Well, it's September. I'm not doing the single best job ever keeping this newsletter monthly, am I? It has been an absolutely insane summer! Fortunately, I'm now looking at some solid time of just being around my house, so hopefully I can get into a bit more of a groove. In the meantime, let's talk writing!
People Really Like Possessed!
The cover of PossessedReviews from readers are coming in and so far all of them have been very positive. People enjoy the fun, fast vibe and the humor. They love the main character, Amber, and her relationship with the demon Jayuul.
A lot of folks also like that this is a standalone book - it's not the start of a series, and it doesn't end on a cliffhanger. It tells an enjoyable, compelling story of twenty-somethings figuring their life out ... while also dealing with demons, magic powers, and murderous cult leaders!
eBook - $3.99 US
- Amazon US
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- Additional Amazon Countries Here
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Print - $12.99 US
Other Book News
Piety the Knife
You folks have been hearing about this book for a long time now, but it feels like we're finally getting to the right place to shop it to publishers. My agent, Diana, and I are going to spend some time this fall doing final cleanups. This shouldn't take too very long as the book is in really good shape and there's nothing structural that needs to be changed. Just very minor fixes, and maybe a few tweaks based on things I've added in the second and third books.
Speaking of which ...
Piety the Knife Sequel that I Can't Name Because the Name Is a Spoiler
The first draft of this book's been written for a while. It needs quite a bit of work, but I don't want to dive into that yet because I want to finish the first draft of the final book in the series first. That way I'll have everything I need if I want to go back in and layer in additional hints, clues, and foreshadowing!
It's a fun one, it's just a little clunky. Most of my first drafts are!
Speaking of which ...
Lachesse the Crown
The third book in the series is actually mostly a prequel. The events within take place long before those of Piety the Knife. We're still undecided on whether it makes more sense for this to be a separate book, or come second, or what. I've also written the first draft of this book, and it also needs quite a bit of work. I re-read it last month and it's fun but it features way too many scenes of people sitting around and talking to each other! All of the characters also need some tweaking.
The book has a prologue and an epilogue set in the "current" time of the series, and these establish some very important things, including a long-dead sorceress who has a part to play in the story.
Speaking of which ...
Ailunë the Moon
Ailunë ("eye-loon-yeh") is the fourth and final book in the series, and I am currently tightening up some of the plot points I want to hit before I start in on it this fall (By October, maybe. By November, definitely). The way I describe my writing process is "I'm on a road trip - I know where I'm starting, I know where I'm going, and I know the major stops in between ... but I don't always know the routes I'm taking." Right now I'm still missing a few stops on the list.
Once I have those, I'll dive into the first draft. Things will happen that I don't anticipate, and characters will end up doing things, going places, and having experiences I had no idea were going to happen until I got to that part of the story, but they'll make it to all the major stops and to the end. Well, those of them that live anyway. As long-term readers know, that's uh ... that's not always a guarantee for any given character.
Once I'm done with this, that'll be a wrap on first drafts of my Dark Fantasy series, and I'll be itching to write something different.
Speaking of which ...
Wait ... another book? Yep!
In 2027, I hope to start work on a horror novel. Not a super gory, torture-porn kind of novel. It is, in fact, a sequel to Bram Stoker's seminal work, Dracula, except with the caveat that the Count won. He never gets chased out of London, and ten years later (1904 - the early years of the Edwardian era), the city's in a bad way. The current, tentative title is The Dead and the Damned but apparently that's also the title of a terrible zombie western film from 2011, so we'll see if that sticks.
I've got a bunch of plot destinations already mapped out, with more on the way. Once I'm ready, I'll re-read Dracula for like the 10th time in my life, do some additional research on London in the very early 20th century, and then get started!
Or maybe I'll write something else instead. But this Dracula thing's been kicking around in my head for a few years now and it all of a sudden started really solidifying in the last month. That's usually a sign for me that I'm ready to take the next step on an idea!
Okay, I'm going to try to bring this newsletter back to a monthly cadence, which means I'll see you in October. Probably. 😅 Hope you have a great start to your Autumn!
-Chris
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