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    Venom short stories and more online …

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    For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been doing a series of free short stories to go along with my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy books. I love playing in my own little sandbox, so to speak, and I thought the stories were something fun that I could do for readers — for free. 😉

    Anyway, here is the info on the two stories that I’ve posted to go along with Venom:

    Poi­son: This short story takes place when Gin is a teenager and is told from the point of view of Finnegan Lane, Gin’s fos­ter brother. After a party one night, Finn finds himself in a sticky situation. Click here to read it.

    Wasted: This short story takes place in between the events of Web of Lies and Venom. One day, a beau­ti­ful woman walks into the bank where Finn works, and trou­ble soon fol­lows. Click here to read it.

    You guys wanted more Finn, and you’re getting him with these stories.

    Also, please note that Wasted takes place before Venom. Since I didn’t want to give away or spoil a particular plot point in Venom, I don’t exactly explain what someone needs Finn’s help with in the short story. But once you read Venom, you’ll understand what I was trying to get at. At least, I hope you do.

    Also, I’ve gone ahead and posted the first chapter for Tangled Threads. Yeah, I know it’s kind of early to post it, since Venom hasn’t even come out yet, but I had some free time, so I went ahead and posted it And for those of you who get Venom, the first chapter of Tangled Threads will be in the back of the book anyway.

    There are a few mild spoilers in the chapter for stuff that takes place in Venom, but really, I don’t think it’s anything that you guys couldn’t see coming. So read now if you want, or wait until after you’re read Venom. Click here to read it.

    Anyway, I hope you guys have as much fun reading these as I did writing them. Happy reading! 😉

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    More free Elemental Assassin short stories …

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    The release date on Web of Lies is drawing ever closer — May 25. To whet readers’ appetites, I’ve written a couple of free Elemental Assassin short stories — Web of Death and Web of Deceit.

    Web of Death takes place in between the events of Spider’s Bite and Web of Lies and focuses on what happens when Gin gets some unexpected visitors one night.

    Web of Deceit is another prequel story about Gin’s first solo job as the Spider when she was a teenager and is told from Fletcher Lane’s point of view.

    There are no major spoilers in either one of the stories, and both of them can be found on the Excerpts page, along with Spider’s Bargain, the first free short story that I wrote. I just thought writing the stories would be something fun and cool that I could do for readers, since I’ve gotten such great response to Spider’s Bite. I hope everyone enjoys the free stories and can check out Web of Lies when it comes out as well.

    Happy reading! 😉

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    Dear Author giveaway and more …

    Spider's Bite finalJane Litte and the rest of the folks over at Dear Author have been nice enough to feature Spider’s Bargain, a free prequel short story to Spider’s Bite, on their site.

    They are also hosting a 10-book giveaway (5 print books and 5 e-books) of Spider’s Bite. So go on over there, follow the directions, and enter for a chance to win a copy of the book.

    Thanks again to all the folks over at Dear Author. Happy reading, everyone! 😉

    And, of course, this is not your only chance to win a free copy of the book. I’m doing a guest blog over at Debuts & Reviews today and giving away a copy of Spider’s Bite there as well. I also want to say thanks to Tia for having me back on her site as well.

    And I’m doing giveaways with several more of the guest blogs/interviews that I have set up, so check the blog here for where the post-of-the-day will be during the next few weeks.

  • ‘Tis done … for now …

    7 Comments

    So I’ve finished my first draft of my young-adult fantasy, Quiver. Word count: 62,241. If I was writing one of the Elemental Assassin books, I’d need about 30,000 more words. But I think 62K is a good start for a YA. I’m thinking the final book will be between 70-75K.

    After about six false starts, I finally think I’ve nailed down how I want the story to go. My main character, Gwen, is sort of a Scarlet Pimpernel meets Robin Hood type. With magic. Here is something resembling a blurb:

    After her father’s murder, Gwen Frost has taken up his legacy as the Hood, an outlaw who haunts the forests around the capitol city of Cadogan. Gwen has a Talent or magic for sight, which has led her to become one of the best archers in all the Thirteen Kingdoms. By day, Gwen robs the corrupt nobles who travel through the forest and gives their money to those who need it. At night, she masquerades as Lady Gwendolyn, a spoiled, wannabe princess who seems to care for nothing but spending her inheritance on her extravagant wardrobe as fast as she can.

    But when Gwen inadvertantly thwarts on assassination attempt on Prince Percy St. John, she finds herself working to stop a scheme that threatens the entire kingdom — and vows to finally bring her father’s killer to justice …

    I don’t know why this draft was so hard for me to write. Maybe because I’ve never written a YA before, so I was unsure about the voice. Maybe because my first plot sucked out loud. Maybe because it’s been winter, and I’ve just felt sluggish and lazy.

    Anyway, here’s the first chapter for your reading enjoyment. (And please excuse the formatting if it is wonky or if there’s a word or two missing. I had to go through and delete all the code, and I just never know what WordPress is going to do to the type until I hit post). Happy reading! :ww:

    QUIVER — CHAPTER ONE

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    And the title is …

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    Spider’s Bite: An Elemental Assassin Book.

    Pretty cool, huh? At this point, we’re thinking all the titles will have the word Spider’s in them. Spider’s Web is another title my agent, editor, and I all like – it will probably be used for Book 2 or 3. Anyway, more to come.

    I’m just glad I have a title now! :ww:

    Also, the first chapter of Spider’s Bite has been up on the Web site for a while now, but I thought I would also share it here. Please excuse the formatting. For some reason, the blog doesn’t like me to copy and paste stuff in. So I had to take all the code out. I think I cleaned up everything, but at the very least, you’ll get a sense of what the book is about. Warning: Violence and language follow. The book is about an assassin after all. Happy reading!

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