Rachel Bostwick

Her Skin Knows

November 25, 2015 by Rachel Bostwick

Her skin knows. It knows the things she doesn’t want to admit, not even to herself.

Imagine a girl. Imagine you meet her. And you share a meal, and you make her laugh.

Imagine her laugh warms your heart and you reach out and touch her cheek with the back of your hand. Her eyes flutter softly closed.

The next time you meet, if you reach your hand to her, her skin will prickle lightly and she will not pull away. Her body’s largest organ knows what your hand is for, anticipates it, calms her. If you touch her again, the memory will strengthen. If you step in to her, so close to her body that the waves of warmth off your skin dance out to mingle with hers in thermosynthesis, if you graze the pads of your fingers up the side of her arm until gooseflesh raises, then with no fear she will step closer to you and tuck her head into the safety of your neck. You stroke her jawline and press your lips to the top of her hair. Her skin sends out a thousand notes of symphony, telegraphs a million tiny messages: this is good, this is right, stay here.

“Do you love me?” you whisper.

“I don’t know,” she answers. “Do I?” Blood swims to the surface of her cheeks. You reach down to cup her face and she leans into it, hot happiness against the palm of your hands. When you go to touch her arm, the goosebumps are already there.

Her skin knows.

Now imagine someone else.

When she stands alone he comes up behind her and yanks her head back by the ponytail. She asks him to stop, but he laughs and pulls harder. “You like it,” he says. “And anyway, I’m only teasing.” He lets go and she laughs. They both laugh. Later, she gets in his way in the kitchen and he twists her nipple ’til she cries out in anger. He laughs again, then hugs her.

“Please don’t do that anymore.”

“That’s not how the game works. You’re mine.” He laughs, like it’s a shared joke, smiles at her with affection.

Her friends ask her about him and she smiles. “He’s a good man; he really loves me.” She crosses her arms over her chest.

Another day, he walks by her to get something out of the fridge. She quickly ducks out of the way.

He laughs. “You flinched. That’s funny.”

Her skin knows.

Bite Sized Book Review ~ Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older

October 2, 2015 by Rachel Bostwick

Read if:

You like fantasy YA. Nothing to dislike here. Fast-paced adventure for teen readers. Entrancing contemporary dialect if you like that sort of thing. (Love it when done right.)
You like urban fantasy and don’t mind a young viewpoint. Nails the UF tropes with a splash of originality
You enjoy an artistic look at urban culture. I loved that he didn’t translate the bite sized chunks of Spanish that were sprinkled throughout.
You like the idea of art as magic.
You care about the ideas of a young woman of color as a protagonist. If you care about that, go to Amazon or your local bookseller, buy the book, and put your money where you mouth is.
You like a little Spanish mixed in with your stories. (What? Seriously. I love languages.)

Don’t read if:

You don’t like YA or a younger protagonist voice. Older lays it on pretty thick. It bothered me for the first couple chapters. I like YA, but I don’t really want it written different. Harry Potter is written for kids, but it’s not written *like* it’s for kids. Percy Jackson is. This is more like Percy in that sense.
A little culture that isn’t your own offends you. Boo. What are you reading for? But, yeah, it’s definitely written with the flavor of another culture, but in modern days and modern times. If you’re one of those cranky people who are going to call that an agenda, don’t read it. Maybe don’t read the Internet, either. Older even hints at intra-cultural conflicts that an outside like myself won’t understand. That’s okay with me. I loved it. More, please.

Cover-Judging: 9/10

I picked up the book for two reasons: because my buddy recommended it to me personally (he knows I love NYC and art-as-story-device and kickass female heroes of color), and because the cover was awesome. Check out that hair. And the color and the skyline. It gives you the selling points right away. I might have gone with a slightly younger look on the model in order to sell the genre a tiny bit better, but whatever, it works. It sold me.

My verdict:

Loved it. Want to go back. If there’s ever another, sign me up. Go buy it.

Book Covers

September 4, 2015 by Rachel Bostwick

If you don’t get a great cover for your book, you’re wasting all the time you spent crafting it.

The reality is that people judge a book by its cover all the time. If you think about it, we wouldn’t have a saying encouraging people not to judge books by their covers if people didn’t judge books by their covers every single day.

The democratization of publishing is a great thing. It means that people whose stories aren’t valued by New York publishing are able to find an audience. It means that more and more, people are able to make a living wage doing something they love. It means readers have a greater variety of stories at their fingertips than at any other time in human history.

And it means that if you’re publishing something, you have to take steps to let readers know you’re not one to the random schmucks who finishes NaNoWriMo and puts their novel up on Dec. 1. You have to take steps to let readers know that you’re not just another chump. You have to let them know that even though they have never heard of you, you’re serious about this and that one day—soon—you’re going to be a big shot.

“That’s fine,” I hear you saying, “once they read my story, they’ll know I’m legit.”

Yeah, no. You have to convince them you’re legit before they read your blurb, let alone your novel. Fact is, if you don’t have a great cover, almost nobody will ever give your book a chance and it won’t matter a whit what kind of promotion you do.

You can’t just be good. You have to be outstanding just to get noticed.

Version 20.15

August 20, 2015 by Rachel Bostwick

They say there are an infinite number of versions of our lives.

When my son was small, he fell out of a window. He was only fourteen months and it was a second story window.

Maybe there is a version of my life where I ran down to find him broken, and I was never well again. Maybe I never had another child. Maybe I took my own life. I was so young.

Maybe there is a version where he died, but I healed and went on to champion safer windows in apartment buildings, so no other young mother had to go through what I went through.

Time flew, and life rushed forward, for better or worse. Places and times I’d rather forget. Maybe there is a version where I had to live in that hell hole of a trailer for the rest of my life. Maybe there is a version where I took the kids and ran.

When I was fifteen, I wanted to be a missionary. I had found a place which would pay for all of my training. I almost went. Maybe there is a version of me somewhere, with a covered head, humbly bowed, wearing skirts to my ankles. Before I discovered dragons and the Internet and a world that didn’t fit neatly between the pages of a King James Bible.

But this is the world where angels took my son and guided him safely into the grass. There wasn’t a scrape on him. I cried more than he did, and put him to my breast and had three more children.

This is the world where the neighborhood around me is beautiful and the kids and I can walk to the library and there is forgiveness and grace for the past mistakes.

This is the world where my husband looks and me and nods seriously and says, hey, you’re doing a good job taking care of the new place.

Maybe there are infinite versions of the universe, and many, many versions of my life.

But I get to choose which one this is.

Silver Shackles Cover Reveal

May 4, 2015 by Rachel Bostwick

I am BEYOND THRILLED to be able to share the cover reveal of Silver Shackles, the second book in the Revelations Trilogy by Fiona Skye! Fiona and I worked together to create this gorgeous cover and I can not wait to hold the book in my hands!

Silver Shackles

Revelations Trilogy: Book Two

by Fiona Skye

silver shackles cover

Cover image by Rachel Bostwick

Available on Amazon and in print June 15, 2015!

When you steal from faerie queens, the consequences are painful and sometimes deadly.

Were-jaguar and TV personality, Riley O’Rourke, has been looking over her shoulder ever since she stole from the Dark Queen of the Unseelie faeries. When Riley is contacted by an informant with knowledge that can blow the lid off the story of the year, she can’t pass up the opportunity to investigate. What she finds instead is something that puts her at the mercy of the Dark Queen, a creature not known for her compassion.

When Riley’s boyfriend, David, realizes she’s missing, he’ll do whatever it takes to get her back, including starting a war with the Unseelie. The balance of power among the Fae courts is shifting, and if David makes one wrong move, Riley could end up crushed in the struggle. But after being the subject of the Queens’s legendary cruelty, will there even be anything left of Riley to save?

Get Taming Shadows, Revelations Trilogy: Book One on Amazon now!

fiona skye - author photo Fiona Skye is a fantasy and historical romance author, currently living in the deserts of Southern Arizona. She shares a home with her husband, two kids, three cats, and a Border Collie.

Fiona’s passion for story telling began early in life. She loved playing make-believe and inventing elaborate fantasy worlds for her friends and her to play in. At age twelve, she wrote her first short story, based on a song by a 1980s hair band. After giving it to her English teacher for editing and rewrites, she learned to love the entire writing process, and has dedicated her life since then to writing, only to be occasionally distracted by her insatiable love of yarn and crochet, and the dogged pursuit of the perfect plate of cheese enchiladas.

She counts Diana Gabaldon and Jim Butcher as her favorite authors and biggest influences. Joining these two on the list of people she would wait in queue for a week to have a coffee with are Neil Peart, Kevin Hearne, and Brandon Sanderson.

Find her at the following links:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fionaskyewriter
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/fionaskyewriter
Website: http://fiona-skye.com/

How do you keep going when you think your writing sucks?

March 15, 2015 by Rachel Bostwick

It’s not a problem exclusive to writers. Artists and creators of all kinds suffer this annoying problem. For many of us, all it takes is one negative comment at the wrong time to send us into a spiral of self-doubt and disillusionment. Here are some practical tips.

1. Keep a praise file.

Take all your good reviews, write down all the sweet things your friends say, even the offhand ones, treasure them like gold. Put them on little notecards and put them into a recipe box. When you start to waver, pull them out and sort through them. They say it takes five good comments to undo a bad one, but sometimes it seems like for us artists, it takes at least fifteen! So write them all down. Don’t have any? Ask for some. Ask your fellow artist friends – they will totally understand and be thrilled to help you out. Which brings me to my next point.

2. Have an encouraging group of friends.

If you don’t have a group of like-minded people, you will fall. It is not good for humans to be alone. We’re not made for it. Starting right now, start looking for a group of encouragers. People who know what the struggles of an artist are. If you’re a writer, find people who love words as much as you do.

It’s critical to find a group that lifts its member up, rather than competing or gossiping. I belong to a group on Facebook called The Dragon’s Rocketship. We’re dedicated to fantasy and scifi. Some are writers, some are artists, some are just fans of geekdom. But our number one rule is “Don’t Be a Dick.” When we catch a whiff of bullying, hurting, racism or sexism, or any other kind of dickishness, we boot the culprit from the group. We cultivate a friendly group that likes to work together and lift each other up. For that reason, we are able to have members of all walks of life, from all religions and all places on the political spectrum, just together to make and enjoy art. It is wonderful. If you like fantasy and scifi, join us. If you’re into something else, I am sure there is a group like us out there – just start looking and don’t stop until you find the one that makes your heart sing.

3. Practice the buddy system

Having a group support system is good. It’s vital. Just as important is having one or two tried and true friends you can ALWAYS turn to. Someone who you could send a thousand words to and they’ll read it within twenty-four hours, just because it’s you sending it. Do you have a friend like that? Know how you find one? Same way you got a partner in science class in grade school. Look around for someone who doesn’t have someone yet. But they have to be the right person, the one who gets your jokes and doesn’t care if you spell things wrong. Or maybe there are different criteria for you. But find that one right person. Then be their friend. Offer to read their things – or read what they already have out there and tell them what you like about it. Do you know how many author blogs are sitting out there with no comments on them at all? Pick somebody and make them a special friend. The right one might not be the first one you try. You’ll know pretty soon whether they are a vacuum who will suck up your friendship and offer nothing back. Walk away quick and try again until you find the right one. THen when you feel low, you’ll have someone you can tell it to, someone who will really care and you can do the same for them, too.

4. Choose Your Music

Liften to the right kind of music. You know what makes you feel happy and what lets you stay in depression longer. Pick the happy stuff. What music lifts your up seems to vary from person to person, so don’t listen to other people’s suggestions. Pick your own. Save a playlist that you can turn to in the future during sadness emergencies.

5. Laughter

What makes you laugh? Silly puns? Fart jokes? Physical comedy? Whatever it is, laughter is healing and refreshing. Have a stock of movies or comedy specials you can pop in when you’re just taking yourself way too seriously.

6. Most importantly, remember this in case you think you really suck

It’s okay if you really do suck. No, seriously. It is completely impossible to get good at something without being absolutely terrible at it first. It takes many, many hours of work to be good at something. Early works are not good. That’s OK. You probably don’t actually suck, but if you do, you’re still hours and hours ahead of the person who isn’t trying. So rejoice and keep going. Two things to remember about your work not being perfect right now.

First, this:

Second, this: