About Books

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    Carniepunk e-book on sale for $1.99 through Oct. 21 …

    Short StoryI wanted to let everyone know that the e-book version of the Carniepunk urban fantasy anthology is currently on sale for $1.99.

    So if you’ve been wanting to check out the entire anthology, now is the time to do it. From what I’ve been told, the e-book sale will run through Oct. 21.

    The e-book is on sale at a variety of booksellers, including the following sites:

    Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / Kobo

    As part of this promotion, Simon & Schuster is also offering several other e-books for sale, like Kindling the Moon by Jenn Bennett. You can see all the e-books on sale here.

    My story is called Parlor Tricks and is set in my Elemental Assassin world. In Parlor Tricks, Gin and Bria go to a country carnival in search of a missing girl and find some unexpected sights and danger along the way. My story is about 9,000 words long, and you can read an excerpt here.

    Here is the anthology description:

    A star-studded urban fantasy anthology starring bestselling authors Rachel Caine, Jennifer Estep, Kevin Hearne, Seanan McGuire, and Rob Thurman, and including Delilah S. Dawson, Kelly Gay, Mark Henry, Hillary Jacques, Jackie Kessler, Kelly Meding, Allison Pang, Nicole D. Peeler, and Jaye Wells, whose stories explore the creepy, mysterious, and, yes, sometimes magical world of traveling carnivals.

    The traveling carnival is a leftover of a bygone era, a curiosity lurking on the outskirts of town. It is a place of contradictions — the bright lights mask the peeling paint; a carnie in greasy overalls slinks away from the direction of the Barker’s seductive call. It is a place of illusion — is that woman’s beard real? How can she live locked in that watery box?

    And while many are tricked by sleight of hand, there are hints of something truly magical going on. One must remain alert and learn quickly the unwritten rules of this dark show. To beat the carnival, one had better have either a whole lot of luck or a whole lot of guns — or maybe some magic of one’s own.

    Featuring stories grotesque and comical, outrageous and action-packed, Carniepunk is the first anthology to channel the energy and attitude of urban fantasy into the bizarre world of creaking machinery, twisted myths, and vivid new magic.

    CARNIEPUNK: PARLOR TRICKS FREE DOWNLOAD

    Short StoryI also wanted to mention that Parlor Tricks, my Elemental Assassin short story, is still available as a free download.

    The cover for the e-download is shown at right, and it is very similar to the Carniepunk anthology cover above.

    The e-download also features some short previews of the other stories in the anthology.

    Note that this is available as an e-story only — not in any print or audio versions. Here are some of the sites where you can download the free Carniepunk: Parlor Tricks story:

    Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / Kobo

    Here’s the Carniepunk: Parlor Tricks description from Amazon:

    Come one! Come all! Witness Gin Blanco — aka the Elemental Assassin, aka the Spider — go toe to toe against the Esmerelda the Amazing’s Wheel of Death and some dangerously creepy clowns! Only at The Carnival of Wondrous Wonders!

    A free story from the forthcoming Carniepunk urban fantasy anthology starring bestselling authors Rachel Caine, Jennifer Estep, Kevin Hearne, Seanan McGuire, and Rob Thurman, and also includes Delilah S. Dawson, Kelly Gay, Mark Henry, Hillary Jacques, Jackie Kessler, Kelly Meding, Allison Pang, Nicole D. Peeler, and Jaye Wells. Samples of all fourteen tales are included to tantalize and to tease. Come to the Carniepunk midway and explore the creepy, mysterious, magical world of traveling carnivals today!

    Hope everyone enjoys the Gin short story and the entire anthology. Happy reading!

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    Killer Frost update …

    43 Comments

    Killer FrostWith the release of Midnight Frost back in August, I’ve been getting some questions about Killer Frost, the sixth book in my Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series.

    First of all, here is the cover for the book at left. Killer Frost is set to be released in March 2014, which means that the on-sale date will be Feb. 25, 2014.

    Killer Frost will be the last book in my Mythos Academy series. I know this will disappoint some folks. I love writing the series and Gwen, Logan, and all the other characters, but ending the series now will give me a chance to bring Gwen’s story to a (hopefully) great conclusion for readers and fans of the series.

    If there is enough reader interest, I may write more works in the series someday or perhaps do a spinoff series. We’ll see what happens. But it’s time to say goodbye to Gwen and the gang, at least for now.

    This doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop writing young adult books. I have a new YA project that I am working on, and I hope to be able to share some news about that soon. Like I said before, we’ll see what happens.

    In the meantime, here is the link to the Killer Frost book page with all of the information that I have for the book so far. And here is the book description. As always, please be mindful of spoilers:

    I’ve battled the Reapers of Chaos before—and survived. But this time I have a Bad, Bad Feeling it’s going to be a fight to the death … most likely mine.

    Yeah, I’ve got my psychometry magic, my talking sword, Vic–and even the most dangerous Spartan on campus at my side, in Logan freaking Quinn, but I’m no match for Loki, the evil Norse god of chaos. I may be Nike’s Champion, but at heart, I’m still just Gwen Frost, that weird Gypsy girl everyone at school loves to gossip about.

    Then someone I love is put in more danger than ever before, and something inside me snaps. This time, Loki and his Reapers are going down for good … or I am.

    Killer Frost will be available in print, audio book, and e-book formats. It is up for pre-order at the following sites:

    Amazon

    Barnes & Noble

    Books-A-Million

    Brilliance Audio

    It should be up for pre-order soon at other sites, including Audible, Kobo, and iTunes.

    I had a lot of fun writing this series, and I hope that everyone enjoys Gwen’s next adventure.

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    Today’s post …

    Is over at:

    Magical Musings

    I’m happy to announce that I have joined Magical Musings as one of the group’s bloggers. My posts will appear about every four weeks or so, usually on Tuesdays.

    I’ve been a fan of the blog and friends with some of the authors for a long time. A big thanks to Edie, Michelle, Liz, and all the other folks at MM for inviting me to join the group. Thanks so much, everyone!

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    And the title is …

    9 Comments

    Today, I’m pleased to share the title and release date for Elemental Assassin #11.

    And the title is … drumroll please … Poison Promise.

    Huzzah! I really like this title, which my editor, agent, and I all brainstormed together to come up with (although I think my agent is the one who actually suggested it in the end). I think Poison Promise fits in nicely with the plot, some of the themes in the book, and some of Gin’s feelings/attitudes as a character. Plus, the alliteration reminds me of Tangled Threads.

    As of right now, Poison Promise is tentatively set to be published in July 2014, which means that the release date would be June 24, 2014.

    I can’t say too much about the plot yet, just that the M.M. Monroe plot thread and story arc will continue in this book.

    I will be sharing the cover art, excerpt, etc. as they become available. Anyway, hope everyone likes the title and is looking forward to the book.

    THE SPIDER AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

    Book #10I also wanted to let folks know that The Spider, Elemental Assassin #10, Dec. 24, is up for pre-order at a number of sites, including the following:

    Amazon

    Barnes & Noble

    Books-A-Million

    iTunes

    It looks like Amazon is offering the print copy of The Spider for $4.79, which is a pretty good price for a paperback. I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I believe this is an Amazon-only promotion, as I don’t see the same price listed at Barnes & Noble. So if you want a print copy of the book, you may want to go ahead and pre-order it from Amazon so you can get the pre-order price.

    Also, The Spider should be up for pre-order at other sites soon, including Kobo and Audible.

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    More Elemental Assassin books on the way …

    28 Comments

    I’m pleased to announce that I will be writing more books in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series for Pocket Books. Woot! Woot!

    I will be writing at least two more books in the series, books #11 and #12. I’m pleased because these books will let me address the on-going story arc with the mysterious M.M. Monroe.

    The Spider, book #10, will be out on Dec. 24, 2013. I’m hoping that book #11 will be out sometime in the summer of 2014, but that has not been decided yet. I’ll let everyone know when I get a tentative release date and more info, like the cover art, back cover blurb, etc.

    I’m also hoping to do another e-novella or two in the series, but that depends on my writing schedule and how the books unfold as I am writing them. So we’ll see what happens there.

    In the meantime, I’m doing the happy dance that there will be more adventures with Gin and the gang. Hope you are all as excited about this as I am. Happy reading, everyone!