Sarah V. Hines, Author https://sarahvhines.writeas.com/ Updates and Short Stories Sat, 26 Sep 2026 11:12:01 +0000 Better Late Than Never? https://sarahvhines.writeas.com/better-late-than-never?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Writing is hard. Writing a series is especially hard. I feel like the conspiracy theory meme trying to remember all of the plotlines and who is connected to what and what details I still have to write in. People who do this successfully just amaze me. My cover was released and I posted it absolutely everywhere except for my blog, my now main source of news. I’m blaming exhaustion, since work and recovering from cellulitis/MRSA/a sinus infection for the last month (the sinus infection has only been less than a week, the others were a month long) and taking just about every antibiotic known to man has wiped me out. So let’s do this now! Here is the cover for Axis: Book Two of the Siren Tragedies— This whole cover turned out even better than I expected, and I expected a really great cover, having worked with this artist and designer before. The bust is of Alexandros, the father of the main character, Telese, and the main antagonist of the story. For comparison, here is a picture of Hubris, with Telese as the focal point. As you can see, there are quite a few differences in the presentation. Telese’s bust is broken, a reference to her broken life at the hands of her father. Meanwhile, Alexandros is whole, because he has always been able to determine his own life and the lives of his daughters and granddaughters. There is also the difference in lighting, with Telese’s being more subtle, not as harsh or striking as Alexandros’s. Of course, probably the most noticeable is the difference between the ivy growing around Telese—a feature I loved for the symbol of growth and stubborn resilience—and the brambles around Alexandros—a symbol of danger and the threat of pain. Preorders are open for paperback copies of Axis here. Hubris is available for print or e-book if you haven’t got your copy yet. a href="https://remark.as/p/sarahvhines/better-late-than-never"Discuss.../a]]> Writing is hard.

Writing a series is especially hard.

I feel like the conspiracy theory meme trying to remember all of the plotlines and who is connected to what and what details I still have to write in. People who do this successfully just amaze me.

My cover was released and I posted it absolutely everywhere except for my blog, my now main source of news. I’m blaming exhaustion, since work and recovering from cellulitis/MRSA/a sinus infection for the last month (the sinus infection has only been less than a week, the others were a month long) and taking just about every antibiotic known to man has wiped me out. So let’s do this now! Here is the cover for Axis: Book Two of the Siren Tragedies—

This whole cover turned out even better than I expected, and I expected a really great cover, having worked with this artist and designer before. The bust is of Alexandros, the father of the main character, Telese, and the main antagonist of the story. For comparison, here is a picture of Hubris, with Telese as the focal point.

As you can see, there are quite a few differences in the presentation. Telese’s bust is broken, a reference to her broken life at the hands of her father. Meanwhile, Alexandros is whole, because he has always been able to determine his own life and the lives of his daughters and granddaughters. There is also the difference in lighting, with Telese’s being more subtle, not as harsh or striking as Alexandros’s. Of course, probably the most noticeable is the difference between the ivy growing around Telese—a feature I loved for the symbol of growth and stubborn resilience—and the brambles around Alexandros—a symbol of danger and the threat of pain.

Preorders are open for paperback copies of Axis here.

Hubris is available for print or e-book if you haven’t got your copy yet.

Discuss...

]]> https://sarahvhines.writeas.com/better-late-than-never Sat, 26 Aug 2023 07:50:27 +0000 A Sinus Infection? In This Economy? https://sarahvhines.writeas.com/a-sinus-infection?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[I’ve been sick for a month with cellulitis and MRSA. I have been on so many different antibiotics, there should be nothing crawling around inside my body. So HOW I managed to develop a sinus infection is beyond me. Not ideal. Anyway, I’ve been using HubSpot Academy for some ideas on how to successfully market both my books and help Balance of Seven Press in general. They are currently running an IndieGoGo to help cover the next round of books and recoup the cost for legal and moving fees to get out of Texas and into Vermont in light of anti-lgbtqia+ laws. (Campaign can be found here) One thing I would love to do is talk to podcasts and vlogs about publishing with a small-press. A lot of people are intimidated by publishing because they feel their only two routes are traditional press—which is not author-friendly—or self-publishing—which is not always financially feasible for the everyday author. I, personally, love going through a small-press publisher, as the smaller release numbers mean more time spent on your book. Speaking of which, I’m super excited to share my book cover with everybody on Monday! I don’t think I can put videos up here, so I can’t post the cute little video I made, but I’ll post the cover and commentary. a href="https://remark.as/p/sarahvhines/a-sinus-infection"Discuss.../a]]> I’ve been sick for a month with cellulitis and MRSA. I have been on so many different antibiotics, there should be nothing crawling around inside my body.

So HOW I managed to develop a sinus infection is beyond me.

Not ideal.

Anyway, I’ve been using HubSpot Academy for some ideas on how to successfully market both my books and help Balance of Seven Press in general. They are currently running an IndieGoGo to help cover the next round of books and recoup the cost for legal and moving fees to get out of Texas and into Vermont in light of anti-lgbtqia+ laws. (Campaign can be found here)

One thing I would love to do is talk to podcasts and vlogs about publishing with a small-press. A lot of people are intimidated by publishing because they feel their only two routes are traditional press—which is not author-friendly—or self-publishing—which is not always financially feasible for the everyday author. I, personally, love going through a small-press publisher, as the smaller release numbers mean more time spent on your book.

Speaking of which, I’m super excited to share my book cover with everybody on Monday! I don’t think I can put videos up here, so I can’t post the cute little video I made, but I’ll post the cover and commentary.

Discuss...

]]> https://sarahvhines.writeas.com/a-sinus-infection Sun, 20 Aug 2023 03:46:06 +0000 Hubris Chapter Now Up https://sarahvhines.writeas.com/hubris-chapter-now-up?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[I’ve pinned a book excerpt post for book chapter videos that are completed. I’ve never really made videos before, so it’s a work in progress. I already have a sample chapter of Hubris posted. Next up is Axis. Book Excerpts a href="https://remark.as/p/sarahvhines/hubris-chapter-now-up"Discuss.../a]]> I’ve pinned a book excerpt post for book chapter videos that are completed. I’ve never really made videos before, so it’s a work in progress. I already have a sample chapter of Hubris posted. Next up is Axis.

Book Excerpts

Discuss...

]]> https://sarahvhines.writeas.com/hubris-chapter-now-up Thu, 17 Aug 2023 20:17:37 +0000 Rolls up sleeves https://sarahvhines.writeas.com/rolls-up-sleeves?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[I have not updated in over a year and, honestly, staying on social media has been a nightmare. I feel like it’s time to change up how I interact with the internet, so some things are going change: This blog is going to be my main outlet for updates and thoughts. For the sake of my mental health, I’m going to stop spending time on most social media sites with the exception of mastodon. More art! More writing! I need to get back to my hobbies. Audio chapter previews for both Hubris and Axis will be available soon, along with (hopefully) other Balance of Seven published books! These will be made available through YouTube and the links pinned in a post here. While I’m cutting back most of my social media, I’ll still be updating my author stuff with author news. If you want to follow that, the accounts are: Facebook: facebook.com/svhines Threads: sarahvhines Instagram: sarahvhines Mastodon: sarahvhines@writing.exchange Tumblr: @sarahwritessirens Discord: sarahvhines (This is where you can send me a dm if you want to say something about what you read here!) In theory, you should be able to comment on these posts. I’m not sure how that works, but if you want to follow with this blog for updates, feel free to subscribe. It’s going to be much more active in the coming months. On the news front, my cover reveal will be posted in 5 days! I made a little video for it, because I’m extra, so I have to see if that will post here. If not, you can always check it out on any of the above sites. Thanks for reading! Have a picture of my character Roxias “Roxy” Zalabraxias from The Siren Tragedies as an apology for not keeping up with this blog. !--more-- ]]> I have not updated in over a year and, honestly, staying on social media has been a nightmare. I feel like it’s time to change up how I interact with the internet, so some things are going change:

  • This blog is going to be my main outlet for updates and thoughts. For the sake of my mental health, I’m going to stop spending time on most social media sites with the exception of mastodon.
  • More art! More writing! I need to get back to my hobbies.
  • Audio chapter previews for both Hubris and Axis will be available soon, along with (hopefully) other Balance of Seven published books! These will be made available through YouTube and the links pinned in a post here.

  • While I’m cutting back most of my social media, I’ll still be updating my author stuff with author news. If you want to follow that, the accounts are:

    1. Facebook: facebook.com/svhines

    2. Threads: sarahvhines

    3. Instagram: sarahvhines

    4. Mastodon: sarahvhines@writing.exchange

    5. Tumblr: @sarahwritessirens

    6. Discord: sarahvhines (This is where you can send me a dm if you want to say something about what you read here!)

In theory, you should be able to comment on these posts. I’m not sure how that works, but if you want to follow with this blog for updates, feel free to subscribe. It’s going to be much more active in the coming months.

On the news front, my cover reveal will be posted in 5 days! I made a little video for it, because I’m extra, so I have to see if that will post here. If not, you can always check it out on any of the above sites.

Thanks for reading! Have a picture of my character Roxias “Roxy” Zalabraxias from The Siren Tragedies as an apology for not keeping up with this blog.

]]> https://sarahvhines.writeas.com/rolls-up-sleeves Thu, 17 Aug 2023 04:34:52 +0000 w0rmh0le Lore https://sarahvhines.writeas.com/w0rmh0le-lore?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[If you haven’t been to www.w0rmh0le.net, you should! There are games streamed, summer interviews with artists and programmers, and a new story written by me. It’s a dystopian cyberpunk story, which is waaaaaay outside of my comfort zone, but both of which are genres/aesthetics that I enjoy. Here is a snippet from the story. You can find the ongoing series at w0rmh0le Lore. \\\* Pretending to be human always proved difficult for Wesley, no matter how often he had to do it. Of course, nobody in the upper echelons was truly human anymore. Augmentation and redesign were the most lucrative markets, and everybody took advantage of summer sales on new limbs, sharper eyes and, of course, weaponized add-ons. To some extent, Wesley couldn’t blame them; the city was getting more dangerous as desperation rose in the face of the new mayor. He had given jobs to AI in order to save a dime for his important corporate backers, and the workers of Sodoria felt the strain. Too bad it wasn’t the poorest of the city that could utilize new weapons to defend themselves. The imbalance between the two made it too easy for the richest of Sodoria to decide the fate of the poorest. Illicit markets were growing, and so was the population in the cellblocks. !--more-- As an AI, himself, Wesley was relegated to working and rebooting. If authorities knew what he was doing, they would disassemble and reprogram him before the morning. He couldn’t risk losing the empathy glitch in his most recent upgrade—having a purpose was almost addictive. Wesley pulled the scarf and hat around his screen, covering everything but the space for his eyes, which he projected to look like any augmented eyes of the crowd. He moved slowly as to not draw attention to himself, avoiding making eye contact for too long. There was a jolt in his circuits as he made his way to the markets. The bright, neon screens advertising the newest models in augmentations or the newest smart device for the home lit up the nighttime pavilion, casting hues of pink or blue or green across the throngs of people. The hum of voices and movement echoed around him as the people, in their nicest clothes with their expensive jewelry and prosthetics, haggled for new parts or replacements, for fresh vegetables and fruits, for thick cuts of meat or for much-needed medicine. He placed his hand in his pocket, finding the parts he had taken from his shift in the AI hardware development sector. He slid up to a usual customer; a thin man named Tes