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    First Frost prequel e-story released …

    10 Comments

    First Frost is finally here! Happy release day to me! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! Okay, okay, I’ll quit huzzahing now.

    First Frost is a prequel e-story in my Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series. Here’s the description:

    I am Gwen Frost, and I have a Gypsy gift.  It’s called psy­chome­try — that’s a fancy way of say­ing that I see images in my head and get flashes of other people’s mem­o­ries off almost every­thing I touch, even guys.

    My gift makes me kind of nosy. Okay, okay, maybe a lot nosy — to the point of obses­sion some­times. I want to know every­thing about every­one around me. But even I don’t want to know the secret that a girl in my class is hid­ing or the ter­ri­ble loss that will send me to a new school — Mythos Acad­emy, where the teach­ers aren’t prepar­ing us for the SATs, but to bat­tle Reapers of Chaos.  Now I have no friends and no idea how my gift fits in with all these war­rior whiz kids.  The only thing I do know is that my life is never, ever going to be the same …

    First Frost takes place before the events in Touch of Frost, the first book in the Mythos Academy series. You can read an excerpt here. It is avail­able through Ama­zon, Barnes & Noble, etc. as 99-cent download.

    You don’t have to read First Frost to start or enjoy the Mythos Academy series, but if you want to see exactly how Gwen winds up at the acad­emy or get an early feel for the books, you might enjoy it.

    Happy reading, everyone! 😉

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    First Frost e-story …

    4 Comments

    So I finally have some cover art to share for First Frost, the prequel e-story that I’m doing for my Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series. Pretty cool, huh? And here’s the story description:

    I am Gwen Frost, and I have a Gypsy gift.  It’s called psychome­try — that’s a fancy way of say­ing that I see images in my head and get flashes of other people’s mem­o­ries off almost every­thing I touch, even guys.

    My gift makes me kind of nosy. Okay, okay, maybe a lot nosy — to the point of obses­sion some­times. I want to know every­thing about every­one around me. But even I don’t want to know the secret that a girl in my class is hid­ing or the ter­ri­ble loss that will send me to a new school — Mythos Acad­emy, where the teach­ers aren’t prepar­ing us for the SATs, but to bat­tle Reapers of Chaos.  Now I have no friends and no idea how my gift fits in with all these war­rior whiz kids.  The only thing I do know is that my life is never, ever going to be the same …

    This e-story takes place before the events in Touch of Frost, the first book in the Mythos Academy series. You can click here to read an excerpt of the e-story.

    The e-story will be released on July 1 (I can’t believe July is only two weeks away), and it’s now up for pre-order at Amazon as a 99-cent Kindle download. I’m not sure when it will go up at Barnes & Noble, but I’m guessing probably sometime in the next few days.

    Please note that the e-story will be avail­able through Ama­zon and other online book­sellers, not as a free story here on the web­site. I know some folks might be disappointed by this, but more people look at Amazon and other book sites than visit my website. So I think releasing First Frost as an e-story is a good marketing opportunity and hopefully a way to reach new readers.

    You don’t have to read First Frost to start or enjoy the series, but if you want to see exactly how Gwen winds up at Mythos Acad­emy, you might like it.

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    The future of bookstores …

    4 Comments

    I saw something interesting at my local Barnes & Noble the other day — a poster advertisizing a Green Lantern costume party this weekend. In fact, every time I go into my local B&N these days, it seems like there is some event going on, whether it’s a book signing, something for teachers, or staff members demonstrating Nooks. I even thought I saw someone giving out makeup samples one day.

    Everyone knows that bookstores large and small are struggling these days, and I wonder if this is the future of bookstores — if they will slowly morph into more of a community gathering place rather than just a shop that sells books.

    I think it’s an interesting idea. Libraries do tons of different programs already — everything from kids’ storytimes to job fairs to art exhibits. A library is definitely more than just a place where you can borrow books — it’s a great resource. Seriously, if you haven’t been to your local library lately, go see what they have to offer. I bet you’ll find something that interests you.

    I wonder if bookstores will follow the same trend. Certainly, all the different events at my local B&N seem to be getting folks in the doors since the store is almost always busy whenever I’m there. I imagine that more than a few of those folks coming in for the events take the time to browse around, buy some books, have some coffee, and maybe even eat a cupcake or two.

    I don’t know if the different events help the store or not, or how much, but I don’t see how they can hurt. I think a Green Lantern costume party is a pretty cool idea, and I always look at the posters by the front doors to see what’s coming up.

    What about you guys? Do you go to events at your local library or bookstore? Have you noticed more events taking place at your local bookstore?

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    And the title is …

    6 Comments

    So we’ve decided on a title for the sixth Elemental Assassin book. And the title is … By a Thread.

    I think it’s a pretty cool title and fits in well with the other spider-themed titles. Right now, By a Thread is scheduled to be published in February 2012 — I believe the on sale date will be Jan. 31, 2012, but I’m not 100 percent sure about that yet. We don’t have a title for book seven yet, but it looks like that one will be published in the fall of 2012 (I don’t know the specific month yet).

    As far as plots go, I’m jokingly referring to By a Thread as Gin on vacation. Gin decides to get out of Ashland for a few days but finds herself in as much trouble as ever. And you know how Gin likes to deal with trouble. 😉

    I’ll post more details, like the cover art and back cover copy, when they become available. So stay tuned for more …