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Looking ahead to 2019

Looking ahead to 2019

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In 2018, I had quite a few wins! I was able to share the adventures of West and Julian in MAGE OF INCONVENIENCE, my first novel (!), and the (mis)adventures of Wynfield and Yeven in RED BETWEEN THE LINES. I’ve had awesome feedback for both of those stories, especially for my favourite grumpy cyborg Wynfield <3 who would blush if he knew.

For these stories, I got to work with NineStar Press for the first – but hopefully not last! – time, and the Dreamspinner Press team again. I also signed with DSP for HART OF WINTER, which I’m super excited to share with you when the time comes – though likely not until winter next year! Shifters, snowsports, and snuggling… but I shouldn’t say more.

River Song (Doctor Who): 'Spoilers.'

(But … if I was saying anything, I’d say it on twitter.)

On the other hand, I’d planned a lot of other stories for 2018 that 2018 got in the way of, tbh. That’s a little disappointing, but I’m hopeful to turn things around in 2019. There’s a lot of stories I want to tell! More shifters, of course, and kissing, and explosions … maybe a few familiar faces… but also vampires and westerns and zombies – we’re definitely staying fantastical for the foreseeable 😀 I like it here. I hope you do, too, and I hope you’ll come along on the adventures with me – you’re definitely invited!

Best of all things for 2019, folx – see you there!

NaNoWriOhNo and writing rest days

NaNoWriOhNo and writing rest days

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For the second year in a row, I am totally sucking at NaNoWriMo! It’s pretty frustrating, to be honest, as I want to write this story–or at least I thought I did. I’ve been wondering, lately, about what kind of stories I really want to tell.

In truth, 2018 has been kind of sucky (well, yes) but creatively-speaking, as well. Personally, I’ve moved countries (for hopefully the last time for a while!) and landed in the beautiful Oxford, but setting myself up here took most of the summer. Basically, between the release of MAGE OF INCONVENIENCE and RED BETWEEN THE LINES is like… A lot of packing and silent screams. And very few words indeed.

So, I’d hoped NaNoWriMo would cleanse the mental palette. Uh… It hasn’t worked quite like that. But! I think there’s light at the end of this long and drafty (It’s A Pun) tunnel. This ‘non-writing’ experience has made me question what it was about my completed stories that drove me to the end of a first draft, and to consider the common themes they share, and my motivations in writing them at all. We often think about the motivations of characters but not necessarily ourselves, and that’s valuable knowledge to have!

But it can be difficult to take time out of writing to think about writing. It feels like shirking one’s duties. For me, I consider it the same way as following a gym program–rest days are just as important to the process as the days you lift. In a world where you’re advised to Write Every Day, I think days not writing hold equal weight.

So that’s what I’m doing. Thinking and cheerleading and not-writing. No pressure, 2019, but I’m expecting great things from you.

To everyone mid-NaNoWriMo: YOU’RE DOING GREAT ILU

If Red Between the Lines was on AO3…

If Red Between the Lines was on AO3…

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On my twitter, you’ll have seen tweets about my LASER EYE STORY (all in caps, forever) and also my enduring love of fanfic (here, have a thread of Bucky Fics That Have Destroyed Me). Thusly, you may extrapolate~ I spend a bit of time on the Archive Of Our Own (aka AO3), a fan-run multi-fandom platform for (primarily) fanfiction, which has a tagging system to which all others can but aspire.

Seriously: check out some random tags. Now the search function. It really helps narrow down that One Fic you’re looking for. Friends to lovers? Sure. Coffeeshop AU? Absolutely? Consentacles? You better believe it.

As readers, we’re familiar with these shorthands, but there’s been little crossover into describing our books. (Kit Rocha does, notably, to great effect: Kit Rocha’s tropes page.)

Which brings me to RED BETWEEN THE LINES, aka the LASER EYE STORY. RBTL is a sci-fi novella (m/m explicit) set in a dystopic future. It has sarcasm, androids, badly-timed attraction, and a ballroom sequence. And as for the tags…

friends to enemies to lovers | capitalism is evil | explosions are cool | cyborgs in love

alley sex | super soldiers | public showers | car chase | we do crime | browncoats

I hope those give you some idea of the kind of fun I had writing this – and that I hope you get from reading it! Red Between the Lines will be released on October 8 from NineStar Press. If you preorder from NSP, you’ll get the story on October 5 – in time for the weekend! 🙂

Cover of Red Between the LinesWynfield, a washed-up former Corpsman with optical bioware and a healthy chip on his shoulder, is reluctantly drawn into a conspiracy to take down Nutrindustry, the company responsible for both his “upgrade” from human and the city’s food shortage.

Playing clinic doctor for the day, Yeven doesn’t expect the mouthy former pilot and their begrudging attraction—nor the fresh twist of shame for his part in Nutrindustry’s past. He needs Wynfield, though, and for more than his smart mouth. Feelings would just get in the way.

In a world where the line between man and metal is thin, there’s more happening behind the scenes than even Wynfield’s enhanced optics are able to see.

NINESTAR PRESS