It’s very hard to write books when everything you love is dead. Also hard to do: get up, work, clean, bathe, breathe, not cry, have patience with people who discard their cats like trash. But alas I manage to do most of those things, even if it takes longer and is quite taxing, and last night I finished the fourth draft of the third Livi novel.

There’s still a fifth draft to go. And copyediting. And proofreading. But it’s a big chunk of work done at last, and the book is now up for preorder.

But first…

What’s New

The West prequel novel, Tiger’s Memory, is complete, polished, and available at Patreon for folks $10+.

The prequel novel about West’s first major assignment, his first girlfriend, and how it goes terribly wrong for him on both counts.

Before he was known as brutal operative Dale West, he was Suh Dae-il, a twenty-year-old rising star in the agency who escaped a North Korean prison camp five years earlier.  Charismatic, brilliant, and manipulative, he’s the perfect spy—right up until he’s assigned his first target.

Becoming the person who could convince a girl to flip on her family means submerging himself in another world entirely. If he disappears in this other persona completely, he risks losing his job, his purpose, and the people who gave him a new life after he fled hell; if he remains the operative beneath the surface, he could lose the girl he’s fallen in love with when she learns the truth about his subterfuge.

Either way it may not matter when agency operatives and their targets in the area are killed. Dae-il is in someone’s crosshairs—someone who shares his unique abilities and has no qualms about his girlfriend becoming collateral damage in a mission that will change the magical landscape of the entire world.

That’s about all I finished. The Livi Postcard Story is in progress at Patreon, and I’ve just started Solomon’s Seal from West’s POV.

What’s Upcoming

Mark your calendars…

October 16, 2018

Yes, the title changed, but the cover hasn’t.

Preorder: Kindle US | Kindle UK | Kindle CA | Kobo | iBookstore (more coming soon)

This is a big book. Current draft is at 121 525 words (Livi books are normally 106K). That might bump up a bit as the book needs some prettying up–I try (and hopefully succeed) to make Livi’s books very visual and cinematic, but this one was difficult to just get all the pieces in place. Next draft will smooth it out. I’m frightfully insecure about it because it was so difficult, and I know it’s a year behind schedule, but I sincerely hope it’s worth the wait for readers and y’all enjoy it.

This book has…

• Livi vs a terracotta army!
• The elixir of immortality!
• A hot Australian treasure hunter!
• SEA MONSTERS!
• A sort-of apology for Certain Things in Oblivion!

I think when I’m done hating it, I will ultimately be very proud of it. It caps off Livi’s character arc nicely–if I ended it here, it would make a solid trilogy of books, I think. There are of course more–I’m writing the fifth right now–but Livi is on life support and can use all the help she can get. Please, during the blood moon/eclipse, sacrifice a virgin or two (I mean, whatever you can find) and at least half a dozen unicorns to whatever deity of your choice and maybe sales will increase.

The countdown is on to be thanked in the acknowledgements of Emperor’s Tomb! Like the producer credits on the movie, Patrons of Snark get thanked for their monthly support in all my books. Join for as little as a buck a month and get added to the acknowledgements.

Then, coming either next month or in September,

The Oblivion bundle will be on Kindle Unlimited for three months before distribution is expanded elsewhere. Here’s the table of contents:

Bloodlines
“Thrall”
Hunter
“Malice”
Lineage
“Sunrise”
“Whiskey Sour”
Exhumed
“Fated”
“Prey”
Oblivion

It does not include 9 Crimes (or “Aftermath”), Damaged, “A Vampire Walked Into a Bar”/”Zombie Faeries”, “Resist“, or Dial V for Vampire.

I wanted to give the series a quick proofread (again) but I haven’t the mental capacity for it, so that’s why I’m being vague on the release right now. So…”soon”.

What I’m Working On

Besides more revisions on Livi 3, I have other stuff in progress I’m not ready to talk about yet. When I have details, I’ll share them, I just don’t like to jinx projects in early development.