Well! This year is certainly a thing that is happening!

The past week has been much better for productivity, but I’m finding my anxiety coming out in less expected ways. I’m competent and calm in crises but that energy still goes somewhere, so for me it’s been often VERY uncharitable thoughts (that I have to remind myself not to use my outside voice for), and I find email/conversations really exhausting.

If I didn’t have to work, I’d be writing. All the WIPs are just flying in my brain at all times and I’ve been doing project research on the side. Very few writers I know are productive right now, but for me, I find storytelling comforting so my brain has decided “Oh, I know this feeling! Let’s write books where we make sense of everything again!” (More on this shortly.)

Of course yesterday the news dropped that The Last of Us 2 is being delayed indefinitely due to the pandemic. It was due out Feb of this year, then that was pushed to the end of May, and I’d scheduled time off work accordingly. Now ????

I’m incredibly disappointed. I don’t have a lot I look forward to and this game was top of the list (with Wonder Woman 1984). Particularly right now, although I know it’ll be a hell of a brutal game, I was looking forward to the catharsis of it. (AND JOEL! *sobs*)

I do worry about this sense people have that they can just postpone or rearrange things for when “everything gets back to normal”. That is unlikely to happen–this is the new normal. The likelihood is that social distancing will probably have to be in place for months yet, and even then, nothing is going to be quite like it was before. The point of flattening the curve is to keep the healthcare system from collapsing; we’re a long ways off from a vaccine (and people are so fucking stupid they’ll likely not get it and then claim cayenne pepper can heal them), so people will still get sick and the virus will still spread, it’ll just be better distributed over months instead of hitting all at once.

Adapt and survive.

So here’s the quarterly book update! I already don’t rely on public launches or bookstores, so little is changing around here. (I am braced, however, for something bad to hit me this month–every April. Every. Damn. April. Last year it was Gus–so. Yeah.)

What Released

Counterpoint: Always Kill a Boy on the First Date released the end of January. Zara Lain goes on a date, and it (of course) ends badly.

What’s Upcoming

A first-book bundle of Solomon’s Seal, Bloodlines, and River will release in Dawning as a Kindle exclusive on April 21, which means it’s free to read if you have Kindle Unlimited, giving a sample of three of my paranormal series.

Join the dawning of a new adventure with three complete first-in-a-series novels by urban fantasy author Skyla Dawn Cameron.

In SOLOMON’S SEAL, treasure hunter and single mom Livi Talbot caves, climbs, dives, battles serpent dragons, tries to outplay her famous archaeologist older brother, tangles with mercenaries, and takes on a client who isn’t all he seems–while trying to make parent-teacher meetings and wrangle her six-year-old. Features: a smart and capable though entirely human Lara-Croft-meets-Gilmore-Girls heroine, found family, the slowest burn romance imaginable, and high-octane adventure. NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Lilith Saintcrow calls it, “Whip-smart, gritty, and fascinating.”

In BLOODLINES, narcissistic vampire Zara Lain is making her living as a thief turned assassin when her witchy best friend hands her a contract that turns out to be a very bad idea on a very bad night that disrupts the entire supernatural world. Armed with a lot of weapons, a couple of allies she doesn’t trust, and a whole lot of snark, Zara takes on this new unknown villain and uncovers a shadowy organization that will have long-reaching consequences in the coming apocalypse. Features: a lone-wolf heroine out for herself, car chases and gunfights, lots of naughty language, and did we mention the snark? Bitten by Books says, “This not-to-be-missed release rocks from word one.”

In RIVER, defiant, moody, nocturnal River Wolfe sounds like a typical teenager, although she’s anything but. River is a werewolf, once the alpha female of a wolf pack turned into a human and with no way to change back–or at least until she finds the mysterious human who changed her. As if being stuck in a world she hates, with a life she never asked for, and faced with a destiny she doesn’t want wasn’t bad enough, River still must find a way to survive every human’s greatest challenge: high school. Features: a werewolf who has to face her inner human rather than battle the beast within, found family, forgiveness, and a frequent desire to murder people and bury their bodies in the woods. Also reluctant vegetarianism. ParaNormal Romance Reviews says it’s “…a terrific book, filled with unique and well-drawn characters, realistic dialogue, and a great deal of humor…”

After that, it’s time for Elis O’Connor!

Blood Ties has been posting on Patreon and will conclude in about three weeks. I’m working on a round of revisions right now after initial edits were returned, then I’ll be sending it to my copyeditor. Release date is June 2!

Elis O’Connor kills people.

“Garbage men”, to be exact—the predators, the abusers…and the occasional mansplainer. It scratches an itch and, since the death of her mother sent her spiraling, it hardly seems like the worst way to pass her time in a post-apocalyptic city crawling with demons and dimensional tears.

One thing she doesn’t do is save men.

But when a woman comes to her door for help finding her missing cousin, she realizes she might have to do just that. Because while Elis would love to send her packing, this cousin isn’t just anyone: he’s Elis’s estranged older half-brother Dev, and he’s gotten himself into trouble even the considerable magic ability they both share can’t get him out of.

Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Nook 

Other 2020 Releases

I am really hoping to have a non-paranormal mystery/thriller out in the fall. I’d planned it to be the first Waverley Jones mystery but I’m halfway through a domestic thriller, and if I buckle down and finish it, that’ll close out the year.

There’ll also be something probably late summer or fall.

Hmm.

Not sure what that’ll be.

What could I have possibly finished last month?

Any guesses?

Turns out a global pandemic is a GREAT time to write about a character dealing with undiagnosed severe anxiety and depression while terrible things happen. WHO KNEW??

That’s it for me today–I’m having a mental health day, someone got me the new Resident Evil 3 remake out today (S.T.A.R.S.!), I bought way too many appetizers, and I’m playing my first game of D&D tonight (online).

Well, here we are, the start of 2020, which still feels like the death throes of 2019. Of course the Chinese New Year is January 25, so theoretically it is still 2019 and maybe things will improve then. I’m still about three months behind in my head, the fall was so stressful and I was sick for so long that it all kind of disappeared without me realizing it.

Here’s you quarterly update!

What Released

Both Lovers’ Quarrel and Emaleth’s Cat were last minute things done after the last update, and the River story had been in my head for a couple of years so I didn’t expect to finally get it written, which is why I didn’t warn about any of these things in October.

First up: Lovers’ Quarrel

This is more of a vignette than a short story, covering the direct aftermath of Shiva’s Bow and leading to the opening of Yampellec’s Idol. It was written mostly for me, but I decided to post it for all patrons at Patreon in November. It’s not available for sale but remains there exclusively.

Here’s the post announcing it.

Next: Emaleth’s Cat

A lot of my fall was taken up with very stressful, expensive pet stuff. Two younger cats to the vet with unexpected things, my elderly kidney cat died, and my kitten Shawn had some irregularities during his checkup so I ended up going ahead with a cardiac ultrasound.

He’s fine, thankfully, but combined with my other elderly kidney cat needing a check in December, I spent about $2600-ish total in three months, and I could only work part time hours in the fall due to illness, so things were pretty rough. I set up Emaleth’s Cat as a fundraiser short story, which helped a whole lot with Shawnie’s ultrasound.

He looks good, thankfully–recommended a repeat in a year to ensure some findings were incidental and not a problem, but I’m sleeping so much better. The short story was sent out to contributors and sometime in the next couple of months I’ll have it on Patreon.

And the final release: How the Werewolf Stole Christmas

This is a River Wolfe short story that takes place after River and is under the First Dates (that end badly) banner because, well, it’s a first date that ends badly.

Teenage wolf-turned-human River hates Christmas. And capitalism. And human customs.

And she’s about to combine all three in the most terrifying thing she can imagine: engaging in the human mating ritual known as a “date”. It’s against every fiber of her being, but she’ll do anything to show her mate that she cares.

Police involvement optional.

Kindle | Kobo | Nook | iBooks | Payhip

It’s available everywhere in ebook and was free on Patreon in December.

What’s Upcoming

Two things are scheduled at the moment.

On Tuesday, January 28, I’m revisiting the Demons of Oblivion world with a new Zara Lain novella, Counterpoint: ALWAYS Kill a Boy on the First Date

Snarky vampire Zara Lain decides to end a dry spell by doing something new: she asks out her saber-tooth cat’s veterinarian for drinks.

The guy is nice. The date goes well.

And then all hell breaks loose.

An old enemy is back and willing to do anything to make her save him from an assassination attempt–bribes, threats, and even making her the new target.

Kindle | Kobo | Nook | iBooks 

The day after, a new novel starts serializing on Patreon with two chapters a week–Blood Ties will run for about three months.

Elis O’Connor kills people.

“Garbage men”, to be exact—the predators, the abusers…and the occasional mansplainer. It scratches an itch and, since the death of her mother sent her spiraling, it hardly seems like the worst way to pass her time in a post-apocalyptic city crawling with demons and dimensional tears.

One thing she doesn’t do is save men.

But that’s about to change when a woman comes to her door for help finding her missing cousin. While Elis would love to send her packing, this cousin isn’t just anyone: he’s Elis’s estranged older half-brother Dev, and he’s gotten himself into trouble even the considerable magic ability they both share can’t get him out of.

The signup for Patreon is here–it’s for all supporters, $1+.

After it’s been through edits in the spring, I’ll set up preorder for a wider release this summer, date TBD.

This is all I have planned for preorder/release at this time, though other things are percolating.

What I’m Working On

Right now I’m getting this first draft of Blood Ties finished–it needed some revisions, some scenes in the middle, and the climax to be fixed up.

I’m also working on The Killing Beach–it would be nice to have that one out by fall. I did have to take a step back in the outline because as I’m writing the current scenes, some bits aren’t sitting right.

The Waverly Jones series was supposed to be a fun, cozy kind of mystery–short novels, something to work on in between Livi books. They’ve ended up much darker, much more complex, and I’ve created a whole lot more work for myself, but it’s also nice to have something else new in progress.

Yampellec’s Idol is on hold for a bit, as previously mentioned. I feel a little better than I did after that post, but a big part of that is working on other things and letting go of all that pressure. This’ll serve as a reminder that until the book is done and slotted for preorder, I won’t be updating or talking about it.