Mark your calendars!

One of my Inquisitors' Guild mysteries, The Woeling Lass, will be free as an ebook from January 9 to the 13th. If you're a fan of free reading, make sure to grab a copy from Amazon then. It's the best rated of my books, at 4.7/10 on Amazon. It's a dual perspective story. One is Gueran, an Inspector of noble birth who becomes a target of a brazen assassination attempt. The other is Urret, a struggling apprentice at the Guild who becomes entangled in the search to uncover the killers. There's magic, swords, a mysterious (and maybe real) ghost, and of course evil nobles and scheming. So much scheming. I hope you enjoy it!

Writing update

We did some traveling for the holidays, to Santa Fe to see my family. That was a lot of fun, but it wasn't conducive to much writing. Before I left, though, Sarah Estow and I got our romantic comedy Best, out to our group of early readers (about eight people in this case, with our combined list). We've heard back from four of them, and Christina's hard at work on her detailed edit. She read the book as we were writing it, two chapters at a time, but she hasn't given it her close First Reader™ treatment until this week. So far, because the book is already much more heavily worked over than my usual first draft, we're getting by with a lot fewer Post-It notes. I'm eager to read her advice. We gave Christina this one in a three-ring binder so I can hand Sarah's chapters over to her.

So far, the early reviews are positive, and we haven't gotten any advice that will be too hard to implement. There are three potential avenues for publication, and we haven't figured out which will work best yet - through Sarah's agent, through another agent, or indie, like my other books. We will hopefully have an idea of where we're headed by the end of the month, and I'll let you know.

Some stories to try

I'm part of several author collectives, and we share each other's work to try to help all of us reach more readers. In many cases, the books we share are are free or discounted. Sometimes, they ask that you sign up for a newsletter like this one. I have quite a few of these to start off the year:

First, I have Forging the Blade by Arwen Falvey, a steampunk fantasy novel with assassins, terrorists, and courtroom drama.

Next, I have a free sample of Chase Harlem by Elise Burke Brown. This is a murder mystery with a former FBI agent turned detective working the streets of New Orleans. It looks delightful, and you can try it out for free.

Next, I have Trapped Souls by R.W. Duder and Damien Richard, a free fantasy western novella with witches and gunfights and 19th century adventures in the old west.

Next, I have Darkness Below by Barbara Cottrell, a Lovecraftian mystery set at Miskatonic University, with a mysterious death, a monster, and a ghost with secrets. This is a free book, full length - give it a try.

Next, I have Sentinel: Zero Hour by Farabi Shayor, a free sci-fi story with cyberspace, AI entities, multiverses, and a whole bunch of other meaty sci-fi tropes.

Next, I have Finally, I have Berikatanyan Dawn by John Beresford. This is a free prequel novella that sets the stage for the later series, so you can give it a try. It's sci-fi (planetary colonization) and fantasy (elemental magic) combined. This book is currently only $0.99, so it's not a risk to give it a try.

Finally, I have a set of 32 books and series, all fantasy novels of all genres, that are free for Kindle Unlimited users. There's a ton of great stuff here, so check it out!

Thanks

Thanks so much for signing up for my newsletter. Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for upcoming books! I love hearing from people.

I hope you and your friends and family are having a safe and rewarding start to the year! I look forward to sharing new books with you soon.

May the Bloodmother watch over you - 

Dave