PSA The Second

I am delighted and relieved to announce that as of today, all three of my Damnation Books/Caliburn Press titles are back where they belong - with me. Last week was a long, weird, and stressful one, but I don't think I need to go into details here. The bottom line is, DEMONIZED, NIGHT AND CHAOS, and THE NECROMANCER'S APPRENTICE have all been pulled from sale, the rights officially returned to me, and I am freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Well, except for some missing royalties. But that's allegedly being looked into.

So what next? Am I going to re-home these stories? I definitely want to. I think NIGHT AND CHAOS will be the easiest to deal with. It's a dark urban fantasy with romantic elements, and I'm hopeful that (after a bit of re-working, because I wrote it almost seven years ago and I like to think I've improved since then), I can find a place for it.

THE NECROMANCER'S APPRENTICE? I don't know. Depending on your viewpoint it's either a short, sweet paranormal romance (ie, no sex), or a short urban fantasy. Either way, I don't know of many publishers that would take it as it is. I don't think expanding it or jamming in a few sex scenes will serve the story particularly well or improve it, so I'm probably going to just put it aside, at least for the time being. Maybe down the line I'll consider self-publishing it.

DEMONIZED? Ethan. Oh Ethan, you adorable disaster. I don't know. I just don't know. I have both AFTERLIFE and DEMONIZED back in my grubby hands now, and I just don't know what to do with them. It's a sad but unavoidable fact that people don't love Ethan as much as I do. UNDERTOW is well-reviewed and favourably compared to works like The Dresden Files and Constantine, but it sells poorly. Is it worth putting valuable time and energy into something nobody but me wants?

The short answer is, I don't know. The long answer involves a lot of weeping and railing against the injustice of the cold, uncaring cosmos. But I'm not trying to allocate blame for Ethan's under-performance. There is none to allocate for one thing, so we'll leave it there.

The important thing as far as I'm concerned is that my works are free of Damnation Books and I can close a frustrating and disappointing chapter in my writing career.

I advise writers to think extremely carefully before submitting to Caliburn Press or any of its imprints. I advise you to google "Damnation Books warnings" and read everything you find before making a decision.

If you're an author experiencing difficulties with Damnation Books, I'm happy to talk privately with you. Give me a shout!