If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you’ve probably already seen one announcement, but I wanted to make sure my website followers are aware as well. Things have been moving fast this past month, both expected and not so much, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to organize it all in a way that makes sense for you all.

First things first, let’s start with a beloved book from my backlist.

The She-Wolf of Kanta

This book was my first solo release, available in print so I could hold it in my hands. It’s very tightly written, fast-paced, and is also one of the most highly rated stories I’ve written. However one of the biggest criticisms I’ve received on it is that it’s too short, and I definitely agree. It’s a novella, at a little over 20k words, and while it’s a wonderful story on it’s own, I felt like there was more to be told.

So I felt it was time to pull it from Aurelia Leo Publishing even though it’s had a wonderful run there. Olivia, the owner, was wonderful and the book had some beautiful internal artwork included with it too. When the rights were up for renewal, I felt it was a good time for Mercy’s story to move on.

I’ve already outlined the anticipated sequel, The Blood of Kanta, a full-length sequel to the highly acclaimed novella. It’s a book I’ve wanted to return to for a while, but with my current deadlines with the Stolen series, I haven’t had the chance to. I hope that will change soon and I’ll get to return to the unique world of werewolves and Kanta.

If you want to see progress on things that I’m currently writing, make sure you subscribe to my mailing list. I send out emails on the first and third Saturday of each month, and I plan to show more behind the scenes inspiration and progress of my works in progress.

“The Impostor”

You may have seen some of the news going around about Filles Vertes Publishing recently, and I’m afraid it’s not good news. They had scheduled my short story “The Impostor” to release in Link by Link coming this December. However I just received notice that the publisher has cancelled this anthology.

Based on the information I’ve received, I’m not surprised this happened, but it’s still disappointing to have my story homeless. It was written for a very specific theme, so finding another anthology to take it will be a challenge.

This is honestly one of the struggles I’ve faced in being part of small press anthologies. Some of the small presses do well long term and some don’t, but this leads me to what I plan to do with “The Impostor”.

Making New Plans

Looking at all the stories I’ve published over the past ten years, and the stories that I haven’t published, I have a good amount of spec fic stories (fantasy/scifi/horror) available. I’m looking at publishing them together in an anthology as my first collection of stories. In the rudimentary table of contents I put together this weekend, I found around 7 stories that had never found a home, many of them dark and experimental, misfits who also struggle to find acceptance.

So that’s my plan, and “The Impostor” will be included in this anthology. I’m very proud of all of these stories and I really am looking forward to sharing them with everyone.

Oh, and while I was doing inventory of my writing folder this weekend, I remembered that years ago I actually wrote several short pieces that were the beginning inspirations for the Stolen series. The characters were slightly different then than they are now, but the emotions and the pain expressed in them are very much the same. So… those will likely be included too!

So while I’m disappointed at this turn of events, I’m also excited for what comes down the road. There are a lot of possibilities I see available, and I still have two book releases coming out over the next 7 months. (Oof!)

Thank you all for supporting me through all this and for listening to this little peek behind the curtain. One last bite of advice before I go.

I took part in the Self-Employment Productivity Summit run by John Edward Lawson. One of the big takeaways that he mentioned and that has stuck with me is that when you run a small business, you represent that business in everything you do. And being an author is a business. From chatting online to going to stores to managing a table at a show. Every action you take reflects not only yourself but the business too. As someone who grew up among teachers, professors, and state employees, it’s something I’ve known my whole life. But it does bear repeating during this time of COVID.

Keep your head up and keep being creative. Stay safe out there, folks. ❤