Forged in Fire

May

2020

It’s alive!!!

Last night, I finally got an answer from KDP.

The answer, of course, was to tell me that they didn’t do anything wrong, that Forged in Fire is going to stay down, that I really should pay attention to customer feedback even though they won’t tell me what that feedback actually WAS…

And that I could resubmit the book as a new book.

So…

Forged in Fire is live!

Now, I’ve emailed KDP and asked them to link the new ebook to the paperback, and to add it back to the series page. I’ve set up a sale for Written in Water for next week, which will hopefully start sales back up again for Forged in Fire, and will help promote Bones of Earth, which drops on the 26th (and which you can preorder here!)

Now, if you have reviewed Forged in Fire in the past, could I ask you to please go and review it again? Since it’s a new book, all the reviews are gone. Thank you kindly!

May

2020

Works in Progress: Echoes of Light and Wings of Air.

Echoes of Light

15170 / 50000 (30.34%)

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

5067 / 95000 (5.33%)

Now that I’ve fixed the issues with Echoes of Light, I find myself wanting to play with it more than Wings of Air. Which… nope. Can’t do that. Need to work on them both. So what I think I’m going to have to do is work on Wings of Air early, and save Echoes of Light as a reward.

It doesn’t help that Echoes of Light is being fun right now. John and Ethriel are just so damned cute together!

He heard movement, and turned back, seeing Ethriel trying to get out from under the blanket. “No,” he said. “You stay in bed.” He held his hand up, palm out, and Ethriel flinched. John immediately dropped his hands. “No,” he said softly. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not going to hit you.” He stepped closer, and pulled the blanket back up. Then he rested his hand on Ethriel’s chest and gently pushed him down. “Stay here.”

Ethriel frowned. “Stay… here,” he repeated. He pointed at the bed.

“Bed,” John supplied the word.

“Stay… bed?” Ethriel asked. Then he smiled. “Stay bed.” He laced his fingers together and rested them on his chest.

“Yes,” John said with a laugh. “You stay in bed.”

Ethriel nodded. “Stay bed,” he repeated. Then he looked thoughtful. “John… stay bed?” He smiled, his brows raised in a hopeful expression, and John was suddenly sure in his bones that there was more to that smile than just being friendly. That he’d known exactly what he’d meant when he’d tried to invite John to the bed the night before.

John felt warm. His throat felt tight. So did his trousers. It was tempting. So tempting. But Ethriel wasn’t hale. And John might not be understanding him properly. This could end badly.

But it was still tempting.

And in other news? I’m still screaming. There is still no resolution for Forged in Fire. And, because of the way they’ve locked down the book in KDP, I can’t get at any of the data to see if there is a major error that needs to be fixed. I don’t know if a reader reported the book, or if it’s a glitch (I’m suspecting glitch, to be honest.) There’s been no communication from KDP Quality Control. I’m in limbo, and I don’t like it. It’s costing me money.

So… since Amazon isn’t letting me make money, Forged in Fire is now ON SALE on Smashwords — use the code TN86U for 20% off — good for the rest of the week!

Meanwhile, Bones of Earth is ready to drop on May 26th. I really hope Forged in Fire is back online on Amazon when that happens.

Over the weekend, I found out that No Safewords II won the Bronze in the IPPY awards. If you remember, I have two stories in that anthology. Blood, Lust was where I first introduced my BDSM vampire Itami Hiro and his beloved Daniel (or at least, their Marketplace alternate universe selves). And there’s Domestic Tranquility, a second Thomas and Eugenia story (the first being Oh, Promise Me! from No Safewords 1).

Not much else is going on here. It’s pretty much just exercise in the morning (Zombies, Run! three days a week, yoga and/or something else twice — you can follow me on Instagram for workout updates, if you’re interested), followed by writing and random stuff around the house. I’m not going out if I can help it — so I leave the neighborhood maybe once a week. Things are opening up around us — restaurants and hair salons and the like, but I’m not willing to be a test subject in how long before the second wave? Especially since the second wave is likely to be worse than the first — we’ve all seen the 1918 Flu graph, right?

If you can, stay in. Stay safe.

Oct

2019

Works in Progress, Week Eleven, Blood Bound and Bones of Earth

Blood Bound
Flesh and Blood, Book 1

57165 / 95000 (60.17%)

***

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

30842 / 95000 (32.47%)

Progress! (Yes, even if it isn’t a lot of progress. The number lines moving upwards is progress.) At this rate, I’ll be finishing up Blood Bound by Christmas, as is my usual writing schedule. Bones of Earth will continue until ~~morale improves/everyone learns to swim~~ it’s finished. And I’m not going to START anything else until both Bones of Earth and Wings of Air are finished. I think I’ve proven that working on two projects at a time is not the best use of my time. So hopefully, once I finish Blood Bound, the only thing that I will have to distract me from Heir to the Firstborn will be edits for things I have out in various slush piles.

Forged in Fire is out now, and doing well. There’s a five star review over on Goodreads (yay!) Just a request to the audio radiance that writers love reviews. (hinthinthint)

I think I’m finally over the slump in Bones of Earth, too. The writing seems to be moving at a faster pace, which makes sense now that things have happened in the story, and someone has shook off their holding pattern and started moving forward.

That’s nice and vague now, isn’t it? Good. No spoilers.

I did have a pretty big surprise while working on Bones just before we went to Necronomicon. If you follow me on Twitter, you saw my “I did NOT see that coming” post. I’ve decided to share…

We meet Alanar in Forged in Fire. He is a blind Healer, and he and Owyn have become very close. Very close, as we see here. They’re about to leave on a journey, because reasons.

“I’m not going to lie to myself and say everything is going to be fine and wonderful. I know I’m walking out of the only safe place left in the world. And I know there’s something out there that would make me change my mind and not go, if I knew what it was. That’s why the Mother won’t let me see what’s coming. So I know I have to go, but I’m going to take every precaution I can. Like leaving behind things that make me stand out too much.”

“And I won’t?” Alanar asked.

“Nope,” Owyn answered. “Because we’re going to tell people who get nosy that you’re my husband, that we just got married, and that we’re going north to visit your family in the Solstice village and bring them the news.”

Alanar looked startled. “When did you think of that?” he asked.

“Last night,” Owyn answered.

Alanar coughed. “Last night. Really,” he repeated. “Then I clearly was doing something wrong.”

Marik burst into laughter. “More information than we needed, Alanar!”

Owyn reached over and took Alanar’s hand. “I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep,” he explained. “I didn’t want to wake you up, so I thought about ways to cover what we were doing to anyone outside the Water villages. Any objections? I mean, if you don’t want to be married to me—”

Alanar shook his head. “Stop that. You’re a perfectly fine husband, even if I only get to borrow you for a while.” He smiled, raising Owyn’s hand to kiss his knuckles. “Maybe I can ask Aria if it can be more than a while.”

Everything stopped. The entire world stopped. Owyn’s breathing stopped. His heart stopped. Everything just… froze. Then it all lurched into motion again, like it had been kicked by a mule. “I… what? What?”

Alanar’s smile faltered. “I… I’m sorry. Was that… too… I don’t know. Owyn?”

“No, no, no,” Owyn sputtered. “Stop. Just… stop.” He swallowed. “You… just asked me to marry you. Did you mean to do that?”

“Yes, I did, Owyn.”

“But wait!” I heard you cry. “Owyn is supposed to be with Aria and Aven!”

I know. I know! This was not in the outline!

But there’s also no reason why it can’t be. As we find out shortly after this scene, Companions can, indeed, marry, so long as their spouses (spice?) understand that they are entering a group marriage. So we’re going with it.

Because reasons. And because when stuff like this flows out of my fingers without stopping for me to think about it, that means it’s usually the right choice for the story.

Meanwhile, over in vampire land, I’ve dropped several mountains on Daniel, and wrote a science fiction plot point into my story bible that later that same day turned into science fact. No, I did not know that was on the horizon. At least, I don’t think I knew.

I also just yesterday wrote a scene I’ve had in my head for ages, ever since I made Daniel have a day job as a yoga instructor.

The only thing you really need to know for this scene is that Hiro is much shorter than Daniel — Daniel is 6’2. Hiro is 5’5

He made his way back out into the living room, sipping his tea as he went to the window and looked out over the dark expanse of Central Park. Streetlights flickered and shone through windblown tree branches, and he could see the reflections of light in water. This window must look out over The Lake. It was a nice view. Must be pretty in the winter, when it snowed. It would be nice to watch the snow fall from this vantage. He took a deep breath. He was still tired. Overtired, maybe, and sore. He needed to go back to sleep. Maybe he could flow, and relax that way. It was worth a try. He put down his cup and moved in front of the window. He closed his eyes, shifting to stand in mountain pose, slowing his breathing, silently examining himself, looking for pain. He ached, but he didn’t hurt, so he started, sweeping upward into the salute. The sun salutations felt good, strong, and he flowed through them three times before he started seeking balance. High tree pose, raising his arms like branches over his head, then reaching down, catching his raised right foot with his right hand and reaching back into Dancer. He extended his right arm toward the window, and saw movement reflected in the glass.

“Well, that is a handsome pose,” Hiro said from behind him. “I could bind you like that, but then I’d have to stand on a box to do anything with you once I had.”

For this week, my main goals are to get really moving on Bones of Earth — there’s a good bit coming, and I can hit it maybe this weekend if I keep my words up.

Oh, and for the record, I am not doing Nanowrimo this year. I’d have to focus on one project to the detriment of the other. I’ll do Camp Nano in April.

Oct

2019

Necronomicon Roundup and Happy Book Day Eve!

We got home last night after a fantastic weekend at Necronomicon, in Tampa. It was my last outing for the year, and it was a good one. Nice and relaxed, with only three panels. The rest of my time was spent at my table in the dealers room.There was exactly no writing done. Which I’d expected. Next week’s blog post will have the two week word count.Friday, we got in early to set up the table in the dealers room. Which required some jiggery pokery, because I have what’s left of my jewelry from when I was doing THAT professionally. So I had to make room for shinies.

As an aside, a cosplayer dressed as Aziraphale was absolutely DELIGHTED when I told him that the jewelry was doing nobody any good in my closet. It needed to find a good home, so I was helping people with their shiny adoptions.

Friday night I had two panels. My earlier panel was The Many Face of Holmes and Watson, which was quite a lot of fun, and hosted by one of my favorite moderators at Necro. My late panel was on Slash Fiction, and it was… slightly confused. Apparently, there was a mix up with rooms, and I was told the panel would be in one room, but the moderator was told another. So I had a small panel going in my room, and she had a slightly larger panel going in her room, and when someone realized the mix-up, we combined them.

Saturday started way too early after a panel that ran until past midnight (what? I’m getting old!) There was liberal applications of coffee, and I met a God.

No, really. I’m not even joking.

Being a former jeweler, I studied a little about metallurgy. And I’ve always been a sword nut, so when I saw that a vendor had set up Saturday morning with swords and daggers, I went over to see them. Beautiful work! I picked up his card… and looked at it. Then I looked at him. Then I looked at the card again.

Dr. Jim Hrisoulas.

Now, if you don’t know swords, you probably won’t recognize that name. But he is a Bladesmithing LEGEND. And he was sitting there in front of me.

I did not squee. Not in public, anyway.

By the way? He is DELIGHTFUL, and I enjoyed meeting him so much! I hope he’s back next year.

My last panel of the day turned out to be a bit intimidating. I saw this panel in the schedule, and asked to be included. I figured I could talk on the Religion of Diets as well as anyone.I didn’t KNOW that the other three people on the panel were a retired medical doctor, a neurologist, and the neurologist’s son, who does something pharmaceutical that I can’t remember. And then there was me. I got a laugh when I said “I think I’m out of my depth here.” But I held my own — being a polymath means I can speak reasonably well on most topics, and on this one, I was the only one who had working knowledge of diet controlled autoimmune disorders, and of the variety of current diets available.

The rest of the weekend was spent at the table, adopting shinies and talking to people. And now I’m wiped out. But it was a good weekend, and I can’t wait for next year!

Now, tomorrow is BOOK DAY!!!! Forged in Fire releases everywhere. And I even remembered to upload the files to Smashwords (all the files — Heir to the Firstborn will soon be available on Smashwords. Not sure why I forgot to do it before.)Happy Book Day Eve!

Oct

2019

Works in Progress: Week Nine, Blood Bound and Bones of Earth

Blood Bound
Flesh and Blood, Book 1

48251 / 95000 (50.79%)

***

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

26509 / 95000 (27.90%)

I think I have resigned myself to the fact that Bones of Earth is a poky book, and I will not be getting as many words out as I am for Blood Bound. And that’s okay — there’s no deadline as long as I get my chapters up once a week. The fact is, I’m my own worst taskmaster.

Now, if you look at the wordcounts this week and compare them to last week, you might thing that I went completely all in on Blood Bound. I mean… over 10K words in a week?

Not exactly. Remember last week, when I said I’d put the first ten chapters up in a private crit group for people to see my worldbuilding? I managed to bork Scriveners on-board wordcounter when I did it, and didn’t realize that until the 11th, when the wordcounter said I’d only apparently written 333 words in over a week. I figured out the problem and fixed it. So really, that 10K is since October 2nd.

Words this week are probably going to be light — I am again fighting a cold (or something), and trying to get rid of it before Necronomicon this weekend. Thankfully, I have a light schedule this year. I’m on two panels on Friday, and one on Saturday. The rest of the weekend you’ll find me at my dealers table.

The panels this weekend are:

Friday 7 pm: The Many Faces of Holmes & Watson

Friday 11 pm: Slash Fiction

Saturday 1 pm: The Religion of Diets

That Saturday panel intrigues me, to the point that I asked to be added to it when I saw it on the schedule. I mean, if anyone knows anything about the religion of diets, it would be Liz coming-up-on-ten-years-of-WW Schechter.

A rare, mostly non-spoilery excerpt from Bones of Earth this week. There are two characters here you’ll meet in Forged in Fire (on sale next week! Presales available now!) Marik is Earth and Water, and has recently lost his left eye because reasons. Alanar is a Healer, and he is Earth and Air. He is also blind — in Forged in Fire, we learn that Airborn have an innate ability to know where they are in space, and use it very much like bats use echolocation. Being blind, Alanar uses that ability in interesting ways.

“Are you ready for this?”

“I should see if I still remember how,” Alanar answered. He hefted the staff and walked out onto the field. Owyn stayed by the gate and watched as Alanar picked the staff up. He didn’t hold it the way that Owyn had seen other staff fighters do — instead of holding the staff in the middle, Alanar held it near one end, angled down across his body. He stood still for a moment. Then, with no warning, he lunged, stabbing the staff forward the way someone would use a polearm. Owyn caught his breath — a lunge for someone as tall as Alanar, and with a staff that was equally as tall, meant that he could strike someone at a greater distance than Owyn could reach with his whip chain. Alanar recovered, twisting slightly, the staff moving in front of him. Blocking, Owyn realized. Holding the staff that way meant that all Alanar needed to do was move slightly, and he could block a blow from any height.

“Oh, he’s practicing?” Marik said from behind Owyn. “Oh… he hasn’t forgotten much.”

“I’ve never seen anyone use a staff like that,” Owyn said without turning. He couldn’t look away — Alanar was just too interesting to watch. “I’m used to people holding it in the middle. This is a lot more flexible.”

“I’ve seen people fight your way,” Marik said. “Most of them learned it from someone Fire, or lived in one of the Fire and Earth villages in the eastern mountains. Further east, they fight that way, too. But this is how we learn it here. It might have some Air influence. I don’t know.”

Owyn finally made himself look over his shoulder at Marik. Marik was holding a staff in his right hand, and had a crossbow in his left. He set the crossbow down to lean against the fence, and stepped through the gate. “Alanar?”

“I thought I heard you,” Alanar called. He stopped, leaning on his staff. He wasn’t even breathing hard.

“I thought you said you were out of practice!” Owyn called. Alanar laughed.

“I’m alone in here,” he said. “Against an opponent?”

“You’re going to leave me all over the sand,” Marik said. He moved to the middle of the ring and picked up his staff. Then he frowned. “This is going to be interesting.”

“Why… oh.” Alanar nodded. “You’re right handed. So you’ll be putting your left side forward.”

“And that’s the side I can’t see on,” Marik agreed. “Take it easy on me, will you?”

Alanar nodded. “Of course. I’m not going to make more work for myself.”

“Oh, fuck you!” Marik laughed.

“Promises, promises.” Alanar raised his staff. “Any time you’re ready. I’ll defend.”

Sep

2019

Preorders and Words and Excerpts, Oh, My!

First, PREORDERS for Forged in Fire are LIVE!!!

You can order on Amazon here, from Apple here, and just about everywhere else by going here. New bookstores will be added to that link, so if your bookstore of choice isn’t there yet, keep checking back — it will be! There will be print, but those will come later — I’m waiting for proofs before I approve them for distribution.

Second, it’s week six on the two works in progress.

p style=”text-align: center;”>Blood Bound
Flesh and Blood, Book 1

29336 / 95000 (30.88%)

***

p style=”text-align: center;”>Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

16465 / 95000 (17.33%)

Blood Bound is being a lot of fun. Enough that I kinda neglected Bones of Earth last week. Need to fix that — when I’m working on two projects, I really do need to work on both of them, even when one is new and shiny and the other is book three of a series. I’m about to hit a pivotal part of Bones, which means I need to actually, you know, write it down and not leave it in my head.

(Boy, telepathic storytelling would be a real timesaver. In a scary sort of way. But the edits would be a real mindblower and I’m stopping that right now before I have a new plotbunny….)

I shared an excerpt of Bones of Earth over on Facebook last week (edited for spoilers). Here’s something from Blood Bound.

Daniel laughed and turned to look at Hiro’s profile, and realized something — Hiro’s fangs were ever so slightly visible. He was certain they hadn’t been before. And he wasn’t certain of the etiquette — did he ask about them? Was it like seeing someone with their fly down? Or was it just something you weren’t supposed to comment on?

“Daniel, what is it?” Hiro glanced at him. “You are staring.”

“Sorry,” Daniel murmured. “Ah… your fangs are showing? A little? And… they weren’t earlier.”

Hiro nodded. “I know. I am feeling a touch… unkempt. I regret that I will not be able to spend tonight with you, my Daniel. It is time that I fed properly, and I have given you a promise.” He reached out and rested his hand on Daniel’s leg. He squeezed, then returned his hand to the steering wheel as they merged onto the Henry Hudson Parkway.

“I could—” Daniel started.

“No,” Hiro interrupted. “I want you to understand the commitment we will make to each other before you bare your throat to me. I want you to be completely comfortable with the idea.” He smiled. “I am not willing to frighten you the first time I bite you, and have that color the way we will continue. I will visit with the local Chancellor’s deputy, and make arrangements. That is how it is done when one does not have a bond.”

“Is it?” Daniel asked. “No one talks about that.”

Hiro nodded slightly, not turning from his driving. “These are things that are best handled in private. The taking of living blood is… deeply personal.”

Daniel coughed. “Right. Sorry?”

Hiro smiled. “Do not apologize for being curious. You may ask me anything. I may not answer immediately. I may need to think about my answer. But you may ask.”

“I’ll make a list,” Daniel promised, making Hiro laugh. Then he gestured out the window, toward the trees on the left side of the car.

“Before I forget, I want to go there.”

Daniel craned his neck to look out the driver’s side windows. “There… what’s up… oh, you want to go to the Cloisters? Sure, we can do that. It’s a nice walk from my place, if you don’t mind walking up hill.”

Hiro nodded. “We will do that. I will, as you say, make a list. I have never been in New York before a month ago. I want to see everything.”

Daniel grinned. “Sure, we can play tourist. I’ll take you on the subway. Maybe to a Mets game with Trace.”

Sep

2019

Works in Progress, Week 5: Blood Bound and Bones of Earth

Blood Bound
Flesh and Blood, Book 1

25254 / 95000 (26.58%)

***

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

14790 / 95000 (15.57%)

Slow work week this week. Again. I’m going to get into the swing of things soon, I swear! But not this week, I don’t think. Final edits are back on Forged in Fire, so I’ll be getting that ready to upload for presales. And I’m also trying to convince my body that it hasn’t caught a cold…

Part of my slow week was my non-writing life. Scholastic Book Fair volunteer on Thursday, personal eek on Friday, Keiser Supercon on Saturday and a 5K Sunday morning. I was hitting my wordcounts until Thursday!

Keiser Supercon was an awesome little convention, and I enjoyed myself greatly! For a first year convention, they really outdid themselves — one of their media guests was George Lowe, the voice of Space Ghost from Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. And, in an very unusual turn of events, I was the “name” fiction writer. I’m not used to being one of the headliners on the guest list.

One of the other comic guests was someone VERY impressive — Athena Finger, granddaughter of Bill Finger, co-creator of Batman. She was the one who finally beat DC and forced them to recognize her grandfather’s work, after he was shafted by Bob Kane. She did a panel on the history of Batman in the media, which I have to say made the convention for both my husband and my son!

It was a good convention, and I hope we have a second one next year!

On to an excerpt. They’re all from Blood Bound, because anything I post from Bones of Earth is going to have spoilers in it. So those will have to wait until after Forged in Fire comes out.

***

“Daniel, you told me that your college major required a language,” Hiro said as he took his seat and picked up his mug. “You didn’t tell me what your major was.”

“Political Science,” Daniel answered. “With an emphasis on human-vampire relations.”

Hiro stared at him for a moment, then started laughing. “And you are not a bond why?”

Daniel shook his head. “I didn’t finish college. And I told you I didn’t have the money for the prep school. I have no degree, no certificate, and no family connections, which means that I don’t qualify for the lottery.”

Hiro shook his head. “That is not the only way to become a bond.”

“It’s not?” Daniel asked.

“No. It is the most common, but it is not the only way.” Hiro took another sip from his mug. “A vampire can choose their own bond, independent of the lottery. It is then their responsibility to provide their bond with anything that they lack.”

“I didn’t know that,” Daniel murmured. A sudden suspicion dawned, and he looked across the table. “Hiro—?”

Hiro smiled. “Eventually. It would please me a great deal,” he answered. “But I will not press you. Not so soon. You must be comfortable with me, with us. Just know that I am interested.” His smile broadened.
“Very interested.”

Daniel felt his face grow warmer. “I… I really don’t understand why.”

“Because you are not seeing yourself the way I see you,” Hiro answered. He picked up his mug and drained it, then leaned back in his chair. His smile slowly transformed into a leer. “Finish your tea, Daniel.”

Sep

2019

Works in Progress, week Four, Blood Bound and Bones of Earth

Blood Bound

21585 / 95000 (22.72%)

***

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

10237 / 95000 (10.78%)

This week has been… interesting. Dorian was supposed to be apocalyptic… but it apparently didn’t get the memo that said the apocalypse was supposed to be in Florida, not in the Bahamas or Nova Scotia. So we had three days of “What’s going to happen?” followed by one windy night and a lot of rain.

This led to three days of not a lot of work, a lot of stress baking, and me playing frantic catch-up the rest of the week. With Blood Bound, that hasn’t been hard — the words are flowing nicely. I’ve also got a Spotify playlist, if you want to hear what I’m listening to while I write each chapter — each song is the corresponding chapter, and is either mentioned in the text, or reflects the mood.

With Bones of Earth, I’m still finding a new focal character’s voice, and she’s giving me a hard time about it. So it’s slow going. I think I finally have her, though. So we’ll see if I can pick up the pace. However, next weekend I also have Keiser Supercon on Saturday, and a 5K on Sunday morning. I might just have brains made from tapioca by Sunday afternoon. Here’s hoping the words come easily this week, so I don’t have to worry about that!

I’m expecting edits back on Forged in Fire sometime this week, so I’m going to say that yes, we’re on track for the October 19th release date.

And that’s about all in my neck of the woods. Here, have an excerpt:

***

“Itami? Is that you?”

The voice was accented — Eastern Europe, maybe? — and very deep. And the effect it had on Hiro was electric — the vampire sat up straight, eyes wide, looking past Daniel. Then he laughed.

“Liski! I was not expecting you until next week!” He looked around the table. “Please, if you’ll excuse me?”

“Go ahead,” Mama said, making a shooing motion. Hiro grinned and got up from the table. Daniel turned in his chair and watched as Hiro walked over to a big man, who was accompanied by a pretty, petite woman.

“He looks like a bear,” Trace murmured. Daniel nodded. The name sounded familiar. Liski…?

“Holy shit,” he breathed. “That’s Grigori Liski.”

“Who?” Trace asked.

“Head Justiciar,” Daniel answered. “Oh, crap. They’re coming over.” He was out of his chair in a minute, but not before Trace was on his feet, and standing between Daniel and the newcomer.

“Grigori, if I may present my…” he paused, and for a moment looked perplexed.

“Friends and employees,” Trace supplied. “It’s complicated.”

Grigori laughed. “It is always complicated with this one,” he said. He smiled and offered his hand.

“Grigori Liski. My bond, Clara Underwood.”

“Trace Maurin,” Trace answered. “My mother, Antoinette.”

“Oh, do not stand, Madam,” Grigori said. He came around the table and bowed over Mama Maurin’s hand. “A pleasure to meet you.” He came back around the table, looking at Daniel. He smiled and held out his hand. “And you. You must be Daniel.”

Daniel blinked and shook the vampire’s hand, feeling suddenly dwarfed. Grigori had to be at least 6’5”. He glanced at Hiro. Had Hiro been talking about him? Wait, what was he thinking? Of course Hiro had talked to his superiors about Daniel. “Yes, sir,” he answered. “I’ve heard about you. It’s very nice to meet you.”

“I could say the same,” Grigori answered. “I have heard your name. And yes, it is nice to meet you. Now, if you’ll excuse me? I need to speak to Itami for a moment.”

He bowed again, and escorted Hiro away from the table. Daniel sat back down, trying to fight the urge to turn and watch.

“He’s been talking about you?” Trace whispered.

“I don’t think he can hear you this far away,” Daniel whispered back. He gave in and glanced over his shoulder, only to find that Hiro was looking at him. Their eyes met, and to Daniel’s shock, Hiro blushed.

Daniel heard Trace cough. “Didn’t know vampires could do that,” he said. “I told you, Danny. He’s in to you.”

Daniel swallowed. “Yeah. I know.”

It was definitely too late to turn back now.

Aug

2019

Works in Progress, Week Two: Bones of Earth and Blood Bound

Blood Bound

10227 / 95000 (10.77%)

***

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

3179 / 95000 (3.35%)

Things are a little slow here — there have been lots of back to school related things that have kept me away from my desk. Here’s hoping things calm down a little so I can focus.

Blood Bound is moving quite well, for all that I keep having to stop and do the worldbuilding that I didn’t really get done over the summer. You’d think that with as long as this has been on the back burner, I’d have done some of it. Umm… nope!

Part of the problem, which isn’t REALLY a problem, is that Daniel, the main character, is a bartender at night, but during the day he teaches yoga and pole dancing. Now, I know from yoga. I’ve been doing yga for years. Pole dancing is entirely a new thing for me. So I’m watching lots of YouTube videos on male pole dancing. For research. Really.

With Bones of Earth, I have a good idea where things are going to go. It’s just sitting down and getting them there. Once I get into the swing of things again, we should be good. And in the meantime, I’ve finished my initial editing pass on Forged in Fire, and handed them off for another set of eyes. I’m still thinking that we’re looking at an October publication date and new books on the table at Necronomicon.

Since I can’t give an excerpt from Bones of Earth without spoilers for Forged in Fire, let’s meet Itami Hiro, our vampire love-interest from Blood Bound.

***

It was still early, so it wouldn’t be busy for hours yet. Especially since the performers didn’t start until eight. Right now, it was a couple of the regulars, mostly humans, who called out greetings and went to claim their usual spaces. Several of them called out drink orders, and Daniel was busy enough with them that, while he noticed the man take a seat at the bar, he didn’t really see him until Sarah had taken the drinks away. Then he turned with a smile, wiping his hands on a bar towel, and tried not to stare. He immediately recognized the man as a vampire — he’d gotten good at that over the years. But he’d never seen this man before. He’d remember those looks, and that hair — pure white, straight and hanging loose over the shoulders of his perfectly tailored suit. Definitely not a bleach job. He wore dark glasses, and Daniel wondered if it was an affectation, or medical. He was betting medical.

“Welcome to The Blood Bank,” Daniel said as he walked over. “First time?”

“You can tell?” The vampire took off his glasses, revealing not red irises as Daniel had expected, but pale purple. Daniel nodded.

“I’ve never seen you here before, and I’m always behind the bar. What can I get for you, sir?” He watched the man as he took a snifter from the warmer. He was Asian. Albino Asian vampire. Not familiar. From somewhere other than New York, Daniel decided. Who was he? And he was alone. Where was his bond-slave? “We’ve got lamb, veal, venison and ostrich on tap. The ostrich is new and small batch.”

“Ostrich?” The vampire sniffed. “Is there someone who drinks that?”

“Between you, me and the bar? I really doubt it,” Daniel said, and the vampire laughed. Daniel wiped his hand again on the bar towel, then held his hand out. “Daniel Remington.” The vampire took the offered hand and shook it, but didn’t offer his own name. “What can I get you, sir?” Daniel repeated.

The vampire looked at him for a moment, studying him. He was squinting slightly, and Daniel reached out and turned off the task light closest to him, cutting the glare off on that portion of the bar. The vampire looked surprised. Then he smiled.

“A drink,” he said. “Not blood.” He looked Daniel up and down, almost appraisingly. “Surprise me.”

“Surprise you,” Daniel repeated. “Okay.” He nodded, thinking. He was starting to suspect that he was talking with the new owner. Which meant he needed to impress. Flash. He grinned. “Sweet or savory?”

“Surprise me,” the vampire repeated. Daniel nodded.

“Sure. Give me a minute.” He turned, studied the bar for a moment, then decided and started picking things up. Vodka and coconut water, cranberry juice, blue curacao, and simple syrup. He could feel Trace watching him as he filled a rocks glass with ice, then filled the Boston shaker with ice, and measured his ingredients. He changed the proportions just a bit, just enough, and shook the drink up. Then he carried the glass and the shaker over to the vampire, set the glass down, then broke the shaker open and deftly poured the contents into the glass. The drink, which would normally be a pale blue, was instead a light shade of purple.

“There you go,” he said. “On the house. Welcome to The Blood Bank.”

“On the house?”

“First timers get welcomed in. And besides, it matches your eyes.” Daniel grinned and winked at the vampire, who looked stunned for a moment, then laughed out loud.

Aug

2019

New Year, who dis?

I think I’ve used this title before. But that’s okay. It works.

No, it’s not really a new year. However, it is, because today is the day that Florida kids go back to school.

Which means that today is the day I start a new book –my long awaited romantic suspense Blood Bound. (aka the BDSM vampire book)

Now, with the insanity of everything this summer, and the book that would not end with Forged in Fire, I didn’t have much of a break to plan out the Fall book. I didn’t get a lot of the groundwork of worldbuilding done. So I’ll be starting Blood Bound off slowly. If I get 750 words in a day over the next week or two, I’ll be counting that as a day well spent. Especially since I’ll be doing the planning as I go, and editing Forged in Fire, AND starting Bones of Earth. Once I finish the Bones of Earth synopsis, that is.

I’m going to be kinda busy the next few days.

Time to get to work!

Forged in Fire

It’s alive!!!

Works in Progress: Echoes of Light and Wings of Air.

Works in Progress, Week Eleven, Blood Bound and Bones of Earth

Necronomicon Roundup and Happy Book Day Eve!

Works in Progress: Week Nine, Blood Bound and Bones of Earth

Preorders and Words and Excerpts, Oh, My!

Works in Progress, Week 5: Blood Bound and Bones of Earth

Works in Progress, week Four, Blood Bound and Bones of Earth

Works in Progress, Week Two: Bones of Earth and Blood Bound

New Year, who dis?

Works in Progress

Appearances

Find My Books!

Social Media

Let's Keep in Touch!

Thanks for signing up!