War of Shadows comes out in April. It’s Book 3 in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga continuing the quest of Blaine McFadden and his convict friends to restore the kingdom of Donderath after the Great Fire and Cataclysm lay waste to their homeland. You’ll get a first look at the amazing cover right here.
Then in late June, Iron and Blood: A Jake Desmet Adventure debuts. This is the new steampunk series that my husband, Larry N. Martin, and I are co-writing, and it’s set in 1898 in an alternative history Pittsburgh. Airships, amazing gadgets, and supernatural threats—it’s going to be a wild ride. I’ve got the cover art for you to take a look at—it’s pretty awesome!
In November, the second Deadly Curiosities book will be on shelves. It doesn’t have name yet, but it’s already well on the way to being written. We’ll pick up with Cassidy, Teag, and Sorren as they keep dangerous magical items off the market and keep supernatural threats from destroying Charleston, SC.
And of course, the Jonmarc Vahanian Adventures and the Deadly Curiosities Adventures series of short stories will continue in 2015. For Jonmarc, “Season 2” finds him fighting as a mercenary in Principality, where he just might attract the attention of the Eastmark army. The Deadly Curiosities Adventures follow the exploits of Cassidy, Teag, and Sorren before and between the books.
Anthologies!! I was crazy and lucky enough to be featured in a lot of anthologies in 2014, and the trend continues for 2015! Dreams of Steel 5, a steampunk anthology from Dark Oak Press features one of our Sound and Fury short stories, a tie-in to the Iron and Blood series. Big Bad 2, also from Dark Oak Press, will have a horror story from Yours Truly unrelated to any of my series. The yet-unnamed space-themed Origins Gaming Convention anthology will also feature one of my stories. And I’m sure there will be more to come! (For a full list of the anthologies that are available for purchase, please check out the Anthologies link on my website.)
Some anthologies will straddle the dateline, being Kickstarter-funded in 2014 but squeaking in just before or just after the new year. That includes Heroes, an anthology from Silence in the Library which features not-your-average superheroes and story illustrations by comic book great Mark Dos Santos. Icarus: A Graphic Novel, also from Silence in the Library, features my add-on story in that universe illustrated by LucasArts/Marvel artist Joe Corroney. Expect to see these somewhere mid-winter!
Conventions and Notable Dates for the rest of 2014 and 2015! Here’s what I have confirmed so far:
- 2014 World Fantasy Society, Washington, DC
- 2014 Atomacon, Charleston, SC
- 2014 Philcon, Cherry Hill, NJ
- January Arisia in Boston, MA
- January Illogicon in Raleigh, NC
- February Mysticon in Roanoke, VA
- March AZ Renaissance Festival in Apache Junction, AZ
- April War of Shadows launches!
- April Ravencon in Richmond, VA
- May ConCarolinas in Charlotte, NC
- June Origins Gaming Convention in Columbus, OH
- June Hawthorn Moon Online Event
- June ConTemporal in High Point, NC
- July Iron and Blood launches!
- July ConGregate in Winston-Salem, NC
- Nov Deadly Curiosities Book 2 launches! (I promise we’ll have a better name by then!)
I’ll update the list as I hear more about conventions for Fall, 2015. And of course, my Thrifty Author Publishing Success Meetup group continues to meet monthly in Charlotte—check out the Meetup.com site for details.
My Days of the Dead blog tour runs through October 31 with never-before-seen cover art, brand new excerpts from upcoming books and recent short stories, interviews, guest blog posts, giveaways and more! Plus, I’ll be including extra excerpt links for stories and books by author friends of mine. And, a special 50% off discount from Double-Dragon ebooks! You’ve got to visit the participating sites to get the goodies, just like Trick or Treat! Details here: www. AscendantKingdoms.com
Trick or Treat: Enjoy an excerpt from my short story, The Low Road, here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/9463190-the-low-road
Extra bonus excerpt from Michael Ventrella’s Arch Enemies here: https://michaelaventrella.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/archenemiessample.pdf
And even more excerpts and freebie wallpaper from Danielle Ackley-McPhail’s Badass Faeries series here: https://www.badassfaeries.com/freebies.ht
