Category Archives: Reader Appreciation

Free Book Giveaway!

Well, okay, not exactly free, but I did get your attention, didn’t I? Stay with me, though, it may as well be free.

So, I’ve got ten copies of my collection of short stories, Bowlful of Bunnies, to give away to interested parties. I’d love to sign them and personalize them a little bit, too, and there’s only one thing I ask in exchange. I’m looking for sincere, honest reviews of the book, posted in your blogs or on Amazon or GoodReads, or wherever you’d like, because I’d love to see a few more out there. I wasn’t able to do a lot of leg work in promoting the book before it was out, but there’s no reason why we can’t make up for lost time, right?

Interested? Let me know! Shoot me an email at ellis.engler@gmail.com and let me know where I should send the book, and I’ll send it off as soon as I’m able. There’s no obligation to write a review, or no obligation to write it quickly, it’s a pretty soft “requirement.” But if you do read it and you are able to whittle up something honest and sincere, love it or hate it, I’d love to have the word out there.

See? Pretty much free. But a writer is not much without readers, so I want to take the chance to thank everyone who’s been reading, and everyone who just may start reading sometime soon.

The 100 Books Project: Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue.

“I would hope, however, that we might think of these things as what they are: arbitrary fashions of formal language that we must attend to just as we dress according to the random dictates of the fashions of our moment. Remember that what is considered ‘proper’ English varies with the times just as fashion does.”


“Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English” by John McWhorter

When this little gem of a language book fell into my possession after being found dirt-cheap on a bargain shelf, I was pretty stoked. Not stoked enough, as is usually the case, to dig right into it, but stoked to know, all the same, that it wound up in my TBR pile to eventually rise to the top to be devoured. As a writer, I’m a great lover of language and words, and McWhorter’s slim little volume promised to open my mind to a dramatic new approach to the way we view the development of English, and it naturally brought to mind one of my favorite quotes from James D. Nichol: “English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.” and the subsequently similar poster/t-shirt.

Alas, McWhorter seems more interested in beating down fellow grammarians and linguists than he does beating down the actual language, and yet I did not find anything remarkably note-worthy in the volume. It was an incredibly nice breath of fresh air to encounter another of the opinion that language is fluid, what is ‘proper’ in language is sometimes a suggestion of fashion more than actual language, and it’s nice to have someone promising not to go all grammar-nazi on a person who uses “they” when speaking of an generic individual and might even go easy on you if should you misuse “he and I” (something I am not nearly as forgiving about).

While I find McWhorter’s exploration of certain oddities about the English language and where these were most likely developed (Celts, Vikings, Icelandic origins) fascinating and interesting, it never came across as anything new. Perhaps it’s my own Germanic language background, but the connections he made seemed fairly obvious to this particular scholar, which made the fact that so much of the book’s energy spent on debunking things contrary to these points pretty unwieldy. Vikings and Celts butchered the original English language? We have weird quirks that are similar to Welsh? English is related to these languages? Are people actually contending that? Apparently they are, and that boggled my head a little bit.

Either way, the contentions that I wasn’t really aware about in the world of English language history aside, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue is an amusing little volume expounding the things I pretty much already believed. That language is fluid and liquid and completely changeable, that what we know as “proper” language today is usually a reflection of society and that change in language is inevitable based on what’s going on around it, what it’s being used for, and by who.

Or is that by whom?

Books read: 31/100.

And, on another note, I’d love to welcome Word Fusion to the blog as my latest subscriber! Thanks so much for coming along!

The “Look” Challenge.

Over at Frame Tale, Kate did a challenge post that she had come across that I just had to give a stab at myself. I love these little games, where you get the chance to showcase a little bit of your work. It’s also pretty useful for those days when you don’t have much else to write about, either.

So here’s how it works:

Take your current manuscript and find the first instance of the word “look”. Then post the surrounding paragraphs as an excerpt of the book on your blog. Lastly, tag five more blogging authors who you think would be a good choice for the game.

What I have typed of Serpent in a Cage right now is a hot mess; I’ve been doing my thing where I inflate the paragraphs to whittle down into more concise words later, but it didn’t seem fair to skip it entirely since a variation of the word “look” appears in the first page. However, I didn’t want to leave it at just a really rough draft, so I’m including Bowlful of Bunnies to it, too. Which also has a variation of “look” right at the beginning. Perhaps something I need to look into not doing so much…

Anyway, without any further ado, here’s a little snippet of Serpent in a Cage‘s rough draft, built around the word “look,” which so happens to be the beginning prologue, heavy and dense as it is in its current unedited state:

      “When she pulled her arm back, tearing the blade away from the soft, warm body, she just wanted it to be over. She wanted to collapse and close her eyes and finally rest, letting the weight of her steel drag her down to the floor, where she wouldn’t have to get up again until she was good and ready. The sweltering heat of the fire was almost as suffocating as the thick smoke that filled the air and choked her lungs, made her eyes sting and start to water. Overhead, the rafters strained with a loud, threatening crack, struggling to keep the roof held under the intensity of the heat. Underneath, there were pitiful groans from the scattering of bodies left for dead. It was a nightmare, something out of a hideous dream, and she just wanted to fall back and let it finally end. Close her eyes and perhaps, when she opened them again, it turned out it was all just a figment of twisted imagination after all.
      But she couldn’t stop. She had to keep focused, she had to keep moving. She had to find the others and make sure they were safe. Auferrix Ferrore gave her sword arm a quick jerk, shedding off some of the wet blood from the blade before it started to stick. Splatters of it landed in the fire and hissed like serpents.
      “Kadue!” she lifted her voice, calling out over the chaos and destruction. Smoke rushed into her lungs, and she gasped from the sudden pain, fighting against a cough. Scanning the area, looking for him, was useless; her eyes were so damp from the stinging smoke that they rendered her blind. She staggered forward, exhausted but determined. If only she could find a way out! In the fresh air of the cool evening, she could collect her thoughts and her wits. She could breathe and begin to see more clearly.
      The smoke was so dense, so thick, that she didn’t even notice the big, hulking man in front of her until she had practically collided into him. She stopped just short of contact; he has his arms lifted over his head, ready to plunge his axe down into a figure on the ground. Panic swelled inside of her as she realized she had no idea if the attacker was one of her own or one of the enemy, but if she did not act, the person on the floor would be just as dead. She moved on instinct, trusting her gut feeling and praying to the gods that she was right. It was justice; it was defending those who could not defend themselves, not matter what their position in this crazy war might be.
      “Firae, give me strength,” she whispered, as she always did before she braced herself for an attack. The axe started to fall, but it didn’t get far. Every action except the bulging of the man’s eyes stepped suddenly as Auferrix drove her blade firmly through his shoulder blades, through his heart, and then out on the other side. The tip dinted against his armor, and she yanked her blade out again.
      A moment passed where the man seemed to be suspended only by the last thin thread of Life, and he fell into a crumpled mass at Auferrix’s feet. She looked down on the poor, lifeless bastard, feeling only a small bit of pity while the heat swelled behind her with a crackle of fallen wood. After nudging the body with her toe, he thrust out her hand to the cowering person she had just saved, hoping she had slain the right one.
      “Come on,” she ordered, firmly, but hurriedly. The smoke had cleared enough that she could now recognize the face gawking up at her. Not his name, but definitely the person, the owner of the tavern they were in, the owner of the tavern burning down into a bloody rubble around them. She closed her eyes a moment to thank the gods and pushed her hand closer when he didn’t grab it. He was in a state of shock, that much was clear, having expected to be cleaved in half by the man between them. Auferrix barked out her next words to get him back to reality. “We have to get you out of here.”

And, as a bonus, here are a few paragraphs surrounding the first instance of “look” in Bowlful of Bunnies, which happens at the beginning of the first story, Dragon Rising, which means it’s nothing special because it’s exactly what you’d read in the book preview, lol:

     Possum, Rabbit, and Prairie Dog had all gone to the river to do the washing, and I had followed to watch them. The sun was bright in the cornflower sky, and hot, so after they had dunked the clothes in the gentle rushing stream, after they had scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed, they laid them out on the big flat rocks that had been soaking up the sun’s heat. There, the clothes would dry, basking like salamanders, and the girls would splash around in the water themselves, laughing and playing, tossing handfuls at each other until they were drenched and cooled. Then they, too, settled down in the long grass, turned their browned faces toward the sun and soaked it up.
     Quiet and still, I crouched next to a boulder too tall and round to be used for drying, underneath a fern for further shelter. I curled my tail in, which was the only way I could prevent it from twitching happily at the serenity of the scene. They had no idea I was watching; the three of them were such pleasure seekers that they had none of the carefulness and caution of their friends, who would have surely caught me. Rabbit was perhaps the most skittish of them, and her bright brown eyes flicked my way on occasion, her pert little nose wrinkling as it tried to pick up the scents carried on the wind. Mostly, though, it was just the sweet grass and the soap still floating by on the river, the fresh linen and the lavender flowers from up the hill.
     She looked at me at least three times, straight at me, without seeing me. My ears pressed back with the pleasure of my successful camouflage. The others wouldn’t even believe me when I told them that I was peering into the intimate, quiet respite of these three bright-eyed girls, knowledge so valuable that I would instantly be skyrocketed up in their ranks. If only Deer and Fox had laundry duties today! They, out of all the girls in the village, were easily the most eagerly sought after. Next time, perhaps I should try my stealth in the kitchens or the temples to see what other wonderful things girls did when they were alone, but I couldn’t imagine anything as splendid as their splashing and laughing, their hair catching in the sun as they tossed it freely around.
     And then they began to talk.

So there you have it. Apparently, “look”s appear pretty quickly in my work, and I hope you all enjoyed this…look (ah-ha!) of Serpent in a Cage. Don’t forget, I’ve got a really cool scary story/mystery contest running until the end of September. I’ll even give you a new prompt with the following picture, found at favim.com, accompanied with the word “clandestine“:

And, lastly, I have a few new subscribers! Hooray! So a shout out and a thank you to Meghan Elizabeth, Amber West, and Cheryl Moore! So good to have you all along!

The 100 Books Project: Mercenaries.

“From huge, publicly owned firms to small independent companies, the corporate world has learned that war is indeed good business, and business is good and getting better.”


“Mercenaries: Soldiers of Fortune, from Ancient Greece to Today’s Private Military Companies” by Michael Lee Lanning

Mercenaries is a very straight-forward book, of the non-fiction variety, going through the different stages of hired soldiers through time, a journey that I rather enjoyed taking for all the academic, non-literary approach that the journey took. Still, Lanning approaches the subject with a little bit of humor and a great deal of expertise and knowledge. The history of the soldier of fortune isn’t something I ever expected I’d be actively interested in, but I had this book in my Big Pile of Books and thought I’d give it a try. Don’t expect a great deal of literary prose here, but there’s a treasure trove of really great information that could be great for research if you’re intending on writing anything having to deal with mercenaries, be it in a historical context or a modern day setting.

Naturally, as a history nut, I took more interest in the earlier groups of mercenaries, though Lanning’s recounting of groups in Africa during the ’60s made me want to go and pick up Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible again. Meanwhile, the details on the ventures of private companies to turn hired soldiers into fortune and profit made me want to watch a bunch of James Bond and Archer. It was definitely interesting to get a little highlight on these various aspects on the topic in different media.

I find it difficult to say much about a book that doesn’t have a lot of literary value, but Mercenaries is a really cool resource to have in your arsenal. Lanning’s writing is clear and concise, with the occasional spot of humor, and he handles the topic with a business-like knowledge. I think it’s a good read for anyone who’s interested in soldiers of fortune or intend to use them in some fashion in their writing.

Books read: 29/100.

I’d also like to take a second to thank Emma McCoy for subscribing to the blog! Welcome aboard, Emma! Good to have you with us.

Embracing the Awesome.

If I needed any more confirmation that the change I’m planning to make in my life is the right one, it arrived in droves yesterday. Apparently, I could stand to just bear my soul and be frank more often, because yesterday’s post got such a great response (though, rereading it, I wished I had edited a little first. Holy commas and fragments, Batman!). More page views than I’ve had in a very long. More comments than I’d ever had in a while. A great shout-out over at mrs bongle, a first for her blog! Five (!) new followers! And, if that wasn’t enough, I had a pretty damn good sales day at work, topped off with the boss man pulling me aside to have a little chat with me about how impressed he is with the work I’ve been doing and how he’ll really gun for me getting that promotion I applied for, or at the very least, a little bit of a raise.

All because I was honest and forthright and truthful to what was going on in my head. All because I’ve been embracing a new philosophy these past few weeks, and it has made such a profound difference in my life that I’m not entirely sure I can accurately express it in these words. But I’m going to try. I have been feeling incredible these last few weeks, my confidence has spiked, and so many good things are happening, and I’m pretty sure it’s because I’ve embraced a new philosophy and has let it guide me from this point forward:

I will stop being the person I think people want me to be. I will just be the person I am.

Okay, so, maybe for some of you, this isn’t a big deal. It’s kind of a given. But, for someone like me, this is revolutionary. I’ve always been the type of person to put other people before me, and I’ve always been driven to meet the expectations others have for me, whether they’re legitimate expectations or ones I’ve made up in my own head. My tendency to try to be what I believe others want me to be really hit me full force about two weeks ago, at the end of yet another dating fiasco where I really missed a great opportunity because I was too caught up in not being who I am, and, instead, was trying to be who I thought the other person wanted me to be. Turns out, the person I am was what he was looking for, not the person I was being because he asked for something else. Granted, there were other cracks in the system that has lead me to believe that we wouldn’t have worked out anyway (which is a real shame, because I think he’s an incredible person, and I hope friendship is still in our futures, if anything), but I doubted myself. I edited myself. I restricted what I was saying or doing on a faulty perception.

No more. At work, I stressed out because I couldn’t meet the expectations of someone else. No more. In my relationships, in my work, in my writing, I am resolving to just be me. I’m not going to be the person people want me to be, or who I think they want me to be, just me. I’ve been resolving to be that person for the past two weeks now, and nothing but good things have been coming my way. I’m not stressed out (okay, maybe a little, but that’s par for the course), I’ve got some very interesting relationships budding (and rebudding!), and, the cream of the crop, I decided to just let it all out in a blog post yesterday, and my efforts were rewarded with a great deal of support and confirmation. Okay, maybe not everyone is as neurotic as I am about commenting and worrying about what other people think of me, but I do have a lot of pretty awesome people in my court right now, and they seem to definitely like seeing me be me, and not someone else’s perception of me.

Hopefully, as I continue being me, you still like me. But if you don’t? I’m probably better off without you anyway. Boo-yah.

Also, so remember those five new followers I mentioned? Let’s take a second to thank them, too! Welcome aboard, freepictureworld, 5 Things to do Today, Britt Skarbanek, Sedition Human, and Poetikin! So good to have you all aboard!

RoW80 Check-In: Back in Black.

In all honesty, I’m not wearing black right now; I merely wanted to get AC/DC stuck in your head. You’re welcome.

“      Suddenly, he cut himself off. He wanted to say more. He wanted to express how little he thought of destiny if this was the life destiny had chosen for him. He wanted to firmly deny the existence of anything that barred him from being in charge of his own fate. But he didn’t. He firmly set his mouth shut against the complaints, staring fiercely forward as he tried to sort through his thoughts.
      Realizing he had nothing more to say, Taluin lightly shook her head. ‘You truly are like your father,’ she mused, her voice marveling and soft.”

Today is Wednesday, which means it’s time for a Round of Words in 80 Days check-in, as well as an attempt to get back into gear after an unexpected little…we’ll say holiday from the writing world. It’s been an interesting, eventful few days, to be sure, which makes me feel a little bit better about the fact that it was so rubbish for writing. There are some possibilities opening up at work, and my social life took a dive on one facet while a reconnection with an old friend brought it skyrocketing up again. Life works in so many mysterious ways, it truly does, and I love when it happens with a bang. But it’s also nice to get back to something a little more regular and paced.

I’m still making some steady progress on Serpent in a Cage, but I’ve decided this morning that I want to turn my attention on getting some more short stories written and submitted to magazines. I usually go through a cycle where I feel motivated to write and submit, and then I quickly fall out of it and it falls to the wayside as I focus on novels more. So I don’t know how long this bout will last, but we shall see. I whipped up a little tale that’s been in the back of my mind yesterday, and today I’m trying a hand at whipping up something new. It’d be nice to aim for a new tale every day, but I’ve tried that before and I know how lofty a goal it is, so we shall see. The fact that I get two enjoy two consecutive days away from work has made me feel ambitious and optimistic.

I also want to turn my attention back to getting Bowlful of Bunnies on other platforms, including a potential print version. I keep intending to do this, but other projects and life events keep distracting me. Every so often, another sale comes in and tickles me pink, but I really feel like I just threw it out there in the wind and let it do its own thing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I feel a little guilty that I should be cultivating it or guiding it a bit more.

I’ve got a few Aryneth-themed posts in the works, and a few more book reviews coming, and hopefully no more big gaps in posts like these last few days. But, hey. Sometimes, you’ve just got to take those breaks.

So, not much of an update, just a typical L.S. Engler note of getting back in the saddle again and ready to ride. Yee-haw! If you get a chance, check out my fellow RoW-ers here!

I’ve also got some new followers to welcome and thank. So thanks for following the blog, Armand Rosamilia, Ellis Nelson, and Zac Egs! So cool to have you guys here!

The 100 Books Project: Underworld.

“Pretty much, you’re screwed. Patting yourself on the back is kind of like giving an aspirin to a dead guy; pointless.“


“Resident Evil 4: Underworld” by S.D. Perry

When I embarked on the challenge to read through all six of the Resident Evil novelizations that I had, I knew I was going to be in for a little bit of a challenge, and not in the ‘this is heavy, contemplative, world-changing stuff’ way. I actually enjoyed the first two books quite a lot; they were fun, tongue-in-cheek, and understood exactly what they were: books based on a shoot-’em-up game about zombies. By book three, however, the formula was getting a little bit old. I could expect it for the books directly based on the games, since they’re expected to suit the familiar material, but the series is also peppered with a few original novels of adventures not rooted in a particular game. Underworld is one of those original novels, and it wastes a perfectly good opportunity to break into some interesting territory away from the formula, but it, disappointingly, clings to it like a flesh-eating monster clings to a buxom blonde in very little clothing.

The formula is starting to get old. Really old. Underworld, despite being an original novel and therefor open to the opportunity for a little creativity, sadly follows the same story that the previous books have: a group of people, this time survivors from all the previous volumes, find themselves in an Umbrella Corporation facility, this time in the salt flats of Utah, and bust in to encounter all sorts of terrible experiments and fend off the actions of some corrupt Umbrella employee. Yawn. We get it. We know at least the main characters are going to survive onto other books, so there’s no real threat there, and the rigorous set-up of traveling between different “levels” stayed firmly in place, despite the fact that it really didn’t have to. There were glimmers of character development and story, but they were just that…glimmers. The only thing I felt I gained from this installment of the series didn’t come until the very end, in an epilogue that sheds some interesting light on a character who, as far as I understand it, is original to the books anyway.

That last glimmer of a story was well placed; it definitely makes me a little more intrigued to read the last two books in the series to see if they develop it a little further, rather than just leaving me to read the last two books to satiate a sense of finality and completeness.

And then I’ll just remind myself that they’re novelizations of zombie video games, and maybe I’m holding them a higher standard than I should be. Ah, well. Onto Number 5…

Books read: 26/100.

And, one last thing, I’d like to thank Melynnda* for recently subscribing to the blog! Welcome aboard! It’s really great to have you here, and I’ve been enjoying your blog so far, too!

The 100 Books Project: Heir to the Empire.

“‘Then he lies,’ Thrawn returned coldly. ‘All men want power. And the more they have, the more they want.’”


“Star Wars: Volume 1: Heir to the Empire” by Timothy Zahn

I finally did it. I finally ventured into reading (and finishing!) a Star Wars book that wasn’t directly based on the original trilogy or written for teenagers. And I couldn’t be happier for it. I’m actually really impressed by how quickly I blew through this book, though I think that speak a lot for just the classic Star Wars story and Timothy Zahn’s excellent writing. I read a lot of these super-mass-market, epic fantasy-sci fi series stuff based on games or movies or what have you, and a lot of them contain a certain amount of suffering. Some value, of course, otherwise I would read them, but you go in expecting a certain cheesiness or corniness, and I did not get any of this from Heir to the Empire. Well written, engaging, with some incredible characters and a wonderful take on familiar characters…I could hear Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia and Han Solo and all the rest as I read them. And I always knew I’d be fascinated by Mara Jade…

Anyhoo, taking place five years after the events of Return of the Jedi (thank you, convenient list in the back of the book!), the New Republic is getting on some stronger feet, Luke Skywalker is getting ready to train him some Jedi (starting with twin sister Leia at the insistence of her husband Han Solo) and there are two little baby Jedi on the way. So thing are pretty good, right? Well, there’s some political unrest in the New Republic, and, far off into the reaches of space, there’s a kernel of the Old Empire still churning up trouble. With the help of an old cloned Jedi Master, Grand Admiral Thrawn intends to strike the New Republic while it’s still young, and ensnare Luke, Leia, and Leia’s unborn children to use for their own devices.

It’s a great story, the first of a trilogy, and the characters really jump off the page. I even love Grand Admiral Thrawn as a villain. I remember, in the past, I tried to read these books chronologically plotwise, which had me trying to tackle The Truce at Bakura, but I could never quite stick with it. This time, I decided to go chronologically based on publication and I wonder if that was what I’ve done wrong the whole time. I just really loved this book. It was so, so Star Wars and I breezed right through it and look forward to when I get to the next in the series.

Books read: 22/100.

And one other thing! Since I finally breached the 25 copies sold mark with Bowlful of Bunnies, I’ve posted the excerpt sneak-peek at Battarack Girls as promised. You can find it as the current Featured Story. It’s not a large sample (about 1200 words), but I hope you enjoy. And thanks to everyone who’s gotten BoB to make it happen.

Upward and Onward!

So, now that Bowlful of Bunnies is out and hopping around (and wow! What a great response! I felt on top of the world yesterday! And I just looked out of curiosity and BoB made it to #94 on the Top 100 Paid Short Stories category, ohmygod!), it’s back to the drawing board and back to work on the next big project. I told myself I wanted to publish two books this year. The collection of short stories was the easy part, since a good deal of the material was stuff I had already written, reinforced with whatever new gems surfaced on the way. But now it’s time to take the journey I’ve just been through and add the detour of getting a novel finished, edited, and formatted up for a new book. A journey which I am very, very excited to take.

(This publishing thing is kind of a rush; I can see how this can get addictive! Already, I can’t wait to get another one done and out and promoted.)

The only problem is that I don’t know what to write! It’s not writer’s block, though. I’m working on several different projects right now, so it’s just a matter of whittling it down to choosing on and focusing on getting that one finished first and foremost. But, since I can sometimes be quite terrible at deciding on what I want to do, I thought I’d open it up to a poll and see what the lovely reader of my blog would like to see from me. So please, take a few seconds and let me know what you’d like to see as the next L.S. Engler publication:

I know the poll is a little hard to read, but I just loved the writing chick graphic too much to change it. Now, this poll is definitely not an end-all, be-all on my decision. The Muses are fickle, and whatever they feel should be written is probably going to be the winner. I know also what’s working best for me now. However, the fact that it will be what’s working best for me in a month or so is not guaranteed. So I figured it would be good to know what my potential readers want, and good to know where I should focus my attentions if I can.

Another thing that crossed my mind yesterday was that I really should have thought about doing some blog touring to promote Bowlful of Bunnies. It’s one of those things that you don’t really think of when you’re this new to the game, even if you read about everyone else doing it. So, I’d like to put out the request for anyone who would like to have me do a guest post on their blog. The main objective, obviously, is to promote BoB, but I’d be willing to do a post on any topic at all, whether it’s talking about BoB or talking about the price of tea in China. Interviews, shooting the shit, whatever you want, just let me know if you’re interested in having an L.S. Engler grace your blog, and we’ll figure something out, and I’d really, really appreciate the opportunity.

Last but certainly not least, we have three new faces here at the blog, and so, naturally, I want to thank them for subscribing! Hey, there, Adopting James, Bern Baby Bern, and I am Zion! I’m glad to have you all here and look forward to following your blogs, too! Any day when I peek at blog and see a picture about how bad ass Teddy Roosevelt was, it’s a very good day.

Happy writing, everyone!

The Bunnies Have Arrived!

I know the big “cover reveal” was only yesterday, but I’m happy to announce that my very first independent ebook publication is now available That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, the bunnies have finally arrived, marching from my doorstep to an ereader near you!


Bowful of Bunnies: Short Stories by L.S. Engler, available now on Amazon.

I owe a hefty round of thanks to so many people who helped make this book possible. Shannon Perry provided the fabulous artwork, and my awesome crew of beta readers (C. Michael Hubbard, Mike Young, Angela Misri, and Sharon Howard) saved me from making a lot of silly mistakes. Without them, this book could not be nearly as good as it is, and, with them, I’m sure it could be even better, too.

I also want to thank everyone in the A Round of Words in 80 Days community; this might not have ever happened if it weren’t for the encouragement and community built up with this fantastic group. I haven’t been around much this RoWnd, due to getting this thing ready, but it has opened so many doors for me.

A special acknowledgment also goes out to Lauralynn Elliott, Kait Nolan and Catherine Ryan Howard, simply for being three amazing women that really helped show me the ropes on how to do self-publishing thing and really inspire me to take this big step forward into a fascinating new world filled with opportunities.

Formatting the book for publication was made delightfully easy thanks to Cameron Chapman’s excellent guide. Assuming the formatting did turn out as all the gazillion previews I looked at suggested it would, I was actually incredibly impressed and pleased by how simple it was. I took all day to do it, because I was working on other stuff at the same time, but to think that it only takes about an hour to get a book formatted (assuming you’ve done most of the heavy-duty editing and what not already) kind of blows my mind. I wasn’t expecting to have this done until Saturday, but I just went all out yesterday.

As mentioned above, the book is available through Amazon, priced at just 99 cents. I wanted to do a special free day for all my bloggers, but it turns out that independent publishers can’t do free unless they’re a part of the KDP Select thing, which I don’t want to mess with (not yet). I know Smashwords offers a free pricing, but Smashwords and I continue to be unable to get along despite my best efforts. I’m working on it, though, so there might be a day in the future when you can snag Bowlful of Bunnies for free. I’m also working on getting it onto Barnes & Noble, but I have a weird address and they’re having some issues validating it.

So, there you have it! There’s a book. I’d be absolutely tickled if anyone would feel so inclined to mention it, reblog it, tweet about it, do whatever you will. Since it’s my first book and I’m testing the waters a little, I’m not doing a promotion contest or anything like that. I’m keeping it simple, but it’s always nice to have a little bit of a boost in audience. I also know I’d be eternally grateful towards anyone who might like to read it over and provide reviews.

It’s not the end-of-May release I was hoping for, but middle-of-June’s not too shabby, either, giving me right around half a year to get to that second book I wanted to publish by the end of 2012. So now it’s onto that one, as I release the bunnies out into the wilderness, where they’ll hopefully hop their way into someone’s heart.

Awwwww. Enjoy!