RELEASE DAY: A Flame in the North

It’s here. I have alternately longed for and dreaded this day! For lo, today is the day the Viking Werewolves are set free.

Well, Book 1 of the trilogy, at least. That’s right, my beloveds. The very first salvo of The Black Land’s Bane is now released into the wild!


An elemental witch and her shieldmaid leave home…

The Black Land is spent myth. Centuries have passed since the Great Enemy was slain. Yet old fears linger, and on the longest night of the year, every village still lights a ritual fire to banish the dark.

That is Solveig’s duty. Favored by the gods with powerful magic, Sol calls forth flame to keep her home safe. But when her brother accidentally kills a northern lord’s son, she is sent away as weregild—part hostage, part guest—for a year and a day.

The further north Sol travels, the clearer it becomes the Black Land is no myth. The forests teem with foul beasts. Her travel companions are not what they seem, and their plans for her and her magic are shrouded in secrecy.

With only her loyal shieldmaid and her own wits to rely on, Sol must master power beyond her imagination to wrest control of her fate. For the Black Land’s army stirs, ready to cover the world in darkness—unless Sol can find the courage to stop it.

They thought the old ways were dead. But now, the Enemy awakens…

Now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, and independent bookstores.

(The series soundtrack is available here.)


These books are very much a love song, and before anyone asks (again), yes, this is a trilogy, Amazon simply refuses to list the third book yet for weird reasons that have no basis in reality. (Book 2 is out in June.)

Anyway, I fought like hell to write these books against what felt like a tidal wave, and a huge heaping helping of thanks goes out specifically to beta readers K.A., J.P., and K.W. (you know who you are) who read Book 1, assured me it was good when many told me it wasn’t, then read Book 2 and did the same thing. A few dedicated people can absolutely help one fight the good fight. I don’t know if I would’ve made it if not for the small but persistent cheering section who absolutely got what I was trying to do and backed me to the hilt.

I’m extremely nervous on this release day–yes, I know, that’s nothing new. I set out to do something very ambitious here and hope it sticks for the people who like what I was aiming for. In the end, that’s all a writer can ask.

And now I’m going to go stick my head in a bucket. It’s going to be a long day, full of nervousness. But I’m very, very grateful to have gotten this far; my dear Readers, I hope you enjoy Sol and Arn’s first adventure.

RELEASE DAY: Sons of Ymre 2

That’s right, my beloveds…the day is finally here. The second Sons of Ymre book is out in the world!


Sons of Ymre: Jake

Willow Grainger’s skills as a vet tech are always in demand, and animals don’t ask questions—but when a horribly battered man collapses before her one evening, she can’t ignore that kind of distress. Bleeding, nonverbal, and clinging to consciousness, he’s pursued by the same shadowy menace that has hunted Will all her life…and now, that evil is chasing them both.

Jacob’s mind is a wasteland, his body isn’t far behind, and he’s escaped the Mad God’s minions. His savior isn’t just a woman but an angel—more than that, a potential, invaluable in a war he barely remembers fighting. His memory unreliable and his instincts hair-trigger murderous, he has no problem violently protecting Willow or taking her on the run.

Chased by nightmarish monsters, forced into unwilling alliance, Will and Jacob have no-one to trust but each other. But then the Sons of Ymre find them, and the real danger begins…

Now available through AmazonBarnes & NobleKoboApple, and independent bookstores.


Not only that, but the first book in the series (Erik’s story) is $.99USD in ebook at AmazonBarnes & NobleKobo, and Apple until November 30, so if you’re looking to get that, now’s a good time.

The publisher’s asked me for a third, so I think we’ll have a trilogy on our hands–Elder, Younger, and Father. I’m already boiling the final book inside my head–it just has to take its place in the queue, really. (After the first Cain’s Wife, and revisions on Gamble, and, well, Other Stuff.)

But that’s not the really cool thing. Since you’re here, I want to share something very special with you.


And Introducing…Zorro!

Isn’t he just the cutest? I mean, er, most terrifying?

So the graphics designer over at Belle Books (hullo, my very dear Mx Ireland!) sent me this absolutely wonderful graphic featuring their office hound, Zorro. Zorro is fond of treats, long naps on the sofa, walkies, more treats, and quality-checking every design before it goes out the door. Zorro has graciously given both Ymre books the coveted Sniff of Approval. (Reports that I paid him off with treats and soft pats are LARGELY EXAGGERATED.)

Belle bought ImaJinn Books when the press owner at the latter passed on; ImaJinn was the first publisher to really take a chance in me waaaay back in the ’00s. And Belle has been wonderful to me in just about every way, including sending me pictures of dear little (I mean BIG and TERRIFYING) Zorro to keep my spirits up as the publishing industry goes all wibbly-wobbly. They’re good folk, and Zorro is a Very Good Boy.

In fact, I have to say this is about my favorite book cover ever. Maybe one of these days I’ll write the story that goes with it. (And of course, Zorro will be a character.)


That’s about it for release day, my dears. If you need me, I’ll be in the corner hyperventilating…

RELEASE DAY: The Salt-Black Tree

It’s official–the second and last book of The Dead God’s Heart is now out in the world!


The Salt-Black Tree

Nat Drozdova has crossed half the continent in search of the stolen Dead God’s Heart, the only thing powerful enough to trade for her beautiful, voracious, dying mother’s life. Yet now she knows the secret of her own birth―and that she’s been lied to all her young life.

The road to the Heart ends at the Salt-Black Tree, but to find it Nat must pay a deadly price. Pursued by mouthless shadows hungry for the blood of new divinity as well as the razor-wielding god of thieves, Nat is on her own. Her journey leads through a wilderness of gods old and new, across a country as restless as its mortal inhabitants, and it’s too late to back out now.

Blood may not always prevail. Magic might not always work. And the young Drozdova is faced with an impossible choice: Save her mother’s very existence…

…or accept the consequences of her own.

Now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and independent bookstores

The soundtrack for the series is available here.


It’s…odd, to see this book come out. I’m four stories down the road–publishing is a delayed gratification game, always–and a lot of this duology was bound up with pandemic lockdown. It feels utterly weird to see it come to fruition. I was genuinely unsure if I would survive to see Nat’s story reach the world.

Yet here I am. Very, very strange indeed.

I’ll be taking most of the day off to hyperventilate in a corner, as is usual on release days. You’d think I’d get used to them, or that they’d become ho-hum. Nope, I will never become used to this, and they will never be ho-hum. I have to hope that despite some early review bombing, the books will get to the readers who need them.

Despite everything, Spring is on her way. And I’m content to have it so.

Soundtrack Monday: Goodnight, California

The Salt-Black Tree releases tomorrow, and I am very nervous. Release days are always difficult, and I like to have a heavy workload whenever one comes around. Focusing on something else is a good distraction.

Writing Nat’s story was almost an exorcism. I knew precisely where the ending scene was, and anticipated it feverishly as I drew near the end of the tale. As soon as Spring clambered onto the bus for the very final leg of her journey home only one song would do–Kathleen Edwards’s Goodnight, California, which I listened to on repeat while writing the conversation at the garden gate.

The song is a rarity in that it expresses two characters–the young Drozdova and Dima Konets. Sometimes it’s a conversation between them; most often it’s what’s left achingly unsaid. Both of them change through the duology, though it’s Nat who changes the most. Which means it’s her story, through and through.

I typed finis on the zero draft while the song played, and promptly burst into tears. The last line of Salt-Black had been living in my head for the better part of two years, and a lot of pandemic stress got poured into the writing of the whole arc. I slithered from my office chair and lay on the floor, listening to Edwards sing and the low moan of a harmonica, and the release of tension undid me. I don’t always end writing a book by sobbing on the floor, true.

But it happens more than one might suspect.

Anyway, I’m braced for tomorrow’s release. It’s weird because I’m already four books past this particular one, but somewhere in the umber-and-bloody thiefways an engine is still revving.

And somewhere, amid green hills with an unstained moon hanging in the sky, Spring is on her way.

Yes, Another STEELFLOWER Book!

You read that right, my darlings. I’ve been teasing this for ever so long, and now…it’s here! The fourth (most likely final) Steelflower Chronicle is a brand-new serial adventure for my Patreon and Gumroad subscribers!


Isn’t she pretty?

Winter still grips the Highlands, and though Kaia Steelflower is recovering from a deadly wound there is no rest for a woman of her particular skills. Ancient evil is stirring, her barbarian friend Redfist must have an army, and her companions seem determined to fling themselves into danger. Amid the wild wastes, the giants of Skaialan, and magics ancient and foreign, another challenge lurks—a citadel of pale glassy stone amid an unholy blight, where the Ferulaine and his green gem have taken refuge.

Kaia is no stranger to battle, nor to siege and sorcery. She possesses skill, stubbornness, and good steel aplenty. Yet in order to win this campaign—not to mention keep her companions alive—she needs more. She has always turned aside from the burden of command, but this time the Steelflower will not shrink from taking control of the Highlands’ fractious troops.

And gods help anyone in her way…

Get weekly serial chapters at Patreon and Gumroad! Subscribers also get the unedited and revised ebooks for free once the serial is done. And there’s a free sample available here.

(This is book 4 of the Chronicles. The soundtrack for the series can be found here.)


I’m absolutely chuffed to be bringing you Kaia’s further adventures. Serial Time and Nest Egg subscribers get the chapters once-weekly (generally on Thursdays) as I write them, hot and fresh from my active little brain. They also get the zero draft as a free ebook, and the revised one as another free ebook. Once the book is done it’ll go into the self-pub pipeline; all told, it will take probably about a year to write and five months or so (if all goes well) to work its way through said pipeline.

I know I’ve been teasing this for a long, long time–there were a lot of moving parts to get arranged so I could make this announcement. And of course the whole thing hinged on me being able to open the master file for the series without stress nausea from ebook thieves making me heave over the office wastebasket. Which took a long, long time, but now I am ever so pleased to be bringing you this, my dears. I hope you like Kaia’s further adventures–and maybe we’ll get to find out the secret Darik’s been holding onto all this time. (Because my goodness, it’s a doozy.)

There will also be a series cover rebranding once everything is finished; my lovely cover artist Indigo Chick Designs already has the art on tap. The covers will be redone and I have plans for an omnibus edition, too…

…but I’ve got to write this book first, get it through editing and proofing, and a whole bunch of other stuff. The sheer amount of work might make me go cry in a corner. (That’s partly a lie; you know how much I like having a good bit of work in front of me.)

Whew. Boxnoggin has been very patient as I get all the launch stuff sorted this morning, so I suppose I’d best get underway. See you around!

A Merry Month of (May) Sales

Another month, another sale post! As usual, please check the dates, and I’ll be adding to this roundup as sales and price drops go live.


The big news, of course, is the release of Spring’s Arcana. (The second and final book, The Salt-Black Tree, will be out August 8 and you can read a free excerpt of it here.)


From May 1-15, Cloud Watcher is $.99USD in ebook, at AmazonBarnes & NobleApple, and Kobo.


From May 1-31, Cotton Crossing is part of the Kobo Buy One, Get One Free sale! (Other sale books are here.)


From May 1-14, The Rouje Kith and Moon’s Knight are part of the coupon sale over at Smashwords. (50% off!)


Steelflower

From May 22-30, Steelflower is $2.99USD in ebook through these retailers.

On May 26 (a one-day sale), Rattlesnake Wind will be $1.99USD in ebook through these retailers.


There’ll be more news and sales added as the month wears on, so do check back if you’re interested.

RELEASE DAY: Spring’s Arcana

That’s right, my beloveds–the first book of The Dead God’s Heart is now out in the world! You can attend the virtual launch party with Yours Truly, too.


Spring’s Arcana

Nat Drozdova is desperate to save a life. Doctors can do little for her cancer-ridden mother, who insists there is only one cure―and that Nat must visit a skyscraper in Manhattan to get it.

Amid a snow-locked city, inside a sleek glass-walled office, Nat makes her plea and is whisked into a terrifying new world. For the skyscraper holds a hungry winter goddess who has the power to cure her mother…if Nat finds a stolen object of great power.

Now Nat must travel with a razor-wielding assassin across an American continent brimming with terror, wonder, and hungry divinities with every reason to consume a young woman. For her ailing mother is indeed suffering no ordinary illness, and Nat Drozdova is no ordinary girl. Blood calls to blood, magic to magic, and a daughter may indeed save what she loves…

…if it doesn’t consume her first.

This is the way to the Dead God’s Heart.

Now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and independent bookstores

The soundtrack for the series is available here.


I began writing Nat’s adventures waaaaay back during lockdown. It’s so weird to finally have them percolating out into the wider world–and honestly, I’m pretty sure Nat herself arranged for launch day to be just after Beltane. (She’s like that.) If you want to test the book out a bit, here’s a free excerpt. And if audiobooks are your jam, you can listen to a sample here.

The duology’s second and final book, The Salt-Black Tree, will be out in August, so you don’t have long to wait. In the meantime, I’ll be hiding in a corner hyperventilating as I always do on release days. At least until the launch party gets going…