Book Description for Covenant Finally Up!

At last I can say that a proper book description for Covenant is up on Amazon and other such websites! Now you can check it out before it hits Goodreads. :-) http://www.amazon.com/Covenant-Books-Raziel-Sabrina-Benulis-ebook/dp/B00BATEIDK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386715399&sr=8-1&keywords=covenant+benulis

In other related news, the upcoming release of Covenant means the first draft of Book 3 by spring.  Things look more on the ball this time, so with any luck this means a Summer 2015 release date for the last book in the trilogy.  Oh, the milestones.....

Eternal Shadows by Kate Martin Free Halloween E-Book Giveaway

Precious few vampire novels entertain me. And when we're talking about novels in a series, even fewer hold my interest into the next installment. This novel happens to be an exception on both counts. Eternal Shadows is a novel written by a good friend who also happens to be a talented author, Kate Martin. However, our friendship aside, this book is truly good.  It was one of the first I'd read in a long while where I was eager to read more once it was over.

Curious?

Here's the description of Eternal Shadows as written by Kate:

Vampires aren't supposed to be real, and Kassandra is not supposed to be one of them. But on the morning of her eighteenth birthday she wakes with fangs, a hunger for blood, and a body with abilities she can't control. Turned by the irritating, yet handsome, Rhys O'Shea, Kassandra struggles to balance her former human life with her new life as one of the undead.

With the world at war, the vampires have stepped in--but if the existence of the supernatural is exposed, then an entirely new battle will erupt. A battle for survival that will forever alter the future.
But the past may be just as dangerous. Kassandra can't stop the dreams of a young Irish girl in the medieval countryside, a girl who smiles when Rhys comes near, nor can she shake a looming sense of doom. The last time she felt this dark chill her mother died, and now Kassandra could be next.

And here's the snazzy cover:

And best of all, Kate is offering her book on Amazon.com for FREE on Halloween!
http://www.amazon.com/Eternal-Shadows-Kate-Martin-ebook/dp/B00G8NPUK8/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383096783&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=eternal+shadows+kate+martin

I'm never afraid to endorse a good book.  Well--this book has my full endorsement! Check out my Goodreads review of Eternal Shadows here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/282016472

If you want to learn more, visit the Eternal Shadows FB fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eternal-Shadows/245686275498248

Or drop Kate a line on Twitter: https://twitter.com/katewmartin

Thank you fans, and happy reading! :-)
  

Covenant (Book 2) Official Cover Reveal

This is one lovely cover!!!

I doubt anyone will have an idea of what the second book is about just by looking at this picture, but I always find everyone's conjectures intriguing . . .

Isn't this just gorgeous???

For now, the April release date should hold.  Believe me, if anyone wants it to hold, than that person is me.

More news when I have it!

April Can't Come Fast Enough

Or can it?  Because I'm really not ready to shop for Christmas gifts anytime soon . . .

Anyway, so far things are looking like a 'go' for Covenant's April 2014 release date and I am just keeping my fingers crossed that turns out to be the case.  If any of you are curious as to why the delay, I honestly have no idea why either.  They just tell me when the release dates of my books are--we authors have a lot less control than you think we do.  >_<

But I should be entering final draft territory this summer/fall, and then it's off to copyediting, and then the rest should be history.

I would LOVE to reveal the cover but I have to wait for the go ahead. Honestly, though, I think it might surpass Archon's in the end, and that's saying something!

Look for more updates soon--hopefully one heck of a cover reveal is on its way!

<3

Cover Reveal for Jason Jack Miller's: The Revelations of Preston Black

Hi readers and fans.  :-)  Today I have something special for you.  One of my good friends from grad school has recently published another novel in his supernatural Preston Black series and I've been one of the lucky people asked to participate in the grand cover reveal! TA DA!  Isn't this cover just so modern and spiffy?  hehe 

If you haven't heard of it, this is a great book series with a killer concept that should be welcome to fans of Archon or just thrillers of the paranormal kind in general.  Just read the description below, and be sure to check out more of Jason's books at his Goodreads page here: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4729752.Jason_Jack_Miller




THE REVELATIONS OF PRESTON BLACK BY JASON JACK MILLER
Coming June 2013 from Raw Dog Screaming Press Cover Art by Brad Vetter
Preston and Katy face a new darkness.... Sometimes a battle between good and evil doesn't look much like the ones they show in movies. The good guys don't always wear white, and they don’t always walk away with the win.
And sometimes you're better off with the devil you know.
The last time Preston went down to the crossroads, his best friend died and he nearly lost his brother. But Old Scratch doesn't take kindly to fools, especially not those who come knocking at his front door. And before all is said and done, he's going to teach Preston a thing or two about what it really means to sacrifice.
LINKS: Read the first 100 pages of The Revelations of Preston Black - http://jasonjackmiller.blogspot.com/p/the-revelations-of-preston-black.html
Pre-order The Revelations of Preston Black at Raw Dog Screaming Press - http://www.rawdogscreaming.com/books/the-revelations-of-preston-black.html

Happy reading, everyone! And congrats, Jason, on the awesome cover!

Love Archon's cover?

If so, here's some great news! Archon has been nominated at Aussie Owned & Read's website for best international YA book cover, but I need your help to win the contest!  The link is here: http://aussieownedandread.com/2013/04/25/743/ . Just scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the link to vote! Easy peasy. 

You know, I am not certain if you have to be an Australian native to vote, but hey, every little bit counts!

My travel bucket list now officially has a kangaroo on it.  :-D

Oh, yeah, and my lil Aussie birdie says THANKS BUNCHES EVERYONE!

THANKS!!!!!

Status of Book 2--We're Getting There!

For me, writing a first draft is often the most magical part of creating a novel.  When I am that deeply invested in a story, so immersed in it that I almost eat, drink and breathe it, there is no describing the feeling.  Like I am watching a movie reel and simply noting what I see, I sit back and type as events unfold before my eyes.  Surprises happen.  Plots twists come out of nowhere.  Sometimes everything I had originally planned for a story takes a turn in the opposite direction.

That's the real enchantment of writing .  Then--there comes the hard work.  By hard work I mean re-writes and revisions.

Revisions are difficult enough.  They often involve some re-writing, editing, cutting, expanding, pretty much anything you can think of that would twist your story around in the direction your editor finds necessary.  But your original vision was there in its truest form.

Re-writes, however, are another beast entirely.  They are brand new first drafts.  They are taking the 5% of your previous first draft that actually worked and creating something the same yet entirely new. In other words, they involve the same investment as the original first draft if not more so, because now you have to make sure certain things are different no matter where you planned the story to go.

Last November, I finished the first draft of Covenant.  Months later, I was told I needed to re-think the general direction of my story. This month, I delivered a new story as promised.

Now I wait.

If all goes well, Covenant will enter into the revision stage sometime later this winter.  I can only keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best, like all authors do. 

This is a common plight for writers.  When our publishers say jump, we must often reply, "How high?"  But that isn't really a bad thing in the long run.

It's just teaching us that we can always jump higher than we originally thought.

So I jumped higher with this version of Book 2.  We're getting there, so I thank from the bottom of my heart every fan and interested reader for their patience.  Hopefully by this spring, Covenant will be solidly on its way to production.  Just one more moment yet--and my, how time flies . . .