Summer state of the union! Read on for what released, what’s upcoming, and what I’m working on.

What’s New

Hauntings: Two Tales of the Paranormal released June 27. This is a pair of novellas by me and Dina James, and my contribution is a Livi novella, Ashford’s Ghost, which takes place after Odin’s Spear and dovetails into the third novel.

Four months ago, Livi successfully killed the afreet who abducted her family and tried to murder her. Then she took over his villa and made it her base of operations/home, as any respectable treasure hunter in need of better digs is wont to do. But this house is haunted, and she’s starting to think the ancient murderer she used the Seal of Solomon to destroy might not be entirely dead after all. Isolated in the house by a violent snowstorm, Livi is trapped with a dark force gathering strength by the hour, threatening not only the safety of her family but possibly her very sanity.

Kindle US | Kindle UK | Kindle CA | Kobo | Nook | iBookstore | Smashwords | GooglePlay | Payhip| Print

It was serialized for Patreon supporters in the months before release.

West Is Best

New on Patreon is also the West Is Best Club for members supporting at $10+ every month.

Part of that reward tier involved a second monthly snippet, which I sometimes have trouble fulfilling, but I have tons of West POV stuff both lying on my harddrive and that I write for fun.

The writers I’ve read who have success with Patreon suggest keeping it focused on things you already do: previews of what you’re already writing, behind the scenes looks at writing/revising, etc, and West POV stories certainly fall under that.

I’m starting with…

What I’m Working On

West Is Best Club is getting, for starters, a West prequel novella (will be a novel by the time revisions are done, though) called Tiger’s Memory. It’s about his first solo assignment for his agency, his first girlfriend, and how things go terribly wrong for him on both counts.

I’ve been working on it for a few weeks now and have added over 20K words already, still on the first act. It was originally a 27K novella just for me to get so background stuff figured out, but I’m delving deeper now, developing it a bit more, and I’m having a lot of fun.

There are no plans to sell it any time soon. I am, as always, exceptionally good at writing shit I will never get paid for, but for the first time in a while I’m having a blast writing. West and I get along very well–it took nearing the end of the first draft of Solomon’s Seal for him to start revealing anything to me, but now he never shuts up and I am a cat lady, so we have a good writer-character relationship.

Livi #3 was set aside briefly as it’s just giving me so many headaches. I had to rearrange a few scenes and try to figure out what’s been bothering me with it. I strongly suspect this is going to be one of those books that needs heavy revision, and perhaps more sets of eyes than I’m used to; I tend to get by with excellent beta-reading and copyediting, but this one’s really, really rough. I hate this book. I will finish it eventually, but in the meantime I loathe it.

It will not be out by the end of the year as I’d hoped; I’d rather delay books than put out something subpar. This means a big gap between releases, which is going to hit my pocketbook. I guess the question will be whether I hate Livi #3 more than Wolfe and if I’d rather jump into revising it, or what else I can consider releasing. I don’t think my heart can take a Demons of Oblivion short story or novella (fun fact: Oblivion crushed me too!). I have a (very) dark YA paranormal series with four of five books complete but I’d like the fifth done before launching it because, well, I know it sucks to wait and wait and wait for a final book in a series.

Some Patreon Thoughts

To be honest, doing a few things exclusive for Patreon (like Prey and Resist) makes me feel badly at times for the loyal readers I know can’t afford monthly support. I support a couple of things on Patreon myself at the lowest offered reward tiers as I don’t have the $$$ every month to support everything I’d like to, capped at about $5 a month, and that means missing out on some work by favourite writers at this time.

But I can’t sustain myself on book sales alone, and I’ve always been fortunate in having a few readers able and willing to give more beyond buying books. If I’ve learned anything over the years of asking for (and accepting) financial help, it’s that some people like to be patrons and one can reciprocate in other ways–for me, by sharing the stories I love. I’ve also learned that I have to be willing to do whatever it takes to survive in the arts so, well, here we are. Many friends and family chip in a few bucks a month as well–Aunt Judy was originally my very first supporter.

If you can’t kick in monthly, that’s totally okay!

If you have the spare pennies and would like to, there are lots of fun things you can get starting at a toonie a month. With my first of the month snippet, I’m including writing-related essays now, and at higher levels there’s swag, signed books, and soon I’ll be doing behind the scenes looks at the writing of stories.

What’s Upcoming

Only confirmed thing atm is Ashford’s Ghost as a single release probably late fall, no ETA yet. All Patrons of Snark will be getting a long-ish Livi Christmas story about her first Christmas in the villa, set after Odin’s Spear, the first of December (that one I might offer on Payhip for 99c afterward).