My Writing

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    Snared, Elemental Assassin #16, to be released on April 25 …

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    Book #16 Snared, book #16 in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, will be released on April 25, 2017. Woot!

    As always, the cover was created by Tony Mauro, and the cover model is Alexa Martino. I love all the little details on this one, like the bloody spider runes on Gin’s hands and the spider rune in the title.

    You can pre-order Snared at all the usual book retailers:

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

    The audiobook will be available through Audible and Amazon, and the awesome Lauren Fortgang will once again be the narrator. The pre-order links for the audiobooks should be online sometime in March. I’ll share those links here on my blog and on my social media sites when they go online.

    Here is the description for Snared. Note: This contains some spoilers from previous books in the series, starting with 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:

    The sixteenth book in the New York Times bestselling Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series that RT Book Reviews calls, “An extraordinary series…[containing] one of the most intriguing heroines in the genre.”

    If you don’t know Gin “the Spider” Blanco, you don’t know dangerous female heroines.

    Irony 101—The Spider herself snared in someone else’s web …

    Another week, another few clues trickling in about the Circle, the mysterious group that supposedly runs the city’s underworld. Gathering intel on my hidden enemies is a painstaking process, but a more immediate mystery has popped up on my radar: a missing girl.

    My search for the girl begins on the mean streets of Ashland, but with all the killers and crooks in this city, I’m not holding out much hope that she’s still alive.

    A series of clues leads me down an increasingly dark, dangerous path, and I realize that the missing girl is really just the first thread in this web of evil. As an assassin, I’m used to facing down the worst of the worst, but nothing prepares me for this new, terrifying enemy—one who strikes from the shadows and is determined to make me the next victim.

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

    I hope that everyone enjoys Snared when it is released.

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    Nice Guys Bite, Silvio’s e-novella, released today …

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    E-Novella #15.5Nice Guys Bite, Elemental Assassin #15.5, has been released today, Dec. 12. Woot!

    This is an e-novella that takes place after the events of Unraveled, book #15. It is told from the point of view of Silvio Sanchez, Gin’s personal assistant. It is about 20,000 words — around 70 pages — and is available as an e-novella. There will not be a print version at this time. The e-novella is priced at $1.99.

    Nice Guys Bite is available at the following sites:

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

    Here is the description. As always, if you do not want to be spoiled, you might want to skip reading the description:

    New York Times bestseller Jennifer Estep (Mythos Academy) continues her Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series with an e-novella starring Silvio Sanchez, the vampire assistant of Gin Blanco, as he goes on a holiday date that turns out to be more deadly than romantic.

    Working for Gin Blanco (aka the Spider, the assassin who runs the Ashland underworld) doesn’t leave much time for romance, especially with Gin’s holiday party planning in full swing. But when he catches the eye of a charming gentleman, Silvio finds himself going out for coffee.

    All’s fair in love and war, though. Just as Silvio is starting to enjoy himself, he realizes he’s being watched. His nice-guy date doesn’t sense the danger, and Silvio wants to keep it that way (and, well, keep the guy alive) so Silvio ends the date early—only to be abducted by some villainous giants.

    Will Silvio survive the night and make it back to the Pork Pit in time for Gin’s holiday party? Only if he decks the hall with bodies …

    You can read a brief excerpt of the e-novella by going to this page. Scroll down, and click on the Read Excerpt tab. I had a lot of fun writing Silvio’s e-novella, and I hope that everyone enjoys Nice Guys Bite. Happy reading! 🙂

    NOTE ABOUT THE UPCOMING AUDIO VERSION

    Some folks have been asking about an audio version of Nice Guys Bite. I’m happy to report that there will be an audiobook. However, it won’t be out today, Dec. 12, the same day as the e-book. So if you want to read Silvio’s story ASAP, you will have to download the e-book.

    Due to Audible’s production schedule, there just wasn’t time for a same-day release. I don’t have a firm release date for the audiobook, but I’m hoping that it’s available before Christmas.

    Also, Lauren Fortgang will not be the narrator for this. She is the voice of Gin, and this is from Silvio’s point of view, so Audible has decided to use David Marantz, a male narrator, for Silvio’s voice.

    I’ll post more info on the audiobook as soon as I get it, so stay tuned for more. In the meantime, I hope that everyone enjoys the e-book of Nice Guys Bite.

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    Nice Guys Bite, Silvio’s e-novella, up for pre-order …

    E-Novella #15.5Nice Guys Bite, Elemental Assassin #15.5, will be released on Dec. 12. Woot!

    This is an e-novella that takes place after the events of Unraveled, book #15. It is told from the point of view of Silvio Sanchez, Gin’s personal assistant. It is about 20,000 words — around 70 pages — and is available as an e-novella only. There will not be any print or audio versions at this time. The e-novella is priced at $1.99.

    Nice Guys Bite is up for pre-order at the following sites:

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

    Here is the description. As always, if you do not want to be spoiled, you might want to skip reading the description:

    New York Times bestseller Jennifer Estep (Mythos Academy) continues her Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series with an e-novella starring Silvio Sanchez, the vampire assistant of Gin Blanco, as he goes on a holiday date that turns out to be more deadly than romantic.

    Working for Gin Blanco (aka the Spider, the assassin who runs the Ashland underworld) doesn’t leave much time for romance, especially with Gin’s holiday party planning in full swing. But when he catches the eye of a charming gentleman, Silvio finds himself going out for coffee.

    All’s fair in love and war, though. Just as Silvio is starting to enjoy himself, he realizes he’s being watched. His nice-guy date doesn’t sense the danger, and Silvio wants to keep it that way (and, well, keep the guy alive) so Silvio ends the date early—only to be abducted by some villainous giants.

    Will Silvio survive the night and make it back to the Pork Pit in time for Gin’s holiday party? Only if he decks the hall with bodies …

    You can read a brief excerpt of the e-novella by going to this page. Scroll down, and click on the Read Excerpt tab. I had a lot of fun writing Silvio’s e-novella, and I hope that everyone enjoys Nice Guys Bite when it is released.

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    Nice Guys Bite, Silvio’s e-novella, to be released on Dec. 12 …

    2 Comments

    E-Novella #15.5Nice Guys Bite, Elemental Assassin #15.5, will be released on Dec. 12. Woot!

    This is an e-novella that takes place after the events of Unraveled, book #15. It is told from the point of view of Silvio Sanchez, Gin’s personal assistant. It is about 20,000 words — around 70 pages — and is available as an e-novella only. There will not be any print or audio versions at this time. The e-novella is priced at $1.99.

    Nice Guys Bite is up for pre-order at the following sites:

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

    Here is the description. As always, if you do not want to be spoiled, you might want to skip reading the description:

    New York Times bestseller Jennifer Estep (Mythos Academy) continues her Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series with an e-novella starring Silvio Sanchez, the vampire assistant of Gin Blanco, as he goes on a holiday date that turns out to be more deadly than romantic.

    Working for Gin Blanco (aka the Spider, the assassin who runs the Ashland underworld) doesn’t leave much time for romance, especially with Gin’s holiday party planning in full swing. But when he catches the eye of a charming gentleman, Silvio finds himself going out for coffee.

    All’s fair in love and war, though. Just as Silvio is starting to enjoy himself, he realizes he’s being watched. His nice-guy date doesn’t sense the danger, and Silvio wants to keep it that way (and, well, keep the guy alive) so Silvio ends the date early—only to be abducted by some villainous giants.

    Will Silvio survive the night and make it back to the Pork Pit in time for Gin’s holiday party? Only if he decks the hall with bodies …

    You can read a brief excerpt of the e-novella by going to this page. Scroll down, and click on the Read Excerpt tab. I had a lot of fun writing Silvio’s e-novella, and I hope that everyone enjoys Nice Guys Bite when it is released.

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    Novellas and short stories — Do you read them?

    38 Comments

    Note #1: This post will also appear on Tuesday, July 5 at Magical Musings.

    Note #2: I’m giving away 5 copies of Bitter Bite, Elemental Assassin #14, U.S. only. To enter, use the form at the bottom of this post.

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

    I’ve written several e-novellas for this series — Thread of Death, Kiss of Venom, and now Unwanted — along with short stories like Carniepunk: Parlor Tricks. There are also several free short stories for this series on the Free Reads page of my website.

    I enjoy writing the e-novellas and short stories — especially since many of them are from the secondary characters’ points of view.

    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. 🙂

    Finn is one of the most popular characters in my Elemental Assassin series, and I’ve had many requests from readers over the years to write something from his point of view. After everything that happens to him in Bitter Bite, it seemed like the right time to finally give him a story. (And I also had time in my writing schedule to do it as well.)

    Writing the e-novellas and short stories really lets me delve into my secondary characters and show their emotions and feelings about everything that’s going on around them. It also lets me expand my overall world building and show different parts of Ashland, my fictional city, that I might not get to visit in a regular Elemental Assassin book.

    But I know that not everyone will read all the e-novellas and short stories, so I try to make each one of them almost like mini adventures for the secondary characters. That way, if you want to read the e-novellas and short stories, you are getting a complete story. But if you don’t want to read them, then you’re not going to miss out on anything that ties in to a major storyline in the main books.

    To me, the e-novellas and short stories are just fun bonus material for fans of my series, like all those behind-the-scenes features that you see on so many movie and TV show DVDs these days. I hope to write more of e-novellas and short stories and explore some of my other secondary characters. Time and writing schedule permitting, of course.

    What about you guys? Did you read e-novellas and short stories that tie into book series? Why or why not? What are some of your favorite book series?

    UNWANTED INFO

    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!

    BITTER BITE GIVEAWAY

    To gear up for Unwanted, I’m giving away 5 copies of Bitter Bite, Elemental Assassin #14, U.S. only. To enter, use the form below.
    a Rafflecopter giveaway