Trip Ellington

Review Copies for Legend of Xaloria

Published February 17, 2013

I’m very pleased to announce that my first full-length YA Fantasy novel, Legend of Xaloria, is up on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo (and soon to be iTunes). Up until this point, I’ve focused on short stories, and branching out into longer material has been a great experience with regards to getting more in-depth with character development and world building. It’s also been great having an active fan base to help me out along the way, providing inspiration and excellent feedback. To celebrate its release and to help spread the word, I’m offering review copies (read on down below for how to get a free copy).

Here are the details:

Legend Of Xaloria

From author Trip Ellington comes the debut of an immersive new fantasy novel. LEGEND OF XALORIA tells the story of Jake, a young boy living in the not-so-distant future where virtual reality is indistinguishable from the real world. Ignored by his mother, and alienated from his classmates, Jake loves to spend his time building Xaloria, his own virtual fantasy world.

In Xaloria, Jake lives out his dreams to be a great hero, of helping others in need, and of being liked. When his mother makes yet another major family decision without even telling him about it until after the fact, he decides to escape to Xaloria and play with his only two friends. He didn’t expect his world to come to life…

INSTRUCTIONS FOR A REVIEW COPY

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I’m an independent self-published author. As a result, I have to rely on my fans much more heavily for raising awareness about my work since I don’t have the marketing budget of the bigger publishers. However, I’m not complaining in the least bit. I believe taking this route has allowed me to stay much closer to my fans and I have truly been amazed at your dedication in helping a new author find his voice in the book world.

To get a free review copy, simply email me at trip (at) tripellington.com with the store you shop at (Amazon, B&N, Kobo, etc.) so that I can send you the book in the correct format. I’d love for you to read the book and provide an honest review at any of the locations it’s on sale, or at Goodreads as well.

It’s been quite a ride and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your efforts.

Until next time,

Trip

Posted in Fantasy

November Releases

Published November 10, 2012

This is my first post on the site in a while, but I’ve been busy working on a few short stories as well as my first full-length novel which will hopefully be ready for publishing by December to January.

Here are my new short stories:

EverMage: Of Swords and Magic
Mithris, a naive wizard’s apprentice flees alone to safety after foul creatures overrun his master’s tower. Along the way, he must learn to fend for himself by obtaining food and shelter, defending himself against wild animals and avoiding the pursuit of the creatures that destroyed his master…

[Amazon, B&N, Kobo]

StarFight: Guns and Asteroids
When Jim Rydell, former soldier in the Big War and now sheriff of a dusty town in a backwater moon, finds himself in a bar fight, he doesn’t think much of it. But when that bar fight is him against the giant (and smelly) Varnaks, he knows he’s upset someone pretty mighty.

It’s up to Jim and his ragtag group to dig to the bottom of a system-wide conspiracy to bring down the precariously-thin order in his part of the asteroid belt, and he doesn’t take too kindly to strangers, especially smelly ones…

[Amazon, B&N, Kobo]

Planet Lost
Jennifer Bowen and her younger brother, Brandon, left earth to explore the unknown reaches of space in the starship Quasar. When an anomaly threatens to destroy the ship, Jennifer leads her brother and boyfriend toward an unknown planet…

[Amazon, B&N, Kobo]

Posted in Uncategorized

What a Month

Published September 1, 2012

August has been a very exciting time for me as an independent author. I managed to produce over 25 new pieces of writing and sell over 3,400 copies of my works across all of my pen names. The number still blows my mind. Especially given that I spent the first two weeks of August on vacation (and I didn’t write a lick during that time either).

What’s even more exciting is that September is looking to perform even better. It seems this year’s marketplace will center around tablets and e-readers, even more so than last year. This is great for self-publishers like me, because it means the pool of potential readers will continue to grow.

As far as my plans for the future go, the remainder of this year will still include shorter works of fiction, but I’ve finally started tackling a few longer stories that have been floating around in my head for the last ten years. It excites me that I have the opportunity to branch out into full-length novels, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

BRAINSSS! My Next Zombie Story is Here

Published August 22, 2012

Zombies are so much fun work with in a story. There’s a tremendous amount of material to draw inspiration from, but because the monster is an embodiment of something so primal, the fear of death, it’s pretty open as to what exactly the zombies can and can’t do in a story.

In my latest story, I opted to have the vast majority be your stumbling walkers. These guys will bumble about randomly unless they hear or smell you. Once then, their drive to eat your flesh overrides any other function in their animated brains. I also decided to have a little fun and include a couple of other types. There’s Crawlers, those who lost one or more of their legs during the apocalypse, and then there’s the Runners. The Runners were very fun to add because they ensure that my characters couldn’t simply run across the university courtyard and be done with it. Nope. If they tried such a feat, the Runners would take off with a speed and drive that couldn’t be matched even by their living counterparts.

Runners also serve as a reflection of my protagonist’s fears. He’s the first character I’ve written about who has an external physical disability that has made certain tasks like stairs and sports difficult for him. So, of course, he must do plenty of both in this story. Zombies in my University is a story about pushing to the real edge of your abilities and not letting excuses and fears hold you back in life.

You can follow the story of Sam, a college kid trying to escape his dorm room after the Zombies have ravaged his university, on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Here’s my cover:

Posted in Horror | Leave a comment

Crossing a Threshold

Published August 21, 2012

August has been my best-selling month ever, with almost 70 published titles across Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and, most recently, Kobo. It’s been an exciting experience watching my daily average of sales take off as I steadily write and publish.

It’s truly an amazing time to be a writer. For the first time in history, I can sit down, write a story, and share it with the world in a matter of hours, using only my computer. Self publishing is a new industry and it’s one that I hope will be here forever. It’s just too convenient to ever go away unless some seriously disconnected legislation passes through in an effort to recover ‘lost’ tax revenues. That’s a subject for another time. This post is a celebration.

I have crossed the first major goal I set for myself when I started back in November of 2011. It was an outlandish goal. One I never dreamed I could reach. But not only have I met my $200/day goal, I’m looking to obliterate it before the end of the month. Why $200/day? It was just some crazy number to grasp after.

Now that I’ve reached it, though…It just doesn’t feel real. It’s actually possible to make a living through the work I love. While I still plan on becoming a teacher, I’m never giving up my writing. It’s too integral to my life…my thought process. Anyways, here’s to the future.