Exciting News!

Well, y’all, when I said I might be crazy for attempting to publish in January despite my schedule . . . now I can confirm it. However, yesterday an opportunity fell into my lap that I simply couldn’t pass up. I woke up from my post-getting-ready-for-school nap to an invitation from an indie bookstore to be a part of their Spooky Book Fair next month. The timing is too perfect not to do it.

Me. An invitation. That’s a first for me, as all my other events have been ones that I’ve sought out. It feels like, I don’t know, an achievement unlocked. So much so that I took yesterday to process it (bad emotions aren’t the only ones that take time sometimes). I’m still not sure if it’s as big of a deal as it feels like it is, but it feels huge to me. Like maybe all the steps I’ve put in before now are definitely paying off. It’s a measure of success and it feels so good.

All that being said, I will be vending at the Spooky Book Fair sponsored by Spellbound Books in Sanford, FL, on October 19th, 12 pm – 3 pm. The event will be hosted at the West End Trading Company.

This Book Fair will fall just a couple weeks after my appearance at the Oviedo Mall’s Page and Pen Festival on October 4th, 11 am – 5 pm. Then in November, I’ll be at the Merritt Square Mall Con. I’ll share those details later, closer to relevance. *Takes off writer hat and puts on helmet* Let’s go!

Am I Crazy Enough to Try?

Gather ’round, friends, it’s story time. Last Wednesday night I was minding my business and winding down from a D&D session when Aleister (my Order of Crows series main character) whispered to me, “I know how to fix that scene.”

What scene, you might ask? Oh, just the big-deal culmination of the first three books scene. The one I’ve known needed fixing but not how to do it. Also the revisions I was sure were going to still need fixing when I get my cover in five (Five? Only five?) months.

Two things here. One, if you’re not a writer you may not know what it’s like to try to ignore a noisy character. Think toddler with a set of cymbals who says, “Hey, mom,” between every crash. The short story is you can’t. So I didn’t try.

Two, this book has been, hands down, the hardest one I’ve ever written. No lie I started writing this book no less than five times. I can call this the third draft but the truth is closer to a gazillion.

So, can you guess where I’ve been for the last week? If you have ‘full-on obsessive mode’ on your bingo card, you win. It’s always a crap shoot whether characters will stick around after they successfully instigate a situation. Aleister was not playing. We wrote, deleted words, and wrote some more. I’ll be damned, he really did know how to fix that scene, too. He knew how so well that I rewrote twelve-thousand words into eight-thousand words and now my total word count is too low compared to the first two books. But that’s another issue to address on the next read through.

So now I have a huge hurtle cleared that I wasn’t expecting to clear, and I’m looking at that January cover in a different light. Can I have this book ready to publish? Considering I just released a book last month, how crazy would I be to try to do another one six months later? With two book events, my kid’s birthday, the holiday season, and an editing job coming back my way for a second round between now and January … am I that crazy?

I might be. The way I see it, if I don’t hit that January goal it’s not a failure. Hardly. It will still be a success because I’m still going to publish that book regardless. Why not try for a possibly-unrealistic goal of sooner than later? Buckle up, folks, we’re going for a ride.

I Feel Like Throwing It Back

Hi, friends! I’ve been slacking on posts for several reasons, and now either my kid or the spouse has passed on a minor plague to me, so bear with me. I don’t have any new . . . eh . . . news. I’ve been coasting the glide from publishing my sixth title and setting my future sights on my October 4th appearance at the Oviedo Mall Page and Pen Fest. I’m very excited and, at this very moment, waiting for my first author copies of The Stolen to arrive for said event. Oh, I lied. I do have news. I have also nailed down my spot at the fall edition of the Merritt Square Mall Con on November 8th. It will be awesome to return to that community. I even saw that they have another author for this go ’round. Did I start something? Who knows?

Anyway, every once in a while I realize that I don’t really promote the first two books I published as an indie author. I’ve been showing some love for them over on TikTok, so I thought, why not continue the trend here. It’s always a tough call choosing what the share from those books. There are four POVs, because younger me was . . . ambitious. So I always feel like it’s hard to represent all four characters and their journeys.

The story takes place in New Orleans, in a very-much-made-up crime syndicate. The story is dark and gritty, and it follows Maria, Joshua, Frederick, and Isaiah as they suddenly have to deal with the loss of their leader, Maria’s brother, Charlie. These books are a revenge tale at their heart, but there are romance themes. Just maybe not the type of romance one might be used to. Maria is young, impetuous, and she doesn’t make the best decisions. She’s actually an unlikeable main, which has torn some readers. She might manage to redeem herself some by the end.

So, I’ve decided to share an excerpt, it’s a decently long one, from Joshua’s POV. From Cadillac Payback, enjoy:

Waking up is hell after you’ve been asleep for too long, especially the sleep that comes after you’ve been awake too long. That resounding truth comes blurred with the realization that I’m too hot to sleep anymore. 

I fight it, try with lulled desperation to sink back into oblivion only to find the way blocked. Reluctantly, I try to drag my brain into some coherent thought, finding that path equally as difficult. My body does the familiar lag of the morning after, though something tells me it’s not morning. 

Maybe it’s the feeling of ruffled, empty sheets under my fingers as they stretch across the bed. Maybe it’s the vague memory that it was well after the sun rose when my body dropped into unconsciousness. Maybe it’s the heat.

This is not my bed, I notice with the languor of a post-drug-cocktail binge, though there are no drugs in my system. My sheets are not nearly so scratchy against bare skin. Bare skin, I realize, and finally I find the resolve to pry open my eyes. 

For a moment, everything is brightness and foreign colors. The pillow beneath my face is damp with sweat. I can feel my hair sticking to my forehead and neck. The scratchy sheet slips away as I force myself to sit, muscles gathering a familiar tension that I am not quite prepared to catch. With a groan, it all comes crashing down. This is a hotel. My best friend is dead. The night didn’t make it go away. 

The room’s dandelion paint and antique cherry furniture come into focus, as a devastating stab of grief wells up in my chest. It was so easy to force the loss away when a different void was being filled, when we were both escaping through the night. She felt just like I knew she would, tasted better. I can still feel her hair against my skin, but she’s gone. I’m alone.

Across the room, the balcony doors still stand open. Might as well, the heat will get in anyway. No air conditioning unit in the world can combat this oppression. The day seems clear beyond the doors, burning late into the hottest part of the afternoon. The bougainvillea is sickeningly sweet outside. 

A bead of sweat slides down the side of my throat. I feel like I’ve been beaten. I wish it were that simple. I wonder miserably if our house has been burned yet in retaliation. I wonder what has become of Charlie, nameless in a refrigerated filing cabinet. Despite all the things I have seen since following Maria down the hallway in an attempt to run away from reality, I can’t see anything but her brother’s blue lips and pinched eyelids now. 

God, he would have thrived in this situation. He would have reacted the same way she did. But he would have made it hurt more, and he probably would have robbed them first. 

I don’t know how she’ll handle this, or how I’ll handle it. I don’t know which direction she’ll fling me if she lets me go, but I can’t believe she really wants to. Their reckless and fierce loyalty is what drew me to them in the first place. That’s a hard sentiment to find in this profession and in the childhood that led me here. 

I think I would have done anything for Charlie upon meeting him, that fucker, when he saved my ass from getting shot. I was just a bright-eyed punk, hustling a game bigger than me and acting much tougher than I was. Charlie had years’ more experience than I did, lifetimes’ worth.

I let my fists ball into the sheets as I yield to the tears that rise. They haven’t broken until now, so I fight them, which makes it hurt more. I can’t move, I can’t think, so I stare down at the wet dripping onto the cream-colored sheet that barely covers my lap. The force is so much that, for a moment, I believe the knot forming in my chest will soon explode and kill me.

The door behind me opens, unsettling me enough to stop my tears in an agonizing ball just beneath the surface. It is enough to bring me to face her. In those first few moments of eye contact, I must look like a bewildered mess. I must, because she looks so startled. 

Her eyes flash with concern for a fleeting moment, so quick that it could have been my imagination. Then her gaze crawls down the naked length of my body as if her vision has been snagged and weighted hopelessly. Her face darkens into the lust I discovered by chance this morning, which surprises my brain into more perplexity. 

Then, just as quickly as the previous look, it’s gone. She looks me in the eye and it is strangely cold. More distant than I have ever seen from her. Still no word from the Queen? The street cries from beyond the sultry afternoon.

“Business meeting in half an hour,” she says, voice a mere shell of the luxurious sound I know she can utter. 

Ripples like a bad dream shake me. Some of the quakes are memories of her voice, only hours earlier, not quite words. No, this is the first thing she has said to me since the hellish ride away from Biloxi. Echoes of hot hands on a sweaty morning roll over me with trembling ruthlessness, and I’m forced to endure the ghosts of flawless rhythm, of soul cleansing. The other tremors are the words she just spoke. Business. Meeting. Business. It always comes down to that. How could I forget?

She waits as long as she thinks it should take for her words to sink into my muddled and scattered thoughts. She knows I’m stuck in her gaze. Surely she is reading my impaired mind. Then she turns away. She leaves. Her indifference won’t falter again. I know it’s a mask, but I have no defense against it. 

The door closes, oblivious to my offense. She might as well have slammed it against my face and my pride. She might as well have shattered her obscene, glass-bottle cocktail against me at close range. Business meeting. It’s never been just business between Charlie, Maria, and me.  

Many Thanks

Phew. We made it to the other side of release day. I am officially six times published, proud but trying to stay humble. As always, there’s still work to be done. For now, I’m taking a little room and time to celebrate. I’ve said it somewhere before but, as an indie, as a creative in general, no one will ever care as much as you. That being said, having a support network is priceless.

My network definitely showed up for me, on release day, yes, and every other day. I am so, so grateful for that. You all have my utmost gratitude and eternal thanks! My head is still reeling from all the attention.

Consequently, I decided to take yesterday off from everything. Yes, I squirmed a bit while not working on anything, however while I’m not burned out yet, it’s always possible, so I gave myself the space. I forget to do that … more often than not, actually. How did it go? Well, I made it through most of the day before the Fae-Cursed crew dropped a bunch of book 3 plot points in my lap. I guess all the attention got to them, too, because the continuation of their story has been sitting on the back burner for literal months.

What’s next? Promotion, always. Editing has become a more official thing for me. Not that I’m actively searching for jobs, but I suddenly have one anyway. That doesn’t effect me in the public eye, but it does open some doors and possibilities for my future, which is exciting. Then what? The Sevina Gate project has gotten stalled a few times, but we are still working on it, just slower than we thought it would go. You can’t rush brilliance, though, so sometimes you have to accept the setbacks. Fine. We’ll keep rolling forward, just … slowly. I will eventually be in the market for some readers for the first installment, so anyone interested in a post-apocalyptic, fantasy/science fantasy mashup with a character-driven plot line, and things like magic-tech but also fantasy races plugged into a more modern setting—don’t hesitate to contact me.

My next in-person event is still in October. Here:

And I think that’s all the news for now. One more time, thank you so much everyone for helping me have a successful book release day!

The Countdown is On

Three days until The Stolen releases to the wild, my friends. Three days. This is the period of time when it feels like I have waited ages for this and also like it snuck up on me out of nowhere. I have waited, to be honest, and then the rest of life handed me a million things and release crept quietly closer. What can I say? I’m still nervous, that’s always true during release. I’m still excited, too. I’m also busy. The Universe really did say, “August is for curve balls, here have some. Also, the possible hurricane is complementary.”

So, that’s where I am right now. First of week of school for my kid, extra obligations, unexpected news, all while watching Tropical Storm Erin make the slowest damn trek across the Atlantic. Also, I just (quietly) celebrated The Song of the Sparrow’s first book birthday a couple days ago. That book and series (Order of Crows) has recently gotten some love, I think mostly thanks to my foray into in-person events this year. Speaking of, I’m looking to add one more in November and probably call it a year as far as that goes. December is a little too extra to try to squeeze in an event. However, I’ve been compiling a list of possible events for next year and I think it will only be bigger and better with this year’s experience under the belt of the Black Feather Press team. At least at the next event I have scheduled in October, I’ll have six books representing on my table.

As always, if you haven’t heard of or checked out the first book in the Fae-Cursed Series, The Nameless is available on Amazon. It’s all about Fae intrigue, Celtic mythology, and some boys in a punk band. What’s not to love? I’ve been marketing the series as fantasy but lately I think it stands just as well as supernatural. Maybe better, woe is my hindsight self. Anyway, I absolutely adore these characters and I hope you do, too.

That’s pretty much the word for now. My other projects are at a bit of a standstill, so there’s not really any news. As one might expect when releasing a new title. So get ready to smash those share and like buttons across whatever platforms you might follow me on. And now … we wait.

The Stolen Kindle Pre-Order

Hey, all! This week is proving to be a busy one with back-to-school, which is exactly why I wanted to have everything ready for release day ahead of time. For once, I achieved that goal. All the files are finalized and the only thing left to do is promote it. So, for those of you interested in such things, the Kindle pre-order link is live:

If you’re new around here and aren’t familiar with the Fae-Cursed series, The Nameless is available on Amazon in paperback or for Kindle. It’s also enrolled in KindleUnlimited.

If you’re so inclined, you can also help me get the word out. Share links, smash engagement buttons, or leave ratings and reviews. Any little bit helps and is always greatly appreciated. That’s all for today, hope it’s a good one!

The Stolen Cover Reveal!

The day has arrived! I am excited and proud and all the things. Huge shout out to The Illustrated Author Design Services for absolutely knocking this cover out of the park. It’s hard to pick a favorite because she has done an amazing job on all my covers, but this one is so, so good. Also, props to her for a little hidden gem that makes sense once you’ve read the story, so I’m curious to see who will notice. Anyway, let’s get to it!

Isn’t it gorgeous? The book drops August 16th. Spread the word, mark your calendars, smash the buttons.

Many Thanks and a Look Ahead

I had a great time setting up at Hello Again Books yesterday and managed to connect with some folks despite the heat advisory. I got a little time to chat with one of the owners about the Book Fest they sponsored back in April, and also about having a second go setting up in their shop. So, while it’s not scheduled or even a glimmer on the radar yet, the invitation was quite exciting. Huge thanks to them for having the Black Feather Press team as guests in their establishment. I can’t stress enough to locals to check out the shop if you haven’t. They have multiple clubs for readers and are constantly involved in community events.

What’s next? Most immediately, the cover reveal for The Stolen. The cover drops August 1st. It will appear here first and then I’m sure I’ll be sharing it to all the socials with the hopes of kindling a little love and interest. Once reveal happens, Kindle preorder will go live. I’m currently staring down the final proof, which I’m combing mostly for formatting hiccups that sometimes happen when the file gets exported to PDF and uploaded.

The Stolen drops August 16th. By now, I sound like I’m stuck on repeat, but that’s part of being indie. Promotion is up to me (and my amazing friends who never fail to help get the word out). I know a few people, at least, are also excited. Without giving away too much, I’ll say there are parts of this installment of the story that will tear out your heart and there are parts that will lift it back up. At any rate, everyone else will get to see why the characters are demanding a third book.

What happens on the other side of release? I’ve been on a bit of a constant lookout for the possibility of adding another event to my schedule in September, but I’m not sure if that will be a go, or even if it’s a good idea to try. I do have a vendor slot at the Pen and Page festival in Oviedo in October, so I might just leave that as my next event. We shall see, and I shall, of course, announce any news here.

That’s all for now, my friends. Just a quick update and some gratitude for my experience yesterday. I hope everyone is having a lazy Sunday like I am. Cheers!

Cue the Jitters and Schedule the Cover Reveal

Well, my cover files for The Stolen landed in my inbox on Monday. It’s more gorgeous than I could possibly have hoped for. Not that The Illustrated Author Cover Designs ever disappoints. She has surely outdone herself with this one. Of course, I immediately wanted to share it with the world. But … I’m supposed to wait until closer to release.

It seems like all the jitters and nerves have hit me at once. Release anxiety, excitement and nervousness for my author event on Saturday, just all of it. That’s normal. It always happens. That doesn’t make it less valid. I’m still freaking out inside. I’m damn proud of myself. Still freaking out.

So this is the part where I’m supposed to hype the cover reveal. The thing is, I’m not sure who I’m hyping. I’m not famous and I don’t think I have a following outside a tight circle. Don’t read that wrong, my circle means everything. But who am I hyping?

I guess the real question is do I follow the rules? They’re “rules.” They’re the steps to a successful book launch. I should follow them, right? I should and yet I’m so very tempted to not do that. But since I’m the only one squirming in the meantime, I guess I will. That being said, look for The Stolen cover on August 1st.

If you consider yourself hyped, you can definitely join me for my reveal on the 1st by smashing all the buttons. I will post the initial reveal here, with links on Facebook and Instagram. Likes, shares, interactions—it all helps. I would definitely appreciate the help.

After the reveal, I will do the only thing left to ensure my book goes live on the 16th. I’ll finalize on KDP. Once I do, ebook preorder will be available. I’ll drop a reminder once that happens.

Another reminder for my Floridian friends, I will be at Hello Again Books in Cocoa Village this Saturday from 11 am to 1 pm. I’m very excited (and nervous, as previously stated) to make some new connections and meet new readers. So far at the two events I’ve done this year, The Murder Meets at Dusk was undeniably the star, so I’m hoping to also hook some interest in The Nameless on this one—since I do have a super snazzy cover revealing not long after the event and the book releasing next month.

I think that’s all the news for now, so I’m going to close this post before it dissolves into anxiety-ridden rambling. As always, thanks for your time and interest. Thanks for reading this. And have an awesome day!