What pulls you in?

What draws you into a book? 

For some people it's voice. For others, it's a high-action scene with lots of danger, and a lightning-speed pace; or lyrical prose with vivid settings. Great fight scenes get some readers into the stories, and for others, it's dialogue.

I'm a voice kinda girl. The characters don't have to be speaking or running; but I have to be able to hear the protagonist's voice right away. Snark is a plus, with a character's witty commentary (in dialogue or in her [or his] head) pulling me in.

My favorite POV styles to read are the "deep" third-person POV or first-person POV. I want to hear what's going on in a character's thoughts. I want to be limited by her perspective, and make the same errors she does, and only discover in retrospect where she went wrong and how she was mistaken.

I want to be right there with her, as she's discovering magic, and trying to connect it back to what she already knows; or crying with her with frustration as she finds the magic she's used since childhood isn't useful enough. I want to grow with her, learn with her, lose with her. 

If the protagonist is an iguana, I want to feel the
hot sun on my back, and think about how awesome
those crunchy crickets taste.

There are books that are written in omniscience that I really enjoy (Terry Pratchett, for example, always makes me laugh with the asides). The advantages of knowing what's really going on with the world, and of knowing more than the characters, can give levity. But on the whole, I want limits.

Some people put multiple perspectives in stories. I'm okay with this, but I want limits there, too: I prefer not knowing what the bad guy is doing. I don't want to be in the redshirt's head. In fact, the only minds I want to get into are the heroes'. As exciting as it is to see the murder happening to get the book started, or to find out what traps the villain is laying, I'd rather have a more distant POV for those scenes. Or just skip them altogether. 

That's not to say I don't enjoy books with deep POV for the villain. Many I do. But in general, I like the thrill of discovery, of finding out what's going on as the heroes do.

In the end, it's a strong voice that immerses me in a book the quickest.

What's your favorite point of view? And what draws you into a story the fastest?

Books I grew up with

Every fan has one: the book that drove them into fantasy, the book that first addicted them to the genre.

Today I thought I'd share some of the books that first got me reading sci-fi and fantasy. Because I was a slow reader to begin with, I didn't really explore the genre until late elementary and early middle school

Junior Jedi Knights
On Goodreads

Late elementary:

• The Animorphs. Yep, I read each of these up until... I think about book 30. I think I aged out of the target range about then, because they started losing their appeal. 
• Star Wars: Junior Jedi Knights. I'm surprised how few people heard of these, but they were my gateway into the Star Wars extended universe. 

On the whole I mostly missed the fantasy boat in elementary school. I have a bunch of friends who read Tolkien in 3rd grade, but nope, not me. I was still in Boxcar Children and Sweet Valley at that point. What can I say? My middle school years were pretty great, because I got to catch up on the good books all my friends had enjoyed before me.

Middle School:

Probably better
than Galaxy of Fear,
but I'll never know.

• Dragonsong, by Anne McCaffrey, and the sequels. Menolly's series captured my heart, and I must have read and re-read this trilogy a dozen times or more. 
• Star Wars: Young Jedi Knights. I moved straight from the juniors, featuring young Anakin and Tahiri, into the stories of their older siblings Jacen and Jaina. 
• Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness quartet. Finding a fantasy book with a female hero just plain rocked. The fact that Pierce is an amazing writer helped, too. These I've re-read many times and always enjoyed.
• Everything else by Anne McCaffrey. I dipped my feet into the waters of Pern and came back addicted, so I started reading the rest of her series. Didn't finish until high school, but hey. I gave it my all.



Best thing EVER.



Young Jedi Knights

• The Star Wars Galaxy of Fear books. Really, you don't know what you're missing. And chances are, you missed these. They were THE BEST THING EVER.* (*Warning: may be better in my memory than in real life. I refuse to re-read them and shatter my illusions, because I have... suspicions about whether or not they'd stand the test of adulthood reading.)

High School:

On Goodreads.

• The Star Wars extended universe (yes, you know it was leading here). The Corellian trilogy was the most re-read set; loved them and read them until they all but fell apart. 
• The Belgariad by David Eddings. I re-read these recently. Should never have done that; my happy childhood is now dead. They're not bad; they're just... Let's just say some books can't possibly live up to their memories.
• Everything else by Tamora Pierce. And I still read anything new she puts out, too. (Anyone who touches my signed copy of The Will of the Empress will die a thousand deaths. No, really; MINE.**)
• Jody Lynn Nye's Waking in Dreamland and The Magic Touch, and then anything else she touched, because I loved her voice.
• Mercedes Lackey's Owl Knight series, set in Valdemar. Then her other series. Every. Single. One. (You'll pry my signed 500 Kingdoms books out of my cold, dead hands. Never mind; I'm taking them with me.**)

  

  The cover of
  my edition.

• Patricia Wrede's Dealing with Dragons series. Everyone else read them in middle or even elementary school. I won't lie; I envy them those extra years of knowing this quartet.
• Robert Asprin, whom I first discovered through books he co-wrote with Nye. It's a good choice.
• Terry Brooks' Shannara books. I started with the WishStones, three books I found at a reseller, and binged my way through everything else that was out at the time. They started getting depressing, though, so I slipped out of them for lighter and easier reads. 
• Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown. I fell in love with these and have stayed in love them ever since, no matter how many times I re-read them. If anything, they've improved with time.
• Elizabeth Kerner's The Song in the Silence. Loved this book. Loved it so much I listed it as my absolute favorite for the next ten years or so. The sequels, when I found them, did not quite live up to the first book, though. Good but not lifetime-favorite good.



Well, I loved it.

• Rosemary Edgehill's The Sword of Maiden's Tears. I got this as a gift one Christmas the year it came out. Didn't think I'd like it. Then I read it. Unfortunately, the series was left discontinued; after years of searching I finally found the next two, but that's all that were ever printed. (sniffle)

After Pern, I pretty much started working my way through the Sci-fi/Fantasy section of the library, so there's a lot of books I've missed on this list. But these were the major staples of my reading youth, the best memories and the ones I've kept with me longest. With these under my belt I've never doubted that fantasy and science fiction are my genre of choice. Of course, there are a lot of sub-par books that I came across, books that made me gag and want to throw out the genre as a whole. But then I just picked up one of my favorites and was hooked all over again.

What are some of your old favorites, the books that helped hook you into your favorite genre?

(**Note: author has been known to show signs of dragon-like tendencies over signed books in the past.)

Into the Tides: Regeneration Magic

Buy it at Smashwords,
Amazon,
Barnes & Noble,
or Kobo!

Today is a little book-bonus! In posts such as these, I'll give you extra information from my novel that you won't find in the book itself.

In Into the Tides, people who have magic are called "Powers." Each type of magic has a different set of capabilities, which is based on genetics. And for each Power type, there are 6 different levels of ability, called classes, with 6th class being the weakest and 1st class having the most magic. How a person's class is determined is based on what they can do.

I've been working on creating descriptions that explain what each Power type can do, by class. (Okay, yes, I've probably been having too much fun with this... ;) If you're reading the book and wondering what the characters are capable of, and what they would be capable of if they were higher in class, you can find out!

Here's more about regeneration Powers, who are only briefly mentioned in the book:

A non-exhaustive list of some Magic Types
Power	Class	Capabilities/Limitations
Regeneration	6-	Although regeneration is listed as a single category, it's important to note that regenerative Powers are one of three types: skin, bone, OR vision. Healing terms apply to only one of these. Passive: rapid healing (rate 1:1.5) Active: can sense location of major damage (life-threatening injuries or broken bones) in another person within 5 feet without visual inspection
	5	Passive: rapid healing (rate 1:3) Active: can sense location of moderate damage (serious cuts/cracked bones) in another person within 5 feet, or major damage within 10 feet
	4	Passive: Rapid healing (rate 1:4) Active: can sense location of moderate damage in another person within 10 feet, major within 20 feet. With physical contact (touching recipient; injury itself need not be touched) can cause faster rate of healing (1:2).
	3	Passive: Rapid healing (1:5) Active: can sense location of minor damage (scratches, bruising) in another person at 5 feet; moderate within 20 feet; major within 50 feet. With physical contact can cause faster rate of healing (1:3). Without physical contact can cause faster rate of healing within 5 feet (1:1.5)
	2	Passive: Rapid healing (1:6). Can sense major physical damage within 20 feet. Active: Can sense abnormalities (cancer, infection) with physical contact. Can sense location of minor damage within another at 15 feet; moderate at 40 feet; major damage up to 100 feet (within 20 feet is a passive ability that does not require pulling magic, only focusing). With physical contact can cause faster rate of healing (1:3). Without physical contact can cause faster rate of healing within 10 feet (1:1.75)
	1+	Passive: Rapid healing (1:8). Can sense major physical damage within 40 feet, or moderate within 20 feet. Active: Can sense abnormalities (cancer, infection) with physical contact. Can sense location of minor damage within another at 15 feet; moderate at 40 feet; major damage up to 200 feet (within 40 feet is a passive ability that does not require pulling magic, only focusing). With physical contact can cause faster rate of healing (up to 1:6--may heal faster than the body should, causing badly healed injuries or even causing harm by improper healing). Without physical contact can cause faster rate of healing within 20 feet (1:2).

While scientists believe more types of regeneration Powers may exist or be possible, only these three have been confirmed. Combinations of two types of regeneration Powers in one person are not generally believed to exist, although some religions, myths, and legends indicate figures with such abilities. There have been no verifiable documented cases, and such instances are considered superstition or exaggeration. "Skin" applies to epidermis and, to a limited extent, epithelial tissue. Epithelial tissue is affected  in the same ways as skin but at approximately 1/5 effectiveness when magic is used outside the body, or 1/2 effectiveness in cases of invasive surgery that allows magic user direct access to organs. Thus, epithelial tissue is far harder to sense or heal than epidermis. This appears to be the second-oldest type of Power, an offshoot of strength Power, with roots obscured in prehistory. "Bone" applies to osseous tissue and the blood vessels linked to it; and 1/2 effectiveness to cartilage and bone marrow. Magic users have only slightly improved effectiveness with direct exposure (1.15x more effective with invasive surgery or other direct bone exposure), as this form of magic tends to be penetrative in function anyway. First documented in the first century BCE. "Vision" applies to all parts of the eyes. It is currently the rarest and least understood, and has only emerged (or been revealed) in the last 200 years, particular to one line of descent in and from China (several vision Powers now live in the western US, London, southern India, and Japan). The strongest Power thus found has been 3rd class.

The phone covers turned out nice.

Into the Tides goes live tomorrow! Hurrah!

Looks nifty on a gymbag.

I've been excitedly preparing for the release, including spiffing up my website (rebekkahniles.net) and setting up a CafePress shop.

For the latter, I've made an extra design, and am thinking about adding others.

And, of course, I've been running around and squeeing, and bouncing off the walls. It's my first release. Of course I'm excited!

Wish me luck, and please feel free to pick up a copy of your own! The book is available for pre-order at Smashwords, and will be up for sale on Amazon and Barnes and Noble tomorrow.

Tone-deaf Kelly has long considered her inborn music magic to be useless. But after a disaster drowns the American South in magic, including most of her family, she discovers her “useless” magic lets her hear the voices of those lost. Now she’ll face magic itself to save them–only the attempt may cost her everyone she has left.

Playing around with art!

Screaming Aaron Leid

As I've been getting ready for my book release on January 5, I've been playing with pictures!

I'm thinking of starting a CafePress site for Tides-related gear. Maybe it's just my pre-release mania, though...

But as I finish up my final edits, boy have I been having fun!

The Empty Tides

The first picture, oh-so-creatively titled "Screaming Aaron Leid" (you'll get it by the end of the story, I promise), is a collage of butterflies from the cover, tinted and assembled with Photoshop Elements. I used Pixlr to create the face, starting with a photo of a long-past person screaming (wow, that seems morbid...) and generously applied the smudge and blur tools, and then added and played around with colors to get the right surrealistic look. (Yes, there was may have been some giggling and references to the joys of finger painting. What of it?)

The second was done with a generous application of the magic wand tool to my cover in Photoshop Elements. It looked pretty cool, so I figured I'd keep it around... There may be a few tweaks before it's ready, though!

Okay, maybe I'm not the next Da Vinci. But it was fun, and it kept me motivated to finish my edits on time.

Now I just have the formatting to go. Wish me luck!

Author Website!

With the release of Into the Tides coming up soon, I've begun working on my author website!

It's still under development, but I've added a few features. Many more are planned, such as hopefully fan forums (if I can figure out how to add them, and arrange them to my liking...), deleted scenes, and bonus world information.

Do you visit author websites? If so, what are some of your favorite author websites? What sorts of things made those websites great?

Fangirling... again!

Three books I'm excited about that have just been released:

Ilona Andrews' Steels Edge:
      Love her Weird series. Can't wait to read this one!

Joanne Bertin's Bard's Oath:
     Ran into the first book in this series, Dragon and Phoenix, last year. Loved it, found the next one online, discovered that there was no third. Given the publication dates of the first two, assumed the series would never be complete, and wailed about the unfairness of the universe. Then I found the new one just came out at the end of November.

Nalini Singh's Archangel's Storm
Bought it as soon as it came out. Love Nalini Singh, with her Guild Hunter Series as my absolute favorites. I'm still waiting for the next in the Psy/Changeling series.








There are many more I can't wait to snatch up as soon as they're available, but I figured I'd limit myself to three, because otherwise I could go on all day. Have you read any of these three yet? What did you think?

What books are you about to buy?