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Okey dokey, guys. Soul Insurance is ready to get handed around. One of the problems of constantly editing your own work is you end up being overly critical. It’s hard to be objective of whether you told a good story or not, and in the end, that’s all I’m really trying to do.

I think Soul Insurance held up pretty well (as in I didn’t sick of re-reading it constantly myself 🙂 ). It has a fun, unique concept, with a couple of interesting relationships holding it all together. There’s fun, romance, a little bit of mystery, and the cool idea of a world where the word “ghost” doesn’t exist. Souls are everywhere, existing with society, and the main character Connor is the one person who can hear them.

I think I got everyone covered who wanted to beta read. If you read this post, and don’t end up with an email from me before the end of the day, holler at me. 🙂 I just went through the other thread and jotted down everyone who volunteered.

As always, I put a little “Thank you” in front of the novel when it comes out. If you’ve got a special name you want me to call you, let me know (not everyone wants their name being seen).

In regards to feedback, I’ll take any kind I can get. 🙂 Some people like to do the grammar / spelling side of things, while others are more plot focused. It’s all good to me. I’ll take anything from “this word would work better here” to “you need more of this character” to “you misspelled cat”. But above all, please let me know whether you liked the story or not, and anything you’d change.

I’ve taken a break now from my latest WIP (the working title right now is Demon’s Doorway, and I think I like it), to edit Soul Insurance. I’m about halfway done both (my latest WIP and editing). So, I figured it might not be a bad time to get a sample out there, show readers what they’re in for.

First of all, keep in mind that any sample is subject to change. 🙂 I was trying to accomplish a few things in the first few chapters of Demon’s Doorway. First of all, of course, to simply reintroduce the characters. I also wanted a little action in there, something happening. The cool thing is all the characters can hold their own in an action scene, so that wasn’t much of a problem. And stopping the sample at the point I did will hopefully get readers angry at me, wanting more. 🙂

As for Soul Insurance, I’ll probably be done editing that in a few more days. I’ll use the list of volunteers from the other post, most of whom are repeat readers now (thank you thank you 🙂 ). I know Christmas is coming up, so maybe I’ll wait to send out that email after.

So, the next few months will be interesting. Dead Living, Soul Insurance, and Demon’s Doorway, all coming up. 🙂

I think Soul Insurance has settled enough, and I’ll give it a thorough read this week. Part of the delay has been work on my latest novel. In a little less than two weeks, I’ve somehow managed to crank out 33K words. I wish I could keep this pace up on all my novels. But even on this one, I know that will drop eventually. Christmas is just around the corner, so that alone will drop the word count some.

I do have enough for a sample, for sure. So I’ll put that together soon and get it online. Hopefully it captures interest and comes across well.

As for Soul Insurance, on the other post were a slew of volunteers for beta-reading, so I’m sure I’ll be good there. 🙂 I’ll put the official post for that together as soon as I’m done with my own process, shouldn’t be long now. 🙂

You don’t get much better than that. 🙂 The next novel will take place in the supernatural world where most of my other books have taken place. I don’t have a title for it, or the series itself, but who needs those things? This is definitely going to be a challenge, as I’ve never tried something like this before. Here are some quick brainstorm notes, not in any particular order, about the new novel.

• It will have the four major characters from my other world novels (Alex, Victoria, Kevin, Jack). So, you have a half-demon,  a vampire, a witch, and a cursed human, respectively. This will be fun. 🙂
• Existing side characters will also show up (just for an example, Alex’s girlfriend, Jack’s daughter, etc.)
• There really is no “main character” in this novel. This isn’t Alex’s novel, or Kevin’s, or anyone else’s. I’m not gonna do anything crazy and do word counts, but all the characters will have equal time.
• Believe it or not, I have a lot of this novel in my head already. I’m pretty excited. Some of the scenes, some of the interactions, I’m looking forward to it.
• Alex will be making the jump from first person to third person. Demonspawn was written entirely from Alex’s perspective, but that will have to change for this novel. I’ve seen the “mixed” approach done before, a novel with a mix of first and third person. I don’t like this approach, as it gives the impression the character written in first person is the main character. This isn’t the case here, so we’ll be watching Alex from the all-seeing perspective of the third person narrator.
• This is my first real sequel or series novel. The others, despite sharing events and characters, could really be read standalone. I certainly won’t drop readers into an abyss on this one. I’ll give a refresher on who the characters are. But I also don’t want to spend chapters doing so. This is a “series” novel :), so I’m hoping at least one of the other novels were read first.
• I will have to keep my own novels close to me, to remind myself on little details about my own characters. 🙂 Victoria, Kevin, and Jack are pretty fresh in my head, but Alex was created two years ago. I know there are parts of him I’ve forgotten.
• Little trivia on Jack Kursed and his character: Jack wasn’t meant to have his own novel. He was meant to be a side character in the novel A Witch To Live, but that novel was filling up with content, and it was my wife’s suggestion that he should have his own novel. I went that route, and it was awesome. Jack has become so much more than a side character, and he will have a lot of things to say and do in this new novel.

Soul Insurance is finally done, finished the content adding today. It’s clocked in at 95K works, much more than I thought it would be. The extra length, plus Hurricane Sandy, and of course just daily life pushed this novel back a bit. I was hoping it would be available for sale at this time, ahead of Dead Living. But oh well.

The next step is to let it sit a few weeks. I have a zombie novel I want to read in the meantime, that will only take a few days. Then I’ll get started on the next novel, been itching to start it. Then I’ll give my last touches to Soul Insurance, and pass it on along for beta reading.

I like how Soul Insurance turned out. I don’t think the idea has ever been done before. Some side characters that I only intended for a few scenes took on a life of their own, and that was a pleasant surprise. Everyone knows I like to have a romantic element to my novels, and the romance in this novel is a little strange, to say the least. I’m hoping you guys enjoy it when it’s available. 🙂

This is a general update, but we’ll use Soul Insurance’s cover. 🙂

I’m so close to finishing Soul Insurance now, probably less than 10K words.  I’m at the finale, and then the epilogue, and that’s it. Or at least that’s it for entry. I still have to go through the editing and correcting, and the beta reading, but finally this book is getting close to done.

It looks like Dead Living has been pushed back from December to January. Breaks my heart a little, as I want to see how it does for Round 2 in the wild, if readers who missed it enjoy it. The eBook will be out first, probably the last week in January, with the paperbook following shortly thereafter. Keep in mind that I don’t control the pricing for Dead Living this time, Permuted Press does. But I believe Dead Living is a good novel, so check it out when it comes out 🙂 I doubt they’ll price it out of the building.

I’m trying not to jump too far ahead of myself, but I’m already working on the next novel in my head. The next novel, which I have no title for at the moment, will be another novel in my as-of-yet untitled series. 🙂 (I’ve got to start coming up with some titles)  It will feature the four main supernatural characters from my other novels. So, if you’re keeping track, we’ve got Alex the half-demon, Victoria the vampire, Jack the cursed mortal, and Kevin the witch. It should make for a fun ride 🙂

As always, I’ll try to write the novel so that it stands solid on its own two feet. However, I have to say this is a series at this moment, and reading at least one of the other novels (Demonspawn, A Witch To Live, Jack Kursed) would be recommended.

This new novel presents some interesting notes and challenges all by itself, so I’ll save that for another post.

Here it is. 🙂 I think it looks very awesome. They captured what I was hoping to get across very well. I think the appeal of Dead Living is the main character of Aaron, and following him in the undead world. I think the main question that comes up when looking at the cover is “Who is that guy hanging out with zombies, and why doesn’t he look afraid?”

Again, here’s the gist of Dead Living, in case anyone missed it:

It didn’t take long for the world to die. The dead rose with no explanation and only one purpose . . . to eat living flesh.

Born on the day everything died, the world of the living dead is the only world that Aaron knows. Kept in relative isolation from the walking corpses, his family teaches him how to read and write, how to survive on his own. After a tragedy hits close to home, he discovers he is different than any human left alive.

The undead want nothing to do with him.

The survivors of the old suburb of Lexington call a high school their home. They survive day to day, without any of the luxuries mankind used to enjoy, and surrounded by the living dead. Samantha is a product of the new world. Alone, cold, looking out only for herself. She and the other residents of Lexington feel their hope dwindling. They need change. They need someone who isn’t afraid of the walking corpses. They need someone who would rather live in a city of the dead.

Or I should say “done for the moment.” 🙂 I will probably tweak the description a little before it’s all said and done.  That’s one of the hardest parts of a novel, summarizing it in such a way that a potential reader checks it out and says “I might want to read that.” Definitely not easy.

Well, here we go. I’ll add this to the “Coming Soon” section later, so that Dead Living finally has a playmate over there.

Are You Afraid Of Dying? You Don’t Have To Be! Buy Soul Insurance Today!

Everyone knows the spheres of light that mingle with society are souls. When a person dies their soul leaves the body until it’s time for reincarnation. Only the privileged can afford soul insurance, a way to continue on after dying.

The living doesn’t know what the afterlife holds, that period of time between bodies. They know nothing about life as a soul. Do souls think and feel? How do they fly up in the clouds? Do they take any part of their old life into the new one?

Only Connor has the answers.

Connor was born able to communicate with souls. He’s tried to keep his ability hidden since he was a child. But Brooke, a woman with whom he shares a strange connection, needs the help of someone who can understand both worlds. They just have to avoid becoming souls themselves.

I haven’t posted in a while, so just wanted to let everyone know how things were going.

I’m 50K words into the latest WIP (Soul Insurance).  The cover is 3 weeks out, and I “think” the description is solid. So as soon as the cover is done I’ll get that posted for everyone to get a glimpse. I think the novel will turn out well. Just the idea alone I think sparks the imagination, and the characters I think are really solid in this one.

Dead Living is due in December, and that will create some interesting timing issues with Soul Insurance. I don’t want to release them too close together, as I don’t want one novel to overshadow the other. But I guess the good news for people who haven’t had a chance to catch Dead Living is you have two novels to look forward to. 🙂

In December. Just in time for Christmas. 🙂 I obviously wish it would come out sooner, but December is a good month to kill some zombies . The cover you see here won’t be the final cover, however. That’s another thing I’m waiting for. I can’t wait to see the new cover.

For those who don’t know, Dead Living has actually been out there in the wild already. I released it last year, and it did pretty well. You can see the old reviews on Amazon still. In fact, it did so well it caught the attention of Permuted Press, a press that specializes in apocalyptic fiction. I figured they could do some things with it that I could not, put it in front of more eyes, and it’s been a joy to work with them. I honestly think it will be a success a second time around as well.

I don’t read many zombie books. I do that on purpose, as I don’t want the ideas of other authors to seep into mine. Because of that I can’t tell you how Dead Living differs from other zombie books. I can tell you I’m still proud of the two main characters I created in this novel, Aaron and Samantha (Sam). Dead Living is sprinkled with side characters as well that somehow stuck with me. Richardson, Larry, Garrett and Ray, young Amanda, Derek, Nikki, Aaron’s family, and of course, the corpses themselves. 🙂

If anything changes in regards to release date I’ll post an update. I’m also hoping I’ll be able to share the cover early when it’s done. Cross your fingers on that one.