The Story Behind the Artwork

Alex has put together a book about all the covers he has created for my books. It's a wonderful breakdown of the process and his sketches through to the final product. I wrote a little about working with him. I think it's a really cool compilation.

To download a free copy click HERE.

To visit Alex's website click HERE


In other news - Facade is discounted to 99c right now. Click HERE to grab a copy.
And the Scattered Seeds audiobook is rolling out to retailers. I'll have a central link for all of them pretty soon.

Dilemma - Cover Reveal

Ta Da!

And here it is in its superb entirety.

As usual, the latest cover from Alex is my favorite. And this one especially so. I love the light coming through the branches and the tone. Don't you just want to go check out that garden?

It will be released on January 23th.

The first book in the series, Facade, will be discounted to 99c from January 16 - 25. As soon as the price changes hit the retailers I will post them here. Sometimes it takes a little while so I'll start a little before the 16th..

Dilemma is the third in an ongoing series. 

Dilemma Cover Reveal Tease #2

Another really cool peek at the wonderful artwork for this cover.

I can't believe it has taken me so long to come back to this world. As often happens, it was nice to visit with characters I haven't seen for awhile. That's part of what makes me a genre-hopper. It's nice to step away from one world and into another. I put this one on the back burner so that I could get the Tales of Haroon series started. Now that I have 2 books done for that, I felt it was time to get back to Elaan, Hunter and Trash.

The release date is January 23rd, as long as I can keep to schedule. There is another little surprise coming up in the meanwhile. I'll have more on that soon.

Dilemma Cover Reveal Tease #1

Here is a small piece of the fabulous cover for Dilemma that Alex has created.

I think he really did an amazing job on this one, so I want to tease it out a little. I will have Tease #2 next week. And then the week after, you get to see the entire wonderful image.

Despite the hiccups and wrong turns, the book is finally coming back together. I have decided on a firm release date (fingers crossed) of January 23rd. I am going to do a preorder on this one in the 2nd week of January with the full cover reveal. More on that when the links go live.

There are some other exciting things in the works, too. I'll talk about them once they are firmed up.

I think it's going to be an exciting year ahead.

Happy New Year to You All!

Ta Da! Facade in Print!

Woo hoo!

If you'd like to grab a copy, click HERE. For some peculiar reason, Amazon has decided that the print version is not related to the digital version. I need to check into that.

It's taken me awhile to get around to putting this series out in print. Charade is in the works and will be coming out soon.

Meanwhile, book 3 is my current work in progress and is coming along nicely. Still hoping for an October release.

Both are available as ebooks. You can click HERE to find your favorite store.

Desperate Measures Now Out

A Changed World Book 5 is out!

I had a plan to set this all up for preorders and a cover reveal. Then it occurred to me that I should just push it out the door. That plan didn't work very well the last time around, so I'm pitching it.

Click HERE to grab a copy. Desperate Measures is $2.99 right now.

I love this cover. I think Alex did a super job with this one.

To celebrate the release of the fifth book, the first book, Lethal Seasons, will be 99c through December 15th. Click HERE to grab a copy of that.

Enjoy!

Cover Reveal and 99c Sale

Here it is! The fabulous cover for the latest book in the Asher Blaine Mysteries series.

Blood Relations is available as a pre-order on various retailers. Click HERE to reserve a copy. Release date is just one week away on August 23rd.

99c Sale!
White Lies, the first book in the series, will be on sale for 99c on all retailers through August 28th. Click HERE to grab a copy.

Asher is one of my most favorite characters. I hope you enjoy his latest adventures.

Interviews

I have three different interviews coming up. One is a podcast for the new Asher Blaine book, Blood Relations, and the other two are involved in the SPFBO and will be about High Barrens.

As soon as they are up, I will add links here and on my website.

Interviews aren't very easy for me. I am especially concerned about the podcast. I've never been interviewed live before. Usually someone emails me a list of questions and I have plenty of time to think about my answer, write it out and edit it. This time, anything that comes out of my mouth will be out there for people to hear. That's a little intimidating.

And I worry about the cats. They all object when I use my cell phone. They sit at my feet meowing. Sometimes they jump up on the desk to make sure I am aware of their disapproval. I have no idea what their reaction to a Skype call will be. So there's a good chance that I won't be the only one on that podcast. I hope the interviewer likes cats!

Next week White Lies, book 1 of the Asher Blaine Mysteries, will be on discount in the run up to the release of book 3 on August 23rd. And I will reveal the fabulous new cover for Blood Relations here on the blog. Alex has done another wonderful job.

Now back to work on the rough draft for the next book in A Changed World series.

Cover Reveal - High Barrens

Now available for preorder! Click HERE for your favorite retailer.

I think Alex did a super job on this one. It really holds the flavor of the story. I'd love to hear your comments!

Cover Reveal!

Another wonderful cover from Alex Storer for book 4 of A Changed World.

Lessons Learned is now up for preorder at various retailers. You can check your favorite here. It will be on sale all over on January 18th.

If you haven't started the series yet, book 1 - Lethal Seasons - is only 99c until the 18th. See the list of retailers here.

A Changed World - book1 - only 99c

Lethal Seasons is currently on sale for $0.99 on all retailers. Visit my website for a list of them. Click here. It will be discounted thru to the 18th when book 4 comes out. Then it will go back to the regular price.

Book 2, Scattered Seeds, will be loaded into the new retailers today and should be available all over by this weekend. I will load links into the website as soon it goes live on the other sites.

Book 3, Gleanings, will be loaded into the new retailers next week and should be available all over by next weekend.

Book 4, Lessons Learned, will be released on the 18th. It should be available all over at that time. I've got a cover reveal here on the blog on the 11th, and it will be available for pre-sales at that time. So come on back to get a peek at the latest wonderful cover from Alex Storer.

Map Reveal and Free Books!

Here it is...

The cool map that I promised you. 

For people who haven't read all of the books, there might be a little more information than you need. But here are the main locations and train lines. I think this will help people visualize things.

Lethal Seasons will be free starting tomorrow, 10/14,  through 10/18. So if you haven't started the series yet, get the first one for free.

Gleanings will be released on Wednesday, 10/19 at a special price of 99cents. Grab it fast because that price only lasts til 10/25!

October is a Busy Month

I feel like I am finally getting a handle on this marketing thing. And I think October is going to tell me whether or not I've got it right. I've planned a lot of promotion. Fingers crossed that it all works out.

October 3 - cover reveal for Gleanings. You will get to see the fabulous cover that Alex created at SFFWorld and then here on the blog.

October 2 - 8 Facade ebook will be discounted to 99cents.

A map reveal for A Changed World is still in the works.

October 14 - 18 Lethal Seasons will be free in the run up to Gleanings ebook release.

October 19 Gleanings, A Changed World #3 ebook release date.

October 19 - 25 Gleanings ebook available at a discounted price of 99cents.

The paperback for Gleanings will be out late in the month.

Whew.

And now I need to get back to outlining book 2 for the Transmutation series and a flash that I promised to a Christmas anthology.

A Lot Going On!

I am not quite in panic mode because of all the great stuff going on right now, but it's close!

Alex Storer is working on a cover for Gleanings. I've seen the drafts and it is amazing! I can't wait to do the reveal for it. I'm working on setting up the reveal with SFFWorld. More exciting news. I don't have a date yet. But as soon as they get back to me I will post it here.

James at Curious Cartography is working on a map. It's just in the preliminary stages, but I am super excited about that, too. I have wanted a good map for this world since the first book. And I have had plenty of requests for one. Really looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Lethal Seasons will be included in the Apocalyptic Fears III boxed set, slated to be out October 1. David Van Dyke/Reaper Press has been very easy to work with. This is a new adventure for me. Fingers crossed that it brings in new readers.

In addition to the usual box set of novels, David is putting together an anthology of short stories for Apocalyptic Fears 6. It's in the works now. I submitted a short story that hints at the beginning of the disaster that turned into A Changed World.

I hadn't looked at that story in a long time. When I wrote it, I was very proud of it and shopped it around. It racked up one rejection after another. I couldn't understand their comments and just took it to mean that it wasn't right for those editors. Looking at it, with a few novels under my belt, I saw lots of problems. Most of which stemmed from not getting all the information out of my head and onto the paper. It only took a few tweaks to make it a much better story...I hope.

In October I will be dropping the price on Facade and doing a limited run of free for Lethal Seasons. Sign up to my newsletter and I'll let you know when it happens.

Lots of News

First off - I have set a release date for Gleanings: October 19.

Alex is now working on the cover and James is working on the map. Very exciting! I can't wait to see what these two talented guys come up with.

In the lead up to Gleanings release, the Lethal Season ebook will be free from October 14 - 18. Tell all your friends to grab their free copy.

In other news, Lethal Seasons has been select for an ebook boxed set promotion. I'm very excited about this. It will bring my book to the attention of a lot of new readers. I'll share more information on this as soon as I get it.

Facade will also get a promotion in October. It will drop to $0.99 for the week of October 2 - 8.

There's a lot coming up. Sign up for my newsletter if you want to hear about new books, free books and discounts.

Cover Reveal Soon!

Monday, July 27th, the cover for Scattered Seeds will be revealed on Nonlocal Science Fiction .

I am very excited about this wonderful cover that Alex Storer has done. As usual, his amazing artwork really captures the feel behind the story.

At the same time, Scattered Seeds will also be going up on Smashwords for ebook pre-sales at a discounted price of $1.89. I am still aiming for a release date of September 18. On the 19th the price will go up to $3.99.

I will have all those links available on Monday.

Amazon will only allow a 4 week lead on pre-sales. I will set that up the end of August for ebook sales.

Please stop by on Monday to check it out and reserve your copy.

Scattered Seeds Update

Alex Storer is working on the cover for Scattered Seeds. He sent the latest version over the other day and it's gotten me all excited. I can't wait to share it with everyone. Alex has done the covers for all of my novels now, so you are probably aware of how talented he is.

The story went off to the second reader. I had to rough up a couple of smooth spots and put a twist in a boring section. The rewrite from the first reader's notes took me longer than expected. I got a little stuck in writing the new scenes. Then something clicked and I couldn't write fast enough. I love it when that happens.

So far I am still on track for a September release of Scattered Seeds. I am hoping that it won't come back from the second reader with too much red pen. There could be a new gaping plot hole that I built with the new scenes. Or the remains of one that the first reader pointed out that I didn't stitch together well enough. This year I have allotted myself a little more tweaking time between readers. Just in case.

I'm supposed to be brainstorming the outline for my new space opera series, but instead I am working on my gardening books.

I have a couple of the Sow It - Grow It - Serve It books half done. I will be publishing them as soon as they are completed. They cover planting, maintaining, harvesting and cooking a single vegetable with lots of  how-to photos from my garden and kitchen.

Swiss Chard is available now as an ebook at Amazon and in multiple formats at Smashwords.

Here's a lovely picture of a female pattypan squash blossom that is about to bloom. You can see another squash that's formed just below it. That will be for dinner sometime next week.

And that is what is keeping me busy right now. How's your summer going?

Dark Deeds Cover Reveal

Here it is!

The fabulous cover for the new book.

Dark Deeds will be on sale at the end of January.

Asher's in trouble, again.

He’s about to film his first big movie since he got sober. Messing up now will mean the end of his career. To get ready, he's rented a cottage in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina where they will start filming in a few weeks. Although he’s thousands of miles from his family and friends, he’s looking forward to the challenge.

But on his first day there, the trouble started with a car crash. Then he found a body in the woods.

Or did he?

When the sheriff arrives, it’s nowhere to be seen. He worries that this was some sort of sick practical joke. And then he worries for his own life.

There are more dark deeds brewing in the mountains. An explosion starts a wildfire in the woods behind his cottage. Then a rockslide pushes his car off the road.

Is someone trying to kill him, again?

Sign up for the newsletter for information on sales and upcoming books.

Dark Deeds Cover Reveal on Dec 15

On Monday, I will be revealing the cover for Dark Deeds here on the blog. I'm very pleased with the cover. It shows the danger and the whimsy of the Asher Blaine stories. Alex Storer is amazing at translating my incoherent babblings into beautiful artwork.

It was nice to go back and visit with Asher, Ellie, George and the gang. I was able to slide back into that world pretty easily. And I have to admit that it was nice to give him a happy ending. I'm not sure if there will be another book, it's always possible, but not in the immediate future. I have other stories that need to be told.

Next week I will be getting the feedback on the final round of readers. So far the reactions have all been favorable. I will be doing the final rewrite after that and it's off to line editing. Whew!

I am now shooting for a January 30 publication date. It should be available for presales by the beginning of January. The Dark Deeds ebook will be $2.99. I haven't sorted out the print version, yet.

Book 1 of the Asher Blaine series

 

The White Lies ebook will remain at 99cents at least through January, possibly longer.

Alex is also working on a trailer. More news on that soon. There will also be a giveaway coming up at Goodreads. Lots of things happening. Sign up for the newsletter to hear more about them.

Catching up with myself

I say that all the time - I need to catch up with myself. I'm not sure where it is that I have gotten to that I am apparently not all there...hmm. And I just wasted 15 minutes looking for some clipart to jazz up this post. Needless to say, nothing caught my eye.

Dark Deeds is going out to the third and final round of readers today. Whew.

There will be a cover reveal for Dark Deeds on December 15. Alex Storer has done another amazing job. I love the cover. It is the perfect combination of dire events and absurdity that the Asher Blaine books have.

Because of a variety of things, mostly life, I've pushed back the publication date to the end of January. As things come together and I can be sure of a date, I'll post it.

While I am waiting on readers, I started laying down the bones of Scattered Seeds, book 2 in the Changed World Series. It was fun to get back to Wisp and Nick and Angus. I've got about 15 chapters down in a quick and dirty form. That's just to lay out the action. I'll go back to add description, tighten the dialog and sprinkle in the foreshadowing. It's coming along nicely. I can see where I want it to go, but I'm not sure where it'll end, yet.

Lethal Seasons got a short but sweet, 5-star review on Goodreads - "Soooooo good." Gotta say that made my day. So glad to see someone liked it!

I haven't done a book review in awhile. The last few books I've read haven't tickled my fancy, shall we say. One that I read started out fine but then went seriously downhill. It came in a Story Bundle so I don't feel bad about the money spent, there're other goodies to make up for it. I went on Goodreads to see what others were saying. There was already a review that perfectly echoed my own problems with the story. It was nice to see someone else had the same reaction.

I have a pile on the Kindle that I need to get to, but there are only so many hours in a day! I'm rearranging the garden again. Only this time it involves building a wall. So that is taking up time on good-weather days. The family tree stuff snuck out and hijacked me a couple weeks ago. Man that stuff is addicting. I've found a whole new passel of relatives and a bunch of new sites with info. Dangerous! Lost a lot of time to that over Thanksgiving holiday. Oh, and I'm writing two books at the same time.

Have I mentioned my insomnia?

And now I need to get back to writing!