You can always tell when I get really busy, because I just kind of fall off the face of the Earth. It’s never intentional. I always think I’ll be able to juggle more than I can. But if I’m being really honest, I can’t juggle at all. I never learned, and while keeping all my stuff afloat isn’t literal juggling, it sure feels like it sometimes.
So! Let’s just get down to the fun stuff: The reasons for the disappearing act. It’s fun stuff! Exciting stuff! And it means there’s lots of good stuff coming soon.
First up: A new book, coming October 10!
A Fable of Guardians and Glory is my contribution to my first multi-author project. Each of us has written a fairy tale that’s blended with elements typically found in video games. RPGs, specifically—that means something different to each of the authors in the series, but mine bears a JRPG influence. Think Cinderella mixed with a blend of a little Final Fantasy 8 or 6, Studio Ghibli’s Castle in the Sky, and Escaflowne.
It’s definitely the oddest mix of things I’ve ever written, but “mecha but fantasy” is something I’ve wanted to write since I was 15 or so. Finally getting to do it is pretty great, even though the book brought a lot of challenges!
You can preorder the e-book edition here.
I’ll drop the cover and description at the bottom of this post, but for now, let me keep moving news along.
Second up: Series updates for Keeper’s Kin.
These books have been unpublished and unavailable for several years because they didn’t really fit in with the rest of my work. In fact, I even took them off my list of books a long time ago, so you might not even realize they existed!
On top of not fitting with my fantasy stories, they never really fit well in the paranormal subgenres. I’ve often considered shifting it over to urban fantasy, where long arcs, consecutive adventures with the same characters, and high action are normal. Over the summer, I finally decided that was probably the best thing to do. The books in this series are the oldest of all my published works, so they’ll be getting a little cleanup before I make them available again, just to make sure they match the rest of my catalog a bit better. It’s impossible to keep every book up to date, since every book I write makes me a better writer, but I don’t want the disparity to be so big that they don’t feel like they fit among my other books!
I don’t have a timeline update for when all of these will be available again, because I need to go through each book, update formatting, and rewrite blurbs to work better as urban fantasy stories, but I’ll have more information regarding these as I get to them.
Lastly: Site updates coming soon.
I’ve been using this site layout and design since 2018. The internet—and the way people interact with it—has changed a lot since then, and I find this design no longer meets all my needs as well as it should. I’ve wanted to do major updates for a very long time, but I didn’t really have any idea what I wanted or needed. At the beginning of the year, I started making a list of things I needed from my website and how I could achieve them, and I’ve finally had ideas for which direction I’d like to go with the design, so it’s time to start moving forward!
Since I’m between book projects right this instant, it’s a good time to begin work on it. Some stuff might get shuffled around or relabeled, but hopefully it will result in a site that’s easier to use and navigate, and also that works a little better on phones!
Like with the book revisions, I don’t know when the rollout for this will happen, but if you notice any down time in the coming weeks, it probably just means you caught me working on moving things around. One of these days, you’ll stop by and the place will be completely redecorated. It’s long overdue, so I’m excited to get it done!
Anyway, those are the big updates, so let me close out with my new book:
Quest Objective: Reach the Abyss, find the rogue mages, and end the war.
Tempest doesn’t belong on the battlefield. As the general’s daughter, she should be perched safely in the Bastion, watching the world at war. But the monsters flowing from the Abyss already destroyed her family, and she refuses to lose anyone else. Her strange magic promises an end to the conflict, if she can just reach the bottom of the Abyss and set her power free.
Seiche knows nothing but the mines and the war they fuel. As a digger, his only concern should be locating ley lines to sustain the Bastion’s magic-powered weapons. But he’s a soldier, too, and when Tempest’s unexpected presence on the battlefield sends things sideways, he’s bound by duty and honor to protect her—and when they’re cut off from the rest of the army, her mission may get them both killed.
Their one chance at survival is the only thing that will end the war: to reach the bottom before the next full moon, when the next wave of monsters spawns. Yet as they venture into the Abyss and battle their growing attraction, they uncover one truth about the rogue mages and the mana-beasts they command…
Everyone is lying, and one wrong move might end them all.