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Cameron Montague Taylor

Fantasy Author & Fiction Editor

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The Dark Arm of the Maker is LIVE on Kindle Vella!

July 17, 2021 by Cameron Montague Taylor Leave a Comment

Exciting news, everyone! The Dark Arm of the Maker has gone live on Kindle Vella. For those of you who read the story under its original name (Potionmaster) and in its original form, you’ll be excited to learn that the edited and expanded version contains almost 10k more story, including a much-requested pre-epilogue scene. Want to learn more about the edited version? Read on!

What’s Kindle Vella?

Kindle Vella is Amazon’s new serialization platform. Creators post content one episode (or chapter) at a time, often on a schedule. Readers can check out the first three episodes for free, after which they can purchase coins, or tokens, to unlock the rest of the story. Right now, Vella is only available for Amazon US customers, but they should start expanding to other regions soon.

If you have an Amazon US account, you can log in and claim your first 200 coins for free! You can unlock an extra five chapters of The Dark Arm of the Maker with them, and I’d be extremely grateful for the support.

Click here to read The Dark Arm of the Maker on Kindle Vella!

Tell me more about the story!

The Dark Arm of the Maker is a standalone, Dark Fantasy & MM Romance novel. Here’s the blurb:

Royal Chef Neveshir Sevelin is a Karán: a man born with dangerous magic running through his veins. Like all Maker-touched, he can use fire to transmute, but only Karán have the power to kill with it. Though most Karán spend their careers bound in service on the war-front, Neveshir has sworn off killing. He roams free in Alkaya where he uses his talents to craft culinary masterpieces for his former shieldmate and dearest friend, Shah Melík Saf Kanh, ruler of all Esenia.

When a terrible disease breaks out in the city, however, Neveshir is asked to revisit the powerful magic he hasn’t used in decades — a request that has the Maker’s Guild up in arms. Neveshir can’t blame them. He knows what he is: a poison-blood who was Maker-made to take lives, not save them.

Then Melík falls ill. The disease spreads beyond the Guild’s ability to control, showing a malevolence that defies medicine and forces Neveshir to consider more extreme measures. In order to discover the source of the disease, transmute a cure, and save the man he’s not supposed to love, Neveshir must overcome his fear of his own nature — before it’s too late.

Are you all about the tropes? The Dark Arm of the Maker features found family, magic that comes at a price, and forbidden love. It also includes gay, bisexual, non-binary, and aroace representation.

That sounds great, but I’m not giving Amazon another dime

No worries! The Dark Arm of the Maker is also available, edited and in full, on Patreon at the Patron+ tiers. Click the link below to head over to my novels masterpost and check it out:

Click here to read The Dark Arm of the Maker on Patreon!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Dark Arm of the Maker, fantasy, Kindle Vella, Potionmaster, writing

Morning Pages: Dragon Snacks

January 17, 2021 by Cameron Montague Taylor 19 Comments

Welcome to Morning Pages — it’s time for a monthly roundup. I hope you’ve got your pencils sharpened and ready to write. Wanna join in on the fun? Read the prompt, set your timer* and get ready to let the words flow. Feel free to post the results of your work in the comments below where we chat about writing and (if the mood strikes us) get a craft discussion going.

If you want critique from other commenters, use #YESTHANKS in your comment. Otherwise, you can tell us about the flash fic and the process you went through to write it. And of course, I’m always open to hear what you think about my excerpts!

*you can write for as long as you want, but most folks choose 15-30 minutes.

Things I learned this month: This is has been the month of training my brain away from epics to write shorter-form fiction. I’ve been somewhat successful, but I certainly wouldn’t say I’m comfortable with flash fiction yet. I struggled with the format I used, wherein I set a timer and wouldn’t let myself write past the ‘ding’ at the end of the session. Eventually, I got to a point where the stress of the impending timer locked me up too much, so I gave myself permission to set aside 5-10 minutes to clean up and finish the piece later in the day.

I’m well aware that 5-10 minutes of edits aren’t nearly enough to deliver a polished piece of flash fiction; these are exercises and one-offs, and that’s what most of them will stay. But a little extra leeway has helped them serve their purpose. Morning Pages are about jumpstarting creativity, and for that, they get the job done.

My favorite discovery of the month has been how fun it is to pants ideas again. I’m a plotter by nature and work off tight outlines for my long-form fiction. Throwing words at the wall to see what sticks makes me nervous, but the outcomes have been a fun and interesting departure from the weeks (months, years) I spend kicking ideas around for my other works. The structure is a disaster, but the ideas flow free and easy.

I couldn’t write this way all the time. If I did, I’d spend most of my time doing enormous overhaul revisions and rewrites. (Yes, I’m aware this is how many pantsers operate. Power to you if this system works, but I need structure to get a functional story on the paper.) For small-scale flash fic, though? Bring on the pants; it’s time to play in a sandbox of new ideas.

The Prompts:

“That’s the part tales don’t mention: how the hero, forever changed by his journey, can never fit into normal society again.”

“Journeys”: A post-canon short in the Oceana ‘verse

“Can you cook a dragon?”

“Dragon Snacks”: Neveshir from Dark Arm of the Maker deals with a troublesome student

“Lock”

Two characters from the Blight universe attempt to pick a lock

“The old gods are dead.”

Who’s left behind when all the gods are gone?

“Twilight”

A character exploration for an upcoming novel.

“Dawn”

Red sky at dawn, sailors be warned.

“Key”

Neveshir is having yet another bad day.

“I haven’t slept properly in seven years.”

A narrative joke in the Oceana ‘verse.

Picture Prompts

“Starspinner“: A young boy has a beautiful but dangerous power

A hunter watches the fierce green fire fade from the eyes of his prey.

Get Involved!

Answer the prompts or dive straight in and respond to others’ comments — let’s share our knowledge, our experience, and have a discussion we can all learn from! Don’t want to miss a post? Subscribe to the blog in the sidebar to get notified about new posts.

Questions

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
How do you think that impacts your revisions process?

Filed Under: Morning Pages Tagged With: fantasy, flash fiction, magic, picture prompt, writing, writing community, writing exercises, writing inspiration, writing prompts

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