This January has really been something…
Are you like me and look forward to the new year? I’m not a “new year, new me” person and I’m no longer a “this is my year” believer either. If anything, every year since 2016 has taught me never to assume that success is a given and the past isn’t something to be discarded. However, setting intentions in powerful magic and I find that a strong start to the year helps me get through the rest of it.
So imagine my dismay when I started off 2024 sick as a dog. I wasn’t just a little sick either. I was a “maybe I should take this Covid test again” sick, a “cancel plans for the next few weeks” sick.
Fortunately, at the end of 2023, I’d scheduled a few “set it and forget it” promotional plans for “Heroes & Harbingers” and “Struggling With the Current.” I assumed that I could rest and recuperate while things just sorta worked on their own. You know what they say about assuming? Yeah…
My author copies of “Heroes & Harbingers” and “Portals & Pantheons” didn’t arrive anywhere near on time, so I had to put off doing the book tour for that. My Book Barbarian deal (which I’d wanted to do for a couple of years) got thrown off track because Amazon wouldn’t price match for me for the first time ever.
The urge to throw in the towel right away has been strong, but something else has been stronger—my drive to write. So, where have I been? I’ve been right in front of my laptop, banging away at the keyboard. Even when I was sick, even when my marketing plans fell flat, my head and heart were in harmony. So now, I have two books that are pretty far along in the process.
The Violet Scars of Lightning
The Telverin Trilogy and wanted to know more about the world it’s set in, you will probably love this!
It’s about a wizard falling in love with a sorceress, but things get very dark very fast for the two. Want a villain arc and a hero arc? This is for you!
You’ll learn more about the mysterious area called The Wastes which was only ever mentioned in passing in The Telverin Trilogy. The events of the trilogy become lore, even religion for these characters who live centuries later.
It involves Eya’s lightning magic, time magic, and necromancy! I’m absolutely in love with this story!
I plan to publish this in 2024.
I’m also writing a LitRPG.
The other book I’m writing is pretty new to me. It’s a LitRPG novel. What is a LitRPG? It’s a sci fi/ fantasy genre that involves characters literally playing an online role playing game. If you’re an anime fan, you may have watched stories like this. Personally, I’m a big fan of “Sword Art Online,” which is an excellent example of LitRPG. As a gamer and SFF author, I’ve been wanting to dabble in this genre for years, and I’m loving it even more than I thought I would.
The thing about LitRPG, though, is that a lot of it isn’t in a style that I write. Most of it has male main characters and a lot of what I’ve read is either all strategy or the kind of wacky comedy you expect from anime. If you’ve read my stuff, you know that’s not me. I love writing every kind of character, but strong women are my specialty. And while I enjoy interjecting humor, I’m mostly a dark fantasy writer.
I went to Las Vegas for the 20Books Conference and came away the message that I needed to stay in my lane.
“Women don’t do well in LitRPG because LitRPG readers are men that only like men stuff.”
“Women LitRPG writers have to disguise that they’re women if they want to sell their books.”
“The only time women LitRPG writers do well is when they write cozy fantasy.”
“It’s okay if you want to buck all our rules. You don’t have to make money, if you don’t want to.”
When people tell me “You can’t do that,” I have to prove them wrong.
The Cleric of Aphrodite
This LitRPG will take place in a game called “Legends of Sacrifice,” which will be the setting for various other LitRPG novels I plan on writing in the future.
What is it about? Well, it’s not gonna be male-centric, let me tell you. There are strong women in it and a sapphic romance. No one who reads my books should be at all surprised that I’ve mixed some mythology into it!
There’s a good chance I will have a Kickstarter for this so that I can include some decent character art and hopefully illustrations. This will publish in 2024.
Despite delays in receiving author copies, I still have signed copies available!
Just tap on the image below to go to my store!
Did you like reading this? Then, you’ll love my books!
You can find all of my published works, even the anthologies I’ve contributed to by clicking the “Learn More” button below!
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