Samhain Publishing Ltd. Weblog

My First Booksigning – how it went from Hell to Heaven.

So, Ilfayne’s Bane is in print and ( after a little sweet talking) available through Waterstone’s, the bigger book chain in the UK. And I know the ladies in the local SFF department quite well and…so I was cheeky. Can I do a booksigning please? They were very enthusiastic, gave me lots of tips on how to make it go well. We arrange a day when the Christmas rush is well and truly on. An interview with the local paper to advertise it. Flyers etc. Manageress explains that 20 would be a good number to sell – a member of the England Cricket team did a signing a few weeks ago, and sold a few less than that in four hours. Okay, a target.

Ilfayne's Bane - in print and up for an EPIC!

So, finally Ilfayne’s Bane is out in print – and not only that, it’s reached the finals in the 2010 EPIC awards!

And considering it was the first thing I ever done wroted, I’m pretty pleased ( don’t worry, the grammar is better in the book, honest!)

“Ilfayne’s Bane” by Julia Knight

Read An Excerpt Online
Genre: Fantasy Romance

ISBN: 978-1-60504-439-2
Length: 312 Pages
Price: 16.00
Publication Date: November 1, 2009
Cover art by Anne Cain

He destroyed a continent. Dethroned a god. Now her love will destroy him.

Oathcursed, Book One

Hilde is shunned for her strange looks and ability to dream the future, both unwelcome gifts of the half-kyrbodan blood that flows in her veins. One of those dreams summons the legendary mage, Ilfayne. Beneath his cynicism and penchant for melting eyeballs, she discovers a tortured man driven by demons as cruel as her own. And the only man who doesn’t recoil from her.

Condemned to four thousand years of loneliness and regret, Ilfayne finds a rare thing in Hilde: a friend. For that, he will do anything to keep her safe. Just as he gathers the courage to reveal the tender feelings he thought he’d lost, her kyrbodan blood forces her to bond with a man of her own race. To deny the bond means she could die. Either way, she is lost to him.

Now llfayne’s oldest enemy has resurfaced, a sorcerer who will stop at nothing to destroy him. Including targeting their greatest vulnerabilities—Ilfayne’s hidden love for Hilde, and Hilde’s guilt-wracked conscience.

When the sorcerer makes his move, Hilde holds the lives of two men in her hands—and faces a terrible and deadly choice. Loyalty…or love.

This book contains a jaded hero, sarcasm, violence, and magic spells involving aggressive turnips.

TO find out more about the author, and for some free short stories, go to the author’s website

Putting the fun back into writing

Writing has, for me, always been about the fun of a good story. Adding in aggressive turnips, or having a character get all sarcastic was just for my amusement, and that of the friends I used to show my work to. It’s why there are veiled references to some of my favourite TV shows in there, or how I ended up challenging my friends to find as many WWE wrestlers in the book as they could ( Ilfayne’s Bane has five. Answers on the back of a ten pound note, please). I wrote because it was fun. Getting published was just a bonus.