Legends of Darkness
(Remnants of Life, #1)
Georgia L Jones
Dangerous Saviors… What would you do if your life rested in the hands of something that really wanted to eat you? Come journey through the realms of the next world where everything you know about Good and Evil are put to the test.
Samantha Garrett lives and dies a good life in the human world. She awakens a new creature, Samoda, a vampire-like warrior in the army of Nuem. She is forced to realize that she has become a part of a world that humans believe to be only “Legends of Darkness.” Samoda finds her new life is entwined with the age old story of greed, love, betrayal, and vengeance.
Join our heroine as she battles not just for her own existence, but for the entire human race’s future.
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Guest Post
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Georgia L Jones
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When I first decided to seek publishing I had no idea what I was in for. I had dreams of grandeur in the respect that I was certain I had written such a great book that the first agency I sent it to would be tripping over themselves to get back to me and they would probably assign me the top agent to shop my book around. I remember dreaming of it. I was just certain that was how it would work. Okay, I wasn’t quite that naïve…but close. Let me go back a little further and tell you my story; the one that takes me from an aspiring writer to a published one.
I have written for as long as I can remember. I love to create pictures with words. It has been like therapy for me and if I hadn’t gotten published, I would still be writing, it is just what I do. In my teen years I remember typing out stories on an old manual typewriter. I had received much encouragement in high school. I had one teacher in particular that urged me to write. I cannot imagine a world in which I didn’t write and only a couple short years ago, I couldn’t imagine a world in which something I had written was published.
While I was writing “Legends of Darkness,” I didn’t know for certain that I would seek publishing for it. I thought it was a good story. I believed it was a uniquely, fresh idea of vampire like creatures and that was my goal. I always let my husband read what I had written and of course, he always liked my stories. Legends was no different. He thought it was wonderful and had me print him a manuscript to take with him to work. Through a series of people that manuscript ended up in the hands of a retired magazine editor. She wrote me a great letter and sent it back through the same channel. In the letter she told me that the manuscript while needing much technical work, was a very good story and one that she hoped I would seek publishing for. She felt it was worthy of being published. Her words of encouragement cinched it for, I then started my search. In the meantime though, I began to have other people read Legends and I was really surprised at the results. There were a couple of people who didn’t care for it, but out of about a hundred people, over ninety of them really liked it. Whew…my head was really swelling with anticipation of that big break that I would surely get with my first novel in existence. I began to send out query letters…and I began to get back form letters that politely told me “NO”, for one reason or another.
I began to write and send query letters in July of 2010 and began getting rejections very quickly afterwards. I read everything I could on the subject and had revised my submission each time, based on the submission guidelines. I was still receiving rejections. My bubble began to burst pretty quickly. I began feeling like maybe I wasn’t good enough after all. Then I began reading blogs by other writers and aspiring writers…ones like these that you are reading now. I began to understand, really understand, that it takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight and many people had been searching for years for a publisher that would fit with their works. I learned so much with that process.
I continued to send letters, revise and edit my manuscript, and work on the next book in the series, Witches. I had sent out over a hundred query letters and kept them neatly on a list with addresses and reasons for rejections and such.
In the meantime, I had made a few friends in the publishing industry. A friend of mine, Stephen Zimmer who is an astonishing author, read Legends of Darkness. He invited me to come to Louisville for Fandomfest in June of 2011. He had told me that they were having a “Pitch the Publisher” session where I could pitch my book, in person, to a publisher. I went.
Now friends, I knew I had written a good book, I had polished the story as much as I could, and I had a presentation ready to go in and “knock em dead.” NOT…I was more nervous than I had ever been in my life. I felt like I had butterflies doing cartwheels in my tummy. I went first and made it through the pitch though and then felt better.
After the session, I had the opportunity to talk with Dave Mattingly, President of Blackwyrm Publishing. Over the course of the weekend, I got the chance to speak with the authors that was there from the company and was very impressed with what they all had to say. I felt comfortable and, by the end of the weekend, was glad that I had attended and endeavored in the process. I left the convention with a spark of confidence, much more humble, and a bad case of con fever. I wanted to attend every Sci Fi/Fantasy con available. I absolutely loved the whole experience, but I didn’t have a publisher quite yet.
I spoke with Mr. Mattingly over the next few months and finally on September 5, 2011, I got the message…I had been accepted to Blackwyrm Publishing.
On March 17, 2012 my first novel, Legends of Darkness was launched. A short story, The Official 2012 Survivalist Handbook was released on September, 29, 2012. My second novel, but third book, Witches, was released on December 1, 2012. They were all released through Blackwyrm Publishing.
I feel very lucky and fortunate to have gotten a publisher as quickly as I did. While I was searching, it seemed like forever, but in hindsight, it really didn’t take that long and surely not as long as many people have to search.
If you would like to learn more about my writing here are the links:
WWW.GEORGIALJONES.COM
WWW.BLACKWYRM.COM
The links to purchase the books on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Official-2012-Survivalist-Handbook-ebook/dp/B00A80PUAC/
http://www.amazon.com/Remnants-Life-Legends-Darkness-ebook/dp/B007K9WIXQ/
http://www.amazon.com/Witches-Remnants-of-Life-ebook/dp/B00AFHHQ3M/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Georgia L. Jones was born in Columbia, Missouri on September 21st, 1968. In 1992 she settled in the beautiful Ozarks town of Lebanon, Missouri, where she met and married the love of her life. Together they have raised 7 children and have the 8th still in their home.
At a young age Georgia learned the value of getting lost in a good book. She has always enjoyed reading and letting her imagination run wild. In her early teenage years she began to put her own stories down on paper as she plunked out the words on an old manual typewriter.
In 1996 Georgia enrolled at Missouri State University where she majored in Psychology. While there she found an untamable thirst for Philosophy and Greek Mythology. Many evenings she can still be found curled up with one of the great Greek Tragedy’s or reading about personal continuity by Rene Descarte.
Over the years Georgia has harbored the dream of being a published author and written many short stories. On January 10, 2010 she embarked on the dream as she began to bring the characters from her first novel, “Legends of Darkness”, to life. Upon completion in June 2010 she realized that it was not a single book but a series and created the concept of the series “Remnants of Life”. She is currently working diligently on the “Remnants of Life” series.
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
