bloodlines

The "When's That Book Coming...?" Update: Winter 2012 Edition

How about an updated book state of the union? Plenty has changed in three months.

* Exhumed: Complete. Awaiting a second draft from me in the spring. I have to do some schedule shuffling so there's a strong chance this release will be summer now.

* Amends: This'll be hit when I'm done with my writer burn out. I finished two books back to back in Nov/Dec and really needed a break from writing. I will update my blog when we're back on track (hopefully within a few weeks).

* Oblivion: This is the fifth book, after Exhumed. I don't need it done summer/fall but it's tickling my brain. I think it just needs to percolate awhile longer and it'll be ready to start. Currently I'm jotting notes down on my murder board and I almost have a first draft of the jacket copy written.

* Solace: I'm plotting this one as well (it's the sixth). I likely won't start it until the end of the year, but then sometimes I surprise myself.

* In Darkness Waits: I'm going through that thing again where I'm struggling with the voice and wonder if it's supposed to be in first person. The book won't tell me. None of you have read it, though, so you don't much care but I still want the first draft of this done by March.

* Godless (Dess bd 5): It's still baking in my head.

* Ashes: It's likely a trunk novel so I pull it out and play now and then.

* CotA 3: I'm re-reading everything written so far and I'm hoping before I dive back into another book, I'll get my feet wet finishing up this one. Fear not! It's on my radar, at least.

* Haunted: I have to edit the other novellas coming out before I can get to my rewrites on this.

* River/Wolfe omnibus on Kindle: Delayed as I haven't the time to proofread with extra work stuff. *pushes to bottom of to-do list.*

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I think that's it. I need to write a post about other stuff and I'm trying but I keep thinking I sound bitchy so haven't saved it. For now: bitching at me that the series isn't The Zara and Nate Show? Yeah, that's not going to change. They're not the main characters of the series--they never will be--nor can I write books that are carbon copies of Bloodlines. If you feel you have to suffer the other books for moments of them, you're probably going to be really disappointed. Baking cupcakes might be a better idea than reading stuff you'll hate. Or write fanfic. Fanfic about cupcakes. Or something.

Please send me fanfic about cupcakes. Yeah, I think that was my point.

Dear Readers: Exhumed Is Done

Last night I finished a very-rough-in-a-lot-of-places draft of Exhumed. This is the fourth book of the series and the first of the novels to go back to Zara as narrator.

I can't talk a whole lot about it except that a) it was very difficult to write and not just because b) it has lot of sex compared to what I normally write, c) it delivers (I hope) on things set up in the first three books, and d) though I knew the end point, it still surprised me.

I am very, very excited about this book and I hope it's everything Zara (and Nate) fans want it to be. Of course I can't give much away, but you'll find the first chapter in Lineage (and depending on if you get the ebook from Mundania or the paperback, you'll also get a short story that relates to it too), and next year I'll have some exclusive excerpts on my Facebook page that only those who "like" the page will be able to see.

But I *can* give some of my favourite lines...

Could this possibly be any more awkward? Nah, if I said that last part aloud, the God of Awkward Ex-Lover Moments would leap up and do a jig on the coffee table.

"Maybe give me some kind of warning before you attempt to kill me if I’m sleeping. Like, put some dramatic battle music on my iPod. I think there’s an Epic Fight playlist—"

"Okay, Edward, the rapey alpha male thing is getting a little old.”

It was like some weird, triple date. Except my companion was batshit crazy and not in the "let’s sing songs by Air Supply during karaoke" kind of way.

“Whatever, dumbass. It’ll send you to hell immediately. Do not pass GO, do not collect two hundred dollars—just hell where your tender Christian flesh will burn and be molested by Satan."

"There’s a vampire, a quarter-demon, ex Venatores Daemonum member, and a psychic. Now that I have a warlock, I have a complete set to sell on eBay."

"I’m not some vampire scum: I am Zara-Motherfucking-Lain. I wear designer heels, I take what I want, I visit hell upon anyone who disagrees, and you *will* show me respect."

Happy Holidays to you and yours! Don't forget the Holiday Sale where you (yes, all the yous, including the douchebag you hitting my site today looking for illegal downloads) can get DRM free ebooks in all formats, no geographical restrictions, for 25% off.

Me, I'm going to a movie with my mum tonight, as we used to on Christmas Eve when I was a kid. Tomorrow I'm having her over for a brunch and then we'll have dinner with my aunt's family and grandpa. Have a great day!

Holiday Sale

From now until January 2, you can enter the coupon code SANTA (unless it's santa--I don't know if it's case sensitive or not) at checkout when shopping at Mundania.com to receive 25% off your order, including both print and ebooks.

You'll find fab books by fab people, including my very talented authors: Dina James, Sarah-Jane Lehoux, Frances Pauli, J.A. Saare, Adrienne Jones, Judy Bagshaw, Melinda Skye, Elaine Corvidae, Krista Ball, and so, so many more (wicked talented veteran authors like William Greenleaf, Louise Cooper, Piers Anthony, and more).

Also, ME. We'll talk more about Author!Skyla in the new year with my resolutions/goals post, but for now... Lineage is out in February so if you want to catch up on the series, now's a good time.

Book One: Bloodlines
After three hundred years of unlife, vampire Zara Lain has seemingly done it all, and she's now making a living as a successful thief-turned-assassin. Her newest assignment seems simple enough--kill the aging leader of the O'Connor Coven and his only heir, and she'll have another ten million in the bank. But in the dangerous world of the supernatural, few things are ever "simple.

Book Two: Hunter
Sometimes natural predators need to be kept in check, and for that, there's Ryann David. Orphaned as an infant and raised by an exiled branch of the church to become a warrior for God, she and her fellow members of Venatores Daemonum have trained all their lives with only one purpose: destroy all demons in the mortal realm.

You can also get the rest of my backlist and the anthology Bad-Ass Faeries 2 with my short story "Whiskey Sour".

Hunter Giveaway

NOTE: This is closed. I drew a name Friday, contacted the person on Saturday. Prize is being sent off. Thanks for playing!

I have a big stack of books here.

Okay, not that many now. I sold a couple. Gave away a couple others. But you get the picture--I have more Hunter than I currently know what to do with.

Want one?

I have to go to the post office in a few days to mail stuff, once my paycheque transfers and I have more than $8 to my name (glamorous life of an author, y'all). And I want to send YOU a book for Christmas/Solstice/Horus's Bday/what have you.

Yes, yes, how do I enter?

Leave a comment on this post.

That's it. Really. No hoops. No song and dance. Signed book from me to you.

When do you pick a winner?

On...um...let's say Friday, maybe ($ may not transfer 'til Monday, but we'll see), I will randomly pick a winner from the comments here. Just include your email address when you're replying (you'll see a spot in the comment form) otherwise I'll go to the next in the list as I'm not chasing anyone down.

That's all?

Of course, I'd love you to RT the link. Or click my new, lonely "Follow this blog" link to the right. Or like me on Facebook. Or post reviews of Bloodlines on Amazon. Or send me cookies. But it's cool if you don't.

I haven't read the first book in the series, Bloodlines.

Hunter features a mostly different cast of characters. You can follow it without reading the first.

Sometimes natural predators need to be kept in check, and for that, there's Ryann David. Orphaned as an infant and raised by an exiled branch of the church to become a warrior for God, she and her fellow members of Venatores Daemonum have trained all their lives with only one purpose: destroy all demons in the mortal realm.

But when Ryann and her team are sent to hunt down a vampire who has killed one of their own, a new world of danger, betrayal, and conspiracy greets her. Allied with an irreverent psychic detective and the very monsters she was raised to kill, Ryann will risk everything—her life, her faith, and her heart—in pursuit of the truth as the black and white existence she knew turns a murky shade of gray.

Want to know more about it? Read the first four chapters in a PDF here. Also, WLP gave it 4.5 Stars, Bells gave it 4 Bells, The Romance Studio raved (despite the lack of romance), and Mel's recommendation was "Hell yes!".

Is this giveaway international?

You bet.

Why don't you give away more than one?

Because I have another novel coming out in FebruaryOMGFLAILOMG and if I get my ass in gear and try to plan some promo (gulp), I'll give away more stuff then.

So there you go. Go forth and enter.

What Happened with NaNo

I began with the best of intentions.

1. Finish Lineage. I had 20K or so to go as of Nov 1.

2. Simultaneously write a book for NaNo, 5th and final on in this unpublished series.

I finished Lineage last Friday (and I wrote most of that 20K in three days, 7400 words on Friday OMFG but thank you Write or Die Desktop), which was much easier than trying to juggle two of them at once. And I want to switch over to Godless, but...

I really don't have a fucking clue what will happen.

I always was a pantser but I've moved towards...I don't want to say "plotter", but stories have a definite shape in my head ahead of time now and I know roughly the arcs, the big moments, etc. Every other book in that series, I've known beforehand, and now this final book--the big one--is where I have to tie everything together, and I haven't a motherfucking clue about anything, even directly ahead of me.

I think all the ingredients are there, they just need time to shape and bake a little longer in my head.

Plus...someone is talking to me again.

I'm doing some initial revisions on Lineage at the moment and it might be easier for me to just stay in that world rather than switch to Godless, especially with Zara yammering in my head. So...

Yeah. We're over halfway through November and I'm changing my major, Mom! Exhumed it is.

I wrote the first 3K words last night and I'll switch over my NaNo details later today. Fine, Zara. You win. Let's get in some trouble.

Favourite non-spoilerish line from last night's writing:

“You do NOT approach Zara Lain, attempt to procure her services as a killer-for-hire, and then punk out on your end of things. And continuing the conversation in this direction will, at best, result in me leaving here without having a business arrangement with you, and, at worst, result me in sending your head back in a box to your boss for insulting me."

Also! Royalties the other day. Yay! Thank you for buying my books. It looks like, however, that 80% of sales are through third party ebook sellers...which means most of you haven't read Thrall (Mundania exclusive Bloodlines ebook and paperback) and probably won't read Sunrise (Mundania exclusive Lineage ebook and paperback). So...I have to shift gears because I do write the books with all those extra stories in mind. Y'all are gonna be in for a HUGE surprise come Exhumed... *cackles*

Books 6, 7, & 8

Yes, yes, there are more books, and now I have to write two for the series a year through 2014.

It all started when book five (Oblivion) at last began to crystallize in my head. Writers probably know what I mean when I say a book has to simmer in the brain for awhile as we do things that don't look like writing--jogging/walking, doing the dishes, staring blankly out the window--so the story can shape. Sort of like working with dough. The ingredients are there but they're a bit of a mess, mushed together, and even if you've tried to shape it, you don't really know how big it will be, if it'll collapse when it's cooked, what the consistency will be, etc. I'd always been a big fuzzy on Oblivion except that I knew it was The Book Wherein I Deliver On Plot Threads Introduced Earlier and it initially did a lot of simmering when I was hacking and slashing on my old Xbox years ago.

Then I realized how it was going to end.

And more books took shape.

So I did what anyone would do...I pitched them to the boss man. He accepted. I'll answer some FAQs below.Read more

Sunrise Details

I debated a lot about what short story to include with Lineage. Ryann and Ellie, for example, are put through the ringer and much of their stuff takes place off screen, so there was a lot of potential there--and it's still something I'd like to revisit in the future if possible. But I had a Nate short in my head and a lot of readers (*cough*) wanted a Nate short, so that's what I went with. It ended up being a perfect lead-in for Exhumed.

I'm still not sure if I like the short story or not; it's written in present tense and while it was a conscious choice with good reasons behind it, I fucking hate pres-tense so I may go back and rewrite it in past and see if I like that any better.

Prepping for Exhumed, of course, it occurred to me that most readers buy ebooks from third party sellers and therefore haven't read Thrall and therefore will be in for quite a few surprises at the start of the fourth book. Just in case, I did pull a few relevant lines from Thrall and included them in Sunrise. I endeavor to always assume just basic knowledge of the previous book and not all the extra stuff, so hopefully nothing will be too confusing.

The "When's That Book Coming...?" Update: Fall 2011 Edition

Everyone wants me to finish something.

Freebie serial readers have asked when Children of the Apocalypse 3 will be done.

Zara fans want to know when Exhumed will be done (never mind released).

Zara fans who either don't buy books and/or are impatient for Exhumed want to know when the next Amends chapters will be up.

Beta reader wants me to finish Dessa 5 (as do the couple of other people who have read some of the other books in this unpubbed series).

I want to do all of the above along with finishing Ashes and IDW, which I can maybe do something with. Mostly, though, I'd like to sit down long enough for the room to stop spinning. This year I wrote one new novel, totally gutted and rewrote from the ground up (and expanded) two novels, and I'm on track to finish another new novel. And it never seems like enough.

Most importantly, however, I have a book called Lineage which has been contracted for *cough* three years now and my last draft has to be in by December for edits so we can make a February 21 release date. It's one I get paid money for, so it will be finished before everything else. If I can jump in late with NaNo, maybe one of the above will be written in part next month too.

So, to answer the FAQs (I try to keep this updated on my author page as well):

* CotA: It's always been my intent to finish by the end of the year. I wrote most of the end of the book--I think I have 3-4 chapters to finish. I will post when it's done. I realize it is frustrating because it's basically one big long story divided into five parts and even when three is done, I'll be leaving it with a cliffhanger because there's a lot to go. But it's still a freebie so I do what I can when I can. I'm also going to try to slip in time to redo the covers. Maybe around Christmas I can schedule a week to devote solely to CotA.

* Exhumed is in my head but unwritten and as I have a novella out next summer, Exhumed won't hit until late 2012. Your eagerness pleases me, though you'll come to regret it when you read the damn thing, or when you hear me tweet "WOE" while writing it. But it won't be seen by anyone until November 2012 at the earliest--I don't even have jacket copy written for it yet.

* Amends will be updated when I can update it. Every 2-4 weeks. Please keep an eye on my blog/FB/Twitter (and chapter five has been up for awhile now).

* Lineage, as said above, is February 21, 2012. Buying the ebook from Mundania or the paperback will get you a Nate short story I'm finishing right now, called Sunrise.

* Dessa 5 (99.5% of you can skip this): It's called Godless and I have a few scenes in my head but unlike the first four, I've no idea how it will end. It also breaks my heart a little to write it and end Dess's story (and Vaughn's, and all the rest) for good, so that could be why I don't want to think too hard about it. They might all die at the end, so I don't want to rush.

So there you have it. What I'm working on and when you may see some of it. I'll do another round up early next year.

I Think Nate Won (+ Writing Update)

Bumping the poll off the top of the blog/book pages as the masses have spoken--I think we're getting a Nate story with Lineage. In fact, Krista tells me Nate should just be in every short story, even if it has nothing to do with that series. Well, I can get on board with that.

Thank you all who have voted! If you didn't get a chance, it's in the blog side bar--scroll down to the bottom.

Okay, public declaration of goal (which means I'll likely fail): if I write about 2K - 2.5K/day of Lineage, I'll be done by the end of the month...which means I COULD start Exhumed for NaNo in November. Will I do this? We shall see. I'm letting myself suck at Lineage a bit more now, remembering I can fix it later--you'd think I would know this by now, but sometimes I need reminding.

In other news, The Romance Studio dug Hunter. It's always a relief to hear people like the nun book. I know there was disappointment I didn't directly continue Zara's story, I know most don't love Ryann like they do Zara, and I know it's a different kind of book--which is why it thrills me so much when readers "get" it.

Soon we'll see if anyone digs Lineage.

Amends is late which you're probably tired of hearing at this point, but if I have writing time I tend to spend it on paying stuff when I'm real busy. I'm about halfway through the chapter, which is a non-fun flashback...dark, violent, and a bit depressing. I'll have it up shortly.

I am making headway in Lineage, though. Wrote a scene last night I adore. Peri, Zara, and Nic are pinned in Zara's parking garage behind some cars with about two dozen guns trained on them. Brief excerpt under the cut:Read more

Lineage Reader Poll

You'll notice a new poll at the top of the blog pages. To quote what I say in the comment on it:

Much like in Bloodlines and Hunter with Thrall and Malice respectively, Lineage will have a short story included in the paperbacks and the Mundania-sold ebooks.

So...who should narrate it? I'm looking for reader feedback. The short will, once again, factor into the overall series and hint at stuff to happen in future books, as well as offer another perspective on what happens in the book. To this end, I possibly might not end up using what readers select (as it is, I'm leaning toward Nate, even though he's not in Lineage at all), but it'll definitely have an influence on what I choose to do. So please let me know!

You can also vote here.

Nate tapped me on the shoulder today while I was cleaning (in my head...if I meant literally, well, I'd be insane, but also really glad it wasn't that creepy Mr. Clean guy or something, and then I'd ask him to please make all the cat hair from my floor disappear and then we could talk more about that Aphrodite Sex Magic Cult he used to be in...but I digress), so I fear I'll have to write a short from his POV regardless. If it doesn't end up in the book, no worries--it'll end up somewhere.

Also, feedback so far on Hunter seems to be that people dig it and seem to "get" the book, which is awesome. That one had me extremely nervous. So I just wanted to say, sincerely, THANK YOU to everyone who has read/bought/reviewed/etc. It really means a lot to me that you chose to spend your time and money on my work. I have the policy of not commenting on reviews (okay, okay, so I did once to give out a spoiler), so even when I want to thank people for reading my work, I don't unless the @ or email me. But thanks to Google alerts, I tend to know about them, and your support means the world to me.

Anyway. If you can take a moment to vote in the poll and/or leave a comment about it, that would be lovely.

Now I have Lineage to work on late tonight. Peri's killing people again and getting into all sorts of wacky trouble with Nicolette, Zara, and Ryann. And I'm about to do something horrible to Ellie.

Amends is still late. Yes, yes, I know. Nearly there.