Authors
Shelby Logan 10 Snippet 3
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Chapter 3
Cryptorium, Upsilon Sector
The Technomancers were pleased as they loaded copies of themselves into the support ship. The ship had been thoroughly tested and was ready for her mission.
They were displeased with the mission, as they had been supplying the Xenos with freshly cloned organics the Xenos had claimed most of the territory in the region. They were isolated. They would have to travel outside the Xeno claimed area to set up a new base.
As soon as the ship was away the makers began to make a second ship.
<<(O)>>
Barataria Bay, Upsilon Sector
Hazel VI was surprised by the new IFF on the telemetry feed for the sector. The Necrons had deployed a new ship to the sector; no, it had been built by the Crypt? She frowned and then nodded slowly. That explained why they had been preoccupied. It amused her; they were going to have to travel far to get beyond her border. By the time they got there, they might find that Chester had taken the area and they’d have to go even further afield.
They also would lack an ansible to communicate and coordinate their ships. Additional ships were in the bridge she noted, so they were taking a higher interest in the sector. Very well.
<<(O)>>
Admiral Chester IV noted the new ship as well. He was annoyed but then amused. The ship was headed south but had a ways to go to get to space he had yet to conquer.
There were three main prizes left in the sector, all pirate bases. He had forces dispatched to two of them. He’d had to divert some cruisers to block the path to Tau; there was a report that several pirate ships had managed to escape in that direction.
That was vexing to him. The odds were low that they survived the trip, but he didn’t like it. He didn’t like anything that might get him in trouble with the queen.
<<(O)>>
In Hyperspace
Admiral Chester grimaced as he noted that there was another time discrepency. His ships had something going on that the techs didn't understand. He didn't understand it. What he did understand was that the Necron ships had been lost briefly and were now taking far longer than they should to get to their target destination.
But, they were finally on course. That was the important thing.
<<(O)>>
TauG13-95, Tau Sector
Senior Captain Cynthia Troll nodded as she read the latest report from the prize ship. So far so good, the prize crew were settling in and making inroads to repairs and upgrades. By rights she should be grateful for another hull … except this one was so dang old.
Old, battered, and decrepit with a bad history. Worse, it pulled crew away from the ships in her tiny task force. Each of the five ships had donated a draft of personnel. They were also working on an AI to help support the ship and crew.
The good news was that her Prometheus was a tender. Her engineering department was oversized and designed for making repairs to another ship … or building infrastructure. They were going to spend the next few weeks getting the ship sorted out and then on her way. She would be trailing behind them for some time until she caught up.
The realization that the Xeno threat in Upsilon was real had crystalized her decision process on their ultimate destination. They didn't need or want to be on the direct path of a potential invasion force from the neighboring sector. That left TauG5-98 Firework Blossom. The state people in that yacht were going to have to talk fast and work their magic to seal the deal.
That left the thorny problem of getting news of their catch and the danger that they were facing to the Federation.
She had a support force coming up behind her. There was also an ansible transport and her escort. She had endured a debate between the captains on who should return to the Federation. She had ended it by stating flatly that they would leave a message for the ansible transport to stop and set up an ansible and report in ASAP.
That still left the little matter of the crew of the suspected pirate ship. Well, they weren't going anywhere and well, her ship was a factory tender … they would stick them on ice once they built some stasis pods … after they were interviewed and processed of course.
<<(O)>>
Lieutenant Iwa casually monitored the interviews with the alleged pirates from Upsilon. What they were saying was deeply troubling. Very troubling indeed.
The four cruisers and single tender were on their way to the north to set up a naval base there with an eye to protecting the sector from possible threats in Upsilon. Along the way, they had recently captured an alleged pirate ship, the Sweet Boni Blackheart, a Cleveland class cruiser. She was a decrepit thing. The crew had been doing a bit of blackmail with the natives and had surrendered readily when the Federation ships had arrived in the star system.
The captain and bridge crew of the heavy cruiser Koa were very concerned about the threat of Xenos to their north that the pirates were reporting. It was confirmation that they dreaded. The tactical teams were eager to sort out the material that they had been given from the ship's databases.
There was enough in the databases to prove piracy … to some degree. The lawyers would have to sort that out later, however.
The AI noted a newcomer headed to the improvised interview room. According to the records, this one was one of several who had reportedly escaped from a pirate prison.
This might be interesting, the AI thought as it noted the physical fitness of the human. He might be trouble, the AI thought as the Marine looked warily at the muscle-bound human.
<<(O)>>
“Sorry about the wait, we had a bit of a line,” a harried lieutenant said as he came into the room. Jack stood at attention as the Neochimp marine undid his cuffs and then stood to one side. The door closed with the second Marine guard on the outside.
The lieutenant was busy looking at a tablet. Jack went to parade rest and waited.
“So, Jack Dufresne is it?” the lieutenant asked, finally looking up. He mangled the last name Jack noted. It was to be expected.
“Dew-frane,” Jack sounded it out.
The lieutenant blinked and then sat back. “Apologies.”
“No harm no foul,” Jack replied.
“So, this is something of an informal interview. You’ll forgive me if I am not interested in eating breakfast. I’m a bit full,” the lieutenant replied.
Jack grunted slightly. He preferred to work out before eating. He hadn’t had any breakfast and was hungry. But, he would go with the flow. The whole breakfast thing was a psychological gambit to put him at ease. That was interesting, but what was more interesting was that the lieutenant was practically admitting it.
The lieutenant studied him. “You are… an odd case, I have to admit.”
“Are you my JAG lawyer?” Jack asked as he kept his eyes 6 centimeters above the lieutenant’s head. He remained standing since he had not been invited to sit.
“No. Do you want one?” the lieutenant asked tiredly. He looked a bit peeved. “A few of your shipmates have asked for one.”
Jack nodded. He had heard that from the reports of some who had returned. They’d clammed up. They’d told the others to do the same so the interviews had apparently run faster.
“That should not be necessary. You read my file?” he glanced at the tablet. He had determined to take the plunge; there was no other path forward. There was also no point in maintaining the status quo. It just… bothered him. He’d lived with Dufresne for so long it was like an old worn jacket.
“Such as it is. Most of which we’ve assembled from the interviews. You are… a security risk I’m afraid. Leading an escape from a prison station?” the lieutenant asked. He glanced at the Marine.
Jack looked a little smug briefly. “Not my first time but yes,” he said indifferently. He was amused at the mind games that the lieutenant was playing.
There was a long silence.
“I see,” the lieutenant said, seemingly amused at the admission. He made a note on the tablet. After a moment he looked up. “You are a good candidate for stasis then. Just how old are you?”
Jack cocked his head. “In or out of stasis?” Jack asked as he finally looked directly at the lieutenant.
The lieutenant blinked and pursed his lips. “I see. So, you are a sleeper?”
“Yes.”
The lieutenant straightened up a bit. His eyes narrowed. After a moment he nodded. “You have identity implants. But they are basic civilian grade.”
Jack cocked his head and quirked an eyebrow upwards. “You just scanned me?”
“You were scanned several times by medical.”
“I see.” Jack didn’t mention that if he had ID implants he had to be a sleeper. Either the lieutenant was playing coy or he had seen so many people he was getting his facts jumbled up.
“Look, I’ve had a long day. I’m a bit tired from these interviews. So, do you have anything to contribute to your story?”
“A lot actually,” Jack replied mildly. He glanced at the Neochimp marine and then back to the human lieutenant.
The lieutenant tensed a little but then relaxed.
“New at this?” Jack asked.
“No, I’ve been around the block,” the lieutenant replied. He seemed a little defensive.
Jack cocked his head. “I see. Maybe I need to talk to a spook,” he said as he cautiously tested the waters. “Someone from ONI.”
The lieutenant blinked and then his eyes narrowed. “Maybe I should have introduced myself. My name is Lieutenant Albert Fogerty the IV. I am the resident intelligence officer. I am from Bek if that means anything to you.”
“A butter bar LT is the spook? What, no one else in this little task force? And you are what, ten years out of the academy?”
“Six,” the lieutenant said clearly nettled.
“A whole six years and you made LT?” Jack snorted. “What, did you graduate as a second lieutenant? I take it you didn’t process my IFF signal I sent the sergeant?”
“I… no…?” the lieutenant glanced at the Neochimp.
Jack decided to just go for it. It was now or never. “Ah. So, is that why I was left for last? I thought you were maintaining my cover,” Jack said as he decided to take the plunge.
“Cover?” the lieutenant asked and then snorted. “Don’t tell me you are one of Monty’s long lost agents,” he said.
“Who’s Monty?” Jack asked in a puzzled tone of voice.
The lieutenant blinked and then shrugged. “Ah… never mind.”
Jack thought about it and then sighed. He held out his hand.
“What? You want to shake?”
“No, I want you to jack in to my implants so I can provide my ID lieutenant,” Jack said evenly. “I can’t transmit the full ID by wifi. They are hidden,” he stated evenly.
The lieutenant blinked again but didn’t take the extended hand.
“Color of the day is Purple. Code phrase one is The Tax Man cometh. Second is Buzz Lightyear and Woody,” Jack said as if reading off a script.
The lieutenant frowned and then shook his head. “Is that supposed to mean anything?” he asked as he glanced at the hand and then Jack.
Who was this guy who didn’t know what the color of the day meant? Jack thought in annoyance. Really? A spook who didn’t know that?
“Is your ship AI monitoring this conversation?” Jack asked. He looked around the room until he spotted the camera focused on him. He stared at the unblinking lens and amber light.
“Yes,” An AI voice said. A hologram of an AI avatar appeared on the desk. Jack’s gaze was naturally attracted to it. The AI was in uniform naturally. It was a human female and had a slight Polynesian look to her.
“I am Lieutenant Iwa.”
“Please inform the Captain I’m on board,” Jack stated formally. “I think we need to have a chat in private,” he said as he glanced at the Marine and then to the LT. “Classified Ultra Blue.”
That made the Marine and lieutenant sit up straight.
“Who the hell are you?” the lieutenant asked in a quiet voice. “You don’t just throw words like that around.” He shook himself after a moment. “Where did you hear that? Some movie?”
“I am someone you forgot apparently,” Jack replied with a grimace. “That much is now obvious. Now, do I jack in to you, the AI, or wait for the captain?” He waved his hand slightly.
“Wait for the captain,” the AI stated flatly. “The lieutenant and I do not have clearance for your implants and quite frankly I don’t trust you not to have a virus or a wraith. Captain Jackson is on his way.”
“Good,” Jack said as he went back to parade rest.
<<(O)>>
Categories: Authors
Monday Meows
The cats on the vortex go ’round and ’round…
“Wheels” on the “bus,” dammit!
Ball in the track, if you please!
Why do I never understand what’s going on around here?
We didn’t want to tell you, but…well, you were dropped on your head as a kitten. Repeatedly.
You take that back!
Categories: Authors
Shelby Logan 10 Occupation Snippet 2
Sitrep: The book is off to Goodlifeguide, we may see the book early, we'll see how it goes. No promises!
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Chapter 2
TauR14G6-15 Blue Waters and Gentle Mist
Admiral Rick Hunter was feeling pleased with himself over the entire conquest. The Taurens were moving in to take over. His Marines were working with his sensor techs to localize the holdouts on the ground. His AI let him know that he had an incoming ansible call.
“Admiral Logan?” he asked as her holographic image appeared.
“The one and the same. Well, two but I’m the female one,” Shelby quipped.
“Cute, ma’am. What’s up?” he asked. He felt a little trepidation over her call. Since they were back in contact, he was aware of the danger to the north.
“We have a problem.”
“We have plenty of them to go around, ma’am.”
“Cute.”
“Well, you did start it,” he replied.
She gave a short nod. “I’m talking about Sedu and the hostages.”
“Ma’am?”
“Our local grunt and jarhead commanders pointed out that the stasis pods have a short battery life. So, we have a ticking clock—about a year from the time that they were unplugged.” She paused and then nodded. “Right, Boni is saying a year.”
“Oh, lovely.” He frowned. “Wait … pods usually have longer battery life spans.”
“These are mass-produced jobs not the life pods that we use in the navy. They are supposed to be hooked up to a power network. The batteries are for them to be moved and in case of a momentary disruption in the power grid.”
Rick caught on and then grimaced. “Damn.”
“I know. I found it hard to believe until they mentioned the Pele refugees.”
Rick winced. His people had confirmed that out of the fifty thousand or so refugees, only a hundred had survived their “accident.”
“Damn,” he muttered. “Well, that does put a new spin on the situation.”
“It does indeed. Which means we need you to find Sedu. I know it is a big hay stack …”
“Actually, we have him localized to a single mountain range.”
“Oh?” she asked hopefully.
“That’s the good news. The bad news is that he split the hostages between the two planets. We don’t have the other localized.”
“Oh, damn,” Shelby said.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Okay, so, what is the plan?”
“This is a Marine thing, ma’am. I’ve got a company of marines but no gunships or anything like that. They have two squads of powered armor. They aren’t set up for a planetary invasion. Boarding actions are short and sweet. This is going to get nasty. Sedu will see them coming and will be ready for them.”
Shelby nodded. “And with the hostages in play, you can’t give orbital support other than intel and communications.”
“I know, ma’am.”
“Okay, don’t go off half-cocked.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, ma’am. My people are busy for the next few weeks locking down the Tauren ships and space stations at the moment. But I think I will authorize the jarheads to get to the ground and start poking around. Set up a perimeter and start closing the noose as soon as possible.”
“Okay. We have troops en route but they are months out. You know the drill there.”
“I do indeed. We’ll figure it out, ma’am.”
“Hopefully,” Shelby replied doubtfully.
<<(O)>>
Captain Doris Hierl felt fatigue but fought the urge to sit away firmly. She tapped her implants and a spurt of adreniline cleared the cobwebs for the moment.
It didn't beat sleep. The natural boost wasn't good for her long term, sleep was the best remidee, but for the moment, it was all she had. She needed to remain alert until things cooled off.
So far so good, the boarding actions were over. They had no opposition on the ships or stations. Her people were split between guarding the improvised brig station, the captured capital ships, the stations, and finding General Sedu and his forces.
The last thing was proving tricky. They were on it though. But the newest crinkle had her nervous. The brass had determined that there was a shelf life on the stasis pods. Given what had happened to the Pele refugees, she understood it.
Digging them out was going to be … tricky. For the moment, she had one platoon on each planet trying to localize the general and colonel and lock down a perimeter. Once that was done …
Hell, she wasn't certain what she'd do. She'd figure it out she thought as she ran a frustrated hand through her short hair.
<<(O)>>
Blue Waters
General Sedu nodded as the report came in that the orbital works were in the control of the Federation. That was to be expected.
He had halted all flights in the region. There was no point telling the enemy where they were. Communications and active sensors were on lockdown as well. His vehicles were all inside. A majority of the remaining work was on foot.
He had work crews outside running fiber optic line between distant outposts. The lines were covered in a brown sheeth that didn't quite match the ground so his people had to cover it with a bit of dirt or gravel to disguise it. That was fine.
The great thing about the fiber optic line was that there were no betraying electrical traces for anyone to pick up. Just light following a channel from point A to point B.
He smiled ever so slightly. What those light pulses controlled … well, the Fed Marines would find out in good time.
<<(O)>>
Categories: Authors
Recommended Reading List (Belated): August 2025
As I mentioned in previous posts, I really got behind on my recommended reading lists. But I stored the books and articles, knowing I could catch up. I didn’t expect to get nearly seven months behind, but then I didn’t expect the last few years either. I’ve put out most of the old lists. Now, after this one, I only have September’s to finish. (Yay!) December’s list went live on January 2, as the Recommended Reading Lists were designed to do. October and November were on time as well, just not as quick as December’s.
I picked up the Karen McManus book, One of Us is Back, after failing to find something to read in July. So it was my crossover book into August. Below you’ll understand why I abandoned McManus for a while, but I’m glad I picked her work up again. I binged and I usually don’t do that.
I’ll be honest here: I barely remember August. Life was stupidly hectic at that point. But I do remember reading all of the books listed below.
August, 2025
Grynbaum, Michael, “Grand Old Party,” The Hollywood Reporter, July 9, 2025. Back in the day when I was flying all over the country every weekend, I’d pick up the latest copy of Vanity Fair as my airplane reading, which meant I read a lot of essays from Graydon Carter, the editor. I also saw a lot of pictures of “Hollywood’s Greatest Party.” I must admit I was curious, although friends who got in said it was no big deal. Whether it was a real no big deal or one of those no big deals that people mentioned when they thought it was a big deal, I can’t say. But it was ever present. And this article explains how it became a big deal. It’s an excerpt from a book on the history of Condé Nast. If the rest of the book is this fun, it’ll be worth reading.
McManus, Karen M., Nothing More To Tell, Delacorte Press, 2022. As I mentioned above, I binged Karen M. McManus’s work from the middle of August on. I explain below why it happened. I’m not recommending all of her books, but some worked really well for me. The unsolved murder in this one as well as the relationships really held me all the way through. Her books are great, quick reads, and quite involving.
McManus, Karen M., One of Us is Back, Delacorte Press, 2023. This is the third book in the One of Us is Lying series, which became a TV show. I had no idea about the show when I read the first book, which I loved. The second book was great…until the ending. Which had no validation at all. It wasn’t until I binged on all of McManus’s books that I realized she doesn’t understand the concept of validation. Sometimes she ends a book with a stab to the heart—a writerly stab to the heart. In other words, when she goes, Oh, wow, ouch, she thinks the readers will too. In a couple of the books that happened, but not in the second one. In the second one in this series, I just looked for the next page. Whoops. That’s not how validations work. They exist to let the reader know that the book is finished, even if the series isn’t.
So it took years for me to pick up Book 3, and then only because I was in need of something at midnight one night, and I read in paper, so an ebook wouldn’t cut it. (Besides, I don’t do screens before bed.) Book three was so incredibly good that I couldn’t put it down. Short summary: these books take place in a town called Bayview, and it’s one of those beleaguered places like Stephen King’s Derry, where people should move away but never do. Crimes occurred, secrets happen, and someone knows what no one is telling. And the stab to the heart from Book 2 factors into Book 3. So if you decide to read the series, forgive McManus for the failed ending of Book 2 and move forward. I’m glad I did.
McManus, Karen M., Two Can Keep A Secret, Ember, 2019. I was originally on the fence about the cover design of these books but now that I’ve had to stare at them for a while because I was slow getting to them, let me say that I hate them. I hate how they erase people. They made me uncomfortable, which fits with the books, but at the same time, I doubt I would have picked them up in a brick-and-mortar store. And yuck. Wiping out people’s faces? Maybe I’m just oversensitive given all that’s going on right now. (Sigh)
Anyway, these books are like catnip for me. And this one has the word “secret” in the title, which is really Kris-bait. Fortunately, the book is good, filled with family secrets and murder. It’s not my favorite (that’s coming up in September’s belated list), but it’s up there.
Perkins, Anne Gardiner, Yale Needs Women: How The First Group of Girls Rewrote The Rules of An Ivy League Giant, Sourcebooks, 2019. Sadly, this book reads like it was written in another century and in some ways it was. Written and published before the Supreme Court gutted Roe v. Wade and ensured that much of what happened to women in those years when abortion was not legal will happen again, this book talks about the victories we won as if we could keep them forever. (Sigh)
Anyway, women—especially young, college age women—you need to read this and understand what your sisters went through to allow you to have an education among your peers. Me, I remember much of this, even though some of it happened to women ten years older than I was. One of my best friends from high school, a young disabled woman who also happened to be the smartest person I knew (and may still be) got into Yale in 1977. Because we were all young and naive, we thought that was great, but she left after one year, returning to Minnesota. I remember thinking that she had capitulated, given up and retreated, but now, after reading this…fifty years on…I realize that no. What she faced as a woman and a disabled woman at that must have been miserable and seemed insurmountable.
This is an important book and its stupid title and terrible cover probably didn’t help its sales. So I hope you all will. And then I hope you read it.
Categories: Authors
Thanks, Backers!
Our Kickstarter went well, thanks to you all! Backer letters will go out over the weekend. Thank you so much!
Categories: Authors
Comment on Alex Verus Promotion – Cursed by Benedict
In reply to Bill.
The ways of Amazon are inscrutable.
Categories: Authors
All the Questions, Some of the Answers
I’m lost, which series is Augustine from?/ I’ve read everything I don’t remember an Augustine? /Is Augustine someone from This Kingdom?
Augustine is the character from the Hidden Legacy series. We first meet him in Burn For Me, which is the first book.
A section of the wall slid aside. The receptionist looked at me. I stepped through the opening into a vast office. We must’ve been in a corner of the fin, because the wall to the left and straight ahead consisted of blue glass. A white, ultramodern desk grew seamlessly out of the floor. Behind the desk sat a man in a suit. His head was lowered as he read something on a small tablet, and all I could see was a thick head of dark blond hair styled into a short and no doubt expensive haircut.
I approached and stood by a white chair in front of the desk. Good suit, in that color between grey and true black people sometimes call gunmetal.
The man looked up at me. Sometimes people with talent in illusion minimized their physical flaws with their magic. Judging by his face, Augustine Montgomery was a Prime. His features were perfect, in the way Greek statues were perfect, the lines of his face masculine and crisp but never brutish. Clean-shaven, with a strong nose and a firm mouth, he had the type of beauty that made you stare. His skin nearly glowed, and his green eyes stabbed at you with sharp intelligence from behind nearly invisible eyeglasses. He probably had to have protective detail when he left the building to fend off all the sculptors who wanted to immortalize him in marble.
The glasses were a masterful touch. Without them, he’d be a god on a cloud, but the hair-thin frames let him keep one foot on the ground with us mere mortals.
“Mr. Montgomery,” I said. “My name is Nevada Baylor. You wanted to see me?”
Montgomery valiantly ignored the purple tint of bruises on my face.
“Sit down, please.”
He pointed to the chair. I sat.
“I have an assignment for you.”
Andrews, Ilona. Burn for Me: A Hidden Legacy Novel (pp. 29-30). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Is the baby tiger ok?
Who do you take us for? Yes, the baby tiger is okay. Nothing bad happens to Kitty.
Does this mean the series is now back, and we’ll have Arabella’s trilogy?
No. You get Augustine’s novella with bonus Arabella scenes and her shorts from the blog. No promises for anything else.
Will Beast Business be available from your direct store? Is it an exclusive? Will it be on Amazon, B&N etc?
Beast Business will be available from all the usual retailers and our store.
Which formats will Beast Business have? When will they be available?
We are starting with the ebook, print paperback, and audio to follow. Print will be shortly after or on the release date of the ebook, while the audio will be a few months out. We are looking for our perfect Augustine audio reader. As always, the price of the POD print edition will be horrendous, but we have to make at least $1 from each sale, or we will be taking a loss.
We will announce the exact dates as they come in.
Will the audiobook be traditional narration or dramatized? Dual POV?
The novella is dual POV but we have made no decisions in regard to audio yet. It is a shorter project and not all audio readers work on shorter projects, but we are in process of reviewing the auditions.
Is it really coming out this January? 2 weeks from now January?! Can it be true?
We are aiming for the tail end of January. It’s the matter of getting the edits done. If we miss this deadline, we will have to push it to summer, because we do not want it to intrude on This Kingdom publishing window. Nobody wants to wait till summer, so January it is.
When does BB happen in the timeline?
A couple of months after Baylors buy their house.
Is this the same artist as the Hidden Legacy special edition?
Yes! Helena is amazing.
Is this Augustine’s real face or Augustine as he illusions himself to look?
If only there was a novella that might explore that question and give us some answers.
Detail Police: Why is Diana not blonde? Why does the cub not have 4 nostrils and a tentacle collar and 4 eyes and is not blue? Are Augustine and Diana the same age, because she is older than Cornelius?
It is so nice to see you guys still being that passionate about the series. It warms my evil heart. Let’s take these one at a time. Diana is not blonde because she changed her hair, which you can find in the first snippet of this novella.
Zeus does not have four eyes.
A creature waited next to him, indigo blue, with a spray of ghostly black and paler blue rosettes and spots across its fur. At least two and a half feet tall at the shoulder, six feet long, with a thick neck crowned with a fringe of tendrils, a short wide muzzle with dagger teeth, and wide paws as big as my hand. It reminded me of a tiger.
Andrews, Ilona. Wildfire: A Hidden Legacy Novel (p. 90). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
and
There was something feline about it, something reminiscent of the broad powerful tiger, but its nose was a complicated thing of four nostrils, and the fringe of tentacles that ringed its neck moved on its own. The beast looked at me with an understanding, as if it was a lot smarter than any Earth animal. It was just odd. Really odd and unsettling.
Andrews, Ilona. Wildfire: A Hidden Legacy Novel (pp. 95-96). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
It’s hard to draw that kind of nose on a tiger, especially when it’s that small, and Kitty is very young, so the tentacles are still forming, which is explained in the novella. The tiger is most definitely blue. Some of you think she is white, but she is not.
This is a white dress/blue dress situation.
I will also pause here to say that right now every book cover – not an exaggeration – is accused of “being AI.” We made a conscious decision to keep Kitty as tiger-like as we could and gave that description to Helena, because if Kitty was drawn with four nostrils, some people would assume it was an AI-generated image gone wrong. The potential fallout to the art and to the book was not worth it.
Augustine and Diana are roughly the same age. At the beginning of the series, Augustine is in his very early thirties, while Cornelius is 28.
Also, this cover is gorgeous, but it cannot possibly match the mental image of every Hidden Legacy reader because there are tens of thousands of you. While Helena is definitely an art Prime, there is no magic like that.
When will GA rerecord the books with the new Augustine?
They will not be rerecording them. So many people worked on them and the original actor gave a wonderful performance. He is very talented and his performance was inspired. It’s more that Catalina’s trilogy will get a different Augustine.
I thought the novella was a serial?
No. We only posted a couple of snippets. Serials require so much time, and we are putting in over 2,000 words on This Kingdom #2 every day.
When is the Spanish edition coming?
Mod R tells me June 9th, but please check with Hidra directly.
We are seeing two audiobooks of Inheritance on sale.
Correct. We are doublechecking this, but this is probably caused by our distributor stepping in. Initially, the Inheritance audio was exclusive to Audible/Amazon but now, after 90 days passed, our distributor will pushing it to other retailers. You are seeing that preorder.
My TurnNow I have a question for you. We had a bunch of how-to writing articles on the blog, which we mostly archived. I’m not great at teaching. First, I’m not an expert. I know how to write commercial fiction, but I have none of the education that would train me for explaining how to do it. Second, fiction is also strange. What works for one person doesn’t work for another. You can really damage people with feedback if they are not ready for it, and I feel like I do more harm than good.
However, Mod R mentioned that people are still looking for the articles. I can bundle them together for you into an ebook reference, if there is enough interest, but I would have to charge a couple of bucks for it to recoup the time investment and editing costs.
I think the topics were something like how to fold time, how to write a chase scene, difference between show don’t tell and passive voice, basic story structure, etc. We did a class one time on the worldbuilding based on economy, and I think I still have the write up for that somewhere. For those who are still asking about the alphahole article, I took it down ages ago and I don’t have a copy of it.
I don’t think there will be enough interest in any of this, but if you want it, we will consider putting it together. If you want it, let us know in the comments and tell us which topics you want to be covered.
The post All the Questions, Some of the Answers first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.
Categories: Authors
Friday Musings: Our Latest Adventure In Home Ownership
Last week, our septic system died. It had been giving us trouble for a while, making dyspeptic noises when we did the laundry or ran too much water through the pipes, draining too slowly, and generally seeming not well. You might say the whole thing crapped out on us. But shit happens….
We had someone come in to check it, and they told us the tank needed pumping. But when we had another someone come in to do that, they discovered that the tank, which is made out of cement, was broken, and had been KNOWN to be broken by the previous owners of the house, who had set up some weird makeshift patches over the broken section to hide or at least mitigate the problem. So, that was something of a pisser….
Then we had a third someone come in to remove the broken tank and replace it with one that, well, wasn’t broken. This was set to cost us a great deal of money — a butt-load, if you will. And they discovered that the broken tank was actually resting on a second tank, which was deeper in the ground. At which point, their already-substantial estimate ballooned further. That really stank. It felt like we were just flushing money down the toilet….
And actually, we had previously — as in just a couple of weeks ago — had to replace our hot water heater. Hence, you might say that the septic issues were our number two problem….
Okay, I’ll stop now with the terribly immature scatological humor. The septic problems were real — not something I made up to work in these awful jokes. Fortunately, the work is done, the expense has been borne, the bird feeders are back up, and the yard has been patched, though it will take a while for it to recover fully. The guys doing the tank replacement (who were great — professional, considerate, friendly, reliable, and determined to get the work done quickly) had to bring in some heavy equipment. There was nothing to be done about the lawn.
But that’s a small matter. Everything (for now) is working as it’s supposed to. You might even say that our problems are behind us now….
Enjoy your weekend!
Categories: Authors
Shelby Logan 10 Occupation Snippet 1
So, I hope everyone had a good holiday season. Mine was mixed.
Anyway, I am between books still and working on a bunch of print projects with my new Elegoo Centauri Carbon at the moment. But I sent Shelby 10 off to Rea and Goodlifeguide so, here is the first snippet!
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Chapter 1New Tau Metropolis
Vice Admiral Shelby Logan stared at the bulkhead. Things were coming together but not how she had hoped.
"Ma'am?" Boni asked carefully.
"Yes?"
"We recieved confirmation that General Sedu went to ground with the hostages. He's taken a chunk of the reservation aliens too, apparently to work as a slave workforce. He has dug into the Eastern Reserve Mountain Range. Apparently the area is riddled with caves and mines."
Shelby scowled and looked down and then to the window. "Damn it."
"This was not anticipated."
"No, it was," Shelby said with a shake of her head. "The grunts and jarheads knew that he might pull this shit—at least find a way to fight and possibly go down fighting. Taking the hostages was not something that was considered but should have been."
"Yes, ma’am," the AI stated, grateful that her principle was beginning to think properly again.
"Let the colonels know and give them whatever support that they need. We need to end this. Preferably without a bloodbath."
"Yes, ma’am."
Shelby inhaled and then exhaled slowly. After a moment, she shook herself. "The good news is that the grunts were in preparation of this contingency." There were hundreds of troops en route to T-15. But they were scattered in various ships in transit from various locations, some as far away as Agnosta in Rho Sector.
"Yes, ma’am. Pity about the timing, most of the line troops are in Sigma."
"Don't I know it," Shelby stated in disgust. "And it doesn't help that we've got penny packets of army reservists all over the sector with expensive bases and equipment but not the right sort of troops. All weekend warriors and engineers."
"Reservists can fight, ma'am. They have the basic training."
"I don't know; I never looked too deep into the grounder's training methods. Aren't most of them support personnel?"
"Yes, ma’am. Army Corps of Engineers, some SAR, MASH, logistics, training, recruiters … a few infantry units but none larger than a company. They are scattered as you mentioned."
Shelby shook her head. That was all thanks to the partisans in congress who had spread the love with the army at the expense of the navy when they had been blocking Admiral Irons’ rebuilding efforts after Horath blew up in everyone's faces. "My point stands."
She scowled. "Alert all commands to support any movements. If the Marines or army need transport, I want them moved within twenty-four hours if possible. Less is better."
"Aye aye, ma’am."
<<(O)>>
Lebynthos
As soon as the details began to come in, the 2 Colonels had their schedules changed so that they could sit down with each other and discuss it.
“Good news, Lobo is out of it and the navy has control of the star system.”
“With the exception of the ground,” Colonel Letterman said as he continued to study the report. His jaw flexed when he got to news about the hostages.
“So, worst case confirmed, you were right. He went to ground and took the hostages with him. Now we have to dig him out without rock bombing his ass into oblivion.”
“Exactly,” the army colonel said with a resigned shake of his head.
Brown eyes surveyed the army colonel. “You don’t look happy at being right,” the Neochimp said.
“That’s because I’m not,” Colonel Letterman sighed. “This is going to be a bitch.”
“I know. Good news, Taurens do not like enclosed spaces.”
“True. But there is a ticking clock.”
Randy blinked. “Oh? Why the sense of urgency? The hostages are still in their pods right?”
“Exactly.”
The Neochimp Marine’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “Exactly?”
“The pods. They have a limited battery life. Unless they are hooked to an external power source.”
“Um… shouldn’t they last for like, centuries? Like Admiral Irons did?”
“Admiral Irons was in a life pod. These stasis pods are for long term movement of people. The batteries are purely there as a backup and for when they are moved around. Remember what they said about the death of the Pele refugees?”
The Neochimp blinked and then his eyes flared wide in surprise and consternation. “Shit!”
“Right. The Pele refugees died because some idiot shut the power off and the batteries shut off after a few months.”
“Oh frack…”
“We don’t have years to starve him out. Months at best.”
“Damn it…”
“Right.”
“Do the powers that be know this?”
Colonel Letterman looked up to the ceiling. “You know, that is a damn good question.”
<<(O)>>
Categories: Authors
Join Jim Today For An AMA!
Celebrate the launch of Twelve Months with Jim on Reddit with an “Ask Me Anything” event!
Categories: Authors
You Have 12 Hours To Get Deals On 100 Detective Stories…
…Not to mention all the stretch goals. Yes, we’re running a Make 100 Kickstarter, and it ends today. So, if you were thinking about getting 100 detective stories in all genres, you’re almost out of time. Fifty of the stories are mine, and fifty are Dean’s. Plus any extras that came with the Kickstarter itself.
(And if you signed up for my newsletter, you got two more.)
If you want a sample, read my Free Fiction Monday story, “Helmie.” Last week’s free fiction story was also from the book, but alas, free fiction vanishes from my site when I post the new one. However, if you read it last week, you might remember…
Anyway, the Kickstarter with all of its deals on books and workshops will vanish at 7 p.m. PST tonight. So click here for your last chance to get all the good deals.
Categories: Authors
Publishing updates January 2026
Updates on the Wrath & Desire book release in February, including pre-order links, details on maps and dictionaries, ARC team info, and a bonus story I'll be including.
Categories: Authors
Monday Meows
Fiends, Ronams, Countymen, Lend me your paws!
Oooh, I think it might be time to develop a drinking problem.
You’re not wrong.
I have no problem. I drink, I fall down, I sleep, it’s basically the state motto.
Why are your paws spinning? Or…is that just me?
Categories: Authors
Live Now, Enter To Win!
Enter here to win a Kindle copy of Twelve Months!
Open to United States Residents. See website for rules and conditions.
Categories: Authors
November 2025 Update
TRANSLATIONS
SPAIN
I know, I know, I said I would never even contemplate a Spanish translation again, after the disaster I had with the first 4 books of Bite Back in 2023.
But then Cinta gives me a call and points out that SF is a very different genre, and is popular in Spain, and the heroine Zara is part Spanish with an obviously Spanish name, and she’ll give me such a good price on translating ‘A Name Among the Stars’, and maybe it’ll provide a boost for Amber as well…
So…
In the spring of 2026, hablando en español, Zarate Mirari Aguirre, daughter, and last of the Founding Family Aguirre, will speak her Name with pride, for it is a Name Among the Stars, and that they can never erase.
Y veremos. And we will see.
For those who haven’t read the Among the Stars books (currently 2, but another 2 coming):
An heiress fleeing for her life. A forbidden and terrifying Artificial Intelligence loose in the galaxy. A telepathic alien race living hidden alongside humanity. A deadly conspiracy silently spreading through human space. The secret sorrow of a whole planet revealed for all to see.
A vow that must be broken. A love that cannot be.
Duty and honor.
A huge and developing story set in the distant future with a sweep that encompasses the whole of humanity, told mainly from the perspective of Zara Aguirre, daughter, and last of the great Founding Family Aguirre, who abandons her home world to save her life.
A review of Among the Stars by
Charles de Lint
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
“It’s a delicious mix of the Brontë sisters, murder mystery, sf drama,
space opera, and just general romance and derring-do…
I could sense the joy of storytelling on every page.
This one hit the mark on every point.”
http://mybook.to/Among_the_Stars
And at the same time as I release ANAtS, I will unpublish Revelación (the Bite Back series name in Spain) and re-brand in line with the English and German style, and republish. Amazon mis-categorized book 1 as erotica when it was launched, which just destroyed all the marketing effort. They claim that the problem was ‘fixed’, but it was still possible to get an Amazon list of Urban Fantasy books with book 1 suppressed completely. Makes selling it difficult. Republishing with a different ISBN and Amazon code will finally cure that, I hope.
FRANCE
I have been promised the final editing for ‘L’oeil du Serpent’ (‘Snake Eyes’) in French will be complete in December, and so we’ll be launching in January along with the 3 translated novellas (‘The Biting Cold’, ‘Winter’s Kiss’ and ‘Change of Regime’).
I’ve tentatively agreed for ‘The Harvest of Lies’ to be translated into French as well next summer. It is, after all, set in French Saigon!
GERMANY
I’m wondering if I should get ‘The Harvest of Lies’ translated into German. Thoughts?
All of which will increase the pressure on me to write more and write quickly.
WRITING PROGRESS
I spent a lot of November coughing and sneezing, which was irritating and held me up a bit. I am making progress, but I have clearly bust the predictions I made for publication, and Bite Back book 9 is now categorically and unequivocally ‘late’.
I keep editing and re-editing, feeling that passages are simply not good enough. I am trying various ways to fix this. Keep checking in.
A snippet. Amber and party have been ambushed, but who are the ambushers?
MARKETING
Been in the doldrums a bit this year. Our main marketing channels are Facebook and Amazon. Both of them have apparently turned over their internal algorithms to AI, and now no one knows how to get any traction for any length of time. The support execs can’t tell you because they don’t know why the algorithms are doing what they’re doing.
We’re running an Amazon Countdown now (basically SoH for 99c), which has got the Amazon rating moving, and we’ll follow that with another concerted effort right through into 2026. Traditionally, pre-Christmas isn’t a good time for marketing, but nothing is working ‘traditionally’, so we’re trying different things.
Yes, we’ve had a look at BookBub and BookTok and Instagram.
Our other marketing challenge in the new year is how to advertise those translations.
In France, although Hachette have closed the deal we had, I don’t have the rights for the rest of Bite Back series. Those could come back by expiration or purchase of the contract, but that’s in the future. The first challenge is how to advertise for book 8 on its own! Theoretically, you should be able to go to Amazon and say ‘promote this to everyone who has read the Bite Back series so far’. Amazon might do that, but again, they might not. The second point is that Hachette’s main market was in bookshops with printed copies, and there’s no way we’ll be able to match their access there.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
URBAN FANTASY THRILLERS
Amber Farrell – Paranormal PI
BITE BACK SERIES
I anticipate 11 or 12 books in total to conclude the series arc of Emergence
Prequel: Raw Deal
1: Sleight of Hand
2: Hidden Trump
3: Wild Card
4: Cool Hand
5: Angel Stakes
5.1 The Biting Cold (associated novella)
5.2 Winter’s Kiss (associated novella)
5.3 Change of Regime (associated novella)
6: Inside Straight
7: Queen of Diamonds
8: Snake Eyes
9: Not yet named
Others from the BITE BACK universe
Characters from these books appear in the main series
BIAN’S TALE
1: The Harvest of Lies
Anticipated 6 books following Bian from her early life in 1890 Vietnam
to the point she becomes Daikon of House Altau, prior to the start of BITE BACK
https://mybook.to/THoL
BITE BACK: OUTSIDERS
1: The Biting Cold
https://mybook.to/TheBitingCold
2: Winter’s Kiss
https://mybook.to/WintersKiss
A short novella series with a PNR flavor introducing the background of House Lloyd
This miniseries fits between books 5 and 6 of the main BITE BACK series
LONG ISLAND ATHANATE
Change of Regime
https://mybook.to/ChangeOfRegime
Stand-alone novella set between books 5 and 6 of the main BITE BACK series
providing some insight into House Altau in New York
When ‘Stand Up’ appears, it will be in this group
SCIENCE FICTION
THE LONG WAY HOME
I anticipate 6 or 7 books in this series
Prequel: No Other Course
1: The Dark Takes Fools
2: Out of the Dark
3: Born in Fire
4: Don’t Stop Now
Their war has just ended.
Their struggle has just begun.
Their colony will die if they fail.
Finally discharged from the military, Janice and Bjorn are the only two survivors of a group recruited from the remote and isolated colony of Calloway. It’s left to them to find a way to get life-saving technology back to their home planet before everyone left in the colony dies.
It’s an impossible task, but no one can convince Jan and Bjorn of that.
Betrayed by the Earth’s government, never more than a step from disaster, they have to battle against corruption, greed… and pirates… on The Long Way Home.
Series link
https://mybook.to/TLWH
AMONG THE STARS
I anticipate 4 or 5 books in this series
1: A Name Among the Stars
2: A Threat Among the Stars
(As detailed in first section)
Categories: Authors
October update
Happy Halloween! <Ominous Sean Penn voice> Winter is coming.
Writing Progress in October
Not a great deal to report.
Writing continues to be slow and usually steady. Certainly no writing sprints at the moment.
One reason is that there’s a lot of information that’s been hanging over the story for the last couple of books, and I don’t want to info-dump, so it has to be worked in amongst the action and reaction cycle of the story without interrupting the flow.
There’s ‘how’ and ‘why’ in the worldbuilding, for instance, but also, during this book, Amber’s going to be asked who are you ultimately loyal to? There are lots of tricks to appear to answer this question without answering it, but it’s such a fundamental part of Amber’s character that I want to be clear in her response while ensuring that the reader senses how much hangs in the balance over her reply.
In the meantime, there are some easier parts, and here’s some banter between Amber and her team regarding a handsome young werewolf…
Other fun writing stuff that needs a lot of polishing includes fights that take place in the spirit world and the physical world at the same time. This is much more difficult than ordinary fights. I did have feedback on Snake Eyes that some readers strongly preferred the physical world fights. A few hated the entire spirit world section where Amber meets the Stone Serpents and overcomes their challenges. That all had to happen, and I’m taking the core of the criticism to mean that I need to depict spirit world conflict better. More urgent. More ‘real’. I can understand there can be an impression that the spirit world is like a sort of dream state and can’t hurt the protagonists. I guess I’m going to have to show that’s not the case.
Translations
The fourth book of ‘Der lange Weg nach Hause’ (The Long Way Home in German) is now on the Amazon servers. The title is ‘Jetzt oder Nie’ (Now or Never).
I’m still waiting for the final, post-edit & beta-read versions of Bite Back 8 in French ‘L’œil du serpent’, but it’s real close.
A friend of mine is looking at translating Sleight of Hand into Farsi! I will be delighted, but, after the painful sting of attempting to market Bite Back in Spanish, I’m not looking at actively pursuing any languages outside of English, German and French.
Print versions
I have also promised to make the Bite Back novellas into paperbacks, and I will get to it. Soon. Ish.
Snake Eyes Print Book Breaking news:
I happened to use my author print copy of Snake Eyes to check on something and found that there is a massive print error. The chapter titled 58 is in fact 54, and so 54 is 55, 55 is 56, etc. down to 58.
There is no problem with the eBook. I have no idea how this has happened, and it has been corrected now.
My apologies to all those who have bought the print book. I am going to talk to Amazon to see how to resolve this.
Raw Deal offer
I have had one person report that the link for a free copy of Raw Deal (the Bite Back prequel) didn’t work. This is from the link in the back of the main novels. I’ve tested and I can’t see what might have caused this. Has anyone else had a problem?
Monthly content or short story release
I raised this last time and got a few vociferous comments that I should be getting those short stories already available onto Amazon rather than free reading on WordPress.
The stories form part of the Among The Stars Science Fiction series, mainly the long-delayed book 3, ‘A Ship Among the Stars’.
Other
I haven’t forgotten any of my ‘orphans’, but I am seriously writing much slower than I did.
Categories: Authors
September Update
Well, summer has definitely gone!
Writing Progress
I spent a few days this month down at a friend’s house in Teignmouth, a small port in Devon. It’s a place that helps me write because just about the only thing you can hear from his living room is the wind and the seagulls. I used the mornings to write and then we went for strenuous walks in the afternoon. There are lots of hills there. In the evening, I wrote some more and then we made ourselves some dinner and set to putting the world to rights with a glass of wine or two.
Progress on the book is good in fits and starts. I can’t seem to maintain a regular schedule of thousands of words a day. I’m too easily distracted.
As I’ve mentioned in previous updates, Amanda Lloyd comes in as a second point of view character in this book. Have a read of the two snippets below and tell me what you think…
Here’s a snippet from Amanda’s PoV:
And here’s one from Amber’s PoV:
Translations
I’m still waiting for the final, post-edit & beta-read versions of Bite Back 8 in French “L’œil du serpent” and The Long Way Home 4 in German “Jetzt oder Nie”.
The previous French translations have all been done by Bragelonne (now part of Hachette), and they did the covers, which we have to match to a reasonable level. Here is a composite of the images:
Print versions
My apologies, it has taken me a year to get book 8 in German released as a paperback. Anyway, it’s there now.
I have also promised to make the novellas into paperbacks, and I will get to it. Soon. Ish.
Monthly content or short story release
For those who read my Science Fiction, you probably already know that I have a couple of short stories that will form part of book 3 of the Among The Stars series.
Whatever I do with them, they will be temporary, because they’d have to be taken down when the full book is released.
In the meantime, would you like to read them as posts on WordPress, or would you like to buy them as very short novellas on Amazon?
Other
I haven’t forgotten any of my ‘orphans’. Here’s a reminder that Bian’s Tale will continue with The Words of the Dead. This was part of an ad campaign I was working on when I shelved it.
Categories: Authors
What fiction am I reading?
Links at the end of sections
Police procedurals
Renée Ballard
I am re-reading the Renée Ballard series by Michael Connelly (clumsily renamed the Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch series after book 1). There were several reasons for this, among them that my work in progress will involve a criminal investigation and also that I was recommended the Ballard TV series on Amazon Prime based on these books.
The story is about a Los Angeles female detective.
I liked the books the first time around, and still do.
I liked the first season of the TV series, which was sitting at #1 on Amazon Prime recently. I hope they go ahead with subsequent seasons.
The star of the TV show is Maggie Q, as the eponymous detective Ballard. She does a fantastic job, and I’m only angry that Jessica didn’t get to play the part!
But (you knew there was a ‘but’ coming, didn’t you) why did they change so much from the book? Book detectives need a quirk as well as all the other character- and world-building structures around them. In the books, get this, Renée is homeless. Connelly manages to make it work. LA traffic is so appalling, Renée lives in her van and after working the night shift (the ‘Late Show’ of the book 1 title) she picks up her faithful dog from the sitter, surfs and paddle boards a bit, and then sleeps in her tent on a quiet beach. In the show, she lives with her grandmother. Yawn.
Minor gripes aside, I recommend both the books and the TV show.
Eve Ronin
Also re-reading. Very much cut from the same cloth as Renée Ballard, although Eve works in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department rather than the LAPD. The LASD has jurisdiction over the parts of LA county outside the main city. The story starts in ‘Lost Hills’ with a jurisdictional dispute!
The quirk in this series is that Eve got her job as a detective by taking advantage of the social media reaction to her unplanned, out-of-uniform takedown of an action movie star who was assaulting his girlfriend. Her early promotion is resented by most of the detectives in the LASD, despite proving herself again and again, and Eve has to continue to engage in the politics of policing just to keep her job.
You think I give my characters a hard time… Eve ends up in hospital on a regular basis. And, like Renée, she doesn’t have an off-switch.
Recommended.
I went back to this series partly because I was re-reading Ballard, to compare and contrast. I enjoyed it just as much, but they are very different in feel. Lee Goldberg has had a lot of success as a TV scriptwriter, and the books are clearly written with TV in mind, so when I heard a rumor there was going to be a TV show, I called Jessica. Nah, too late, they’ve already cast the character.
How good will the TV show be, if it comes off? Impossible to say, but I bet they have trouble with the ambivalent feelings that Eve has about her success, which gives the books depth.
Will they have a TV show, given this is similar to Renée Ballard? I wish I knew how the minds of TV execs worked. Maybe the similarity will encourage them, or maybe it’ll put them off.
I mean, I really don’t know how their minds work. Why do they take quirky characters from books and try and make them more like plain vanilla, audience-will-be-familiar-with-this stereotypes. I get the marketing angle, that there’s already an audience out there for Ballard (65k reviews on Amazon USA) or Ronin (31k reviews), but surely that audience will be irritated that the characters aren’t the ones in the books.
It’s not that there isn’t precedence for creating unusual TV characters rather than taking book characters and damping them down… True Detective comes to mind.
(I’m also watching NCIS Hawaii, which is reasonable, and which the execs stopped after the 3rd season)
Ballard links
USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WLQL7SH
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06WLQL7SH
Eve Ronin links
USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JW53H22/
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07JW53H22/
Urban Fantasy
Sam Quinn
This series starts with The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar. It’s written by Seana Kelly.
It’s popular. Sam Quinn doesn’t get to do much bartending (or book selling). She’s a sort of hybrid werewolf/witch. The book trots along with Sam making lots of dumb choices and managing to stay ahead of things by being more powerful than anyone (reader included) realizes or by Deus Ex Machina plot twists.
I wonder if she gets the same sort of negative feedback as I do for her hot sex scenes?
Ninth House
Highly rated, and written by Leigh Bardugo.
I haven’t gotten into it yet, but it is different, which I am enjoying.
Sam Quinn links
USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089973N41/
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B089973N41/
Ninth House links
USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NVPTTSZ/
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NVPTTSZ/
Others
The Lot Lands series, starting with The Grey Bastards, by Jonathan French.
Orcs! Nasty fellows. Book 1 is a hugely enjoyable read. I have the second, which has a change of narrating character, and I haven’t fully gotten into it yet.
Categories: Authors
Monthly update for August
Urban Fantasy
Current project: Bite Back 9.
Not a huge amount to say about writing progress, other than August wasn’t the best month for concentrated work.
As mentioned in last month’s update, some of the scenes are being provided from Amanda Lloyd’s point of view. It’s quite fun using a different voice and perception of events to describe what’s happening at Haven.
I’m still debating on the amount of darkness I have in this book. It’s not so much the darkness itself, it’s the arc of the story. In a single book, the traditional arc of the book goes something like this:
- Setup and background.
- The event that precipitates the main story.
- The major setback.
- The point at which it all seems hopeless.
- The fight back and victory.
- Tie it up neatly.
In theory, a series should have a similar arc, but I’d drive many of you away if I spent an entire book on section 4, where everything seems hopeless. Bite Back 9 is in that area. Amber keeps winning, but she’s losing herself in the process.
As mentioned last time, Amber’s focus for much of this book is hunting down Askrynos, the Matlal operative that is highly placed in the government. That’s distracting her from the new Assembly, i.e. the Assembly put together to represent all the paranormal races. It’s a race between that and the official acknowledgement in the human world that the paranormal exists.
Translations.
Snake Eyes is nearly there in French. I’ve no idea how to market it and the novellas (which are ready to go) in France, where Bite Back 1-7 are still being published by the Bragelonne division of Hachette.
Science Fiction
Book 4 in The Long Way Home, Don’t Stop Now to be released as ‘Jetzt oder Nie’ (Now or Never), has been translated, but it still in quality control checking. I don’t have a German-specific Facebook page for Science Fiction, but I will be announcing the release on the German UF page and the SciFi & author pages I run.
Marketing
Facebook is endlessly tweaking its algorithms, and several notable authors have posted that their sales have slowed dramatically, including writers like Jennifer Estep.
I don’t know what they’re doing. I’m spending much less on advertising with Facebook, but my team are coming up with an Amazon campaign, which is probably what we will need in France anyway.
I’ll keep you posted!
Other
I’m learning the piano. I can sort of play melodies with my right hand, and chords with my left, but when it gets to putting them together… lol!
I used to play the guitar at school (very badly), but I wrote a lot of lyrics, to which my friend Colin composed music.
There are a couple of lines in my books, which I’ll be turning into complete songs, but don’t worry, I will not be singing them. I may try and persuade Jessica.
May release them in the newsletter…
Also re-read a couple of police procedural books to get my mind into Amber being a PI again. I’ll review those and others in a separate post.
Categories: Authors
Patreon
These were the signed books I gave away to folk on my Patreon last year:
We also have an active discord.
For higher tier Patrons I do consults and chapter critiques.
Also social media follows, early signed copies of upcoming books, and tuckerisation into new novels.
In addition, I have a collection of unpublished work including 7 books and numerous short stories that tier 3+ patrons can access.
So ... check it out!
Patreon is a great way to support authors and get involved in their work at a deeper level.
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Categories: Authors
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