Finally, Friday is here! It’s been a long week for me, but I survived, so here’s a little treat. Demon’s Law is a bite from a novel I hope to write someday (along with about a hundred others) so it probably feels a bit incomplete.

On a side note, I got all the edits of Spellwrought finished and sent back, so it could be a matter of days or a couple of weeks before it’s available at Amazon. I don’t know how long it takes or how busy my publishers are, so we’ll see, but it won’t be long now.

Just popping in to let you all know that it’s Friday! So head on over to the Free Fiction section and check out my latest short story, Dream Lover.

I received the first final edit of Spellwrought today. I was absolutely thrilled! I’m going to spend the next couple of days going through it and making sure there are no errors from the conversion to PDF, then I’ll send it back, and then it can be sent off to the printer! I’m going to err on the side of caution and say it probably won’t be available until the first week of August, but you never know.

So! If you are planning to purchase Spellwrought through Amazon.com, could you please make your purchase as close to August 1st as you can. If it’s not out by Aug. 1st, then Aug. 6th. If it’s still not out by the 6th, then the 13th.

If we can coordinate, it will boost my rankings on Amazon and hopefully attract some attention. And as a little added incentive, if Spellwrought can break 10,000 (the best I’ve ever seen Magebound hit is 46,000), then I will post a new short story on my website and on FictionPress–The Man With the Dragon, the story of Professor Tessex and Taerith the selkie from Moonlight. I was going to save it for when I publish Moonlight on Smashwords some years from now, but if we can rally together to give Spellwrought a boost, I think a celebratory story is deserved.

There’s a new short story in the Free Fiction section–Wolf’s Kiss.

It’s a little different from my other stories and very short. I’ve been practicing writing short, short stories since brevity is not one of my strengths. As always, I’d love to hear what you think and I appreciate constructive criticism.

Sometimes they’re my best friends or my worst enemies. Sometimes I live vicariously through them, riding unicorns and talking to dragons and all the amazing things that I jealously dream up to make their lives more interesting. They are my characters and one of my favorite parts of being a writer.

You can read about my character creation process here.

So, I tried all the suggestions that were made regarding the cover for Broken Wings and I think we might have a winner. Thanks to Drazuki for suggesting using the colors of all three main characters. I hadn’t even considered it, but it makes sense and I think it turned out beautiful. My only real concern is that it doesn’t look like a typical erotic story cover (i.e. no half-naked men). But then, it isn’t a typical erotic story (at least, I don’t think it is, lol).

I’d love to hear what you think of the new cover and if there are any more little tweaks you might recommend.

Now remember, it’s going to be shrunk down to thumbnail size on most websites and look like this:

It’ll have the title and author written clearly beside it, though. Even tiny, I think it’s rather eye-catching.

The next beast I need to tackle is the blurb and you all know how much I suck at those, so I’ll be asking for advice on that, too. I’m going to be house-sitting again for a few days without much internet access, but I’ll try to check in once a day, at least, to read your comments. Thanks! ^_^

Happy Friday! To celebrate, I’ve posted a new short story in the Free Fiction section. It was inspired by the picture I use on my home page. Be sure to read the warnings, though. It’s pretty explicit and definitely non-consensual–not violent, but if you’re sensitive to the subject, you might want to proceed with caution.

As always, I love getting feedback, so don’t be shy.

Not Your Average Faerie Tale by Katica Locke

So I figured out what to do with myself while I wait for edits to come back. I’m working on the final formatting and editing for Broken Wings before I can upload it to Smashwords. I’m also going to spend the weekend writing a couple of brand-new short stories that will be exclusive to the Smashwords edition of BW. Yeah, it’s a cheap ploy to sell books, but at least I’m honest about it, right?

I’ve also decided to price the ebook at $.99 USD, so maybe more people will be willing to take a chance on it and I can get a few new fans. I don’t think that’s unreasonable for a cleaned-up version of it, do you?

I also need some opinions on my book cover. Now, I’m not an artist and I can’t afford to hire an artist, so this is about the best that I can manage. What I’d really like to know is which of the two versions do you prefer and if there are any small alterations you recommend, like spacing or placement on the page. I know I can count on you guys to help me out.

Cover #1               Cover #2

Well, I finally finished the rewrites and edits for Breach and got it sent off to Shadowfire Press this morning. It turned out to be just shy of 111,000 words and is scheduled for a September 16th release, but my wonderful publisher just might decide to let it out early. Be sure to subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss out on the latest information.

On the writing front, I’m currently without obligation. I’m free! LOL. Actually, I feel kind of adrift, not sure what to work on next while I wait for the final edits of Spellwrought. I’ve decided to take this time and bulk up my Free Fiction section, which is currently a little lacking (and according to the site statistics, one of the most visited pages). I currently have three finished short stories and am working on a fourth which I will post in the coming weeks.

Since I post new articles every other Monday (early Tuesday), I was thinking about posting a new short story every Friday (late Thursday)–Free Fiction Fridays! I’d love to post them all now so you can tell me what you think of them, but I need to be responsible. I don’t want to drop off the radar again like I have a tendency to do whenever I run out of things to say, so I’m going to hoard these stories and dish them out one at a time to keep people coming back for more.

And you keep you coming back, here are the opening paragraphs of the story I’m working on now. I think you might recognize the setting and main characters. This is just a first draft, of course, and may have typos.

 

An Unlikely Pair (Working title)

The white gryph lay upon the high, flat roof of the Pasalen Building, one snowy wing stretched out to catch the weak rays of spring sunlight that pierced the ever-present mist that covered the university, his belly pressed against the warm, black roofing tiles. Pale blue eyes moved back and forth across the page before him, one delicate, slender paw holding the book open against the breeze that fluttered the pages. When he reached the bottom of the page, he extended his retractable claws and carefully used the needle-sharp tips to turn the page.

A sudden downdraft ruffled feathers and fur, the pages of his book flapping. He glanced up, an old, forgotten part of his soul echoing with the screams of battle at the sight of a black dracorian in the sky, swooping down out of the fog, teeth bared and claws extended. Dracs and their less intelligent kin, the dragons, were an ancient enemy of the gryph people, usually attacked on sight and battled to the death, but the gryph just pulled his wing closed as the drac landed on the edge of the roof, hissing in the sibilant dracorian language.

“Rise and take wing, my enemy, and I shall scatter those snowy feathers to the four winds. Rise and fight me!”

Ignoring the foolish part of himself that yearned to accept her challenge, for she was a female, judging by the size of the scales that covered her face, the gryph quietly closed his book, grasped it gently in his beak, and heaved himself to his feet–all three of them. Taking hobbling steps, he turned, his one remaining wing waving in the air to help him balance.

The drac was silent as he limped away, using the stump of his front left leg to open the rooftop door. Without a backward glance, he hobbled down the stairs, pulling his tail out of the way before the door could slam on the tufted tip.

The dean had warned him that a dracorian would be joining the staff as the resident advisor, but had assured him that she would not be trouble. She was not supposed to go near his classroom, his office, or the rooftop. He was tempted to send a strongly worded e-mail to the dean, but he could hardly blame her for doing what their kind had been doing for millennia. No, he would say nothing and forget it ever happened. Now that she had seen him–what was left of him–she wouldn’t waste her time again.

What a great start to the (USA) holiday weekend! I received an e-mail this afternoon letting me know that my next book, Demons are Forever, would be released two weeks early. This was such a fun book to write and I’m so excited to see it out so soon. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did.

Blurb:
Simon has settled in to living with Julian, his vampire boyfriend, and Raven, Julian’s great-great-grandneice. He even likes Paul, Raven’s boyfriend. Life is good, which naturally means that all hell is about to break loose. When Raven discovers that Paul isn’t has human as he appears, she breaks up with him–by shoving a knife in his chest.

Paul is a demon, incapable of being injured, but not immune to heartbreak. Once he learn the truth about demons, Simon can’t help but feel sorry for Paul, but Raven is beyond listening to anyone. The more desperately he wants to talk to her, the more determined she is to get rid of him. Blinded by her own pain and anger, she doesn’t question a man who mysteriously shows up to help her with her ‘demon problem’. But once Paul is gone, will Raven have a change of heart?

When her deal with the mysterious man goes south, Simon and Julian must find and rescue her, and in the process uncover a plot to take over the world.