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meet Cambious

Our second character introduction is for Cambious, our transgender incubus. The guardian of the portal between our world and another, Cambious was born Cambia and transitioned with a magically enhanced surgery.

He is large and very dark-skinned. Thána describes his physical appearance this way:

Through the door, I could see…well, I didn’t know what I was seeing. It couldn’t be real though, that much I was sure of. Because seven-foot-tall men with horns and black skin, dressed in leather and boots just were not a thing that was real. And, let me be clear: when I say black skin, I mean the kind of black that devours light, and when I say horns, I mean horns, thick, black horns rising up from his ample head of black hair somewhere above where I expected his ears were and curling back around and down around toward his face.

Despite his fearsome appearance, Cambious is a gentle sort of soul who loves baroque music and gardening. He and his family are sworn to protect the gate as repayment for a favor done by Thána’s grandfather. When the Brotherhood of God come calling, seeking Thána’s life, Cambious helps her flee through the gate and sets out with her to find her mother.

Cambious uses a complex glamor to get by in a world that isn’t always open to those of his kind, enabling him to seek out partners for his needs. He also has connections among the sort of non-human underground that includes incubi, succubi, dragons, phoenixes, and more.

Thanátou: The Blood Witch Saga Book 1 is out now!

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meet Merry

For our first introduction to the characters in Thanátou, I’d like to introduce you to Merry Ander-Wheather, the first family our main character meets as her journey begins.

Merry is a kitchen-witch, and a bit eccentric, especially for Thána who has lived a pretty mundane life up until the point where our story begins. We never learn specifically how old she is, but she is easily in her late seventies when she enters our story.

Merry wears her long grey hair in a variety of braids that she pins up in various messy ways and she uses magic to alter the color from time to time, preferring bright blues and greens, but tossing in other colors as it suits her.

Merry is a mother and grandmother, though it’s unclear how many children she had or how many grandkids there are, but she is a devoted family lover and she is happiest when her house is full and she can whip up tasty treats for everyone to enjoy.

Thanátou

Merry is eager to help Thána regain her memory and teach her how to be a witch, possibly too eager. She means well though, and becomes one of the first people Thána comes to trust.

I look forward to sharing this book with you, Readers! I am actively recruiting reviewers, so let me know if you’re interested.

I’m off to the day job and more coffee. I hope this Tuesday treats you with kindness!

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a tease

As we draw closer to release date, I’ll be doing a cover reveal over on my Facebook/Twitter/Instagram. I’ve got that scheduled for Monday morning at 9am. I’m also planning on introducing you lovely Readers to some of the characters you’ll be meeting in Thanátou.

Meanwhile, I thought I’d give you a tease from the first chapter:

My earliest memories are of blood, the hot, sticky taste of it on my tongue, the strange, copper scent of it suffocating me. I had no context for these things. I knew that I was small, and I knew that the stain of it was on my soul, but like so much of my life before I was ten, I could only guess.

That was where my life began, on my tenth birthday.

Thanátou, Chapter 1

Thus begins the story of Thána Augusta Celene Alizon Archer, a mid-level manager at a manufacturing company who doesn’t believe in magic or witches or ghosts, until one day a strange man with a strange box and a stranger story about a family she has never known arrives and turns her life upside down. Not to mention the men trying to kill her, or the incubus in her closet.

Thanátou: The Blood Witch Saga Book 1 is coming soon! Keep an eye out for that cover reveal on Monday and get ready to READ.

Today, I drop myself back into the world of Book 2, where we meet new characters and face new dangers.

But first, coffee and some mindless game playing to get my brain functional.

Photo by Ed Leszczynskl on Unsplash

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thanátou is coming

I woke up this morning to the cover design for Thanátou, The Blood Witch Saga Book 1, which means we’re one step closer to release!

I really cannot wait for y’all to get your hands on this book!

I’m waiting for release dates so I can start sharing character introductions and plan a cover reveal.

I am also working at lining up folks who want to provide early reviews, so reach out if you’d like to participate.

The back cover blurb:

blurb

This book includes a bisexual, 32-year-old main character, a pansexual transgender incubus, found family, a desperate rescue attempt, magic, danger and more adventure than our main character can handle.

I’m hard at work finishing up book 2 polishing edits to submit, and hope to have that turned in shortly after Thanátou is released.

Stay tuned for more info, Readers, and have a wonderful Wednesday!

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sorry to disappear

It’s been a weird month filled with Covid, migraines, and a decided lack of writing. At least, any writing outside of the day job. Even after being mostly recovered from Covid, my days consisted of said day job and then vegetating on the couch because the fatigue hung on forever.

I’m only just getting to the point of having enough oomph at the end of the day to do stuff like cook actual meals and the like.

This largely means not having enough brain power to do much writing or editing since coming back from LA. However, this week I got Thanátou: The Blood Witch Saga Book 1 back from the editor, so this weekend I’ve been immersed back into the world of Thána and friends working through those edits and putting together a glossary of non-English words.

I haven’t yet seen any cover design options, but I look forward to seeing what Next Chapter comes up with. I have book 2 almost ready to submit as well.

I will likely do a number of character introduction posts as I did with the Shades and Shadows series as we get closer to release. I really do love these characters so much.

And I’m posting this at just after 3am because now that I’m past Covid fatigue, I find myself back in the world of insomnia. I dozed in and out for a few hours, but at 2am I decided to just get up and get back to editing.

It’s going to be a short work week, as I am taking my mother up to Oregon as the family finally comes together to put my stepfather’s ashes to rest in the private family cemetery up there. (Yes, four years later…no, I’m not sure why it took so long) But we also get to do a little photography wandering while we’re up there, so that should be good.

Okay, back to edits. Happy Sunday, Readers. I hope it’s a good one for you.

Photo by Magda Smolen on Unsplash

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the blood witch cometh

This morning, I signed the contract for the first book in the Blood Witch saga with my publisher. This means that Thána and friends will be coming your way before the year is out. As always, I’ll be looking for advance readers who would like to read and review the book.

I spent a good chunk of the weekend going over and polishing up book 2 and will be doing the same with book 3 soon. And then, I get to return to book 4.

I hope, as we grow closer to a release to tease with some character introductions, as I’ve done in the past. In the first book that will be Thána and her transgender incubus friend Cambious as the two primary characters. I may do a few shorts on some of the intriguing side characters as well.

Also on my immediate horizon is Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim. I’m absolutely terrified, but also excited. I scored a photo/auto op with Ewan MacGregor! But terrified. Thankfully, they seem to have a good ADA set up with quiet rooms and the like and I should be able to get both me and the nibling ADA access, giving my brother carer access, so that should make things easier.

On that note, my coffee is almost gone, my cats are yelling at me for treats, and the day job awaits, so I’m off into the Tuesday. I hope it is good for you, Readers!

Photo by MaddiesCreation on Unsplash

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#amwriting

Sunday, Sunday…this week Sunday means writing, cleaning, and packing/moving boxes to clean. Oh, and refreshing my hair color. I’m trying a slightly darker green this time. Sunday is also the day I watch paranormal type shows. I’m currently binging on Ghost Hunters Classic on Discovery.

I’m working on the zero draft of a book I didn’t know I was writing, a fourth book in the Blood Witch Saga. I didn’t know there was a fourth until I wrote the epilogue of book 3.

Still working on finding a new house to move to. I’ve seen a couple that I really loved, but the last one went to a veteran and his family, and the landlady in the other is taking her sweet time to decide.

I hate this part, the search and what feels like begging for a home.

I have tomorrow off for MLK Jr. day, so I’ll get a little extra writing time this week, which is always nice. I have a vague idea where this story is going, a few plot points along the way and I know (mostly) how it ends. This is the part of writing that I love the most, feeling my way through the plot, building new worlds, creating new characters.

I should get up and get busy with stuff that doesn’t include the computer. There are boxes to move and floors to be cleaned, etc.

Hope your day is awesome, Readers!

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brain monkeys

Sometimes, inspiration is hard to come by, and the imposter syndrome looms large. As I stare into this year with a big move on the immediate horizon and the terrifying prospect of searching for literary representation battling my desire to take my writing career in a forward direction (versus just going with what I know is safe but nowhere near as satisfying), it would be easy to let it all overwhelm me.

I do my damndest to write every day, even if the words suck. Even if it’s only a hundred words or so. Every word written is a weapon against the dark.

As I was writing the Epilogue to the third Blood Witch book over the holidays, I was struck with the notion that there was more to the story, that this trilogy was actually a quartet. So, I started on book four.

As of right now, the plot is a bit nebulous: I know where it begins and I know where it ends, but the middle part remains something of a mystery.

I’ve never been a writer who plots it all out with an outline and all. I mostly let my characters tell me where the story goes, so I’m sometimes surprised.

I’ve been a bit paralyzed by fear in the search for representation. I know these books are kind of in a niche within a niche, which makes it harder, and I know that agents get a ridiculous number of queries, so no answer is not a comment on my work, but that does nothing to quiet the monkeys in my brain.

I think I’ve decided to wait to query anyone else until after the move. In the meantime, I will continue pouring words into book 4, and polishing books 2 & 3. I am pretty happy with book 1 and all of the plot editing is done for 2 & 3, at least until an editor gets their hands on them.

So, here’s to a Tuesday in January of 2022. May it be amazing, Readers, and filled with kindness.

Photo by Jamie Haughton on Unsplash

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ease on down

It’s been a hell of a year, hasn’t it?

On the one hand, it feels like 2021 flew by and I have no idea how we’re in the last week of the year. On the other hand, the events of January 2021 feel like they were two years ago, not one.

A lot changed for me this year.

I got laid off of a job I was enjoying, but which didn’t pay me well. I struggled financially to the point of needing to be bailed out by friends. I applied for, and received, rent relief from the California government (though it took forever). I started a new job on my birthday that I both love and that rewards me financially (and treats me like a grown up adult person). I finished writing two books and started querying with the first one in the series (still querying).

And here at the tail end of the year, I’ve made the decision to move closer to my family, now that I have a job that is permanently remote.

It seems somehow fitting to be at the end of the year and packing up my life. It gives me a chance to review all the steps that brought me here…to clear out what is no longer necessary and savor the things I love. Quite fitting for this time of year, I think.

I haven’t heard back yet on the house I want. The landlady made it clear when I applied that she’s “looking for the right tenant” so she is taking her time making the decision. I am still looking, but there were very few listings in the week leading up to Christmas, so I anticipate I should start seeing more listings next week.

In writing news this week, I wrote the epilogue for the third blood witch book, and it surprised me by leaving an opening for a fourth book…which I then wrote the first chapter for, so that’s a thing that is happening.

I have this whole week off from the day job, and I’m using it to both write and get myself packed up. It’s about time I got off the computer, cranked up some tunes, and got busy. Y’all take care, Readers, and ease on into 2022.

Photo by Eliza Diamond on Unsplash

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let them eat cake

I am in the process of edits, which means a lot of reading punctuated with spurts of writing/changing and a fair amount of admiration for writer-me who strung together some pretty decent words.

My writing process goes a little something like this:

  1. Zero-Draft, just get the plot onto the page
  2. Character Study, get the details down for reference
  3. First Edit, smooth out the plot on the page and add description/scene/dialog as needed
  4. Put the book down and work on something else for a while.
  5. Second Edit, clean up typos, fix plot holes
  6. Continuity Edit, make sure character descriptions and the like are consistent
  7. Read the whole thing out loud, fix things as they come up
  8. Polish
  9. Start the next book

I am on step 5 for the second book in the Blood Witch series. I have completed step 1 for book 3. Book 1 is complete (at least until it finds an editor) and I have begun querying agents.

This is kind of the sweet spot for me, the time I am most happy with my writing. I love these characters. I love the world(s) I’ve built. There will still be a period of doubt, when I’m sure the whole thing is crap, but for now, I am wallowing in the love.

I don’t write to get rich or famous. In fact, I’ve made less in royalties in the years I’ve been publishing than I used to make babysitting as a teenager. I write because I have stories to tell, characters to introduce to the world. It’s nice to make a little money, sure. Would it be awesome if everyone loved these stories as much as I do? Sure. But it’s just icing. The cake is where I find satisfaction.

My coffee is almost gone, so I guess it’s time to get back to baking…I mean editing. Happy Sunday, Readers. May it be pleasant.

Photo by American Heritage Chocolate on Unsplash