Wednesday 30 January 2013

Paperbacks NOW available from Createspace


Dark Heart Volume One. 
PAPERBACK $11.99


The proofs have come, final edits have been made and the paperback is looking totally gorgeous. You can grab your copy today from Createspace for $11.99. 

Paperbacks will be available via Amazon next Wednesday - if you can wait that long. 


N.B I've really enjoyed reading them all over again in the paperback. I love my kindle, but you can't beat the feel of a beautifully produced paperback.

Kate x

Tuesday 29 January 2013

Night Shade: An anthology of Adult horror & ghost stories.

OPEN SUBMISSION from FEB 20th

Calling all writers of horror and creepy stuff! Little Bird Publishing will be launching it's anthology 'Night Shade' in the Summer of 2013. It is the bigger, badder, darker big sister to 'Dark Heart' (The YA anthology we released earlier this year.)


THEME: 
The Theme is BONES & REMAINS although this theme is intended to inspire rather than restrict. You are welcome to take these words in any direction you wish.

Night Shade will comprise of seven / eight short stories and is designed to be a showcase for indie and small press authors.

REMITTANCE: 
Although we are not currently in a position to pay you for your story in money, the idea of Dark Heart & Night Shade is that they are a platform to market your work and connect with readers. It is also an opportunity to hook up with fellow authors and engage in cross promotion. We will continually support your marketing, offering you slots on our blog, placing you on our LBPH website, offering tweets and shoutouts via Twitter and promoting you on Facebook. We will continue to support as you release new works.

Of course, you also get to say that you have had a short story 'published' by us which all adds to your writer's C.V.

PRICING POLICY: 
After initially being on sale for $2.99 for a couple of months until all costs are covered, the anthology will be part of the Amazon KDP select program and will be offered for Free for a five day period (During which time we will co-ordinate a big push) Once this has finished, it will be on sale for $0.99 and any profits raised after this time will go to a charity voted for by the contributors.

Widgets will be placed on the blog that will track the funds we have raised.

PAPERBACKS & e-BOOKS: 
We will also be producing a paperback which will be available to purchase from us at cost. We will be using the paperbacks mainly for swag. Any profits from the paperback after costs will go into the charity pot. We will use some of the money to fund the swag, postage and marketing of the anthology.

SUBMISSION:
Submission gates will open on FEB 20th 2013.
Works should be between 5,000 and 10,000 words.
Poetry will be considered.

Please top your MS with your name, your postal address, your e-mail address and your social networking links.

Please ensure that MS are formatted in the following way:
Page size:  A4
Font: Times New Roman or Garamond
Size:  12
Spacing: 1 and 1/2
Paragraph style:  U.K traditional indentation
PLEASE USE RULERS for Indentation of dialogue and paragraph rather than space bar.
Please ensure that work has been through a grammar and spell check.

OTHER NOTES: 
You will maintain copyright and intellectual property of your story. (We are just borrowing it)
You will be required to sign a release form so that we have proof you are happy for us to use it infinitum.
You CAN submit previously published stories as long as you own the copyright.
Traditional ghost stories and dark fairy tales are also welcome.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES: 
We're pretty open minded her at LBPH but at the same time we don't wish to publish erotica or extreme gore-fests.

SEX:
Sex scenes in context are acceptable, although gratuitously explicit scenes which involve extreme  violence / sado-masochism will not be accepted. If there are themes of sexual abuse or rape, then we request that you deal with the issue sensitively and justly in a mainstream fashion. We understand that sexual undertones or motivations are part of horror and will accept them within limits.

VIOLENCE:
Obviously violence or implied violence are part of most horror. Again, we are not prudish but please ensure that the violence is not gratuitous or there just for the shock value.

As touchstone guidance works in the style of Poe, Lovecraft, King, Koontz etc.

SEND TO:
Please send your submission to Kitty Rackham on this e-mail address littlebirdpublishinghouse@yahoo.com

We look forward to reading your tales.

Kindness,
Katie and Kitty.






We're available

Dark Heart Volume One is now available in e-book on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. We are delighted that in the first few days of release, it is charging up the U.S charts and it won't be long before we have covered all our costs and can start our charity fund raising total.

There have been some minor delays with the print edition of the book due to some last minute niggles, but we are pleased to say that it won't be long before the paperback is available (middle of Feb) and we will be giving away a copy on this blog.

It has been an absolute pleasure to work with all of our talented writers and we just know that you are going to find some new favourites. With each of our writers working on exciting new projects, we shall be updating you here with news of their releases and links to their books.

Kate & Kitty x

Saturday 26 January 2013

Introducing you to ... Tammy Basic

In our final post introducing you to our fabulous 'Dark Heart' authors, it is our great pleasure to introduce you to Tammy. Tammy's contribution to the anthology is 'Wicked Games', a story of betrayal and love, of healing old wounds ... oh, and kicking some proverbial ass.

 As you know if you have read our previous posts about the anthology, we were lucky enough to receive over sixty submissions for the anthology, and each one of them strong in their own way. We chose the seven stories that we felt offered the broadest range of styles and reader experience. As Little Bird Publishing is all about breaking the traditional mode of publishing, we read each submission and sorted it into the various piles before reading the bio's and publishing history of the author. We did this because we believe in storytelling rather than market forces. So imagine our delighted surprise when we discovered that one of the works we had selected for the anthology was written by a sixteen year old, fledgling author. The vivid imagination of Tammy's work hit us immediately, as did her authentic voice.

 Wicked Games What would you do if you discovered your father wasn't the man you'd always thought he was? How would you handle the ultimate betrayal? These are the questions that Fae hunter, Ellie has to face. But she isn't alone. When Will enters Ellie's life in a rather startling manner, she finds the most unlikely ally.


About

Tamara Bašić lives in Zagreb, Croatia, where she spends her free time writing, reading, and speaking of herself in third person. Being sixteen, most of her time goes on schoolwork, but whenever she can, she gets her pen and notebook and scribbles tales of good versus evil, often writing during recess in class.
She is curretnly working on more projects than she can count on one hand, all involving adventure, hot boys and plenty of kisses.
You can find her rambling about her characters, stories, and staying up all night for the earlier mentioned, on twitter: @tamsbookramble and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tamara.ahgony

Thursday 24 January 2013

We're print ready!

So we are ready for printing! The LBPH office is literally whooping with delight. We are so proud of Volume One of 'Dark Heart' and are so excited about sharing such fantastic stories and writers with you. Putting together and anthology seems easy in principle (we certainly thought it was going to be) but we didn't quite bank on the hefty weight of responsibility you feel as an editorial team towards other writers' works. We genuinely love every single one of the stories included, and working on the stories so closely and sharing edits and ideas with our phenomenal authors has been an incredibly interesting and valued journey. 


The paperback will be available on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and will also be available on order through other high street bookstores in the U.K for $11.99 / £7.99. 

The e-book will be available as an Amazon exclusive until August the 1st when it will be available for KOBO, Nook and other e-readers. It will run on various promotions and giveaways but will be officially priced at $2.99. 

Dark Heart Volume One is not intended to be profit making publication, but any profits that are made after production and distribution costs will be going to the charity Young Minds; a charity that works on raising the profile of Young Adult mental health issues; an issue very dear to many authors of YA. 

We'll keep you updated about our promotions and post you links to the book. We still have review PDF copies available for any bloggers who would like to support Dark Heart and they should contact Kitty at littlebirdpublishinghouse@yahoo.com.  

Katie x

Sunday 20 January 2013

Introducing you to ... Laurie Lyons

In our sixth post introducing you to our 'Dark Heart' authors, it is our pleasure to introduce you to Laurie Lyons, author of the YA novel 'Feather'.

We are thrilled to be including her short story, 'The Heart Tree' in volume one of 'Dark Heart'. 'The Heart Tree' is a bewitching tale of transformation and discovery.

"To make matters worse, the tree had come with no paperwork, no orderly tag to add to her binder of organized tags. She had no idea when it would bloom or why or how. She didn’t know if it produced fruit or when the best, most logical time to prune it would be. It had come only with a card. A maddening, simple, useless card that read:  HEART TREE - USE WITH CAUTION. Foolishness.  Rose had never heard of a Heart Tree. When she questioned the rude delivery boy, he assured her that this was the right card for this tree and told her to simply follow the instructions.

            Instructions her foot!"

About ...

Laurie Lyons lives in Calgary Alberta, Canada with her husband trevor and their two clever children. She loves writing, reading and spending time with her friends. She has a love of plants and is never happier than when she is in her greenhouse, tending plants and thinking up new stories. Her first novel, 'Feather', published by Ring of Fire Publishing, is available on Amazon.

Feather ...

Lucy is a bright eyed, fiery redhead with a quick with and a photographic memory. On the night of the spring equinox, Lucy meets Nathaniel, a dark and mysterious man who at first appears to have amnesia. Lucy feels inexplicably drawn to Nathaniel and is amazed to discover that he is invisible to everyone but herself.
Fearing she is going insane,  or worse, losing her photographic memory, Lucy goes on a hunt for answers. What she learns turns her world upside down. 
Feather is a tale of love, the power of memories, and the struggle between right and wrong. How far would you go to save your true love's soul? 
 www.featherthenovel.com and http://ringoffirebooks.com

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Introducing you to ... Linda Foster

Welcome to our fifth post introducing you to the 'Dark Heart' authors. Today it is our great pleasure to introduce you to Linda Foster, author of the Young Adult novel,  'Soul Bound' which will be available from May 2013.

Linda's story 'Condemned' is a spooky little tale, sure to get you looking nervously over your shoulder.

Ash and Grace are brother and sister and their bond runs deep. Different in almost every way, they share a deep sense of love and affection for one another. So when one of them is seriously injured, the other will do anything to save them; even if it means condemning themselves to an eternity of sorrow.

With a creepy sense that fate will track you down, the story unfolds to show you that there is no love without sacrifice and no choice without consequence.


"Ash scooped Grace off the couch, set her on her feet, and carved his way through the crowd, holding her hand tightly for fear that she might be snatched away from him at any moment. He registered the looks from some of the other guests, and knew that they’d be talking about them leaving so early, but none of that mattered now. All that mattered was that he needed to get Grace out of there. Now that they were leaving, the pressure that had been building in his head became worse. They had to get out of the house before that guy found them, or something bad was going to happen; he was sure of it."
About ...

Linda Foster was born and raised in Colorado, where she still lives with her (very patient) husband and four (very spoiled) ferrets. Linda has always been an avid reader, from the very first moment she picked up her first book. Her book addiction has grown steadily worse.
She started writing short novellas for her friends in middle school and expanded into full-length novels several years later. Soul Bound, due for release in May 2013 by Glass House Press is her first published novel.

Soul Bound: Soul Bound is due for release in May 2013 and is published by Glass House Press. It is available for pre-order in paperback or e-book at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 

Ash was just another high school student, intent on living life to the fullest, winning his next lacrosse game and making it to this weekend's party in time. 

Until he is forced to sell his soul to a demon to save his sister's life, and finds himself falling in love with one of the original fallen angels. Talk about everything falling apart int he blink of an eye. Now he's part of that fallen angel's desperate fight for freedom, and an irreplaceable cog in an angel revolution that could lead to salvation ... or the end of the world. 

Join Ash as he races through new worlds and a terrifying cast of characters in pursuit of freedom, his soul and the most important thing he's ever lost - true love. 

Visit Linda at www.linda-foster.com to connect with her personally, or follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Sunday 13 January 2013

Introducing you to ... Katie M. John

In the fourth of our 'Introducing you to...' posts, Little Bird Publishing is delighted to introduce you to Katie M. John, author of the Amazon. no 1. bestselling Fairy Tale series, 'The Knight Trilogy' and the YA Gothic paranormal detective novel, 'Beautiful Freaks.'

Katie's contribution to the 'Dark Heart' anthology is a short story called, 'Song of The Moth', a dark fairy tale set in Edwardian London. A tale of goblins, insanity and sacrifice, 'Song of The Moth' is a powerful evocation of Gothic London.

As Francis' mother desperately tries to secure her eldest daughter's hand to the lascivious and wealthy, 'Call me Teddy', Francis discovers that the heart isn't quite so easily traded. It is whilst on a visit to London's St. Paul's Cathedral that Francis catches a glimpse of a world that belongs to the insane, and plunges her into a nightmare. In this insidious, creepy little tale, Francis finds herself cursed and on the brink of of losing herself to a wicked and devious prince who has a very unhealthy appetite for the human heart.


"High in the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, a boy crouches. He is ordinary in every definable way, extraordinary in every other. Even from first glance there is something unsettling about him. And when you meet the bottomless pools of his green eyes, you shrink back into your soul and desperately search for a key that might lock out the monster in front of you. It is a sliding ugliness, the kind that only shows itself in certain lights. On the surface he is the most exquisite boy you have ever seen – so beautiful that you know immediately he is cursed.  Such beauty never comes without a price." 

About ...

Katie lives in the London suburbs.  Her time is divided between writing, teaching English to teenagers and being mummy to two daughters. She started writing seriously after the birth of her first daughter five years ago. She has gone on to have four of her YA novels published and numerous short horror and fantasy stories published by several press houses, including collections by Nexus Press and Winter Goose publishing.


She is a founding member of Little Bird Publishing House and is passionately committed to raising the profile and mass-acceptability of indie authors. 



WEBSITES LINKS. Click to go...

The Knight Trilogy   Beautiful Freaks   Katie M. John




Wednesday 9 January 2013

Introducing you to ... Bethany Rockey & Marya Heiman

This is the third of our seven posts introducing you to the authors whose stories will be published in the very first volume of 'Dark Heart'. Today it is our great pleasure to introduce you to the talented writing duo ...

Bethany Rockey & Marya Heiman
Authors of the short story 'Nightmare'

Imagine not being able to sleep without fear you might never wake; when the very closing of your eyes, opens the door to a dark and spreading shadow. Sometimes, shadows have teeth ... and they bite. 

In this tale of insidious horror, Bethany and Marya take the reader on a journey to the deepest part of the imagination and what is found there will keep even the bravest soul awake. 

Bethany and Marya have been friends and writing buddies for many years.  Their shared love of the written word brought them together and from the very start it seemed as if they had been friends since birth. Both Bethany and Marya currently fit their writing around full time jobs. Bethany is a software engineer and Mayra is a full time mummy to two wonderful boys as well as a book cover designer for Strong Image Editing.
As you read this, they are busy working away at the first book of their series, 'Bloodbound' which is due for release later in the year.





Sunday 6 January 2013

Cover Reveal for Volume One of 'Night Shade'

Over at LBPH we literally squealed with delight when we saw this cover for Volume One of our horror & ghost anthology, 'Night Shade'. The image was created by Jumping Sack and was adapted by our in-house team. (You can view more of Jumping Sack's images on www.dreamstime.com)

'Night Shade' will be out in October and is the grown-up sister of our anthology 'Dark Heart'. It is designed to showcase a range of horror and ghost stories with a slightly more adult content (although not erotica).

Submissions will open in February so start getting your pens out now. We look forward to reading your dark and twisted tales. Stay posted for submission details over at our Facebook Page.


Friday 4 January 2013

Introducing you to .... Jess Zeidler

Our second post introducing you to our Dark Heart Authors. 


Jess Zeidler
Author of Rumplestiltskin, a dark reworking of a classic fairytale.

In this imaginative and highly descriptive re-working of the classic fairy tale, Rumplestiltskin, Jess really gets beneath the skin of the 'horrid' little man and deep into his heart, showing us that redemption is open to even the worst of us.

            "Cutting into the stomach was more difficult than Rumpelstiltskin could have imagined. Through layers of matted fur, thick skin and spongy fat, Rumpelstiltskin sliced. Every now and then, he would stop to vomit. Then he heard a noise outside. Someone was approaching the cottage."


A Philadelphia native, Jessica Zeidler has been writing stories since she was strong enough to hold a pencil. Writing is what makes her life complete, which is a good thing since the rest of the time is usually spent talking to the characters in her head and staring at the rain. Currently, she lives just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where her books never collect dust. When she's not in front of her computer screen, she's reading, acting and eating cereal with a tablespoon because it makes her feel like a giant. She is at the beginning of her author journey but with short works like "Fair Trade" and "Rumplestiltskin" recently being published, it is clear that she is an emerging talent. 



Published Works: 
Short story "Fair Trade" in Limelight: A Golden Light Anthology. Chamberton Publishing 

If you can't wait to read 'Rumplestiltskin' then check out her story 'Fair Trade' in Chemberton's anthology, Limelight: A Golden Anthology, available at Amazon.com and Barnes  & Noble.

You can catch up personally with Jess on her Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/jessicabzeidler