Dead bodies are a problem. Dead mages are an invitation…to war.
When dead mages appear in the city streets, Ronin must track down the killer. Disavowed from Division 13 and hunted by Tigris, Ronin faces overwhelming odds as the body count keeps rising.
Now, Ronin must stop these attacks before the factions in the city declare an all-out war, upsetting the delicate balance that keeps the supernatural community from oblivion. Who or what is the Magekiller? Will Ronin find out in time to prevent disaster?
Join Ronin on his next mission as the he hunts down a merciless killer bent on destroying it all!
Hell hath no fury…like an angry god of the underworld.
Persephone
is missing. When Hades uses every resource at his disposal and fails to locate
his wife, he takes drastic measures. He hires the Montague & Strong
Detective Agency to locate her, bring her back to him, and most importantly,
find out who dared to kidnap his wife.
Now Monty
& Strong must uncover a plot to overthrow Hades and steal the underworld,
return Persephone to her husband unharmed, and prevent a god from unleashing
his wrath and starting a celestial battle royale.
It’s not the
end of the world…but it’s going to be close.
Someone thought they were easy targets…someone made a mistake.
Meet the Blackjacks, a renegade mercenary group led by Jacques ‘Jack’ Noire. When they take a job to deliver state-of-the-art terraforming components to one of the outer stations, they realize the simple delivery mission isn’t so simple. The components are really a weapon and someone wants them dead.
Now, with bounties on their heads, and Conglom Industrial hunting them, Jack and his crew must pilot his sentient ship, the Warlock, through some of the most dangerous parts of space. Outgunned and outnumbered, Jack has one secret weapon his enemies didn’t count on-magic.
Jump onboard the Warlock and into a deep space adventure with the Blackjacks, as they face off against overwhelming odds and discover that when it looks too good to be true…it usually is!
My new short story set in the Montague & Strong world is now available! This is the story of how they met and how Simon became immortal. Get your copy HERE.
Here is a brief description:
A Dangerous Client. An Impossible Case. An Offer He Should’ve Refused.
Children have gone missing in NYC.
Detective Simon Strong takes on what he thinks is a routine case-get proof of a spouse’s infidelity. When he digs deeper, he stumbles onto the trail of the missing children, but what he discovers shatters his concepts of reality.
Tristan Montague is a mage on the run. Hiding from his sect and banned from the magical societies, he follows a trail of missing children to NYC. Now, together with Simon, they must prevent more abductions and stop those responsible for the disappearances.
They will face an enemy unlike any other-hungry for power and willing to destroy anyone who gets in their way. Will they locate the missing children? Will they reveal the power behind the abductions and stop them?
2:45 am Tuesday and I’m wide awake. A storm is heading my way promising 18 inches of snow. Everyone in the house is sleeping and my brain is on overdrive, no I haven’t had any coffee…yet. I think the few brain cells I have left would melt if I did.
My current book Tombyards & Butterflies is doing fantastic in its first week of release, but that’s not what’s keeping me up. The second book is nagging the hell out of me. If you are creative you know exactly what I’m talking about. The idea that wont be quiet. The plot point that just wont stop. The character that whispers into your ears when you are driving, showering, doing the dishes or any other activity where a pen and paper( or phone) is out of reach, forcing you to stop and hurriedly get that idea down. And you do, because like a wisp of smoke, if you dont it vanishes and taunts you, remaining just at the fringe of conscious thought.
So I’m up and I haven’t blogged in a while because this latest book has demanded I write-hard and fast. It pushes me to write to the exclusion of everything else and so the blog, like a secret mistress, gets my visits in the dead of night when I can’t sleep. But the story,implacable, unrelenting, is there looking over my shoulder, pacing and tapping it’s foot. It gives me the stink eye and then floods my brain with ideas as if to say,”try writing that post now.”
I manage because I enjoy my blog and writing. My brain is always writing, always dealing with the alchemy of words, spoken and written. A part of me seriously believes that all creatives are slightly mad and unhinged-it’s what drives us and fuels our creative expressions. I can only speak to my experience. Writing a book is mad work. You sit down and have a conversation with the voices-in your head. You weave a story around that conversation and then invite others to jump into a world with you. Sure… totally sane.
Taking a blank page, canvas, or pick your medium, and transforming it into a book, a painting, a piece of music, a piece of you, is the ultimate form of creation. To bring forth something from nothing is the both the most empowering and frightening thing you can do and you must do it. To refuse the impulse is an act of abnegation and the fastest way to insanity.
In an effort to stave off my impending madness I am going to go wrestle with a story that just wont quit. I’ll see you on the other side.
In an effort to embrace writing here regularly I wanted to share a part of my current work in progress, but first… its Nanowrimo ! This is the month thousands of people get together and try and write a 50k novel in 30 days. Yes, its as hard as it sounds. If you haven’t tried it I seriously recommend it. You will be part of a great community and can share in the experience of focused writing for a month. I wish all the would be authors out there the best of luck in getting to 50k before the 30th!
Now for that excerpt .This is a little different from what I usually write but I wanted to go in a different direction, let me know what you think in the comments below!
Here it goes:
I remembered my grandfather, my sister, and various aunts and cousins, in their coffins and gone forever in the tombyards where the butterflies settled like flowers on the graves and where the flowers blew away like butterflies over the stones.-Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing.
ONE
What’s more exciting than chasing a rabid werewolf? Chasing that rabid werewolf in downtown Manhattan. The Village as a neighborhood is a warren of intersecting streets and dead ends. We had been at this for thirty minutes and I was getting aggravated.
“This is what the English did—who lays out a city like this?” I said as we ran down Sixth Avenue. “A grid, Monty would it have killed them to use a grid?”
“The Dutch were here first,” he said. “The English didn’t arrive until 1664. That’s how you get the name New York.”
We chased it down Minetta Lane off Sixth Avenue. The wet dog smell punched me in the face as soon as I turned the corner.
“There’s something wrong with that smell,” I said. “God, he reeks!”
“I didn’t realize you were a werewolf scent expert,” Monty said as he caught up.
“I’m not, but this guy smells like he hasn’t bathed in a year,” I said. “Did you see his eyes?”
“I did,” Monty said. “He seems to be suffering from some kind of reaction.”
“Reaction?” I said. “He tore that poor woman in half. That’s not a reaction. That’s a full-blown infection.”
“It does seem he’s unstable,” Monty said as he looked up and down the street.
“Just a bit, yeah.”
We followed the scent to the end of Minetta and on to Macdougal Street when a large furry blur shot past us.
“Shoot it, Simon! Shoot!” Monty said.
“What do you think I’m doing?” I said as I fired several times.
“Shoot it harder!”
We jumped behind a parked SUV. The license plate read RUFFRDR. It was one of those huge things that wasn’t quite a tank, but could never pass for an ordinary car. I figured there was enough vehicle to protect us from the Were’s razor sharp claws. That theory evaporated as it sliced through the metal and plastic with ease, rendering our cover useless. The SUV fell apart like a block of Legos and I couldn’t help thinking that RUFFRDR was going to wake up in the morning and have a very bad day.
“Really, that’s what you’re going with, Monty? Shoot it harder?”
“Strong,” rasped the creature on the other side of what used to be a perfectly functioning mode of transportation. “I’m going to rip out your intestines and eat them while you watch.”
“Wow,” Monty said. “He’s pissed. What did you do to him?”
“Now would be a good time for magic,” I said. “You know a fireball or two? Or some Were melting spell?”
“Can’t—he’s wearing null proximity rune,” Monty said. “I don’t understand why the silver ammo isn’t affecting him. You did switch out for silver ammo, right?”
“Silver…ammo?” I said, “Of course I packed the silver—shit.”
I forgot to switch the ammo.
“You forgot, didn’t you?” Monty said exasperated. “We’re out here fighting a werewolf, Simon.”
“I know,” I said. “It’s a little hard to miss.”
“I’m going to die,” he said as his voice hiked up an octave. “Out here on the filthy street alongside you, wonderful.”
“No, I just misplaced it,” I said with feigned indignation. “Hey, I had to pack all of the bags while you did your meditation thing to charge the magic you’re currently not using.”
Monty narrowed his eyes and glared.
“Are you saying this is somehow my fault?”
“I’m just saying a little magic would make this go smoother, especially since I forgot to pack the silver ammo.”
I have been away from this blog for a few months due to my insane work and writing schedule. That has since calmed down a bit and so I will be posting regularly.
Its been an amazing few weeks. I had an incredible summer. I have also taken on training seriously. I realized that a healthy body facilitates a healthy mind which means I can write more.
500lb deadlift
That’s me doing a 500 lb dead-lift and making the only face possible when lifting that much-we call it a squat face lol.
I’m currently putting the finishing touches on the third book in the Sepia Blue series and it has been a blast to write. Book Two(cover above) will be released this month and the story is twisting in some unexpected and surprising ways. By the time you read this-Sepia Blue Sisters will be available. Grab a copy and let me know what you think.
I’ll be releasing some new content soon. I have a new kind of story rolling around in my head and I would like to bounce some ideas here, before I pursue them elsewhere. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated. I truly hope you have had a pleasant and exciting summer.
This is my latest rant so forgive me if I get frothy at the mouth and spittle smacks you across the face.
Reviews. We all know what they are. They govern our purchases and our actions. You wont get that item on amazon if has little or no reviews, no matter how good you think it is. Or worse if the reviews say its bad then, forget it–next product.
It’s social proof I get it. I understand it really I do. Here is what I dont understand. Let’s switch gears for a second, You see a book you like or its recommended to you. You purchase and READ the book. You ENJOY the book. Why is leaving a review to that effect so monumentally difficult(Still dont have the answer to that one)?
Indie authors NEED reviews. They are the engines that drive sales. Yet if you ask every independent author out there they will tell you that the hardest part of marketing is getting those much needed reviews.
So what is the solution?
Have an email list. Yes its that simple. When I released my last book: A DREAM OF ASHES, my launch team was amazing. I had reviews the same day the book went live. This is what having an email list can do. If you arent generating a list of subscribers to your work you are missing a key component of your marketing strategy.
Its a fight against human nature I think. I have been guilty of it as well. I mean to leave a review then the phone rings or I have to attend to something or an email pops up and I get distracted. I forget or worse I think my buying the book was enough of an action of support. Now have to leave a review too? Yes.
The review is what will get others to take a chance on the book. Enough of them will get the book noticed and create momentum giving the author and the work recognition. The review is that important.
The next time you read something you enjoyed-leave a review. As an independent author I thank you.
I’ve jumped back into the world of Sepia Blue and i’m currently on book two of her series. There is no cover reveal(yet) and the title is a working one so I wont share it yet.
I have to say I have mixed feelings about this trip back into her world. I became so invested in Ava James that I didn’t want to write about anything else. On the flip side I really want to find out what happens in Sepia’s world since I last visited. It’s a great world to write about, a lot darker than the world of the Warriors of the Way and this gives me the opportunity to explore some ideas I have had rolling in my head for while.
As of this post I’m about done and will soon give it to my readers and launch team to enjoy before handing it over to my uber editor. Once I have the cover I will let you see it.
I just finished a new book by an excellent new author. You need to get this book and read it.
Here is the synopsis:
The debut psychological thriller that challenges your assumptions
James Davis is born into a life of strife and discord. His father is violent, his mother helpless—until a man calling himself Alistair breaks into his home and kills his abusive father in front of his eyes, protecting him from a final, deadly beating. As soon as the man appears, he vanishes mysteriously into the night, passing from sight and down into the murky depths of memory. Sixteen years later, James is still trying to cope with the events of that night. He has a normal life, a normal job, and normal friends—but he fears his childhood has left him a broken man from a broken home.
And then, just as suddenly as he had all those years ago, Alistair reappears and throws James’s life into paranoia and chaos. Does Alistair’s reappearance promise deliverance from evil once again…or this time has he come for James himself?
This is the kind of book that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. It will have you turning the pages to find out what happens next.
I dont want to give anything away. Just go out and get the book. You wont regret it.
