Rebranding my urban fantasy series!

Yep The rumors are true, The Children of Cain series by R.J. Craddock (yours truly) has undergone a major change. From henceforth is will be known as The Thirteen Tribes of Cain series! Why? Because there is a handful of other book series out there with The Children of Cain name and also because The Thirteen Tribes of Cain makes a lot more sense with my series as a whole. So there you have it. A new name just in time for the release of the third book The Decree. In honor of this occasion I have revamped the original Forsaken trailer. Enjoy :)

First Quarterly Book Bash/ Give Away!

I'm doing an experiment. My books are in a very popular genre and have very common themes. It is very difficult to get to the top 10 let alone the top 100 of a genre on amazon with this many books to compete with. One way to do this is to have a lot of sales on amazon in a short amount of time, this makes your amazon book ranking rise considerably. Why is this important? You ask. Well, the higher your book is on a list or search, the more visible it is to potential readers; which means more book sells and more chance of getting some real attention. So here's what I'm going to do. On Saturday, December 26, I'm throwing a Book Bash for my first book “The Forsaken”. Both my eBooks will be on sale for .99 cents that whole day. I'm trying to get as many people to buy my book that day as possible in the hope it'll help my book rise in the book ranking and thus make “The Forsaken” more visible to readers on amazon. As part of my Book Bash, I will be giving away a $25 gift card to one random person who buys my book that day.  Also, I will give out a few other prizes as well for some other lucky reader to win. Here’s how you get credit for your purchase to be entered into the giveaway.

To Enter into the Giveaway:

1.       Buy “The Forsaken” eBook for .99 cents

2.       Take a screenshot or take a picture of your amazon purchase confirmation email. Post it in the comments of the Book Bash giveaway post on my author Facebook page www.facebook.com/rjcraddockauthor (2 entries)

For Additional Entries:

1.       Buy book two “The Offspring” as well as “The Forsaken”.  (2 entries)

Again you must show the proof of this purchase in the comments of the giveaway post.

2.       Share your purchase in a post on Facebook, or twitter by using the hashtag #rjcraddockbooks

(1 entry per site)

3.       Like my author Facebook page www.facebook.com/rjcraddockauthor (1 Entry)

Sunday afternoon December 27th Rafflecopter will take the entries and randomly select one person to win the $25 Amazon gift card and four more to win a copy of one of the four eBooks available. That’s It! Spending .99 cents to potentially get $25 seems pretty awesome right? So mark your calendar, share this post and make sure to join The Forsaken Book Bash the day after Christmas!  You get my eBook for a steal, you could get a free amazon gift card, and it’s a win/win! The .99 cent sale ends on Saturday the 26 at midnight. Here’s hoping my little experiment works and together we can make big changes happen and win lots of great prizes!

Now go forth and enter!

Until next time,
R.J. Craddock

The Offspring - Book Cover Reveal!

After a couple years of hard work and a little bit of insanity, my second book is just months away from being released! That's right The Offspring (Children of Cain book two) will be released online April 11th! The physical release will be April 17th at the Salt Lake City comic-con at the Salt Palace Convention Center! Yahoo! But in the mean time I'm sure your all dying to see the cover for The Offspring, so lets do a little cover reveal shall we?

Now that I've got your attention, would you like to know a little more about the book? I knew you would!

The Offspring:

A murder behind her and the wilderness before her, friendless witch Gwenevere flees to survive. Yet Mother Nature is not kind and even Gwen’s magical gifts can’t save her from a deadly winter storm. Narrowly escaping death, she is rescued by an unlikely hero and taken into the shelter of a mythical realm.  Has Gwen at long last found her own kind? Will she finally solve the mystery to her own identity, or her mother’s murder? Or is innocence blinding her to the true reality of this dark sanctuary?

Well that's all I can give you for now. Keep checking back here, facebook, twitter and goodreads for more info on the upcoming release of The Offspring! While you wait eagerly for it's release you can always pick up book one The Forsaken at www.rjcraddock.com, amazon, and Barnes and Noble. 

Now go forth and share the cover for The Offspring with your fellow book lovers and remember to tell them the book come out April 11th! Till next time.

R.J. Craddock

Librarians do it Between the Covers!

Hello, gentle readers, I don't know about you, but I love printed books far more than ebooks. Yes, it's convenient and space-saving to have one hand held device that carries countless volumes of literature. However, there's something magical about holding a bound book in one's hands and watching the pages fly by as you read. I'm also a sucker for the smell of books. Paper and ink are two of my most favorite things! Needless to say I also love Libraries! I adore being in a room full of books. There's an excitement in the air that makes me almost giddy, wondering what beautiful words or vast worlds I might discover next!

Naturally when I was publishing my book "The Forsaken" (Children of Cain - book one) I dreamed of someday seeing my book not only on bookstore shelves but on Library shelves as well. However, neither is easily done when your self-published. I do currently have my book in one store, and am constantly looking for more possible markets. "The Forsaken" at present is only available at the Spanish Fork Library in Utah. This is because some friends of mine requested it. Another friend saw it on the book shelf recently and told me it looked well-read. This tickles me pink, because my book is available for more readers to discover it. This got me thinking though. Wouldn't it be great if my book was available everywhere? Yes, yes, it would be awesome! But, I can't go to every library in the state of Utah and request my own book, let alone the entire country or world (although that would make for one heck of a road trip)! ;-) 

Why can't I just do this in my own state you might ask? Mainly because you have to have a library card for each library to be able to do this. Also libraries tend to want proof that you live in the area before they give you access to their collection, let alone start requesting new books on your behalf. So then I got thinking some more (a dangerous past time, I know) and decided I could always ask my friends, family, and fans to go out and do the requesting for me. So I'm putting it out there. Who wants to help a new author get their book in libraries across the United States? Who wants to help get "The Forsaken" on shelves in libraries all around the globe? If you said "I do" or "Me" then great! If you haven't read my book yet and were planning to this helps you in that you can do so without purchasing it. This helps me because the library does purchase it from me, and also having it on their shelves gives other avid readers the opportunity to experience my dream world as well. 

So the next time you make a trip to your local library don't forget to ask the Librarian how you can request a book, and help me get "The Forsaken" on the shelf and ultimately into the hands of more readers like yourself. If you do you'll be doing me a huge favor, and I will be eternally in your debt. :-) 

Now go forth, visit your local libraries and remember to request "The Forsaken" by R.J. Craddock (Children of Cain series - book one). Also, keep checking back here for more info on book two "The Offspring" which comes out in April! Till next time.

R.J. Craddock

Religion, Mythology and Fiction.

For some, Religion, Mythology, and Fiction all mean the same thing. Many find profound truths in Religion, deep moral lessons in Mythology, and just plain good entertainment in Fiction. However, every once in a while a book intermingles the three into one tale. Such is the case with my novel "The Forsaken" (Children of Cain - book one). I have to admit that I was heavily influenced by my own religious beliefs when it came time to come up with my own mythology for Gwenevere's story. My fantasy world is after all spawned from one of the oldest stories ever told, the creation. However, mine starts with Adam and his first wife Lilith.

Now some of you just scratched your head and asked yourselves, "Who is Lilith?" Well, Lilith is sort of a cross between a redundancy in the Bible and an ancient myth. The creation story is told twice in the Bible. First in Genesis 1:1-2 and secondly in Genesis 2:4-25. In the first scripture man and woman are created at the same time, however, neither of them is ever named. And, in the second telling of the creation, man was created first, then the animals and then woman. The man’s name isn't mentioned for a few scriptures but he is introduced as Adam. Only after she has eaten from the tree of good and evil and persuaded Adam to eat as well does the woman get a name. Adam calls her Eve because she will be the mother of all living now that they are being cast out of the Garden of Eden and she now must bear children. Add this to the fact that other stories emerged over the years, naturally this got me speculating. What if there were two women created in the garden of Eden? What if Eve was actually the second woman to be created on the Earth, and not Adam's first wife? Some mythologies suggest that this was the case. See the link below for more details: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1513/whats-the-story-on-lilith-adams-first-wifes 

Growing up in a Christian home reading the Bible and being fascinated by different religious beliefs, I was aware of the notion of a first wife prior to Eve in the Garden of Eden and always thought the idea was fascinating. What might have really happened to make this first wife fall? Now do I believe that Lilith really existed? No. However, the idea of such a person got my wheels turning and before I knew it I had created my own version of the creation story with Lilith as the original wife of Adam and her eventual fall from grace. This leads to her becoming the mother of all mythical beings and myths we've all grown up with. You might know them as Witches, Elves, Vampires, Werewolves, Fairies, Giants, Dwarfs, Mermaids and such but in my mythology they are all known as The Forsaken. 

A while back I met a fellow author, C. David Belt, who had a series with a very similar name to mine, “The Children of Lilith Trilogy”. I even wrote a blog about this meeting, read it here. Since both our stories deal with Lilith in their mythologies we started talking about the possibility that such a person might have existed. "The idea of Lilith as Adam's first wife supposes that God makes mistakes, and God does not make mistakes." C. David Belt reasoned. And I have to say that I disagree. If God gave us free agency to choose as we wish so that we might learn for ourselves right from wrong then any choice made by us would be no one’s fault but our own, for we are solely accountable, not God. So I reason that such a person could have existed and not threaten the belief that God knows all, as the master planner. 

To write this story I had to delve into a lot mythology and fairy tales as well as learn a lot about Wicca and Witchcraft in general. As a born and breed Christian, do I believe in any of these things? No. Does writing about them contradict my real life faith and values? No. In writing this book I seek only to entertain and to teach a moral about the true importance of one’s character and the choices we make throughout our lives. I believe in God and Jesus Christ. I believe there is a heaven and hell. But any speculations about these places in my books are merely mythology, intertwined with religion for entertainment.

For my character I built a world in which she is doomed no matter what she does because of what she was born, a Witch, one of The Forsaken. My purpose in creating this world and writing this story is to answer a few questions. "What would you do if you were damned no matter how good or bad you were? Would you still choose to do the right thing? Would you be a good person if there was no reward waiting for you in heaven, or would you just indulged yourself and do whatever you liked? A lot of religions teach that if you're faithful you'll receive blessings in heaven and a mansion on high, and thus the motivation for some to do good. But shouldn't we do good and be righteous and selfless, giving to others just because it is righteous and not just because we want a reward for our good deeds? These questions and more I strive to answer in the Children of Cain series. I invite you all to read the series and find out what Gwenevere does when faced with these questions, and find out where her decisions lead her. 

"The Forsaken" is currently out and can be purchased at www.rjcraddock.com. Links to my book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble can be found there or at the top menu of this blog. "The Offspring" book two of the six-part series comes out in April 2014.

Now go forth and pick up "The Forsaken" and may it inspire you to make righteous decisions and have strength to overcome even when in the face of true evil. Till next time. 

R.J. Craddock

The Second Time Around

Those of you who are my regular readers are aware that I already have one published book "The Forsaken" under my belt. If you're new to this blog, this is news to you. But I have other news. My second book "The Offspring" is coming out in April 2014. Both books are part of a six part series called The Children of Cain. This is an epic Urban Fantasy series that rolls biblical and mythical tales together into a modern world with characters as realistic as you and me. It's dark, deep, and meaningful, set in real life situations with a dash of magic thrown in for good measure. If you'd like to learn more check out my website www.rjcraddock.com.  

If you're an aspiring author or know one whose thinking of self-publishing here is a quick tale of my own self publishing journey for you to read or share with anyone who might benefit from it. I've written my whole life but only gained the confidence to pursue it as a career a couple years ago. I submitted my manuscript to publishers for a year and a half. I did receive an offer but the company didn't have a solid reputation so I declined. With the support of my husband I decided to self-publish my first book "The Forsaken". However, I was taking a blind leap of faith and really didn't grasp what I was getting into. I only started blogging and building my online presence a few months before the book was released. When it was launched there was very little hype so it didn't get the launch it deserved. I also hadn't taken enough time with the editing process and had rushed the book to print. When I received my first shipment of the book I could tell from page one that having just one editor had been a big mistake. We did, however, hire another editor (a more experienced one) and a few months later released a second--and much improved--edition of the book. One up side to self-publishing I found is that I got to design the whole book myself. For most people I wouldn't recommend doing this. However, I am an artist as well and studied animation, media arts, and graphic design in college. Actually, the idea of having no say in my own cover art drove me crazy so it was the best solution for me. It was a lot of work, but well worth it in the end. I probably won't do it for another series but for this one it made since to do it myself. Overall it's been a great experience. Like I said before my second book "The Offspring" comes out in April and the process is definitely smoother the second time around. I would advise anyone thinking of self-publishing to read blogs like this http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2013/12/26/five-mistakes-killing-self-published-authors and do a lot of research about the business before they make up their minds. It's not for everyone but self-publishing can be very fulfilling. 

Anyway, that's all for now. Make sure to check out my new and improved website for details and updates about The Children of Cain series. Now go forth, read, write and share. Enjoy the video below of one of my favorite CAKE songs (The video is a little silly but the song is awesome) Come on back to visit the blog next weekend. 

R.J. Craddock

Watty You Talkin' About?

Don't know if you've heard but the Watty Awards are back! What are the Watty Awards, 

you ask? The Wattys are awarded, based on votes from the Wattpad community to the most

loved stories in PopFic, FanFic, and Original Fiction for young readers. The more people 

love a story, the better its chance of winning! So, yeah… it's a Wattpad popularity contest, 

but still I thought it would be fun to enter and see how I do. However, to enter I had to 

upload the entire book onto Wattpad, which means that "The Forsaken" is now available in 

its entirety to read for free on Wattpad! Originally I was only planning on adding one 

chapter a month from the book until it was complete and leave the whole book up on 

wattpad for just a couple of weeks. It seemed worth it to push the whole thing six months 

ahead of schedule for the chance to enter the contest. The Voting Period: Jan 6 - 31, 2014 

Winners Announced: February 2014 I'll make sure to remind everyone when voting starts. 

But until then here is some more info on the contest:

What the Winner Gets:

The Top Popular and On the Rise story in each subcategory of Original Fiction, PopFic, and 

FanFic, will be recognized with a Watty Award. We will cement your bragging rights as a 

Watty-award-winning writer by featuring your winning story in the Wattys Winner’s 

Showcase in the Discover section of our mobile app, on our blog, and on the Wattys 

Winner’s reading list.

All 16 winners in the Original Fiction category will each receive a $200 cash prize. 

Additionally, one lucky finalist in the Original Fiction category will win the chance to work 

with a Sourcebooks editor to develop his or her work for possible publication!

Anyway, I just wanted to share the news and get you all excited for the awards, too. Until 

the voting period starts you can still go and read my story as much as you like, but don't 

vote yet! To read it, go to this link: http://www.wattpad.com/story/4983406-the-forsaken. 

In the meantime I'm also participating in NaNo Wrimo this year 

http://nanowrimo.org/about. Feel free to buddy me on the website, my username is 

rjcraddock. I'm looking forward to writing at least fifty thousand words in book three "The 

Coven" this month. I'll keep you all updated on its progress as well.

Now go forth and read "The Forsaken" on Wattpad and share it with all your friends and 

family. If you do, make sure to review it on goodreads, amazon, and Barnes and Noble, 

too. Thanks!

R.J. Craddock

Blog Block

If you follow my blog regularly you might have noticed that I've gotten a little lazy as of late with posting my 

weekend blog. The reason for this is that I'm having blog writer's block. When I first started blogging it felt like I 

had endless things to write about, and my energy level was high. Seven months later I'm starting to loose my 

steam. I try to keep this blog focused on my books, books I like, movies, and things related to the genera I write - 

Urban Fantasy. It feels as though I can only say so much about these things before I start repeating myself. So, I'm 

open to suggestions here, my readers. Is there something in particular you'd like to hear more about? Something 

related to my novel "The Forsaken" or book two "The Offspring"? Or perhaps you're curious about my writing 

process, or interested to hear about the other books I'm developing? How about a Q and A session? Anything at all, 

I'm open to new ideas here. Just leave me a comment on this blog or on my facebook page.

As far as book two is concerned, I'm right on schedule. I'm about to head into the first round of beta readers. I'm 

looking forward to hearing all that they have to say and using their feedback to improve my novel. Anyway, before 

I go I'd like to remind you all that Monday the 29th (today) marks the beginning of my facebook event: "Barnes 

and Noble take over!" Just read the previous blog for more details about that.

Below I've added the link to my book trailer for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy. Well, that's all for now. Now go forth, 

read, drink hot coco, and watch movies for tomorrow we'll just do it all over again!

R.J. Craddock

The Forsaken Reel