There are all sorts of ways to find amazing books online. At the start of July, I told you about a place to find great reads for the month. If you don’t remember, check it out right here! The promo is only open a few more days, so be sure to check it out.
But wait, there is more!! During the month of August, Astrid has found fantasy books that will be available to you for free or for $0.99! Each week, a new set of books will be there for your perusal! How amazing is that. My books will be there the week of August 17th, don’t worry, I’ll remind you. You can find her fair here, book mark it and enjoy a month of amazing reads!!
If you want more information about Astrid and her amazing book or book offers, you can follow her on Amazon, or Instagram. And I hope you take as much advantage of this as I do…it will be amazing!
I am so excited! When I started writing Jade Stone Chronicles, I didn’t know what I was doing. I just wanted to write this story about Jade, who had everything together. In Wolf Healer, She headed on a spring break trip with her best friend and bam! life unwinds.
I wanted to add to the book a new twist on ways a teenager’s life could be a challenge with the adults in their life. Jade and friends have understanding supportive parents… but this trip pushed her parents’ werewolf pack farther than they’d expected to go. She had to rely on her smarts, her friends, and her brother to put the pieces of her life back together.
In the second book, Epsilon, a young girl comes into her family and pack. A rouge wolf comes into their town. It’s a darker story.
Honestly, for over a year I thought I’d stop after these two books, but my oldest son kept asking for more. I finally relented and wrote the third book… and I am so glad I did. Alphas is one of my favorite of the six books in the Jade Stone Chronicles. I love the different story arcs that happen.
This book closes out here Junior year, and her high school years. After this, books 4, 5, and 6 will see Jade and the gang in college.
I hope you are as excited as I am and love this book as much as I do!
It is July, and it is a time for so much exciting news! A new author, Christina Wallace, has her debut book, The Light Keeper, coming out May 30th, 2023. Starry Ink Press is her amazing new publisher, Starry Ink Press. Her book is a middle grade/preteen fantasy, and she’s releasing her cover today! Like, right now! Isn’t it great! You can pre-order her book in some places already as well.
You can find Christina on Instagram. The details on her book are below.
Speaking of books coming out, A.R. Grimes’s first book, Wyldling Snare comes out on September 10th. You can find information on her book below, as well as her recently released cover. Her book is a YA Christian Portal High Fantasy. I’ve read this book, and it is amazing! Five stars. You can find A.R. Grimes on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and her own website. She puts out great advice on writing.
And then there is C.C. Davie. Her book, Heliacle Rising, was suppose to come out in September, but just came out this month. Unlike Christina and A.R. Grimes, C.C. Davie’s book has a bit of spice in her high fantasy book. You can find C.C. Davie on TikTok, Facebook, Goodreads, and Instagram.
Lastly, my book, Alphas, comes out on July 21st, that’s in less than a week! Gah, four books over the next year. I tell you, it is all so very very exciting!
I hope you are all as excited as me.
Huckle
The Light Keeper – Christina Wallace
Wishes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be… especially when you have to capture the Fairies who grant them to you.
Er… make that faeries… and not the normal, hiding-in-plain-sight magical kind.
When a misadventure cleaning out the attic leads Isaac to release a faerie trapped in a glass ball of light, he believes he’s struck gold–in the form of wishes. All he has to do is mention the name that was engraved on the ball, and the indebted faerie would grant him any three wishes he wanted.
The best part of all was knowing that there was an entire chest of captured faeries waiting to be freed…
But when strange things start to happen around town, Isaac begins to wonder if the increasingly unfortunate events are his doing.
Only his mysterious neighbor, Yara, knows the truth about his lineage as a Light Keeper.
Can Yara’s strength and wisdom guide Isaac into his new role?
Can Isaac make things right again?
Or will his dream-come-true turn into his worst nightmare?
Wyldling Snare – A.R. Grimes
What if, at the tender age of sixteen, you suddenly found yourself responsible for the government of an entire realm? And what if your innate magical abilities as a wyldling surfaced at the same time? Welcome to the world of Enoch Northward, a young man whose secure and predictable life has just turned upside-down.
Enoch returns home from the Resurrection Festival to discover that his beloved guardian, the Baron-Knight of the Northern Marches, has passed away. The youth must now act as Baron-Knight under the strict tutelage of his dreaded mentor, Commander Storm. Lacking confidence in his ability to lead others, Enoch neither expected nor desired this heavy responsibility to fall upon his shoulders.
Hoping to prove himself as a leader, Enoch enters the forbidden Darkenwood Forest to search for people from his village who have gone missing. Instead, he discovers a secret Wall that connects him to Annabelle, a girl from Earth, with whom he’s been sharing dreams and seems like a sister. Grieving and desperate for a family, Enoch wants Annabelle in his life and is willing to take risks and break the rules to ensure this. However, time is running out. Enoch doesn’t realize it, but a young sorcerer’s scheme to ensnare Enoch for a dark purpose is close to fruition. Can Enoch bring Annabelle to his world, Tehara, before it’s too late? For–all unknowing–Enoch has set into motion a shadowy adversary’s plans that will entangle the fates of three teens from very different worlds.
Heliacle Rising – C.C. Davie
Taken in as ward of Lord Drakon after her parents’ slaughter. Forced to navigate a new life, trying to become what is required of her in a world so vastly different than what she had known.
Then Attica, Kingdom of the Wytchlings, moves to rise again. Territories long alienated are forced to unite. Secrets begin to unravel. Secrets that make her question everything.
She is Amylia Sylvers. And she is about to show the world that even the most unexpected … can burn the brightest.
People today won’t buy things that others haven’t reviewed. Even if we’re at a brick-and-mortar store–are they still really made from bricks and mortar? I digress. Even in these situations, we scan the bar code and check out what other people have found out about the items we want to buy.
Is it any wonder I’ve offered reviewing my book as one of the ways to win a free copy of book three in the Jade Stone Chronicles? It comes out on July 21st. The time is almost upon us! On July 1st I’ll reveal the cover, and announce the winner of the signed paperback book. If you haven’t put up a review, what’s stopping you? If you have and haven’t commented that your review is up, do so now! I need to know to add you to my list.
This offer is quickly coming to an end. The next time you’ll be offered such an amazing deal will be sometime in October or November for book four. Unless I do a whole party, which had a ton of gifts and prizes!
If you are curious, here is a list of each of the books and when they are coming out.
Hope that makes you as excited as I am! Find all of the links ok each of the books pages on my website. Or on my linktree here!
Hi all! Alphas comes out July 21, 2022. I am very excited to share my third book with you. It is the end of Jade’s high school years. I will be including a short story in Bevin’s point of view at the end of the story. All of the Jade Stone Chronicles are in Jade’s point of view and she doesn’t know everything. Bevin wanted all of you to know something, and asked that I include this short piece so you knew how his story played out.
On July 1st I’ll reveal the cover. That will be the deadline for joining the website to enter to win a free signed copy of alphas. If you’ve already been signed up, all you need to do is review Wolf Healer and/or Epsilon to enter one or two times to win. If you review, please drop a comment on his newsletter so I can make sure to know that you have those extra entries!
It is June and I have a flash fiction that will be up for a few more weeks. Check it out and let your creative juices flow!
Alphas comes out on July 21st! If you aren’t signed up to my website, do so to be entered to win a free copy of the third installment of the Jade Stone Chronicles. If you are already part of the page, leave a review for Wolf Healer and/or Epsilon for a chance to win the book. Comment to let me know you’ve left a review. You could be entered three times!
You all are the first to hear of this, but I am planning on adding a short story in Bevin’s point of view to the end of Alphas. I feel it will round out the book nicely.
The cover reveal is for Alphas is coming in July! Details coming soon!
Book four of the Jade Stone Chronicles, Traitor, will come out late November or early December. It is just in its infancy of clean up, editing, beta reading, and so on. My team is busy, so if it gets pushed off later, you’ll just have to wait to see what college brings to Jade.
Again, as we hit the middle of pride month, I hope you’ve taken up the challenge of reading books either by authors in the LGBTQ+ community and/or with LGBTQ+ characters. If you want something steamier than my books, here is a book that is both by an author in the community, with LGBTQ characters. It is a romance, but the scenes are fade to black.
As I dive deeper into the TikTok world, I am learning more and more that… I know nothing, but it’s fun to pretend. I present to you my latest list of: how to be famous, when I am not… but maybe you can be!
At the start, you will need to interact with a lot of people to get them to interact with you.
I know some account(s) follow very few people and have thousands of followers. I can only imagine they’ve spent hours interacting with the people they hope will follow them. Personally I like the community and follow accounts. They follow me. It’s a thing. At the end of the day, TikTok is a community, and interacting is how you get people to follow you.
But Huckle, you ask, how do you interact?
Watch videos to the end, if you don’t, that hurts the person you are interacting with.
Like their video.
If someone likes your video, head over and watch one of two of their videos.
If you don’t love the way they present their content, you could watch while doing chores… at the end of the day, we’re all just trying to figure this out.
Comment, it can be an emoji, word, phrase, anything really.
Copy the link to their video. Sharing is awesome, but copying is usually enough.
Did you know, you can like your own videos? You can be your own fan.
Make sure the people you are interacting with are the people who will be interested in your videos. I do videos about writing and books, so those are the accounts I interact with.
There are a lot of bots – and a lot of opinions about what to do with them. They can up your follow numbers. I’ve heard deleting them helps you to get more views from the people you want.
Once you reach 1000 followers, start going live…once a week? I did my first live with a friend and it was a hoot! So much fun!
When you create a video, speak in a relaxed voice, but remember, you aren’t talking to friends. Speak directly and don’t repeat yourself… in other words, speed up!
I watch friend’s videos and they babble on and on and I just can’t.
Make the word videos readable.
If I can’t read the words as they flash by, what’s the point?
If you make a page or flip video, add the title and author of the book!
People aren’t watching your videos sequentially, don’t assume they saw ‘the last one’, or ‘yesterday’, or any other of your videos.
Never be afraid to ask questions if you are confused. We’ve all been there. How do you add stickers? Where is the cover words? How many hashtags? What type of videos should I make? What’s the right number of videos to post a day? (Two… two a day…) Will TikTok be scary? Will it help me to sell books? Are people on TikTok nice? (Mostly, but some can be rude, you can block them)… So many questions. Just… ask. There are a lot of lovely people who will answer these questions and more.
In the end, have fun. TikTok is a place to enjoy yourself.
Cheers!
Huckle
If you want to see more of my musings, or have a chance a winning one of my book, join my site!
The online writing and reading community is amazing. I have found, over the last few years, people who have become life long friends. I honestly can’t imagine what writers did before the invent and standardization of the interwebs.
** Not me or my actual friends Photo by Sharefaith on Pexels.com
There are places online to find writing help and fun challenges, like the flash fiction I offer! Recently I joined a Summer Reading Competition hosted by a Facebook page. It focused on indie fantasy authors, and being one, I was thrilled. Talk about supporting the community.
After submitting my first review, not only to the site, but to goodreads and Amazon, I asked if I could recommend Wolf Healer to the site. I was informed that without more than werewolves, my book was considered PNR. For those of you who don’t know, that means paranormal romance.
But, I sputtered to myself, I wrote the book to be accessible to all ages…I wrote it for my kids! It isn’t romance. Frustration steaming from my ears, I calmly informed the person who told me my book was romance, that no, it wasn’t. “Too bad, so sad!” No, she didn’t say that, she sent me a link to the pages rules, which stated no shifter books allowed.
I may have mentioned before that marketing is hard! I don’t know how to convince people online to check out my books. This page seemed so perfect! More than that, until June 6th, my ebook is available for FREE! But nope, it’s a no go. My book is anathema to this page.
So, where does this leave me? I don’t know. Part of me wants to walk away from the summer reading challenge. They don’t want me, I don’t want them. I’m also very busy. But, It is early June and the reading competition goes through the end of August. I convinced three of my friends to join as well, and don’t want to walk away from them.
In the end, I was mapping out how to read a bunch of books I didn’t have time to read. This may be a blessing in wolf’s clothing. I will read books for the competition as I have time, but focus my time on the things I really need to do.
In the end, if you are a writer or reader, finding these groups can help you find people who have similar interests. You can meet great friends. And, in all honesty, I have experienced way more of the good than the bad or ugly.
Cheers!
Huckle
P.S. If you aren’t subscribed to my site and do so before the cover reveal, you can enter to win a signed copy of book 3 – Alphas. If you ARE subscribed and leave a review on Amazon/Goodreads for Wolf Healer and/or Epsilon before the cover reveal you can be entered… once per review. Just comment on here to let me know.
Today is the last day to drop you flash fiction submission in the comments of this post here. I’m hoping to get you to see your creativity. Let your words fly!
I’ve been playing around on my website. I figure out how to make my social media links ACTUALLY work… I hadn’t realized they didn’t work. I created a new page for newsletters! And now, today’s post, marketing.
Over the years I’ve met a lot of indie-authors who have helped me become the author I am today (yes Wes, yes Angela, I just said that to the internet at large!) I plan on highlighting them in the weeks to come, their books, their websites, and more about them. You should support more than traditionally published authors. People who do this on their own are amazing!
But wait, I teased you with a free book! My third book, Alphas, comes out on July 21, 2022. If you subscribe to my site before the cover reveal, you could win a free signed copy of the book.
But wait, you say, I’m already subscribed. Well, comment on this post that you’ve left a review about book 1 or book 2, and you’re set! If you’ve commented on both, you’ll be entered twice for being a long time fan. I believe in honoring those who’ve supported me!
Huckleberry Rahr - Author 