Nonfiction
Starting Out as an Indie Author
Have you written your first book and are considering self-publishing? Perhaps you have started looking into the possibility and are feeling overwhelmed by all the options, all the things you need to do and learn in order to become an indie author? Or maybe you aren’t even sure yet whether self-publishing is for you or not, and you want to find out more of what is involved before you decide.
STARTING OUT AS AN INDIE AUTHOR was written for beginning self-publishers and covers the basics on where to sell your books, formatting for eBook and print, and developing marketing strategies. It includes a number of step-by-step instructions for everything from cover design, to setting up eBooks for various distributors, to creating ads with Facebook and Amazon Marketing Services. In addition, there is advice on any number of topics: eBook pricing, using distributors, how much to spend on self-publishing, and writing blurbs for your books.
With this sanity-saving book as a guide, you will have a much better grasp on what is involved in self-publishing and will be able to approach the task realistically and with eyes wide open.
Available on Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple, and Google Play
The Pendragon Chronicles
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur
For the price of a truce, Yseult is sent to a world where magic is dying – to marry the father of the man she loves. Marcus’s son Drystan would have saved her from a loveless marriage, but with her relatives being held hostage, Yseult cannot endanger them and must go through with the wedding. The tragic love story of Yseult and Drystan plays out against the backdrop of a violent world threatening to descend into the Dark Ages – only Arthur’s battles to push back the Saxon hordes can save what is left of civilization.
Yseult is a retelling of the tragic tale of Tristan and Isolde, a story older than Romeo and Juliet or Lancelot and Guinevere; an Arthurian romance with roots going back far into the realm of legend and the undying tales of King Arthur.
Available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, and iTunes, as well as in paperback.
If you want to try before you buy, you can get the first book of Yseult FREE! Amazon, Kobo, B&N, iTunes.
For over ten years, there has been peace in Britain after Arthur and his warriors soundly defeated the Saxons at the battle of Caer Baddon. But sometimes peace is deceptive …
After a series of hard winters and famine, an alliance of dissatisfied northern kings attack the rich cities of Southern Britain. But in the years of peace, Arthur’s army has grown soft; jealousies and trivialities rip once strong alliances apart. Cador, who is mockingly referred to as “farmer king,” must go to war again. The threat to their way of life throws him together with Yseult, the woman he has secretly loved since he was a youth.
But can their politically expedient marriage help bring peace to Britain again? Or will it only lead to further conflict? As betrayals both real and imagined shake the foundations of former British unity, Cador and Yseult must try to negotiate their own personal peace. Who will survive the upheavals to come? Will Britain rally once more behind a common leader to fight off the common threat?
Available on Amazon, B&N, Kobo, and Apple, as well as in paperback.
Gawain and Ragnell – FREE
Gawain was not only Arthur’s champion, he was the champion of the ladies as well. He loved many women, but none too much — until one of his lovers told him she intended to marry another man.
Now, a year later, he is running away from his disappointment, traveling north to fight against a mysterious warrior who has taken the hill-fort of the lady Ragnell.
But there is a mystery to Ragnell too, the beauty with the ravaged face. And Gawain learns he must solve both mysteries, that of the warrior and that of the lady …
Note: Gawain and Ragnell is an expanded version of an episode in Shadow of Stone, so readers who have read the second novel of the Pendargon Chronicles will already be familiar with the story. The ebook includes an excerpt from the first book in the series, Yseult.
Available FREE on Amazon, iBookstore, Kobo and B&N.
Other novels:
Chameleon in a Mirror: A Time Travel Novel
Take:
– one graduate student who wants to change history;
– one dead — and now forgotten — playwright who did change history;
– the colorful and turbulent times of the English Restoration;
– one magic mirror.
Mix thoroughly, and you have a Chameleon in a Mirror.
Billie Armstrong has long wanted to give Aphra Behn, the first professional woman writer in English, the prominence she deserves. But when Billie accidentally activates the magical properties of a baroque mirror, propelling herself into the seventeenth century, she gets more than she bargained for. What develops is an unwilling masquerade, a tale of license, love and literature, as Billie does her best to survive in a strange era and ensure Aphra’s literary survival in the future.
Available on Amazon.
Looking Through Lace Series
As the only woman on the first contact team, xenolinguist Toni Donato expected her assignment on Christmas would be to analyze the secret women’s language — but then the chief linguist begins to sabotage her work. What is behind it? Why do the men and women have separate languages in the first place? What Toni learns turns everything she thought they knew on its head.
Originally published in Asimov’s in 2003, “Looking Through Lace” was a finalist for the Tiptree and Sturgeon awards. The Italian translation won the Premio Italia for best work of speculative fiction in translation in 2007.
Available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, and iTunes, as well as in paperback.
Beyond the Waters of the World
On the planet Kailazh, the challenges confronting the Allied Interstellar Community first contact team far exceed the norm. Yet if dealing with an alien culture is inevitably problematic for explorers setting foot on an unfamiliar world, how much more so must it be for the inhabitants of the planet themselves, who must deal with bizarre realities that collide head-on with their core beliefs?
Kislan is a factor in his family’s shipping company, a man who has seen countless ships dock at his home port of Edaru from many different cities, a man who deals daily with foreign goods from around the known world. But the ship that arrives from the stars brings more than exotic innovations, it brings ideas that will reshape his life.
And it brings the beautiful ambassador from the stars, Toni Donato.
Available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, and iTunes.
Short Story Collections
The Future, Imperfect: Six Dystopian Short Stories
A collection of near future, dystopian short stories by Ruth Nestvold. Environmental changes — slow in some regions, catastrophic in others — have had a major effect on our world, not for the better. While water wars and pandemics have devastated the Mediterranean region, and a major earthquake and the resulting destruction of nuclear power plants and sensitive research facilities have made much of California a wasteland, corporate-sponsored enclaves defend themselves from the have-nots. What can any one individual do to make a difference is such a world? These are the stories both of those who tried and those who failed.
Five of the short stories in this collection were previously published in such venues as Asimov’s and Futurismic. “Exit Without Saving” also appeared in Rich Horton’s Science Fiction 2007: The Best of the Year. “Killfile” is an original publication.
Available on Amazon.
“From Earth to Mars and Beyond” is a collection of eight previously published science fiction stories by award-winning author Ruth Nestvold. But reader be warned: these stories of galactic empires, space exploration and first contact tend to be on the dark side and do not depict an ideal future world. Here a selection:
“The Far Side of the Moon” – Women from all over the world have been “recruited” into service on the habitat Volva, where they unwillingly cater to men’s pleasure. But the Volva is outside all global jurisdiction — and none of the women will ever retire …
“Troy and the Aliens” – When the first aliens make contact with Earth, they do not land in the U.S.; they land in Stuttgart, Germany. The President sends his aide Troy Jackson to figure our why. What ensues involves beer tents and driving fast on the Autobahn, but it doesn’t exactly end as the President ordered.
“Rainmakers” – Rekaya is sent as ambassador to Chepanaek, in order to try and negotiate peace between the planet’s native population and the colonists of the Allied Interstellar Community. The task seems impossible, and Rekaya doubts she is the right person for the job. But soon she begins to feel an affinity for the planet that she cannot explain.
Enjoy the interstellar darkness!
Available on Amazon, iBookstore, B&N, and Kobo.
A collection of four previously published fantasy tales by Ruth Nestvold: “Dragon Time,” “Wooing Ai Kyarem,” “To Act the Witch,” and “Princes and Priscilla.”
Dragon Time: In Unterdrachenberg, time has stopped. After the death of his queen, the dragon king is mad with grief. Only a human woman can enter the dragon’s lair to fix time — a magic that is forbidden to women. Katja is the grand-daughter of a clockmaker, and she has watched her grandfather work with time for many years. But can she fix it on her own? More importantly, is she brave enough to try?
Available on Amazon.
Never Ever After: Three Short Stories
“Happily Ever Awhile”: Everyone knows the story of the filthy girl who married the prince by not bleeding into a glass slipper. But what happened to Ellie after the happy ending?
“King Orfeigh”: A young Irish king has lost his wife to the king of Faerie. Is there any way he can win her back?
“A Serca Tale” is a retelling of the old Irish legend “The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne.”
Never Ever After is a collection of three previously published short stories, approximately 9000 words.
Available for 99c on the iBookstore, Kobo, Smashwords, Amazon and B&N.
Almost All the Way Home From the Stars (With Jay Lake)
“Almost All the Way Home From the Stars” contains seven science fiction short stories by award winning writers Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold. The settings range from distant worlds, to the near future, to an alternate US where slavery was never abolished. Here a sampling:
“Rivers of Eden”: In a world transformed by a virus affecting faith, one lone scientist wants to set loose a cure for fanaticism.
“The Big Ice”: On Hutchinson’s World, Vega and Mox are trying to unravel the mystery of the Big Ice — until the family responsibilities Vega has been trying to escape come back to haunt her.
“The Canadian Who Came Almost All the Way Home From the Stars”: An NSA agent is assigned to look after a Canadian scientist whose husband has left Earth to visit the stars — and the strange dimple in the lake that she is watching, while waiting for his return.
Five of the stories have been previously published elsewhere, in various online and print markets, including Gardner Dozois’ Year’s Best Science Fiction. Two stories are new with this collection.
Available on Amazon, iBookstore, Kobo and B&N, as well as in paperback.
Tales from Far Beyond North
In the Middle of Nowhere with Company
Jordyn has brought the birds of sorrow with her to Rolynka, Alaska, where she hopes to start over after a tragic accident.
But in Rolynka, nothing is quite the way it seems, and the help of neighbors takes very strange forms.
“In the Middle of Nowhere with Company” is a short story of about 5000 words, or 20 pages. It is the first in the series “Tales From Far Beyond North.”
Available on Amazon.
So you think magic isn’t necessary in order to leave? Think again …
Victoria Askew doesn’t want to leave remote Rolynka, Alaska when she finishes high school; it’s all she’s ever known. At least, not until her mother knits her the most beautiful sweater she’s ever seen, a sweater imbued with magic — a leaving sweater.
“The Leaving Sweater” is a magic realist short story of about 2500 words or 10 pages. It was originally published in Strange Horizons in 2007.
Available on Amazon and B&N for 99 cents; FREE on Kobo and iTunes.
Misty and the Magic Pumpkin Knife
Misty Mankin hated Halloween. She hated ghosts and princesses and black and orange. Especially orange. She hated frozen pumpkin pie, the most common kind in Rolynka, Alaska. She hated witches and masks and what qualified as seasonal office parties near the Arctic Circle. She hated all the interruptions of her evening accompanied by screaming and giggling and variations from innocent to profane on the three words “trick or treat.”
She particularly hated the pumpkin knife — and the fact that it contained the ghost of her mother…
“Misty and the Magic Pumpkin Knife” is a short story of approximately 5,000 words (20 pages), a new installment in the series “Tales From Far Beyond North.”
Available on Amazon.
FREE ebooks!
Red Planet Adventures provides customized tours on Mars. Naturally, they have been optimized for safety. Soon, satellite coverage on the planet will even reach 100%! But what happens in the meantime … ?
“Mars: A Traveler’s Guide” was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in January 2008. It was nominated for the Nebula Award in 2009.
“Ruth Nestvold’s clever story “Mars: A Traveler’s Guide” is simply wonderful. Written as a series of encyclopedia entries being accessed by someone unseen, it explains the workings of the planetary world on which it takes place, but also slowly reveals the compelling story of the person accessing it. Brilliant.” (Five Stars)
John DeNardo in SF Signal
Available FREE on B&N, Smashwords and Kobo.
Gawain and Ragnell – FREE
Gawain was not only Arthur’s champion, he was the champion of the ladies as well. He loved many women, but none too much — until one of his lovers told him she intended to marry another man.
Now, a year later, he is running away from his disappointment, traveling north to fight against a mysterious warrior who has taken the hill-fort of the lady Ragnell.
But there is a mystery to Ragnell too, the beauty with the ravaged face. And Gawain learns he must solve both mysteries, that of the warrior and that of the lady …
Note: Gawain and Ragnell is an expanded version of an episode in Shadow of Stone, so readers who have read the second novel of the Pendargon Chronicles will already be familiar with the story. The ebook includes an excerpt from the first book in the series, Yseult.
Available FREE on Amazon, iBookstore, Kobo and B&N.
Ruth Nestvold - Indie Adventures 
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