Mangled Cover Reveal

From the creative mind that gave readers: The Reality Hackers, comes a tale unlike any other written this century... 

With that said, the story needed an equally mystifying cover art. It took some time to find that perfect balance, but the universe of possibilities came together. Now, Undawnted is revealing the new book cover for the novelette version of the story, publishing in April of next year.

This creative write infuses the horror and science fiction genres and takes them into a futurist cascade of events that will leave the reader asking themselves what they would do in a similar position. 

New technologies like algorithms, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality are only the beginning of the changes to be seen in the world. 

 

But are these changes friend or foe? Mangled contemplates some of the questions surrounding humanity's future. 

Mangled follows a military Specialist named, Sarah Mitchell: 

To see the full cover, visit Mangle's dedicated page on Undawnted. 

The short story publishing in WordCrafter's Midnight Roost horror anthology, Mangled, on October 17, 2023, will also be published as a novelette in April 2024 through Sonoran Dawn Studios. 

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A writer at heart, Undawnted's own creative spark, DL Mullan, began writing short stories and poetry before adolescence. Over the years, Ms. Mullan has showcased her literary talents by self-publishing several collections of her poetry. She also writes novels, designs apparel, and creates digital art. Ms. Mullan‘s creative writing is available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. As an independent publisher, she produces her own book cover designs as well as maintains her own websites. She is an award-winning digital artist and poet. 

 DL Mullan is sharing her knowledge via A Novelist Idea Newsletter. If you too want to become a Fearless Phile, then subscribe to her newsletter on Substack.

Her innovative style teaches writers how to reach their creative potential, and write more effectively.

Learn. Grow. Master… with Undawnted.

On Undawnted, Life Matters When Writing

Tonight on Undawnted...

I did a load of dishes. I fed the birds and cats. I cooked dinner. I will be putting a chicken in the oven later this evening to keep the house warm. Then I will do a load of laundry after that. 

Well, I cannot sit around and write all day! 

Did you know that motivating helps your brain? If you get stuck writing, then take a walk or do some chores. Sunbathing is nice too. That is what I do. 

With a chicken done, then I don't have to worry about cooking large meals for a few days. That is nice when you have 20K more words to write, and you don't want to break your concentration for too long. 

The notes and scenes I will be doing this week will be enough to keep my mind busy. With the paying of my last two bills in the next couple of days, I won't have any money to spend. So, good thing I am a creative writer. Everything I need is in my head. 

After Immortal Spellcaster is at my formatter on the 20th, I will be doing my Movie Reviews. Isn't that exciting? Spoilers too. (I give a warning!) I like to do five in depth reviews a month. I wanted to be a movie critic when I was a teen. Now, I am. I like how that worked out for me. 

Then the blog/book tour will happen at the end of the month. I want to also add in a Book Events through my Sonoran Dawn publishing house. 

December will begin with me finishing up Immortal Spellcaster. The break of doing reviews and tours will allow me to see my manuscript with fresh eyes. Then I will be able to correct any more mistakes that I may find and add whatever word count is left for me to do. 

If done and polished, Immortal Spellcaster will be entered into a Contest. 

Awesome! 

I would love for the story to place. If so or not, I won't know until late into 2022. If the novel is returned without being optioned, then I will do a few more polish runs before publishing it myself. A good release time would be Winter 2022-23, don't you think? 

December will see me expanding my short story, The Reality Hackers. This science fiction story will be made into a Novelette and entered into another contest. 

That is a good story. I just have to have it in the hands of the right people, and of course, no more formatting issues! When you work with old technology and software, crap happens. You have to keep pressing forward. 

I want to have a few novels and short stories published by third-party publishers in the next five years. As well as, I would like to have some original plays and scripts under production.  

This is the life of a writer. Just make sure not to forget about your real life in the process. I don't. I even add some real life experiences in my fiction to make scenes and characters more realistic. Truth is stranger than fiction... and my truth is way stranger than that. 

 Have a great and wonderful day.

Happy New Year... Let's Make 2018 Memorable!

What have you always wanted to do? Write a book? Have a poem published? 

Well... what are you waiting for? 

Here at Undawnted, I believe that imagination is Fearless. So I would like to keep on that journey with all of you. 

I am grateful for the support this year. I have had my health and life challenges. Some downright scary, but knowing my readers were out there rooting for me helped keep my outlook positive and bright. 

So I wanted to say a big: Thank you! to everyone and have a Happy New Year! 

 

 I love you all dearly.

Keep those positive vibes coming this way. 

Have a great and wonderful 2018!

Reimagining Robin Hood for the 21st Century

That is a tall order!

I have always wanted to write a Robin Hood inspired story. There are a few revisions I would like to make to the old, tried and true mythologies of our modern age. Robin Hood is just one of them. 

I want to do some reimaging to the likes of Dorian Gray, The Raven, Pride and Prejudice, and Taming The Shrew to keep me busy for the next decade. 

This year the muse descended on Robin Hood. I have to take modern themes and ideas to formulate a new and exciting version no one has ever seen before.

So what is out there?

I do love the Kevin Costner version from the early 1990's. Funny how I took a noncredit script writing course through a community college at the same time that the film was released. The Hollywood screenwriter helped my classmates and I breakdown the scenes, characters, and story lines. I learned so much about storytelling during those six weeks than in any creative writing class I have ever taken.

So do not pass on noncredit courses! You might be happily surprised the knowledge you receive. 

When I was sketching out some dialogue for my take on the classic tale, the main character pretty much told me his story. Scene after scene, I could tell that this type of Robin Hood was going to be a mesh-mash of elements from the original story and a few others from external sources. 

I cannot wait to get it all finished. 

I hope I can keep up the momentum and get this origin story edited for an autumn release. 

As long as the characters keep writing the story themselves, I do not see why not. Stranger things have happened.   

Have a great and wonderful day.

First Print Mockup for In the Name of Blood is on the Way

As I have been creating new marketing materials, I decided to create the back page for my novel. 

I have had the item on my to-do list but I have always had some other task before it. Not that I crossed off the other tasks, I just made the move to finish what I started a year ago. Now the back page jacket looks pretty good. 

What do you think? 

In the Name of Blood Official Full Book Jacket

After it was done, I then added a table of contents to the book itself. That as they say was that! I had created the full version of the print edition to In the Name of Blood. I will also update the ebook to have a table of content as well.

I have put in an order for the mockup. When it arrives in the mail by next weekend, I will be able to correct any issues that may have arisen. Then I will begin to offer my ebook in print form. 

Hooray!

It is about time I hold my handiwork in my hands. I have a place on my bookshelf for my creative fiction and poetry, but being disabled makes my timetable a little longer than most. Plus the lack of funds does not help my timetable either. 

Now, more positive routes are in motion. It's not the destination, but the journey. Mine just happens to be in the slow lane.

Have a great and wonderful day! 

The Rain Update

Updated cover art and a page all by itself. The Rain should have a great time attracting poetry fans. 

The Rain: Monsoon in the Desert is a long tale in lyric form about the monsoon, storms, desert creatures, and a lone human looking out for Mother Earth's little lives. 

This poem is epic. 

Read more about The Rain here. 

Have a great and wonderful day!

Spring Emerges...

All the times we scoff at the ritual of Groundhog Day, and this year the little bugger was right.

Spring emerged early here in the Sonora Desert. Trees and wild flowers are in bloom. The temperatures have been warm during the afternoons and cool in the early morning hours.  Just perfect. 

Birds are singing and nesting. Bugs are zooming around the yards. The desert is alive. 

And, so are people's allergies. Mornings are not complete without a series of sneezes. Achoo! 

I wish these picturesque moments could last. Cloudless, blue skies, cool gentle breezes, and a warm sun to make everything grow. All the ingredients to inspire a poem or two.

Have a great and wonderful day!

Dreaming while Awake is Life's Gift

I have fallen asleep several times today. 

I would write or research then catch myself nestling into my covers for a nap. Even mental work can exhaust me. That is what happens with chronic illness. 

Still winter has set in early in the desert southwest and I have settled into my writing mode. 

Yule will be here on Monday. Winter solstice arrives and the death of the year commences. The only option is to descend into the belly of the beast to be reborn into mythical heroes in the awakening of spring. 

Read your Joseph Campbell. 

Even though there will be no Yule tree or presents, I feel so blessed this year. I am grateful for my little fur family, friends, and neighbors. Although the year has been challenging and I am still very ill, I see a bright future at hand. 

Writing is my first love. My personal joy. Now that I have goals to attain and be in love while accomplishing those goals seems to be a dream come true. 

I wish all my days are filled with awakening dreams of these special gifts.

I hope everybody has a great and wonderful day. 

Stormy Nights and Restless Mornings

How I love the sound of thunder and rain. 

Mostly rain. We need a few good deluges where I live. The desert seeks to rekindle life during its yearly monsoon season. 

How I love to watch the fire of lightning, hear the crackle of thunder, and dance in the perceptional. Poems are written on such occasions. I write many myself.

I have lived in the midwest and west coast. I have visited the east coast. Nothing is more energetic and mysterious as the desert monsoon season.

You never know what you are going to get.

Writing is like that. Some days, a writer can write up a storm. Other days: a drought manifests. In the end, writing a good story is what counts.

Ah, the thunder comes again.

I wonder what Mother Nature writes with each passing rain shower.

Have a great and wonderful day!

A New Life; A New Path

I love my Rune set.

Runes are a great way to figure out where you are on your spiritual journey. I started this blog/website to begin anew. That is what the Runes told me. 

I am to begin a new path.

That is what I like about spiritual divination. I'm not looking for winning lottery numbers, even though that would be nice; I'm seeking knowledge. Knowledge of myself, my path, and the universe.

The Rune I pulled is of completion. My old life, old ways of doing things have come to an end. That is why I have a few projects to do as my priority. Books I need to edit and send out into the publishing world, personal business, and medical issues.

All have culminated into the now.

But I also must ground myself and meditate. Free from external and negative influences, I will prevail.

Positive energy, humor are my guides now. I wonder if the universe means I should watch more Jeff Dunham or Lewis Black? Hmm...

Have a great and wonderful day!

Can't Lose What You Never Had

So I've lost my mind. This admission should surprise no one who reads my blog. Since the pesticide poisoning and black mold exposure, my mind is not what it used to be.

I always joked: can't lose what you never had... and that's been my mantra.

Until this last month, I began a new multivitamin powder and now a B Complex 50 with methyl B-12. My mind began clicking on. I started to remember things.

I remembered the Jestons: Heaven's to Mergatroid! 

It's amazing what a methyl group tied to B-12 can do. I have read that liposomal B-12 is actually better absorbed but one thing at a time. I got to see if this new direction works.

When you used to have a near endemic memory, life is difficult when you cannot remember what you did several hours hence, or control your movement, or maintain a normal body temperature. Life becomes unbearable without the little things going in your favor. 

Now I see a light at the end of the tunnel. It's a night light, but at least there is a light. I thought what I have done was the best I could do and then my body surprises me. I guess I have gotten to the point where my body is open to suggestions. 

That's fine by me. 

Next I want to feed it more amino acids and some glutithone as well as bone meal to save what is left of my poor teeth and bones. I don't want to wake up one day and break a hip.

With energy and nerve regeneration, I can begin to move and exercise. My metabolism will heighten and make me use my food better. Amino acids and antioxidants will detox and strengthen my systems. Then building body back up will not be difficult. 

Although I will always have to be cautious and practice avoidance of chemicals and mold for the rest of my life, well at least now, I'll have a better life. 

And a great mind can accomplish great tasks like rebuilding the body with research and diligence.

For instance, bone takes more than calcium to rebuild itself. Bone needs phosphorous and magnesium for starters with the calcium. Bone meal when regulated for impurities does the job well.

Exercise is vital to rebuilding bones. Jumping jacks, walking, five pound weights are great ways to stimulate bone growth. I see them in my future! 

Since I have been ill, exercising helped at first, just walking, but after the black mold exposure, forget about it. My chronic fatigue made it impossible even to this day to do a little exercise. Doing a load of laundry or dishes can lay me up in bed for the rest of the day.

Lazy is not me. So if I am lethargic after a chore, it's the illness not the person. 

People have got to realize that change. A viable, vibrant person stops, or slows down to a crawl, there's something going on inside the body. Eventually the halt will damage the emotions and the mind, a person who is sick doesn't need that pointed out. That person needs medical help and emotional support.

I wish my family had realized their actions caused my secondary collapse and tried to correct their error instead of condemning me to a life of solitude and supplements. 

So if you see someone struggling with low energy, get them to a naturopath or homeopath. That person needs to detox and get nutrition. It's not an overnight fix but in the long run, your friend or relative will feel better knowing you aren't judging them; you are supporting them in their darkest hour like you should.

Have a great and wonderful weekend!

Celebrations with Libations

It's New Year's Eve 2013! I cannot believe it.

No, really, I cannot believe I am alive. Abandoned and left for dead by my family nearly three years ago, I am astonished I have made it this far. 

As a survivor, I understand how I could. I am strong. I am independent (within reason). I am happy!

Every New Year, I feel like I have graduated into the next level of existence. It doesn't matter if I am rich or poor. It only matters that I am alive and (somewhat) able. 

I have my little fur family and we are happy. 

Happy is the key word. Without happiness, I would become a bitter, enraged old woman. Why let negative people win?

Some people will always be small minded, immature jerks. With what little time I have left, I don't want to waste a second on someone(s) like that. 

Would you?

So when making your New Year's Resolutions this night make sure to list items and goals that will make you happy. In the end, it's not about anyone else. It is about you.

My advice: be happy. 

Like John Lennon said: When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy.’ They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.

Thank you for your patronage! See you next year ;)