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Special Announcement

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

As the Defiant Trilogy comes to a close, many of you have been both satisfied with it’s conclusion, and saddened that it had to end at all. Have no fear, my friends! Though this is the last of the Defiant Trilogy, it’s not the last of the Ektos universe!

That’s right! You read correctly!

There are MORE Ektos novels!

More fun! More sarcasm! New characters, returning characters, and a whole lot more of the Ektos that we have never seen before!

With this special announcement, I have a surprise excerpt for you from the upcoming Ektos novel and a secondary announcement that this novel will feature Jorsen of Victere, a character seen in Havoc (Defiant III), as the main character!

Plot details will come later, but for now, enjoy this excerpt!

Jorsen tilted his head as he considered today’s events before asking, “Do you think it’s justifiable to buy a slave to save it?”

“What?” Evar jerked his head around to stare at him like he was going mad.

“If I try to take her I’ll likely get a bullet in my hosa, but we have the funds for it.”

“Jorsen,”

“Go get the ship ready. I’ve pissed enough people off today, we might need to leave fast.”

“Jorsen, you can’t—Jorsen!” He paid Evar no mind, just walked on down the stairs.

The crowd on the main floor parted out of his way easily enough. He knew why. He knew what they saw when they looked at him. Terror on two legs, savage, uncivilized brute. He’d heard it all. He didn’t even need his own reputation, they’d run away just knowing which planet he was from.

Wise people didn’t bother Victerans.

This place was a lot like the black markets of Rosen, with vending tables lining the walkways and supplies you could hardly guess at. You could find anything down here, including slaves. All illegal in Ektos. This was everything he needed to report back with evidence of black markets, but first he was going to break their own laws.

As he drew closer, he spotted the roped off area with cages full of slaves. He scanned the people lingering in front of the cages until he spotted the guard Mauve. Next to him was Richter. Jorsen smirked and started forward. He couldn’t wait to piss Richter off again.

He didn’t see the woman he’d come here to buy out from under Richter which meant she was in the back, seconds from being branded. If he could stop it, he would. Once he had her, he didn’t care where she went, but getting her away from this gosteno was really all that counted. He couldn’t save everyone, yet, but he would save this one. If not for the OUP then for his own selfish need to ruin Richter’s day.

As he neared him with the guard, he realized he was already passing money over to the slave-holder and he dropped his hand in between them—hard—scattering the money across the floor.

“Hey!” Mauve wheeled on him, fury blazing in his eyes.

“Well, if it isn’t the Victeran again.” Richter lifted his hand to show the guard there was no threat and Mauve eased the grip he’d just taken on his gun.

Jorsen ignored Richter and said to Mauve, “I want to buy the woman.”

“We have lots of women,”

“No, the one he’s trying to buy. Give her to me.”

Richter laughed, “I thought you Victerans didn’t believe in slave trade?”

Mauve said, “I’ve already made a deal on her with Mr. Richter,”

“I’ll double his price.”

“Wait a second,” Richter’s smile faded from his face, “I already paid.”

“Your money is on the floor, sir.” Mauve stated, considering that doubled price.

Jorsen added, “You don’t have to tell anyone you doubled the price, just take the extra and keep it yourself.”

“No, she’s mine.” Richter took a step towards him.

Jorsen faced Richter, curled his fingers into a fist and slammed him with a right hook that sent him straight to the floor, next to his money. He faced Mauve again. “You going to sell to me or the man lying on the floor?” Mauve looked stricken like he wasn’t sure what to do. “Would you like to join him?”

Mauve swallowed, “She’s twenty gold credits.”

Which was equal to twenty thousand primary credits. Fesca. Jorsen had to hold his breath as he nodded in agreement. Mauve flipped out an electronic file and he paid and signed, keeping his face blank. Victere might hang him for this, but his mind was made up. He wasn’t even sure why it was so important, but he couldn’t let that prick walk off with another prize that would be dead in two weeks under his care.

And they called his people savages. At least Victerans didn’t believe in human trafficking. They believed in loyalty, hard work, and the ring.

“I’ll bring your papers out. It may take a few minutes before we can bring her out to you.”

“Why?” Jorsen didn’t leave the gruffness out of his voice.

“She’s being branded and cleaned.”

His stomach soured with fury, “I don’t want her branded.”

Mauve lifted a brow. “No brand, no sell.”

Jorsen was getting sick of this. Without warning, he grabbed Mauve by the throat and started walking while Mauve scrabbled to keep his feet on the ground and find balance, his hands latching onto Jorsen’s arm. He didn’t stop until he reached the slave cages and slammed Mauve’s back against the bars.

He was making strangled sounds of protest as he tried to breathe and the slaves in the cage behind him flinched and stepped back, watching with apprehension. “I believe I already paid. Go back there and get my woman or you’ll be the next one they’re branding to put on my ship. Got it?”

He yanked him forward and sent Mauve sprawling across the floor and the guard surged to his feet, holding his throat and gasping for breath. He scattered in seconds, running headlong towards the end of the cages where there was a door that led to the back. Jorsen snorted and brushed his hands off on his pants before glancing at the slaves in the cage behind him.

He’d free them all if he could.

Not too far away he saw Richter was finally pulling himself up off the floor, dazed and confused. He glanced around, saw Jorsen, and scowled before he slunk off without a word. Jorsen shook his head and faced the door again. He was standing, back straight, arms crossed, when the door at the end opened again and three men came out with Mauve. “Ah hell.” Jorsen muttered but he didn’t move.

The group stomped towards him, weapons on their hips, but when they got closer he could see a woman just behind them, chains clasped around her wrists and they’d muzzled the poor thing.

When they got closer, Mauve didn’t speak, one of the other three did, the one holding the chain attached to the woman’s wrists. “She’s been branded and cleaned.”

“I wanted—”

The man cut him off, something that wasn’t a wise thing for even his closest friends to do. “We already branded her before Mauve reached us.” He held the chain out towards Jorsen. “We don’t want any more trouble, Victeran, just leave with your woman.”

Her eyes went wide but Jorsen didn’t take the chain. “Take that bloody muzzle off her face.”

“You’ll want it on there, sir, she bit one of us.”

Jorsen almost choked as an unexpected wave of amusement hit him. He kept his face straight, barely, and a second man spoke. “It will not be removed while she is still here. We’re not taking risks.”

“Fine.” Jorsen took the chain roughly. It caused her to stumble closer to him as he glared at the men. They passed him his papers of ownership and watched him sign his name to them and then he turned and started walking.

The chain snatched taut but he didn’t glance back, he didn’t slow. She could either follow him or get dragged. His time was up here, if he remained much longer they were liable to start a fight…or he was liable to start one. Either way, he needed to leave.

We need to leave, he corrected himself. Victere is going to kill me for this.

 

 

 

If you enjoyed this excerpt, consider reading the original Ektos novels, The Defiant Trilogy. Click here for more information.

Recent Thoughts (From a Potentially Crazy Author)

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

Hey there! So I know I have things I am supposed to be doing (i.e. the next Safe Novel, the next Defiant Novel, that paranormal romance book I’m releasing this year…) but sometimes, as an author, I find that I get D I S T R A C T E D.  Not necessarily by the mundanes of life either, more often it is my own brain distracting me. Here lately I can’t seem to write the story I want to write. Why? Because that other story I want to write is screaming at me.

Don’t ask me why that happens. It’s a puzzle even to me. Some days it just happens like that. How is it possible that I can have so many different stories raging for attention in my head? I sit down to write. I stare at the screen, I plan to write the story that is currently the number one priority…. and instead other stories vie for my attention.

It’s like Writer’s block but instead of having nothing to write, it’s like I have too much to write. I have so much struggling to break out of my brain and run onto the paper that I can’t focus on a single one and then I can’t write at all. VERY FRUSTRATING.

So I screw around a bit. I try to focus. I yell at the character refusing to sit in the corner and wait their turn. Ha. That’s actually my lovely cousin’s analogy. It’s rather fitting. This is where I’ve been, though.

What do I do when this happens, though?

I’ll tell you!

I don’t know. It varies. Sometimes I write a few pages in each, jumping back and forth, back and forth, until one captures me enough that I can focus on it. Other times I have what I call “fun side stories” that I start writing on the side for myself. They’re not part of any series I’ve written, they’re just little tendrils of something in my head. Sometimes it’s complete nonsense, it’s basically just writing for the sake of writing, but I have no constraints because it’s a story that doesn’t follow my other stories’ rules. This allows me to write a little more freely and lets me get my creative juices flowing so I can get back to the story I intended to write in the first place. The best part of fun side stories is that, because I usually write them only for my eyes, the crazy factor gets amped way up. That’s why they’re so much fun. I don’t need rhyme or reason when I’m writing them.

The cool part about those fun side stories? Sometimes they become “Holy sh** this is an epic story that I must share with the world!” And in the Fall of this year I intend to release one of these stories. One of my beta readers who had the privilege of reading it first absolutely fell in love with it so much that she has read it three times. Strangely, I fell in love with it, too. I never intended to write more than a few pages of it and it blasted off all on it’s own and before I knew it, I was dozens of chapters in and writing up a storm. It was my own personal heaven and hell. I couldn’t stop, when I was forced to I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was truly the story that kept me up at night, losing sleep to write it. It was so distracting that I barely ate, I would go hours past a normal meal time before I realized I hadn’t touched food all day. I think it’s a story that’s worth remembering because you don’t just read it, you live it, you feel it, and it stretches far through the reaches of your heart and soul.

And that’s what fun side stories can do for you. Like the one I started writing in recently because I couldn’t decide what to write. Because all my characters were screaming for attention and I just needed to write. Sometimes, we just need to write. Or at least us crazy authors do 😉

Questions About Defiant

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

Hey gang! I am so thrilled to share some of the frequent questions I get about Defiant and my corresponding answers. If you have any more, you are always welcome to comment or contact me here or on my other social media accounts.

 

How long did it take you to write Defiant?

I wrote Defiant in little more than a month, first draft, mind you. There were plenty of things that needed to be cut and added to get the wonderful story we have today.

 

Who is your favorite character in Defiant?

Would it be cliché to say it’s impossible to choose? No, actually, I do have a soft spot for each of my characters, but how can I not say Faelan? She is a very special character to me. For years I tried to create to the perfect, sarcastic heroine, and somehow it never came out right. I found that each time I tried, something was missing or it felt too bitchy with limited awesome, kickass, sarcasm. When it finally happened, it was Faelan, and she is perfect. She is the character I wanted for years, the one I waited on for so long. When she finally came strolling through my mind, it was with a wicked smile and a glint in her eye that said, “You finally found me, let’s get this show on the road.”

 

Are your characters based on real people? They seem so real!

I never strive to model a character after any one that I know. I am a creative person at heart, I enjoy creating. That includes imagining new people and the way they are, how they would react to certain situations, and I have to stay true to that character and my own heart.

 

How do you come up with character names?

Now this is a question with several answers. You wouldn’t believe the amount of lists I have roaming around the house with names in them. I even have two such lists in my phone. Since we’re talking about Defiant, I’ll mention fantasy names first. I take inspiration from everything and anything. Sometimes it is a word I accidentally stumble over that gives me an idea for a unique name. Sometimes I combine street signs to create a new name. Other times I randomly combine names. Then there are days when my mind draws a blank and I resort to fantasy name generators to get random combinations. Most of the time, when I see a name I like on a random name generator, I still alter it to something I like better. Depends on the day.

However, there is a particular method to my madness with Defiant. You’ll see more of this in Impact and the third novel of the series. I try to align certain types of names, certain syntaxes and syllables and ways to spell a name with each individual culture and nation. The Galiseans are the best example of this. Their names are much more “clicky” or “slithery” so to speak. As reptilian humanoids, I found this fitting. Their names have a lot of Cs and Ks and a lot of Ys and Ss for this purpose. Things that slide of your tongue with a Sssss (like a snake). Likewise, the Santains tend to have common names with extremely different spelling than what most of us have seen. You can read more about names on my blog the Power of Names.

The universe in Defiant is really vibrant, how did you come up with the Callanans and will there be other cultures in the next books?

I don’t know, it just sort of comes to me. I can be inspired by different things and build around that one idea sometimes. A lot of the time it starts with a character and I build around that character, giving them a life, history, culture, etc.

The Callanans, however, I know exactly where they came from. I was having a day where I wanted to write something new, but I was stuck somewhere between wanting to write something with a medieval setting and a scifi setting. Some of the story that was in my head, there was more technological things, like space travel, but I wanted a reason for my character’s to use swords and be warriors. So I decided to put them together, a race that was almost medieval, with lots of old age weapons, but also technologically advanced. Thus, the Callanans were born. Ironically, Virion never really uses a sword, but I originally wanted him to. Perhaps one day I’ll go back and make use of my warriors in such a way that they use more swords, axes, bows, and arrows.

 

We had a bit of a cliff hangar at the end of the book, will we see more about that in the next?

Of course! As Impact has now released, you can read the next step in the journey and I promise there are resolutions to any other clip hangars that might be hanging around 😉

My Favorite Villain

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

Hey all! I was recently asked to talk about my favorite villain that I have written, so I decided to make a post about it. In all honesty, I have many things that I like about certain villains, they fit each story in their own perfect way. Some of them I outright hate, some of them are a little more tricky. Thus, this post will probably include mentions of more than one villain ha ha ha. However, there is one that I think stands out for me a bit more than the others. Seeing as my book Impact just released, I am free to discuss it.

While writing Defiant, I actually had several villains who were not quite what they seemed (Mikhal and Vane). I knew how it would end and I knew book 2 would involve a lot of Santain. Naturally, the Patriarch of Santain was the next villain. With Vane being our most prominent villain and being arrested, I fully realized the next villain could not be the same. He needed to be someone we could hate, someone we wanted to watch die. He had to be bad for the sake of being bad.

And so we have Saizar.

Patriarch Saizar is quite possibly one of the most unpredictable villains I’ve ever written. He is not a normal man. Unfortunately, Saizar is a product of unchecked mental instability. He seized the throne and has been left to his devices, fully able and allowed to do whatever he wanted for the last twenty something years. This predicament has bred a true monster, yet at the same time, a monster with a human side.

We see Saizar in fits of rage, we see him tending his wife, making plans for his sons future. Yet one wrong move he loses all sanity and control. I believe this unpredictability makes for an unnerving villain, which makes him one of the best, because you don’t know what he might do next. You see that he is fully capable of being decent… and you see he chooses not to be that way. In the third novel, this will be built upon even more before we see who lives and who dies (wait… someone is dying?! Oh yes, my darlings, many will die before this is finished).

At this point in my writing career, I have villains and heroes that blur the lines of good and bad. I can’t fully discuss them because they haven’t been published yet, and I can honestly say I have someone worse than Saizar, a villain I truly despise, a villain who fights on the side of good, a hero who falls and becomes the villain, but for now I leave you with Saizar. My most unpredictable and one of my worst, and best, villains.

 

Thanks for reading!

Much Love,

CM

 

 

P.S. Please feel free to ask me questions that I can answer here in my blog or any other media outlet 🙂

 

 

Power of Names

/ AuthorCMHerndon / 1 Comment

Names have power.

The name you were given, the name you use, the one nickname your best friend calls you that no one else does. They all have their own unique connotation and meaning to you.

It can determine how other people treat you. Perhaps your name is John and someone meets you. Their abusive ex was named John so they immediately view you a little more negatively than they should. Your name reminds them of darker days.

That’s the kind of power names can have. Power to sway opinions. Power to bring you down, too. Words hurt. If someone calls you ugly, whore, asshole, that name hurts your feelings. Or pisses you off. Giving named the power to not just sway your opinions, but affect your mood, your emotions, the kind of day you’re having.

As an author I spend a lot of time considering names. I research them, I find different meanings for them in different languages. I test how they sound out loud. Naming a character can be quite a task. You have to find a name that helps show who and what your character is. Or perhaps a name that indicates who and what your character will become. It can influence how the reader views your character. A strong, powerful name for the hero. An exotic warrior name for the heroine. Something unique that sets your character apart.

These are the things I take into consideration when naming a character. The same way new mothers and fathers prepare to name their child. How does it sound? How will it fit in with our family? Is it the perfect name? The perfect name is just waiting to be discovered.

What’s Your Advice For Aspiring Authors?

/ AuthorCMHerndon / Leave a comment

This is a question encountered often. Writers from all platforms get asked this, including aspiring writers their selves. Now that I am published, I am certainly asked this all the time. It’s quite possibly the most often asked question ever. For authors anyways. Even I asked this question before I was published. People my age, people older than me, people who know someone who “wants to write” have asked me. It’s a big question, and the way it is answered can have a great impact on people.

So, what’s your advice for aspiring authors? Write the damn book. And finish it.

Finish the book!!

I cannot emphasize this enough, nor can I tell you how many people say to me “I want to be a writer, but I can never seem to finish my book.” It sounds obvious, but I lost count of how many people say this or a variation of it to me. You have to absolutely push forward and finish that book.

What do you expect to accomplish without that book? Don’t make up excuses. You don’t have time? Spare 15 minutes of sleep and write. Write on your short 30 minute lunch break while you stuff your face. You can chew and write at the same time. You don’t know what to write next? Just start writing anyways, you can always delete things later, but writing a little might give you some insight to the direction you want to take your story. This applies to writer’s block, too. No excuses. Write and finish that book. Push yourself because only you can.

The other advice I can give is that if you have finished a book and you want to become a published author, re-read your book and then edit it. You are not ready to become published until you edit your book. Why do I say this? Because I thought I was ready until I finally went back and read my novel. After that, I could not believe I was sending out an unedited manuscript to agents for viewing. When I finally sat down and edited, I learned a lot about my writing style, including how to better it. There is nothing more beneficial that you can do for yourself than to critique your own work, but on that note, don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re better at this than you think you are and letting others see and read your writing, getting their feedback, will help boost your confidence in yourself.

Good luck to all my aspiring writers. I did it. So can you 🙂

Much Love,

CM