There Is Nothing But Ice

 It's insane to think that pretty soon it's going to be winter - the leaves all fell so quickly I pretty much missed it. I guess I should look up more. :/

Some insane stuff was happening in my personal life lately, so this blog has been neglected as a result. I didn't forget about it (even though nobody really reads it, or at least very few people do) and I'm not going to abandon it. I mean, I do abandon it for months at a time sometimes, but I always intend to come back.

I mostly just want to keep a log of what I'm working on and when, what my mindset is regarding my books and my writing, etc. It's useful to me when I'm looking back, and it's a nice momento to have for my writing life.

I'm back on Prozac (those aforementioned insane things happening in my personal life demanded I face my demons) so that's slowly been kicking into my system and I'm settling into a new sort of normal. Medicated normal. Which is good, because I need to be. Mental health issues are so easy to ignore and push-off dealing with until it's almost too late, but I got a couple large wake-up calls and I had to rely on my family and my doctor to make the right choice for me.

Prozac worked really well when I was on it back in high school, so I'm hoping revisiting it as an adult is an equal or greater success. I probably shouldn't have stopped taking it, but that's a learning experience, I guess.

Still, stuff will hopefully be better from here on out.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about zombies and dragons, and now I'm working on a project that has both. I have to get them both done before NaNoWriMo, because God Damn, I am going to sit down and hammer out my vampire serial for NaNo if it kills me. And if it does, maybe I'll even get to come back as a sexy fanged goth femboi fiend. :) I bet immortality would be fun. It would have to be that cool X-Men regenerating properties kind of immortality though, because what's the point of living forever if you're not also a super-cool badass?

The first episode of that vampire serial is written, but I don't think I've mentioned it here and I am not naming it until I have more work done on it. I have loose outlines for the first four to five stories. There's going to be six in the first season.

But it doesn't matter, 'cause I have too much to do before thinking about that. No vampires for the next ten days of October; these days are about white blizzards, snow-frosted dragons, and magical artifacts.

I am putting out a pretty new edition of Iceblood soon! Maybe early next month, which seems way too far away even though the dates I'm looking at are like, 12-12 days away, lol. It's not going to have any real changes in it, it's just a new cover to go along with the new sequels and their stunning covers. I love the new cover of Iceblood, though, it's finally just right and it really suits the story more than any of the previous covers. I think Iceblood and Blood of Midnight were the two hardest books to put covers to, for me, which is why they've been through so many.

If I'm being honest, Rage & Frenzy may need new covers soon as well, but I'm not thinking about that right now! Here's a little thumbnail version of the new Iceblood cover for your enjoyment, though:

Books 2 & 3 are going to be called Scoundrel and Catalyst! I hope you guys will really check them all out and enjoy them. And really, I hope enough people buy them that I can afford to get Cyberpunk2077 next month, but that's probably a pipe dream, ha.

More later. Time to write write write! If you guys are doing NaNo next month comment about your plans and motivations below! I'd love to hear about people's preptober activities!

A Day in The Life

All I've done today is stress out, wash dishes, play FortNite, stress out some more, and do a brief blurb for a new book I'm going to start working on. Or I guess I already started working on it. The problem is I'm pretty sure I have a brain tumor, I can't afford an MRI, and I have to make an appointment at a free clinic tomorrow so I can get a referral, which might take months, and in the meantime my head feels inflamed, I've been getting worse and worse cluster headaches for weeks now, and I'm constantly terrified or frustrated about it all. I hope I can actually get into the clinic I have my eye on tomorrow because I don't have a family doctor who can refer me.

I'd ideally like to pay the almost $800 bucks to get a quick MRI done but instead I'll be on a waiting list for like eight weeks which is another whole nightmare because I don't know if I can even survive that long. I keep telling myself a lot of brain tumors (most) I think, are benign, but I have a lot of death anxiety and it isn't helping.

I also have anxiety about the clinic in general, like they won't believe me or will try to give me the runaround, but I'm also reminding myself not to buy into the idea of the worst-case scenario. I'll remember to wear a mask, I'll write a list about my symptoms beforehand, and I'll tell them about previous head-trauma I have in the same area of my skull that could be affecting my current situation. I can do that. It's a simple collection of tasks. But my mind likes to break it all up, make it seem more daunting than it is, and convinces me the entire world is against me, and that it's all coming to an end at every moment.

I tried to distract myself a little this a afternoon by playing video games; I spent a couple bucks I shouldn't have on the Yellowjacket pack on FortNite because I have very little self-control and I know it's a limited time pack before the next bundle replaces it. I got the pink-hooded one from last season, I think it's called Iiris? And Yellowjacket is a better skin, but I wasn't going to buy her until I saw her new all-black style option. It felt like more of a skin I'd wear as a main and I couldn't help it. I do think they'll put out a few more style options for her anyway, especially since she seems to be so popular, so it might be worth it in the long-run. To me she looks weirdly like Selena Gomez, but I might just be imaging things.

I'm going to go and wrestle myself up some dinner, because I have no idea what kind of food we have here. I put out chicken earlier but I probably won't make that until tomorrow, so I might need to make new plans. I've gotta make more healthy choices because my body is like, begging me for some vegetables. I can't keep eating rice, salty noodles, and junk food, that's for sure.

I can hopefully get some work done today on this new project that I truly think is going to do well. I hope. Because I want the money. And the reviews. It's more fun writing when people actually have something to say about it. :)

My Top 5 YA Standalones (Quarantine Reading List Edition!)

I've been eyeing ideas for a couple of different standalone novels recently and it's got me asking myself what I think constitutes a good standalone novel, what makes it more beneficial for a story to be a single piece rather than a series, etc.

In the process I've obviously been revisiting a lot of the standalones I've loved in the past. And I decided a few of them are a little too slept on by the bookish side of the internet.

So, here's my shoutout for my top 5 YA standalones that I think deserve more love. If you're trying to capitalize on your quarantine lockdown time to read more, here's a couple titles your TBR could benefit from meeting.

5: Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan

Do you like revenge? Do you like mysteries? Do you like thrilling, dangerous situations involving rich, beautiful people and their shocking, dirty, blood-stained scandals? Do you enjoy a nice Old American lavish murder mystery aesthetic? If the answer to any of these questions is yes or veering in the general territory of yes, then hi! I have a book for you.

Daughter of Deep Silence is by the same author who wrote The Forest of Hands and Teeth, a popular YA zombie series known for being pretty darn brutal. Here she engages us with the tale of a girl named Frances who, after surviving a devastating terrorist massacre on a cruise ship, takes on the role of her dead friend Libby, with the help of Libby's father, in order to expose the cover-up and show the world the truth, while also taking her own revenge on the people responsible for the mass-murder she miraculously survived. After spending years away in Europe, Frances, now living as 'Libby' returns to America in the wake of her adoptive father's death in order to put their long-laid plans for revenge into play, starting with the senator leading the cover up, and his handsome young son, the only boy on their cruise who ever overlooked the glamorous Libby for the plain and shy Frances. Naturally, hard feelings ensue, as 'Libby' lies, sabotages, schemes, and poisons her way into their lives in an insane, desperate attempt to find the truth and avenge her mother and father, and the real Libby, no matter what it costs her...

Sound insane? Sound amazing? Sound like something you binge-read at 3AM with a flashlight while your power is out? It is. Believe me. Been there, done that. And it was so, so worth it. Pick up a copy of this glamorous book ASAP if you can. (Or order it online, because hey, social distancing.)

4: More Than This by Patrick Ness

More Than This is a mystery box of a novel I think it's best if you go into blind, so I won't spoil too much of the plot. Our main character is a teen boy who just died. Now he's woken up in his old neighborhood, although it seems abandoned and damaged, and the memories of his past that haunt him are his only company as he attempts to discover the truth about his current predicament.

Patrick Ness wrote the Dr. Who spin-off BBC's Class, which only got one season. I thought it was superb YA and I only watched it because of him and because of this novel. I'm not a huge WHO fan, but I'm a massive fan of Mr. Ness and his writing, all because of this book. I first read it when I'd been awake for 24-hours, and was planning to go to bed ASAP. I told myself I'd read a single chapter or two at the most, and ended up staying up and reading the whole book in two sittings. I had to put it down halfway through and go on a short walk because I was way too anxious over the plot and characters. Ness builds a ton of dread and tension by expertly unwinding multiple mysteries and narratives all at once, and it's honestly amazing to behold.

The vagueness of this book, the cover, the blurb, the John Green blurb on the cover, etc, all put me off of it for a while, but when I did eventually grab a copy and get into it, I was so glad I hadn't let my original reservations keep me away. This novel is YA gold and should be considered as such.

Also for those of you who like super gay stuff (as do I) it has LGBT+ content, and it's OwnVoices fiction, too, which is always nice! It's always rewarding to see a gay man get praised and be successful for writing gay male characters, since in the YA sphere, it's usually female authors leading the charge with gay/bi male content.

3: Origin by Jessica Khoury

Origin is the story of a girl named Pia who is immortal and impervious to all injury. Created by a group of dedicated scientists situated deep in the Amazon rainforest, she's the result of dubious genetic experiments and is sheltered, her information about the outside world censored, even as she is prepared to become a scientist in her own right and take over control of the laboratory one day. Once she sneaks out of her heavily guarded compound and meets a boy named Eio in the jungle, she begins to bond with him and his exploited indigenous tribe while they work to discover the hidden secrets of Pia's immortality.

Origin is a book that's close to my heart for various reasons, one being that I saw Jessica Khoury's posts on Query Boards back in 2011 or 2012. I knew of this novel before it was agented or published, and I loved watching her journey as an author. It's always nice to see somebody achieve their dreams and share in their excitement and enthusiasm. Another reason would be the happy memories I have attached to the book itself: in 2012 or 2013 just as I was about to start high school, I went school shopping with my mom one day, we took my dad's truck and went clothes and supplies shopping, it was a beautiful spring day and she let me peek inside the bookstore and pick something out for myself. I was immediately drawn to this book as I recognized the cover and I cherish it to this day as part of a fun, sunny memory with my mom. Which I should consider myself lucky for, considering Pia's mom? She's kind of a nightmare.

Pia's story is about rebellion, self-declaration, and loyalty to a cause, no matter what it costs you personally. I find it beautifully written - I know not everybody loves first-person, present-tense, but for me it's always been a personal favorite. From the mysterious compound and their hidden agendas, to the rush of first love between Pia and Eio, to the intense action scenes, I genuinely adore this novel.

Since its publication it's no longer technically a standalone; it has several 'companion' novels, but none of them are direct sequels, simply books set in the same world and genre about completely unrelated scenarios and characters. The sole connecting thread being the 'Corpus' company. Pia's story is just one of several in an anthology, so I think technically it can still be called a standalone, so I'm slapping it on here. It deserves it.

2: Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

It should be a crime to send your child to school like it's any normal old day after they've stayed up late reading this gem of a novel. Or at least that's what I would tell my own parents if they still listened to any of my insane ramblings. I read this in one night back when I was in middle school. No sleep that night, for sure. It was worth it, even though I was comatose the next day.

Tiger Lily is a novel that demands your attention and refuses to yield it until you've read it all. You can not simply 'pace yourself' with this one. It tells the story of Peter Pan and Tiger Lily, from the perspective of the fairy Tinker Bell. It rips out your heart unapologetically and stomps on it for fun, and it expects you to say thank you, and you should. I was hardly expecting a novel like this when I went into it, but Tiger Lily is that rare book that creeps up on you and takes you by surprise. It lives up to any and all hype; it's lyrical and lush, it's enchanting, like all fairy tales should be, and it reveals a dozen new sides to the story of Peter Pan and adds a new dimension to the life of this famous island and its inhabitants, from Hook to the Lost Boys, to Tink herself.

I have read a few other YA re-tellings/sequels/spin-offs of Peter Pan and I usually walk away disappointed. I ask myself why I even still do this and keep opening a can of worms I know is sour and gross as all hell. It's because of books like this, though, the kind there's no accounting for.

I think Anderson also deserves much credit for writing a firsthand account from a character who hardly speaks, can't properly communicate, etc. Tink is truly a silent witness and it's rare to see an author pull off a main character from a first-person POV like that with such grace. She was at the top of her game here, on every last page. We love to see it.

1: The Minnow by Diana Sweeney

The Minnow more than deserves the number one spot on this list. A heartbreaking, mature-skewered dark YA contemporary with lyrical prose and surrealist imagery, it features an orphaned main character whose hometown was the victim of a devastating flood. In the aftermath of this natural disaster she ekes out a living in a new world that she struggles to cope with, while attempting to balance visits with her aging grandmother who lives in a home and grappling with her own unexpected pregnancy by a much older man. A crystal clear glimpse into grief, trauma, small-town poverty, family ties, and the strength of a community, The Minnow is optimistic, but never naively so, and unrelentingly beautiful; a novel that reads like looking at stained glass feels.

I wasn't sure which genre this book was before I went into it initially; I'd received a copy on NetGalley and I figured the cover was lovely so I'd give it a try. I ended up discovering one of my favorite novels of all time.

The Minnow pulls zero punches, and it's best if you make peace with being heartbroken again and again before going in, because that's what you're in for. I can't stress enough how much I love this novel, the vivid world and characters, and the cutting voice Sweeney uses to illustrate the life of her main character. I think it's one of those desperately underrated books that could stand the test of time and become a classic, if only somebody would shine a light on it, so here I am, trying to do just that.

Thus concludes our (my) top-5! Comment below and tell me what your favorite YA standalone is, because I'd love to check out some more incredible books.

If you enjoyed this list you could always check out more of my content, or pick up a copy of my newest story, Faces in Weeds, a horror thriller set in the south! Get it here.

Love & Fear & Maybe More Robots

I'm listening to Karma by Marina again and I keep thinking that this double-album was underappreciated by the fandom. People on Popheads are always trashing it as her worst release but I really don't know. Karma is great, Orange Trees is one of my favorite songs by her, and a lot of people seem to love Handmade Heaven, like even people who dislike the albums agree that song is good. So. I think there's a false verdict on this one.

Anyway I've got this novella to edit and a novel to finish, and I'm sitting here resisting the lure of a new potential WIP. I HAVE WAY TOO MUCH ON THE GO TO START NEW STORIES. So I am holding myself back by the scruff of the neck.

I WILL get to that other story eventually, but yeah, tonight is all about Force. As is every night until I freaking finish it. I'm not playing around any more. I thought I'd have it AND the sequel out by now so I have to pick up slack. I will say, drafting-wise, this year has been very productive for me. But drafting, and editing those raw materials into a publishable product are not the same thing...I want Force to be perfect before I release it, and the same with these other projects. I want them at their full potential.

The thing with Force is, I can't just edit it; I have to edit it AND use it as a tool to set up the rest of the series. All other four novellas have ties to Force and what happens in it. It's the basis for this whole world. So it's a lot of pressure. Book two is going to be a lot more fun, I hope. Force isn't soul-crushing to work on like some other projects I've been dealing with, but it's tough, high-energy work, that's for sure. I am having fun spending time with these characters, though, especially Kacey and Unity.

All I know is that I would like to publish multiple titles this month and I don't know if that's going to be a realistically attainable goal right now. Only time will tell; it's all about patience. Now I'm going to go and add more androids and robots to this book now, because I just realized how crucial to the plot they are but also how few we see in book 1 compared to the others. Ah, the fun of editing.

This Is Not Enough

I'm still working on editing Force. It's been a long, grueling job - mostly because of my own procrastination, but let's ignore that - and I'm not pulling my hair out yet, but I might be close. Which would be bad, because I cut my own hair recently and I really like how it turned out. I'd rather not mess it up. Or mess up my book.

I was saying on Goodreads a few days ago that it will probably be out on the 12th, which is tomorrow, and that is so not happening. That said it's going to be soon. I'm not even saying a date because at this point it's comical how many times I've delayed this book. Novella. Whatever it is.

I really do love it, and I think it's super good, which is why I need to take my time with it and make sure it's perfect before I put it out. I don't want to have to touch it for another five to ten years; I already have way too many books I need to update the backmatter and front copy material for and it's such annoying grunt work to have to update it every two or three years for every title...

I finished Shadow of The Tomb Raider the other night and was underwhelmed with the ending. I wish they'd announce the next game already, but I try to be patient. It's obvious there has to be another one because, well...money. Companies like money. And in return they better keep blessing us with these Tomb Raider adventures.

Anyway, now it's back to playing Fallout 4 every other night for hours on end. I really, really love the Fallout universe and the atmosphere but I hate that this installment really wants me to care about my randomly generated spouse and baby. Let me make my own backstory please! The Courier was ideal as a blank slate, but I was also fine with the Fallout 3 backstory. The backstory for the player character in 4 is just way too involved and detailed. Dead/absent parents are one thing, but making players roleplay a parent who had a hetero marriage and basing so much of the story around it removes so many roleplay and character options, and that's half of what the fans love...

Honestly if I could have one DLC for this game it would be to edit Pickman and make him a fully fleshed-out character and available companion. It would be so good. Painting with blood only makes you a psychopath if you're not using raider blood, guys. IT'S TECHNICALLY A PUBLIC SERVICE.

It's a lot of fun to make your own characters in video games though, whether you're developing new OCs or just creating versions of existing ones, it's a lot of fun. When I was playing Dragon's Dogma last summer I made Dru and Vincent from my book Blood of Midnight and played with Dru as the arisen and Vincent my main pawn. That game is literally Dungeons and Dragons come to life and I adore it.*

(*And I never beat the game, so I have to go load up this save and play some more soon. I'm like barely into it, and it's huge, and I have so much to explore. I really do recommend it, even though I've been taking my sweet time getting back to it since I got my ps4.)

Aside from wandering the radioactive wastes I have been making progress on Force and the general outline/timeline/plans for the series as a whole. It's going to be 5 main installments ranging in length from 25k to 45k, and at least one short story of unknown length. I'm really excited for it, it's not like it's redefining the superhero genre or anything of the sort, but it is a cool, confident story. It's heavily influenced by the song Coming Right Along by The Posies, at least tonally/emotionally. I was listening to that on repeat while drafting the first story back in November 2019.

I've got a lot of editing to do tonight, but I do have a lot of faith this story is coming out soon. No sooner than it's ready, but soon.

In the meantime my new short story Faces in Weeds has gotten like no love, though not for lack of deserving it. If you'd like to read it you can check it out here for 99 cents. It's about a girl who commits a murder and her attempts to cover it up, and it's set in Georgia. Also, today's title comes from the song All The Things She Said. Poppy just released a new cover of it and I've been listening non-stop. I like it much better than the original, not going to lie.

The One Where I Get Anxiety From Everything & I Play Tomb Raider About It Instead of Coping

I think I've neglected this blog enough for the year. I've also been neglecting my personal diary, so there's enough of that to go around, but tonight I'm saying no more, and I am going to update both!

I have seriously been slacking off lately. My work has gone untouched while I play more Tomb Raider than I have any right to. I bought Rise and Shadow so I've been running through them both for the first time. I love Rise most, it's got the sturdiest writing and I think the world is more open. Shadow is fun though, it's got beautiful puzzles and more challenging tombs, although some of them have wonky spots in them. I also enjoy the more emotional moments between Lara and Jonah. She's been bottling up her angst for an installment or two and seeing it all pile up and break out is amazing.

The first game is still my favorite and always will be, though. It felt the most emotionally complex and grounded at the same time, even with the samurai zombies and stuff. I feel like we've never understood Lara and seen inside her mindset as much as we did in the first game. In Rise and Shadow she's bad-ass, sure, but she's also more withdrawn and it's hard to really get into her mind even with her journal entries.

I'm not going to play video games tonight until much later, though, because I'm determined as all hell to get in a round of editing on Force tonight. I only need to update and clarify a few things but I've pushed back the release date so many times and now it's ten days away so it needs a bit more brushing up before I finally put it out.

For those of you who don't follow, Force is book/novella 1 in my Superhero High serial that I recently announced. The Goodreads page is up, and it's got the placeholder cover and a cool blurb, as well as a bit more information. The proposed release date this time is on the 12th of this month, and it's making me majorly anxious because I'm not ready, never mind the book itself. I know it's good, but release is making me antsy. What if nobody reads it?! What if everybody reads it?! What if there's a huge gaping problem or plot hole I'm skipping over because I'm too close to it? And this is why I should stop neglecting my journal; it causes me to build up way too much anxiety!

I'm going to go do some self-care and get my emotional and mental state in check, now, but that said you should definitely check out the Force page on Goodreads I linked above and add it to your TBR!

Thanks for reading. :3

Maybe You're My Enemy, You're The Only One Who Knows The Way I Really Feel

Title from Enemy by Charli XCX.

I'm pretty sure this blog is dead but that won't stop me from writing updates for it. In fact, I actually find it kind of comforting that very few people, if any, read my insane ramblings here. I'm almost done my next book, and I have a couple finished and semi-finished things I've been sitting on for a long time now, or at least what feels like a long time; I think the oldest of them dates back to November or so.

I have to edit a novella tonight and I'm having a nervous breakdown about it, so instead of actually doing it I thought I'd come complain about how long it's taking Rise of The Tomb Raider (a game that came out like five years ago while I was still working at Bath and Body Works, lol) to get here. I ordered it way too long ago. I can't really complain though because there's a pandemic and all, and the truth is it's amazing we can even still order stuff at all with all the craziness going on.

Since everybody is laid-off right now, I don't have the house to myself and everyone I live with is driving me insane. They're not really doing anything annoying, I just can't focus or think when people are around. Luckily, they go to bed weirdly early, and I can be the only one awake all night, and actually experience the silence and peace I need to work. Some people party all night - I just get around to doing the chores and work I should've done during the day, because I'm amazingly efficient and productive and on top of things. Yup. :)

My main problem in life right now is that the main character of the most recent book I wrote/am writing is Sam, and a major male character in the Superhero High stories is also named Sam, and I don't want to change either of them because it fits them both in different ways. It's fine, or at least I think it's fine, since plenty of people IRL have the same name, God knows there's a million men named Kai out there, but still, I don't like reusing them.

I think if Sam from the First War series met Sam from the Superhero High series, they'd either ignore each other entirely, or they'd build a bomb together. I don't think they'd be friends, (mainly because First War Sam is a college student who doesn't hang around with high school freshman) but they'd definitely team up in a pinch to pull of a con or an escape act.

Anyway that's what's been going on in my corner: intense internal debates about character naming choices. I also spent the better half of the day trying to catch a tiny mouse before my cats did so I could free it outside. Eventually got the little buddy safely out of the house and away from Angus and Cami and their little hunting party fantasy. I don't think either of them were happy I spared their prey, but I feel pretty happy for defying fate and sparing the mouse. He'll probably be eaten by an owl or a hawk before the night is through, but hey, maybe not. Maybe he's the Chosen One of the mouse world and he's off to fulfill a prophecy. Really none of my business, is it?

I also beat inFamous Second Son and Horizon Zero Dawn and I'm kind of emotional over both. The fact that they don't seem to be planning anymore inFamous games is a literal fucking crime. I guess four should be enough, but it's not. I'd love to see Cole come back, or another Delsin game, or a Eugene game, or something with new conduits. I don't care. I still have to finish my replay of inFamous 2 and play Festival of Blood for the first time, but then I'm done with the series and I'm kind of not ready for that. I don't want any other superhero games, these are the only ones that matter honestly. (Although I guess the jumping/leaping powers in Saints Row 4 were pretty fun.)

So pretty much all I've been up to is writing and gaming and writing and gaming and editing and sleeping. And gaming.

I'll probably stay doing that, since nobody is allowed to leave the house. :L

If you want to keep up with what I do you can find me on Insta at @ApolloBlakeBooks or check out my latest release, a short story called Faces in Weeds! It's about a girl who commits a murder and her attempts to cover it up/splintering mental state.

Faces in Weeds: Short Story Announcement, Cover Reveal + Release & Links!

Surprise, I just put out a new short story! I'd like to say I'm craftier than I really am and that I've had this up my sleeve for a while now, but the truth is, I wasn't really planning this at all. I drafted this story a few days ago after a stroke of inspiration hit while I was playing video games. I wanted to build a story around a sense of rising dread and it was essentially structured around the opening and closing lines that came to me before anything else did. Before I knew it I had a draft and a cover! I listened to a lot of southern gothic music during this one, and I was flying high on some Stephen King bullshit, so those two vibes combined to inspire the atmosphere and tone.

The story, in case you were wondering at all, is called Faces in Weeds and you can get it here on Amazon US, or here on Amazon Canada if you'd like to read it. You can also hit me up on the comments of this blog or comment on my Goodreads review if you'd like a free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Here's the super pretty cover...

Soooo dark and mysterious and perfect. Neither a snake or pink flowers appear in the story, but it does kind of fit with the themes/who the narrator is and how she's perceived vs. who she actually is. It was such a fun, twisted project for me to work on and I really hope I can put out a lot more short stories this year, but in the meantime, please enjoy this crazy little slice of horror, if that's your kind of thing!

In The Belly of The Voodoo Machine

Title from Hades Pleads by Parker Millsap...

I'm staying in bed all day today in order to edit Dreamseeker and try to draft (or mostly draft) book 2, Dreamsinger. I think it will be good to take a break from my current novel WIP today and draft a novella, plus I've wanted to update the front- and back-matter of book 1 for a long while!

Book 2 is a rock star romance AND it has a human protagonist who serves in a damsel distress role a lot, so it's a lot different than book 1 and it will be a lot of fun to write. I still have to finish glossing over book 1, though, and I'm dragging my feet.

I've already had way too much coffee and tea today and I've been pigging out on potato scallop and baked ham. I played a little Fallout earlier and I'll probably play more tonight, but for now I'm cooped up in my room avoiding writing to blog. I also really want to read a lot today, but I can't let myself be sucked into some good book before I work on some of my own. My output for the last week has been shameful and I have to wrangle February back on track, productivity-wise.

Lately I started binging The Good Place and it's hilarious, but it's also made me cry a couple times. Definitely an amazing show. I already knew the season 1 plot twist before I went in and I still enjoyed it immensely as I saw it pulled off. I highly recommend it! I love afterlife stories so I wish I had started it sooner, but I saw a bunch of people in the BoJack subreddit ranting and raving about it during the BoJack finale threads (because they used similar plot devices but in opposite ways) and I had BoJack hangover from that shotgun blast of an ending to what is probably the best show ever, so I started The Good Place to help distract me a little...

Now I really am going to stop ranting and raving about TV shows and stuff and go write my damn book. Because I am a capable author who promised himself he'd make 2020 his bitch...

Force & Other Ghosts

Force is still coming out! I've postponed it until next month or the next, but I will probably put it out once the second book is done. I just want extra time to polish it, but I want to stress it is done and it is coming soon! I felt like I had to take some time and be extra patient with it, even if it meant pushing back the date.

On the bright side the new Lilac editions are happening this month and early next month, and I'll have updates about them as more of them come out. I also have a couple other finished and semi-finished projects I'm just being very patient with. I want all of them to have a lot of love and a long journey that ensures their quality. I can't make anything perfect, but I want to be sure it's 'ready' at least, whenever I feel that it is.

Anyway that's all I really have to say, and I wanted it to be up here that I am working on it, and it's still coming out, as are other cool things!

All The Fancy Books

I got my copy of The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich in the mail today and can't wait to start reading it, but I should probably wait until after I finish the third Riverdale book, and maybe a couple of Amanda Hocking books I'm reading/rereading (I'm halfway through my My Blood Approves series reread, and I'm also reading her book Freeks for the first time.) I also bought the Beautiful Creatures graphic novel and The Body Electric by Beth Revis in paperback.

Honestly I think 2020 is going to be a good reading year for me. I've got a lot of reads and rereads slated and I'm super excited about all of it. I even have the final Emily The Strange book coming. I've only read the first three, and I just reread books one and two, and am moving onto three, so I can be prepared to finally, finally read the last book! I really enjoyed rereading the first couple these past few days, for the first time in two or three years.

I want to put out some new music sometimes this year, too. So that's a thing I'm stressing about. I have ideas but no real products to show for them. I'm still tooling around with the vocal mixing on songs on my last album.

Okay actually since I wrote that last paragraph the other day I HAVE made and released some new music, 2 songs; Aries and No More. I'm not even sure if I like them but they certainly do exist and I had a lot of fun making them. I made some more cool shit but Bandlab decided to delete the stronger songs because of course. It was during a storm and the internet was acting up, so I can't fully blame them for the sync issues, but damn, I loved those vocals and they're gone.

Anyway, Aries and No More are here and exist and I like them a lot. I think. Aries is kind of corny, but I had written the lyrics a few nights ago and wanted to try them on a couple of different beats, and then before I knew it I had made 2 tracks and I DID like them enough to put them out. I think I'm improving but I also think my vocal mixing needs a lot of work and my level of skill is obviously not high enough to execute the actual song ideas I usually have. It's fun making music, though, so I can't see myself stopping even though I hate half of what I make.

In other news, I've hit 25k on my current wip!

I can't even say anything about it, just that it's gay romance and it has a psychopath in it. I mean, I can say I like it, and it might have at least one sequel, but aside from that, nah. Nothing. I'm trying to hold it in mind that the most important tool writers can develop is patience and even though things aren't coming along or coming out as fast as I want them to, doesn't mean I'm a failure or things are going wrong or 2020 is off. It's just that books, even shorter ones, take a lot of love and time and work and PATIENCE. I draft fast so it's hard for me to let things sit or let editing drag on even if a book needs it, because I want to release things so badly, but I'm not rushing these stories or myself.

That said, I am going to get back to work, because I am finishing this book this week, and that is that. Once it's drafted I can hop back over to my focus on editing that I just ruined and build that back up. I have so many finished titles to polish up it makes my head spin!

Night of The Dragon (Definitive Edition) & Where Six Souls Meet

So, the first Lilac Xia Jones story, Night of the Dragon, just got a new round of extensive editing and a new cover. The new, definitive edition of the story is out. I'm very happy I was able to go back and edit this, and I'm not going to lie, I edited...a lot. I added about 4k to 5k words of new material and rewrote a lot of the other material.

You can get the new edition here!

I'm much happier with this version of the story. I wrote this when I was about 17 and it probably wasn't ever ready to come out when I published it. I'm about to turn 24 so being able to go back and fix a lot of the stuff I didn't like or didn't have the technical skill to pull off the first time I wrote it was very satisfying.

I also love the stylish new cover, which is definitely more in line with the rest of my catalog:

 

I included the cover for the 5th story, which is coming out sometime mid-February! This week I'm focusing on editing and publishing new editions of volumes 2, 3, & 4, and then I'm going to get to work drafting Where Six Souls Meet, which is the first chapter of the 2nd act of the story. I'm really excited for this phase, and I'm glad to finally have an overarching plan and end-goal in place for this series and these characters. There will be 13 stories total, and then they'll all be bound up in a special omnibus.

I'm devoting the first half of 2020 to my three serials; Lilac Xia Jones, Superhero High, & Dark Territory (which I haven't talked about at all yet, but will have more details on later in the month!) and editing my previous novels (Shadows is already mostly done and on the way, and Blood of Midnight and Divinity are both next!) and the second half of the year to writing sequels for some of my novels, particularly for the Deadheart saga and Divinity.

I'm also devoted to writing a second Liesmith book this year if the stars align! I have a lot of ideas for it and I'm gearing up for it but I still have a lot of mental anxiety about it, because I'm stubborn and weird like that.

I actually had a lot of fun editing the first story this last week, even though I drank way too much coffee and beer. It doesn't count if it's after Christmas but before the New Year, though ;)

Anyway, you can check out Night of The Dragon here or add Where Six Souls Meet to your Goodreads shelves here!

I hope you all have a happy new year!