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Showing posts from 2022

Missing Indigenous Women

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One of the main plot threads in Coyote Calling deals with the disappearance of Indigenous (Native American) women, DinĂ© (Navajo) in particular. And while this is a work of fiction about supernatural people, it is unfortunately based in truth when it comes to the devastating issue of the disappearance of Indigenous women. If you aren’t Indigenous, you probably haven’t heard of this issue before, most haven’t. But we all need to hear it, we need to listen, and we need to act. Here are a few places you can learn more: Indian Affairs – U.S. Department of the Interior Native Hope Native Women’s Wilderness KTIV.Com – Siouxland’s News Channel 

Holiday Hunting is Coming

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Looking for a spicy holiday read? Love urban fantasy based on Norse mythology with shifters? I have you covered.  Holiday Hunting is up for pre-order and releases in a few days! Grab it HERE . A bit about it: Sleighbells are ringing and the snow is falling in Hemlock Hollow, Montana, but Sonya Michaelson is off saving newly bitten werewolves from losing their minds during their first change.  That is until she has to prepare the house for the visit of the werewolf parents of her hot professor boyfriend. Between that and holiday shopping with her best friend, the reaper of shifterkind, she will have her hands full.  Can she pull off the perfect, JĂłlabĂłkaflóðiĂ°, the Icelandic tradition of gifting books, for her boyfriend and his Icelandic parents, or will all her careful plans unravel?  A few of you may have read the short story I had published last November in volume 1 of the Magic Beneath the Mistletoe anthology titled Dared & Decorated. If you did, and enjoyed it, you are in for

Come Chat With Me!

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Come chat with author Lizzy Gayle and me live tonight on Tiktok! 4 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM Eastern Time. We'll be chatting about all the books we plan to read this November, and books releasing that we're excited about--this one in particular, Tales of Fire & Frost, a Mystic Owl Anthology! This anthology is packed with spicy holiday and winter stories that are guaranteed to keep you warm. Some of our favorite authors have stories in this so we are crazy excited! It releases around the 24th. Here is a list of the authors in the anthology: Leslie O'Sullivan A.N. Payton Erin Fulmer Lilla Glass Mabry Blackburn Joanna Morgan S.C. Grayson Lily Riley R. Lee

Coming This December: A Shifter Seeker Novella

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A few of you may have read the short story I had published last November in volume 1 of the Magic Beneath the Mistletoe anthology titled Dared & Decorated. If you did, and enjoyed it, you are in for a treat. If you didn't read it and love holiday themed stories featuring your favorite characters, then you are in for a treat too! After the publisher gave our rights to our stories back, I rewrote the short, doubling it's length and turning it into a novella! That novella, now titled Holiday Hunting, will be releasing at the end of this November! Here is a bit about it: Sleighbells are ringing and the snow is falling in Hemlock Hollow, Montana, but Sonya Michaelson is off saving newly bitten werewolves from losing their minds during their first change.  That is until she has to prepare the house for the visit of the werewolf parents of her hot professor boyfriend. Between that and holiday shopping with her best friend, the reaper of shifterkind, she will have her hands full. 

Recommended Reading Order

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The recommended reading order for my books is as follows (and I really do recommend reading them in order because of timelines and world building elements): The Children of Fenrir Series: Bitten & Beholden Clawed & Cornered (though it is a prequel novella to B&B, it will be more impactful once you know the characters ;)  Tempered & Turned Bared & Betrayed Holiday Hunting (novella Coming this November!) The Shifter Seeker Series: Raven Rousting (novella) Coyote Calling I also have a YA urban fantasy series! Channeler Series: The Secret of Spruce Knoll Channeler's Choice Rise of a Rector To Ride a Puca If you've read any of my books, I would be eternally greatful for a review on Amazon or other retail sites. Reviews help an author so, so much! Short and sweet is all that's needed. Truly, a sentence or two is fantastic. Anything under fifty reviews means I can't advertise with certain advertisers who can really help sales. :( 

Gatekeeping Advertisers in Publishing?

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Reviews are important, vital to authors. No doubt you've heard this many times if you follow authors on social media of any kind. But just how true is that? Sadly, it's very true.  As an indie author, I get to see just how true. Advertising is a vital part of selling books. Many places an author can advertise that are medium to large sized fish in the sea, require a minimum amount of reviews on Amazon before they will even allow a publisher or indie author to submit to them for advertising. Yep, you read that right, there are gatekeepers even in the advertising field of publishing.  Even if we put aside hundreds, or thousands of dollars for advertising, we cannot get many of the medium to large advertisers to work with us if our books don't have enough reviews. 50 reviews is often the starting point an author must have on their book before these advertisers will even accept their submissions. There are currently three proven advertisers I'd love to advertise my books wi

Review Team Members Needed!

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How does a no time limit, no must-love, & no minimum follower requirements review team sound?  If you like urban fantasy with Norse elements, strong female main characters, and shifters, I'd love for you to join my review team.  So what do I ask of my review team members? That you review on Amazon (because it helps my sales tremendously!) That you do your best to review the book before the next one comes out. Can't do it? That's okay! I'll just wait to send the next one to you until you can review the prior.  But what if you didn't like it?  That's okay too! Not every book is for every reader. And even if you like some of my books, you may not like them all. If this happens and you aren't comfortable leaving a review, but still want to receive the next book, or a book of mine in a different series, that's perfectly fine. Just let me know the book wasn't for you and you would rather not leave a review, and we're golden.  Sounds great. I'm

Sonya is Back!

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Coming, August 30th, Coyote Calling, the first full length novel in my new spin-off series! I loved writing the Children of Fenrir series so much that it inspired me to continue the story of Sonya Michaelson, seeker of nearly mad new werewolves. Here is a bit about it:  The children of Fenrir are rising whether werewolf seeker Sonya Michaelson likes it or not. As if being the seeker of werewolves tangoing with madness wasn’t enough on her plate, a coyote shifter shows up on Sonya’s doorstep needing help because Navajo women are going missing—skinwalkers to be precise. What’s worse, someone is turning them into coyote shifters, stripping them of their skinwalker powers. But before Sonya even has a chance to dig into the mystery, she and her best bud, reaper Ayra Valdisdöttir, are summoned before the Caninus Council to answer for their part in an event that risked exposing their kind to the mundane world. Dancing with council politics quickly take a back burner when Sonya realizes her mo

The Power of Reviews

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If you're like me, when you're shopping for books online, you check the reviews before purchasing, or when you're wavering on whether or not to purchase, or just deciding if it is right for you. For this reason alone, reviews are vital. They help people decide whether or not to buy your book. And, if you're like me, and a book doesn't have very many, or any, reviews, you might hesitate, wait to ask a friend, move on to another book, and potentially forget completely about the book your were originally contemplating.  Statistics show an item with reviews is 65% more likely to be purchased. Enough reviews also improve the search rankings of books, bumping them up to the top of related searches. And even more reviews means Amazon will put the book in the "also purchased by" recommendations. So when you see authors asking for reviews, this is why. It greatly impacts their livelihood. That said, if you've read any of my books and haven't had a chance to

Truth Behind the Fiction

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While the Republic of Gilead from a Handmaid's Tale was fictional, the author based it off events that have already happened to women ~and may happen again if we aren't careful.   In the novel, it all begins with the slow but steady stripping away of the rights of women and the LGBTQ+ community. From there it escalates into a full blown takeover and restructuring of the government to embrace a utalitarian type of patriarchy where women are seen and not heard, used and not cherished, and to be LGBTQ+ is to invite mutilation at best and death at worst.  Sound far-fetched? Sadly, it is all based on real events and several countries are still frightfully close to this type of patriarchial rule. Some practice female genital mutilation for the sake of oppression, don't allow women to drive, to vote, play sports, or publish books. These atrocities are currently happening to women, they are not science fiction, or dystopian novel concepts, they are real. Is it possible the United

Raven Rousting Has Released!

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Love Norse mythology, shifters, magic, and mayhem? I've got you covered.  Raven Rousting , the novella in my new Shifter Seeker series, has released! I still have a few spots on my review team, so if you are willing to leave a review on retail sites (Amazon in particular), you can join and receive the ebook for free! To join CLICK HERE. Here is a bit about it: Being the seeker of newly bitten, yet to turn werewolves, losing their battle with madness didn’t come with a manual. At least none that Sonya Michaelson, the first seeker in three hundred years, is given access to. It's apparently her Norse goddess bestowed mission to help the troubled werewolves in danger of losing their battle with madness and becoming mindless killers before their first shift. But how she's supposed to find them, she has no clue. It's not exactly something people blast on social media. So, fed up and out of options, she turns to a Norse witch. But after a trip to the astral plane and a weird r

Bared & Betrayed Needs You!

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I am super honored to announce that my novel Bared & Betrayed is a finalist for the InD'Tale Magazing Rone awards in the Paranormal Long catagory. To win, it needs your vote! It is a few steps, but I promise it's easy. You do have to register with the site, but don't worry, they never spam you. All they do is send a monthly book newsletter talking about the latest book releases, and giving reviews on them. I've been a member for years and I love it. Also, voting is THIS WEEK ONLY for this catagory! Here is how to vote: 1. Click the Login button in the upper right-hand side of the page. In put your email and chosen password. Click I Want to Create an Account.  2. On the upper right-hand side, hover over the RONE'S/CONTESTS tab, from the dropdown click on the 2022 Rone Award Reader Voting.   3. Scroll down to the paranormal long catagory in WEEK 3:   (April 25th - May 1st). At the bottom of the list, click (Click Here to Vote for Week 3 Entries) .  4. Click on t

Happy Earth Day

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You might not know this, but I am a huge champion of the environment and preservation of endangered species. Not the oil rig blowing up kind (because I'm not crazy and I have a brain) but the living as green a life as possible and donating to great environmental and preservation causes whenever I can kind.  In fact, if you read between the lines in my books, and look deep into the plot threads, you'll find subtle hints of environmentalism and earth stewardship in almost every one of them.  I'm always looking for ways to live a greener life and reduce the size of my own negative impact on the world creating largely by our consumerism nature of using products that aren't recyclable, reusable, or biodegradable. Did you know that even if you recycle, a huge amount of the plastic people recycle is never actually recycled? Sad, but true. It just costs too much. So I try to use products that don't come in plastic containers. To name just a few: I use Bite toothpaste that c

Auction for Ukraine Relief Efforts

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Mark your calendar for this Thursday, March 10th ! The City Owl Press #StandWithUkraine auction is happening that day on Facebook! Up for auction: Signed books, critiques, edits, swag, merchandise, and amazing gifts and experiences donated by our City Owl authors and editors. I will be offering up for auction a special box filled with my signed books, swag, a plush wolf, and a Fenrir necklace.  Also,  City Owl Press  will be donating all proceeds for the month of March from books purchased from their website to support the Ukrainian people. I hope you'll visit their website, click that  Shop button , and grab yourself and/or your friends a few books. Then come join me Thursday on Facebook for the big auction! 

City Owl Auction for the Ukraine Coming Up!

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My friends, collegues, people I consider family in every way that matters, are going through something unimaginable with the attacks on the Ukraine. One of the founding mothers of the press I am published with was born in the Ukraine. And my publisher's book cover designers, the outstanding Miblart , are based in the Ukraine. But they aren't standing idly by, and neither am I.  City Owl Press will be donating all proceeds for the month of March from books purchased from their website to support the Ukrainian people. I hope you'll visit their website, click that Shop button , and grab yourself and/or your friends a few books.  On top of that, to raise additional funds, City Owl will be doing an auction of signed books and publishing related services. You'll be able to bid on signed paperbacks, critiques, edits, swag, merchandise, and amazing gifts and experiences donated by our City Owl authors and editors. I will be offering up for auction a special box filled with my

What Are You Reading?

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 It's that time again! Friday! Woo hoo! What do you have lined up to read this weekend? On my list are: I'm just finishing up Love at 20,000 Leagues by the amazing Lizzy Gayle, and am loving it! Trapped 20,000 leagues under the sea during a test run, a woman engineer (girl power!) with aquaphobia (how much would that suck?!) must figure out why the underwater luxury hotel is malfunctioning before the AI robot staff end up killing all the guests! It is fun, exciting, and sexy.  Next up is A Conjuring of Ravens by Azalea Ellis. I read the sample and was immediately sucked in. A bit about it from the description: "Siobhan has just been banned from the country's only magical university. As the unwitting accomplice to the theft of a priceless magical artifact, she has suddenly become a wanted criminal. There are fates worse than death, and if caught, she will face them. Unwilling to give up on her dream of becoming the world's most powerful sorcerer, she resolves to d

New Year & Free eBooks

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Happy New Year! It feels like it has been an eternity in coming, but it's finally here. And with it, good things are following.   Would you love to get my books for FREE?  Of course you would! Well, you're in luck. I'm putting together a very special, very elite team of readers who will receive an eBook copy of my latest releases for FREE! All you have to do in return is leave a review on Amazon.  Why would I do such a thing?  Because reviews make an author's world go around. They determine whether or not a retailer will advertise them more, recommend them, and place them better on their sites, which all deeply affects sales. Which is why I need your help! How it works:  I will "gift" the ebook to reviewers who sign up below directly through either Amazon or Barnes & Noble (sorry, iPhone peeps, I don't have an iPhone and the big Apple won't allow me to purchase their products without one that I have figured out).  I hope to count you as one of my t