The Tiger Rises

 I've published the final book of the Legends of Arria series, The Tiger Rises, a couple days ago. I started it soon after The Tiger Enchantment, but shelved it for a long while. Then I started writing it again more recently. That might explain some style differences in the second half.

There's a lot that's changed for me in recent years and it shows in the text. I'm also trying to tie together the disparate elements from other series in the Arria multiverse and leave a door open for some form of continuation, maybe in Jobe and Paracleus, or elsewhere. I've got one other book in the Lion of Light series that I've written, years ago, and I need to edit that and make it the final book in that series, too.

I recently was a quarterfinalist in the Screencraft 2020 Animation Screenplay Competition with my screenplay for 'Monika'. Not sure how far I'll advance there, just wait and see. I submitted a couple other scripts to one last screenplay competition this year, too. Fingers crossed on that.

In recent months, I wrote and published Adia: The Lady of Light and The Swan Prince: A Wild Swans/Rumpelstiltskin mashup. Just to cover what else I've done since I last posted on this blog.

I also wrote and published some books under my pseudonym, not sure if I should mention them. Um...well, I'll give a hint. The first name of the pseudonym is Helena. See you later.

The Adventures of Tarn and Beck review

Here's another Love Bytes review, this time for The Adventures of Tarn and Beck Omnibus. Although I didn't send The Tales of Tarn and Beck to them, so there is a sequel that wasn't accounted for.

http://lovebytesreviews.com/2019/11/27/book-review-the-adventures-of-tarn-and-beck-omnibus-books-1-5-by-courtney-bowen/

The Fox Bard: Love Bytes Reviews.

I got a review from Love Bytes, an LGBTQ Book Review site. Here's the link below.

http://lovebytesreviews.com/2019/11/23/author-request-month-review-the-fox-bard-jobe-paracleus-1-by-courtney-bowen/

Tarn & Beck: The Dinner Party

I just published 'Tarn & Beck: The Dinner Party', Part Nine of the Tarn & Beck series. It's been a little difficult working on it.

I started it out as a Sherlock Holmes story from first perspective, my first time seriously using first perspective for a story. After working with first perspective, it's not my favorite narrative style, as I prefer third perspective.

I kept at it, though, even as the story turned out to be shorter than expected. I decided to continue on working in first perspective, though, expanding the story by adding in another story idea that I'd planned to try out.

The Dinner Party is the second story, and I had a notion about it before. Most of my Tarn and Beck story ideas, I've listed them out as notions I wanted to try, narrative tropes I wanted to experiment with.

Some I've held onto for years, trying to figure out which order I might portray them in. I've also shifted a few of these story ideas around, as Martin and Patricia and Eric the Relic Collector and his crew have appeared.

So some Tarn & Beck story ideas are actually going to be played out, hopefully, by these other characters. I've been working on the Sherlock Holmes story and the Dinner Party story for months now, even though it's a novella.

While I wrote, finished, and published several other novels and stories, I had this one on the back burner. I kept coming back to it, ever since I finished The Unicorn Foil in January, though it's difficult, not just in narrative style, but in subject matter, too.

I was trying out different approaches and genres in this story, and then I got distracted by other story ideas and novels. Since April or May, I've written two books under a pseudonym involving guys, and published them. Those two books have been more successful than my other books.

So it hasn't been a good year for Tarn & Beck. I'm not going to write out a Christmas Tales for them this year, as there isn't enough time left. I rushed a little to get this out before Halloween and I need a short break from Tarn & Beck.

I've got other ideas I want to work on, like a Larkin story that's a sequel to The Fairy Godmother's Daughter, sequels to my pseudonym books, a sequel to Wander-land and Survivors of Corrica.

I want to work on Arria, but that's up in the air still. I'll probably do more Tarn & Beck sometime next year.

But I'm also considering that maybe I'll finish up the Tarn & Beck series, maybe in a few more stories, or one or two. I could move some story ideas around to other characters, and maybe start a new story in that fantasy setting. Hopefully something will come up.

Thanks for reading.

Quarter-finalist

Just a quick announcement, I'm a quarter-finalist in the 2019 Scriptapalooza Screenplay Competition with 'The Tiger of Light', basically an adaptation of The Legends of Arria, Books 1-4, or what used to be The Knights of Arria when it was just one book.

Hopefully I might be able to republish all of those books on my own once more if things work out. Fingers crossed.

Check out my other books, including The Fay Island, the third and possibly last (?) Jobe & Paracleus book, unless I could squeeze out a fourth and fifth book farther down the line. Depends on what happens with the other series.

I've also got Survivors of Corrica, the Corrica prequel that takes place centuries before the main series. That might develop into a series as well with the ancient Arria chronicles, legends, and Knights, not to mention all of the creatures and monsters that could be developed there.

I've also got ideas for the Rulers of Wander-land prequel. I need to work on that. There's another novel I'm almost finished writing, but I'm not sure if I should publish it under my name or not.

It might be a pseudonym. It's got guys, if you know what I mean, and nothing major, but not sure if I should use my name. Might be better with a different name if my name's not great for getting an audience.

Also I started a Tarn & Beck story with Sherlock Holmes theme. It's different from my other Tarn & Beck stories. Alternating first person perspectives, for one, and it's two stories for one. I need to finish that up as well. The novel distracted me.

So, quick question for anyone who comments: should I publish novel under my name or pseudonym? Last call.

What should I work on next?

I posted this on my Patreon page, but just curious to know what readers might be interested in checking out next. I've been working on that Corrica prequel, and I'm about a third or a quarter of the way through there. But I'm also looking ahead at potential projects, and wondering what I should launch or maybe get started on in the near feature. Here are the projects on my to-do list, and what are your suggestions on what I should start first. Tarn & Beck/Sherlock Holmes pastiche Jobe & Paracleus sequel Velmella & Liana book Rulers of Wander-land sequel Another fairy-tale adaptation Legends of Arria sequel Random idea I can't create a poll on here, so leave a comment below. Thanks.

I've got a Patreon page

Hello there, just wanted to post that I've got a Patreon page now with content available on there.

https://www.patreon.com/courtneybowen

It'll be the home of character posts, author notes, polls, behind the scenes and more. Hopefully it'll be good.

The Grail Curse promo video

Here's a promo video for the Grail Curse, the second volume in the Lion of Arria series:

New videos!

So I've got some videos here, first up is a promo for almost all my published books so far:

Next up are a couple videos promoting Rulers in Wander-land: Reimagining Alice in Wonderland.

I hope the video quality's okay on this website. Here's the second one.

That's all for now, but hopefully I'm going to work up a couple more for some other books.

Tarn & Beck: Into the Tunnels

Okay, it's been almost a year since I last posted, and I'm publishing the sixth volume of my Tarn and Beck series. Tarn & Beck: Into the Tunnels pretty much picks up right where The Werewolf and the Chimera left off, and it officially ties in one of the characters from my Legends of Arria/Lion of Arria series, Sir Pacaben.

I'd been half hoping to get into crossing over my stories, and I'd done it before, albeit a bit more loosely with Tashiana from Jobe & Paracleus showing up in The Professor & The Satyr, and Cedric from Tarn & Beck showing up in Jobe & Paracleus, too. But I'm building things up here, as you may have noticed, getting Sir Pacaben involved with Tarn & Beck and their gang, and now...well, I'm looking forward to even bigger crossovers down the road with them.

Not too many spoilers, I suppose. I've been terrible about spoilers. I spoiled Under the Dome for my sister, when my dad was watching series 3 and she was starting season one, and I'd read some funny recaps about it on io9. From everything I gathered, it wasn't a good series.

Okay then, loosening things up a little. I'm not very good at social media and blogging, if you've noticed with my scant, few and far between posts. I've been thinking about that lately. If I was more inclined, maybe I would start over and try to make an effort in that department. Maybe a broader blog or web page, for all of my books or for a more popular series of mine.

I'm fond of The Smiling Stallion Inn, I've used that moniker for a while now, but it's not picking up steam or anything like that. And very rarely do I check up on some of these sites or update them to see if there's any traffic flow.

I like to write, as you may have noticed with how much I've published in recent months, and I like to find a way to get it out there. So I focus on that, and social media takes a backslide. Whee, there goes a year without posting.

So here I am, la-dee-da, contemplating what I should do with this blog/website or not. I could try to update or revamp it. I could consider getting a new, centralized website that I might be able to update or revamp as often as I can, showcasing books and such. I need to discuss a broader range of topics, too. Like writing, books, pop culture, influences, things of that nature.

I'm still going to write and publish, although looking at what's going on there, it's still not quite on course. I need to bump it up more and promote, or else find another method.

Wish me luck, and let's hope it's not another year before I post again. Whee!

Book Updates for July

More updates for books that have been published and republished in the last few months.

I've brought back most of the Lion of Arria series, from The Grail Curse to Family On Fire, and have now added two new books, Fight for the Windbow and Adia: The Lion's Daughter.

The Grail Curse

Family On Fire

Fight For The Windbow

Adia: The Lion's Daughter

These are volumes 2-5 of that series, as The Knights of Arria currently won't be available. I decided to go ahead and do that as it's still separate from The Legends of Arria series.

I have also published The Fox Bard, hopefully the first of the Jobe and Paracleus spin-off series.

The Fox Bard

This book really only features Jobe and Paracleus, though with a surprise at the end, and is separate from the main Legends of Arria series as well.

Finally, in addition to The Cursed Coin and The Fairy Reel, I have also published The Wizard's Spell-Book and The Importance of Being Tarn & Beck in the Tarn & Beck series.

Tarn & Beck: The Wizard's Spell-Book

The Importance of Being Tarn and Beck

Right now, I'm working on the 5th Tarn & Beck, a spin-off to the main Tarn and Beck line, another Legends prequel featuring Monika, and I should probably edit Power Over Death some more to turn in to my publisher. Servants and Followers is currently being edited with my publisher right now.

That's all going on right now. Hopefully I shall update more soon!