It Begins Again and Again and Again

 I am still writing things. I'm always writing things. Right now I'm actually editing things, which is mostly the same but also incredibly specifically different.

The main thing I wanted to update anybody/everybody on was that when I start publishing these things I'm sometimes writing and sometimes editing, when I'm not snacking and making music and existing in a state of panic over...everything...it's going to be under new pen names.

I recently published and then unpublished a new edition of Faces in Weeds.

That's because I actually had to redesign the cover, add a subtitle to the story, and write two new pieces of bonus fiction so it could be 'transformative' enough that when I publish it under Amazon under my new pen name, it won't get de-listed or get my account banned for rank manipulation. It has to be demonstrably different from previous versions enough to count as a different product, so that's what I'm doing.

Ultimately this is also what I have to do with all my previous works: new covers, titles/subtitles, editing/expanded content, and new bonus content and exclusive extra chapters, that sort of thing. It's the only way to ensure I can actually publish them.

This basically has to happen because Amazon won't let me reclaim my old KDP account, which I can no longer access, or merge it with my new KDP account.

Since most book business is done on Amazon and I need money to live that's where I have to publish, and to do that, I have to make sure not to violate their rules, and using the same pen name on two different accounts is also a bannable offense according to their terms. It would help if their customer service was at all helpful or even sufficiently trained to understand how KDP and its features/systems/rules even work, but they aren't, which seems insanely unprofessional, but it is what it is. They can't help, apparently. Beyond them.

So we come to me having to launch new pen names to republish all Apollo Blake and Cosmo Knox titles.

I was kind of ready to retire the Apollo Blake pen name anyway, so that's fine, but Cosmo Knox was a fantastic pen name I never wanted to let go of, and now I do, and that sucks. Anyway things are in the works, projects are coming along, just slowly as I try to balance and actually enjoy life and not burn out.

The new Tomb Raider games look incredible, the Stranger Things finale was okay, and the new Cassandra Clare collection Better in Black is a lot of fun so far, making me nostalgic as hell.

I also recently read Sunrise on The Reaping and was emotionally devastated. Now I'm rereading Catching Fire. I was actually already reading it, but put it down when they rewatched Haymitch's games so I could go read his book. Pretty cool way to do it, I think.

I also put out a new album called The Chaos Precise, I'm gonna post more about it soon but I haven't done YouTube and SoundCloud uploads yet so.

Yes, Google Play Books, I Am Who I Say I Am

In case you all had missed it, a few days ago I published a new edition of Faces in Weeds on Kobo and Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, and a few others like Smashwords. I hope you'll check it out, it's got a pretty new cover and a fresh round of copy edits with maybe a hundred or so new words added. Just thought I'd tidy it up and get back to publishing for the first time in a long time, and of course, the world couldn't let that happen without a snag, so of course my new Google Play Books Publishing Partner account got suspended almost as soon as I published it, because they don't believe I own the copyright or that I am, indeed, who I say I am.

So let's clear this up: I'm Kyle Brittain, but I go by Kai Bishop publicly. I write and publish under the author names Apollo Blake and Cosmo Knox. I own everything I write and publish, I don't publish things I didn't write and don't own, and I certainly have never made any secret that these are my pen names.

My identity has never been a secret, because I'm not, despite many rumors circulating, a superhero. I don't work for the Daily Planet--but if I did I'd publish under Apollo Blake or Cosmo Knox, because those are my pen names.

Google's helpful email said they needed to see proof I am who I say I am which could include links to my official author website, so let's hope this post I made special just for them is helpful enough.

Here's the new cover for Faces in Weeds by the way:

As always keep an eye out on this space because it's where I'll post news and updates about new releases, even if I'm sometimes a few days late. (And being accused of being an imposter. How glamorous and scandalous for me.)

A Reminder For You (Writing Pep Talk)

So I've been hard at work on a few titles I'm going to launch on Kobo, including Leo & Declan 1 and 2 (Under His Touch, Under His Watch) and the drafting process was being difficult last night, so I opened my notes app and wrote this. I think it's gonna be something I need to return to again and again, so I'll share it here for you all too:

I am worried about so many things I cannot control but what I can control is writing my book and editing my short stories so that's what I'm going to focus on.

It's not up to me to be perfect or control the universe or every reaction to my books.

All I can do is write them, then publish them, then market them, to the degree that I want to. That's all. The rest of it is out of my hands. And I can't force it. But I can work with it, move with it, evolve with it, and take it all as it comes.

That's what I can do. So that's what I'll do.

I'll write my gay erotica romance stories and urban fantasies and sci-fi stuff even when it feels silly or stupid or it isn't as groundbreaking or intelligent or literary as everyone else's book. I'll do what I want, have fun, and hope someone wants to read what I wrote, but I can only write what I want to write, and if nobody else is along for the ride, I guess that's that.

The point of this is just to say all of that outside stuff is noise. And noise can be tuned out. All I can control is that I can write my book, even if it means learning again, for the millionth time, how to adapt and pivot. I can do that much, and probably so can you.

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

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?

Wordly Warfare

I'm stuck in editing hell again. I keep coming back here despite my best intentions to never write again, because it drives me up a tree, even when I feel like I'm having fun. Right now I'm polishing up the first chapters of Break This Gilded Cage (the first installment in my new vampire serial, I Am Your Fate) before I write the last three.

In non-writing related news, I've honestly just been watching zombie shows on Netflix and napping. I'm so exciting, huh?

I spent my Halloween night drinking spiked coffee and listening to Spotify, so nothing too special is happening. I think I may put out a new chapter of Fascination on Wattpad tonight, though. So, slowly, the ball is moving forward on a few different projects. I just put Shadows of Ourselves on Pronoun for free, so once it's live maybe Amazon will finally price match?

It's been a hell of a time trying to get them to do that--Shadows is on InstaFreebie and Wattpad, but Amazon doesn't really care about that. RoAnna Sylver said they finally price matched her book once she put it up on Pronoun though, so maybe it will work for me too. I hope so. Shadows needs the love, and I think if it goes permafree on Amazon it will start to get the hype it deserves.

I'll probably make Break This Gilded Cage free, too. Every other installment of the serial will be 99 cents, since each one is only 15 to 20 chapters.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. I'll have a better, less pointless blog post tomorrow or maybe even later tonight. Until then, here's some good music.

Forsake This Violent World is out! (Book Release + Cover Reveal)

Forsake This Violent World is out! Finally! It hasn't been that long in the works, a few months in the most, but for me that's felt like an eon. I'm really happy with the final product; I think it's one of the best things I've written.

It's dark and gritty and fast, and it introduces several characters meant to play important parts in later Liesmith's Sins books, although it works as a standalone title (I originally wrote it as one before deciding it fit with the series) so you can definitely pick it up without reading/knowing a thing about Shadows of Ourselves or the Liesmith's series. Although Shadows is available for free here.

Forsake is about a girl named Ruby attempted to avenge her dead mother. She's a young bisexual witch with a complicated family life and complex relationship with her best friend. It's a story about grief, trauma, insecurity...and portals, other worlds, freaky magik, crows, daggers, gender & sexuality (every character who appears on-page is LGBT) and it's just a fun adventure all around.

You can get it here! Or, if you'd rather, it's also available as part of my new story collection, Fierce Powers...

That's all I have for now, folks. Aside from maybe the new blog header. Which is pretty, right?

Beacon & Chosen Double-Feature Book Release

Hi! Long time no see. I've been spending most of my time wallowing in bed, watching too much Netflix. Sometimes I get a little writing done, though.

Sometimes I even publish it O_o

In that vein, I've got two new books out! The first is Beacon, a young adult urban fantasy which I've been teasing you guys about forever and decided to just go ahead and drop.

(You can get it here.) [$1.99]

The second is Chosen, which is a previously un-announced spin-off of Beacon. It's a new adult paranormal romance about an unrelated set of characters in the same world, and you can (and should!) read it as a standalone.

(Grab a copy here.) [$0.99]

I'll add new pages for Beacon and Chosen at the top of the blog! I'm also going to be fiddling with the blog design for a while tonight, so don't freak out if things look a little wonky or ugly for a while.

I started working on an exciting new project the other night, but I'm going to try to reign myself in and finish Forsake This Violent World tonight before moving forward on that. I'm also still editing Shadows of Ourselves to catch errors I missed in the first edition, so I can put out a cleaner new one. Nothing has changed or been cut or added, I'm just addressing grammar mistakes and spelling errors I never caught the first time around.

My editing process has also changed a lot since I wrote Shadows of Ourselves, so it's nice to go back and fix those oversights I was once oblivious to.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I'll post more about Chosen in the next few days, including an exert from the story & a few facts about the book & writing process.

~

Follow me on twitter here.

Beacon Cover Reveal

I've been up for way too long, but I finally finished editing Beacon! I just compiled the ebook and I'm gonna read through it and check for any errors I missed in the line edits/formatting, but that's just to be safe - the book is done.

Which means I get to post the cover!

I'll be publishing it sometime this afternoon, so I'll post here & on social media when it goes live, but until then, here's the pretty new cover!

Lilac Xia Jones is a beacon. Supernatural beings are drawn to her like moths to a burning flame, and the only thing she can do is hold on for the ride and hope she survives. As extraordinary adventures bleed into her everyday norm, dark forces begin to gather at the edges of her consciousness. Malevolent covens, demon boys, spirits, and vengeful goddesses have all converged on Lilac’s life—but none of them can prepare her for what’s to come...

Why This Blog Died

This blog is mostly dead because I use Twitter more. If you want to keep up with me, I post multiple times a day on Twitter, whereas I post once or twice a month here, at the moment - and that's if I'm lucky. If I've written enough for my actual books for the month and my mental illness isn't battering at the doors to my mind and the stars align in the right formations and all that good stuff.

I do plan to blog more in the future. I don't know that it gets the word out or sells more books, but it's fun, it helps me collect my thoughts, and it makes me feel more...author-y? Authorial? There we go.

Right now I'm working on several standalone books and novellas, then I'll be finishing a novella trilogy before finishing up the Deadheart Duology, and after that I'll be setting out to finish the series I've already started. Obviously that's a lot on my plate, so it's understandable why I don't always have the time/energy to blog.

I'm honestly only doing it right now because I feel guilty at the state of this blog, and because I'm trying to procrastinate starting my wip.

In that vein, although I can't really say much other than that it's a novella called Ironheart, what I can tell you is that it's super fun and cute and that all of the chapters are named after different minerals and gems and types of metal. Mostly because I just got a book on all that stuff with glossy pages and cool pictures, and I love using neat chapter names and framing devices like that. It plays into the storyline, too, in the sense that my heroine does metal magik.

This is set in the world of my book Shadows of Ourselves (though the two stories aren't connected at all) and if you haven't yet, you should check that out!