Monthly Archives: May 2017

Goodreads Giveaway of Wings Unseen through June 24!

The LibraryThings giveaway of Wings Unseen is now complete! But do not lose hope, dear readers. There are other ways to get your hands on an early copy of my book….

…Like on Goodreads!

goodreads_f

Through June 24, you can enter to win one of five print copies of Wings Unseen through Goodreads. Yes, that’s right! I said print! How exciting is that?! They are advanced reading copies, which means some important details have not yet made it into the book design, like that dedication and acknowledgment I still need to write….but the story is all there and the book is 90% what it will be in the final version.

The odds are not as much in your favor this time around, with 235 people already entered in the giveaway, but you should totally try. Why? Because I’m proud of this book and I hope you will be proud of it too, enough to leave a review and rating after you get a sneak peek at it.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wings Unseen by Rebecca Gomez Farrell

Wings Unseen

by Rebecca Gomez Farrell

Giveaway ends June 24, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

To enter, you can either click the link in that widget right above this or head to the website to enter directly there – the result will be the same either way! And you may be among the first to hold a copy of Wings Unseen in your hands! Heck, I haven’t done that yet.

To encourage you to enter the Goodreads giveaway, I am giving away a sneak peak myself of one of the four character sigils that Meerkat Press has commissioned for the book! These sigils appear on the chapter title pages for each of my point-of-view characters – or at least the four of them that matter most. The first one is…

Serrafina Gavenstone

wings unseen gavenstone sigil serra

Serra is the daughter of Midra and Goning Gavenstone, the liege-lords of Meditlan, a land of spices and wine – thus the grapevines of her sigil. Both her parents tragically drowned when Serrra was a child. As the book opens, her older brother, Agler, is on a quest for the Ravens, the spies of her home country, Lansera. Serra is engaged to Janto Albrecht, the prince of Lansera, and will wed him in a month. Being a part of the Albrecht family and the someday queen of Lansera is all that Serra has ever wanted, since she moved into their home after her parents’ death. But at 18, Serra has much to learn of wants and what the future holds.

Get your chance to follow Serra’s journey to her own future with an ARC of Wings Unseen from Goodreads! Enter here.

My Next Reading & Story: “What Scattered in the Wind”

Update! This reading and publication has been postponed until 8/11. All other details remain the same. Join me in August instead!

My next short story publication is coming up soon! And I will soon be taking part in a reading to celebrate the launch for the anthology/chapbook it will appear in: Little Letters on the Skin. I do hope you’ll join me.

little letters on the skin

What? The Cleave: Bay Area Women Writers and the Liminal Center Release of the Little Letters on the Skin

When? Friday, June 9, 2017   Friday, August 11, 2017

Where? The Octopus Literary Salon, 2101 Webster St, Oakland.

Time? 7 pm.

Eight other writers and myself, who have been involved with Oakland’s amazing creative space for feminists and womanists, the Liminal Center, will be taking part in the reading and small group Q & A afterward. The anthology will be available for purchase, with all profits going to help support the work of the Liminal Center, which I’ve written about before here and here. I will also bring along a few copies to sell of Typehouse Literary Magazine #9, which featured my humorous sci-fi story, “Mixed Signals, or, Learning How to Speak,” last September.

“What Scattered in the Wind” is not humorous sci-fi, that’s for sure. Rather, it’s horror flash fiction done in a poetic prose style, and it’s the first story I wrote upon moving to the Bay Area. I love the mood of it, and the angst within it, that of a woman struggling with her biggest regret in life and sentenced to forever re-remember it. The first lines?

Hollow rasps of laughter pestered her to wakefulness. Any noise would have done the same, though she clamped her eyelids together in protest. For years, Ruth had heard nothing but the teakettle’s hiss or the slow scrape of her cane against the camper’s floor panels. The creaking sound of her voice rarely interrupted the silence. Unlike the other wayfarers, Ruth had never developed the habit of talking to herself. She didn’t care to hear what she’d have to say.

“Hee-hee, hee-he-heee!“

What I am most excited about for this event, however, is the exceptional list of fellow writers reading with me, at least half of whom I’ve read with before and they are STELLAR:

Christine No is a writer, filmmaker and pitbull enthusiast based in Oakland, CA. She is a Pushcart Prize Nominee and the 2016 First Place Poetry Winner of the Litquake Writing Contest. Say hello at  www.christineno.com

Gina Goldblatt is the founder of Liminal, a writing center for women, in Oakland California. She is a writer, an educator and an aerialist.

Hannah Rubin is a writer and artist based in Oakland, CA.

Heather Schubert is a published author, visual artist, teacher, Priestess and mother of four.

Jasmine Wade is obsessed with the tumultuous, hilarious, heartbreaking, and never-ending process of growing up. Find a list of her short stories at www.jasminehwade.com.

Jeneé Darden is an award-winning journalist, public speaker, mental health advocate and proud Oakland native. Visit her podcast and blog CocoaFly.com where she covers issues related to women, race, wellness and sex.

Norma Smith was born in Detroit, grew up in Fresno, California, and has lived and worked in Oakland since the late 1960s. In  support of her writing, she has worked as a ward clerk in hospitals, as a radio producer, as a translator and interpreter, as an educator, and as an editor and writing coach.

Rebecca Gomez Farrell writes all the speculative fiction genres she can conjure up. Find a list of her published shorter works at RebeccaGomezFarrell.com, and find her debut fantasy novel, Wings Unseen, in August 2017 from Meerkat Press.

Ruth Crossman was born and raised in Berkeley and currently lives in Oakland. She is a poet and a songwriter who teaches ESL to support her writing habit.

Additionally, the anthology is edited by Dr. Raina J. León, who’s an associate professor at Saint Mary’s College and the founder of the Cleave reading series along with numerous other accolades. That’s a stellar line-up that I’m glad to be a part of! I do hope you’ll come out and join us, celebrating what women are doing in the literary arts in Oakland. Here’s the Facebook event page, if you’d like to RSVP. I always like to know what friendly faces I’ll see in the crowd!

3 Days Left to Win Wings Unseen Through LibraryThing!

Folks, we are nearing the end of May and nearing the time when the first batch of readers will be getting their hands on ARCs (advanced reading copies) of my book! I am excited and nervous and probably mostly overwhelmed with the whirlwind coming as Wings Unseen gets closer and closer to publication.

This'll help, right?

This’ll help, right?

And you can be one of the first people to have it in your hands if you sign up for the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program and request my book! 100 review copies of Wings Unseen are flying out from there soon, absolutely free. So far, only 160 members have requested a copy, so your odds are pretty good at getting one! But you only have 3 more days to request it, so get going! Here’s the link again (click here). The giveaway ends on May 29, 2017.

You will find Wings Unseen about two-thirds of the way down that list of books for May. So after signing up for the program, or if you are already a member, you can CTRL + F to find Wings Unseen on the page or keep your eyes peeled for the cover:

wings unseen rebecca gomez farrell meerkat press cover fantasy

And to encourage you to sign up, I am sharing this picture of my ARCS that that Meerkat Press just shared today! Can’t wait until I get to smell that new book smell myself…

There is another giveaway also underway, which I’ll be posting on soon. But for now, one last time, here’s the link for the LibraryThing Early Reviewers request page! Click the link here.

 

Wings Unseen available for Pre-Order!!

Sound the horns!

bucci snake brass instrument barcelona

Ooh, maybe not that one. That looks dangerous. Regardless, it’s time to celebrate because my YA/New Adult epic fantasy, Wings Unseen, is now available for pre-order!

You can order it from Amazon or from Barnes & Nobles for now, and you bet I’ll announce when it’s available from other sources. The official release date is August 22, 2017! Did I not mention that before? *browses website* Wow, I really did not mention that before. Apparently, getting your tonsils removed puts you off your promotional game. Luckily, Meerkat Press is continuing to be a phenomenal small press, so word is getting out about this book, and ARCs go out this month. So exciting! Stay tuned for giveaway info, but also go ahead and click on one of those pre-order links if you can…what, you want more enticement? How about an excerpt from the book? Here’s one of my photos to conjure your imagination:

And here’s the excerpt. In it, Vesperi, a main point-of-view character who lives on the Meduan side of the mountains, where a highly questionable moral code reigns, makes a visit to an herbalist:

“Vesperi Sellwyn! It has been ages since I saw you last. You have been too busy with those fancy lordlings to come visit old Graw.” His voice scratched like the black scruff on his chin. “Though I have noticed fewer coteries riding through of late.” He cocked his head. “Did those suitors find the merchandise too used?”

She glared. “None of them were suited to my needs.”

“Oh, I am certain I have something that would suit your needs.” He grabbed at the sagging bulge beneath his belt.

She ignored him. “You do, actually. I have need of fallowent. Do you know of it?”

“Fallowent, aye, I may have some of that, though it’s scarce these days. The plants grow best by the river, and they disappear as fast as the Sell’s waters.” His face lit up as he spoke, confirming what Vesperi had pieced together years ago—this man loved his craft more than his pleasures. He was harmless, as far as men went.

Each hobbled step he took drew forth a curse. After some shuffling and banging, he returned with a pot in hand. Cloying scents of honey and musk rose up as he lifted the lid. She dipped a finger and it came out coated in black, sticky seeds no bigger than a flea.

“I will need more of it.” She had no idea how long it would last. “So you had best figure out how to get some or my father will hear of it.”

His face paled. “I will. There is no need to tell your father. I will have the guards take me foraging tomorrow.”

“Good. I will return for more next week.”

He raised his elbows as she made to leave but stopped her at the door. “You were right­—”

She narrowed her eyes.

“—about those men, your suitors? To reject them.”

Vesperi had little patience for stammering, but this was an unexpected compliment.

“I know you are a woman and Saeth teaches that women are prized only for their cunts and the kitchens, but fallowent won’t do anything to make that brother of yours a man. He would let us all fall into the hands of Durn, or Saeth forbid, the cow lords of Yarowen.”

Graw shuddered, and Vesperi gave him a brilliant smile, encouraging him to continue. “I would—I would rather you take over than him someday, and you can’t do that if you get married. I am very attached to my store, you see—” he petted the padded arm of his chair, “—and I would prefer things stay this way.”

“If we are lucky, my father will live many more years.”

“Of course,” he said hurriedly. “I did not mean to suggest—”

“You didn’t,” she assured him. “And Saeth may yet give my mother another son Lord Sellwyn can be proud of. We must pray for that.”

He nodded, eyes downcast. But his head lifted when she placed an extra pile of souzers on the table.

“Your loyalty is noted by House Sellwyn.” It was all she could say safely. She exited without another word, but the hood did not feel quite as binding when she pulled it over her head.