Today’s post …
Is over at:
Bigtime series
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Nightingale, Bigtime book #4, e-published …
I’m happy to announce that I have e-published Nightingale, the fourth book in my Bigtime superhero paranormal romance series. Huzzah!Here’s the book description:
Anxious brides. Drunken businessmen. Panicked partygoers. As Bigtime, New York’s premiere event planner, Abby Appleby is capable of handling almost any crisis, but even she’s not prepared when she finds herself in the middle of a fight between superhero Talon and his ubervillain nemesis Bandit. Abby manages to save Talon, but the superhero is temporarily blinded, so she takes him back to her loft, where the two wait out a snowstorm. During a blizzard that shuts down the city, Abby and Talon grow close, and he starts calling her Nightingale because of her love of music and singing.
But Abby is afraid of what Talon will think when he can see the real her, so she conceals her identity from the sexy superhero, and they go their separate ways. However, Abby discovers that Talon is looking for Nightingale, looking for her — and so is Bandit. The mercenary ubervillain thinks that Abby has information that belongs to his boss, the mysterious Tycoon. Abby knows that she’s in serious trouble and that not even Talon — or the Fearless Five — may be able to save her …
So this book is a little different than the others in the Bigtime series in that Abby and Talon are front and center, instead of the members of the Fearless Five, as in the previous books. In this story, the Fearless Five are more minor characters, although they, along with Lulu Lo, do appear.
For those of you who remember, Abby was an event planner who helped Bella Bulluci with the museum benefit in Jinx. I thought writing about Abby and a new hero would let me expand the Bigtime world a little bit and bring in some new characters and places in the city for folks to read about.
Nightingale is available for $3.99 at the following sites:
iTunes (you will have to open iTunes on your computer)
I figure posting the e-book on these sites would let me hit most of the e-readers and e-book formats out there.
Nightingale is around 94,000 words. You can read the first chapter here.
I don’t have any plans to do a print version of Nightingale at this point. I just don’t have the time in my writing schedule to do that right now. However, if there is enough interest in the book, I may write some more e-books or e-stories in the Bigtime series. Again, we’ll see what happens.
Anyway, I hope folks enjoy this return trip to Bigtime. Happy reading!
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A few notes on audiobooks …
It seems like I am getting more and more e-mails/comments about audio books, so I thought I would talk a little about those today.
My Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series is available as audio books through Audible. Just go to the Audible home page, type my name in the search engine, and you should be able to find the audio books. So far, all of the books in the series from Spider’s Bite to By a Thread are available as audio books.
As far as I know, the audio book for Widow’s Web will be released on Aug. 21, the same day that the print and e-book versions will be available.
Also, for those of you wondering, the audio books are being narrated by Lauren Fortgang. I’ve gotten a lot of nice comments about her narration, and folks really seem to like her voice.
However, my Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series is not available as audio books at this time. Basically, Audible and the other companies that do audio books decide which print/e-books that they want to turn into audio books. I think it would be great if the Mythos Academy books were available as audio books, but it’s not something I have any control over. If the books ever do get turned into audio books, I will let everyone know.
My Bigtime paranormal romance series is also not available as audio books.
There are some companies out there that do create audio books for authors. For example, I’ve heard of Audiobook Creation Exchange. But with my writing schedule, that’s just not something that I have time to explore right now. I figure you guys would rather me write more books. Maybe someday, I’ll have enough free time to explore that option. We’ll see what happens.
Anyway, that’s a little info about the audio books. Hope that helps answer any questions you might have. Happy listening, everyone!
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Romfest wrap-up …
Over the weekend, I attended the first annual Romfest in Gatlinburg, Tenn. I couldn’t attend the entire convention, which ran from Thursday morning until Sunday morning, but I had a good time while I was there, and I thought I’d share some of my highlights from the event:
THURSDAY
There was a welcome breakfast and workshops all day on Thursday, but I didn’t get to the convention hotel until mid-afternoon. After that, my mom and I decided to do a little sight-seeing and walked down the main street in Gatlinburg. If you’ve never been to Gatlinburg, it’s definitely a tourist town. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many places to get fudge, ice cream, funnel cakes, and pancakes so close together before. (Not that I’m complaining about that. LOL.) Anyway, we had fun looking in all the candy and food shops, despite the heat and humidity.
There was a cookout at the hotel Thursday night, and folks gathered under an outdoor pavilion to just eat, hang out, and talk about books and other stuff.
After the cookout, there was a pajama party hosted by Smoky Mountain Romance Writers. Again, just another chance for folks to mix and mingle, along with some games, food, and prizes. I sat at a table and chatted with Mary Wine, Shannon K. Butcher, and Shannon’s assistant, Sarah.
FRIDAY
There were more workshops on Friday, including one by yours truly on how authors can get media coverage for their books. I talked about how to write a press release, common interview questions, etc. I hope folks got some helpful tips out of my workshop.After the morning workshops, there was a luncheon with keynote speaker Sherrilyn Kenyon. Sherrilyn gave a funny talk about some of the ups and downs of being a writer. I’ve posted a photo of Sherrilyn’s books at the Saturday signing since my photos of the luncheon didn’t turn out that well.
After lunch, there were more workshops, including one given by my friend Trixie Stiletto and Natasha Moore. Trixie and Natasha told funny stories of how they’ve incorporated some real-life events into their books and talked about how you can find inspiration in all kinds of events.
There was a dinner and costume contest on Friday night. After that, there was bingo and prizes with Rita Sawyer and Adele Quinn. That was a lot of fun, and I actually won a T-shirt. I never win anything at conventions, but I also won a couple of raffle baskets too. Huzzah! Although I think I’ve used up my giveaway luck for the foreseeable future.
SATURDAY
On Saturday morning, the mom and I got up, went out, and did some shopping, since the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge-Sevierville area is full of shopping outlets.After that, it was time for the book signing. Here are some of my books.
We had a good turnout for the signing, and I was also able to talk to some of the other authors, including Kimberly Lang, Lorelei James, Joey W. Hill, and MaryJanice Davidson.
I want to give a big, big thanks to the staff at the Books-A-Million in Sevierville that hosted the signing. The staff was so friendly and helpful. They were constantly asking if the authors needed anything, and they even brought us cookies during the signing. You guys rock.
I had to leave after the signing, but there was another dinner Saturday night and a goodbye breakfast Sunday morning.
AND THAT’S A WRAP
And that was my convention. I just want to say thanks to everyone who organized the conference and all the readers and authors who attended. It’s always nice to hang out with people who love books.
The Romfest organizers are already thinking about next year’s event. I’m not sure if it will be in Gatlinburg again or somewhere else, but I hope I get to attend.
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A Karma Girl Christmas e-story …
Some of you may have seen this already, but I have released a new Bigtime e-story. It’s called A Karma Girl Christmas.Why did I decide to do this e-story? Basically, for fans of the Bigtime series. I’ve gotten so many nice comments about the books/series over the years, and several people have asked me if I planned to write more books/stories in the series. So I decided to write A Karma Girl Christmas so fans of the Bigtime books could read at least one more story in the world. Plus, I just thought it would be fun to write a holiday story.
A Karma Girl Christmas is a 14,000-word story. It’s told from the first-person point of view of Carmen Cole, aka Karma Girl, the heroine of the first book in the series, Karma Girl. Here’s a little more about the story:
It’s Christmas time in Bigtime, New York, but society reporter Carmen Cole isn’t in the mood to celebrate since her husband, Sam, has to go on a business trip and might not make it home for the holiday. But Carmen has plenty to keep her busy, since she moonlights as Karma Girl, a member of the Fearless Five superhero team.
On Christmas Eve, Carmen, as Karma Girl, is assigned to guard toys, clothes, food, and more that are intended for needy children and their families. But an ubervillain also has his eye on the toys and plans to steal and then sell them to the highest bidder. Carmen will have to use all her empathic powers just to stay alive, not to mention make sure Christmas is a happy one for all the kids who are counting on her. It’s all in a night’s work for a superhero …
Note: This is a 14,000-word story that takes place after the events of Jinx, the third book in the Bigtime paranormal romance series. It can also be read as a stand-alone holiday story.
A Karma Girl Christmas is available as a 99-cent download on the following sites:
You can read an excerpt of the story here.
A big thanks go to Wheezley, my friend, Nick, and all the folks in my critique group for taking the time to read the story and offering their advice and suggestions, as well as my copyeditor/proofreader for her work on the story. The cover was designed by Kimberly Killion of HOT DAMN Designs, and Michael Zapp of ZappTek once again did the e-formatting.
I had a lot of fun writing the story, and it was nice to revisit the characters from the Bigtime books. If the e-story does well, I may try to write some more Bigtime e-stories, maybe one from Fiona Fine’s point of view. We’ll see how it goes.
Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys the return trip to Bigtime with A Karma Girl Christmas. Happy reading!