The next one is here! You can listen to Solomon’s Seal at Everand now.

EX-DEBUTANTE. SINGLE MOTHER. TREASURE HUNTER.

Disowned and left penniless for getting pregnant as a teen, former celebutante Olivia Talbot was willing to do whatever it took to provide for her daughter…including become a treasure hunter. After the Pulse hit, activating relics of legend, there are plenty of artifacts to be had—not to mention wealthy clients willing to pay top dollar for them.

Just as her daughter’s private school tuition cheque bounces, Livi gets an offer that could be the break she needs to return to some semblance of her former life. A powerful man wants her to travel to Ethiopia and retrieve the Seal of Solomon—a mythical ring said to control demons and djinn—and this bounty comes with one hell of a financial pay off.

The deadline: a week. The team: unreliable. The competition: her world-renowned archaeologist older brother. Nothing Livi can’t handle… Except the danger goes beyond a few subterranean serpent-dragons she might encounter or tangling with her employer’s deadly second-in-command. This client isn’t all he seems, and handing him the ring might be worse than what he’ll do to her—and her daughter—if she doesn’t.

There’s a dedicated audiobook page now because some people only do that format, with the same FAQs I’ve already covered.

I haven’t listened–a few friends have heard the sample and liked it, and said the narrator really got it (she was one of my suggestions, based on a friend’s suggestion) including West, and I trust them so I hope readers enjoy it.

You have no idea how much I wish I could at least have gotten the seventh book drafted so it would at least be “done-ish” and I wouldn’t be in this place, but I am so severed from these books now I don’t even feel like I wrote them. Still hoping to come back to it, and maybe if I sell enough of something I can get that time devoted to focusing on it (which is what last fall was supposed to be but…yeah), but I can’t predict that right now.

Odin’s Spear will be available on May 6, I am told…which is also Waverly 4’s release date. Honestly, no wonder I’m a basket case this month, besides the fact that it’s April (so many death anniversaries, I’m always terrified of another hitting, and this past weekend was really rough on me) there has been the boxset release, three audiobooks now, and the main planned release coming in three weeks.

At least the fall will be quiet?

I know the ebook already had one, but I mean the hardcover.

I should probably title these things like “cover reveal” and make a big deal out of it right? Well, normally I just do a new cover and then put it on the website for a year or two until the book comes out. I don’t expect it to be an exciting thing people are anticipating, but at least it’s something new checked off my massive list.

This one has been plaguing me for a while, I couldn’t manage to do what I saw in my head, and it’s tricky sometimes to find something that’s close to a scene in the book but can still be giving the vintage, painted treatment and look like an old-school mystery cover. I gave up trying to find stock photos that looked like the image in my head and instead just looked at stock photos and considered what I could do with them. I spent today on it, and now I’ve finally got something.

But first, a word from WAVERLY BARBIE.

I am an extremely normal adult human person, yes.

She has a laptop, tablet, notebook and pencil her messenger bag. I am getting her a little camera. I’m not entirely sold on her head but it was the best option and she’s got more of a smirk than a smile, so that works. I also need to make her a little bear charm necklace.

It’s been in progress for a while, just picking up a piece at a time. I’d planned to have different outfits for her but getting those skinny jeans on was a challenge and so they’re staying lol (seriously THERE IS SARAN WRAP AROUND HER LEGS).

Okay, okay, so: the hardcover!

Here she is.

As usual: no generative AI, it’s a combination of stock photos, filters, and a lot of digital painting.

I might try to do the fifth book’s hardcover scene while I’m thinking about it, just so it’s not left to the last minute.

Besides the local maps, behind-the-scenes look, and vegan recipe (still writing that out), this one also has the novella Haunting at Hayward House, which was in StoryBundle last year, and a short story Too Long to Stop Now that’ll be available to patrons this December, both set after the fourth book.

Yeah I’m gonna max out my page count allowance here for hardcovers at KDP; it’s a big book.

Three posts in just over a week, I know, I’m shocked too, but I hadn’t expected Dweller out yet (I expect Solomon’s Seal maybe in the next few weeks since it was in production around the same time). I’ll probably disappear again for a few weeks until it’s time for the quarterly state of the union here.

And don’t forget to check out Dweller if you haven’t! I’m getting really great feedback about the narrator’s reading of it, which thrills me to know she really “got” Norah’s voice.

Surprise! The audiobook for Dweller on the Threshold is up at Everand today for subscribers!

Amidst the 2020 pandemic, Norah Sloane has been sheltering in place with her ex-boyfriend—the equivalent of three toddlers in a trench coat pretending to be an adult—who abruptly informs her he thinks she needs to move out. Coincidentally, her estranged father has just died and left his family’s home to her, and in a fit of defiant frustration, she packs her bags, her cats, and all the toilet paper, and drives five hours north to the tiny village of Hope Falls to claim her inheritance.

Selling the big, partially renovated old house during a global pandemic is out of the question, but the bills are paid for a few months to give her time to get on her feet. It’s the best solution, all things considered.

So what if it’s haunted?

FAQ time! (Or I don’t know about “frequently” but I have been asked these questions either today or in the past few months.)

What is Everand?

Everand (formerly Scribd) is a subscription service for ebooks and audiobooks, kind of like Netflix (or Kindle Unlimited or Kobo Plus but doesn’t require exclusivity like the former). You pay a monthly fee to get access to a bunch of books.

Why is the audiobook Everand exclusive?

Because they paid me for the privilege lol, and they produced it. The exclusivity period is for three months or so, then you’ll be able to continue to listen on Everand as part of your subscription or you’ll be able to buy it elsewhere.

Where will it be for sale later?

Audible, Kobo, Apple–the usual. I do not have a date. I expect sometime around July.

Is this human narration or “AI”/digital?

Human! This was a very important clause in my contract. I was also able to offer narrator suggestions (and offer pronunciation guides) and they picked one of my suggestions, Hannah Church. She is a person–actress, narrator, etc–and this is vital to me because I am 100% against cutting human voice talent out of the process (even though this means most of my titles won’t be in audio as it’s cost prohibitive for me).

I have not listened yet, I’m not sure if I can (I struggle with auditory processing, and also I don’t know if I can “hear” someone other than how I heard it in my head) but I’m told she does a very excellent “FUCK YOU, GREG” vibe, which is extremely important.

What purchase/listening option gives you the most support?

So buying it later puts the most money in my pocket (I don’t yet know how much, probably a few bucks). However, listening at Everand is also really appreciated because the more popular the audiobook is, the more likely they are to contract more audiobooks from me (for more on that, see below). So if you listen on Everand with your account and want to buy it later, that’s great! If you listen and really love it and want to toss some more pennies my way to support Shawn, I have Ko-Fi or PayPal (or Patreon).

Will more books come out in audio?

Right now, Watcher of the Woods, and Livi Talbot 1 & 2 (Solomon’s Seal, Odin’s Spear) are contracted.

For there to be more, please give these (when they’re out) and Dweller some listens! Audiobooks are costly to produce so Everand needs to see people listening to, and buying, these books. It would be nice to sell more Livi books and maybe The Silent Places and/or The Taiga Ridge Murders.

Where are the other links to buy it again in ebook/print?

Kindle – Kobo – iBooks – Nook – Smashwords – Payhip – Paperback – Hardcover 

(I’m working on a large print paperback edition.)

I’m 100% new here: will the cats be okay in this book?

NOTHING BAD HAPPENS TO THE CATS.