2/23/20

It's been a very long February for me.  Some unhappy family issues pulled me away from writing for about two weeks, and I'm only now caught up.  That said, a lot has happened recently that I want to fill you in on, so I'm going to write another long post full of fun information.  Read on:

Submissions to NineStar Press:

• Wounded Alpha, Kelpie Blue, If A Butterfly Don't Fly, Magnified, and Justified were all accepted for publishing at NineStar Press!  I'm super excited as I really love these books.  As soon as I have concrete information on release dates, I'll share more, but it won't be until August at the earliest.
  
• I have officially maxed out NSP's release calendar for 2020.  What that means is NSP can't assess any more of my submissions until they create their calendar for 2021.  Everything else I've already submitted to them will therefore have to wait, and I won't be submitting anything more until they tell me it's okay.
  
• I also submitted my Dragon's Hoard series (minus the short stories as I'll have to add one more to get to the length requirement), Elemental Ride, The Coup and the Prince, My Truest Love, and Wings of the Stars.  They're going to have to wait, along with my Road To series, for the 2021 calendar. 
  

Writing:

• I have fixed my Oracle series!  It took a bit of finagling, but I made the changes without having to significantly alter the plot.  The series is officially ready and waiting to submit when NSP gives the okay.  I have also added 1k words to The Oracle's Current, the sixth, and final, book in the series.  The real drama is just starting, and I'm about to introduce the love interest, so I'm really excited about where the story is going.  I'm hoping I can get it completed before The Sentinel's Prophesy is released by NSP (should they accept it, of course).
  

Editing:

• I was able to complete the second round of edits for Dragon Consultant.  I got them back to NSP late because of my family issues, so I don't know if that will effect the release date.  I'm hoping April is still far enough away that it won't, but we'll see.  Next for Consultant is copy edits, which will hopefully arrive soon. 
  
• I am working on the final proofreader's edits for Ge-Mi: Part One.  There's not a lot to do, so I'm hoping to have them completed and back to the editor by today.  That should be it for edits for this book, so I don't foresee any issues meeting the March release date.  I will hopefully have an exact date available for you soon.  The first round of edits for Ge-Mi: Part Two should also be heading my way in the near future as well.
  

Book Covers:

• I have seen the first draft of the new cover for Ge-Mi: Part One and it's really nice!  It's simple, but lovely, and is definitely more safe for work than the original cover. I can't wait to see the final draft, and then share it with all of you!
• I have been asked what I want for the new cover for Dragon Consultant.  I think I want to go with something simple again, but still bright and happy, and focused on kit-level destruction. I'm really looking forward to what the artist comes up with, and I can't wait to share it with you. 
  

That's it for news for February.  I know there's a lot going on, and it's probably going to continue being a fire hose deluge of things to do until at least this time next year.  I'm enjoying it, though, and I'm so glad you're all sticking through it all with me as we all patiently wait for all my books to become available again. 

I have been working on The Oracle Series for a year now.  It's been a lot of fun creating the world of the Monastery and the magic of the Castes and the Dragons.  Recently I've been trying to expand the world too.  I've made a lot of progress and I thought I might share it with you:


The Oracle's Flame began as a story for an anthology call, but when LT3 asked me if it could be released as its own separate ebook I agreed.  There was potential for a series there and I wanted to try writing it.  This book introduced the world I was exploring and the magic of the Castes.

The Oracle's Hatchling added depth to the post-war world of the Kingdom of Altnoia.  It also introduced some of the major issues plaguing the Monastery.  It was a bridging book which ended the plot leftover from Flame and introduced the plot for the rest of the series. 

The Oracle's Golem is the book I just finished writing.  It tells the story of the Dragon of Earth, but it also shows a lot more of the Monastery than I've ever written before.  There is some corruption that needs to be addressed as well.  I think readers will really like learning more about the Monastery as a whole and about the difficult job the Oracle has.  I don't want to give too much away, but I really enjoyed writing this book. 

The Sentinel's Prophesy is a side story that I have just started writing.  It is set in the world of the Sentinel, a man set to watch over an ancient evil so he's able to protect the world from it returning.  The magical powers of his followers are affiliated with light and dark.  Its been interesting playing with it so far.  It is set at the same time as Golem and can be read before or afterwards without any spoilers, although I would suggest reading Flame and Hatchling first. 

The Oracle's Sprite is the next book in the series.  I'm currently planning it out in my head and I hope to start putting words to paper soon.  This story will be focused on the Dragon of Air, but there will be a lot of flashbacks to the war in Altnoia that occurred between Flame and Hatchling.  To those readers who complained that the fighting was missing, this story is why.  I didn't want to ruin Sprite for you! 

The Oracle's (Water) will be the last book in The Oracle Series.  I've actually written the prologue for it because the story itself has a bit of overlap with Golem and I needed to get (Water) organized in order for the events in Golem to make sense.  I won't start working on (Water) until Sprite is done. 

The Sentinel's (Dark/Light) are two potential additional books I would like to write at some point as well.  I barely have any plot planned for Prophesy and I have no idea what would go into either of these two books.  I'm hoping something will come to me and these books will become a reality.  Until then, they'll remain in my future maybe-to-write list. 


So that's The Oracle Series in brief.  If you want more information please head to the series page on my website or my current projects section.  Or, you could always buy Flame and Hatchling and find out firsthand!