Closing out 2013

This last year has been a whirlwind. It's hard to believe that last December I had just published my first manuscript. I've met so many wonder people in Indie business since then, I feel truly blessed. As this year closes out The first two books of the Wanderer Series (Out of Reach and A Step Away) have been published and I'm getting started on book 3. The contemporary romance I've been working on entitled Skin Deep is finished and should be available early 2014. I've also got a 100 pages or so scribbled out of another romance. I can't wait to see what else 2014 has in store! Happy reading everyone.

Zafir and I don't see eye to eye regarding the series

“I’ve got a fucking bone to pick with you,” Zafir yells as he storms into my office. Agitated, he stomps about on his tree trunk legs, crushing the life out of my springy shag rug. Normally my characters don’t bother me before 9 a.m. They know my brain just can’t process anything before then and that likely whatever they do say will go in one ear and out the other. I decide to make an exception: I know that with Z in his current state of uproar he isn’t likely to remain quiet till then.

            “I’m listening,” I reply when all I really want to say is “can’t this wait?” I smile, proud of myself for suppressing the usual venom that flavors my early morning conversations. A snarky attitude is definitely not going to win me any points with the mountain of muscle standing before me. I mean, Z could literally steam roll me without even breaking a sweat.

            “I want a rewrite.”

            “Oh,” I say, perking up while my mind tries to flush out the mistake he’s obviously come across. “Well okay. We’ve got some time. A Step Away isn’t scheduled for publication until fall…” I pause, speechless, as he slowly shakes his head from side to side.

            “This shit I’m talking about goes all the way back to the beginning.”

            “Out of Reach?” I glare incredulously into his flashing grey eyes. “What’s wrong with it?”

            “I’m being misrepresented,” he answers smugly.

            “You most certainly are not!” I fight back, insulted by his proclamation.

            He scowls as he thinks for a second. “What’s the word that means the opposite of plagiarism?”

            “Huh?” The inelegant reply slips out as I sit there dumbfounded, unable to comprehend where he’s going with this.

            “Fine,” he moves on, seeing how I’m unable or unwilling to help him. “I’m being incorrectly plagiarized,” he explains. “People aren’t getting the real me.”

Not getting the real you? I almost laugh out loud. I think I’ve done a rather good job portraying the real Zafir, and believe me it wasn’t always easy. He snatches the first hardbound copy ever produced of Out of Reach off of my shelf then begins rifling through pages.

            “Hey, careful with that!” I yell.

            “See right here!” he announces triumphantly, turning the book around and sticking it under my nose.

            “See what?” I ask as I lean back so that the small print isn’t blurry. Rolling his eyes, he flips the book around and reads, “Just give me the short version.”

            “Yeah, you said that, so what?” I ask him while still struggling to see his point.

            “I did not fucking say that. Does that even sound like me?”

            “It’s basically what you said,” I answer, hoping to placate him.

            “You see, that is what I’m talking about. It’s misrepresentation. I remember very clearly that I told Kade to cut to the fucking chase.”

            “Really, you’re mad because I took out an F-bomb?”

            “It wasn’t just one,” he grumbles, folding his arms across his chest.

            “Flip the page,” I instruct. “As you’ll see, you use the F-word at least three times in the next passage.”

            “What?” he blurts out as he quickly scans through the next scene.

            “You’ve messed things up there as well. I won’t stand for this kind of censorship. It violates my freedom of speech.” Dropping my head on the desk I keep my groan of disbelief to myself: is this for real?

“Readers deserve the real me,” he rambles on.
            “Look,” I tell him, sitting up and taking charge of the conversation. “I’m sorry but you rely too heavily on the one word. It’s redundant and that kind of repetition wears on readers. Try throwing in a more descriptive adjective now and again.”

 “What? Clearly you don’t understand the power of a good fuck.”

“Clearly,” I repeat, rubbing my temples in exasperation. Burning grey eyes rimmed with electricity spark as he rests his hands on my desk and leans in close. Too close. Gulping, I press myself back as far as I can against my chair, nervous I’ve pushed him too far.

“F***, ****, ****, ****,****,” he chants, the inflection of his gravelly voice changing with each expletive.      

            “You’ve made your point,” I say and giggle, unable to keep a straight face. “You’ve clearly demonstrated the versatility of the word.” 

Leaning back smugly he crosses his arms over his chest. “And…,” he presses.

            “Fine, you can curse more in the next book,” I capitulate, tossing my arms in the air. Satisfied, he turns to go.

            “Oh, one more thing.”

            “Yes,” I grind out, more than ready to be left alone.

            “Kade and Ben get a lot of play so maybe you could get a little more of this in the next one,” he winks as he strikes the classic Adonis pose.

            “Get out of here and let me finish my morning Coke!” I yell then toss a pen at him.

            “Just a thought,” he teases, finally exiting my office with all the humility of a prowling lion.    

           

A Step Away is here!

Kobo and Barnes and Noble are taking there sweet time loading like always but ebook copies of A Step Away are live on Amazon now!!!!

http://amzn.com/B00FMIFKD2

A Step Away

Prologue

A brutal wind whips his face, and the exposed rock upon which he stands provides no protection from the harsh desert climate. It’s no matter; the elements are nothing more than a trifle annoyance. With that thought, Himyar cocoons himself in an invisible shield that keeps the swirling sandstorm at bay.  Removing a silk scarf from around his nose and mouth he continues his survey of the canyon below. The souls of his brothers cry out to him, he can feel their essence and their energy in his blood. They are close, almost within his grasp. Himyar remains cautious though, not wanting to risk discovery by the Wanderers just yet. All magic leaves a residue and the ground below him is littered with theirs. When he deems it safe, slowly he descends from his perch with his highly tuned senses alert for the slightest sign of movement.

 After centuries of enslavement escape was bittersweet. Himyar’s brief periods outside of his sphere had not prepared him for this world, and he’d had to spend the last few months educating himself and adapting to his new environment before making this pilgrimage. He was returning to where it all began - a hidden canyon in the Arabian Desert bordering a place they now call Jordan. This trip down memory lane is a first for Himyar, who has not been back since the original sealing. Clenching his fists he tries to suppress the angry wave that rolls down his body elicited by the memory of those self -righteous angels. But no matter, what’s done is done Himyar reminds himself as the black-eyed rage subsides slightly. The future is what matters now.

 His senses had led him to this place of sand and rock: a valley he'd never intended to stalk through again.  He is attracted by the pull of his brethren through an unexplainable tie all Sylph share. Approaching the mouth of the largest cave in the ravine, Himyar becomes giddy with anticipation, and his anger is temporarily forgotten. They are inside, he can feel them. Not being a fool, Himyar hesitates at the cavern’s entrance, well aware that the Wanderers will be alerted to his arrival the moment he steps inside. Closing his eyes a moment he reaches out with his mind, casting about for the strange consciousness that is unique to the Wanderers. Finding nothing, Himyar’s eyes snap open and he grins, fully convinced the Wanderers aren't here. It goes without saying that the place will be booby trapped, but in order to bring about the glorious future Himyar has dreamt about he needs to free the others. To accomplish that dream he must find them first. Wicked mirth lights his face at the knowledge that a large majority of Sylph lay just inside. By now the Wanderers know Himyar has escaped his prison and is loose in the world, and an opportunity like this might never present itself again. With confident resolution Himyar follows his gut into the cave in search of his brothers, hoping time has made the Wanderers sloppy.

*  *  * 

Bleep, bleep, bleep. A monitor chimes loudly in the command center of the Wanderers’ Utah facility. Cracking his neck, Basal runs a hand over his face, attempting to wipe away his exhaustion. He rolls his chair across the floor, silencing the alarm with a few simple key strokes and then brings a live video feed up on the main screen. Someone has gained access to Essam and tripped the motion sensors in The Vault of Souls. "Looks like he swallowed the bait," Bass reflects out loud as the face of Himyar greets him on the display. From the safety of his seat in Utah, Bass watches while a very irate Himyar gazes around the empty cavern seemingly stunned. As he stifles a laugh over what is most certainly not a funny situation, Basal witnesses the fit of fury that seizes Himyar. Staring straight at the camera he mouths something unintelligible seconds before bursting into flameless fire and fleeing the vicinity.

"That went about as well as could be expected," Basal mumbles as a chill threads its way up his spine. Quickly saving the feed he then pulls his cell phone from his pocket and calls Adil.

 "It's happened."

Cover Reveal

A Step Away book 2 of the Wanderer Series
Coming October 4th

September Giveaway and Tour

To celebrate the upcoming release of A Step Away (Wanderer Series #2)!  I am having a blog tour September 9-22nd and giving away 10 singed paperbacks As an added bonus, there are LOTS of chances for extra entries!!! Be sure to hit every stop, and like the participating blogs on facebook!!!
Click Here to Win!!!


Tour Schedule 

 9/9/13    Puretextuality

9/10/13   Literary Meanderings
9/11/13   Romance Bookworm's Reviews
9/12/13   Sizzling Hot Books
9/12/13   The Alaskan Bookie
9/13/13   What the Cat Read
9/14/13   Mom with a Kindle
9/15/13   My Book Chatter
9/16/13   PR Book Reviews
9/17/13   The Book Diaries
9/18/13   Book Nerds Anonymous
9/18/13   Page Flipperz
9/19/13   BookCrushin
9/19/13   Pieces of Whimsy
9/20/13   Soleful Reader
9/21/13   Must Read Faster
9/22/13   I Smell Sheep

Hosted by Puretextaulity Relations

As fall and the anticipated release of A Step Away book 2 in The Wanderer Series draws closer, the ladies at Puretextuality and I will be running a two week blog tour and sale for book 1 Out of Reach. The ebook copy will be discounted to $0.99 and 10 signed paperbacks will being be donated to the tour as giveaways. Check back as I will be posting details regarding the participating blogs and giveaway details.

Puretextuality Webpage

Summer Solstive Sale

This weekend only 17 fabulous indie authors myself included will be discounting our books to just $0.99. The deal starts Friday, do not miss out!!!!

http://incandescentphoenix.com/promotions.html

A Facelift

As I was nearing completion of Wanderer Series book 2 it was time to think about cover art. A good friend pointed me in the direction of a fantastic cover artist and to maintain continuity between the books we decided to recover book 1 Out of Reach. The results were beyond incredible, I couldn't be happier!!!!!

Upcoming Blog Tour

The wonderful team at Pure Texuality has helped put together a week long blog tour to promote Out of Reach!!! I'm so excited to be working with such wonderful people. The tour will run April 7th - April 13th on ten different blogs and include everything from book reviews and guest posts to free ebook give aways. Don't miss out on the action and if your friends haven't had a chance to read it tell them to put their name in the hat to win a free ebook copy!!!!

See my events page for a list of participating bloggers, the infomration on which promotion the will be running, and what day Out of Reach will feature on their site.

Available in Paperback

I'm happy to announce that Out of Reach is now available in ebook and paperback!!! Hop on over to Amazon and pick up a copy for your shelf.

Paperback Proof is Here

I was nervous but it turned out great!!!! The picture doesn't do it justice and was extremely hard to take without glare but there it is in paperback.  

Print Copies

Thanks largely to my friend Matt Out of Reach has been formatted for print copies!!!! I ordered my first proff yesterday and am anxiously waiting to see what it will look like in paperback. Pictures to follow soon...

Synopsis

Volume 1 Out of Reach: You can’t escape who you are, but no one ever stops to explain to you the cost of discovering such knowledge. By the time Gwen learns that her fiery red hair marks her as more than just a bad temper on two legs, it’s too late to make a choice. Catapulted into a realm she doesn’t understand, thanks to the actions of those around her, Gwen is forced to embrace an unknown legacy and rely on the word of an old friend, who is more than he seems. But will the price of self discovery prove too much for her to bear? And how do you save the world when everything feels just out of reach?