Tips for writers from Hugh Howey, as shared on his blog.

After bursting onto the fantasy scene with his acclaimed debut novel, Elantris, and following up with his blockbuster Mistborn trilogy, Brandon Sanderson proves again that he is today’s leading master of what Tolkien called “secondary creation,” the invention of whole worlds, complete with magics and myths all their own. Warbreaker is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn’t like his job, and the immortal who’s still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago. Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren’s capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people. By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.

Betrayed by friends and abandoned by his goddess... Back from the dead and hellbent on saving his beloved. Knight Champion Breskaro Varenni served the bright goddess Seshalla every day of his life, questing for her relics and crusading against her enemies. He was a hero and a legend, the greatest knight of the age. But his most trusted friends betrayed him to the swords of infidels, and in death, Seshalla abandoned him, denying him Paradise. But Breskaro refused to fade into Oblivion. Instead he wandered the Shadowland for seven years until the dark goddess Harmulkot offered him the one thing only she could give, the one thing that still mattered to him... A chance to save his beloved Orisala from a fate worse than his own. Returned as a wreck of embalmed flesh animated by sorcery, with a host of the desperate and the undead under his command, Breskaro will do whatever it takes to save Orisala, no matter the odds and no matter the consequences. David Alastair Hayden takes you back to the exotic land of Pawan Kor, first seen in Wrath of the White Tigress, with this seductive epic of swords and sorcery in the tradition of ­­Brent Weeks, Robin Hobb, Michael Moor­cock, and David Gem­mell. Reader Advisory: This book is intended for adults. It is not suitable for younger readers.

An eFestival of Words Winner for Best Villain. He thought he was a hero. She showed him the truth. Now he'll do anything to stop the man who made him a monster. For twenty years Jaska Bavadi faithfully served the Palymfar Order and its Grandmaster, the powerful wizard Salahn. Until an encounter with Zyrella Anthari, last high priestess of the White Tigress, shattered the spell that chained Jaska's mind. Now faced with the horrors he unknowingly committed against people he swore to protect, Jaska must put Salahn's reign of cruelty to an end. Together, he and Zyrella race to save the White Tigress and stop Salahn from opening the Gates of the Underworld. An army of assassins stands in their way, but the dangerous secrets that cloud their destinies threaten to doom them first.

This is a story about Vampires. Vampires who don’t go all sparkly in the sun and wouldn’t be caught dead munching on your neighbours bunny... They’ll just eat your neighbour - but they have a problem. Actually they have several. Fext, ‘King’ of the Seven Vampire Houses has been missing for almost thirty years and the head of the Seventh House is falling in love - with a human. Somewhere in the woods a girl is watching Vampires stalk their prey while she dreams and the first Dhampir in over four hundred years is about to wake up in a pool of blood. Oh, and to top it all off, there’s a bloody prophecy involving all of them and the hills are alive with the sound of howling...

My name is Charlotte O'Dean, and I am a Faerie. I didn't always know I was a Fae. I once thought myself as a human girl, with human problems. That was all a lie. The reality is that I am the daughter of the Unseelie king. It is that king--my father--that holds my soul mate prisoner as lure for me…so that when he traps me, he can kill me. I am the one who will ultimately have to choose whether or not to break the veil between the human and the Faerie realms. Those are the kinds of realities, of choices that have taken my ordinary life, torn it apart and reorganized it, piecing it back together in a series of basics: go to Faerie and save the human world, or save Ivan and let the world perish. Kill or be killed. That is my nightmare. But at least I'm awake, and in so much gray, it's the little things that shine brightest. -COMPLETE-

Nightingale is human - or would be, had it not been for the manner of her creation. Genetically engineered and grown to adulthood in a lab, she was created, not born. Why? For the sole purpose of the entertainment of rich men as one of the many Inamoratas in the bordello business . Beautiful, elegant, a superb dancer and an even better singer, she is the perfect lover for any man. Perfect, that is, except for her personality - the one thing you can't engineer.

(Historical Fiction / Adventure) Treachery and intrigue, adventure, action and romance are at the fore in this tale set around the legends of Arthur and Merlin. The court of King Arthur is under threat from Hengist's Saxons who, lured by the promise of gold and land, surge out from the Saxon Shore to wreak havoc in the peaceful lands beyond. The Knights of the Round Table and their allies sally forth to defend the fragile peace. Will traitors bring down Camelot and the Kingship of Arthur? Can Merlin find the legendary hoard of the Dragon? Merlin's Gold awaits, for those who are brave or foolish enough to seek it out...

My entry for Round One of the UWS Club's Writing Challenge. Cover by the amazing @Shattered_Violet