Posted on

Hearts on Fire Reviews Giveaway!

Hearts on Fire Reviews is doing a giveaway! Go to their website HERE and leave a comment by May 3 to be entered into a drawing for a free copy of Haunted Halls!

And while you’re over in that direction, check out the five star review they gave to Another Healing HERE

Thank you, Hearts on Fire!

Posted on

Haunted Halls

The lovely cover by Aisha Akeju

Okay, Haunted Halls is now available to preorder!And not only that, it’s on sale! Click HERE 

To watch the book trailer, click HERE

Here’s the blurb:

College should be a blast for Evan: Same state where he grew up, just a few hours from home, tuition is free, and there’s nothing but new experiences and opportunity in front of him. All he feels is homesick, alone, and adrift. Whatever thrills his roommates eludes Evan.

He is distracted from his misery by Gabriel, who seems to come and go in the blink of eye. But he’s beautiful, confident, proud—everything Evan is not. Most of all, he’s a mystery, and one that Evan is determined to solve…


Release date: May 7, 2014




Posted on

So Where Am I At?

Well, I’m on school vacation this week so I have a moment to sit back and take stock. Also, I’m recovering from a nasty cold that turned into bronchitis, so all those outside things I need to do can just keep waiting a little longer. And I’m without a car at the moment. My husband’s van is in the shop for some bodywork this week. Vermont winters EAT cars, and the van is many years old and has something like 200,000 miles, so he’s driving my new vehicle. (I drive a four wheel drive SUV with winter tires which aren’t coming off until June, thank you very much.) I have to say that my husband is very much like Josh, the way they’re both attached to their old, clunky vans. Josh needs his to carry his paintings in; my husband needs his to carry his drums and PA system to music gigs. But beyond that, they just kind of form bonds with clunky old vehicles. I’ve always thought that was a little out of character for Josh, who adores new clothes and pretty things, but when has Josh ever done what I’ve expected?)

(Wait, did I just say that my husband is like Josh? He would totally FLIP. But he rarely reads my blog, so it’s okay. Don’t get me wrong, my husband likes Josh all right, but… So does that make me like Varian? Snort. Okay, we both worry a thing to death, and I have kept my calm in some damn scary situations like car accidents and breaking up a fight between two teenage boys at school once, and I am an educator and I love history and dragons. Hmm.)

Anyway, looking forward. I’ve got two releases coming up, both in May. The first one is a novella from Less Than Three Press called Haunted Halls, on May 7th. It’s a free standing college ghost story with twist. Then on May 28, the next in the Notice Series comes out from Torquere Press — The Dragon and the Palm Tree. It’s about what happens when Varian and Justin decide to face their fear of flying in airplanes, and Josh decides to present as female on their trip to Florida.

I feel like I’ve just barely gotten Another Healing all released, and here I go again! Stay tuned for more information. And I’ve made book trailers for both of them — I’ll be posting links when it gets closer.

Beyond that, I’ve got a novella called Natural Instincts submitted and I’m waiting to hear back.

Right now I’m working on my 2014 Charity Sip for Torquere, and I’ve started a new novel! I’m really excited about this one. It’s a fresh take on an old, old story idea I’ve fooled around with many times over the years, and I think I’ve finally got it right this time. It’s called Jai.

And thanks so much to everyone who is taking the time to write reviews and  friending me on Facebook and following me on Twitter. You folks are awesome, and I’m always willing to answer questions or chat any time. And I’m glad to forward any comments to Josh. As he puts it, it’s all about his fans, of course.

Happy Spring!

Posted on

Lighting

The colors are soft and muted this evening as winter slowly fades into spring’s promise.

Posted on

Exhausted!

I have done a Twitter Takeover!

And it was really great. Lots of friendly folks and nice comments about my novel. It’s hard to describe what an evening like that is like, chatting with people from all over the world about me and my writing. Normally, my writing life is very private and solitary. It felt really good, but kind of like I was in culture shock.

And it was a little rough at first, keeping my posts down to 140 characters and having to think fast. Normally, I’m long and slow. Then I started pretending I was at school, where I have to talk fast, briefly, and have about four conversations going at once. It all worked out.

Thank you again to everyone who was there, and thank you to those who are now following me on Twitter. I hope I don’t disappoint!

Posted on

Big Day Tomorrow

I’m getting ready to take over the Dreamspinner Press Twitter Account tomorrow night from eight to ten, EDT. I’ll be HERE

Join me for a chat — ask questions, get some behind the scenes scoop about Another Healing, and enter a drawing for a free copy.

And considering I’m still very new at Tweeting, this should be an very interesting night!

Posted on

Clarity

Doesn’t get any clearer than this! Eighteen degrees, not a cloud in the sky. A perfect January day in Vermont. I mean, March. I’m not complaining, though. A beautiful day is a beautiful day.

Posted on

The Making of the Another Healing Book Trailer

I had a lot of fun making this trailer. But it had its challenges.
I really wanted a shot of a logging truck, but they’re few and far between, even in Vermont in the winter, which is logging season. A few years ago, I could have taken all the photos I wanted while our neighbors were logging. But this year, I couldn’t find a single truck. I did stop in a rest area on the nearest interstate and photograph a truck that was waiting for its driver (at least, I hope he was in the bathroom and not sitting in the cab wondering what the heck I was doing). Even though I tried to get scary shots of its undercarriage, they just came out looking like a truck parked in the snow. And since Another Healing takes place in the fall, that was just all wrong.
Then I thought about asking my long suffering husband to drive at me in the dark and I take shots of his headlights, but somehow that wasn’t feeling like a good idea, either. Kind of like having my daughter throw arrows at me for the Silver Pearl trailer. Then, as we drove on down the road, the obvious finally hit me, and I started taking shots of the vehicles coming at us. My husband kept pointing out that they’d be out of focus and distorted by the windshield, but I knew that was the whole point. When you’re on the road at night, that’s how you see headlights. I shot for about fifteen minutes as it got darker, and then just started snapping out the windows at anything that caught my eye, like the stop lights and the sunset clouds. The times that my auto-focus focused on the windshield worked well to symbolize the accident itself.
The fire shots are from the same shooting session as the ones I use for Varian’s fire in the Notice trailers. (Okay, I probably should keep different books separate, but I wrote them all and I took all the photos and I made all the trailers, so I can do what I want. Right?) I actually took the fire shots a long time ago at a bonfire at our neighbor’s house. I have a lung issue so I can’t get too close to smoke, so I was sitting on the porch with my camera, and before I even realized what I was doing, I started shooting the fire with my 300mm zoom. And I got some pretty cool stuff. This was long before I knew I would be making trailers for books I hadn’t written yet.
The cool white thing floating on the blue background is a milkweed seed on the surface of our pool. It just grabbed my attention one day. The pink flower I took by the lake a long time ago, the storm clouds are from my front lawn, the sky and the tree with the geese in the background is down in Addison, Vermont, at a wildlife refuge, and the rose is one that somebody gave one of my daughters at some point and I thought was pretty. And I think that’s it.
Writing the script was interesting because Another Healing is a hard novel to talk about without giving away too much. So I focused on the initial “problem” that the characters face and hinted at the rest. 
Here are some other photos that are connected to Another Healing. I posted them on the Dreamspinner blog the day I hosted it, but here they are again:
This is the marina on Lake Champlain that I used as a basis for the one that James and Ambient visit.
This is our trailer that is pretty much the one I described in Another Healing (except James kept his cleaner). Unfortunately, it came to a tragic end, but that sowed the seeds for the novel. We had many happy memories in it. Damn, I miss that thing!
And this is a rosebud from beside our patio just because it’s pretty.
Here’s a link to the trailer: HERE
Posted on

Facebook and Twitter Links

Whew, what a week! Next time I have a novel release, it needs to be while I’m on school vacation!

Wait, am I complaining? I’ve just had a NOVEL RELEASED!

Yea, yipppe, celebrate! Nope, not complaining a bit!

So I’m taking up Tweeting now. You can find my home HERE

And on Facebook, I live HERE

And for my next public appearance, I will be doing at Twitter Takeover of the Dreamspinner Twitter on April 1, from eight until ten, EDT.