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!

Ian's Fetish & A Twink in The Woods (Book Release + Cover Reveal!)

The new books are live, so it's time for a cover reveal and release announcement! These are always my favourite posts to write. They make me feel productive and like stuff is happening. Which is cool.  Cause it is.

Without further ado, here's the new stories:

Ian's Fetish: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RCBGCNX/

A Twink in The Woods: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RBC2SNJ/

Ian's Fetish is about two best friends and is more romantic, while A Twink in The Woods is about cruising and is more overtly sexual. I have two more stories on the way as well, which are shorter than these but still pretty fun. I may write more erotica soon, but I'm focused on a couple other stories. I want to put out three or four novels this year and I obviously don't have much time to do it, but I tend to write a lot in quick bursts and then sit on stuff and publish it all at once later.

I had a really cool novella halfway done set in the world of Iceblood and Souls of Salt & Seawater, but the file got deleted and I can't get it back. I don't remember what it was called which is probably a sign I would have changed the title, but it's about two men in a prison who become lovers, and their escape attempt.

I do love these novellas, but writing them also made me miss fantasy elements and the supernatural. It's fun to experiment though, and I also have a nonfiction book in the works, which has been pretty cool.

Anyways it's time for me to listen to some music and get in the headspace to write. I have a lot to do tonight and I still haven't washed the dishes. I hope you guys check out the new stories if they're up your alley. Thanks for reading!

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.

WOLVES is out!

Wolves is out! I've been so excited to share this story, it feels really vindicating to release it. You can buy it here!

In case you missed it, Wolves is an urban fantasy featuring an ensemble cast. It has surreal elements perfect for fans of Welcome to Night Vale, but with a grittier, slightly more relatable edge to it. It's inspired a lot by the area I grew up in. The New Brunswick wilderness is very beautiful and the small towns and farms can be charming and also kind of eerie.

In slightly less exciting news, I published a new edition of Blood of Midnight. I'm about to start writing book two (And, oh boy, is the cover beautiful!) and I wanted to spruce up the first book to go with its new cover.

The changes aren't that significant. The chapters have titles now. There's a new prologue called Before: Pulse which I feel sets the tone of the book much better than the first chapter. The first two chapters have slightly expanded material, just new bits peppered in here and there. The end of the book also has updated acknowledgements and an Inspirations page where I talk about inspirations of the book, like songs that several chapters are named after, other vampire books that influenced my views of them and what their society would look like, and stuff like that.

The new edition is available on Wattpad in it's entirety here! If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. It's got action, romance, and intrigue.

The new edition of Iceblood is also finally finished updating on Amazon, so you should grab it if you're interested!

You can check the tabs at the top of the blog for the new Wolves page which has more info on the new release!

Balance

Storm of Masks is out, and you should probably buy it and read it and let it get you super excited for the fall. I mean, if you want.

That's actually not what I wanna talk about, right now, though. I put the book out the other day and it's been nice not being near the end of a project for a while, so I can just float. I'm so glad it's done and out there and it's just out of my hands - I wrote the best book I can, and it has to sink or swim on its own.

I've spent the last couple days just hanging out with friends, listening to music, catching up on BoJack Horseman and rewatching Jessica Jones. Fun, easy stuff.

I'm still working, but since SoM is published, I'm taking a couple days to play around with various projects and outlines and see what direction I wanna go in next. I think I may dive into the second books in the Evernight Falling Saga and the Seraph Chronicles. If I could finish ToS and Atrocity and put them both out around the same time, I'd be sososo happy.

One thing I've been focusing on a lot though is life outside writing. I've been publishing since the tail end of 2014, and it's been my absolute life focus since early 2015 - work, work, and more work. I'm not burning out, really, just more like taking a step back. I'm not where I hoped I'd be at this point with my career and lifestyle, and I'm trying to assess what needs to change. I know I'm dedicated to my books and can't stop writing, no matter what I do. I've essentially stopped trying to be a marketing machine and am just working on putting out a large, diverse body of work, so there's something for everyone.

But it isn't enough for me anymore to only focus on work and live my life. In the next year I'd like to get out a lot more and also bring up my income a bit, so I'm not a constant ball of worry and stress.

It just doesn't seem worth it to me to literally kill myself for my job and not see results, so right now I'm drifting and trying to figure out what new approach I'm going to take, while trying to balance work and actual recreation more.

I tend to write all day when I write, so it's around eight hour bursts of writing. I typically write 6 to 7 thousand words a day, as well as work on outlines for other wips. It takes a lot out of you to put in that much work and see very little reward, but this is both a numbers game and a test of patience. I know hard work pays off, but it's still, you know, hard.

So I'm compensating with a short vacation. Netflix and long walks and hanging out with the people in my life, being a human being before an author for once.

As much as I love what I do I think I've become a bit of a workaholic and let it turn into my sole focus, but I'm alive and I want to experience this world before I lose it, because we all will someday. I don't like that I often push away valuable, enriching experiences in search of more work time, so right now that's where I'm at, is trying to find a happy middle ground.

Souls of Salt & Seawater is out! (Book Release & Cover Reveal)

GUYS. SOULS OF SALT AND SEAWATER IS FINALLY PUBLISHED.

I've been working on this project for months and I promised as soon as this book was out, I'd be shouting about it from the rooftops, so this is me doing that.

The book will be free in the Kindle store on the 19th and 20th! If you want a copy sooner than that, though, you can buy the book here:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BWN5VZW

I'm diving into work on other projects now, but I hope you all enjoy SOSAS, and I'll have a paperback info post up in a week or so! Thanks for all the support guys!

(*If you're a book blogger/reviewer and would like a copy, feel free to email me - JinxKing@null.net, and I'll shoot you an epub!)

Frenzy is Out!

GUYS! FRENZY IS OUT!



In case you missed my previous post about it, Frenzy is a young adult urban fantasy novella with a diverse cast of characters, cute romance, and a healthy helping of paranormal beings, so in celebration of its release I thought I’d share some facts about the book;

1) It's Full of Monsters. From Harpies to Goblins, Faeries to Undine, Werewolves to Reapers, this first glimpse at the Menagerie world is. . .well, it’s a menagerie of paranormal creatures. What else could you want?

2) . . .& Lesbian Romance! Yup, it's an LGBT romance. Again, what else could you want?

3) The main character is a Gnome. I feel pretty good about this one, since I haven't seen anyone else doing it (yet!) and I love elementals.

4) It's Got Pop Culture References. . . Because we all know at this point that I can't write a book without them.

5) It's a standalone Novella! Which means it's short, sweet, and simple. The book works both on its own, or as a prequel to Maelstrom (out later this year), which means you can get attached to the characters knowing you'll see them again in future books, but feel content knowing that you never need to read the other installments unless you really want to, as they each have different main characters and only loosely connected plots.

So, yeah. That's that. This is a fun little sneak peek at an exciting world that will be explored in more depth in Maelstrom and I'm really excited that it's out in the world now.

You can get the book on amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B81HGQ0

Or add it on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28600479-frenzy