40k

Shadows is about to hit 40k reads on Wattpad soon! :)

Couldn't help but share.

What It Takes

What it takes to write a book:

  

Yup, that's it. Coffee, and cookies, and my butt in a chair. That last one is the hardest part. Especially since these dogs want to distract me so, so bad... I'm babysitting my brother's dog Otis. (Follow him on Instagram here.)

He's adorable, but don't let it fool you, since we've got him he's eaten 3 dish towels, a $600 dollar cheque, a blanket, 2 chew toys, 2 footballs, and more. We can't keep him out of anything, and he has a bad habit of jumping onto the kitchen counters and grabbing anything out there. He's a cuddlebug, though, even when he's biting at you.

I'm determined to finish the new edition of Shadows within the next few hours, though, so I can publish it already! 

I'm hoping I can head up to the she-cave today and record some music in there, since I have no privacy in the house while everyone else is on vacation. I really want to put out a new EP today. Too ambitious? We'll see, lol.

Listen to my latest song here: Maybe You Were Right

Back on the Bandwagon

I'm hopping back into writing and being productive. I'm putting out the new edition of SOSAS in a few days so I'm trying to finish it tonight so I can write a short story before morning.

Today I'm recording a couple new tracks or even an entire EP. I'm slowly getting the hang of cutting and enhancing vocals, so that's nice, and I'd like to apply it and put out something that feels more professional than my last few EPS.

The other day I went wild and bought like 15 or 16 new stock images and made a bunch of new book covers and I'm in love with them, so I have to do something with them. 2018 has not been half as productive as I hoped it would, so, I have to do something about that...

Hopefully I can update later today and say the new edition of SOSAS is publishing!

Rich Bitche$ Don't Die

Can we talk about how iconic Iggy Azalea's new EP is?

It's a bop.

I've also been listening to a lot of Sky Ferreira's cover of Voices Carry;

Truly iconic! She needs to put out a new album pronto. I do appreciate that the photo she used for this track is totally taken from Huji Cam, because, damn, do I relate. That app saved my life. (And aesthetic. Which is arguably more important.)

Honestly I've been putting off writing for days to work on music. I'm working on a novella about gargoyles right now, but God knows when that will be out. I still fully intend to publish the new edition of Souls of Salt and Seawater this month, and update the current edition of Shadows with a clean, firmer round of edits. However I probably won't be able to put out the special edition of Shadows until next month.

It's pesky to wait, I know, but I'm juggling a lot and I don't want it to feel rushed or sloppy. These characters deserve better.

I have so much cool shit I wanna put out, but it's hard to keep up a constant work rhythm.

Or maybe I'm just making excuses for myself >.>

I wanted to put out the second Shadows novel before 2019, but it will probably come out in like mid-2019, I'm not going to lie. Which is disappointing, but again, these books deserve better than me rushing and being sloppy. I rushed out Storm of Masks early because I felt a big pressure to be more prolific and now I'm stuck in the boat of rewriting it entirely. And it will be a better book because of it, but it's embarrassing that the old version saw the light of day. Lesson learned.

In the next couple of months after revitalizing some old titles, my focus will be on hammering out a bunch of novellas and short stories. Like dozens of each. And I'm going to sit on every last one of them for at least a month and a half before putting them out.

So that's what's happening work-wise.

On the other side of things I've been doing my usual; vegging out, obsessing over the internet, drinking too much coffee, worrying about how it will affect my health, ignoring said worries to make even more coffee. You know. The works.

Honestly the other night I almost died, because I stumbled across a video of Michelle Buteau on YouTube and was almost shook enough to perish.

I hate standup comedy. It's just not my brand of humor and it doesn't help that most of my exposure to it had been watching really old white men just say straight up offensive things and then act like they made a joke. Which is stupid. And I'm into dark and/or racy humor, I like when people poke the bear and pull stunts, it's just those other comedians try to do it and it falls flat.

Then they cry about the PC police when really...it's just not that funny. Joke about race/sexuality/gender if you want, but make it entertaining or do something unique with it, you know?

Michelle does that. Her set was so good. When she called herself Raven Raven-Symoné I deadass had to pause the video because I was cackling too hard.

Her Dutch in-laws sound hilarious and her set was endearing and cute enough that the risks she took with more edgelord material didn't come across as hollow or trying too hard. It balanced out well and it just works. Plus she has a great personality and presence so she owns whatever she's doing--including when a joke bombs. Which, really NONE of the jokes should have bombed, but the audience was clearly shocked and didn't know what they were getting into with her, which makes it even funnier, because she gives zero fucks and makes it clear.

Obviously I immediately went and followed her on Instagram. Which, again, is weird for me, because I HATE standup comedy, and that's most of what she does for a living.

I just finished reading a short gay romance novella I downloaded the other day, and now I'm reading an m/m fantasy novel, and it's freaking wild. It's called Slave by Kate Aaron, and it's exactly what it sounds like; a slave in a fantasy world who is the only surviving member of his nomadic clan rescues another slave (a captured soldier from another country) from an auction by buying him to keep him out of the hands of more cruel, sadistic masters who want to rape and/or torture him to death.

So the main character is jealous of this new slave because he wants to continue being their masters favorite, and the new slave wants no part of any of it, except he kind of does because he comes from a homophobic country where men aren't even supposed to touch outside of fighting, and he may or may not be falling for the main character.

It's m/m/m between the two of them and their master and I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it? Like, slavery is BIG BAD. And the author kind of acknowledges that? But in a way that's like "Yeah slavery is bad, but our personal experience as slaves is cool because we kind of got lucky, so let's ignore all the iffy moral asides and focus on the romance, kay?"

I don't love that approach. And I'd like the world itself to be expanded on more.

HOWEVER. It seems like the sequels will get a little more political and ramp up the fantasy elements over the gay sex elements? And also develop their master further, which is good, since he's the only character of the three I don't love or understand so far, so him winning me over in any way would make his literal legal owning of these two other humans a lot more palatable? Because as it is I don't trust him? I mean I don't think he's /evil/ or would hurt them, but he's kind of ignorant of their situation and experiences?

Either way, the prose is quick and concise and the character dynamics are interesting. It's mostly a character study with fantasy window dressing. Which I'm cool with, I guess.

Anyway I'm going to wrap this up because I have way too much to do to keep blogging, but I may post again later today with some special stuff! 

Thanks for reading!

Check out my books here.

Someone Free Grimes (Plus Adventures in Puppysitting.)

Remember when Grimes put out the best album ever? Remember how we've been waiting for new material ever since and it hasn't happened?  Remember a couple months ago when she posted shady Tweets about her label and gave us some tea?

The only new music she's put out since then is a snippet of a new bop in an Apple commercial:

It sounds like a bop for sure, but we need it now, not later. I'd love to hear the full version. I'm glad more artists are going independent. Even if it means lower budgets at least it minimizes situations like this with shitty labels. It happens in publishing too, people get fucked over by their labels and publishers and management all the time. There are shady business practices and betrayals and drama. It makes my head spin.

I was watching an Emma Blackery video (I'm waiting for her new album too!) earlier where she talked about a chain bookstore basically blacklisting her and refusing to list her book or promote it because she got mad at them on Twitter for violating a release embargo on the book. Since when is that okay?

It's wild to me that people's entire careers are subject to random whims like this on the part of people higher up in the chain. Or to bandwagon hate, because that happens and ruins careers too. It's also weird how so many artists in the past just couldn't put things out on their own, at least not if they wanted decent exposure.

Now we have the Internet and everyone is kind of enabled to build a brand and name for themselves off of nothing. 

I recently put out a new EP on my SoundCloud called Plucked From Orbit:

(Listen Here)

I don't really make music with the expectation of being known for it or it gaining a lot of attraction. I just like tooling around with synths and different sequencers, and I like making glitchy sounds and album arts. For me it's more about enjoyment and the concepts than making /actual/ bops.

Although I do want to learn to make more mainstream sounding pop bops eventually. Right now I'm basically creating ASMR sounds :P

I'm supposed to be working on a new edition of Shadows to put out next month. But I'm a serial procrastinator, so instead of writing the new novella Lovecursed or updating my notes, I'm planning a new edition of Souls of Salt & Seawater. And listening to lots of Billie Eilish. Not gonna lie.

I've also just been stewing over how many good movies are coming out.

Aquaman, The Nun, Godzilla, that new Bella Thorne movie with the ghosts (it looks cheesy as hell, but that's half the fun) and stuff like Darkest Minds, Glass, Mary Queen of Scotts. I'm really excited for Riverdale season 3. Cults and supernatural elements? Sign me up. I didn't expect them to go full supernatural until season 4, but I'm all here for it.

A couple weeks ago I spent an entire royalty check on vodka, 'cause that's the kind of irresponsible human I am, and got smashed. My parents were having a huge party with dozens of people milling around and bonfires and camping and stuff, so that was a mess, and I didn't want to be sober throughout it, and I'm guessing neither did Kuma. We also babysat my brother's wild dog during the whole ordeal, and the thing is vicious. Also, my selfie stick finally came! Here's some snaps from the weekend:

(Otis is cute but don't let it fool you! He bites! He still thinks he's a lap dog, too...)

(Me & Kuma!)

(Testing the selfie stick, lol)

Now the vodka is all gone and I'm left with an empty wallet. Next time I get paid I'm buying charcoal toothpaste to remove the coffee stains from my teeth, and some charcoal face masks to go with it. I need to do something about this breakout. Ugh. 

I've gotta go take the dog for a walk and then come back and hammer away at this new edition of Shadows so I can finally share the cover with you. I only made it yesterday so I can't act like I've been sitting on it long, but it feels like it. It's very Pirates of the Caribbean... And I really have to go finish it, so I'll leave you with this here:

Thanks for reading!

Buy my books here.

Shadows of Ourselves New Cover! (Cover Reveal)

Y'ALL. LOOK AT THE PRETTY STUFF:

I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS COVER! I CAN'T EVEN!

I designed this cover for Wattpad, because I wanted to see if I could attract some new reads by changing up the face of the book. I love it so much, though, I might end up putting out a paperback edition of it at some point.

I'm working on buying stock for book two so I can have a cover in this style for that as well, with Hunter on it. I've already made one but I don't know if I love the model for Hunter, so I'm gonna re-do it once I buy the new pictures.

Anyway, I'm back to working on Dru Frost book 2! Which also has an amazing cover. I can't share that with you until I have a draft though, so...

Book Reader Magazine Author Interview

Hey y'all! A while back an interview I did went live at Book Reader Magazine and I don't think I ever posted it! You can read it here!

I know in my last post I promised an update soon, and I will write one, but tonight I'd rather be working on a story I can publish soon. No offense or anything. :P I'll try to post info about my next project soon! I have a lot of things planned.

I'm Always Internally Screaming

So. New Blog theme. Again. The old one wasn't really fitting for an author blog; this one has a simpler layout and I feel like it will make it easier for people to browse old posts, so for ease of access (and aesthetic needs) here it is.

I have a lot to do tonight, including writing two new short stories and a bit of fanfic, so I'm just going to keep it short and say I have new content coming soon. I'll post a new blog later today or tonight about what I've been up to--I've been playing a cute new game I found and binge-watching The 100 so it's nothing too exciting, but it's something.

Later, y'all!

TinyLetter! ...and Dragons.

I have a new (kind of new) mailing list! It looks prettier than my old one. You can find it here. Right now I'm starting work on a new project, and all I can say about it is: dragons. It also has a beautiful cover. I'm having a lot of fun with it, unlike other projects, where I've been dragging my feet in the mud for weeks.

I really wanna write a Blood of Midnight sequel soon, and I have to rewrite Storm of Masks entirely to republish it as Fated Bites, so the next Liesmith book may get pushed back to 2019 or even 2020...but now that I say that it sounds ridiculous and no way am I waiting until 2020, lol. I'll just have to work my ass off and cram.

Right now I've been listening to a lot of Doja Cat and QVEEN HERBY while I write, but I've also been producing some new stuff of my own :)

You can listen to Trap here.

I make original instrumental music, and I started posting some of it under the banner of my IMVU avatar, Mila. Because of course. I went through a huge IMVU phase when I was thirteen, spending time at my aunts house. I didn't have home internet and I'd stay with her because she let me use the computer 24-7.

So like any closeted Gen-Y kid would do in God's years of 2006-2009, I stumbled onto IMVU and made a string of accounts to get free promo-credits, all while drama ensued between me and various strangers twice my age, along with my friends who I convinced to join and meet up with me via Facebook Chat, only to abandon them whenever I got tired of the room we were in.

Ah, the memories.

Anyway I downloaded it again recently and made a new account to see how much the graphics and designs have improved, and was pleasantly surprised how nice things look and how much fun it still is building an avatar. And I will fully admit I threw down 20 bucks on IMVU credits to get Mila the fashion stunts she deserves, okay?

YASSSS QUEEEEN!!!

I'm probably too attached to this digital human, but she can afford a decent wardrobe and I can't (Probably because I spend my money on digital clothes instead of real ones. Or books, always books.) so she provides me with iconic looks, which we all need to survive in this harsh life. Or something.

I've also been sinking cash into Lords Mobile, but I'm done now and I put myself on a strict ban. It's still addicting though, even though they make it next to impossible to level without waiting for hours and hours to recharge or spending cash on it. Don't you love a scam?

Anyway, I came here to write a post plugging my new mailing list and ended up plugging my IMVU avi and forcing my music on y'all, so I'm gonna cut this short and go write something new. Probably fanfiction, because of course I'll spend my time on that instead of my original works. I have no common sense, and if you think I did it's because I pulled the wool over your eyes!

Later, folks <3

I'm not dead, just fighting writer's block

I think the title explains itself so I'll just leave you with a bop, lol. Hopefully I start hating the shape/size/positioning of my desk less in the near future. It doesn't help that this house is built on a big hill and is inevitably a little slanted, because of course it is. 

The April EP

I posted an EP on SoundCloud earlier this month that I never talked about here. It's a little ambient/instrumental EP.

And yeah, that's lil me on the cover. I think that's when I was five or six.

Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't been active here much; I'm planning Shadows book 2 so I can start writing it very soon, but I have to reread the first book before I get too far into outlining. I'm also balancing two novella projects on the side. So, yeah, I have my hands full.

You can listen to THE APRIL EP here...


I'm going to try and get it up on Spotify in the next couple of weeks, but it's a real dick to get the file conversion right for my distributor, which is why I never posted any of my old music there. Either way, you should check it out if you like relaxing synth sounds and pop stuff.

I'm going to come back here and redesign this blog soon because it needs a new layout. Or I might do it tonight while I procrastinate actual work...

Differently

The new Marion Hill song is amazing. All their music is, but this is just...wow.

I'm gonna play this on repeat while I work tonight :)

But There Are Good Days Too

Last night I complained about marketing being too much work. I complained about writing being hard. I wrung my hands in frustration because every word I put on the page felt like I was stepping in mud, and it was weighing me down, and I'd never be able to finish another book.


Then, I took a break. Counted to five. Opened my wip. And I wrote 6000 words, almost without stopping.


There are good days.


You can power through writers block.


It just takes a lot of willpower. And lots of coffee. And maybe the chapter you put down isn't your best, but it has something special to it, some little flair you love, that's keeping you excited for when the time to edit comes. Sometimes that can be enough.


Rewards are little things when you write all day. We work alone. It's stressful, and tiring, and sometimes the best feeling in the world is knowing you hit the 6k mark, and that tomorrow might be a little easier.

The Struggle Is Real

Marketing is torture. Seriously. It's the worst part of being self-published.

My books won't sell if I don't push them on people, but my anxiety refuses to let me. It also makes writing painful sometimes. Like tonight. Which is why I'm writing this blog post instead to rant about it.

Sometimes when I'm writing it feels like I'm flying, and I hammer out like seven thousand words in a sitting and walk away glowing, feeling like a boss. And then sometimes, like tonight, literally nothing sounds more painful than writing.

I'm struggling to put down a single chapter, let alone more than a thousand or two words. It's uncomfortable and it has me on edge.

Normally when it isn't flowing, I just do something else. Tonight I'm forcing myself to keep going, because I'm determined to put out two novellas next month, but I have to be honest, every word feels painful. Even this blog post is giving me difficulty.

Sometimes I can sit down and write about whatever is in my head--I talk about stupid tv shows I like or what I'm listening to. And sometimes that's fun. Most of the time it is. Then there are nights like this, where it feels pointless, like I'm just adding to the noise and I have nothing important or useful or meaningful to say.

The truth is, some of the joy goes out of writing once you start having to constantly stress over the financial aspects of it. I'm worried about how good my writing is or what vibes I should go for with a project, and then it's compounded with whether or not it will even sell, or how I'll get reviews for it when I can't even email a book blogger without having a mild identity crisis.

I know I'm not the only one who goes through it, either, but this can be a really lonely profession. We all feel that. I get it.

Still, it sucks.

For tonight, I'm just going to remind myself I've done this before and I can do it again, too. I've written 50,000 words in five days. I've written 75,000 words in fourteen days. I can do this. I've finished seven books, what's one more, in the grand scheme of things?

I'm going to take a deep breath. Keep writing. And hope for the best.

New Review Banner

CuriousCompass Logo

HOUSE OF INK IS OUT!

House of Ink is finally out! The pre-order was only ten days, but it felt like forever. I mean, like, ages. Please go give it some love on Amazon if you can!

I love this book, y'all.

It's short, sexy, simple. It's giving my Cosmo Knox pen name some much-needed attention, because I feel like I haven't published anything steamy there in a while.

I'm going to be doing some book reviews in the future (under the post moniker Curious Compass Reviews) so keep an eye out for those posts! It will mostly be m/m romance reviews, with other fantasy titles thrown in here and there for good measure.

That's all I really got for y'all today.

Please, PLEASE (with double cherries on top) go buy and/or borrow House of Ink on Amazon, and hopefully post a review. You can get the story HERE.

House of Ink ARCS

House of Ink ARCS are available now on InstaFreebie! I'm super excited for people to read this. It's fun and hot and fluffy, and I still can't stop drooling over the cover...

 

*Swoons*

 If you do grab an ARC, please post a review on Amazon when you're done! I'd love to hear what people think of this one :)

AwesomeGang Interview + House of Ink Cover Reveal!

I did an interview over at AwesomeGang the other day, and it's live :) You can check it out here!

I also just posted a new Cosmo Knox book for pre-order; House of Ink is the first book in a series of the same name, featuring erotic gay romance novellas with inked hunks and the twinks they love. :) I'll post links when it's live! It's out on March 5th, if this pre-order is approved!

Here's the cover:

Go & Kiss Everybody That I Know

Title from the song 'Good Good' by Lo.

So. I'm here. Still alive. Still writing. I'm launching a new erotica pen name so I can bring in more income. I used to write and pub erotica before I launched my Apollo Blake & Cosmo Knox names, and I can't afford not to go back to it now, it's just too profitable, and I'm not bringing in enough cash from the books I feel truly passionate about.

These are still fun and fluffy to write, but not what I really, really /want/ to write. I look at it as more of an exercise or practice. And it does help nail down crucial author skills.

Still, once I pop out a few fun, cute erotic romances, I hope I'll produce a steady stream of income to focus on, in this order:

Gaze of Starlight (BoM book two)
Riot of Souls (Deadheart book two)
Whispers We Let Die (Liesmith book two)

I know people REALLY want a sequel to Liesmith, but it will take a while. I wrote book one in 14 days, but then I let it sit for nearly a year. Editing only took 20 or so days, though. So there's that.

I just need it to be one of, if not the, best book I've ever written. Because that's what Shadows of Ourselves is right now, and it's sequel should top it, at least a little.

This series is gonna be epic, I tell you that much.

I'm gonna stop talking about writing and go write, but I'll update again later, hopefully with some chicken casserole in my stomach and more coffee beside me! 

Star Wars Movies That Would've Been Better Than Rogue One

A lot of people liked Rogue One.

We don't know why they liked it, but they did. I've seen them talking about it. A lot.

In my opinion, it's the worst Star Wars film, or at least tied for last with Phantom Menace. I know it's popular to hate on Phantom Menace, but whatever, I'm jumping on the bandwagon. The best, IMO, is The Force Awakens.

Rogue One, though? Rogue One is just...I mean, it's Pompeii in space. Minus Kit Harrington's abs. Which is always a great disadvantage to start at.

I haven't seen The Last Jedi, because I'm poor. AKA I'll be waiting the entire sixth months until it arrives on Netflix. I've heard it's a hot mess, though.

I'll reserve judgement until I see it, but I have seen Rogue One. I mean, I've seen parts of it. Like the first hour, I think. I can't power through your movie when a cgi robot has more charisma than your entire human cast, people. I'm sorry, I just can't.

Especially when the script gives less of a fuck about these characters than I do.

So, I thought I would come up with some ideas for better Star Wars Anthology films that they should have made instead. And still should make. Hire me, LucasFilm. I will be good to you.

NIGHTSISTERS: a movie about one of the Dathomirian Nightsisters Talzin hired out as an assassin; the journey she goes on, significant kills, maybe she goes rogue (¬‿¬) & disobeys orders so they could still get that rebellious vibe they wanted? 

FORCE PRIESTESS: we deserve a movie about the Force Priestesses and their planet, which, let's be honest, is the SW version of the Garden of Eden. It also has that Journey To The Center of the Earth vibe going for it. We could also just get a movie about a human character travelling to find said planet & immortal women.

ESCAPEE CLONES: set during the clone wars; two clones fall in love (mildly incestuous since they're all cloned from the same guy I guess, but whatever) and run away. Adventures follow. There are so many directions an escapee clone story could go down it's mind-blowing.

STRANDED: a Twi'lek pilot crashlands on a mysterious planet and is hunted by large, scary, ravenous beasts. Definite Alien vibes with this one. A horror survival film set in the EU. It's what we need.

FORCE RIVALRY: in which two siblings, maybe twins, awaken their force-sensitivity at the same time and each drift to different sides. Each of them has a romance, it's epic in scale and culminates in them going to war and fighting to the death. Maybe the twin who's fallen to the dark side wins but are filled with such remorse for killing their sibling that they revert to the light somehow?

ICARII: An Icarii traveler and explorer who survives the genocide of their people vows revenge on the Empire, joining the war in some fashion. Or maybe it's set before they were wiped out, and it's a political drama about Selestrine's rise to power? Either way.

BASTILA'S DAD: He was a charming treasure hunter. Indiana Jones in space is way better than Pompeii in space, right? Wake up, people! Raiding tombs on ancient, uninhabited planets? Sounds like my cup of tea.

EARTH: a group of idealist humans, maybe some form of escapee prisoners set out to leave their war-torn, corrupt corner of the galaxy and colonize a planet far, far away (¬‿¬) and end up going through a wormhole or some shit, at which point they reach a new, crystal green-and-blue planet, Character A asks what they'll name it & character B says 'Earth' ... cut to black. Yeah, it's corny as fuck. I miss when movies were allowed to be corny.


I could do this for days. I could go on and on.

In fact, after I see Last Jedi and Black Diamond, I probably will make a longer list of potential EU stories. Because I miss my middle school fanfiction days, if I'm being upfront. I skipped school to read gay Harry Potter fanfiction, and now I'm skipping my deadline to write this sloppy ass blog post for you.

Feel free to post links to the worst Star Wars fanfic you can find in the comments! That's all, folks!

***

You can buy my books here.


Or follow me on Twitter here.

Gotham City Sirens, Now, Please

They made a Suicide Squad movie before a Gotham City Sirens film. How much of a jackass do you have to be to do that? Dozens of people had to approve this at various levels, right? Can we fire them?

Gotham City Sirens will be better than Suicide Squad, AKA, A 2-Hour Commercial. Mark my words. Nothing will ever be as iconic.

Nothing.

I mean, Margot Robbie doing that elevator run in heels in Suicide Squad without a stunt double kinda rivals it. But only that.

I'm also really excited for Marvel's Runaways. I haven't started it yet, because I want to binge.

Also because I'm not willing to pay for Hulu.

I mean, I really feel like Hulu used to have a free, ad-supported version, did they not? I might be hallucinating. Or they might've just removed it. The only reason I was ever interested in Hulu before was for the Delirium movie, but that sucked.*

*Sorry Emma Roberts. You just didn't do the thing, sis.

There's also Black Lightning and The Gifted. I think those are the only other superhero shows I'm interested in right now. Those and Jessica Jones, of course. She's in a league of her own though.

I think this is all on my mind because I'm writing a story from a villains' point of view right now. Or outlining it, at least. And it's going to be fantastic. And diabolical. But I can't talk about it until I've written it, so I'm gonna go do that.

***

You can buy my books here.

Or follow me on Twitter here.

A Song For You

Here's a song, just for you. Yeah, you. And it's a bop. You're welcome.

You Can Have This

You guys can have this... It's a link to my Medium!

I'm posting there now, and I love it. I'll be cross-posting stuff from this blog there, but it will also contain original content and posts you can only find on that site. :)

If you're wondering when new material is coming out... SOON!

Right now it's time to update my old ebooks, publish new editions with new formatting and updated social media links, and then, THEN, I have two stories in a new series called Island of Gods coming out as my first releases of 2018.

If you like creepy, Lovecraftian tales full of body hair, eerie vibes, and tentative self-discovery & unraveling...my new stuff will be right up your alley.

Fury & Rage Repackage

As you can see, Rage & Frenzy are getting makeovers! This will be the new look of the Unbroken anthology series from now on! I'm in love with these designs and I think they fit the books much more than the old ones.

That's honestly all the news I have. Pretty covers. I'm sure you're all getting sick of that, because it's just covers and not new stories...which is why I'm hard at work on new material. And I'm gonna get back to that now. 

I'll post links in the next few days when these are live!

The new editions of Fierce Powers and Blood of Midnight are both live now, here! Thanks for all the support you guys <3

New Year, New Theme

Things are looking pretty different around here. Obviously. And I like it. The New Year is a time for change, and all that...

Honestly I was just starting to get bored of the old one.

I only posted 34 times last year, which isn't half as much as I wanted to. That's like, one month's worth of post. In a year. I'm going to try to be a lot more active in that regard in 2018. Plus, with a flashy new theme, I'll want to hang out here more. It is really simple (I even kept the default colours) but I like it.

In fact, I think it might be my favorite blog theme yet.

So, there's that.

My other main goal for the year is to put out more full length novels. I put out a bunch of novellas and short stories in 2017, but for the first year in like four or so years I didn't put out a single full-length novel. I could've buckled down and written Riot of Souls, but I never did, so now I'm in this boat and I have to start bailing out water.

Yup, 2018 is my year to buckle down and put out a bunch of books. My goal is five or six. Plus some novellas and shorts in there for good measure.

In that vein, here's the paperback cover for Blood of Midnight:

It's really pretty and text-free and simple and it's gonna look fantastic in person. Now I just need Amazon to stop fucking around and accept the formatting for it, which they've refused to do twice in a row. Hopefully the third pdf is the charm?

Something Pretty...

Remember the new edition of Fierce Powers I mentioned in my last post? It's a thing now. And it's really pretty.

 

I'm in love with this cover, for obvious reasons. I hope it will turn more heads than the old one, which didn't really suit the book and was kind of bland.

I just published this so I'm hoping the new version will be live in a few hours. I'll post when it is!

The Dru Frost Chronicles

Happy New Year everyone! I'm definitely ready to start a fresh year and wipe the slate clean; it's been a really long, distrestting, bleak year. I was stressed and didn't really confront my problems head-on the way I should have. Honestly I spent most of the last half of the year in a hibernation state. I feel a little like a zombie.

In 2018 I'm going to be much more goal-oriented and really throw everything back into my books. I wanna start working to get more titles out. I think if I publish five or six more books I'll finally get to a point where I can sit back and take a breath. My portfolio just doesn't feel big enough, and a few more full-length novels to pad out my catalogue would be nice.

Even though I've got plenty of books out, it feels as if I haven't shown off my true range or abilities as an author. I've been slacking for months so I'm taking the new year as an opportunity to cut it out.

In that vein, I'll be republishing Blood of Midnight with a new cover! The Evernight Falling Series is also being renamed The Dru Frost Chronicles. I feel like it suits the series better.

Here's the new cover:

 

I'm kinda in love with it! I know it's risky to publish a cover with no words, but I've seen it before and I like the vibes, even if it seems a little rebellious... (Besides, Dru would approve.)

I've been trying to redirect some excitement and attention in the direction of this series, because as much as I love Blood of Midnight, it's been the biggest flop out of all my full-length novels. I don't know if it's due to the lack of strong marketing presence, the presentation, the lack of reviews, or allo of the above. Probably all of the above.

Mostly I think it's because vampire books are so saturated.

It probably doesn't help that I wrote a kind of unconventional plot with an open-ending and that I stomped on the corpses of a bunch of popular genre tropes. Whatever... :)

Which is why I felt like it needed another makeover and the new series name. I'll be writing and publishing the second book soon--in Tears of Sunrise Dru will be a YouTube medium who spends her time offline exorcising evil spirits--and I wanted to really try and give the books a better online presence so that book two will have a warmer reception.

I'll be looking into sending BoM to a couple book bloggers in the next few weeks, but in the meantime if anyone would like a review copy of the beautiful new edition, copy below and I'll send you an ebook! :)

I'm also going to work to get paperbacks of this and all my other titles out before the halfway mark of the year. I've been slack with paperbacks because the formatting is such a pain, but I'll be fighting my way through it in the next few months!

I haven't really been doing much except sitting around getting stoned and listening to pop music for the last few weeks, which sounds like a dream but has honestly been really boring. Christmas vacation felt like purgatory, complete with really bad writers block I kept trying and failing to break through. I also got the flu a week before Christmas and spent days and days in pure hell. I got bronchitis during my bout of the flu so I couldn't breathe and I was bed-bound for days and days.

That experience was agony. Honestly, I got so restless. Sneezing so much also gives you a headache. I couldn't smoke any weed since I had the flu and bronchitis, obviously, and I couldn't drink coffee since caffeine aggravates the flu, so I was going into withdrawal and cravings from both because I'm so unused to not having them (seriously, my diet is 90% caffeine and smoke) that I started losing my mind.

At one point I had the worst migraines I've ever experienced, remembered caffeine withdrawal exists, and drank a small glass of Pepsi to stave off the symptoms. I felt like I was drinking a healing potion in a video game, I kid you not. The Pepsi saved me. (The Pepsi saved me may just be the most poignant thing I'll ever write, sorry not sorry.) I'm fully recovered now, but it still sucked.

In more positive news, Shadows of Ourselves has been rising more and more on Wattpad. It just broke 12k reads over there, which is the best X-mas gift I could ask for. I'm really proud of that book and the fact that it's my most popular feels really validating!

Aside from that, my only real publishing news is that I'll be slapping a new cover on my anthology Fierce Powers. I don't know how to market it because it's such a weird mix and match of stories, but it should at least look pretty, right?

I'm really only excited about the new Winchester movie (who doesn't love weird giant haunted houses?) and all the cool new music coming out in 2018...

Kimbra has a new album coming out, Ariana Grande has an album coming out, Melanie Martinez has an album coming out (which, despite the controversy surrounding her will still be full of bops) you know Troye Sivan won't put off his second album another year...it's just going to be a really good year for music. In all truth I hope Trisha Paytas puts out a couple new EPS this year.

We won't get any new Game of Thrones until next year, but you win some, you lose some. At least we still get the Tomb Raider movie, right?