A Young Nate & Grace

I’m editing The Empire’s Rogues at the moment; I don’t think I’ve shared Rebekah’s sketches for Nate (sixteen) and Grace (fifteen). These will go at the front of the books, but they’re not out until February, so… please to enjoy. While we’re here, I enjoyed some of Tiffany’s editing commentary … lemme share a few choice snippets.

New Digital Covers for Night’s Champion

My Night’s Champion series is the devil’s own to market. It features (spoilers!) werewolves, but isn’t in the lane of popular genre tropes. My werewolves aren’t sexy; their murderous, and the vampires they fight do not sparkle. It’s been my eternal challenge to give this series covers that scream, “Supernatural suspense!” rather than something YA-focused (DANGER! WARNING! DANGER!) or romance (…this would be worse than terribad). I’ve updated the covers with these latest. What do you think? The third’s almost the same as it’s original, but the other two have seen quite the facelift.

Getting the Most Out of Your Available Time: 2019 Edition

I’m back on deck, editing Tyche Forever. I’m enjoying my own story, which always feels weird, but I guess it’s also a sign I should have written a Kohl+Algernon road trip story ages back. This year’s likely to see changes in my available writing time, which means adjusting priority assigned to things. This is always a fun exercise, as most plans never survive contact with the enemy, but after making a list I’ve got the bit between my teeth. Last year I tried many things to reach fans alongside writing. I’ve measured the impact and ‘success’ of these ventures, which leads me to a wonderful list of most-important things for 2019. I figured sharing those might be of interest – if you’re strapped for time yourself this could provide inspiration. The short version: this year’s all about me. Let’s see Read More …

2018: A Retrospective

Of the emails I send, I get the most responses from readers on “the author biz.” I initially figured few people would like to hear about the inner clockwork mechanism of indie publishing, but in hindsight it’s not crazy so many readers want to hear about it. I mean, you’re readers, and have a special relationship with writers. 2018 hasn’t been kind to indie authors. I know quite a few friends and colleagues who’ve noped out of the profession, and also a number who’ve made it rain C-notes from the sky. With this kind of duality going on, shit’s confusing. The reasons are, in business parlance, “nuanced.” Let’s dig in, shall we? Hugging it Out Some author friends (…who are actually just friends who also write) and I Skype’d in December. We talked about a lot of things, but the Read More …

15-Day Story Challenge: FINISH! 🐉

This is one of my world-famous emails, originally sent Friday, 21 December 2018. Want these straight away? Get on the list! 2019 looms. Over this side of the planet, we’re winding down. If we’re swapping truth, I think many people’s clocks just up and stopped last week: there was a Quiet Earth vibe walking the dog this morning. This week: My annual reader survey! The close-out of the 15-Day Story Challenge. How’d we do? A live-reading from Tyche Forever; and A new excerpt from Tyche Forever. Let’s tuck in. Reader Survey I like doing these annually to see how people are feeling. I usually put something on the site afterwards, you can see what everyone else thinks (not that they’re as important as you). If you want to give me a piece of your mind, head on over to this Read More …

Peppermint

I almost missed this one. Peppermint‘s a story about a soccer-mom-turns-vigilante. It’s a rags-to-ruins story, no punches pulled. Corrupt judiciary, dirty cops, ganglords controlling the city, and a family caught in the mincer and spat out. Where things get interesting is how vicious Garner’s Riley North character becomes. She’s powered by the burning fires of revenge, and leaves nothing on the table when the credits roll. North has a not-ideal but still serviceable regular life. Money’s tight, but they have food; social cliques ostracise her kid, but the immediate family rallies around. Her husband Chris, possibly not the brightest bulb, hatches a plan to steal cash from the cartels. He nopes out on the ‘opportunity,’ but not before Raba’s Diego Garcia (nicknamed The Guillotine, which should give you the right kind of vibes) gets wind of it, and executes them Read More …