Showing posts with label book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Science fiction books of 2014 (Sci-fi books to look out for in 2014)

Here's the list of books that I think are worth looking forward to in 2014. (in no particular order, almost :)

The Infinite Sea (The Fifth Wave #2) by Rick Yancey


The hugely anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestselling The 5th Wave, hailed by Justin Cronin as “wildly entertaining.”

For Cassie Sullivan and the rest of Earth’s remaining human survivors, the situation was already desperate when the 5th Wave hit. It’s about to get worse.

No one yet knows the depths to which Earth’s conquerors—the Others—will sink in order to rid the Earth of the human infestation, nor have they guessed the heights to which the human spirit can reach. Characters introduced in Book One will come to the fore—and others will face the ultimate test.

Readers will watch in awe as the Others give their answer to Cassie’s defiance.




Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.


The Selection changed the lives of thirty-five girls forever. And now, the time has come for one winner to be chosen.

America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon's heart. But as the competition approaches its end and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she'll have to fight for the future she wants.

From the very first page of The Selection, this #1 New York Times bestselling series has captured readers' hearts and swept them away on a captivating journey... Now, in The One, Kiera Cass delivers a satisfying and unforgettable conclusion that will keep readers sighing over this electrifying fairy-tale long after the final page is turned.





The Great Reawakening did not come quietly. Across the country and in every nation, people began “coming up Latent,” developing terrifying powers—summoning storms, raising the dead, and setting everything they touch ablaze. Those who Manifest must choose: become a sheepdog who protects the flock or a wolf who devours it…

In the wake of a bloody battle at Forward Operating Base Frontier and a scandalous presidential impeachment, Lieutenant Colonel Jan Thorsson, call sign “Harlequin,” becomes a national hero and a pariah to the military that is the only family he’s ever known.

In the fight for Latent equality, Oscar Britton is positioned to lead a rebellion in exile, but a powerful rival beats him to the punch: Scylla, a walking weapon who will stop at nothing to end the human-sanctioned apartheid against her kind.

When Scylla’s inhuman forces invade New York City, the Supernatural Operations Corps are the only soldiers equipped to prevent a massacre. In order to redeem himself with the military, Harlequin will be forced to face off with this havoc-wreaking woman from his past, warped by her power into something evil…


A family long scattered reunites as danger approaches Springston. Brother and sister rush to sound a warning, but that warning will come too late. Bombs will thunder like the pulse of a terrible god. The great dune will flow as the sea. And when a people find themselves buried beneath the sands, who in the heavens will hear their muffled pleas?









The heart-stopping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, called "a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love"

Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew-about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam-was wrong.

In Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi created a captivating and original story that combined the best of dystopian and paranormal and was praised by Publishers Weekly as "a gripping read from an author who's not afraid to take risks." The sequel, Unravel Me, blew readers away with heart-racing twists and turns, and New York Times bestselling author Kami Garcia said it was "dangerous, sexy, romantic, and intense." Now this final book brings the series to a shocking and climactic end.



The earth-shattering conclusion to Veronica Rossi's "masterpiece" Under the Never Sky trilogy and sequel to the New York Timesbestselling Through the Ever Night (Examiner.com).

Their love and their leadership have been tested. Now it's time for Perry and Aria to unite the Dwellers and the Outsiders in one last desperate attempt to bring balance to their world.

The race to the Still Blue has reached a stalemate. Aria and Perry are determined to find this last safe-haven from the Aether storms before Sable and Hess do-and they are just as determined to stay together.

Meanwhile, time is running out to rescue Cinder, who was abducted by Hess and Sable for his unique abilities. And when Roar returns to camp, he is so furious with Perry that he won't even look at him, and Perry begins to feel like they have already lost.

Out of options, Perry and Aria assemble a team to mount an impossible rescue mission-because Cinder isn't just the key to unlocking the Still Blue and their only hope for survival, he's also their friend. And in a dying world, the bonds between people are what matter most.

In this final book in her stunning Under the Never Sky trilogy, Veronica Rossi raises the stakes to their absolute limit and brings her epic love story to an unforgettable close.



She’s searching for answers to her past. They’re hunting her to save their future.

World War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation. A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness. They've survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there.

At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life.

When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them. Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: There never was a war. Cities were never destroyed. The world is intact. Everything was a lie.

Now Juneau is adrift in a modern-day world she never knew existed. But while she's trying to find a way to rescue her friends and family, someone else is looking for her. Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about the secrets of her past.



DESTRUCTION
The Year of Souls begins with an earthquake—an alarming rumble from deep within the earth—and it’s only the first of greater dangers to come. The Range caldera is preparing to erupt. Ana knows that as Soul Night approaches, everything near Heart will be at risk.

FLIGHT
Ana’s exile is frightening, but it may also be fortuitous, especially if she can convince her friends to flee Heart and Range with her. They’ll go north, seeking answers and allies to stop Janan’s ascension. And with any luck, the newsouls will be safe from harm’s reach.

CHOICE
The oldsouls might have forgotten the choice they made to give themselves limitless lifetimes, but Ana knows the true cost of reincarnation. What she doesn’t know is whether she’ll have the chance to finish this one sweet life with Sam, especially if she returns to Heart to stop Janan once and for all.

With gorgeous romance and thrilling action, the final book in the Incarnate trilogy offers a brilliant conclusion to the compelling questions of this fascinating world, where one new girl is the key to the lives of millions.



They thought they had escaped. They were wrong.

After fleeing the Branch with Sam, Cas, and Nick, Anna is trying to make sense of the memories resurfacing from her old life. At the same time, she's learning how to survive in hiding, following Sam's rules: Don't draw attention to yourself. Always carry a weapon. Know your surroundings. Watch your back.
Then a figure from Anna's childhood reappears. Is it a Branch setup, or could it be the reunion Anna has hoped for? Uncertain of where her loyalties lie, Anna must fight to learn the truth -- before she is betrayed again. Ultimately, the answers hinge on one question: What was the real reason her memories were erased?
Jennifer Rush delivers a thrilling sequel to Altered in a novel packed with mysteries, lies, and surprises that are sure to keep readers guessing until the last age is turned.





Whirlwind romance and breathtaking action continues in the sequel to Let the Sky Fall, which Becca Fitzpatrick called “charged and romantic.” 

Vane Weston is haunted. By the searing pull of his bond to Audra. By the lies he’s told to cover for her disappearance. By the treacherous winds that slip into his mind, trying to trap him in his worst nightmares. And as his enemies grow stronger, Vane doesn’t know how much longer he can last on his own.

But Audra’s still running. From her past. From the Gales. Even from Vane, who she doesn’t believe she deserves. And the farther she flees, the more danger she finds. She possesses the secret power her enemy craves, and protecting it might be more than she can handle—especially when she discovers Raiden’s newest weapon.

With the Gale Force weakened by recent attacks, and the power of four collapsing, Vane and Audra are forced to make a choice: keep trusting the failing winds, or turn to the people who’ve betrayed them before. But even if they survive the storms sent to destroy them, will they have anything left to hold on to?



Annie and Fia are ready to fight back.

The sisters have been manipulated and controlled by the Keane Foundation for years, trapped in a never ending battle for survival. Now they have found allies who can help them truly escape. After faking her own death, Annie has joined a group that is plotting to destroy the Foundation. And Fia is working with James Keane to bring his father down from the inside.

But Annie's visions of the future can't show her who to trust in the present. And though James is Fia's first love, Fia knows he's hiding something. The sisters can rely only on each other - but that may not be enough to save them.







Following the cliffhanger ending of Phoenix, Natalie finds herself separated from Ash and unexpectedly reunited with her parents, including the father she thought was dead. But she can only think of Ash. She hasn't heard a word of him since she and Elijah were brought to the underground headquarters of the Sentry Rebellion. But she vows to find him.

Ash, meanwhile is back in Black City; it's the perfect place to hide from the Sentry government. But not for long. He won't give up on Natalie or bringing an end to the terrible reign of Purian Rose.

A pulse-racing end to an exciting series.








As the old gods awaken and satrapies splinter, the Chromeria races to find its lost Prism, the only man who may be able to stop catastrophe. But Gavin Guile is enslaved on a pirate galley. Worse, Gavin no longer has the one thing that defined him -- the ability to draft.

Without the protection of his father, Kip Guile will have to face a master of shadows alone as his grandfather moves to choose a new Prism and put himself in power. With Teia and Karris, Kip will have to use all his wits to survive a secret war between noble houses, religious factions, rebels, and an ascendant order of hidden assassins, The Broken Eye.







And I will allow myself to include my own book, it is my blog after all :)

Our planet is just one of a bunch 

Telling a story about the importance of survival within any circumstances, however strange, and showing a girl-in-a-man’s-world angle, Presence is a novel about Samantha, a woman in her late twenties, both smart and attractive. One day, Samantha’s regular life is suddenly turned around as the fact of her existence is somehow erased from the world. Nobody seems to remember her, her own apartment is occupied by the uninvited tenants, and even her sister, the only family Samantha has, is unable to recognize her. Lost and confused, Samantha accepts help from a stranger, a charismatic man named Archie, whom she accidentally encounters and unwillingly joins him in his fight against the silent invasion of the planet, Alpha planet as he calls it; and he himself happens to be a soldier from a parallel one, Beta. The glass wall put between Samantha’s new life and her former life makes her discover the roadside of the world, dark and silent, the hidden place where her primary instincts come to the surface and she finally feels the urge to fight for herself and for others.

If you have your favorite books that I haven't included in this list, please comment below and let people know.

Thanks.

Yours,
Perie






Monday, November 25, 2013

How to create a book cover yourself

So, you have finished your book and you are about to get it published or self-published. The first most important thing about your book is the cover. 

Some might think that it’s the blurb but let’s not kid ourselves (with publishers that might be the blurb but not with the actual readers). The first thing people are going to look at is the cover.

And if the cover sucks then no matter how good the blurb is, the chances of getting someone interested are gonna be slim.

That is because it is easier for a person to take in the visual information rather than the text. So if you want to make a good first impression with your book then you’re gonna have to come up with a great cover. Here are some of my cover works (Presence novel, Beta novel). 

Unless you have a lot of money to spare and can afford to hire a good professional artist, or you’re singed with a big publisher like Harper Collins, you will find yourself choosing between the cover that your publishing house’s art department is gonna come up with (and let’s be honest, most of them are not gonna listen much to your ideas and opinions about it) or the cover that you would make yourself.

Yes, sometimes the art department guys manage to come up with a great cover but that doesn’t happen too often and you should be prepared to not liking their version all that much. And that is a big problem because later on when you’re marketing your book you’re gonna have to feel 100% confident about it. And if you’re gonna lack the confidence then you will not be able to push it as hard as you need to push it and show it to as many people as possible.

Besides, who else might know your book better than you do? Who else would be able to come up with a design that would represent your idea in the right light but you? You’re the creator so why not go all the way and create the cover yourself. 

The task isn’t that hard really. All that is required of you is a basic knowledge of how graphic editing software works, programs like Adobe Photoshop or any other you like.


So here is what the process would look like:

1.     You need to come up with an idea, a design for your cover. You can find the great deal of inspiration browsing through the covers of the books that are already published. On Goodreads.com you can find lists dedicated to finding out the best covers there are. Here for example https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/32194.Covers_That_Pop_For_2013#18751458



And remember that the cover should be informative and give a reader a basic suggestion of what the book is going to be about. Don’t be abstract. Some abstract images on the internet are easy to find and they look nice but they give no information about the book whatsoever. Try to be specific and find the details in your book that deserve to be visually highlighted on the cover.

You can always come up with a couple of ideas and do both and select the best one later. Don’t rush the process.

2.     Once you have an idea in your head it might be helpful to draw it on paper first. Let it be crude and rough around the edges. It’s just the sketch for your own reference.

Then you’re gonna have to browse through the stock photos and find ones that have the elements that are going to be present on your cover. You can find images that are free to use on sites like this… http://www.morguefile.com/   Or just google stock photos and the name of the element that should be on one of them, i.e. stock photo trees and branches.

You can always photograph something yourself but be sure you know at least something about the angles and the lighting. Hard shadows and soft shadows might create a completely different look, emotionally that is, so be sure you know at least something about how photography works.

3.     If you want a character from the book to be depicted on your cover then you might consider creating a 3D person using software like Poser Pro or DAZ studio. It might take you some time to learn how to work those programs but it’s gonna be worth the while.



Again, you can feature one of your friends or family member on your cover, if you get them to agree to that, and photograph them against some plain solidly-covered surface, i.e. white wall in case you want to change the background later. But again be sure you know what you’re doing with that camera.

Soft shadows (left) vs Hard shadows (right)

4.     Once you’ve collected all the pieces and images in one place on your computer it’s time to put them together in Photoshop or any other program that allows you to work with layers.

Background starry layer + planets

+ gradient layer + text layer

All the layers together


Working with layers allows you to create the background and cut out the needed elements from other images and put them together against that background. Cutting something particular out of the image can be done with Magic Lasso tool in Photoshop or if you need to say replace the sky or the plain background you will need to use the keying. If you don’t know how that is done you can find plenty of tutorial videos on YouTube which will guide you step-by-step. Like this one http://youtu.be/mA1ii3to4AE

5.     The important thing that comes next is finding the good font for your title and your name. You want it to be distinctive and Times New Roman or Ariel won’t do. So go to one of these sites http://www.1001freefonts.com/ and download some awesome fonts for free. These babies will really make your title pop out.



6.     Then, once you’ve put all the elements together and you’ve moved them around and found the perfect balance, it’s time to finalize it and export you picture as PNG or BMP file and then open it again in the Photoshop to add effects.

You might also have skipped through the first five steps and photographed the image that you believe doesn’t need any alterations. Well, good for you. Take that image and add some effects to it to make it look even better.

Photoshop has a number of its own effects but if you want something fast and professional-looking you might wanna download the plug-ins like Alien Skin Exposure or Snap Art or Eye Candy. These ones are great and they have a trial period. So does Photoshop itself so you might not need even to buy any of them.

Alien Skin Exposure

These plug-ins allow you to add some professional-looking effects like texture and dust and scratches and you can apply color filters that will make all the pieces of your collage look very much together and as one piece of art.

You can also process and add effects to your image online and for free using one of these sites http://www.fotor.com/features/photo-effects.html

That is about it, and don’t forget that you should be making your image at 300dpi so that it is good for printing. Watch this video to see what that means http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4LRaFxZZvI


So it wasn’t that hard was it? In any case, you will at least have an alternative to what the art department guys offer you. You might like your cover much better. Or your image might provide the reference for them and they will build upon your idea instead of coming up with their own. They won’t listen to you if you will be trying to explain your idea with words but they might look at your image and see the appeal for themselves.

So I think it’s worth trying and for some of us, authors who have to self-publish their books, creating a cover themselves is the only option.

Send me your covers via email (perie_wolford @ yahoo.com) and I will tweet them and show them to my followers.

I hope I helped.

Yours,
Perie