I Am A Total Liar (Here's Why) + NaNoWriMo!

 I wrote a blog post the other day where I totally just lied. I THINK I said my NaNoWriMo project this year was probably gonna be a dark contemporary. Or at least I said I was working on one. And it was gonna be my NaNo novel. That book about wildfires/grief is still in the works, but I'm not working on it this month. I'm gonna write a good old paranormal romance for NaNoWriMo instead.

It's called Lovely Omens and it's about witches and that's all I'm gonna say. It also has lots of cute animals. But that's it.

I think some of the ideas and vibes and stuff I'm putting into this book are ideas I've had in some form since 2013, so it's been a decade of wanting to write a witchy romance just like this. I have written witchy romance before, Shadows of Ourselves, anyone? And I will do it again. But this one is unique as fuck, if I do say so myself.

So. That's my NaNo vibe.

The playlist is mostly Smashing Pumpkins, Blur, The Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, etc. The more of this classic stuff I find the more Spotify wants to rec it to me. I like Blur and I've loved every Pixies song I've heard over the years, but both Smashing Pumpkins and My Bloody Valentine are 'classic' or semi-classic bands I've never listened to. I missed those pivotal phases. So I'm going through it now, and loving it. I think Smashing Pumpkin's will be Ophelia's favorite band.

I'm also putting a little Joy Division in there. And the new Melanie Martinez album is iconic, of course. But I'm gonna continue prepping and drinking and getting ready to write! Once midnight comes I gotta get in at least the first few chapters. I know exactly what scenes I want to open the novel with but I don't know fully how to pull it off.

I hope people like this romance. The guy, Gage (his original name was Gunnar, but I think Gage fits him MUCH, MUCH BETTER) is so cute and tragic but so nice, he has a bit of a mysterious broody punk vibe, but he's mostly a good, normal man, not a crazy villain type. Maybe my next love interest will be villainous.

Anyway I ordered something the other day I cannot wait for. It's shipping in two packages and Canada Post says the main one with two books in it will be here April 5th. It's Switched, Torn, and Ascend by Amanda Hocking; the Trylle trilogy. I already have them, because Amanda Hocking is one of my favorite authors ever, and I've read them a billion times already. I have all three troll trilogies, I have two copies of Switched and a paperback arc of Crystal Kingdom. I got Tidal for free back when it came out for doing free publicity for it.

I've always loved Amanda's books, is my point. She's how I learned about self-publishing and I read her books and blog a thousand times throughout middle school and high school.

So it's exciting to me that I can finally own the original self-published paperbacks of the trylle trilogy, the ones with the turquoise/teal covers. I love them so much. It's one of my favorite covers. And I've seen them in pics and videos but never in person. Believe it when they get here I will take a bajillion pictures of them and post them everywhere.

After this the main thing I need to complete my Hocking collection is:

-The original Hollowland paperback edition with the red heart (I don't care about this one but it would be a nice thing to have one day.)

-The Hollows paperback editions with the old designs/Phatpuppy art designs. (I find these fugly but I still want them for nostalgia's sake.)

-The special edition omnibus of the Trylle that only had 100 copies made. (I really, really want this one enough to go feral and bite someone for it.)

I also still have to get Bestow The Darkness (an actual masterpiece) and Virtue/Tristitia in paperback, too. Then I'd have a complete collection and would feel like a total boss.

I'm so looking forward to seeing the difference between the self-pubbed and traditionally published versions of the Trylle trilogy, though. I know in these earlier editions Forening didn't have a name, so I'm curious what other little details were added later. I'm sure either way they're still good, though I'm also equally sure the trad-pubbed ones are probably better.

Anyway, I should get back to outlining my book. Because I haven't finished that, yet.

Also! Before I go, if you don't know, I often (not always, but often) use Katytastic's outline template/structure. It's three acts, each in nine parts, and it has never failed to create a very fun novel for me. You can use it for any genre and it never feels like a template because it's just basic story structure stuff. Like I said, I don't always use it, but I do like it a lot, I used it for Shadows of Ourselves, if I remember correctly, and I'm using it for this book too. I highly recommend it if pacing or plot isn't your strong suit.

Blogger Hates Me

I'm aware my last couple blog posts look really messed up. I have no idea what to do about it because every time I try to edit them, Blogger just doesn't actually update the changes. I can't fix the font to match the rest of the blog (Helvetica is how I roll) and I tried making the fonts larger but it honestly made them smaller. I blame it on the fact that I originally wrote and posted them from my iPad. Ugh. If you can't zoom to read, you can skip 'em, because I didn't say anything too important.

A new edition of Iceblood and a new edition of Storm of Masks are both out, they have nice new covers, and that's about it. Iceblood got a new round of editing and I think it's a lot better now. You should go read it...

I'm also aware I haven't blogged since August. (Bad author!)

I did that because I've been writing/editing other stuff, and I replaced blogging with morning pages for a while there. I'm going to try to balance them out more now and blog a little even if I've already done morning pages. It's a lot of effort though. >.>

The truth is my main energy reserves are all going towards resisting shiny new ideas. I fell for one the other night and wrote the first chapter and now I guess I'm just writing a full novel. The Novel That Shall Not Be Named. Until I do name it, but I'm not telling you guys the title right now (it's one word and starts with P though) because what if I don't finish it and then people are excited for a project I never finish? Yikes.

I just finished editing the new edition of Shadows an hour ago, a full three months behind schedule, lol.

It was totally worth it to take my time with this project, though. I have a few more minor edits to do, then a final read-through, and then it should be good to publish later in the week. I've got financial stuff to take care of in a few days so once it's all done, the ball should get rolling on a few cool things! The new edition of Shadows + the new special edition of Shadows are both coming, and I'm super proud of the work I've done on the book. It's better than I ever thought it could be and it jumped up from 126k words to just over 150k words. So I added like 24k of new material, more or less, and I genuinely think all of it is gold. I have an outline for the short story I'll be including in the special edition and I'm really excited to write it soon!

Anyway, like I said; more ACTUAL blogs to come. I just wanted to post an explanation and excuse here for the fugly formatting on the past couple posts. I hate it more than any of you do, promise. >:O 

Catch me on Instagram @ApolloBlakeBooks

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.

Storm of Masks Cover Revamp & New Edition

I've been neglecting this blog again. I know, who's surprised?

It's hard motivating myself to work, so when I do I tend to spend my words on my manuscripts instead of the blog these days. I did post about this on Twitter & Instagram, though! I figured I should share it here while I was at it, since work is flying by.

I'm publishing a new edition of Storm of Masks really soon, with several additional scenes, a new chapter, and a newly added epilogue & prologue. The new edition will also contain my novella Dreamseeker as a free bonus!

So, why a new edition? Basically, I originally envisioned Storm of Masks as a standalone novel, but the characters weren't done with me - or each other - and the idea for the sequel kept spinning out of control in my head until I couldn't ignore it. Now that Storm of Masks is the first book in a duology, I thought it needed a few minor tweaks and prods in a right direction.

Since I'm a total cheater, I decided that while I'm at it I may as well add some new material and explore things I didn't have time to in the original edition. Those new elements will also come into play in book 2, Riot of Souls.

Jen herself and a few minor characters get a more of the spotlight in the edition, which I feel like they definitely deserve, and there's a bit more spook factor, which I feel like we all definitely deserve.

And, just because I'm me, I shoved a few more pop culture references and a tad more gay stuff in there. :) And, you know, way more ghosts...

I also felt that, since I know the world in and out now, and in a more concrete way than I did the first time around, I could tighten some of the world building and fantastical aspects and harness them better.

I think the finished product is something pretty special, and I'm really excited to share it.

I've had a tough go of things lately, and my mental health really took a hit for a while - to the point where I almost, almost, seriously considered quitting writing & publishing altogether. It turns out I had to walk away from my work for a while and allow myself to just exist so I could work through some leftover stress I'd been putting off dealing with. After a few days away from the keyboard, my brain fog started to clear. I'm in a better place now and the writing bug has taken back its home in my brain, so for the foreseeable future I might manage not to be a total mess for once? Yes, this is as shocking a development for me as it is for y'all.

Anyway, while I leave you to drool over this cover, which really suits the book better than the original, I'm gonna hop back on putting the final touches on the book!

Final release date to come!

Storm of Masks Cover Reveal

If you noticed I haven't been blogging much this summer, it's because I have so many projects going at once...including one that I'm finally ready to share!

Storm of Masks is a paranormal romance set in a small town, full of mystery, ghouls, and holiday festivity! Halloween is my favorite holiday, and fall is the best season in my humble opinion, so I wanted to write a book celebrating them as we get closer to that magic time of year.

Storm of Masks is set in the small town of Ashbrook, which is home to an annual Fall Festival gearing up to Halloween, which the locals go all out for.

It's usually Jen Gordan's favorite time of year...but this year, she's gained the uncanny ability to see ghouls. And they're everywhere.

To get answers she has to turn to the charming new boy in school, Carter Lord.

I'm glad I held off on sharing this one, because it originally had a different name, but Storm of Masks came from a line I drafted closer to the end of the book, and I really loved it, because it fits the book perfectly.

Everyone wears masks; the living, the dead. They hide parts of themselves from us and let others radiate. It's not always deceptive, either; it's part of life.

I wanted to explore the different parts of people that war with each other and the facades we build against those around us. Anybody you think you know can be keeping secrets, and isn't Halloween the best time of year to start yanking off masks for a peek at what's underneath?

I can't wait to share this story, but for now I'll leave you all with a quote from the book!

       The days went on like that, a blur of rotting leaves and morning conversations, the bitter burn of hot coffee and the bite of frost filling the air. Long hours in stifling classrooms listening to shuffling sheets of paper lulled me into a sense of peace. I buried myself in routine and academia, doing my best to ignore the ghouls.

Everything You Kneed to Know About Angels

So, I have a new book coming out before Untold (which I still haven't set a firm release date for, so don't worry you missed that, because I just haven't picked one yet) and I haven't mentioned it here yet. So, naturally, I decided to make a post about it!

The book is called Divinity, and I'm publishing it under the name Cosmo Knox, and I'm gonna post all the details you need to know right here:

- New pen name! I'm publishing it under the name Cosmo Knox just because it has more explicit sex scenes in it, along with some gore and stuff, and I wanted to separate it from my YA/NA books where sex is shown in less brutal detail. This is m/m romance strewn with plenty of sassy moments. So.

- It's the first in a series. I will fully admit I have no idea how many books the Seraph Chronicles will be. I'm hoping two (Divinity & Atrocity) will suffice to tell the story I have planned, but if I need more room, I'll take it.

- Angels! To be fair, here I'm calling them seraph, but Ty has no qualms about pointing out that fancy name or no, they're fallen angels.

- Problematic kidnap romance! We all know by now it's my guilty pleasure. Besides, Gabriel could kidnap me any day.

- Sassy moments, you say? Why, yes. Gabriel and Ty? Lots of chemistry, there. Soulmates, sparks flying, all that good stuff. It's shameless fun.

- Pretty book cover:

My planned release date is July 8th, but it could be give or take a few days, because I would rather adjust the release date than put out a not-quite-ready book.

You can find a full summary on the Goodreads page, but to boil it down to the barest elements, this is a fallen angel paranormal romance with a shamelessly flirty alpha male love interest, a main character who is both an indie musician and the Devil Wears Prada-style assistant to a famous designer. It's essentially my take on the Wattpad-esque "a hot paranormal guy just kidnapped me and is calling me his mate and what now?" kind of story.

I've had a lot of fun working on it and I think it's just about ready to come out, so I'm really excited to share it! More details to come, and I promise I will be blogging more in the future.

*Crawls back into the work cave.*

Untold - Book Summary + Cover Reveal!

So if you're wondering why I've been strangely absent since the release of Shadows of Ourselves (which has been my best selling book yet and gotten good ratings so far, so thank you guys <3) it's because I'm already working on a million other projects.

I have the sequel to Blood of Midnight to get out, plus Maelstrom, both books in the Dreamworld Duet, and two standalone titles I want to release soon. Yeah, there's a lot on my plate...but that's just the way I like it.

And now I can actually talk about one of those standalone projects, because I just posted the page for it (it's called Untold) and it now has a tab at the top of the blog! You can also add it on Goodreads here!

Untold is an urban fantasy novella about a group of humans called sentinels, who are tasked with policing the dangerous mythological creatures that still roam our world, long after the fall of the gods.

It has ifrits and basilisks and selkies and nixies and ogres, and it's a heap of fun! Plus, hot boys!

Here's the cover:

And here's the summary:

Lyra and her sister Rachel are sentinels—humans tasked by the ancient gods to guard humanity against the beasts they left behind. Living in a sheltered Canadian island community, Lyra and Rachel have always been kept away from most danger by the magical protections that drew their parents to the island in the first place. But now those protections are wearing off, and Lyra and her sister have no choice but to face beasts out of their worst nightmares—gorgons and nixies and basilisks—if they want any hope of saving themselves and their town.

When a charming demigod named Callum strolls into town hot on the heels of a blast of magical energy, Rachel is weary of him, and cautions Lyra to stay away—but she can’t deny her attraction to Callum. Or the fact that he could be their only chance of turning the tide against the horde of monsters descending on their home.

Now, Lyra will have to race against time and conquer her own weakness. . .or risk plunging the entire world into chaos. 

I'm pretty excited to write it. It's set in a small Canadian town on a secluded island, and it really touches on my roots: I grew up in and around the biggest city in the province of New Brunswick, and my time was split between living in various parts of the city and in really rural areas.

I remember stretches of months growing up where the only other humans I saw were my parents and my brother, because neighbors were just too far away.

This novel is set in a place that really feels like home in a lot of ways.

Also, it's got interwoven threads of different mythologies and legends. A large chunk of things are from Greek mythology, though, and I'm drawing a lot of inspiration from hero myths.

My family is Greek, and growing up I was so, so, so fascinated by those myths. My mother's name is Athena, and she has a tattoo of the goddess on her ankle. When I was in elementary school, some of the first writing I ever did, in one of those daily journals they made us keep, were stories of Zeus, Aphrodite, and Athena, going on adventures and exploring caves together during lightening storms. I still have relatives in Greece who I would love to meet some day, and all in all, I simply love the richness of the mythology and the scope and scale of those myths - interpersonal conflicts and really contained events have ripple effects that touch on the rest of the world, and that's a big part of the plot here; what these characters do and what they choose will change more than just their own lives, and they're decidedly aware of that.

I'm really excited to share all of these projects with you, but for now this is the one I'll probably be talking about most! I'm hoping to put it out within the next 15 days, at the very most.

Coffee, enthusiasm, and writing strategy are all on my side with this one. Can't wait to share <3

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!

Author Interview: Heather Crews

Today on the blog I'm talking with Heather Crews, author of Unchanged, Dreams For The Dead, and Psychopomp. Heather's books are moody, atmospheric, and mysterious, and I was more than happy to get the chance to discuss writing with her!

The Author: Heather Crews lives in Las Vegas. Was born abroad. Studied art. Will spray paint almost anything. Loves popcorn. You can find her on Twitter or check out her blog, Keeping Ghosts Alive!

The Books:

Dreams For The Dead // Psychopomp // A Dark-Adapted Eye // Unchanged

~

Interview:

When did you decide or realize you wanted to write?

Although my first dream job was an artist, I've been writing since first grade. My earliest efforts were short stories that basically made no sense. In third or fourth grade l I wrote my first book, an illustrated children's book called THE BIG PURPLE CATERPILLAR. I still have a copy somewhere. It wasn't until about seventh grade I made my first serious efforts at writing books. These were obviously pure crap. But I've kept all these efforts around, and one day they might make it into a novel that I'll actually let people read.

What does your general process usually look like, from initial idea to published book? Do you outline or wing it? Write digitally, or by hand?

I usually have a big pile of untidy notes that I've collected over time, since I write down ideas as they come to me and then throw them in a box. I work from those rather than an outline (because I'm bad at making outlines), but I always know how I want the story to end and events or conversations I want to happen. For the actual writing process I tend to type rather than write by hand, although with UNCHANGED I had filled a whole notebook with long scenes.

What was the idea or spark that led to your latest book?

It was probably a dream. Most of my ideas come from dreams. I remember sitting in my art history class scribbling down notes for it when I was supposed to be paying attention to the lecture. But now the idea has evolved and isn't anything like the original.

Do you listen to music while your write, or enjoy the silence?

I like to have music on!

What does your work space look like?

I write on my couch, oftentimes with a children's movie or PBS Kids playing in the background, and my kids chattering away. It's not the most relaxing setup, but I've learned to tune out distractions.

What type of research, if any, goes into your novels?

For UNCHANGED, I researched Heceta Head Lighthouse. For DREAMS FOR THE DEAD, I researched alchemy. For PSYCHOPOMP, I researched climate change and cloud seeding. For books I've set in real cities, I always like to look at maps in case I need to reference the geography of a place.

What are your interests and hobbies outside of writing?

Reading, of course! I also like drawing, hiking, and working on projects for my house.

Favorite snacks while working, if any?

I don't eat while I'm writing because the food distracts me and I don't get anything worthwhile done.

Who are some of your biggest inspirations as a writer?

L.J. Smith is a big one. Also Donna Boyd, Kim Wilkins, and Tanith Lee.

What can you tell us about your latest project?

It's a YA set near Branson, MO. A teenage girl goes looking for the sister she hasn't seen in a while and gets drawn into a goth underworld. One of the characters is an arsonist.

Speed Round!

Films or TV shows?

Films

Singles or entire albums?

Albums

Sweet, savory, or salty?

Sweet

Favorite Season?

Summer

Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram?

Twitter

~

And there you have it! Alchemy, arsonists, and PBS Kids. What more could you want? Once again, you can buy Heather's books here, or follow her here!

Playlists Galore

I haven't mentioned these on here (I don't think) but I make playlists on8tracks all the time. There's one for Dreamseeker, and one for Shadows of Ourselves. There are also some for writing in general.




You can find them all here: http://8tracks.com/jinx-king

Why Fangs Matter

A lot of people like to talk about how annoying it was that Stephanie Meyer made her vampire sparkle, but I never minded that. The affront, to me, was that she took away their fangs. Fangs have to be the most important part of the vampire anatomy, even more so than pallor, ugly capes, bad accents, and red eyes. Fangs are my bread and butter.

In all honesty I just love the aesthetic. Something about a pair of vampire fangs with some blood dripping or biting into a throat, that's picturesque. I think that's why vampires will never go out of style; they manage to be sexy and really, really fucking scary and disgusting, all at once, there aren't many other paranormal creatures who manage to be both alluring and grotesque in the same way.

Werewolves come close, but most of the time its no dice. It takes a special author to really do werewolves right, at least for me.

Vampires are another story. That's not to say that I haven't read my fair share of vampire stories, because I have. I've read and reread them.

Twilight, obviously, was the Big One, back when I was thirteen I had that whole Twilight phase, yes. Dark times.

But also, My Blood Approves, The Vampire Diaries, I Am Legend, to a lesser extent the Mortal Instruments, among countless other traditionally- and self-published books. And there are so many popular vampire series; House of Night and Vampire Academy both blew up in the YA genre, so there's even room for vampire stories that prey on some of the same tropes.

To some extent Blood of Midnight (which is free today and tomorrow!) was an inevitable book for me to write. But I also know its not the last vampire book I'm gonna write.

Every once in awhile, you just need to shove a Dracula insert into a high school romance, you know?

And I think there's still a market for it. Despite how saturated it is, yes. How many people rewatch The Lost Boys once a year? How many people still troll Twilight forums or tune in to watch Vampire Diaries every week? Quite a few.

So that's me: secretly rooting for the vampire genre from my post in the doorway of your bedroom closet or the swath of shadows in the space beneath your desk, every night from twelve to four am. I kid.

Maybe.

***

If you like what I have to say you can find more from me on Twitter, or buy my books here! I also have a YA parody twitter.

Desperation...

I'm going to draft the next 3 or 4 chapters of Desperation tonight, concluding the first act of the novel, and then have the next two acts done within the next four days. That means that this book will be out sooner than I thought!

It helps that it's a lighter, fun project to take my mind off a more intense beast I'm about to tackle another round of edits on. Plus, gay faeries. It's just a fun, romantic story with lots of action.

Here's an extract:

The lingering echo of death filled my mouth like the taste of copper, and I turned around and plunged into the forest after the rude boy who’d just saved my life.

Rowan led the way through the dense forest without a word.

I spent most of the walk staring at the rippling muscles of his back. He was muscular, but not overtly so—more lithe and slender. There was something slightly feline about the way he walked, graceful and silent, while I crashed through the underbrush like a bull in a china shop.

By the time we reached the edge of the forest, the sun was setting. It had been only four in the afternoon when I’d pulled myself out of bed and left the house, but now the balmy summer air had taken on a slightly cooler level and the sky was a rippling canvas of pink and purple.

We stopped at the edge of the forest, a silent agreement, and stood together for a moment. Across the lawn, George looked up from where he was tossing his tools into his wheelbarrow and spotted me. He had clearly been at work for a while, sweat beading on his dark brown skin. His eyes widened, face registering surprise, and he began to wave me over.

“Thank y—” my words cut off abruptly as I turned to face Rowan.

He was already gone.

And, as always, a link to the first chapter!

Desperation Book + Cover Reveal

I feel bad for dropping the blogging ball there for a while. It's going to happen again, and I can't avoid it, because when it comes to book vs. blog post, I choose book every time.

Right now I'm stretched pretty thin, and I just started serializing a new book on Wattpad.

When seventeen year old Valentino ‘Val’ Crenshaw’s father dies, he’s sent to live with his estranged grandmother, a reclusive novelist holed up in the decaying family manor in a tiny town called Bronzewood.

But what Val doesn’t know is that the town he left behind at birth has been waiting for him, that his father took him away to keep him safe. Now, as Val attempts to settle into his new life, a vicious world of courtly intrigue, dangerous immortals, and ancient magic that lurks in the forest, waiting and watching, begins to emerge from the shadows. . .

As Val starts to unearth family secrets that might be better off kept hidden, and discovers a secret world that could cost him his life. When Rowan, a faerie knight with a dangerous past, and Malcolm, a Sightwielder wise beyond his years, both vow to protect him, Val realizes that he has more to worry about than being accepted in his new home; both of the faerie courts are after him and they will stop at nothing to claim him.

The forest is alive with the world of the fey, and they all want the same thing. . .Val’s life.

Make of that what you will. It's a boyxboy romance with court faeries and magic flowers and small towns and fancy mansions. It's got sass and hot boys and all of my favorite paranormal romance things.

Did I mention it's gay romance?

I'm really excited to be back to my favorite genre. Writing about straight people tires me out sometimes. There's just. . .so much of it out there. It's hard to feel like I'm doing anything original or interesting writing about those relationships, and while I don't mind the extra challenge, I just have more fun writing about queer people.

So, boys kissing, daggers flying, butterfly and spider imagery, ancient forests, and more!

And I'm serializing it on Wattpad. Read it here!

Blizzards and Bills (also, Frenzy is Free!)

I haven't been blogging much lately. Why?

I have bills to pay and books to write and school to cope with. I had a meeting today, but it got cancelled, so I spent the day outlining a new project. I want to keep going with that for tonight, though I gotta get some editing done on Sosas later.

The thing is, between the books and school and learning French and trying to lose weight and deal with mental illness and maintain friendships and do marketing stuff, there's not much time for blogging.

I sent some free copies of Frenzy out for review, and it's also free on kindle right now! You can get it here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B81HGQ0

Anyway, I'll be posting more once some of this workload is done and out, but for now it could be sporadic. (For now being the month - I'm attempting to blog ever day during March!)

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

Reading Recap - 2016 #1

I don't know if this feature will stick (if it does it probably will be monthly as opposed to weekly in the future) but I'm thinking I'll start linking reviews here. My book review blog on Tumblr is http://golden-tomes.tumblr.com/ (an aside: I'll be adding a 'where can you find me?' type page to this blog soon to make finding me elsewhere easier) but it takes me a while to cross post reviews there, so instead I'll link them here first.

So, without further ado, here are the books I finished this week, along with links to their reviews:

 Gilded Review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/602433525

 Say You're Mine Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1489792540

 Darkness Falls Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/726088599

 Storm Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/736041826

Write a Book in Ten Days Update 2

As far as Shadows is going, I have an updated outline (I added in 5 new chapters last night) so it's a higher work load, but it will pay off. I also have an updated schedule, so let's hope that I keep it. More on that tomorrow since I'm in a rush to get a few thousand more words in tonight. Here's today's quote: