Standalone – m. marinan books

Book cover for Tyger showing a human girl in a white jacket and an alien girl in purple robes, with a tiger's face in the background.

Tyger: an out-of-this world tale (AKA I finally finished the beast of a novel)

August 3, 2020

I finally finished writing it, I mean. Not reading it, although I’ve now done that enough times that I could tell you the story off by heart. (Other authors will know that yes, you can really forget the details of your own novel. I’m constantly surprised by twists and turns in my own writing, which I suppose keeps editing interesting.)

Mini blurb:

“Astrid, a young human girl on the alien planet of Tyger, is thrilled to be invited to celebrations at the native palace. But when someone close to her falls for a local who’s completely off-limits, it sets off a dangerous chain of events that change her life forever…”

If you liked that little taste, I’ve got another 129,000 words for you in the novel itself. I’ve gone for quality AND quantity. I even released Tyger with two different book covers – one for the larger trade paperback and hardcover, and one for a smaller, tidier (and cheaper) version.

See what you think:

Left cover – trade paperback/hardcover. Right cover – smaller paperback. Click image to go to Tyger’s web page.

The never-ending series

What’s up next:

‘Whiter Than Snow’ (Across Time & Space book 6) has one more edit to go, so I’m hoping to make it available by the end of the year. I’m feeling pretty good about it, although slightly daunted by the next book looming up on my to-do list, AKA book 7 AKA THE FINAL BOOK IN THE SERIES. I feel like this series has stretched across my entire adulthood, which might be the case. It’s young adult, and I realized recently that I had fit in that category myself when I started writing it. (I no longer do, if you’re wondering.)

Take me home

With my extreme ageing in mind, I’m well into a new novella for a general audience rather than specifically YA. ‘Take Me Home’ is NOT about a couple of randoms at a bar – instead it’s about a woman who gets pulled through a portal to a barren, post-apocalyptic world inhabited by a tiny group of human survivors. As you can tell from that description, it’s a comedy. (Also, I think I have portals on the mind. Every book I’ve mentioned in this blog post contains them.)

Here’s a link to the draft covers. The basic idea is there, but they still need tweaking.

Whiter than Snow AND Take Me Home

That’s all. Have a nice day 🙂

M. Marinan

Time travel, romance, dystopian worlds (and YA novels)

November 18, 2019

Hooray! A new book! (AKA an excellent reason to blog.)

The Hidden Door is book five of seven in the Across Time & Space series. In the story, our intrepid hero/ines are getting pretty good at being time travellers and dealing with massive culture shock. But then Regency gentleman George receives some terrible news, and millennial Ash decides to ‘help’ by stepping through a mysterious gateway…

The Hidden Door available in print and ebook. In celebration of its release, the ebooks for the whole series are priced at $0.99 US each. The discount lasts till 1 December 2019.

Here’s a link to the blurb, excerpt and retailers where you can buy the cheap ebook or the not-quite-so-cheap paperback.

Also, my previous novel Unshakeable has a bright, shiny new cover for its mass-market paperback edition. Isn’t it lovely?

Unshakeable is a YA novel set in the distant future, where an Earth-born teen is illegally conscripted into a Martian ruler’s private army. It’s sci-fi, drama, a bit dystopian and apparently it’s also a romance.

Here’s a link to the blurb, excerpt, retailer et cetera.

So those are my latest successes. As for my latest, um, failures…

My master plan was to blog monthly. Considering my last blog was in April 2019, I may have slightly missed that goal. I also intended to release The Hidden Door in August. (It’s August, right?)

But more importantly, I was keen to release Tyger this December….

…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Best intentions and all that, but Tyger is still stuck firmly in the editing process, and won’t be seen till early next year if we’re lucky. (It makes me think of Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory getting stuck in the tube between the chocolate river and the marshmallow room, or something).

Anyway, it’s currently out of my hands but I’ll assume that like Augustus, it’s marinating and growing better in every possible way.

Tyger WILL appear, and I promise I’ll tell you all about it as soon as there’s a firm release date. I might go wild and even do a preorder.

Until next time 😊

Unshakeable: a YA sci-fi/romance novel, free for a limited time

April 29, 2019

In the distant future, the former Mars colony is green, wild…and in desperate need of change.

Seventeen-year-old Iscendra’s world is shaken when she’s illegally conscripted into a spoiled Martian ruler’s private army. With her entire future under threat, it takes all her strength not to fall apart. But when the opportunity arises for real change, will she have the courage to risk not just her own life, but her family’s too?

My latest novel Unshakeable is now available in ebook and print. As is tradition, the ebook is currently free for download at a bunch of retailers – check out the links here, as well as an excerpt if you feel the need for one. The discount ends 15 April 2019, and the ebook will go back to its regular price of $3.49 (US).

This book is young adult, clean (let’s call it PG-13) and standalone. Check it out if you’re looking for action, mystery, romance and a freaking huge twist!

On a different note, The Hidden Door (Across Time & Space book 5) has gone for its second edit. Expect to see this come out by August 2019. The cover has been drafted, but it’s not quite ready for a showing yet. I’m really enjoying seeing this novel develop, since it was a last-minute addition to the already-written series. The storylines of Ash, George and Anne were meant to be completed in Desert of Ice (book 4), but I just wasn’t satisfied with how these had finished up. The Hidden Door has been an awesome opportunity to really round out those storylines, as well as some themes that had been established in the first four books.

I do, however, have a cover for Tyger – a kinda sci-fi set a generation in the future. Someone has discovered a portal leading directly to another world, which has an almost-human local culture, but about fifteen hundred years behind our own. So it’s both old-fashioned and futuristic, with alien princesses, suitably evil villains, and a couple of semi-clueless humans who get caught in the middle of a war. Expect to see this standalone novel out by December 2019.

Here’s the cover, and here’s a link to the blurb.

Enjoy 😊

Free, free, free: ebook sale!

March 3, 2019

Yes, again. But this time ALL my YA ebooks are either free or seriously discounted, and it’s thanks to Smashwords.com’s ‘read an ebook week’.

Now I got into reading ebooks mainly because they were cheaper, you could find obscure writers easily (like myself) and because you get immediate gratification – click, and they’re in your hands. Or your laptop/kindle/phone, et cetera.

Anyway, feel free to immediately gratify yourself with the entire Across Time & Space series – three time periods collide in a universe not quite like our own, where science meets the supernatural. A fast-paced adventure.

Or the Fairytale Memoirs series – not-so-traditional fairytales with realism, humour and of course, happily-ever-after. Each story takes place in the same universe, but can be read on its own. Check out Cinderella’s not-so-ugly stepsister, Rose Red, or as per my previous blog post, Beauty and the Beast (a novella).

Last but not least, Breaking the Glass Slipper is half price. This standalone story is told from the point of view of Valentina, a girl who arrives at a luxury island resort to meet her fiancé, and instead has her entire reality turned upside-down. YA, futuristic, drama/romance, twisted fairytale. (This book also has my favourite cover. What do you think?)

The sale ends midnight 9 March Pacific time.

Free fairytale ebook! (AKA a girl, a beast and a really awkward arranged marriage…)

February 11, 2019

If you’re like me and appreciate free books, then get your own copy of my newest release, ‘Gifted: a Fairytale Memoirs novella’. It’s a small but perfectly formed story inspired by Beauty and the Beast. Sure, the idea’s been done before, but definitely not with a cute but height-challenged refugee, a shapeshifter mysteriously stuck in half-shifted form, and the world’s weirdest arranged marriage.

‘Gifted’ is part of a loosely connected collection of fairytale-inspired novels. The series also includes stories based on Cinderella’s notorious stepsister and the more obscure (but no less awesome) Snow-White and Rose-Red. They’re full of fantasy, adventure and light romance, and are definitely safe to read in public. If that’s your thing, click here for a list of retailers stocking the free ‘Gifted’ ebook.

If you’re not really into fairytales but still want a free read, check out ‘The Eternity Stone’, the first novel in the ‘Across Time & Space’ series. It’s kinda sci-fi, kinda fantasy, with loads of action, humour, and just a touch of romance. I’m a big fan, but as I’m the author I may be just a little biased. You can find links to the free ebook here, as well as an excerpt.

Both books are available in paperback (but not free, because I’m just not that generous).

As for what’s coming next:

Because I find it really hard to stick to one genre, ‘Unshakeable’ is a standalone sci-fi/action/drama/romance about a girl who’s conscripted into a private army in the distant future…on Mars. Yes, really, but I promise it works. First person perspective, a villain you “want to punch in the face” according to one of my beta readers, and a happy ending. Currently in its final stage of editing – expect to see this available by April 2019 at the latest. You can check out the cover here.

Next up after that will probably be ‘The Hidden Door’, which is the latest in the ‘Across Time & Space’ series. This one rounds out Ash, George and Anne’s storylines, and it’s just finished its first edit. No cover yet because I’ve been lazy, but expect to see this in the next little while.

And then, because I’m an overachiever with nothing else to do, there’ll be ‘Tyger’ (spelling intentional). This is another standalone sci-fi/fantasy/drama/romance. It’s my current favourite, but that’s because I’m still writing the perfect ending. A gorgeous cover is just around the corner, and I’ll post it when it’s ready.

There’s more, but I think I’ll stop there. Thanks for reading, please do check out the free ebooks (and the paid ones too, hmm?) and if you’re inclined, look out for the next blog.

Cheers

M. Marinan