Post 3/11 - Guest Post (really interesting!) - The Third Daughter by Susan Kaye Quinn! #Giveaway ends on 3-14 so hurry and enter!

Third Daughter by Susan Kaye Quinn

Skyships, saber duels, and lots of royal intrigue... and, of course, kissing.

The Third Daughter of the Queen wants her birthday to arrive so she'll be free to marry for love, but rumors of a new flying weapon may force her to accept a barbarian prince's proposal for a peace-brokering marriage. Desperate to marry the charming courtesan she loves, Aniri agrees to the prince's proposal as a subterfuge in order to spy on him, find the weapon, and hopefully avoid both war and an arranged marriage to a man she does not love.

Third Daughter is the first book in the The Dharian Affairs Trilogy (Third Daughter, Second Daughter, First Daughter). This steampunk-goes-to-Bollywood (Bollypunk!) romance that takes place in an east-Indian-flavored alternate world filled with skyships, saber duels, and lots of royal intrigue. And, of course, kissing.

From the author of the bestselling Mindjack Trilogy, The Dharian Affairs is a new series filled with equal doses of action-adventure and romance, meant to appeal to fans of Mindjack.

NOMINATED for the Illinois Librarian's "Soon to be Famous Author Project" wherein librarians hope to discover local authors whose "work will jump off the page for readers."

"Third Daughter is vividly breathtaking. Quinn delivers royal intrigue, exotic locations, and sweeping romance. Not to be missed!" - Pavarti K. Tyler, author of Shadow on the Wall

"Susan Kaye Quinn writes characters that leap off the page... Incredibly well written, the vivid setting was crisp in my mind... As the plot raced on, I was cursing real life for not letting me just sit glued to my kindle, punching the touch screen to get to the next page." - Tiffany on Goodreads

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GUEST POST:

Third Daughter: From Blog Contest to Novel
by Susan Kaye Quinn

Third Daughter started as a contest entry on Rick Daley’s blog, The Public Query Slushpile. He wanted to run an experiment (which, given my background in science, hooked me immediately): 

Given a vague premise, writers were asked to submit a query and the first five pages of a (fictitious) novel.

Rick's objective was to see which was easier to write (the query or the pages) and to prove that writers’ fears of their “unique” story being “ripped off” were unfounded. He posited (and I believe) that each author couldn’t help but craft something unique, even though they were starting with the same, basic story construct (a military intrigue). 

The results? I’m not sure if pages or queries were considered easier (for me, it was definitely pages), but it was clear that the stories were very diverse. And I’m certain I was the only one to take a military intrigue and turn it into an east-Indian steampunk fantasy romance where the Third Daughter of the Queen has to decide between marrying the charming courtesan she loves and marrying a barbarian prince to keep the peace.

But it was only a query and the first five pages - not an actual novel. And I truly had no intention of writing it at the time. I tucked it away and went about my business writing and publishing other stories. But that spark of a story kept smoldering, nagging the back of my brain. Two years later, an odd confluence of events inspired me to haul it back out again.

The odd confluence of events: My mother was diagnosed with cancer, which is just as scary and horrifying as it sounds. She bravely weathered the chemo treatments, and through early detection and great good luck, the chemo sent the cancer into remission. Coming out of that final treatment, she was determined to do the things she had always put off... which included writing a novel. She had, of course, watched my publishing adventures, and I, of course, was more than happy to encourage her. She decided she wanted to do this (write the novel) suddenly, just before National Novel Writing Month (November), and I told her, "Mom, if you do NaNo and write your novel, I'll do it with you." She agreed - only problem was I had no novel in the queue, ready to be written. So, I dug up Third Daughter, brushed it off, and dived in!

That was NaNo 2012, but it took another whole year to turn Third Daughter into a proper novel ready for publication. Shockingly, the first line remains the same as that hastily sketched out first five pages, although the rest has morphed substantially. Rick Daley's political intrigue storyline is still in there somewhere, but this Steampunk Goes to Bollywood story definitely has a life of its own.

Rick’s note at the time of the original contest:

I hope this turns into a project you can finish and sell! I'd totally show all my friends my name on the acknowledgments page.

Well, he got his wish! And you'll see him in the acknowledgments page, if you check it out. Thanks for the nudge and encouragement, Rick!

~*~

Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the bestselling Mindjack Trilogy, which is young adult science fiction. Her latest release is Third Daughter (The Dharian Affairs #1) which is her excuse to dress up in corsets and fight with swords. She also has a dark-and-gritty SF serial called The Debt Collector and a middle grade fantasy called Faery Swap. It's possible she's easily distracted. She always has more speculative fiction fun in the works. You can find out what she's up to by subscribing to her newsletter (hint: new subscribers get a free short story!) or by stopping by her blog (www.susankayequinn.com).

Third Daughter (The Dharian Affairs #1)

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The Third Daughter of the Queen wants to marry for love, but rumors of a new flying weapon force her to accept a barbarian prince’s proposal of a peace-brokering marriage.

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Author Susan Kaye Quinn

Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the bestselling Mindjack Trilogy, which is young adult science fiction. The Dharian Affairs trilogy is her excuse to dress up in corsets and fight with swords. She also has a dark-and-gritty SF serial called The Debt Collector and a middle grade fantasy called Faery Swap. It's possible she's easily distracted. She always has more speculative fiction fun in the works. You can find out what she's up to by subscribing to her newsletter (hint: new subscribers get a free short story!) or by stopping by her blog (www.susankayequinn.com).

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BookBlast Giveaway

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Ends 3/14/14

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