Gentle Reminder

Today’s the day (I bet you forgot, so here’s the reminder)
 

Come on over and choose from more than 150 eBooks in the Genres Fantasy and SciFi. Remember that my YA Fantasy Romance novel, “Juma’s Rain“, is on sale too.
 

cheap is not cheap

as in “inferior”. That’s why I finally took a jump and joined Patty Jansen for her monthly SciFi and Fantasy Book promotion.
 

This time, more than 150 authors signed up their books. I decided to reduce the price of “Juma’s Rain” for the occasion. It will drop from $4.99 to $0.99 on those two days. All you need to do is go to amazon and get your copy. You’ll find find my eBook and 150+ others participating in Patty Jansen’s SciFi and Fantasy promo on the 7th and 8th of May.

So if you’ve been wanting to read the book, this is your chance to get it cheap. It’ll never be cheaper than that. And in case you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s more information on “Juma’s Rain.”

A Fantasy Romance novel set in Stone Age Africa

“An enjoyable fantasy with a complex heroine set in an unusual time period. Especially enjoyable are the complexity of the matriarchal society and the intricacies of the world of the gods. Gerlach’s prose has a mythical feel as it moves effortlessly between the real and spirit realms.” – Kirkus Review

The sun’s rays parch Juma as she leads her all male family toward the main village. Nothing and no one will stop her from becoming the chieftess’ apprentice. So she ignores the heat. Everything will be better near the lake. But the fields that should sprout green by now lie bare, with precious soil cracked and dry. Even the lake, thought to be everlasting, dwindles.

Juma discovers that heat dæmon Mubuntu is out of control and that the rain goddess is still sleeping. But only Netinu, the chieftess’ son, believes her, and he seems more interested in courting her than in the welfare of the tribe.

With her dreams going up in flames, Juma prepares to battle the dæmon and wake the goddess – and maybe, in the process, prove herself worthy of becoming chieftess.

The eBook also contains the novella “The Rain Maiden” by Theodor Storm

The promotion is scheduled for the 7th and 8th of May only. The price will drop from $4.99 to $0.99 on those two days and go back up right after. So if you want the book cheap, head over to amazon on the 7th and 8th of May and grab your copy. You’ll find more books in the promo on Patty Jansen’s promo hub.

Storytime Bloghop April 2016

Yes, it’s that time again. Remember that my story will only be up for a limited time (let’s say until May 2nd). So if you want to read it, hurry up. 😀

There are many more participants in this bloghop who are listed at the end of the story. Make sure you check out their stories too. Now, have fun:

Wet Kisses

The coarse fabric of the chaise longue itches under my fingers as I lay there with my eyes closed. Why do I have to lie anyway? It isn’t as if I’m ill or so … (a little while ago the rest of the story was still here. Yoon you’ll be able to get it as an eBook)

Remember that here are more stories for you to read:

Marie Lee Grandpa
Barbara Lund Changing Space
Juneta Key Instinct
Elizabeth McCleary Window
Karen Lynn Williams

P.S.:
I’ve got a promotion scheduled for “Juma’s Rain” (a YA Fantasy Romance) on the 7th and 8th of May. The price will drop from $4.99 to $0.99 those days. You can’t have it cheaper than that. So bookmark this link where you’ll find my eBook and 150+ on the 7th and 8th of May.

after Leipzig is before Leipzig

The booth of my fellow Qindie authors and me at the Leipzig Book Fair was very successful. We ran out of most advertising materials shortly after lunch on Sunday. Everyone, even my daughter who had only come as a visitor, distributed enthusiastically, and most people we talked to were happy to take our material. Naturally we’re going to repeat the experience in 2017 if we can gather enough money for that.

Like last year, I will post photos of Cosplayers I took at the fair. But I can’t start before April 15th since I’ll be in a health resort with my kids for the next 3 weeks, and they don’t have Internet access. Sorry. Until then …

Merry Christmas everyone

This is the time of the year where I usually spend less time writing and more time doing Christmas-y things with the kids. This year, we made gingerbread houses (although there’s no ginger involved). They had a lot of fun, and I thought you might enjoy the sight too.

Here’s my middle daughter’s house:

Here’s my youngest daughter’s house:

And this is mine:

They were a little tricky to photograph since I wanted the pictures to have the right mood for the season. Using the flash made them look like sample pictures from a cookbook.

Merry Christmas to all of you from Cat!

Advent Calendar

Our annual Indie Authors Advent Calendar is already running. The doors will remain open until Christmas so you can go and read all the great stories in one go (meaning I’m truly sorry for letting you know this late). This year’s theme is Flash fiction, and except for two epic fantasy writers all authors complied. It’s a great way to get into the right mood for Christmas, so join us. And while you’re enjoying the season, let “my” Minions show you how you should feel. 😀

Better late than never

I know, I should be posting more often again, especially since the summer is over. Strangely enough, time seems to have accelerated and, after an initial lag I’m whizzing along (like in those newer Star Trek movies where the light of the power-units expands while the Enterprise seems to be stuck in one place for a second before it zooms away with warp-speed). Not that I like it, mind, but there are so many things I didn’t get done in the summer (due to the heatwave and a couple of personal catastrophes), that the mountain of work barely shrinks.

Still, I just discovered that I completely and utterly forgot to let you know about my upcoming release of “Juma’s Rain” (you might remember the posts I did about the NOK-culture and Stone Age tools and weapons). I’m currently in the process of coding the eBook and print book and will hopefully be able to post the link to the pre-order page some time soon. For now, I’ll share with you the gorgeous cover, Hendry Iwanaga made for me (well, he drew the picture, I did the fonts etc.):

eBook cover

And this will be the full cover, front and back, for the print version:

wrap around print cover

Oh, and I’m currently releasing another 99ct short-story too. It’s about a gen-designed newt-human who has to escape two hunters. Here’s the cover and the blurb for “Newtling“:

I love my webbed fingers and my ability to stay under water for a long time…
I don’t mind that my backside is blue with brownish dots and my belly bright orange…
Neither do I care that me and my family are much smaller than our creator though we share his genes…
But what I do hate is being hunted … especially since I’m unarmed and running through the local swamp. Can a newtling like me outsmart two hunters and their state-of-the-art hunting gear?

This short story takes you into the mind of a genetically engineered newt-human-crossover and lets you witness his struggle to survive.

15 page short story with an XXL reading sample of “Paralan’s Children”, a YA scifi murder mystery.

Something cool after this heat-wave :D

I asked my friend Thea van Diepen from Canada to tell me about a weird place she read in. This is her reply. Have fun.

Why You Should Read at Hockey Games by Thea van Diepen

Canadian Minion?

Canadians are supposed to love hockey. When we attend hockey games, we’re supposed to cheer on a team or an individual with vim and vigour, especially when we’re in another country. They must know we are not American Canadian, after all. What we’re not supposed to do during a hockey game is read a book.

When I was about eleven, in the middle of my family’s three years in Alabama, we found out about a hockey game happening in town. So my parents bought tickets.

At the time, I was busy working my way through all of the science fiction and fantasy books our local library had in its MG/YA section. I’d take out as many as I was allowed at a time (aka, a lot) and read them all in a couple days. The book I was in the middle of when the hockey game even occurred was Colors in the Dreamweaver’s Loom by Beth Hilgartner, which had me fascinated. So fascinated that, book lover as I am, I brought it with me to the game despite lingering guilt.

It’s hard to explain to someone who isn’t Canadian exactly how… Canadian hockey is. Tim Horton’s, the coffee and doughnuts chain that has also been a Canadian Thing, was started by a hockey player and its ads and commercials would feature kids playing hockey. It’s our official winter sport. It’s all over TV and social media when the season hits, during draft picks, whenever anyone might have the slightest excuse to mention it. And, yes, it was invented in Canada, no matter what anyone else might say.

*cough*

Still, I am not a hockey person. Shocking, I know.

I would have not gone to the game at all, if possible, but my parents cajoled me.

“There are a bunch of Canadian players on both teams,” they said.

Which, as far as cajoling goes, worked. Moving to another country had been hard for me, and I was determined not to lose my Canadianness while there. Maybe it’d be interesting enough that I wouldn’t have to read to relieve boredom.

We went in, found our seats, and commented about how we never thought we’d find a real ice rink in Alabama. I’m not sure how much of this I joined in, as I opened my book as soon as I possibly could. And, swoosh, I was sucked right into the story. Hockey didn’t even stand a chance.

Outside of the world of the book and Zan’s adventures in an alternate world, hockey players made goals. Half-time happened. Canadians did cool things on the ice. Other vague events occurred.

Inside the book, I travelled with Zan as she both dealt with grief after her father’s death and tried to find a way to help the Orathi keep their land from being taken. There were shapeshifters, spirit-gifts, gods, and the Dreamweaver doing her best to help using a loom that can affect the actions and choices of others. With the last being the coolest world detail ever. There were characters that I loved and connected with. I wanted them to succeed. I wanted them to find happiness.

(And then there was the ending, but I won’t spoil that one for you. Just, if you do decide to read it, keep in mind that there’s a sequel… the author doesn’t hate you, promise.)

Even in the action and excitement around me, it all paled next to the book that had me riveted.

It’s easy to read a book and enjoy it when life is calm and you sit in a pleasant garden by yourself on a warm day.

But, from time to time, you may want to try reading a book during a hockey game. That’s when you know you have magic in your hands.
When have you been sucked into a story this way? What book was it?

Storytime Bloghop: Canned Food

Welcome to our little Bloghop. Here, you’ll find 15 participating blogs (find the links under this story) who posted one story today. The stories will be available for one week only. So make sure you’ll read them fast! Enjoy.

I’ll leave this post online until the 9th of September. After that, I’ll be cutting it down to the beginning. I’ll leave the links though.

Canned Food

© Katharina Gerlach

“You will not eat my son!” When Mother roared at Elder, I knew the tribe didn’t want me. I was too small. I mean, Mother wasn’t very big either. The tips of her wings barely reached the shoulder blades of a red-deer, but at least she wasn’t disabled. She hovered in the air in front of Elder and spat tiny flames at him.

“He wouldn’t make a good sized snack even if I top him off with a wild boar,” Elder roared back.

“He’s a true dragon.” Mother’s voice shook with anger, and I feared she’d attack him in her rage. She wouldn’t stand a chance. After all, he was at least three times her age and thus three times her size as well. I lowered my head and crawled toward the cave’s exit avoiding the rest of the tribe as best I could.

“What do you expect,” a matron said. “His father’s a wyrm.” She swiped her tail out of my way as if I were contagious. With a sigh, I returned to the nest waiting for the tribe’s verdict. I no longer thought Mother would be successful, and everybody knew what happened to those fledglings who didn’t get accepted. It was either the cookfires or the lizards. I really, really hoped for the cookfires. At least death would be quick then.

… this story will be published in December in time fro Christmas with a second story about a dragon. If you want to be notified about the release, join my reader team.

14 More Stories:

Rabia Gale: Spark
K. A. Petentler: The Twisted Tale of Isabel
Shana Blueming: Paper & Glue
Amy Keeley: To Be Prepared For Chocolate
Cherie “Jade” Arbuckle: After I Died
Karen Lynn: The Family Book
Angela Wooldridge: An Alternative to Frog
Thea van Diepen: Are You Sure It’s That Way?
Paula de Carvalho: Body Double
Kris Bowser: Tantrums
Virginia McClain: Rakko’s Storm
Grace Robinette: Georg Grembl
Elizabeth McCleary: The Door
Dale Cozort: Two Letters In A Fireproof Box

Help needed for a German title

If you’ve got a German Amazon account, I need your help. With my newest release (in German, the English version will follow in September) I’m participating in Amazon’s German Storyteller Award. To get through the first round, I’ll need as many downloads as I can get. So I set the introductory price at 99ct (Euro). If you’ve got a German Amazon account, please buy the book. Here are the details:

Ein Fantasy Liebesroman aus dem steinzeitlichen Afrika

Die Sonne brennt auf Juma hernieder, als sie ihre Familie zum größten Dorf des Stammes führt. Nichts und niemand soll sie daran hindern, Schülerin der Stammesführerin zu werden. Also ignoriert sie die Hitze. Am See wird alles besser sein. Doch die Felder, die jetzt eigentlich grünen sollten, liegen trocken vor ihr; die Erde ist rissig und spröde. Sogar der See, dessen Quellen endlos schienen, schwindet langsam.

Juma entdeckt, dass der Feuergott Mubuntu daran Schuld hat und dass die Regengöttin immer noch schläft. Doch nur Netinu, der Sohn der Stammesführerin glaubt ihr und scheint mehr Interesse daran zu haben, sie zu umwerben, als dem Stamm zu helfen. Dazu kommt, dass ihr magisches Talent sie dazu verdammt, Schülerin der Dorfzauberin zu werden. Es ist schwer, die Schadenfreude ihrer Rivalin zu verdrängen. Noch schwerer ist es, Netinu’s Werbung abzuweisen, denn Jumas Herz hat sich längst entschieden. Um den Stamm und Netinu zu retten, versucht sie alles, um der Dorfzauberin zu helfen, die Regengöttin zu wecken. Vergeblich.

Während ihre Träume in Flammen aufgehen, bereitet sich Juma darauf vor, gegen den Feuergott zu kämpfen und die Göttin zu wecken – und vielleicht, um zu beweisen, dass sie die richtige Wahl für eine Nachfolgerin der Stammesführerin wäre.

Thank you for your support!

P.S.: If you can read German and post a review in the 4 weeks after buying this book, send me your receipt and I’ll refund your money.