short story

Three Stories + Six Days = Free Fantasy Swag

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A thousand year old sword loses its magic and a kingdom hangs in the balance…

A young prince must make a terrible choice to stop a war…

A band of adventurers faces death and glory a mile below the ground…

Escape this world for a short time with three tales of high fantasy—Sword of Kings, Assassin, and Seven Into the Bleak—all FREE over the next week on Amazon, starting tomorrow, June 21.

To get the word out about my stories and provide some micro-therapy sessions for those in need, I’m holding a cascading sale where each of the three titles is free for two days:

June 21 – 22       Sword of Kings
June 23 – 24       Assassin
June 25 – 26       Seven Into the Bleak

My only request: if you like what you’ve read and I managed to take you away from the cares of this dimension for even a short time, please consider writing a review and sharing the story with one other person.

I’ll even make it easy for you: on the opening day of each sale, I’ll post the links to all of the review sites for that story. Your support is hugely appreciated!

Mark your calendars and happy reading!

Fantasy short, Seven Into the Bleak, is out

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I’m happy to announce that my third fantasy short story, Seven Into the Bleak, is now available on Amazon.com. If you enjoy your fantasy thoughtful, tense, and meaningful, you’ll enjoy this tale. Just $.99!

Seven is 8,000 words long, or about 30 paperback pages. It includes an Author’s Notes section on the how and why of the story as well as an excerpt from Sword of Kings, one of the other three fantasy shorts I have available.

Synopsis
A band of companions—each with his or her own reasons—delves deep into the heart of the Bleak, the infamous and horrifying cavern world miles beneath their own. But their dreams of a quick journey fade into black when their way home is cut off.

Tavern songs dwell on heroes returning laden with loot, fame, and glory, but rarely do they talk of the fear, and loneliness, and misery of life in the World Under the World. The group of seven is hard-pressed to simply survive—both from struggles within and without–and there will be no song to sing of the companions if they succumb to the horrors of The Bleak.

Many thanks to blog-follower Woelf, who beta-read Seven and provided several great comments and suggestions for improving the piece. If you do happen to pick up a copy, please drop by and let me know what you thought of it!

Featured Today on Scarlett Archer’s “1001 First Lines”

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I’m excited to be today’s featured interview on Scarlett Archer’s great blog, 1001 First Lines.

Scarlett’s questions about the importance of first lines–and some of the lemons I’ve both read and written–were a lot of fun to answer. It’s a pleasure to just talk about craft sometimes!

Check it out if you have a few minutes and see if you agree with my views on what some people think are the most precious words in a book.

1001 First Lines: http://1001firstlines.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/first-lines-interview-with-author-matthew-iden/

Fantasy short story Assassin is free on Amazon

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My short story Assassin is free on Amazon today and tomorrow (3/24 – 3/24). Please avail yourself of the offer and grab it at http://www.amazon.com/Assassin-ebook/dp/B007JJSMTQ/.

Synopsis
For almost twenty years, war has raged between the mountain kingdom of Thrace and the sea-faring land of Andal, exhausting both nations. Prince Lowan, the educated and debonair second son of the King of Thrace, has arrived to make peace with his father’s enemies. But the price Andal requires for peace is high–too high–and Lowan knows there are many ways to influence a nation at war.

Assassin is an original fantasy short story of 4,200 words, or about 17 paperback pages. It includes a Story Notes section, outlining the background and thought process behind the writing as well as an excerpt from Matthew Iden’s fantasy short story Sword of Kings.

Click for larger image.

If you are kind enough to download it, please consider telling your friends by clicking on the “Share this item” button on Amazon (example on right). It would be a huge help!

I’ve included an excerpt after the break.

Need your help! Book cover

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I need some help in designing the cover for a new fantasy short story titled Assassin. I’ve been tinkering with two designs for a few days and could use your comments to give me some direction.

The covers need to be provocative enough to get people interested as well as hold up fairly well when shrunk to thumbnail (111px x 78px) size on the various book sites. And, naturally, I want them to look good when they’re at their full size (823×576). The two sizes can’t be different images, fyi…the thumbnail is always the shrunken-head version of the full cover.

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