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!

Iceblood New Edition Cover Reveal + Sequel Announcement!

Earlier tonight I published a new edition of Iceblood, and it should be live in a few hours! I wanted to publish a new edition because I felt like more than any of my books Iceblood deserved an updated, more professional looking cover. I liked the old one but it felt both amateur and very dated.

The novella itself has been cleaned up quite a bit and I'm happy with the better round of editing and the few bits and pieces of new material it has. They've made it a much stronger story.

And the new cover? Beautiful.

However I also decided to write two sequels, rounding it into a trilogy. They'll both be a little longer than Iceblood, but I've got them both outlined and I'm drafting them once I'm done writing Glimpse and a story Deadly Divine. Glimpse has been tricky but I finally figured out what I need to change to make it feel right.

Iceblood is book one in the Thief Materials series and will be followed by Inheritance and Scoundrel, as well as a bindup of all three. It's set in the same world of Souls of Salt and Seawater and takes place step that book, but before it's upcoming sequel. Rayna and Alice will both appear in minor assisting roles.

I can't wait to show you their covers, but it will have to wait until they're done and ready to publish!

Iceblood (Cover Reveal)

Hi guys! I know I haven't been active a lot lately, but I have been writing. Obviously I'm always active on Twitter, but I like to keep this blog alive as often as possible.

Right now I'm gearing up to publish the solo edition of Iceblood, as well as editing a new draft for publication.

The deal with Iceblood is that I posted a couple months ago talking about how I was expanding it and adding in more of the world and expanding the plot. I did try that in several different ways, but eventually I realized it just wasn't working. I do want to tell those stories in Josmea, but I don't think they're Atka's story. I realized I like Iceblood as is; it feels like a complete, finished peace.

That said, I've shelved the expanded edition and any idea of a sequel. I'll probably use those plotlines and scenes in other books set in this world, and I'm sure I can squeeze Atka cameos into a few later titles.

That said, I'm just formatting the ebook now, so I thought I'd show the beautiful cover!

Is it not perfection?

I'm publishing the ebook edition tonight and formatting the paperback sometime this week! I'll post links when it's up on Amazon <3

Airships & Ice Plains

Tonight I get to start writing the new edition of Iceblood! Wait, another one? Kinda.

The last 'new edition' of Iceblood I put out was actually just Iceblood as a standalone. It was the same edition of the story published in Souls of Salt & Seawater, just available as a solo.

This is an expanded version with new scenes and chapters, more romance, more fighting, and...airships!

Obviously, I'm a little excited.

The reason I'm writing this is because while I originally intended for the sequel, Anarchy, to be about new characters in a new situation, when I sat down to write it, nothing would come out. It just wasn't a story I was interested in writing. I wanted to continue Atka's.

So now that this is an actual series - as in both books are about Atka and are from her pov, and you have to read them both for the complete experience, some things about the first book need to change.

First of all I'm publishing the new edition under my Cosmo Knox pen name, which should be enough to tell you it's gonna be a bit more mature - more killing, more steamy romance scenes, et-cet... But also, I wanted it to resemble more of a complete fulfilling story than just 'two street criminals rob a mansion together' - and this version is going to deliver that by raising the stakes and widening the scope of the story.

I love fantasy, and I put a lot of work into this world, so I figure I should use it.

I'm also going to be publishing Beacon sometime in the next two days, and I'll post links when it goes up! Until then I updated the series tab for that at the top of the blog, and added a tiny blurb for book two, Shine!

October and Junk

I know, I know, I know. I haven't blogged since October started. I'm not good at this.

Since the month started I've written a novella called Iceblood for the new edition of Souls of Salt & Seawater I'm putting out, and tonight on Twitter and Goodreads I announced I'm also working on a new edition of Blood of Midnight.

The new edition is mainly jut a project I took on because I'm a perfectionist. Looking back at BOM as I start writing book two, I realized that there were a few seeds I meant to plant and didn't, a few paths I could have and should have gone that I just didn't recognize for what they were at the time. To be clear this isn't a rewrite or a drastic change or anything - I'm adding new content, not changing what exists.

Mostly it's just going to be sexier, more dangerous, and a tad longer. I wanted to explore a few side characters more and give them the screen time they deserved, as well as taking a closer look at the main trio.

I'm hoping to put those both out around the same time, before the end of this month. But I also have a third little project I'm working on that, should I finish it, I would be sooo happy to share during the beginning of November, too.

Outside the world of writing I'm kind of just pumped for Halloween. Obviously, last month I wrote a book about it, but I'm mostly excited for discount candy when it's over. I know I shouldn't gorge on mini-Mars bars or whatever, but nobody can stop me.

Today Grimes released a bunch of new music videos, including this perfect one for Belly of the Beat, the best song on Art Angels:

I've also been listening to The Black Book by Jully Black on Spotify, which is still a really strong album. I'm actually surprised how much the music still holds up, since I'm pretty sure it came out over six or seven years ago. I remember buying it at HMV but I lost the CD over the years :I

Anyway, I'm in good company as far as writing music goes, and also drinking a bunch of coffee and green tea. Recently I went into a depressive phase where I couldn't write for two months or so, and I almost slipped back into it after publishing Storm of Masks, but writing Iceblood knocked me back on track, so I'm feeling optimistic about getting lots of work done this month!

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