Blood Bound

Sep

2024

Prep All the Things!

Today is September 16th, and I have the first of five shows in a little under two weeks. It’s time to PREP ALL THE THINGS!

Books have been ordered (and in the cases of three titles, more books have been delivered than I ordered, because mistakes were made.) Stock boxes are packed. Prices lists have been printed. Hotel reservations have been made (actually, they were made a while ago.) Vaccines have been onboarded (yesterday.)

Still to do? Haul the boxes off show stuff from my office down to the living room. Print off packing lists. Prep for my panels (and possibly bug the person in charge of scheduling to let me know when those panels are going to be happening because it’s getting late…) And I have to do the things that have to be done before the end of the month, because I’ll be busy from the end of the month until the beginning of November, and a couple of these things are time sensitive.

And, of course, in the middle of all of this, there must be writing done. I’m just over the halfway number on King of Swords, and wondering if I need to increase my wordcount again. Honestly, at this point? I think I’m just going to put words on the page, and if it ends up being two books? It ends up being two books. I can’t imagine my publisher being annoyed at that.

I finished my editing pass on The Sea Prince the other night, and sent it over to my editor to take another look. There are still a couple of questions that need to be answered, but if things fall the way I think they will, then The Sea Prince will launch on Kindle Vella late this year or early next. That’s written in very warm Jello at the moment, though.

While I wait for edits and answers, I’m working on the outlines/synopsis/what my characters are going to laugh at this time for The Covert Saloon series. I sort of pushed that to the side to finish up The Sea Prince, and now I’m almost done with book one. I have a vague idea (nope, not gonna say it…) as to what book 2 will be like, and I know how book 3 is going to end, but not how it’s going to start. Not yet. This series may end up being more discovery writing than I usually do, but we’ll see when we get to that point.

I’m also not sure if it’ll be the next thing I work on, or if I’ll be starting The Coral Throne (the sequel to The Sea Prince.) Or maybe I’ll dive into the Iron and Silk series — that’s all plotted and ready to go, except for some of the research. Or lightning could strike and I could sell Blood Bound tomorrow, which would mean going back into the Flesh and Blood universe and my kinky vampires.

So many choices!!!!

Finish King of Swords first, Liz. Then decide.

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

63263 / 120000 (52.72%)

Promotions

Shockingly, Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX, which means that it is still on sale wherever ebooks are sold.

I’ll be participating in a Stuff Your Kindle event from October 18-20th. There are over 400 books that will be free or discounted for that weekend, and I’ll have Written in Water up for free!

I’m also going to be a part of Enchanted Realms, and this promotion runs for the entire month of October — sign up for newsletters, get free books and enter to win a $30 gift card!

Appearances

Necronomicon
September 27-29th, 2024
Tampa, Florida

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Not So Spooky Hallowfest
October 6th, 2024
Deltona, Florida

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Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida

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Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

Mar

2024

At Loose Ends

Finished. The Sea Prince is FINISHED. After 15 years, and I’m not even sure how many starts, stops, revisions, rewrites and just throwing the manuscript under the virtual bed because this thing is broken, The Sea Prince is finished. Which means… I’m at loose ends until Morrigan’s Heir edits come in.

Now, being at loose ends doesn’t mean I’m not doing anything. I’m figuring out where The Coral Throne is going to go, and deciding if this is going to be duology, or if I really want to tackle The Mancer Regent (answer to be determined during the writing of The Coral Throne, I think?) I’ve started the worldbuilding for Frog and Fae are Friends (I love this placeholder title, but at some point, I should name this baby.) I’ve finished one book for research for Children of the Swords, and I’ve got another sitting next to me ready to go, and I’ve been noodling with a synopsis for The Seer, which is book one of Children of the Swords. And I’m prepping for ICFA, which includes sewing a dress.

So… yeah, at loose ends doesn’t mean the same thing for me as it might for someone else. I’ve never been very good at downtime. Although I’m trying! I’ve been reading more, and I finally started playing a Switch game that my son gave me for a present. (Granted, I’ve had it for a few years now. But I started it! That counts for downtime!)

So, when will you see The Sea Prince? I’m not sure yet. I won’t be looking at it again until mid-June at the earliest. Then edits and revisions will happen. And then…I don’t know if I’ll be shopping it around, or if I’ll be taking it to Vella, or if I’ll just go ahead and publish. I do know that it won’t be a Patreon project — my Patreon is current unpublished because there’s nothing going on there, and this is a complete manuscript, so it doesn’t fit my serial stunt writing model for Patreon. The next Patreon project will probably be Frog and Fae, to be honest. I just need to get the worldbuilding a little more clear in my head before I start the story up. Again, probably not until mid-June. also in mid-June, I’ll be making the call on what my fall project will be — my plan for 2024 says either Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand or The Iron Virgin. I’m thinking it will probably be The Iron Virgin, since I’ll be going from one adventure on the high seas to another, but I haven’t yet started the research for that project, so maybe not? (What research? The society will largely be based on Venice and Venetian traders, and I haven’t done any reading on that yet. I have the books, but osmosis doesn’t work with worldbuilding.) However, if Blood Bound gets picked up before then, then I’ll be starting on Blood Brothers.

Who knows? By mid-June, something entirely new may have shown up. Flexibility is key, after all.

Works in Progress

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

100187 / 100000 (100.19%)

Giveaways!

For the month of March, you can download a copy of my dark fantasy romance Counsel of the Wicked FREE through the On Fire Romance promotion. (Content warning — this book is the darkest thing that I have ever written, and includes on the page explicit sexual violence. Go carefully.)

Image of a flame. Text reads "On Fire. Free Spicy Romance Ebooks. March 1-31"

Sales!

The Smashwords Read an Ebook sale is this week, and all of my books are on sale! Now, given that Draft2Digital still hasn’t finished merging legacy Smashwords accounts, I have two links for you.

You can find the first six Heir to the Firstborn books and the collected Swords of Charlemagne here.
You can find book seven of Heir to the Firstborn and the rest of my books here.

Cartoon image of a female presenting figure with long hair, reading a book. Text reads "Smashwords. Your Ebook, Your Way. Read and Ebook Week. Smashwords.com/shelves/promos"

Oct

2021

On Your Mark… Get Set… GO!

Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 6)

18295 / 150000 (12.20%)

I finished edits on Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads, so I started writing Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home last week.

No, I did not write eighteen thousand words in a week. (That would be something, though!) There were five chapters that were already written when I decided that Heir to the Firstborn needed to be two books. Last week, I actually wrote 4,830 words — Chapter One, and part of Chapter Two.

Last week, I also worked a bit more on the synopsis for Blood Price, which will be book three of the Flesh and Blood series. There was some backstory that had been alluded to in Blood Bound that actually needed to be worked out because they find out the truth in this book.

Pen to Paper is on its first scheduled break, and I’m working on getting a couple of units for the last level finished up. (Specifically, the last two levels). This program… it’s just been a year since they came to me and said “We’d like for you to take on this task force and put together this program.” What a YEAR this has been!!!

For my next trick? Well… I can’t tell you yet. What I can say is that I also need to get to work on the presentation I’ll be making at the RWA National convention. Which is coming up… ah… next month. Okay, I REALLY need to get to work on that!

More on the sooper sekrit project in two weeks.

Back to work!

Aug

2021

It’s Starting!!!

Today is the day!!!

Pen to Paper starts today!!!

Ten months of hard work and hustle, and it finally starts today. This past week we had our onboarding meetings with our Guides and with our Participants and everyone is so excited and enthusiastic, and loving the materials they’ve already seen.

To quote my son, I have an excite.

via GIPHY

I also have a lot more work to do. But today, I have an excite!

Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

116776 / 130000 (89.83%)

I didn’t get the draft synopsis done last week for The Iron Virgin (the pirate thing), and I didn’t get as much done as I wanted on Crossroads, but I did finish my revision on Blood Bound, so that will be heading off sometime this week or next. I also had a really exciting something drop into my lap, and that needs to get worked on. Nope, not saying. Can’t say. But OMG!!!

I’ll tell you all more when I can. Promise.

Needless to say? I’ve got a busy week ahead. And an even busier one next week, with Orlando Reads Books coming up! Catch you all next week!

Aug

2021

Goodness, is that the time?

The time, at the moment, is 11:27 AM on August 9th. And in one week, the RWA Pen to Paper program, the project that has been eating my brain for the past year, launches.

You know that gif of Kermit, standing backstage and biting his nonexistent nails?

via GIPHY

Yeah… that’s a fair approximation of how I’ll look on Sunday….

That is, when I’m not like this…

via GIPHY

Because it’s starting. It’s really starting. We created something from the ground up and people are excited to be a part of it. This program is… well, it’s amazing. Yes, I know I’m as biased as a new mother in this regard, but really, it’s AMAZING.

And it starts one week from today.

In other news — yes, I do have other news — the worldbuilding for this new pirate thing is coming along. I might even have a rough synopsis this week. Which will then get put aside to percolate because I have to finish Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads, start Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home, edit Crossroads for a late fall/early winter release, and edit Blood Bound so that I can get that back out to Riverdale/Circlet. My barefoot pirates (and yes, there’s a reason for them being barefoot!) will have to wait!

Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

115164 / 150000 (76.78%)

Notice how that number dropped from last week? That’s because I moved about 13K words out of this manuscript and into The Way Home. I’m thinking there are maybe another three or four chapters to this one, so I am shooting to have the draft of Crossroads done this month, and I fully intend to try and make the November release date I put into my planner at the beginning of the year. But… it might be December. I’ll see how revisions go and keep everyone posted.

Not much else is happening. I’m prepping for Orlando Reads Books, starting to think on costuming for Necronomicon and Books at the Beach, and looking forward to two conferences I’ll be attending as an attendee (for the record? Emerald City Writers Conference and Trans/Inter/Cross: A Symposium on the Fantastic Between Genres, Media, and Cultures.) I have RWA Nationals in November, and Keiser Supercon in December.

Still planning on being a puddle in January.

Jun

2021

Busy Rest of the Year!

I just updated my Appearances widget over there —->.

Starting in July, I have something every month for the rest of the year.

I don’t normally book myself that hard, but… ummm… yeah… I think I overdid it just a bit.

Starting in July, you can find me…

RWA Retreat
Nashville, TN
July 14-17, 2021

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Orlando Reads Books
Orlando, FL
August 26 – 29, 2021

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NecronomiCon
Tampa, FL
September 24 – 26th, 2021

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Books at the Beach
Clearwater Beach, FL
October 21 – 24th, 2021

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RWA National Conference
Going Virtual!
November 18-20th, 2021

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KeiserSupercon
Orlando, FL,
December 10-11th, 2021

I think after KeiserSupercon, I’m going to be a puddle.

And in and around all those, I have this book I need to finish…

Heir to the Firstborn(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

104611 / 150000 (69.74%)

And I have Pen to Paper to work on. I’m learning to do video editing logs, because you never know what you can do until someone puts you in charge, right?

So I think that by the time 2022 rolls around, I’m going to need another retreat. Or a vacation. Or a nap. Or something.

But I have plans for 2022. I’ll be re-covering and re-releasing my dark erotic romance Rebel Mage series in 2022, and the Chronicles of John Zebedee should be out. I’ve got Blood Bound to re-edit and get back into the slush at Circlet, and I’ve got ideas on reworking The Willow Sword so that it actually gets past chapter three this time. (cue Bullwinkle: “This time for sure!”)

There are a lot of things professionally going on. And 2022 is also my 25th wedding anniversary, so there’s going to be SOMETHING going on for that, too. Not sure what yet.

But first… let’s finish this book.

May

2021

Wait… June? Where did May Go?

It’s June tomorrow. Was it just me, or did May just fly on past?

Granted, I’ve been busy. Between my own writing and Pen to Paper and RWA stuff and every other thing, I’ve barely had time to blink. And now it’s JUNE?

Write faster, Liz! There’s so much left to do!

Heir to the Firstborn(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

95828 / 150000 (63.89%)

I hit the pivot point on Heir to the Firstborn last night. And there is an entire chapter written that comes after that pivot point, so while this book is going to be another monster of a book, it’s not going to be an 180K word monster.

I don’t think. And we’ll see how much gets trimmed (or excised entirely) in edits.

Gonna be a thick book, though!

My brain knows that this is the end, though. So it’s starting to look at the rest of the “Eventually, I’ll Write This” list and pick things. I may take another stab at The Willow Sword and rework it as a serial once Heir to the Firstborn is done. And at that point, the question will be do I take it over to Amazon Vella, or keep it on Patreon? And once I rework Blood Bound and get it back to Circlet, then it might just be time to take up that steampunk retelling of Metropolis that’s been knocking around in my head for ages. (That one will be called Tower of Light, for anyone keeping score. And it’s all Lon Sarver’s fault.) Which means my 2022 plans are looking to be recover and rerelease the Rebel Mage trilogy, release The Chronicles of John Zebedee with the rest of the Wild West Paranormal boxset, and get something started for a new serial. Maybe get The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath started, depending on what happens with Circlet.

The Lady and the Sword released last week, with a wonderful release day review and some nice sales. I’m pretty pleased with the release. Ashes and Light in July, and Table of Stone in September!

And on top of all of this, two weeks ago, I submitted my name to run for reelection as a Director at Large for the RWA Board. Last time, I promise! (It has to be the last time — term limits are a thing for directors, and I’m not running for anything on the Executive Board. No. You can’t make me.)

We’ve decided that we’re taking a week off once I get back from the RWA retreat. Which is a good thing, because I think I’ve forgotten how to downtime. It’s been a LONG time since I last did downtime. (umm… last vacation was 2017? I think? Our financial advisor yelled at us. We’re under orders to do something FUN. So, we’re going to!)

I am looking forward to that retreat, though! I’ve never been to Tennessee, except for once when I was in the airport because we had to change planes. I don’t think that counts. And Nashville? The Grand Old Opry is on my list of things I want to see! (It’s a short list. One thing. I won’t have a car, so I’m sticking to things I can get to on foot, and the Grand Old Opry is five minutes from the hotel!)

I do need to finish my retreat presentation, though. One more thing to add to my to-do list!

Feb

2021

A Day Off? What’s That?

Why are days off so much more busy than the days when I’m scheduled? Answer? Because I try to cram everything I can’t get done on the days when I’m working into the days when I’m nominally not working. Because the truth of the matter is that I’m never not working. I’m a mom, and an independent business woman, and I run a household. I’m never not doing something, and I’m not sure I know how to sit and do nothing. Even when I do yoga, my mind never shuts off. Today’s post is much later than I usually post, because today I got up, exercised, ate something, went to Trader Joe’s (and encountered my first maskhole being escorted from the premises for refusing to wear his mask properly), came home, showered, had lunch, had a conference call, had another conference call, made dinner, redid two covers (The Lady and the Sword and Wings of Air) because page proofs arrived and showed that I screwed something up on BOTH covers, and now I’m writing this post. I might get more proofreading done on Wings of Air before bed, but I still have edits to do on Ashes and Light, and I haven’t written a word on Heir to the Firstborn. There are some social media things I need to do for an RWA chapter, and those won’t be getting done until tomorrow, and I’m putting off some things for the Super ~~SEECRIT~~ Spiffy RWA project until tomorrow, too. Hrm… no wonder I’m tired. Heir to the Firstborn is progressing. Heir to the Firstborn(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

28828 / 150000 (19.22%)

I wrote a scene the other day and posted it to my Facebook, and it’s a nice example of how a scene really does change between the time it flows from my fingers and the time the reader gets it. The initial scene, as written, was this:

Othi’s jaw dropped. He looked at Owyn, then shook his head. “I… I don’t think I’ve heard you swear like that. You didn’t, when we were out in the deep. Or did you, and I just missed it?”

“Probably missed it,” Alanar said. “Owyn is very sweary.” He smiled fondly at Owyn. “One of these days, love, I should wash your mouth out with soap.”

“You and what army?” Owyn growled.

Alanar laughed and turned toward him.“If I get you in the right position, you’ll ask me for the soap,” he purred, and Owyn turned pink.

“Enough of that,” Aria said. “We have to leave, and we cannot wait for the pair of you to crawl back into bed.”

Alanar straightened and turned to face her. He smiled. “Oh, I wouldn’t be the one crawling.”

It’s a good scene. But that last line bothered me. It was out of character for Alanar. It was right… but why did he say that? So I let it percolate, and the finished scene still includes this exchange, but it’s very different from the original. And I’m not showing it to you because spoilers. You have to wait for Heir to the Firstborn. Today, for the first time, I started thinking about what will come next. Once I’ve finished publishing Swords of Charlemagne and Heir to the Firstborn, what’s next year going to hold? There are the plans to republish the Rebel Mage books, and I’ll need to design new covers for those, but what new fiction is coming? I’m honestly not sure yet. The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir is over with Circlet, as is Blood Bound, Sapphires and Gold, and Bonds of Blood and Steel. I don’t have any information on where those are in the process, so not data on them. The Chronicles of John Zebedee are off with the publisher putting together the box set, and those should be out in 2022. I need to write the second White Raven book, and I need plan out the rest of the Flesh and Blood series. I think the series plan may be what I focus on once the edits are done for Swords of Charlemagne, while I’m finishing Heir to the Firstborn. As for the Patreon, once Heir is finally wrapped, I may try to resurrect The Willow Sword, and do that one next. Too many things. Not enough hours to do them.

Jan

2021

Jumanji!

Did anyone else go outside and yell Jumanji at midnight on December 31st? Because I totally went and yelled Jumanji out my front door when I went to ~~kick~~ let the old year out and let the new year in.

New Year. New beginnings.

Heir to the Firstborn

(Heir to the Firstborn, Book 5)

2015 / 150000 (1.34%)

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John Zebedee Meets the Witch Queen of Elfland

62605 / 60000 (104.34%)

I finished John Zebedee Meets the Witch Queen of Elfland on December 23rd. Too late for my usual Draft by the Solstice, but I had Draft by Christmas Eve, so that was good. Edits on that and on Wings of Air are in process, and Wings of Air looks like it will be out sometime in March (I’m projecting March 23rd, but it might be sooner.)

I have a busy publishing year planned. I’ve got SIX releases on my calendar — the last two Heir to the Firstborn books, and all four Swords of Charlemagne books will be 2021 releases. The calendar looks like this:

January 26th, 2021 — Hidden Things (Swords of Charlemagne 1) — Kindle Unlimited only
March 23rd, 2021 — Wings of Air (Heir to the Firstborn 4)
May 25th, 2021 — The Lady and the Sword (Swords of Charlemagne 2) –Kindle Unlimited only
July 20th, 2021 — Ashes and Light (Sword of Charlemagne 3) — Kindle Unlimited only
September 21st, 2021 — Heir to the Firstborn (Heir to the Firstborn 5)
November 30th, 2021 — Table of Stone (Swords of Charlemagne 4) — Kindle Unlimited only

The plan at the moment is to drop the each book of Swords of Charlemagne out of KU and go wide once the next book is live. We’ll see how that goes. And the last two books might switch — it depends on when I finish Heir to the Firstborn. That is the only book listed that hasn’t actually been written yet. All the others just need edits. Preorders are up for Hidden Things, and will be up for the rest of the books soon.

Now, these are just my self-published books. There are also multiple books out for consideration, and one under contract, and THOSE might appear this year, too. Right now, the ones out in an editors pile are:

Sapphires and Gold (Under contract with Circlet Press)
Bonds of Blood and Steel (Sequel to House of Sable Locks)
The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir (sequel to Princes of Air)
The Ice Raven (side story set in the Princes of Air universe)
Blood Bound (Flesh and Blood 1)

There’s also the chance that my first ever publishing credit, the gaming manual Psionics for SkillSkape, will be reissued this year as well. I went through and proofed the new layout a few weeks ago, and the last I heard, the mechanics were in the process of being updated. Since math and I have a disfunctional relationship, I’m not involved in that.

There are also four in-person appearances scheduled at the moment. Now, given the way things are, these dates are all tentative. But they’re on the calendar.

RWA National Conference (Nashville, TN), July 14–17, 2021

Orlando Reads Books (Orlando, FL), August 26 – 29, 2021

NecronomiCon (Tampa, FL), September 24 – 26th, 2021

Books at the Beach (Clearwater Beach, FL) October 21 – 24th, 2021

I imagine that Keiser SuperCon might slip into that list at some point, but I haven’t yet heard from them about what the new dates will be.

For the record, I’m saving the republishing of the Rebel Mage books until 2022. I’m not completely insane!)

Given all of the things going on this year, I’m going to be juggling slightly more chainsaws that usual. But it will be worth it!

Click the picture to preorder

Jun

2020

Show of Hands?

Who else thinks that 2020 needs to knock it the fuck off already?

Yeah, me too.

This past week has been emotionally exhausting. I’m doing what I can to support BLM. I’ve been amplifying posts and signing petitions and honestly, I was not expecting Pride this year to go quite that retro.

(If I need to explain to you that Pride started as a riot… well… look, you learned something today. Gold star!)

There’s been writing. I can’t not write, especially when there’s too much and I get overwhelmed. I’ve heard other writers say that they’ve been having trouble during the quarantine because how can you be creative now? I have the opposite problem. Under stress, I tend to dive into a manuscript, because I know everything will be all right in there. Perks of being a romance writer, I guess. You’re guaranteed a happy ending in romancelandia. In real life? Not so much.

So there’s been writing. I might finish Echoes of Light this month. And Wings of Air is promising to be a beast of a book — I’m eight chapters in and we still haven’t made the big move to take us on the first step to the end.

Echoes of Light

25389 / 50000 (50.78%)

***Wings of AirHeir to the Firstborn, Book 4

24898 / 95000 (26.21%)

So, where do I go from here? Once I’m done with Wings of Air, what am I going to do with the Patreon?

Well, I have two options. I have The Willow Sword, a YA idea that I started ages ago, and that sort of lost momentum. That would be two books — The Willow Sword and The Stone Mountain. And I have The Sea Prince, which is a sort of steampunky, Master and Commander kind of thing that I started years ago with a friend. That one also lost momentum. That one would be three books — The Sea Prince, The Coral Throne, and one that I can’t remember what title I was going to use. It’s been a while, and I don’t think I wrote it down.

Between those two series, I think I’m set for Patreon fodder for a while.

I also need to plan out the rest of the Flesh and Blood series (those are the BDSM Vampire books). Five in that series, counting the one that I finished already.

I need to write the second White Raven book.

I need to figure out the third Tales from the Arena book.

And I need to go back through the outline for the next Drum Mage book (Holy Orders, sequel to Heart’s Master) and figure out what I did wrong that made it stop short.

And then… and then….?

I forgot I had this running list (and I completely FORGOT about The Mentalist’s Cat. That would work for Patreon.)

To Write

- - Wings of Air
  - Echoes of Light
  - The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath
  - The Sea Prince (started, shelved)
  - The Willow Sword (started, shelved)

To Edit

To Outline

- - Flesh and Blood (five books)
  - The Mentalist’s Cat
  - Holy Orders (Sequel to Heart’s Master)
  - Coral Throne (sequel to Sea Prince)
  - Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand (Tales from the Arena 3)
  - Men of Mortal Seeming (An Artificer novel)
  - Towers of Light (Metropolis project)

To Sell

- - The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir
  - Bonds of Blood and Steel
  - Blood Bound
  - The Ice Raven

To Self-Publish

- - Swords of Charlemagne (4 books)

So I’ll be busy and out of trouble for a while, it looks like.

Stay safe, everyone.

Blood Bound

Prep All the Things!

Work in Progress

Promotions

Appearances

At Loose Ends

Works in Progress

Giveaways!

Sales!

On Your Mark… Get Set… GO!

It’s Starting!!!

Goodness, is that the time?

Busy Rest of the Year!

Wait… June? Where did May Go?

A Day Off? What’s That?

Jumanji!

Show of Hands?

Works in Progress

Appearances

2026 Appearances

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