A New Release and News

Today we see the release of The Eagle's Scheme, which is a sort of but not really follow up to The King's Dog about a lady knight named Joslin. This story introduces a new country and takes place after the events of The King's Dog, and hopefully illuminates some more of the political structures. I'm working another which will be from Germaine's POV and clear up some of Morraine's eccentricities.

Now, on to other news. First off, you may have noticed my announcements on FB and the Twitter, but I've recently contracted not one, but two new novels. The first of which is of course Death's Children, a sequel to The Grave Watchers, which is about a freshly risen watchwoman named Augustine Fleur under the loving guidance of our dear Sebastien. Expected release is sometime in January.

Now, the new news. I've contracted my very first YA novel! I've signed a contract with Prizm for a book called Vampirism and You! which follows the early days and confusion of a newly turned teenage vampire, Louis Von Graves. He has a handbook, a foster sire and a bad attitude. The displaced British native ends up in an American high school and hijinks ensue as he tries to figure out A) Should he feed on drama kids or cheerleaders B) Is he not attracted to human girls, or is it vampire girls to C) Should he wear false fangs while playing Dracula in the school play?

You'll get to go along for the ride as Louis navigates through a very dark world with a dose of humor, stoicism and lots of sarcasm.

As an aside, I'm considering starting a new blog for my YA stuff. Not sure just yet, seeing as I don't write anything with material I wouldn't have read as a teenager, but still. Thoughts and comments appreciated on this matter.

Cheers my darlings.

Moving...

It is finally happening, I am moving into an apartment and shall no longer be living out of a suitcase and decorative boxes. I feel practically grown up. Not too grown up mind you, don't worry. I've been playing with the idea of a Bones short story... Perhaps set in Egypt during his hey-day.

Also thinking of doing a book from Claude's POV, which I think would be hilarious and decidedly on the raunchier side--this is Claude we're talking about.

In other news, I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo this year, it will be my third year! If you want to look me up there my username is Hemlock_key. I wrote a YA horror novel last year, the year before that I wrote the first draft of The Grave Watchers and this year? Well, I'm writing a children's book. Yup. It will be my first venture into the 10-15 age group since I myself was that age.

I'm thinking of doing a series of posts about books that shape writers. The ones that shaped me specifically, but I think guest bloggers would be fun for that. I am also toying with some YA novels for LBGT youngsters. Still plogging away at Death's Children, the sequel to The Grave Watchers, it's just not shaping up.

How does everyone feel about a female protagonist?

Edits, Revisions, Additions

I received the revisions from my super editor this week, and because it is who I am, went through the document in a couple sittings to make the asked for and necessary changes. I'm a minimalist about that sort of thing generally, especially after something has been through several peer/personal edits already.

I think I'm happier with the novel now as it stands, but we'll see what the man with the red pen says. There could still be some tweaking to do.

In the mean time, I'm working on Death's Children, working on beta-ing a story for the person beta reading DC (she's amazingly patient I think) and am looking forward to an end of summer release for The Grave Watchers. 

My dear mother has been showing the cover art off to anyone who will look at it, to which I am pleased and only slightly horrified about. I'm one of those author's that finds it difficult to let family read their work.

Hopefully I'll have more news soon, as well as a riveting article about the pistolsword!

Writing!

Despite the fact that's it been a week since I slept more than five hours at a time (or at night) I've managed to write. I'm working on Death's Children, which should be the sequel to The Grave Watchers. (I need a name for this series.)

So, in the spirit of sharing, there's a short excerpt of the first chapter after the jump. Enjoy.

Word of the Day: Solidus [sol-i-duhs] (n) : technical name for the slash (/) punctuation mark.