The Wild Charge

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, then you've (hopefully) seen the chapter by chapter updates of The Wild Charge as I post them over on Wattpad. I started posting in July, and, now that Blood of Wolves is complete, I'm going to spend the next few weeks knuckling down on TWC. 

I just posted chapter 19 this morning, so if you haven't heard about it yet, and want to get caught up, you can start chapter one HERE.

This is Dartmoor book 9, and it picks up right where Homecoming left off. The club is facing their biggest challenge to date in trying to bring down an international sex trafficking ring, and it's all hands on deck, with appearances from most of the cast and plenty of side-story action. But, at its core, this is Reese and Tenny's book. Our assassin boys are growing and adapting to life within the club, and most of that's down to their relationship with each other. So far, things have been a little slow, and a little soft, and I'm really enjoying getting the chance to tell this story in installment form because I get to layer in the light and fluffy before the sh*t hits the fan. And, boy, does it ever hit. 

I've received lots of questions about the book's completion date, and the answer is: I'm not sure. I post each chapter as I complete it, so, while I'm going to be working hard on it the next month or so, I have no idea when I'll actually finish. I'll publish the entire, edited book once it's complete, but I'm sorry to say there's no firm date. 

In the meantime, you can enjoy Reese and Tenny in bite-sized chunk form.

Debriefing - #BloodofWolves

 Blood of Wolves has been live in the wild for a week, so it's time for a debriefing. Spoilers abound! Turn back now if you haven't read it yet. 

You can grab it HERE on Amazon, and I swear I'm getting it ready for BN and Kobo, too.

The book picks up right where Edge of the Wild left off, with Oliver and Erik trying to get down off the mountains, and with the Sels anchored in the harbor back at Aeres. With threats looming all around, it was a book that demanded more-or-less nonstop action on all fronts, all of our characters caught partway through seasons of change and growth. 

Blood of Wolves: Now Live!

 It's here! Bet you never thought I'd finish, huh? Neither did I, some days. It was a long, busy summer full of lots of distractions and construction noise, but the third installment in the Drake Chronicles is finally here! 

Buy on Amazon

I'll have other retailers up soon. In the meantime, thanks for sticking with me, and I hope you enjoy the continued adventures of our king, his consort, and all their loved ones. There is so much more to come for everyone, and I'm really looking forward to book 4, and what it means for a certain necromancer. 

If you enjoy the book, positive reviews are much appreciated!

Lord Oliver and King Erik’s party survived capture with the help of some unlikely allies, and now hurry back through treacherous mountain paths to the site of the Midwinter Festival, where Northern celebration turned to bloodshed. From Dreki Hörgr, the ancestral seat of the North, the lords of Aeretoll will march back across the kingdom, wounded, exhausted, and waiting for Ragnar’s next strike.

All save Oliver, who will take to the skies – with the help of a rather petulant Corpse Lord.

In the city of Aeres, Tessa has made her choice of husband, but a wedding will have to wait because the Sels have set anchor in the harbor, and a siege is imminent. Being a Northern princess, she quickly learns, involves a fair bit of swordplay.

In the third installment of the Drake Chronicles, it’s a race for home, a prayer for strength in battle, and the magical truth behind what it means to have the Blood of Wolves. It is part of an ongoing epic fantasy series intended for adult audiences, including M/M and M/F romantic pairings.

Early Reflections #BOW

 

Typing THE END never gets old. There's always a point in the writing of every book, somewhere between 50-60k words, when I become convinced I can't finish. But then I do, and then it's time for editing, and proofing, and promotion, and diving into the next project. Right now, my priority is getting Blood of Wolves into everyone's hands, and then, after, working where and when I can as the holiday rush begins. 

As I've wrapped up this third installment of the Drake Chronicles, I've been thinking a lot about the direction in which I want to take this series, and my intent with it. Despite some violence and bloodshed, and the ever-increasing prevalence of necromancy courtesy of one bratty Corpse Lord, this series is much lighter in tone than some of my other fare - and that is most definitely by design. Themes of power, and privilege, and leadership are certainly present, but the overall tone of the series is far less grim than, say, GOT. (Some day I'll blog coherently about the ways the show ignored all the books' references to history and classic literature and just bulled right ahead with a misguided attempt to create a purely post-modern epic fantasy, but today is not that day.) Sons of Rome is fantasy rooted in the real world, with all the real world's baggage and blunders; I wanted the Drake Chronicles to feel more like a fairy tale: true escapism with a softer edge. 

Another thing I decided, early on, was to keep the books to a more manageable length. SoR is full-tilt fantasy pacing along the lines of Jordan or Sanderson. Fat, doorstop books that fully explore the histories and motivations of our characters. I'm taking the same approach to character development here, with the Drakes, but it's less doorstop, more bite-size installment form. It IS still fantasy, however, which means the story is ongoing, evolving, and I'm not sure, at this point, how many books it will contain. I originally said "upwards of five," and that's definitely true, but I've seen it referred to as a trilogy, or as a definite five-book series, and neither of those is true. I don't know how long it will be - as long as it takes to resolve all the character arcs. 

That's the common thread running through all my work: the focus is on the characters. The themes may be different, the tone, the style, even, but it's always character-driven. Dartmoor is - well, let's face it, despite my early efforts to spin it as some sort of sultry Southern epic - more or less just cheap debauchery at its finest. Down and dirty contemporary with (mostly) tidy storylines in each book, genre its main appeal. Hell Theory is weird, dystopian erotica. Sons of Rome is my big, ponderous, diesel-engine slow-build series, where I get to play with all my favorite tropes, themes, and storytelling devices. And then there's the Drakes, sweet and fluffy as fresh snowfall, but with that dangerous undercurrent that makes fantasy so damn fun to read. 

I'm off to crawl into my editing spiderhole, but be on the lookout for BoW teasers and updates and so forth. I'm very excited about the way the title of this book ties into the story itself. Every story needs werewolves. Given enough time, I think I could even figure out a way to put wolf shifters in Dartmoor 😉

#BoW Teaser: The Consort and the Corpse Lord

 *Has not finished the book yet*

*Holds out lengthy Oliver and Náli-centric teaser as peace offering*

So far, Oliver had learned several truths about flying:

One: ascent and descent were the most thrilling aspects. When your stomach dropped, and the world tilted, and the dragon’s strength became most apparent.

Two: once up at a good flying height, where the drakes could glide along without working too hard, flapping only occasionally and maintaining a steady elevation, the thrill of peeking down through the clouds lost some of its shine. Oliver didn’t want to say it got boring, but, well…it was rather quiet. With just the rush of the wind in his ears, and the monotonous slap of cold air against his face.

Speaking of which…

Three: flying up in the high, cold air for long periods chapped his lips and his cheeks, and left his eyes dry and stinging.

“Gods, I can’t do this anymore.”

Four: when he wasn’t besting anyone in a duel, or playing the imperious Corpse Lord, Náli was an absolute brat.

Updates and Such

It's been a minute since I've done an update post that wasn't something quick on Twitter or FB, so I thought it might help to consolidate the info and hopefully get everyone up to speed. 

Long story short - it's been a busy summer, with contracting crews in the house off and on since March and lots of around-the-farm projects to tackle before cold weather sets in. Throw in being sick, and I've been far less productive when it comes to writing than I wanted to be. Last year, for only the second time ever, I managed to release five projects - but that's not usual. I'm a lone wolf indie without a "team" behind me - by design, at this point, because I enjoy doing things my way, thanks very much - and so the whole publishing process isn't the speedy, book-a-month churning-out of work that's come to be expected from indies and self-pubbers (also, more "authors" than you think are groups of ghost-writers working in tandem to produce books at an alarming rate, so, those "standards" are skewed...).

Anyway. Suffice to say I'm not where I want to be, which means Blood of Wolves is still in progress. I'd hoped to have it out in August, but I'm still writing, and I don't have a set date. I don't really do set dates as a general rule, because I'd rather take the time a story needs to develop rather than rush toward an arbitrary finish line. So, right now, I'm going to say October, but please be aware that this is subject to change. 

I've had quite a few questions across mediums about The Wild Charge, and my answer is the same as when I began posting the book: I don't know when the final product will be available for sale. I'm posting each chapter as it is written, and it is not my primary project. Some weeks I get out two updates, and some weeks I don't work on it at all; it just depends. It's free to read on Wattpad, and you can find it HERE, for now.

As for Lionheart...man, I hate to say it, but I haven't written more than a handful of sentences for that big boy all summer. Sons of Rome is my pride and joy, my favorite series, my favorite group of characters - but it is an incredibly time-intensive, mentally-demanding project. The threads of past and present, the blending of real history with the paranormal bits I've invented demand a more tranquil writing environment than what I've been able to foster this year. I need to get some other projects released, and then clear some time in my schedule so I can work on LH and LH only for a little while. I'm so, so appreciative of the patience for those of you waiting for it - all wonderful three of you, lol. I love this series to bits, but I know its audience is incredibly tiny, so, sadly, it's had to get pushed to the back burner over and over the last two years. 

All that's to say: I don't have release dates for anything. I will be putting something out this fall, hopefully soon. BOW is the closest to complete, and also the priority right now; The Wild Charge has low interest on Wattpad (as I predicted earlier this year), so it's just a whenever I feel like it sort of thing, and LH is on hold until I can give it the time it deserves - epic fantasy is not a quick, dirty endeavor, and it IS epic fantasy, not to be confused with anything else. 

That's all for now. Everyone have a great weekend, I'm going back to work. 

Here's a BOW teaser to tide you over:

Percy lifted his head, buckles on his new bridle jangling as he swung around to look at Erik – to greet him, Oliver realized, as the drake leaned in close and huffed through his nose, breath stirring Erik’s hair. Erik lifted his free hand – because he carried something tucked under his arm with the other, Oliver saw – and placed his palm gently on the end of Percy’s nose.

An Announcement

I have an announcement. 

Ooh, boy, the flu kicked my ass for two weeks. I had a few days in there when I started to feel a little better, and then would backslide. But now it seems I'm finally back on track. For obvious reasons, I didn't get much writing done in those two weeks, which puts me behind my personal goals, which is annoying. But I did do a lot of reading - a lot of fanfic reading - and a lot of thinking. About a lot of things.

I've always loved fic. I love the creativity, and the bite-sized chunks of character deep-dives; the ways writers expand on characters I already love and fill in all the gaps of story canon. From a writing standpoint, that's always been the way I work best: telling a story one chapter at a time. Blocking off a few months to write an entire manuscript in solitude, hoping people will actually read it once it's done is grueling. I've honestly never understood the way some readers reject installment-form stories: I would rather a story never finish, but have given me what enjoyment it could than never have read any of it at all. Better to have loved and lost, right? 

When I started back to work, I spent half a day reading through the docs in my WIP folder, and, on reckless impulse, opened up my Reese and Tenny doc. I said months ago that I was washing my hands of that series because I'm sick to death of the hassle and bullshit people have given me about it. Like hell was I going to set aside my fun fantasy projects, block off four months, and write a book that I'm still not convinced will actually be read. But I read through that doc - I've got 23k words done on it - and...it didn't suck. In fact, I really liked it. Because even if I'm sick to death of being considered a one-trick pony, even if there are moments when I don't even want to speak the word "Dartmoor," Reese and Tenny were the thing I was looking forward to. I wrote Lone Star and Homecoming for the sole purpose of setting up their book. 

I have a love/hate relationship with Dartmoor. I never wanted to write an MC series, but when the jackals swooped in and started lifting whole-ass scenes from my fanfics to put into their self-pubbed biker books - when a few had the audacity to ask if they could "have" my ideas if I was "done with them." Then? That was the gauntlet throw-down. I was going to take my ideas back, and I was not going to write an MC romance series - I was going to write a series about a messed-up found family that happened to be bikers. 

I've been incredibly proud of certain scenes and moments. But over the years, realizing that the series was never going to be what people wanted, being bullied, and harried, the shine wore off. The bad outweighed the good. I didn't want to write a series *just* for the biker aspect - I wanted to write for people who genuinely loved the characters and were willing to follow them down some genre-atypical roads. 

I was honestly surprised by the number of people who reached out, after my March blog post, both in public and private, urging me to change my mind. Some of those people asked for more Dartmoor. 

And some of those people wanted to read the rest of Reese and Tenny's story.

So. I'm doing this for the Reese and Tenny lovers. Because I love them, too. And because, despite all the bad, I know there are quiet, kind fans out there who I'll be letting down if I don't see this thing through. 

But we're doing it on my terms. I will not be badgered into anything. I'm not setting out to write an MC book - no checking boxes on anything. These boys were raised as assassins and spies, and those themes are going to be front-and-center. I won't be delaying my other projects, so The Wild Charge will be published chapter-by-chapter on Wattpad, just like Snow In Texas and Tastes Like Candy. I'll start by posting the chapters I already have completed, and, if there's interest and enthusiasm, then I'll keep writing and adding chapters until the story is complete. 

Here's the thing, though: I'm not going to tolerate any nonsense. If anyone feels the need to leave a snide or disparaging comment on my FB page or blog, I'm deleting it. There are public spaces where you can say whatever you want, but, to quote Ghost, my personal pages are "the United States of [Gilley] and your First Amendment rights do not apply here." If you don't like M/M books, don't like "spy shit," and are mainly concerned with the Motorcycle Club aesthetic of the series, then I'll say upfront that this is not the book for you. If you can't read until the whole thing's available, fine, but you don't need to come tell me that. 

Like I said before: this is for Reese and Tenny. It's for the sweet readers who really are interested in them. I have no idea if that group of readers is large or small, but I guess we'll find out. I'm also doing this for me, because, if I stop worrying about delivering a bog-standard "MC read" for the general audience, then this is going to be a kickass, smutty action/adventure story with a wild plot and plenty of Devin Green's brood. 

The prologue and first two chapters just went up on Wattpad. Be forewarned that this is an M/M romance with explicit sex, lots of violence, intrigue, spec ops and spy action, and a healthy dose of childhood trauma. Usual trigger warnings apply: graphic sex, torture, gunplay, you know, all that. Mercy is a trigger warning all on his own. 

When you're an artist, the weigh to expectation can feel crushing. It's important to remind myself every so often that I don't have to do anything that I don't want to; the weight can only crush you if you let it.

Fans, thank you.

Haters, to the left. 

A storm is brewing, and the Lean Dogs find themselves in the center of it. What at first seemed like a routine clash with a cartel proves to be part of a much more sinister - and more powerful - operation than any of them expected. The Dogs have a choice: back out now, play dumb...or go full-on vigilante. 

Tennyson Fox has a new name, a new home, a new family...and, if he can admit it to himself, the chance to love and be loved. He and Reese - trained assassins both - will be at the spearhead of the Dogs' move on Abacus, and the two young lovers have to balance their burgeoning relationship with the thing they do best: killing. 

Book nine of the Dartmoor Series picks up right where Homecoming left off. A non-standalone M/M romance set in the world of an outlaw motorcycle club and the dark underworld they rule. 

Read it Here