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    Unraveled, Elemental Assassin #15, up for pre-order …

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    Book #15Unraveled, book #15 in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, will be released on Aug. 30.

    The book will be available in print, e-book, and audiobook formats from all the usual retailers. It is up for pre-order at the following sites:

    Amazon Kindle / Amazon print / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / Google Play / iBooks / IndieBound / Kobo

    The audiobook will be available through Audible and Amazon, and Lauren Fortgang will once again be the narrator. The audiobook pre-order links will be going up closer to the release date, probably sometime in mid-July.

    Here is the Unraveled description. This contains some spoilers from Bitter Bite, book #14. So if you haven’t read that far in the series yet, you may want to avoid reading the description below.

    What could go wrong when you’re trying to unravel a decades-old conspiracy? 

    As the current queen of the Ashland underworld, you would think that I, Gin Blanco, would know all about some secret society controlling things from behind the scenes. I might be the Spider, the city’s most fearsome assassin, but all my Ice and Stone elemental magic hasn’t done me a lick of good in learning more about “the Circle”. Despite my continued investigations, the trail’s gone as cold as the coming winter.

    So when Finnegan Lane, my foster brother, gets word of a surprising inheritance, we figure why not skip town for someplace less dangerous for a few days? That place: Bullet Pointe, a fancy hotel resort complex plus Old West theme park that Finn now owns lock, stock, and barrel. At first, all the struttin’ cowboys and sassy saloon girls are just hokey fun. But add in some shady coincidences and Circle assassins lurking all around, and vacationing becomes wilder—and deadlier—than any of us expected.

    Good thing this assassin brought plenty of knives to the gunfight …

    I’ve always wanted to write a western, and part of Unraveled, book #15, Aug. 30, takes place in an Old West theme park. So the book is my take on a western, Spider-style, of course, with Gin facing down some evil cowboys, among other bad guys. 🙂

    You can read the first chapter of Unraveled by going here. Scroll down, and click on the Read Excerpt tab.

    I hope that everyone enjoys the book when it is released.

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    Unwanted, Elemental Assassin #14.5 e-novella, up for pre-order …

    E-Novella #14.5Unwanted, e-novella #14.5 in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, will be released on July 18.

    And here is a look at the cover art.

    Unwanted is an e-novella that takes place after the events of Bitter Bite, book #14. It is told from the point of view of Finnegan Lane, Gin’s foster brother. If you’ve read Bitter Bite, then you know that Finn definitely needed his own story after everything that happened in that book. And a hug. 🙂

    Unwanted is about 20,000 words — around 75 pages — and will be available as an e-novella only. There will not be any print or audiobook versions at this time.

    Unwanted is priced at $1.99, and it is up for pre-order at the following sites:

    Amazon Kindle / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / Google Play / iBooks / Kobo

    And here is the e-novella description. This contains major spoilers for Bitter Bite. So if you absolutely do not want to be spoiled, skip reading the e-novella description.

    The New York Times bestselling Elemental Assassin series continues with a new e-novella—from the point of view of Finnegan Lane, the foster brother of Gin Blanco, and a fan favorite of readers of the series.

    The fallout from his disastrous “family reunion” in Bitter Bite has left Finn feeling hurt, angry, and depressed. He can barely stand to look at himself in the mirror, much less eat any of the delicious barbecue from Gin’s famed Pork Pit restaurant.

    But when the funeral for a slain security guard at his bank turns into a showdown with some nasty underworld giants, Finn knows that he must act in order to protect an innocent family.

    Finnegan Lane might be the most unwanted man in Ashland these days, but he’s determined to try to make amends for his past mistakes…

    You can read an excerpt from the e-novella here. Scroll down, and click on the Read Excerpt tab.

    I hope that everyone enjoys the e-novella when it is released. Happy reading!

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    Updated: Jennifer’s release schedule for 2016 …

    Today, I wanted to update my book release schedule for the rest of 2016 and into early 2017:

    Bitter Bite — Elemental Assassin #14 — out now.

    Bright Blaze of Magic — Black Blade #3 — out now. As of right now, this is the final book in the trilogy/series.

    Unwanted finalUnwanted — Elemental Assassin #14.5 — July 18. This is an e-novella from Finnegan Lane’s point of view that takes place after the events of Bitter Bite. If you’ve read that book, then you know that Finn really needed his own story after everything that happened. And a hug. 🙂

    Unwanted is about 20,000 words — around 75 pages — and will be priced at $1.99. It will be available as an e-novella only. There will not be any print or audiobook versions at this time.

    Unraveled — Elemental Assassin #15 — Aug. 30. This will be a full-length book.

    Nice Guys Bite — Elemental Assassin #15.5 — Dec. 12. This is an e-novella from Silvio Sanchez’s point of view that takes place after the events of Unraveled.

    It’s about 20,000 words — around 75 pages — and will be priced at $1.99. It will be available as an e-novella only. There will not be any print or audiobook versions at this time.

    Snared — Elemental Assassin #16 — Jan. 31, 2017. This will be a full-length book.

    So there is lots of good stuff ahead for the rest of 2016.

    As far as my young adult books go, I’m mulling over some ideas for a new series, including one for an epic fantasy young adult series. At some point, I will also probably be doing some Mythos Academy spinoff books (featuring Rory, Gwen’s cousin from Midnight Frost and Killer Frost), but we’ll see what happens.

    Unfortunately, I don’t have any plans to write any more Bigtime books or e-novellas at this time. As you guys can see, my writing schedule is already full going into 2017. I’d love to write more of those stories, but I self-publish that series, which is very time-consuming. It’s just hard to fit it in with the rest of my writing commitments. But I do hope to go back to the series someday.

    I hope that everyone enjoys the books and e-novellas as they are released. Happy reading!

  • Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow, Saturday, May 7 …

    Mountain Empire Comics

    Just a reminder that Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow, Saturday, May 7. Comic book stores all across the country and world will be giving away free comics, hosting costume contests, and much, much more. It’s a great day to visit your local comic book store.

    As part of FCBD, I will be signing books starting at 10 a.m. and going until noon (or maybe even a little later, depending on the crowd) at Mountain Empire Comics in Bristol, Tenn. The store will be giving away free comics, and the street will be closed off for all kinds of vendors.

    Hope to see you there! 🙂

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    Free Comic Book Day — and keeping movies and books fresh …

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    Mountain Empire ComicsNote: This post will also appear today on Magical Musings.

    If you follow me on social media, you know that I love, love, love superheroes. So, naturally, Free Comic Book Day is one of my favorite days of the year. 🙂

    Free Comic Book Day is always held the first Saturday in May — May 7, this year. During that day, comic book stores across the country and world give away free comics, host costume contests, and much, much more. As part of Free Comic Book Day, I will be signing books starting at 10 a.m. and going until noon (or maybe even a little later, depending on the crowd) at Mountain Empire Comics in Bristol, Tenn. The store will be giving away free comics, and the street will be closed off for all kinds of vendors.

    So why is Free Comic Book Day one of my favorite days of the year? Because not only do I get to sign books, but I also get to hang out at the comic book store and talk about all things related to superheroes, along with fantasy books, movies, TV shows, and more. This year, I expect much of the talk to be about Marvel’s newest superhero movie, Captain America: Civil War, which opens on Friday, May 6.

    As an author and a reader, I’ve seen tons of blog posts and articles about how to keep a long-running book series fresh and interesting, not only for fans of the series but for the author writing it too. I think that Marvel does an excellent job of this when it comes to their superhero movies.

    Captain AmericaI’ve seen several articles and comments from Marvel filmmakers talking about how all of their movies are superhero movies, but how they all explore different ideas and genres, which helps keep them fresh and interesting for the audience, actors, and filmmakers. For example, Captain America: The First Avenger is a World War II movie. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a political thriller. Guardians of the Galaxy is a space adventure. Ant-Man is a heist movie. And so on and so forth.

    I find myself doing the same thing when it comes to my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series. Each book is an assassin story at heart, but the books also contain elements from other genres besides urban fantasy.

    One of the reasons that I started writing about my assassin heroine, Gin Blanco, was because I thought that there were so many different stories that you could tell with an assassin character. So far, 14 books have been published in my Elemental Assassin series, along with several e-novellas and short stories.

    Book #15The more books I write in the series, the more I think about incorporating elements from other genres. For example, I’ve always wanted to write a western, and part of Unraveled, book #15, Aug. 30, takes place in an Old West theme park. So the book is my take on a western, with Gin facing down some evil cowboys, among other bad guys.

    I’ve also always wanted to write a spy thriller and a heist book, among other stories, and I think that Gin would be the perfect character to help me explore those genres. Hopefully, readers will enjoy seeing my nods to other genres in my books.

    Who knows? Maybe my Elemental Assassin series will be like the Marvel movies and just keep going and going and going … 🙂

    What about you guys? What are some of your favorite book and superhero series and movies?