It’s release month and I don’t really have time to even think about that, which is probably both good and bad. But I’ll get to that.
What’s New
Still no Witch Hunt yet but it’ll be out later this fall. It should go much smoother next year with Soul Spell–it’ll be out for copyedits in the spring and should release in paperback in the summer in time for Hell Fire to start serializing at Patreon.
New Patreon shorts have gone up–there’s a Waverly backstory short, Once Upon a Rainy Day, and a Pru POV one set after Yampellec’s Idol called She Will Be. I’ve got a West one in progress as well that’ll go up for his tier probably next week set while he’s off on his own hunting the Nostoi while Livi’s busy in Charon’s Gold, and all patrons will get a new Christmas one in December about Livi set after Charon’s Gold.
The bimonthly vignettes/shorts are part of a reward for reaching a huge Patreon milestone ($500/month) and are available to all patrons because every dollar counts and has supported the writing of these books. And patrons can make suggestions!
Although it’s not exactly book-related, I did put a lot of work into the two-part patron podcast thing, Letter of Shaming a Murderer about That Murderer from That Viral Thread in August. Part 1 covers my dealings (and correspondence with him) in 2014; Part 2 covers the discovery of his arrest, trial, and conviction (and yes, I name names). It’s for the Patreon writing tier at $2/month.
Other than that, Soul Spell has continued serializing, and nothing else releasing as everything has been gearing up to this month.
What’s Upcoming
Well…I guess we should talk about this thing.
Yeah after a lot of stressing and fears it would be delayed, I’m still making the release date of October 25 and some copies are out in the wild between paperbacks and patrons who get eARCs.
I don’t even know what readers are left at this point? Because apparently I had the great idea to have a slow-burn buildup full of red flags that turned off readers thinking “Oh, this’ll be another alpha male douchebag romance. 🤮” early in the series and then last book pissed off the ones who had stuck around because they thought “Oh, this’ll be another alpha male douchebag romance! 😍” (FWIW: I don’t think West is an alpha male douchebag; I think he’s self-isolating, deeply traumatized, and doing his best, but I recognize some people see things differently.) I’m hoping everyone left is “Yes, I love messy people trying to work through their shit” because, well, that’s apparently my jam. I’m much more interested in how damaged people with a lot of baggage work through their issues and heal (against a big epic backdrop) than playing out another version of “her love heals him” (or, worse still, her love doesn’t heal him but she just accepts a toxic relationship).
Anyway. We’ll see! The most important thing (or so I tell clients when they want reassurance) is that I have been telling exactly the story I want to tell, the story I’d want to read, so at the end of the day at least there’s that.
It’s probably best I don’t have a lot of time to dwell right now–I’m working 10-12-hour days including most weekends and my most recent bloodwork still had inflammatory markers despite the fact that I feel fine so my medication dose has been upped and…that’s fun. I’m very tired and I don’t have time to breathe let alone celebrate a new release (boo) or bracing for people hate it (yay).
So. Preorder! Please don’t hate it–or don’t tell me if you do!
Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Nook | Smashwords | Payhip | Paperback
Next up…I have a release on February 14 for Valentine’s Day!
…yeah, it’s horror.
Bless you if you’re excited by all the new romance books in February–I’m glad you have that–but me, I just want horror and murder. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Because Witch Hunt‘s schedule was all messed up and I didn’t get it out when I’d intended, I spent the time revising that when I should’ve been doing another pass on Watcher of the Woods, so I’m a little behind there but the copyeditor is ready for it when I’m done and it should release on time.
I wrote this one for NaNoWriMo last year and while it’s set in the same world as Dweller on the Threshold, it’s not a sequel (and has a very different narrator). In some ways it’s much darker than Dweller and certainly is less funny, but I ended up very proud of it.
eBook is up for preorder now and it’ll be in paperback and hardcover in February.
And of course, at last, Waverly Jones starts next year!
The Killing Beach (aka the book that took me four years to write) is up for preorder everywhere, May 30 2023, and there’ll be not only paperback but a special Nancy Drew-style hardcover edition upon release.
The second book, A Wild Kind of Darkness, is out November 7 2023. The third, Alone at Night, will either be spring or fall 2024, depending on when the “final” Livi book is done.
The second Livi boxset (containing Shiva’s Bow, Yampellec’s Idol, and Charon’s Gold) will be out everywhere but Amazon next September.
And, of course, Hell Fire (Elis O’Connor #4) should start at Patreon summer 2023.
What I’m Working On
I mean, mostly I’m working on keeping my head above water.
I thought I’d been careful with my schedule this year but I ended up squeezing in a lot of favours and now I’m drowning, particularly as I’m trying to keep up with writing commitments–I love freelancing and working with my clients but I’ll have to change things up next year for sure. I only have two things on my plate at the moment but they’re both big ones, and in addition to that I really need to finish another pass on Watcher of the Woods, write Silent All These Years (Waverly #4), finish some Patreon rewards…and, oh yeah, start working on Hell Fire (Elis #4), and Untitled Livi 7 (trying to make that into a series ender for public release is heaping a lot of extra pressure). And there’s another couple of horror books to write. And I’m hoping to write Untitled Waverly 5 and Untitled Waverly 6 before next spring so that I’m super ahead of the game.
(Yes, Norah MacBeth is from Dweller on the Threshold–there’s a book-within-a-book in Watcher of the Woods and I’m going to write that book under Norah’s name because I love that premade cover I did and someone bought it for me.)
So I’m likely not doing NaNoWriMo this year–last year I wrote 150K, so I tend to go a little overboard and I just don’t have time for that this year.
But I have to be writing something. I’ve been exhausted and stressed the last few weeks, unable to even rest because all I can ever think of is just How Much I Have To Do, but when I finally finished a short for Patreon I felt a ton better. Turns out I don’t need (much) rest, I just need to actually write! Who would’ve guessed lol.
Anyway, this was a big one. Expect a couple more Soundtrack Sundays on the blog this month in preparation for Charon’s Gold‘s release. Happy October–I hope you get lots of fun spooky books to read, and please hit me up with horror recommendations! (Ones where animals don’t die, thanks.)
Writer of urban fantasy, thrillers/mysteries, and horror.
Holla!