NIGHT AND CHAOS going cheap!

Hey guys! Just a quick note to say that NIGHT AND CHAOS is available for just 99 cents over at Evernight right now! If you want ~award-winning~ dark urban fantasy with shapeshifters and sexy shenanigans, this might just be the book for you!

Not sure? Check out the excerpt below!

Thank you, lovely reader folks!

Well, the Evernight Readers' Choice awards are over, the votes are in, and if you saw my Facebook page or Twitter feed on Saturday, you already know, but I'm saying it again anyway!

I won!

Or rather, NIGHT AND CHAOS won Best Suspense! And DARK DAYS was the runner-up in Best Lesbian Romance <3 Thank you so much for voting for me. I like to pretend I'm all cool and laid back about these things, but it really means a hell of a lot to know people liked my books enough to vote for them. This is my third Readers' Choice award, and it's for a book that, at the start of this year, was tied up with an awful publisher. I wasn't supposed to get the rights back until some time in 2017, but through a convoluted series of events, I got them back early.

I feel like this book got rescued from purgatory this year, and winning an award for it is validation that it deserved better. So thank you, thank you, thank you! Look out for the rest of the trilogy (hopefully next year!).

And if you have't read the *ahem* ~award-winning~ first part of the Deva Chronicles trilogy, well, here's a teaser for you so you can see what it's all about!

Monday Check-In: Shameless Self-Promotion Edition

Happy Monday! How was everyone's weekend? Mine was good. I didn't hit the 10k I was aiming for...In fact, I ended up with around 4k between Through Fire and Pale Queen, which is obviously quite a shortfall. On the plus side, I got 4k written, guested on the Rambling Vapers podcast (the episode isn't live yet, but check them out anyway if you like gaming, films, wrestling, politics and general blather), had my heart broken by Tye Dillenger at NXT TakeOver Toronto, and ate steak tacos. So that all happened.

Meanwhile, I also discovered I've been nominated for a total of three Evernight Readers' Choice awards this year! Two as Naomi Clark and one as Amber Morgan. I am humbled and surprised and truly grateful for everyone that voted for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Honestly, I never expect to be nominated in these things because I think I fly under the radar a lot, so when I do it's genuinely shocking and heartwarming for me.

Exactly as heartwarming as this.

Anyway! Now the nominations are in, it's time to vote for the winners. Evernight have a $50 giftcard up for grabs, just to sweeten the deal, and you can vote for your favourite books here.

In case you'd like to vote for me, I have the following books up for awards:

Finalist - best lesbian

Finalist - best suspense

I'm not kidding when I say it's an honour just to be nominated, but...you know...it would be even more of an honour to win something ;)

NIGHT AND CHAOS - back from limbo!

It really does feel like this book has been in limbo for the past four years. I'm so excited to see it back and be able to talk about it in a positive context! So here we go - the blurb and a round-up of buy links. Hope you're going to love it!

Ryan's past isn't just haunting her. It's trying to kill her. 

Ryan McCarthy fled Kimberlyn Island, her father, and her lover six years ago, desperate to build a life away from the weird science and supernatural experiments of her childhood. But everything she hoped to escape comes back with a vengeance when she's kidnapped and tortured by a possessed madman out for revenge on the man responsible for his possession: Ryan's father. 

Now, reunited with the lover she abandoned, Ryan is forced back into a world of danger and darkness she no longer understands, pursued by enemies with powers she can't fathom. But Ryan's not entirely powerless herself. She'll have to use every trick she knows—as well as the mystic gift she hates—to stay ahead of those enemies. And that will be easier said than done. 

Available now from Evernight, ARe, Amazon US, Amazon UK

"Time cools, time clarifies"

Mark Twain

Almost exactly four years ago, NIGHT AND CHAOS was released for the first time. June 1st, 2012, to be precise. Shortly after that, I realised how bad a decision I'd made with my choice of publisher, and it tainted my view of the book, so that for a long time I remembered it as being...well, not great. I've talked about that here.

Earlier this year, through a series of events that still rather baffle me, that publisher agreed to release NIGHT AND CHAOS to me a year ahead of schedule, and now I'm thrilled to say that tomorrow it will be re-released, this time with a publisher I trust.

Regular readers will know I'm not the greatest at sticking to schedules, but my hope is to have the rest of the trilogy written by the end of 2017, so that Ryan's story can finally be finished. I know now, having spent a lot of hours re-reading, polishing and generally improving NIGHT AND CHAOS for its re-release, that it's not a bad story. In fact, I think it may even be pretty awesome, and I'm looking forward to seeing it back out in the world. More than that, I'm excited about writing parts two and three.

I've got my fingers crossed that you'll join me and Ryan on her globe-trotting adventures! If you want a sneak preview of NIGHT AND CHAOS, there's a teaser up at the ARe Cafe right now. It's a steamy one...but this is me, so there's also a man with a cyborg hand. Enjoy!

Wednesday Snippets are back once again (like a renegade master?)

I'm at a point with In Cold Blood where I think snippets would be spoilery unless I kept them really short, and then there doesn't seem much point posting them. So since NIGHT AND CHAOS is just a week away from release, I thought it would be more fun to post a teaser from that! So read on, brave reader, for a look at the first chapter...

“My sun sets to rise again.”

Robert Browning

So we have a release date for NIGHT AND CHAOS - June 15th! I spent last weekend and a bit of yesterday working on first and second round edits, and although the process wasn't without its frustrations, I feel like it's going to worth it. I love this story. I love Ryan and her general saltiness at the hand life has dealt with her.

There's something slightly nerve-wracking about re-releasing a title. I'm more nervous about how this book will be received the second time round, and I could waffle for hours about why that is, but I'm trying to resist because it probably isn't very interesting. I still can't quite believe how well my Urban Wolf series has been received since WOLF STRAP was re-published. And I'm holding back three titles that I realistically could find new homes for, because I don't feel like the time is right for them just now. But NIGHT AND CHAOS feels right. If you like Blood Canticles and the Ethan Banning Files, I think you'll like Ryan McCarthy and the mad science-occult mash-up that the Deva Chronicles introduces.

So! Save the date - June 15th. Hopefully I'll have some gorgeous new cover art to share with you, so stay tuned!

Wednesday Snippets Will Not Die

I'll admit that work on In Cold Blood isn't going as fast as I'd like. Real life has been busy and a tiny bit stressful, insofar as Remic's Grotesque Bulge and Kyle's on-again-off-again back surgery goes. This past weekend I was working on edits for NIGHT AND CHAOS, and I think generally speaking I'm just a bit burned out. Balancing my writing goals with my day job and Common Brimstone can be tricky to say the least, and I think I'm approaching the point where I need a holiday from one thing or the other.

Last June I shut Common Brimstone for a couple of weeks, and I'm probably going to do the same this June, too, especially since I potentially have two books coming out that month. Hopefully the timings will work out so that I can finish In Cold Blood in June, if I haven't already.

Anyway! I am still beavering away on it, and I offer you proof. Enjoy!

Sound the Trumpets!

So I said recently that I thought NIGHT AND CHAOS would be the easiest of my former-Damnation Books titles to re-home. Turns out I was right! I'm delighted to announce that I've signed a contract with Evernight Publishing for the first of The Deva Chronicles. Huzzahs! The projected release date is July, but that's always subject to change. I'm so, so happy to be able to give Ryan's story a second chance, and I feel like now I can plan the rest of the trilogy with confidence. Here's to the future!

And here's a look at the (unofficial) blurb:

Ryan's past isn't just haunting her. It's trying to kill her.

Ryan McCarthy fled Kimberlyn Island, her father, and her lover six years ago, desperate to build life away from the weird science and supernatural experiments of her childhood. But everything she hoped to escape comes back with a vengeance when she's kidnapped and tortured by a possessed madman out for revenge on the man responsible for his possession: Ryan's father.

Now, reunited with the lover she abandoned, Ryan is forced back into a world of danger and darkness she no longer understands, pursued by enemies with powers she can't fathom. But Ryan's not entirely powerless herself. She'll have to use every trick she knows – as well as the mystic gift she hates – to stay ahead of those enemies. And that will be easier said than done.

Chaotic Good

Now that the dust has settled, it's time to move forward. I said on Tuesday that I thought NIGHT AND CHAOS would be the easiest of my three Damnation Books titles to re-home, and I figured I may as well start working on that now before I commit to any bigger writing projects again. So yesterday I pulled the manuscript and did a read-through.

I haven't really thought about this book for years. I could probably have given you a brief summary of the plot, but there were huge chunks I'd totally forgotten about, and because I was never happy with the last chapter, I've always had it my head that this isn't a particularly good book. So I was kind of surprised to start reading and feel like...wow, this is cool. This is good! It's dark, it's full of motifs and themes I adore, and I love Ryan, my bad-tempered heroine. Why did I never write the sequel???

Well, obviously I never wrote the sequel because my experiences with Damnation Books soured me on NIGHT AND CHAOS. And I was kind of blinded by panic as I was re-reading yesterday, because I'd left all these little clues in the text as to what might happen in that unwritten sequel, and they didn't make any sense to me anymore. How am I supposed to write the sequel if I don't know what the sequel is??? Still, my memory awoke as I read and revisited some of the original research I'd done, and I think I know more or less what I had planned for the trilogy overall.

I finished my read-through last night, made some minor revisions, and the temptation was to just submit it there and then. I'm excited to have this book back! I'm in love with it again! Why wait?

But last night I was severely sleep-deprived and we had new episodes of Ghost Adventures to watch. And, whilst that final chapter isn't as bad as I remembered, I still felt like I'm capable of better. So I decided to sleep on it. And this morning I decided that I definitely should re-write the ending before submitting it. I also decided I should work in an MKUltra reference, because I have my priorities straight.

So the plan is to polish up that tricksy final chapter today and submit. And then it's all in the hands of fate...Well, my publisher, anyway. Wish me luck!

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!

***PSA***

Loathe as I am to air dirty laundry in public, I'm really explosively angry this morning, so I'm just putting up a quick blog because I have to say something.

On 27th February, the rights to DEMONIZED, one of my last three books with Damnation Books/Eternal Press, expired. I have my RR letter. However, the book is still up for sale on Amazon via Kindle and as a paperback as of this morning, so I assume it is still up for sale elsewhere too. It's not unusual for a book to take some time to disappear from third party outlets, but I would ask that you please don't buy it.

The rights to my book NIGHT AND CHAOS do not expire until 2017. However, it has been pulled from sale, without discussion with me. I have not had an RR letter. Paperback versions still seem to be available. Please don't buy them.

I have been told this morning that my book THE NECROMANCER'S APPRENTICE will also be removed from sale, despite the rights not expiring until November this year. I imagine that ebook and paperback versions will still be available for a while yet. Please don't buy them.

I really cannot express how disheartening it is to say to people "please don't buy my books." Or how frustrating it's been for the past few years to basically pretend these titles don't exist because of the behaviour and attitude of the publisher. The publisher now has a new owner (has done for a while, in fact) and I'm hopeful that what's happening today is down to miscommunication and can be resolved.

These are stories I'm proud of and want to continue telling. But right now, as of this moment and until I believe I am being fairly dealt with, I will continue to say "please don't buy these books."