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For those of you who are following my Facebook page, you will already know this. But if you’re not, what are you waiting for? Follow me here.

Anyway, I have finished writing ARISE, first in the Game of Eternity series.  Woo!

This is really exciting news. I’m so ecstatic. I hope you are too.

So when can you guys get a copy? Well, initially I really wanted to self-publish this novel, but after selling so few of my short stories, I thought it would be best to traditionally publish ARISE. I know this means it will take longer to publish but I truly believe it is the best choice for me at the moment. In the meantime I will work on a new project that I can self-publish, so you guys won’t miss out on too much.

Stay tuned for more!

Whilst I’ve been working on my manuscript, I have also found time to draw some of my characters.

Below I’ve posted Empress Aruna. She is the wife of my MC, Emperor Stefan. At the moment she is just a minor character, but her decisions greatly affect Stefan later in the novel, especially since she is Queen to  her own kingdom of Arsinia.

 

Empress Aruna WIP
Empress Aruna WIP
Empress Aruna displaying her sheut (shadow) magick
Empress Aruna displaying her sheut (shadow) magick

 

Cartoon portrait of Empress Aruna
Cartoon portrait of Empress Aruna

Note: This is an old post I’m transferred from my old Blogger account

Summer holidays have always been encompassed by disappointing weather and dithering about whilst simultaneously attempting to convince myself that doing nothing for a whole month was what I really wanted. A longer holiday than usual might have been a dream come true for my former self, but now that I’ve experience the wonders of independecne from my parents, going back under their roof might as well have been purgatory.

At least I had Snapchat as a means of escapism.

picture of me

A third year Computer Science friend of mine, recently graduated, told me that I’d want to pull out my own hair within two weeks. He was wrong. I want to pull out my little sister’s hair within only a few days.

Mind you, I didn’t do absolutley nothing during the holiday. I participated in CampNaNo in July and “won” after writing 35,000 words; secured a voluntary job in August and went to Bournemouth and Leeds Castle with my family; caught up with some old friends; and found a way to combine my love of CS and writing.

 tank

Family time is still important, regardless of age. My family went out on a weekend to Bournemouth. They were having some sort of celebration/ military fair type thing, hence the tank.

fireworks

Who doesn’t love a good firework display? Add a bit of live music and dinner at a restaraunt, and it made for a really good night with the family unit.

expensive Bournemouth housing

helicopter at bournemouth

So why the bitching? I missed the uni life.

They don’t warn you how much you will miss being at university. All your educational life, you’ve been counting down the days to summer. And why not? Most everybody else seems to have gone abroad, or to some other sort of trip. Whether it was Soul Survivor, the Duke of Edinburgh, or The Challenge, everyone else is having more fun than you. And if you never felt that way, then you were probably the rich bastard I was always jealous of.

The number one problem with parents is usually curfews. Now, granted that you actually have somewhere to be (I know I never did), this had different repercussions for different people. But once you’ve experienced the freedom of living away from parents, there really is no going back. It’s like trying to shove the toothpaste back in the tube. It ain’t happening.

Except it does. Slowly. But then the toothpaste is never the same again.

When I got back home I didn’t ask for permission to go out. I told them I was going out. (Unless I needed money from then, in which case, I needed to warn them further in advance.)

My parents never spoke to me about alcohol. It was an unspoken rule. Don’t drink. Ever. I was underage so they figured I wouldn’t, and I didn’t. Yeah, I’m just that boring. So when my friend called me at the last minute, asking if I wanted to go to the pub sometime in July, I wasn’t certain I’d be allowed, but I was 18, dammit! I was ready to hold my ground.

I don’t know if any of these restrictions apply to you, but I think we can all agree as young adults, that parents can be really boring and stuffy at times. My life had gone from society meetings and house parties to cooking dinner being the highlight of my day.

Don’t do what I did. Don’t wait forever to think up of alternative options for that summer job you applied to. Make something of your holiday. Something you can be proud to write on your CV, or even something you can just rememeber fondly– future employers be damned!

Summer holidays needn’t be a limbo state as you await the next year at uni. Get a job or start a new hobby. Further your studies in your own time. If you make something of it, it needn’t be a state of purgatory.

I’m just glad all the moaning about wanting to come back to uni was worth it.

They tell me Second Year is harder. I guess I’ll find out just how much harder it is.

 

 

(Fan Art by Karaoke_Leo)


At the conclusion of The Mark of Athena, Annabeth and Percy tumble into a pit leading straight to the Underworld. The other five demigods have to put aside their grief and follow Percy’s instructions to find the mortal side of the Doors of Death. If they can fight their way through the Gaea’s forces, and Percy and Annabeth can survive the House of Hades, then the Seven will be able to seal the Doors both sides and prevent the giants from raising Gaea. But, Leo wonders, if the Doors are sealed, how will Percy and Annabeth be able to escape?

They have no choice. If the demigods don’t succeed, Gaea’s armies will never die. They have no time. In about a month, the Romans will march on Camp Half-Blood. The stakes are higher than ever in this adventure that dives into the depths of Tartarus.


(Synopsis from Goodreads)

(UK cover)

(US cover)

Date Expected: 8th of October

Well, here’s a poem I wrote some time ago for a school poetry competition:

The little girl stares at me, smiling,
Never aging, never miserable.
Unchanged, she is suspended
In Time.
I hear stories of her often-
Her voice is gruff,
Her tongue is sharp,
Her cheekiness unrelenting.
‘Futi bra ya mainini Manyara
yakadgiwa negonzo!’,
She once told guests,
Speaking of the woman’s bra,
Bitten by a rat, as she sat
In the very room,
Blushing though not red.
Always I laugh,
Always I am in wonder.
Her voice was gruff,
Her tongue was sharp,
Her cheekiness unrelenting.
‘What happened?’, you wonder.
She grew up and changed.
She crossed the ocean,
Leaving country and home.
She yearned to be British, to fit in,
The transition was not easy-
Change never is.
Though she learned English,
She herself, never would be.
She fought with boys,
Ridiculed by name
and height,
But this was just a phase.
In the end she learned value
In her heritage,
But time spent wishing
She was someone else,
Has made her a stranger,
A tourist in her Motherland.
I am not the little girl-
My voice is alto,
My tongue more practiced-
Still my cheekiness will forever
Be Unrelenting.
Perhaps the little girl inside
Will always remain,
With me…
By Mary-Ann Mufunde

Though I am well aware that it is already into the fifth day of 2012, it’s never too late to say I hope you all have a happy new year!!!

2012 will see the continuation of many beloved book series, and the rise of new ones and stand alone novels. Here is my list of upcoming books I can not wait to get my hands on:

The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore (Lorien Legacies series)
To be published 30th of August 2012 (UK release date)

The Kane Chronicles Book 3 by Rick Riordan (Title To Be Announced)
To be published in the Spring of 2012

The Heroes of Olympus Book 3, The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
To be published in the Autumn of 2012- or Fall for you Americans

Need series book 4, by Carrie Jones

Underworld by Meg Cabot, sequel to Abandon

Wolf Pact, a Blue Bloods spin off series, by Melissa de la Cruz
To be published September 2012

The Second Empress, by Michelle Moran

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