News from Frances Ellen, author of the Asters Series, January 2023

Published: Thu, 01/19/23

Hi and welcome to my January newsletter.

2023 will be the year for the second book in the Asters Original Series to appear, and I'm sharing an update with you, plus the title reveal. I have some further insights into the welfare of our guide dogs over the New Year, and a practical challenge with three of my recent dogs. As always, I am sharing free samples of fantasy reads to help you discover new authors. And finally, a limited time offer of the ebook of A Queen To Come.

I hope you enjoy reading this email.

Thank you for being part of my publishing experience ❤️

Best wishes

Frances

Progress Report: book 2 in the Asters Original Series

With 2 weeks holiday over the festive season I was able to bash out the first draft of the remaining half of the 50 or so chapters of book 2. It's going to be a big one 😊 Prior to that, I planned out the new chapters, first on cards, then transferred to colour-coded Word tables. Originally, the last half of book 2 was going to be in book 3. But because of how From Fury Reborn developed, I've had to re-boot the contents of all the rest of the books in the 6-book series 🤪

In my previous newsletters I've mentioned that book 2 will be told primarily from the point of view of Sky. And that in keeping with the theme of the Original Series, the colour scheme of the cover design will reflect the colour of the band of the Aster whose voice is the most prominent. I am keeping the full cover design under wraps for now, but to show readers that there will definitely be a series of books to follow From Fury Reborn, I am setting up book 2 already as a pre-order on Amazon - which means I need an interim cover, which will only show the title. So here it is, together with an early attempt at a marketing hook.

Does the marketing hook grab you? I'd love to hear from you.

Their greatest enemy always one step ahead. The shattering reveal - a traitor in their midst. Can the spy be unmasked before critical secrets are exposed and lives are lost?

The day job, for now....?

If you've come across my Author Bio you will know that I train guide dogs for the blind. With New Year's eve behind us, all my colleagues who work in the kennels can breath a sigh of relief. Here in the Netherlands, fireworks get set off the whole week leading up to New Year's, and for most dogs, fireworks are their nemesis. They don't understand the bangs, and they come at the most unpredictable times. To avoid that our dogs develop increased fear for them, we don't do any training in the last week of December. Instead, we head off to more isolated woods in the country where there are no fireworks, and spend the whole day there. The dogs absolutely love it - they get to run around in bigger groups and sniff around a place they have never been to before. But most importantly, it protects them from the loud bangs that go off often in the city areas where we usually train them.

I also thought you might like to see the three dogs I am training right now. As you can see, they are not very distinguishable, especially the two girls on the left, called Dena and Fado. Zivan on the right is a little bigger, so he's easier to recognise. Before I could separate the girls by sight alone, however, I decided to go for the easiest trick in the book to tell them part - different coloured collars! Dena got the blue, Fado the purple and Zivan the brighter pink! Hey, whatever works, right? 😉

Discover new fantasy reads

To find new readers for my books I work with fellow authors to widen our readership by promoting our books to each other's email list. We offer an e copy of a book, novella or custom short story for free on sign-up to our newsletter, to help the reader decide if they want to keep following us. This month I've a bumper set of offers....

Interested? Just click on the images or links below to get to the website, browse through the free book(s) on offer, and take a punt.

Wrath of Persephone is a War on the Gods origin story.

Gods. Monsters. Magic. The War on Gods series is perfect for fans of Greek mythology who want a new twist on the old tales.

"The adventure and the world building make for a wonderful ride."

"Characters that come to life! Tons of twists and lots of action!"

Get your free origin story here.

Remargaren is a vibrant, ancient world, with Goddesses, Sentinals, Rangers and Ascendants all trying to protect or attain that which is important to them.

"So fast paced I couldn't put it down."

"This is an amazing read, the longing of every epic fantasy reader fulfilled."

Get your free novella here.