’s about: Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him.

Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn’t care what he’ll sacrifice to keep them.

When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive.

What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana’s past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Books, February Releases, Heart of Iron, Pitch Dark, Shadowsong, Sightwitch, The Queen's Rising, The Rogue Queen, Young Adult

Preorder Incentive for SIREN QUEEN

I can hardly believe we’re only a month and a half away from DAUGHTER OF THE SIREN QUEEN’s launch! February 27th is just around the corner! That being said, I have goodies for those of you who preorder the book!

To redeem items 1 and 2 (bookmark and bookplate), send a picture/screenshot of your receipt to tricialevenseller@gmail.com. To redeem the exclusive chapter, click here! International orders may redeem all items, too, however, international orders will not be able to redeem the chapter through the link, so I will send it to you as a PDF when you request the other two items via email. This offer is only valid while supplies last! Shoot me an email if you have any questions. (IMPORTANT: OwlCrate subscribers check your email before redeeming.)

I’m excited to have you guys read Riden’s chapter! It’s the first chapter of DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING told through Riden’s point of view, so you don’t need to worry about reading it before SIREN QUEEN. I hope it will be a nice teaser to hold you guys over until the next book’s release. I had so much fun writing it, and I hope you all enjoy reading it!

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SIREN QUEEN and WARRIOR Updates!

I have fun things to share today! For one, DAUGHTER OF THE SIREN QUEEN’s cover has been finalized. I’ve been given permission to share the jacket art, so I’ll post it below for you to see!

And in keeping with tradition, let’s do our Can You Spot the Difference game! Below I have the initial DOTSQ cover on the left and the new cover on the right (or top and then bottom, depending on your screen size). I’ve found 5 differences. How many do you see?

Yesterday, I was sent the first version of the end pages for DOTSQ. If you’ll remember, in PIRATE KING, the end pages featured ship schematics for the Night Farer. I think you guys will be really excited to see the end pages for SIREN QUEEN. Sadly, they aren’t finalized yet, so I can’t share. But they are awesome and will be totally worth the wait!

For those of you who have preordered DAUGHTER OF THE SIREN QUEEN, hold on to those receipts! There WILL be preorder incentives. One item in particular is extra special and will be available to EVERY SINGLE PERSON who preorders the book. That will probably be announced in January after the holidays. If you go to the home page of my website, you can find all the preorder links! Or, if you would like to preorder a SIGNED COPY, you can do so through my local indie, The King’s English Bookshop, at no additional cost! All you need to do is when you go to check out the book, in the comment’s section, say you would like a signed copy. If you want the book personalized, specify that as well. Feel free to message me if you have any questions about this!

Now let’s talk about WOTW for a bit! For those of you who don’t know, I sold two new books to my publisher, which will release in 2019 and 2020. The first is a standalone YA fantasy titled WARRIOR OF THE WILD. It is a (very loosely) Viking-inspired story about eighteen-year-old Rasmira, who fails her coming-of-age test and is banished from her village as a result. With only two boys who were banished the previous year for company, she must survive the monster-filled wild and kill her village’s oppressive deity if she is ever to return home. Since some of you are wondering, no, this book does not have a love triangle. But because I can’t resist, yes, it does have a prominent romantic subplot.

Anyway, I’m really excited about the story. I have finished the first version of the manuscript and turned it into my editor. Just waiting on my edit letter before I can dive into revisions. If everything stays on schedule, this one should come out February 2019. We’re definitely hoping to stick to spacing out the books only one year apart. If you’re interested, you can add WARRIOR OF THE WILD to your TBR on GoodReads here!

Those are all the updates I have for now. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

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New Book Deal!!!

I have exciting news! I am contracted for two new books! The first will be a standalone. It is currently titled WARRIOR OF THE WILD, and it will release winter (Jan-April) 2019. The second is a to-be-determined book that will release winter 2020.

I’m very excited to share Rasmira’s story with you in 2019. Before it had a title, I’d been calling WotW my battle ax story. You can expect battle ax fights, monsters, and a scenery that proves to be just as dangerous as the creatures that live in it. There may also be a prominent romance, banter, and a lead who uses her wits as much as her weapon to get out of tricky situations. Here’s an embellished copy of the deal announcement below!

As for that to-be-determined book, it means that I don’t have to decide right away which of my ideas I’d like to do for that one. It’s a way for my publisher to get me on the schedule for 2020 in advance. But I’ll let you guys know what I end up doing for that when an official decision is made and I’m allowed to share it. For now, know that you can expect at least three novels from me in the future: DAUGHTER OF THE SIREN QUEEN in 2018, WARRIOR OF THE WILD in 2019, and a to-be-determined book in 2020.

For now, you can add WARRIOR OF THE WILD to your TBR on Goodreads here!

Thank you so much to my readers who are making my dream of writing continue to be possible! Starting Friday, I will officially be a full-time writer, and I couldn’t be happier!

In other news, once we get closer to the release of DAUGHTER OF THE SIREN QUEEN, I will be offering a preorder incentive. So hold onto those receipts if you’ve already preordered. In the meantime, here’s a fun image:

This is the pirate flag for the pirate king’s ship, the DRAGON’S SKULL. You guys have already seen the flag for the AVA-LEE:

Both of these gorgeous flags were made by the incredibly talented Elizabeth Anne Taggart. She can be found at ThatSnarkyDragon.

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Battle Axes, Book Deal, Publishing, vikings

My Pirate Cruise

I promised a blog post on my Bahamas trip! I promise I didn’t forget. I was waiting on the pictures from the underwater camera to get sent to me. Now that I have those, I can finally share my real sea adventure!

First, before we ever boarded our ship, we stopped by the Pirate Museum in Nassau. Turned out it was closed. SO BUMMED. But I took pictures with all the things outside!

I obviously didn’t get carried away at all.

Anyway, then it was ship time!

This is the Liberty Clipper. I spent a week on this ship, and it was the coolest experience of my life. There’s something about being on the open sea, unable to see land in any direction. It’s beautiful, adventurous, yet also soothing. Sleeping on a ship is like being rocked to sleep every night. I’ve never slept so well.

Here are some pictures of the ship up close. I was excited about even the simplest ship items, like that green gangplank.

The ship fit the twenty-four passengers and eight crew members snugly. The rooms were small, with only about two feet (if that) between the bunks and the wall. And the bathrooms! Picture an airplane bathroom, except there’s also a shower head in there. You close the toilet seat and put this flap down over the toilet paper so it doesn’t get wet. Then you’re good to go.

Trip Activities!

Day 1:

We sailed to Meeks Patch, an island with wild pigs!

They were so cute. We brought slop from the ship to feed them. We even pet them. I guess they’re used to visitors. They didn’t have any problem sleeping while we were watching.

Afterward we played at the beach off the island.

That night I got a picture of the ship at dusk before we returned to sleep for the night.

Day 2:

We stopped at Spanish Wells and drove around the island on golf carts. The crew prepared a scavenger hunt for us, so we had fun driving around and looking at things. There was also this awesome bridge spanning across the two islands. Naturally, we had to jump off into the gorgeous water below. Here’s my mom and cousin getting used to the water!

Afterward, we had lunch on the beach. Then I decided to go snorkeling. There wasn’t a reef or anything, but the water was so clear—it was just fascinating to be able to see so far. I’m from Oregon, and the ocean water there is NOT clear. Or warm. Snorkeling turned out to be totally worth it. First I found the biggest hermit crab I’ve ever seen. The shell was a foot long, one of those spiral snail shells. I almost picked it up to take to shore before I noticed the legs sticking out it. Just enormous! Shortly after that, I spotted a stingray half buried in the sand. I couldn’t tell it was a ray at first because its tail and most of its body were hidden. Sadly, I didn’t have the underwater camera with me this time. So no pictures of those.

Day 3:

Snorkeling day! We went exploring first around a reef. And there were fish to see!

And then later in the day was my favorite part of the trip. We went snorkeling around a sunken ship! It wasn’t an ancient ship—it was made of metal, but it was still amazing. All these fish were living in it! It was just incredible. Here are some pictures of what I saw!

First, here is what you can see of the sunken ship ABOVE the water.

Here is me getting the nerve to jump off the bow of the ship so I can investigate the sunken ship.

And here is the ship below the water!

I dove deeper to explore!

There were just so many fish!

SO MANY FISH!

And watching over them all was  a barracuda.

Oh wait, SIX BARRACUDA!

They are scary looking fish. I couldn’t fully capture them in these photos, but for those who have seen Finding Nemo, the barracuda is the fish at the beginning of the movie that eats all the eggs. SCARY.

But so cool to see.

Day 4:

We sailed to Hatchet Bay, where we went cave exploring. I’ve been in caves before, but I’ve never seen anything like this. The stalactites and stalagmites were enormous!

Naturally the adults aboard the cruise had jokes to make about this next picture.

The best part of the caves was this section that went deeper below the surface. You had to take a rickety ladder to get down. And the cave was filled with water! It went up to my waist in the deepest section, and I waded through it. It was like something right out of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag. Only my aunt was brave enough to do it with me. I have a video of this section, but my blog won’t let me show videos! So I’ve posted it to my Instagram. Click HERE to view!

After the cave, we went on a short hike to a cliff at the edge of the island overlooking the ocean.

Naturally, I had to take a selfie.

From up here, we saw a sea turtle (not pictured), which was really cool. One of the other passengers found a piece of fishing line that disappeared under the water. He pulled on it, and a clump a seaweed came up with it. A bunch of needlefish came racing after it. If you squint, you can see one this this picture—top left corner. I was in such a hurry to catch the image, my finger got in the way.

That evening, we sailed into this lagoon-shaped port to dock the ship. The gap to get into the docking area was no more than thirty feet wider than the ship itself. So there was about 15 feet of clearance on either side. It was fun watching the captain sail us through.

Day 5: The Glass Window and moon pools.

It turns out the moon pools aren’t as exciting as the tide pools we have in Oregon. There wasn’t actually anything alive to see in them, but they were still pretty. The waves were violent, constantly crashing into the hollowed out rocks.

The Glass Window is this section where only a thin strip of island separates the Bahamian water from the Atlantic Ocean. It’s incredible, because on the Bahamian side, the water is smooth and gentle, and on the Atlantic side, it’s violent with constant waves crashing into the island.

Day 6:

Sailing back home! Why yes, I did help raise the sails. (I’m in purple.)

Day 7

I felt spoiled. I was the only one who got to climb the mast. Granted, that was because everyone else was too chicken to climb. It was only 60 feet.

I kept an eye out for pirates.

The boat looks different from up there.

I tried taking the ultimate selfie, but mostly it’s just a closeup of my face.

Thankfully Kyle (the crew member who took me up top) helped me out. Yeah, don’t ask where he was standing to get that shot. There were NO handholds.

All in all, I’ve decided that a pirate’s life is for me—aside from the pillaging and plundering part. I seriously had a blast and could have stayed on that ship for months. It also didn’t hurt that I was served three delicious meals a day that I didn’t have to cook and could drink as much coke as I wanted.

If anyone wants more of a hands-on experience rather than just lounging on a big cruise ship, I highly recommend Wind Jammer Cruises! I’m dying to go again!

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Bahamas, Cruise, Fish, pirates, Research, Sailing, Ships

DAUGHTER OF THE SIREN QUEEN Cover Reveal

For my first book, DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING, we had to get the ARCs printed before the cover was finalized. I’ve done many blog posts showing the changes from first draft to final.

This is also going to be the case with DAUGHTER OF THE SIREN QUEEN.

BUT—

This cover is VERY close to what the final will be. We are only making minor tweaks. But my publisher and I have decided to go ahead and share it with you, since everyone is going to see it once ARCs start circulating anyway.

So here it is!

What do you think?

Also, you can preorder it now!

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | BAM! | Indie Bound | Powells

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