Spring Is In The Air!

I have gotten Pack back from the editor! Yes, you read the right. I am somewhat ahead of schedule. The cover isn’t done… but I’m working on that. If all my silly ducks keep going in the same direction, I’ll consider publishing early… Leave me a comment on if you think that’s a good idea!

I got a week by week calendar this year because I don’t know if I can keep track of all the things I’m doing. I don’t know when I got to be so busy. I don’t think I’ve missed anything huge, but part of me wonders if at one point I had a third kid and I’ve left the poor soul somewhere!

I’ve double checked and I still have all four cats, and they look well fed (as do my two kids… and according to all my pictures, that’s the correct number.)

After Pack, Battlefield is the last book of the Jade Stone Chronicles. I’m debating a Christmas story… let me know your thoughts in the comments.

The free short story I talked about a few newsletter ago, I threw up on Amazon. You can still get it from me if you’d like, just let me know. You can send me a note in the contact form or leave a comment and I’ll give you a personal code. If you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read it that way, too. I’m including the QR code here, I believe you can get the free book by giving your email again, but you won’t get two newsletters, the website is smarter than that…

While you are waiting for Pack to come out, here are some options.

Books with strong female leads: https://books.bookfunnel.com/kickassyoungwomen/eqqyghkanu

LGBTQIA SF/F books: https://books.bookfunnel.com/lgbtqiasff/sjv9r4f96l

Thanks for reading!

Huckle

February

As a friend said, we are in a month of Mondays! Some love this month, but here in Wisconsin it is cold and snowy. It is a month to survive. I have several friends, and a mom, with a birthday this month – HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALL – but it’s still a rough twenty-eight days.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I’ve been spending the month having Pack edited. It’s scheduled to come out on May 8th. I may release it early if everything comes together. The cover is almost ready to share; expect that in the next newsletter. Then Battlefield will publish on August 17th.

There’s a question out about a series for Pebble. The jury is still out. If I decide to write that series, it won’t be in 2023.

I published a short steampunk story, The Search. Amazon put it under forty-five minute reads. I’m excited about this story, and hope you look into it.

If you’ve caught up on all of the above, then what’s left for you to discover? You know I won’t leave you without anything to read. See below for three excellent books to add to your collection! I’ve personally read Wyldling Snare and Legacy Bound and can tell you they are excellent. As for Butter, Sugar, Magic, I hear her characters almost eat as much as mine, so don’t read hungry!

Thanks for joining me once again!

Huckle

Wyldling Snare – A.R. Grimes

Welcome to Tehara: an untamed world where magic is possible, dangerous creatures roam the wilderness, and a hidden adversary schemes to overthrow the rule of the Baron-Knights.

Apprentice knight Enoch Northward returns home from a festival to find the Baron-Knight of the Northern Marches dead, the heir-apparent missing, and himself expected to rule in their stead. While he grieves the loss of his beloved guardian, Enoch is determined to prove his ability to lead despite his incomplete training. But he struggles to follow in such large footsteps. A search for missing people draws him into the forbidden Darkenwood Forest, where he discovers a path to another world… and a secret within himself that may destroy everything he loves.

Wyldling Snare—a young adult portal fantasy and the first installment of the Wyldling Dream series—is a coming of age story with underlying themes of faith, friendship, and found family.

Butter, Sugar, Magic – Jessica Rosenberg

Midlife transformation has never been more magical or delicious.

When Cassie inherits a fully stocked bakery along with a beautifully furnished apartment from a mysterious great aunt, she’s convinced she must be dreaming.

Things like this don’t happen to 40-year-old newly single moms down on their luck.

Then again, apartments don’t usually adapt themselves to your desires and friendly neighbors don’t usually tell you you’re a witch as they float fireballs in the air.

Cassie has two choices. She can hightail it out of this bewildering town and figure out another way to support her pre-teen daughter. Or she can stay in this unsettling place and embrace the unexpected.

Will she have what it takes to bake up a magical fresh start, or is this all just too far out of her comfort zone?

Butter Sugar Magic is the first book in the delicious new Baking Up a Magical Midlife Paranormal Women’s Fiction series by Jessica Rosenberg.

Legacy Bound – Elizabeth Daly

Mages bound to the Queen want free of their bindings, whilst those found unbound are put to death. Rebellion is in the air.

Isobel, an empath, hides in plain sight, dreading the day they will come for her. Older sister to William, she has spent her life protecting him while searching for a cure to the demonic corruption that will eventually consume him.

Looking for redemption, former soldier, William, has turned to the Light, renouncing his violent ways. If he doesn’t, he risks losing the battle raging inside him and fears the consequences of that happening to those he loves.

Youngest grandson of the Queen, free spirited Prince Marcus cavorts throughout the empire, determined to enjoy his remaining moments, and with one year left, his time runs short. But when he meets Isobel, Marcus discovers there is more to life than indulging every whim and fancy.

Not knowing friend from foe, and with the repercussions of their actions closing in, Isobel, Marcus and William find themselves on the run whilst trying to stop an uprising that could shatter the empire.

Can they succeed and break free of the shackles of their past, or will they be forever bound to it?

Excited!

Hi all! I’ve been working behind the scenes, trying to get things done! You can now order signed paperback books from the website! If you’re in the continental US, the price includes shipping. If not, send me a note, and we’ll figure it out. I’m thinking about getting book plates (signature stickers) to mail out so you can get your book signed from afar! With every ordered book, you’ll also get a bookmark!

Now, for the next new bit of news, I have a new short story I’m giving out to newsletter subscribers. I know, you’re already subscribed! Well, if you want the short story, let me know. There is a contact form, send me a note with the email you want me to send the short story, and I’ll get it sent to you! It’s a steam punk short that’s a fun quick read.

If you know anyone who may be interested in joining the website and getting the free short story, flash them this QR code, and they be part of our Wolf Healer family!

Just a reminder, I’m working hard to get Pack to snuff. It’s getting edited and the cover is being made. I’ll let you all see it as soon as it’s done. The book is scheduled to post in May, May 8th to be exact…Bevin’s birthday!

Hope you’re enjoying February!

Cheers!

Huckle

Happy New Year!

What an amazing year it has been! Three new books have come out: Epsilon, Alphas, and Traitor. In 2023, I plan on releasing Pack and Battlefield, and then the series will be complete. With some convincing, I may give Pebble her own series, but it hasn’t been started yet.

During November, I wrote the first two books of a phoenix-shifter series. I am very excited about this new series as well.

I don’t know about you, but this last week of the year — the days before New Years — they always seem to be a blur. When I’m not writing, I teach, but now that it’s winter break the days have become a formless blob of unknown time. I know a lot of people like to read, and as it goes, a LOT of books go on sale. Since my books are all available on Kindle Unlimited, I can’t put them on sale very often. However, a website I adore, I love Sapphfic — features a bunch of books that ARE on sale from Dec 26 – Dec 30. Check them out!

You can find the books here!

As I have mentioned before, you can get great fantasy books here when you join the author’s newsletters! This deal is open until the end of the year.

Lastly, three books I think you’ll love!

Flash Flood – Melissa Gunn

Tammy’s a demigoddess with a water affinity. It’s just her luck that she lives in soggy England, and has developed a water allergy. On her way home she encounters a flash flood and a teenage werewolf, and everything changes – but for better or worse? 

Read for free when you join her newsletter!

Aspiring – Astrid V. J.

Silver winner of the 2019 Literary Classics International Book Award for Young Adult Fantasy

“A well written and utterly charming coming-of-age tale. With excellent world-building in a realm where magic, elves, and unicorns exist, we are introduced to perfectly flawed and highly relatable characters.”

About Aspiring

A coven of witches plots to overthrow a kingdom. One brave woman stands in their way.

At her mother’s death-bed, Elisabeth learns her mother’s illness is no accident and that her own life is in danger. Evil witches are plotting to take over the kingdom of Vendale. All alone, naive, and untrained, Elisabeth’s determination is all she has to confront her mother’s murderers as she discovers love at the same time. While Richard’s behaviour sends distracting mixed messages, Elisabeth finds herself stuck in limbo: she is treated like a child but is forced to make adult decisions. Meanwhile, the witches’ plot spins a fateful web around her.

Can Elisabeth succeed in the face of insurmountable odds?

The Reluctant Wizard – A.A. Warne

By day, wizards rule the world. At night, warlocks seek to destroy it. Now, one boy will challenge them both. 

Eli never wanted to be a rebel. All he wants is an end to the famine and war threatening his community. To save his mother and baby brother from marauding warlocks, Eli is forced to make a heartbreaking decision. He must travel to Terra Magicae, the mysterious land of the wizards, to study magic. In exchange, the wizards will protect his family, but this protection comes at a price: once Eli enters the Grand Wizardry Academy, he may never come home. 

Full of lush landscapes and magical marvels, Terra Magicae is more wondrous than Eli ever imagined… and more dangerous. At first, Eli’s struggles to fit in at the Academy seem ordinary. But the more he questions the wizards, the more he suspects a sinister purpose behind their bizarre rules and tests. For a dark secret lies at the heart of this mystical land, one so terrible it threatens not only the students at the Academy but the lives of everyone Eli loves. 

To save them all, Eli must step into the midst of the battle between the wizards and warlocks and defy both sides. He must become the rebel he was always meant to be.

Cheers!

Huckle

Holiday Reading

It is mid-November and we are at the start of many many holidays and maybe cold weather. Is there anything better to pass the time than reading? I have two great promos that will warm you to the soul!

The first, is all about YA Fantasy and Sci Fi Books. Don’t miss your chance to get these books, including Wolf Healer. I know many of you have Wolf Healer, but if you want to share this link for your friends, that would be amazing. For any of these book, you register with your email, and get the book for free.

The next promotion, is a list of many amazing Fantasy Books available On Kindle Unlimited. Now, if you don’t have Kindle Unlimited, each of these books can also be purchased in other ways, but they do have the option of Kindle Unlimited as well.

In the end, these two promos will give you a ton of fun and exciting reading opportunities!

Read on my friends, and share these links with other friends!

Cheers!

Huckle

Fun Promotions!

November is going to be an interesting month. For those of you who are not writers, there is a national writing thing called nanowrimo, or NaNoWriMo, or national novel writing month. It is where writers challenge themselves to write 50k… that is 50,000 words, in the form of a novel, in the month of November.

It’s fun!

Really…

Photo by Uzunov Rostislav on Pexels.com

Anyway, I’m penning (well typing) a new book. The title? Veiled Phoenix. Totally new. If everything goes as planned, maybe it will be published next year after all of Jade Stone Chronicles is out. So far the book has 3000 words to it, so, not quite done. Wolf Healer is about 90k…

But that isn’t what I’m here to talk about. I’ve joined a couple of book promotions this month… maybe even a few! One of them is promoting books on Kindle Unlimited. Here is the link: LINK!!!! As you see, all three of my books are on there. If you all could share the link, that would be AMAZING!

I’ll tell you about the other promotion in a few weeks. Hope your November is starting off amazing!

Cheers!

Huckle

Time is a Traitor…

Back in 2019 I decided I wanted to try to write a book. I had no idea what I was getting into. I’m not sure anyone who decides to write does. Being a teacher, I spend most of my time in front of students, and not in front of a computer.

Taking words and stories from your imagination, to a published book that strangers (insert freak out here) can and will read, takes a lot more than I knew back all those years ago. If you want to know the steps, let me know, I’ve written some about the process, and am more than willing to share more.

But that isn’t what I want to talk about, what I want to discuss is the fourth book in the Jade Stone Chronicles, Traitor, it comes out this December, one year after Wolf healer came out. I’ve been meaning to tell you all about it, but time has been slipping by me like a kid sliding down a water slide!

I am very excited about this latest book…I hope you are as well. Jade and friends are in college, a new pack has been created, and they’ve moved to California! Only fun can happen from there! If you aren’t caught up on the first three books, see the links below. If you are, tell a friend!

Cheers!

Huckle

Wolf Healer

Although she trips over her own feet during gym class, Jade’s confident her academics are spot on to become the next healer for her parents’ werewolf pack. But when her best friend invites her to spring break in Florida, everything she thought she knew shatters.

After returning to Wisconsin with carefully guarded secrets laid bare, Jade struggles to find acceptance. As the blows keep coming, she and her closest friends confront the packs intolerances.

Will she be able to hold the pieces of her shattering life together long enough to find a new path?

Epsilon

Over the summer, between sophomore and junior year, Jade and her werewolf pack family rescue Pebble, a five-year-old girl from the foster care system in Illinois. They worry, after her family was found dead by the side of the interstate, that they may have been attacked by a rogue werewolf. After bringing her home, small animals, and then people around town start to turn up dead.

Stolzburg has a rogue werewolf and the alphas have made it clear that Jade and friends need to stay safe. Just because Jade is avoiding the danger, doesn’t mean it’s avoiding her.

Alphas

As Jade rebuilds her life after last autumn’s trauma, Sarah decides joining track is the perfect distraction. While Jade’s figuring out how to compete without giving away her wereanimal status, Bevin finds someone nice he can date.

When summer begins, Jade travels cross country with José, Owen, and Tanner to visit colleges. A run-in with rogue werewolves triggers new epsilon abilities and an unlikely alliance develops. The question becomes: can she save her new ally or will she end up dead?

A new day, a new release!

Hi all! Check out this new book by Christopher Russell, Divinity’s Twilight: Remnant. It comes out on September 14th, 2022, and is the much anticipated sequel to Russell’s Divinity Twilight: Rebirth. Rebirth came out in June of 2020 and already has 4.4 stars with 113 ratings.

The series is a mix of fantasy, magic, and steampunk. With strong characters and rich world building, it is a story everyone will enjoy. You should go out and, if you haven’t read the first, check out both in the series!

Once you read this (or these) book(s) and fall in love, you can follow Russell on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. Don’t forget to drop a review, the best way to thank an indie author!

Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth – Christopher Russell

Their legends are lies.

Long ago, one man tried to vanquish the seven races of Lozaria. To cleanse the world of life, claim the power of their vanished gods, and begin creation anew.

He failed . . . or so the story goes.

Centuries later, the magic of history’s greatest legend is reborn in Vallen Metellus, a military cadet with a dubious past. He rejects it. The feuds of the eastern empires, their air fleets forever locked in a deadly stalemate, have nothing to do with him. Vallen will not take up his predecessor’s mantle. He will not fight for peace.

He isn’t a hero, not with the sins tainting his soul.

But when an ancient seal breaks and an exile appears before Vallen, he’s drawn into a battle he never wanted—a battle that will dredge up the darkness he’s long suppressed.

The truth will be known, and it will doom them all.

Divinity’s Twilight: Remnant – by Christopher Russell

Divinity’s Twilight: Remnant is the much-anticipated sequel to the multi-award-winning epic fantasy novel, Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth.Power is a curse.

As Vallen and his fellow cadets flee fallen Darmatia, he is forced to confront the ghosts of his past. The friend who perished that he might live. The girl whose smile haunts his nightmares. Now, a third voice joins them—something dark, something ancient. And the more Vallen uses his magic, the stronger it becomes.

Tools exist to be used.

The flames of Sylette’s vengeance are all but quenched. With each passing day, the dominion of the Sarconian Empire grows, and her treacherous father’s throat drifts further from her reach. Sylette’s last hope is a coded message, one that promises a growing resistance against the Empire. But even if she gains the means to avenge her mother’s murder, one question remains: how many ‘tools’ is she willing to sacrifice to see her vengeance through?

What color is love?

Renar has learned to hide a great many things: his emotions, his art, and one truly devastating family secret. But when he must face the man who’s controlled his life from the shadows, will he choose the family he’s always known, or the dysfunctional crew he’s been shackled with?

For every ending, a beginning.

Embers of conspiracy flare in Nemare and Sarconia. A resurrected Sarcon plots to reclaim his imprisoned flesh. As the winds of war swirl and forgotten myths rise, the choices these cadets make could save their country . . .
. . . or unleash something far, far worse.

A very busy month

Photo by ANTONI SHKRABA on Pexels.com

I love July. It’s the month I can just do what I want. The time is mine. I mean… I have some responsibilities, but much of the time is mine to do with as I please. August is a time of transitions. I must prepare to go back to school, both for me and my kids. I had the pleasure of reading some excellent books, and the stress of having new people read Traitor, book 4 of the Jade Stone Chronicles.

Okay, I need to clarify: it wasn’t bad stress, it was just that they were reading the book critically, and hadn’t read the first three books. It puts the series in an interesting light. In my round up last night, one of them really wants to go back and read the first three books, and, well, the next two books as well, she loved the characters, and the story arcs I began. They did have other things I need to work on, of course, but I have some time before the book comes out in December.

I’ve decided once again that I don’t love marketing, but that is the only way to get my book out into the hands of readers. It is a full time job outside of writing, and the one starting in September where I stand at the front of the classroom. This month I spent many hours learning about creating ads, making better ad copy, and other ins and outs of marketing. Some of the things I learned I don’t know if I agree with as much, but then again, they are the experts. It’s hard when you are told… when I am told… I’m doing it wrong.

In the end, it was a good month. Traitor, book 4, comes out in December. As always, there will be a book give away for people who join this website OR leave reviews for books read starting in September. Get going, friends! If you know people who may be interested in Wolf Healer, but have hesitated, it will be on a free promotional on September 21st through September 24th through the website iheartsappFic.

Cheers!

Huckle

So Many Good Books!

I love to bring you good books! Today I have so many!

Photo by Thought Catalog on Pexels.com

I am currently reading Blasted Research by Coffee Quills. I am almost half way through reading this gem of a book, and it is fantastic. Jules, our hero, lives in a dome in this post apocalyptical future. The premise of the story is excellent, but I also wanted to read this book because of the use of the neo-pronouns xe/xem, it intrigued me. In books 4 – 6 of Jade Stone I do introduce they/them characters, but his is so much more.

In the dome, everyone is required to marry and have kids. Jules doesn’t want to pair off. This is only one of the story arcs. Xe is also asked to travel out of the dome to help gather materials to test the radiation.

The story is fast paced, and the characters are fun. If you want to check out Coffee Quill, they have a website, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and so much more!

Another book I love just came out this month: Romancing Celia by Parker Love. It is the second book in this series. It is a sweet, sapphic, fade to black romance that takes place in the Wild West.

In this book, the characters take a path of discovery to learn who they are, and what they are willing to do to live the life they feel in their heart. In Ann’s case, she knows who she is and who she loves, but she also understands what happens if a community doesn’t approve. For Celia, it is a story of growth into the person she wants to be and learning who she loves.

The last book I want to feature is Wylding Snare by A. R. Grimes. I talked about this book before, but in case you missed that newsletter, it is a fun-filled high fantasy/portal fantasy that comes out in a few weeks! On September 10th, when it arrives to Amazon, I hope you’ll take a chance on it. The author, like me, spends a lot of time creating fun loving characters who you just can’t help but love.

As always, I, myself, have three books out in the Jade Stone Chronicles series. If you haven’t read them, I’d love for you to check them out. If you have read them, please drop a review, tell a friend, or share on social media! The fourth book, Traitor, comes out in December and is available to pre-order now. This year has been a whirlin of crazy… so exciting! I think you for your continued support.

Cheers!

Huckle