Inkabout L. Darby Gibbs

Science Fiction & Fantasy author

series fiction

My Current Reading Rotation

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Reading books (Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash)

I read quite a bit, often following several series at once.

I’ve been keeping up with four separate series whose writers have been kind enough to be on quite fast release schedules.

I can’t write at that speed for a variety of reasons, but I believe all four of these writers are writing full time.

Who are they and which series?

  • K. M. Shea: Hall of Blood and Mercy series
  • Lindsay Buroker: Star Kingdom series
  • Jessica Lynch: Touched by the Fae series
  • Elizabeth Hunter: Glimmer Lake series

I just keep rotating through.

What I find particularly interesting is that the moment I read the first few sentences, I’m suddenly comfortable. “Oh, its Killian and Hazel.” I snuggle down in my seat and put off grading for a few hours.

That is what books should do. They steal us a few hours away from what we should do, what we don’t want to do, what needs to be done and will be, later.

I remember when my parents would be arguing, I’d grab a book, pick a chair somewhere in the house and leave via someone’s well-written words.

I didn’t want to return. It took someone jiggling my foot and saying, “Dinner! Didn’t you hear?” to get me to return to the world of the teenager and family squabbles.

So along with getting my now online-job work done, keeping my family from going stir crazy, enjoying a particularly affectionate Labrador who is no longer in quarantine in the back hall, I’ve been reading at every opportunity.

I hope you’ll consider checking out these series. They are each nearing their completions, I think. You never know for sure though.

Stories sometimes do more of the dictating than the writer of when the story ends.

For myself, I have often thought I was writing a standalone novel only to find the story is not complete. Such is the case with my newest series. I published book 1 and have book to in pre-order. It’s a trilogy, I think. I’ll know for certain when I get to the end of book three.

I suspect it may have an offshoot series, but I’ll have to wait and see when I get there.

In the meantime, I’ll follow these series to their ends. Join me if you like snark, magic/space adventure, strong female protagonists and well-wrought worlds you can step into until someone jiggles your foot and you have to eat dinner, which I have found makes it possible to read more later.

A Stab at a Self-interview: Question 7 ~ prequel to a series?

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 Would you consider writing a prequel for either of your series?

Actually, I do have a prequel in mind for the Standing Stone series. It would focus on the backstory of the Wielder Wain which is an important event that occurred 16 years prior to the first book in the series. The focus characters would be Mahre Pratter (Donnel) and Tran Pratter. My daughter has suggested that I should also write about the sinister sisters and the An Faire migration mythology which is 300 years earlier than the first book. They both intrigue me. I’ll let the ideas putter about awhile and see what comes to mind.

I don’t think I’ll be writing either anytime soon as I am currently drafting book 3 of the Standing Stone series, have murky beginnings for a book 4 in the series, have book 5 of the Students of Jump series waiting behind the door, along with a contemporary novel, an anthology of poems and another series sitting on the back burner.

So a quick answer to the question: Maybe, but breath holding is not advised.

Since this turned out to be a short post, I’ll mention my current activities. I have, as I said, started writing book 3. As added incentive to new readers, I reduced the price to 99 cents for The Sharded Boy, book 1 in the series (available at all major eBook retailers).

I am also considering setting up a mailing list which would probably be a monthly newsletter combining updates for both my series and anything newsy I want to include. I’m a newby in the process, so I need to do my homework before I make it available for signup. When and if I do, I’ll post the signup link here, on my Facebook page, at the end of each of my books, and perhaps on my Google and GoodReads accounts.

A Stab at a Self-interview: Question 4 ~ next possible genre

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If your next book was not science fiction or fantasy what genre would it be in?

I’m a bit split on which it would be. I write quite a bit of poetry. I have the beginnings of a series of selections all based on pieces of heirloom china I have received from various family over the years. I also have about 18,000 words done on a contemporary women’s fiction about three best friends enjoying their retirement years. One of the ladies is fashioned after my mother, a very vibrant, dramatic woman who could walk into a room full of people and make them turn at once to see who brought the exuberance into the place. She passed away this past September and I really miss her.

I’m expecting that after I finish with the Standing Stone series and the fifth book in Students of Jump that I will probably get back working on the contemporary piece Joanie and Friends. It’s a standalone work. I would then move on to working on the collaboration series my husband and I are planning.

I am pretty much booked up on ideas for writing. Don’t have to worry about writer’s block for at least the next three years, assuming I am going to keep up my new pace of three books a year.

General plan (subject to change because life is not predictable)
Book 2 in Standing Stone (out June 2017)
Book 3 in Standing Stone (predicted out in September 2017)
Book 5 in Students of Jump (predicted out in Jan. 2018)
Book .5 in Standing Stone
Joanie and Friends
Maybe that china poetry collection would fit here
Book 1 in the Mantle Series

Of course, this ignores the fact that I have four books outlined for the Students of Jump series and another book or two wandering around the back of my mind for the Standing Stone series. Sometimes ideas leapfrog. For instance, The Sharded Boy was supposed to be a short story, but it blossomed into a book and then a series.

#genre
#writing
#series

A Stab at a Self-interview: Question 3 ~ a new series

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Do you have another series planned?

My husband and I have a time travel series planned. We will not be writing on it until the Standing Stone series is complete and the fifth book in the Students of Jump series is out.

It will be written for the New Adult market. Though I don’t want to get into the plotting aspects of the piece, we are thinking at this time it will involve four college students who find themselves pulled back in time after they rent a house together. At this time the location of their shift back in time will incorporate the Victorian or Elizabethan periods. Our research will determine the final decision.

In the mean time, Standing Stone book 3 is in process and Standing Stone book 2 will be ready for publication quite soon.