Read my work for FREE on Wattpad! (Reaper I: The Dark Thing and Beware the Silence [SotNL Series])
Hi guys!
Long time, no talky-talky, I know.
And I have only the poorest of excuses.
There was the whole moving thing, just before the snow began to fall.
No shortage of work at my full-time job.
Then there was work setting up my desk, sorting through files to find the most recently saved version of the projects I am working on (laptop to desktop transfer was challenging/entertaining/frustrating).
Then there was Life. Love. Nanowrimo, which I love, and has been a big part of my life this entire November. I wrote over 40,000 words in 20 days, most of them words of revision/editing, some of them very VERY good words… Which means, that if we’re 20 days into November, I have ten days left to work on the revision of Reaper I – III, and I can proudly say she’s over 75,000 words long at current count, with new characters, new scenes, new conflict, and a much wider range of emotions and experiences (let’s face it, she was pretty one-dimensional at times). She also has a token, a talisman now — I’ll see if her readers can figure out what that is.
I’m sure that some of you are aware that I am re-writing Reaper to make her better than ever.
As promised, she now takes place in Toronto, instead of nameless, faceless, vaguely represented “The City”.
You can read the first 8 full-length chapters of her adventures on Wattpad (right off of the website, or on the Wattpad app for your assorted devices) at:
http://www.wattpad.com/story/26797837-reaper-i-the-dark-thing
Please, feel free to comment within Wattpad on what you think of the improvements I’ve made to Reaper – I am looking for constructive feedback so that I can see whether or not I’m on the right track. She will always remain true to her voice, and nature, and goals, and drive, but if she has some terrible flaws that I just can’t seem to see, I would love to know it prior to, oh I don’t know, knocking on doors to find an agent to represent the work or an editor to take a gamble on her.
I am planning on releasing a minimum of one story per week, most likely on Tuesday or Thursday nights. It is the commitment I’ve made to the book, and the commitment I’ve made to myself. Writing is my first love, and loving boyfriend is most understanding 🙂 He’s a keeper.
Reaper I: The Dark Thing will make its debut on Wattpad, week by week, chapter by chapter, until it’s done…
It’s been up for 3 days and it’s already had about 60 reads: not bad, considering it’s a completely unknown restricted 18+ novel floating in an ocean of PG-13 One Direction fanfiction on the Wattpad website 🙂 Not sure what will come of launching it on Wattpad, whether Samantha Bennet will gain a following of loyal fans or not, but three days in, her author has 0 followers, and is still largely unfamiliar with what to expect as far as statistics…
My strategy?
For now: post my revised stories, completely free of charge, and let destiny take the wheel.
I will make a point of removing my the rest of eBooks and Print books from amazon, lulu and smashwords over the winter months.
At the moment, the other offering I have on Wattpad is a short story of mine that might tickle your fancy: Beware the Silence, it’s the ten-seconds of spotlight in a werewolf tale that takes place in Northern Manitoba that two characters wouldn’t otherwise get in the larger WIP that they are from (Josephine’s Story) — my super-secret series SotNL.
It appeared in an anthology recently: An Unkindness of Ravens by the Thompson Writers’ Guild.
You can read Beware the Silence here:
http://www.wattpad.com/story/26762882-beware-the-silence-a-cautionary-tail-from-a-larger
I figured out my Twitter password, long forgotten, shame on me, so you will see more frequent updates there @amandamaholt
Any recommendations on where else I should promote my free stories?
Where do you guys go mining for free/affordable story gems?
Happy reading!
Amanda M. Holt, Amateur Authoress
Reaper VII: Soul Talker now “live” for download from Amazon (Kindle)!
So…
…….after a lengthy wait, I have, for your reading pleasure, edited and released Reaper VII: Soul Talker, the next installment in my Reaper Series following the adventures of nephalim vigilante Samantha Bennet!
At 61, 800 words, this is a bit longer than most volumes in my Reaper Series, which i think is what a lot of my readers were hoping for.
Currently, this novel is available only on Kindle from Amazon (amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com, amazon.de, et al) — however, in 90 days’ time, i will be making it available via Smashwords, who distributes to Apple and other platforms.
I hope that you enjoy this one!
I had a lot of fun sorting out ways to ruin Samantha’s life… but also, to place a dim flickering light at the end of the tunnel, in the form of a new, powerful and resourceful ally!
Sincere regards and happy reading!
Amanda M. Holt
Amateur Authoress and Neophyte Self-Editor-Publisher
Reaper VII: Soultalker in final revisions this week!
So…
…….my sincere apologies for my long and recent silence.
I really have no good excuses.
If I can find the time to facebook images of Tardar Sauce AKA Grumpy Cat, surely i could have found time to both edit my damned revisions and update my WordPress Blog?!?!?!?!
I feel like I have abandoned my small but loyal following.
For that, I make this heartfelt apology and this pledge!
For the past few days, I have been working near-relentlessly on my edit for Reaper VII: Soultalker.
In this most recent installment of my Reaper Series, bad things happen to Samantha Bennet. Good things happen, too.
But then, terrible things happen. A brush with certain death. Injuries beyond repair. A high-stakes gamble, in which she loses her way of life.
Heartbreak… Helplessness… A lonely path…
Then, new hope in a new ally… yet, the dark days of prophecy loom ever present on the horizon.
And I leave you with the introduction of a duo of ruthless characters who’ve seen their share of nightmares and who seem best suited to aid Reaper in sorting out some of the wetworks in hers.
Cannot guarantee WHEN this installment will be done, as 77 pages is now 164 (Word doc, single space) and 38k words have kind of blossomed into 60K….
As soon as I am finished with her, I will upload to Amazon for your reading pleasure!
Same goes for Reaper VII (Title, as yet, undecided).
A lot of adventures in store for Miss Samantha Bennet yet.
A lot of ups & downs.
Some of them in bed… 😉
Happy reading!
Amanda M. Holt
Amateaur Authoress, Full-Time Nurse, Loyal & Loving Girlfriend, Part-Time Dreamer…
Shades of Grey III: See No Evil available now at Smashwords.com!
Photography by Jimmy Thomas, RNC
So…..
………Yup!
As promised, Shades of Grey III: See No Evil is now available at Smashwords.com
The blurb:
When Crystal Grey, a teenager with dark secrets, disappears from her Vancouver home, her family is tormented by questions:
Where has Crystal gone?
Why hasn’t she returned?
Who is she with?
What is she doing?
Why did she leave?
When is she coming back?
Involved in the drug trade and running with a fast crowd, Crystal is now being exploited by some very sinister people – facts that the Vancouver Police Department are reluctant to reveal to her family.
When her sister, Eve is alerted that Crystal may have been spotted at a nightclub run by the Strikers biker gang, she decides to take matters into her own hands.
Eve refuses to sit idly by and watch her sister become some kind of statistic. However, the strain of the situation is taking its toll…
You see, Eve has a few dark secrets of her own.
Secrets from the past, secrets born of madness and violence that whisper seductively to Eve in waking and in dream, calling her to action, calling her to punish the people who have hurt her baby sister, who are using her for their own criminal gain.
These nightmarish voices, thought to have been silenced by a team of mental health professionals years before, seem as though they are back and more vicious than ever before.
Will Eve once again give in to their siren song and take justice into her own hands? Even if it’s at the cost of her very sanity?
This anger inside of her is so wrathful, so unnatural, so all-consuming, so…hungry.
Sometimes, she just doesn’t feel like herself…
….sometimes, it’s as if she doesn’t feel human at all…
With her multiple personalities wrestling with Eve for control of Their conscious mind and shared body, Eve is finding the exhaustive tug-of-war situation to be more taxing than ever.
What’s to become of her?
Worse still — what’s to become of Crystal?
__________________________________
Look for Book Four ~ Shades of Grey: Speak No Evil in September/October of 2012
The Shades of Grey Series:
Shades of Grey: Prologue (November 2011)
Shades of Grey: Hear No Evil (December 2011)
Shades of Grey: See No Evil (August 2012)
Shades of Grey: Speak No Evil (September/October 2012)
Shades of Grey: Epilogue (December 2012)
Shades of Grey: Do No Evil (Spring 2013)
Links for download at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/211439
It is in the following formats:
Online Reading (HTML, good for sampling in web browser) Online Reading (JavaScript, experimental, buggy) Kindle (.mobi for Kindle devices and Kindle apps) Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others) PDF (good for reading on PC, or for home printing) RTF (readable on most word processors) LRF (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don’t support .epub) Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices) Plain Text (view) (viewable as web page)…..
ENJOY!!!
When it is released by Amazon.com in the next 36 hours, it will be available there as a Kindle format file for download.
Thank you so much for your support!
Sincere regards and happy reading!
Amanda M. Holt
Amateaur Authoress & Neophyte Self-Editor (humble apologies if my releases aren’t perfect — I am getting better at it! 😀 )
Reaper VI: Lust uploaded just now!!!
Cover art for Reaper IV
So…..
……..long time no hear, i know.
I was sick for a week, then i went to Saskatoon for a week, then travelled all over Manitoba for a week, now am back to work doing night shifts.
And TONIGHT, realizing that I haven’t put out any titles in a while, I opted to finish the edits on Reaper VI: Lust and upload it, rather than spend that time on apartment cleaning (the original plan for my down time between shifts! 🙂 ). Uploaded same to Kindle/Amazon, should be up within 24 hours or so. Will take longer to put on Smashwords, I have to re-format ALL the files. However, the exclusivity arrangements between Amazon and i have all ended, so I can put Reaper I – VI on Smashwords as soon as I have/make time.
Thank you for your patience — I will try to put out Shades of Grey III and Reaper VII within the next few weeks. No promises though: there may be some changes with my work schedule.
Sincere regards and happy reading!
Amanda M. Holt
Amateur Authoress, Full Time Nurse, Part Time Dreamer
The Novels of Amanda M. Holt 