About Books

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    Free Comic Book Day coming up on May 2 …

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    Note: This blog will also appear tomorrow, April 14, over at Magical Musings.

    It seems like every day is some sort of holiday. Of course, you have your biggies, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but there is something to celebrate every day. There’s even a National Day Calender where you can keep track of important holidays like Talk Like A Pirate Day (Sept. 19 — Yargh!) and National Cookie Day (Dec. 4 — shouldn’t we celebrate cookies every day?).

    But one of my favorite holidays is Free Comic Book Day, which always takes place on the first Saturday in May — May 2 this year.

    And it is just what it sounds like. On Free Comic Book Day, participating comic book shops across the United States and around the world give away free comics to kids and adults, host costume contests, and much more. You can see a preview of some of the comics that will be given away during this year’s event over at the Free Comic Book Day website.

    Avengers Age of Ultron Free Comic Book Day should be especially fun this year, with the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie coming out on May 1. So why not pick up some comics collections, like Age of Ultron by Brian Michael Bendis, Bryan Hitch, Brandon Peterson, and Carlos Pacheco, shown at left, and learn more about your favorite superheroes and villains? If you don’t read comics, you’re missing out on some great stories and art.

    Also, if you’re a fantasy author, get in touch with your local comic book store. Many folks who enjoy comics enjoy fantasy stories in general, and you might find some new readers. I’ll be signing books on May 2 at Mountain Empire Comics in Bristol, Tenn. The store always has a great crowd on Free Comic Book Day, and it’s always fun to chat with folks about superhero movies, TV shows, and more.

    Free Comic Book Day is a terrific time to head out to your local comic book store to see what all the superhero fuss is about. Hope everyone enjoys Free Comic Book Day as much as I do. Cheers!

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    Dark Heart of Magic, Black Blade #2, coming Oct. 27 …

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    Dark Heart of MagicCold Burn of Magic, Black Blade #1, will be out on April 28 (almost here!), but I wanted to go ahead and give everyone some information about the second book in the series.

    Dark Heart of Magic is the title of Black Blade #2, and it will be released on Oct. 27. Woot! I really like this title, and I’m happy to share the cover art.

    Dark Heart of Magic is up for pre-order at the following sites:

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

    And here is the book description. It doesn’t contain any real spoilers, but if you absolutely want to remain spoiler-free, you might want to skip reading the description.

    SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES…

    As a thief, I stick to the shadows as much as possible. But when the head of the Sinclair Family picks me to compete in the Tournament of Blades, there’s no escaping the spotlight—or the danger.

    Even though he’s my competition, Devon Sinclair thinks I have the best shot of winning what’s supposed to be a friendly contest. But when the competitors start having mysterious “accidents”, it looks like someone will do anything to win—no matter who they hurt.

    As if I didn’t have enough to worry about, mobster Victor Draconi is plotting against Devon and the rest of my friends, and someone’s going around Cloudburst Falls murdering monsters. One thing’s for sure. Sometimes, humans can be more monstrous than anything else …

    I hope that everyone enjoys the sneak peak at Dark Heart of Magic, and I hope that everyone enjoys Cold Burn of Magic when it is released at the end of the month.

    Happy reading!

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    Conference schedule for 2015 …

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    Today, I thought I would share my conference schedule for 2015:

    May 2 — Mountain Empire Comics, Bristol, Tenn.

    I’ll be signing here as part of the store’s annual Free Comic Book Day events. Some other authors and artists should be on hand, and there will be giveaways, sales, and more. Exact signing time to be determined.

    May 12-17 — RT Booklovers Convention, Dallas Texas

    I’ll be attending RT this year and participating in several events. You can find the panels, etc. that I will be on here. Note that you can use the Agenda tool to see which panels, etc. your favorite authors are scheduled to participate in. And check out the list of the authors signing at the Giant Book Fair on Saturday.

    HOD Luncheon Banner 2015June 13 — Heart of Dixie Luncheon, Huntsville, Ala.

    I’ll be attending the annual Heart of Dixie Luncheon. This one-day event features a meet-and-greet with the attending authors, lunch, and a book signing. The keynote speaker for the luncheon will be Sylvia Day, and you can see the list of authors attending here. Go here for more information.

    Aug. 1 — Rob-Con, Viking Hall, Bristol, Tenn.

    I’ll be signing at the con, which is hosted by Mountain Empire Comics. There will be lots of authors, artists, and venders at the con selling everything from books to comics to art. Exact signing time to be determined.

    And that’s pretty much it for my conference schedule this year. I have four books out this year, so I will be writing, writing, writing instead of traveling all that much.

    Hope to see you at one of the events. Cheers!

  • How do you read …

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    Note: I posted this over at Magical Musings last week and wanted to share it here as well.

    How do you read?

    Do you start at the beginning and read straight through a book, with no skipping ahead at all? Do you flip through a book, stopping here and there to skim a few pages before you start reading in earnest? Or do you immediately go to the very last page to see how the book ends?

    Me? Well, I admit that I tend to fall into that last category. I like a little sneak peak at the end of the book for a variety of reasons.

    Snow Like AshesMost of the time, I just want to see how many pages a book is, so I can estimate what kind of time commitment I’m making. I especially tend to do this with epic fantasy books, simply because they tend to be longer than books in other genres.

    Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch and The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch are some of the many fantasy books where I have looked to see how long they were. Don’t get me wrong. Epic fantasy is one of my favorite things to read, but sometimes I just don’t have time to read several hundred pages over a weekend. I tend to read fantasy books when I have a lighter schedule and can really immerse myself in the book, story, and world building.

    Other times, I will flip to the back of the book to see if there is a cliffhanger, especially if I know that the book is the first in a trilogy. I don’t mind story threads continuing on into the next book, but I’m not a fan of huge, epic cliffhangers where every single character is in mortal danger, especially if I have to wait months or even years for the next book in the series. If I see that a book does have a massive cliffhanger, then I am likely to put it back on the shelf and wait until the next book is out before I read the first one in the series.

    While I’m looking at the back of the book for page counts and cliffhangers, I usually find myself reading a paragraph or two … or three or four …

    And sometimes, I end up spoiling the whole book for myself. Um … whoops … my bad …

    It’s happened more than once, especially when it comes to mysteries and thrillers where the killer is revealed on the very last page. That’s happened enough times now that I have been cutting down on my sneak peaks. Just a quick glance at the page count, and I am back to the beginning to start reading straight through.

    What about you guys? Do you look at the end of a book before you get there? Why or why not?

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    Fandemic, Bigtime #5, to be released on June 2 …

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    Book #5Some of you have seen this online already, but I wanted to make a formal announcement here on my blog.

    Fandemic, the fifth book in my Bigtime superhero series, will be released on June 2. Woot!

    I’m so happy that I was able to write and self-publish another Bigtime book, and I hope that everyone enjoys seeing what all the superheroes and ubervillains are up to.

    The Fandemic e-book will be priced at $2.99. It is up for pre-order at the following sites:

    Amazon Kindle / Google Play / iBooks / Kobo

    Note: Fandemic will also be available at other book retailers, like Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. Those pre-order links should be going up soon.

    A print version of Fandemic will also be available through Amazon. Not sure what the price for the print book will be yet, but I would estimate around $10. Again, that pre-order link should be going up soon.

    Here is the book description:

    ­Piper Perez has always wanted to be a super­hero. Always wanted to wear a cool costume, have amazing abilities, and save the day. There’s just one problem—Piper doesn’t have any superpowers.

    So she focuses on other things. Facts, figures, memorabilia. Piper knows and collects it all, about both the superheroes and the ubervillains who roam the streets of Bigtime, N.Y. Piper’s friends jokingly call her a fandemic—someone who is a superfan of all things superhero. The nickname is truer than anyone knows, especially since Piper can’t stop thinking about Swifte, the speedy hero who broke her heart months ago.

    But someone has been killing off Bigtime’s heroes and villains. When one of Piper’s friends is murdered, she vows to do whatever she can to help bring the killer to justice, superpowers or not. All the clues and information she gathers lead her to believe that Swifte is the killer’s next target. Piper has always wanted to be a hero, and now she’ll have to use all of her fandemic knowledge to save the man she loves—or die trying….

    Fandemic is around 43,000 words, which means that it is a shorter book than the others in the series, which are around 95,000 words. For those of you who like page counts, Fandemic is about 150 pages.

    You can read the first chapter here. Scroll down and click on the Read Excerpt tab.

    For those of you who need a refresher, Piper is the best friend of Abby Appleby, the heroine of Nightingale, the fourth book in the series. And many of you have been waiting to see who the superhero Swifte really is. I won’t spoil that here, but I think it has been fairly obvious in the books who Swifte really is.

    Many folks have asked me if I will continue on with the Bigtime series. I would like to write and self-publish more in the series, but self-publishing is very time-consuming, and my writing schedule is already full into 2016 with my Elemental Assassin and Black Blade series.

    If I do write more in the Bigtime series, it will probably be a shorter book like Fandemic or perhaps some more e-novellas, like A Karma Girl Christmas (which is about 14,000 words).

    Anyway, I hope that everyone enjoys Fandemic when it is released. Cheers!