Join my Faith-Filled, Fantastical Journey!

February 2, 2017February 1, 2017Leave a comment

I’m very excited to announce that I have started a brand new newsletter.

For those of you already getting the Weekly Fantasy Fix, no worries–I’ll still be contributing to that as usual. But some of my fans have requested a more personal, in-depth look into my world views, inspirations, and writing. And since I’m doing my own marketing, I’ll also be using it to help broaden my reach to find new readers.

My personal author newsletter is going to include things like behind-the-scenes glimpses into my world building, character spotlights, how my faith ties into my fiction, and much more. It’s going to be more interactive as well, so I can get to know my readers better. I think you’ll really like it, and I’m already enjoying putting it together!

If you don’t have a copy of Ancient Voices: Into the Depths yet, you can get it free when you subscribe. Ready to sign up? Here’s the link:
http://www.subscribepage.com/AllisonDReid

Fantasy Art Wednesday

February 1, 20173 Comments

Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing.

Take a stroll down this gorgeous path…the tile, “This Way,” pulls you right along.

I could get lost in a place like this, surrounded by breathtaking beauty, bathed in a soft, filtered sunlight that illuminates the mist around me. Perhaps it’s just me, but does anyone else smell fairy magic on the breeze? I sense that I’m being gently lured into another realm. “Come further in,” the leaves whisper. “Follow me,” fingers of mist curl and beckon. Am I being led to the heart of the fairy kingdom, or is it all just an illusion? Once I am there, will I ever be able to leave again? Will I ever want to? You decide…

“This Way” by Ninjatic

5 Qualities of a Brilliant Story by Roz Morris

January 31, 2017January 30, 20172 Comments

A thoughtful post I intend to keep in mind as I craft the third book in my series! Be sure to click the source link to read the entire thing.

I write a lot of posts about problems with book drafts. But isn’t it just as important to look at the positive? If we listed the qualities of a brilliant read, what would they be? (Plus, I think we need a feelgood post.)

So, as I sit here on Sunday morning in London with an hour to get this post out of my head and into the grey matter of the blogosphere, this is the list I’ve come up with. I hope you’ll storm your brains and join in at the end.

Here goes…

Source: 5 qualities of a brilliant story

Fantasy Art Wednesday

January 25, 2017January 25, 20172 Comments

Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing.

This beautiful image goes along well with this week’s Medieval Monday post about travel. While the carriage isn’t one from the medieval era, it’s certainly from a time long gone. A slower time, before cars and planes could quickly whisk us away to any destination of our choosing.

Instead of whizzing by this beautiful scene, with the hum of the motor vibrating, windows rolled up tight, and the radio blaring, the person in this carriage hears only the roar of the falls, the calls of birds, and the steady clip clop of horse hooves on stone. A leisurely, peaceful ride through a dreamy, majestic landscape. The horse’s head is down–there is no sense of urgency in his pace–and the rider doesn’t seem to be trying to press him on faster. Sometimes the journey matters more than the destination.

But this is still a writing prompt, so where’s the story, you ask? Today the story is the setting itself. Part of writing is world building–creating places that your readers can love, where they can escape from our world into another one for a time. When you can express places full of wonder, like this one, they remember it. They come back time and time again to visit, in their minds, if not by re-opening the pages themselves. What striking landscapes can you create with just words? What unforgettable places can you paint onto your reader’s imaginations?

“Waterfall” by Jordi Gonzalez Escamilla

Fantasy Art Wednesday

January 11, 20171 Comment

Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing.

I don’t know who made this week’s fantasy artwork, but it caught my eye. This intriguing looking place seems like the inside of a cocoon or hive rather than a forest. Is it human-sized, or tiny? The dwellings, if that’s what they are, seem extraordinarily bright. Do beings of light live here? Or at least beings with the capacity to tolerate greater levels of light than we can? What does your imagination conjure up when you look at this picture? This tangled, glowing world can be the foundation of a great story.

image-unknown

Book Review: ‘Into the Shadow Wood’ by Allison Reid

January 7, 2017January 6, 2017Leave a comment

Thanks to Lee Duigon for writing such a wonderful review of my companion novella to the Wind Rider Chronicles. Lee is an amazing author in his own right, and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying his Bell Mountain series (YA Christian Fantasy). For him to read and review my writing is a real honor! (Click the source link at the bottom to read the entire review.)

This is Book 3 of the “Wind Rider Chronicles” by Allison Reid, also known here as our esteemed colleague, “Weavingword”–and it’s a corker.

When I reviewed Book 2, Ancient Voices, last winter, I predicted that these books, already quite good, would get better as the series went on–and how about that, I was right.

To get the most out of this book, you ought to read Book 1, Journey to Aviad. That’s because Into the Shadow Wood is sort of a mini-book, a little over 40,000 words long, written to tie up some loose ends left over from Book 1. But this little book is anything but an afterthought.

These are solidly Christian books, suitable for readers 12 and up, based on a fully Trinitarian theology, and increasingly well-written. More than that, they are important books…

Source: Book Review: ‘Into the Shadow Wood’ by Allison Reid

Fantasy Art Wednesday

January 4, 2017January 3, 20176 Comments

Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing.

It’s not much fun getting caught in a downpour, especially when you’re carrying a bunch of stuff. That was me today–the minute I had to leave the house, the skies just opened up. I will admit, there was some grumbling as I, and all my belongings, got thoroughly drenched by a cold rain. This image made my soggy toes feel toasty again…and then hot, dry, dust-covered, thirsty. Very, very, thirsty. Looking at it for a while, and imagining myself there, I gained a sudden appreciation for the rain.

If a drop of rain has ever fallen in this place, there is no sign of it. Yet it seems that there was once a civilization, now buried beneath the shifting sands. Those stone fingers reaching upward, just breaking the surface, are full of longing and desperation. If they could only break free. Whom did this carved figure represent, and what else lies with him in his desert tomb?

Carrion birds seem to be following the poor person trudging along the barren landscape. How did he find himself here? Is he lost? Seeking treasure? Was he abandoned here as a form of punishment? Perhaps he found respite in the shade of those carved fingers for a while, but to stay there too long is certain death; there is no food or water to sustain him, and the birds know it. Can he make it to that rocky mountain he sees ahead? If there is anyone living in this desert, perhaps it is there–the entrance to an underground society with access to a spring. There must have been something good in this place, once up on a time, to warrant the carving of such a statue. Does that good remain, yet to be found, or is there now nothing but dust, unbearable heat, and eventual death?

desert