Very true!

Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book. 
Jane Smiley

Arizad: Transmutation

This a story I've had in the back of mind for awhile; I'm thinking I will work on it once I finish my current project.


Arizad: Transmutation
Prologue
TODAY
She crouched in the underbrush, hiding from the hunter and the full moon. The shadows cast by the trees and bushes camouflaged her blonde fur. She panted softly with fear. She closed her green eyes and saw again her mate lying in the clearing, bleeding and possibly dying. A quiet moan escaped her. She heard a soft noise, a footfall; her eyes snapped open and her pupils expanded to absorb as much light as possible, so she could see him as he came near.
Walking slowly, he passed by her hiding place, peering from side to side, looking for her in the shadows. In his arms he still held the gun, the one he shot her mate with. He walked past her, and she was about to take a breath. He stopped. He turned around and came back towards her, still peering into the bushes around her.
She knew hiding wasn’t an option any more. Run or Kill. Run or Kill. Run or Kill. The words pounded over and over in her brain. She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t out run the gun. But she had never killed before. Run or Kill. Run or Kill.
The hunter stopped in front of her hiding place, but was looking in the bushes on the other side of the path. She crouched lower, preparing to leap.
As if feeling her presence, the hunter straightened to his full height. He began to turn.
Her powerful hind legs pushed her into the air. Run or Kill. Run or Kill.

Pen names

As you can see, the pen name that I have attached to this blog, my Facebook page and Twitter account is Syl E. Knight - which is the name I want to use to publish my fantasy, sci fi and horror stories. But what about my non-genre literary work or my YA stories? I don't know that I want to publish those stories/books under the same pen name. (This, of course, assumes I do eventually get published.) I know many authors do use different names for different genres, or at least they used to do so.

In the old days of publishing, the author could choose a name, publish under that name and the agent, publicist or publisher would handle getting his/her name out there. But publishing today seems to be a different world. Authors appear to be responsible for getting name recognition via Twitter, Google+, Facebook, blogs, web pages, and whatever other methods there are that I haven't thought of.

So do other authors have separate Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for each pen name? That seems like it would be a lot of work maintaining that many accounts and that much information.

So I am unsure whether I should just tie the one set of web presence things (Twitter, blog, Facebook) to all of the names or set them up individually for each name or just say, the heck with it and just publish under one name.

I must admit that, being basically lazy, I am leaning towards the last choice.

Slacking off

After making a promise to post every week, I posted something on Aug 27th and nothing since. I've been slacking! Good excuse though - my daughter's wedding and then preparing for the big party over Labor Day weekend to celebrate. Thankfully she went for the private small wedding and no reception. The party was enough for me. I think I've been recovering all week! Anyway, I will get back into the groove within the next few days. I promise!