One for the TBR list

The cover of this book caught my eye.
I'm currently writing a sequel to Magic in the Blood called Santa Muerte, but the saint of the title is a benign, female version of death who grants favors to her followers. this looks like a very different book, but I definitely want to read it. It's available on a bunch of different platforms, but here's the publisher's site.

The debut authors are crushing it lately

Heart of Thorns, described as a fierce feminist fantasy, is the first in a series (of course), about a young woman who lives in a world where only women can possess magic. The author is Bree Barton, and if you sign up for her newsletter, you can win a copy of the book. (It was published last month.)

I like the cover--simple and elegant. I like the concept. Can't wait to dig into this one.

Peng Shepherd's Book of M--a review

In a world where people are suddenly losing their shadows, the lives of a group of unrelated people are bound up in a hope for building a new world on the memory of the old.

This is an epic, apocalyptic quest along the lines of Stephen King’s THE STAND or Robert McCammon’s SWAN SONG, with a large dose of INCEPTION thrown in. It’s also a zombie story of sorts, particularly in scenes where the “shadowless” surround those who are still tethered to their ‘dark twins.” The story unfolds in a somewhat nonlinear fashion where events being recounted by various characters overlap, but there’s a good mix of adventure and intimate contact.

The unraveling of reality is incredibly visual, and no one will much quibble with the premise that memories are stored in our shadows (and not in a certain part of our brains). The writer tells the story from multiple points of view, with both first and third person being used. The author does a very good job of “opening out” the story with flashbacks to “before” and even to multiple events after the Forgetting hits.

Peng Shepherd's debut novel is a multi-faceted apocalyptic quest story told from multiple points of view. She plays with pov in a way that I haven't seen since Kevin Brooks' iBoy, and it's astonishing that this is her first book. 

Coming soon!!!

I am very excited about this upcoming boxed set which features stories about royal witches!! Mine is about a young Catherine the Great using magic to play a real-life Game of Thrones. Stay tuned for more info!  In the meantime, if you have a iDevice or a Nook, you can pre-order. (Amazon pre-order will happen later in the year.)
Here's a link that will take you everywhere.

The Heart of a Devil

I'm always interested in the villains. YYou HAVE to have great villains to have a great tale. My short story "The Ugly One," a tale of a mermaid's revenge, is in this collection. I can't wait to read the other stories. Here's where you can get it.

The Z Sisters

I've been having fun writing different kinds of stories this year and I had a blast writing a "zombie apocalypse" story for Nicole Morgan's Zombie Apocalypse boxed set (on pre-order at Amazon here for 99 cents).  I haven't been given the official go-ahead to share the cover (although it is up at Amazon) but the cover I have for the eventual stand-alone release is here. Images by Neostock, design by Indie Author Services.

Seven Shifter Stories!

The first book in Pure Textuality's Summer of the Supernaturals has landed:  Shifters in the Shadows, curated by Jena Gregoire and Brandy Dorsch. It's a sampler pack of all kinds of shifters--yes, there are werewolves (including my own The Howl), but there are whole worlds of paranormal creatures here--vampires, and witches, and mountain lions and panthers. And dragons. There are also dragons in the story that anchors the collection.

Wicked Desire by Brandy Dorsch (Hunger Mates, Book 2)--The story that leads this collection offers a strong, if conflicted, heroine and a little reverse-harem action with the two sexy werewolves who want her as their mate. Throw in some nice world-building that includes were and vampire protocol, and Wicked Desire is the perfect story to set the mood. Even better, if you love it (and you will), there are other books in the series. Find more of her work here.

One Wounded Wolf  by Nicole Zoltack--Set in Bethlehem, PA (where the author lives), this is a story of a town overrun by all sorts of supernatural creatures, from sirens to djinn, and an immortal werewolf that drinks blood. The narrator muses on the relative strength of vampires versus werewolves and concludes that, "They have fangs and so do we!"  Find more of her work here.