Dear Readers and Friends,

This newsletter contains: one horse thief, one runaway princess, one final supervillain book edit update, a suspicious amount of publishing anxiety, and a tiny game because apparently I like giving myself extra projects.

So… pretty standard around here.

Oh, and Magically Murdered is free on Amazon until May 20th. You can grab it here. (This is Book 1 in the Paranormal Bed & Breakfast Mysteries series.)

📖 Inside the Lair (Writing Updates)

I’m excited to finally share the cover you picked for The Horse and the Thief and Me.

Ready?

Here it is!

And I love it. The vote wasn't even close. Seventy-three percent of you voted for this one. Thank you for your help.

I also updated the title font after several people kindly pointed out that my previous versions became unreadable blobs at thumbnail size. Unfortunately, this is the natural consequence of giving a book a title that’s seven words long when at least one of those words is completely unnecessary.

But we’re making it work.

And to celebrate, I’m trying something new… and slightly chaotic.

The book is now up for preorder for 99 cents and releases June 2nd.

You can:

• preorder it,
• wait and read it in Kindle Unlimited,
• OR grab a free copy right now.

(Or all three, if you’re feeling particularly supportive and/or impatient.)

The story is only around 60 pages, which puts it in that awkward “too long to ignore, too short to know what to do with” category. I absolutely love writing these shorter stories, though.

(Fun fact: during my five-year imposter syndrome era, I wrote around 30 of them. They’re all sitting on my hard drive waiting for one final edit pass and then someone can finally meet the characters who want to share their stories.)

Anyway, because of how Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited exclusive system works, I can offer this story free until June 2nd. My hope is that a few early readers might leave reviews when it goes live. If this experiment works, I may do more prerelease freebies in the future and rely on support through reviews, shares, and word of mouth instead.

Here’s the story's description:

My mother left a note on my pillow:

Breakfast. Do not be late. Lord Fenwick's son is perfectly pleasant.

I burned it.

Then I went to the stables — which is where I always go when the palace becomes intolerable, which is often. I was not expecting to find a man in my horse's stall. Tall, dark-haired, dressed like the road had made several attempts on his life. Smiling like he'd already decided how this was going to go.

He was stealing my horse.

Morrigan, who has bitten the captain of the guard, thrown three suitors, and eaten a diplomatic letter I'm fairly certain contained a marriage offer. Morrigan, who let him put on her bridle without complaint.

Traitor.

He said I couldn't come with him.

I'm currently on the horse. Draw your own conclusions.

A romantasy about a runaway princess, a half-fae thief with selectively applied principles, and the horse who started it all.

Preorder on Amazon for $0.99

Download Free on StoryOrigin

👀 Classified Intel (Exclusive Content)

I’m done with my edits on Chaos — the final book in the Girl’s Guide to Supervillainy series. Yay! Yay! YAY! It started as a short novella to post on Kindle Vella back in 2022. Actually, it started in 2020 when I bought the covers on a whim with a vague idea in my head. So, edits done. Sad. And Happy. Both those things. I can't wait to dive into a completely different series.

Now comes the “find all the embarrassing typos I somehow missed seventeen times already” round, and then it should finally be ready for all of you waiting on the finale.

In the meantime, here’s something fun for my supervillain readers.

(Yes, this was made with AI. No, it’s not perfect. But sometimes it’s fun seeing the story visually.) I don't have a link on the image so you can open it in a new tab and zoom in to read.

(Here is where you can read about the whole series if you have no idea what I'm talking about.)

And because I’ve been enjoying Jasmine's story (Chaos) way too much, here is a sneak peek of a few of my favorite lines from Chapter 1:

“Seven days of stale coffee, pie charts, and enough bureaucratic jargon to make my telekinetic brain short-circuit.”

“That was the thing about two years of friendship and just as long scheming together. You developed a whole language in furniture.”

“I’ve planned more exciting heists during kindergarten naptime.”

“As good as Leather makes me feel, I think it’s time for something that doesn’t squeak when I’m trying to be menacing.”

Which one is your favorite?

Also — do you enjoy behind-the-scenes writing stuff?

I recently wrote a blog post about the weird anxiety spiral I go through every single time I publish something. This one was triggered by The Horse and the Thief and Me because apparently trying a new genre and publishing a novelette was not stressful enough already.

You can read it here.

🌏 Through the Portal (Let's have Fun)

Last newsletter, you helped me vote on a cover.

This newsletter: a tiny game.

Spot the differences.

Here’s the opening scene from The Horse and the Thief and Me. There are 12 differences hidden between the two images. (Hint: You'll have to zoom in to see some of them.)

If you get stuck, reply to this email and I’ll send you the answers.

Take care,

— Joy (aka Joynell Schultz)

Otherworldly stories, always with heart.

[Website] · [Facebook] · [Instagram] · [Goodreads] · [Bookbub]

P.S. I’m also doing a couple cross-promos with other indie authors. One features discounted books, the other free giveaways — so if you’re looking for new reads, they’re worth browsing.