Superhero High Book 1: FORCE (Announcement, Cover Reveal & Release Date!)

So, in my last post I promised you all that I wouldn't blog again until I had some cool stuff to announce and share. And now I do! My next title, FORCE (Superhero High Book 1) is coming out on January 10th 2020!

Force is actually a novella, not a full book. It's the first in a series of five titles following the students of Southaven High, a school for teens with powers, who in this world are listed as C-Class Citizens in the new American social caste system.

I had a ton of fun writing this one!

I would describe this series as, like, Smallville meets Degrassi? I've never actually seen an episode of Degrassi, but I know it's about teens at a high school and there are a ton of different generations or classes or whatever. Each novella follows a different student at the school, although they're all part of the main roster of characters who will each play a big role as they go on. I mean, not all of them, some of them just die, but I can't talk about that, because spoilers...

If that sounds interesting to you, here's the cover and blurb!

Two years ago a meteor shower rained alien particles known as Gemblood over most of the planet Earth, resulting in those humans with no immunity developing…abnormalities.

In the United States of America, where individuals with powers are listed as C-Class citizens, teenagers with abnormalities are sent to special schools, where they can hone their talents without hurting any A-Class citizens, AKA normals.

Welcome to superhero high…

Kacey Print only wants to disappear. After unleashing the powers she spent two years trying to hide, she ended up killing nine of her classmates in a tragic accident. Now the only reason she hasn’t been carted off to a maximum security prison for freaks like her is because of the timely intervention of one Dr. Christian Howell, the principal of Southaven High School, a black hole they toss people like her into to keep everybody else safe. He’s given her a second chance, even though she doesn’t deserve it, but straight-edge punk girl Kacey is going to have to fight for redemption if it’s what she truly wants, because all of a sudden, the school is under attack by a giant tentacled monster and a group of mysterious faceless men.

Welcome to your first day at Southaven! The only rule of orientation is ‘Don’t Die!’

I will update this post and make another announcement with all the links once it's available for pre-order in a week or two, and I'll also be posting the first chapter as a tease, so be on the lookout! I'm already working on book 2, TORCH, for a February release and I can't wait to share it!

Shadows of Ourselves Cover Reveal + Release Date!

So, Shadows of Ourselves is going to be out on Friday, may 27th, and now that I have the release date chosen I can release the final cover!

TA-DA! I designed the cover myself, and I'm really happy with the final product. Sky is a bit more masculine looking than he is in the book, but overall I think I captured his essence and the dark but magikal tone of the book pretty well.

I would pitch this as Cassandra Clare meets Leah Raeder/Elliot Wake, kind of. It's got sorcery and monsters, incubi and romance, and it deals with some pretty dark subject matter like abuse and alcoholism. It's also got a highly diverse cast (transgender seelie queen, anyone?) and plenty of sex, action, and mystery.

To be honest, I think Shadows is my 10 out of 10. It's the book I wrote because it was the book I always wanted to read as a teenager, it's just a really unique, interesting world. I know I'm probably not supposed to say that, since it's my own book, but I crammed as much magik and mythology into this world as I could, and the way it turned out is really alluring and visually enticing.

Check out the Pinterest Board for the Book, or add it on Goodreads!

Dropping the Blogging Ball and Stealing It Back

I dropped the ball as far as blogging is concerned this month. It really just has to do with mental health, which is always a struggle.

I wish I could say that it was because I was hard at work (and I am) or because I was kidnapped by a handsome foreign prince who now wishes to marry me (I'm still waiting) but in reality it's just because I struggle with my self-identity and caring for myself and sometimes I need to take a step back from the internet and social media and even work, in order to, y'know, not have a breakdown or die.

For a while - a while being the last eleven or twelve days - I've been really struggling to keep myself afloat, and working through a lot of difficult things. I'm feeling better now, and a lot has happened in that time that I can't wait to talk about.

This post is not about any of that, though. This post is just about the fact that I'm back. And that I got lots of work done, even though I wasn't here talking about it.

And that work I got done? It means that. . .Souls of Salt and Seawater is coming out in two days! Yup, I'll be publishing sometime tomorrow morning, so it will be out either late tomorrow night or, more likely, early tomorrow morning. KDP is random like that.

But I can't wait to share this book with you, and it's new cover, and the stories within it. I'm so happy to finally be at this point, and now that SOSAS is coming out I'll be able to work on my full-length novels!

Maelstrom and Shadows will be here before you know it. Keep an eye out for the cover reveal for SOSAS tomorrow!

Two Days.

And That's All I Can Really Say...

Yesterday I worked from 6 to 10:30. Today I'm working from 2 to 10:30. I keep working long shifts that end late at night, and I have a really long commute, and I actually didn't sleep last night when I got home because my anxiety was going off of the walls, so I stayed up and now I'm going back to work without any rest, but I really don't care because I can't afford to care because I'm 600 dollars in debut and I still have Christmas gifts to buy on top of coffee and bus money. It's a hard-knock life.

The thing is, this hard-knock life is very time consuming. And when I do have free time it's usually spent doing laundry/dishes/homework. I may have underestimated just how heavy my workload was when I mentioned some previous release dates. I wanted to put out the first instalment of ADSD next month, and I've barely started drafting it. I wanted to put out SOSAS on the 15th, but I am nowhere near done editing it. And it's not that the book is bad at this stage. I could have something to publish by the 15th, and it would be a good book, but it would not be the right book.

Right now I'm focused on trying not to drop dead, trying not to flunk out, and trying to save up enough money that I can, you know, stop fucking worrying about money. I've got a small ghostwriting gig on the side that helps a bit, but it's mostly chump change, so I can not afford to quit this job right now.

I want to put out the best books I can. I rushed both the Lilac shorts and Things We Saw At Midnight, not during the drafting process, but during editing - and those books suffered for it. I've cleaned up the Lilac Jones shorts, and I'll be revising and republishing TWSAM soon, but right now I'm focused on Souls of Salt and Seawater. On not rushing it. On letting it grow and nurturing the vision of Josmea that I have in my head. This is the first introduction to a world that I plan to spend years and years of my career writing different books in, and I want it to be a good first impression.

More importantly, I know that Alice, Joram, and Rayna deserve to have their stories told in the best way possible. And I know you guys deserve a finished product that is of the same quality you'd find from a traditional publisher. That doesn't happen when I rush.

But I feel guilty. I feel guilty that I don't have more to show you guys, more words for you to read. I want to put things out, and I'm constantly torn between trying to be prolific and trying to be sane, and well-written.

I would rather be the last two.

So I'm not rushing myself anymore. I'm not rushing my works.

What does that mean? Well, it means that SOSAS won't be out on the 15th, this month. It might not be out until the 15th of next month. Or the month after that. I can say it will definitely be out in the next few months. When I say I don't know when it will come out, what I really mean is, I have a good idea of how long it will take me to finish this, but I've guessed wrong before and been mad about it so now I'm keeping my mouth shut.

As soon as it's done, arcs will go out to people on my arc list (I have not forgotten about anyone on Tumblr!) and I'll be talking about it and posting about it and advertising the release date to high heavens. But I've decided that I'm going to take a page out of Amanda Hocking's book and just not talk about my works until they're finished and I'm ready to hit publish. So as soon as my currently announced titles are released, I won't be talking about anything I'm writing until I'm ready to share it with you guys, no matter how much I really, really, really, really want to.

So, I'm sorry, if you were waiting for the Dec. 15th release. The book is still coming. But I want it to be the best quality I can make it, and quality takes time, which is something I don't have much of. And that's all I can really say, for now.

Time to go get ready for work T.T