Hello everyone! And welcome to our new members! I hope you’re having a great month, or at least a better month than I have! Nearly two weeks ago, my husband hit a deer in the dark of the early evening—that poor deer!—and our insurance company has been debating between repairing our car and totalling it. I LOVE my car! I’m hoping for a repair. And all this time later, we’re still waiting for the final verdict as the collision repair shop works through the damage. But it’s October, so it’s hard not to be at least a little optimistic when the weather is breezy and cool, and leaves are starting to change color.
I’m running behind—like always—but I wanted to share a few things with you.
First, the Queer Indie Book Sale is going on now, with nearly 200 books, each priced at just .99¢. From Adventure to Urban Fantasy, there are books for just about every taste. If you haven’t had a chance to read them, you can pick up both Club 669 (paranormal romance) and Findley Black and the Ghosts of Printer’s Devil (romance, with a little paranormal). There are a ton of other authors to choose from! If you’d like to fill your digital bookshelf with some more goodies, click the image below!
I love an October book sale because October is my favorite month for reading. If I could ignore all my responsibilities, I’d happily read nonstop from October to January. Probably longer. LOL It’s also a wonderful month to publish! Looking through my calendar, I recently realized how many books I’ve released during the month of October, including my entire Cold Fingers series—Cold Fingers (2015), Body of Work (2016), Pretty Plastic (2018)—as well as The Whiskey Den (House of Witches Book 2) and Findley Black and the Ghosts of Printer’s Devil (Findley Black Book 1).
I’d even planned to release my follow-up to That Rat, Carter Janson this month, but in the summer, JMS Books announced they were revamping their release schedule. Fewer releases, a longer start-to-finish publishing process, allowing for more ARC and re-order time—which I think is fantastic—but it also lost me my publishing spot, and in the chaos of such a big change, That Rat, Carter Janson’s exclusivity to Amazon was accidentally renewed. *sob* And I’ve been a little out-of-sorts ever since.
I’m sitting here, not sure what to do next. I have a first draft of The Ghost of Burr-Fawn Hall, the follow-up to That Rat, Carter Janson, and a first draft for Diablo’s Pit, the third book in my House of Witches Series. I’m leaning toward Diablo’s Pit. The House of Witches is my beloved self-published series, and I love it with all my heart! But I’m still unsure.
In the end, I do have a new release! Or at least, sort of. Back in January of 2025, I took part in Love is Free, an LGBT charity anthology benefiting the ACLU. My short story, A Portrait in Blue, was under an exclusive contract for six months, so for just over a year it has been sitting there waiting for me to decide what I planned to do with it. I’m still not sure! Truth be told, I may very well someday build on this story and release something novella-length or longer, but as it’s not currently on the horizon any time soon, I decided to release the short story. And you can pick it up in the JMS Book Store HERE for 20% off. I’m sure it will start appearing at other online retailers, but with the changes at the publisher, I don’t know when.
Get a sneak peek below!
Excerpt
Stewart swatted vainly at a dusty cushion before finally giving up and settling on the rose and cream-striped upholstered chair. “Are you sure about this?”
Daniel laughed, placing yet another cardboard box labeled BOOKS onto the room’s rather fragile desk. “Are you kidding? Look around you.”
He waved at the floor to ceiling shelves -- empty now even of the fine layer of dust that had been there the week before -- and to the polished wood and iron steps that led to the narrow ledge of the library room’s second floor.
“It’s --”
“Perfect.” And a place Daniel could imagine calling home. The type of place he’d always secretly dreamed of living. “Do you know it was built in 1860? Pre-Civil War.
“Yeah, I get it. Just, not to sound too Eva Gabor but ... New York. Manhattan. Jesus.”
“You could never find a place like this in the city. Even if I did, how the hell would I afford it?”
“You seem to forget.” Stewart crossed his legs, eyeing the high ceiling of the room as if he expected the carved wood panels to crash to the floor at any moment. “You’ve got money. In fact, you’re loaded. Yet you live like you’re back in school, surviving on boxed macaroni and cheese and Top Ramen.”
“I eat better than that.”
“Yeah, but not by much.” Stewart studied him and his all-business face softened. “I know there was a lot of ugliness back there. I understand wanting to leave it behind. But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. You know, book nine is out-performing even the publisher’s expectations. It’s time to write the next book. Past time.”
“I’ve told you.” Daniel stopped poking through the boxes and frowned. “There isn’t going to be a book ten.”
“Good Lord, you were serious? You can’t leave James Castle with a shattered leg and a broken heart. Your readers deserve more than that.”
“What? A happy ending? All tied up with a bow?”
“No, I’m not saying that. You’re the writer, I’m only your agent. But I think that ... well, they deserve more than a fucking tragedy. Not after stringing them along for nine books and ten years of murder and foreplay. You’ve even got me wanting him to fall in bed with that fucking detective and I hate romance novels.”
That made Daniel laugh and he stopped poking through his boxes and walked over to stretch out on the sofa across from where Stewart pouted. “You’re going to love the new book. I promise.” Daniel didn’t bother to mention that the book still only existed in his head.
“Then tell me when you’ll have it finished. Let’s talk a new editor or signing tour. Something.”
“Later.” Daniel sat up, unable to keep still. “I met someone.”
Stewart had been taking a breath to argue but that stopped him in his tracks. “A man?” He sounded entirely too pleased and Daniel knew he was thinking that if Daniel got laid, Castle would too.
“Not for me. For you.” And how perfect would it be if Daniel could have his old New England house, his view of the water, and his best friend all in one place?
“Me?” Stewart nearly laughed. He’d never been hard up for a date. But to his credit, instead of dismissing the idea completely, he stopped himself and seemed to consider. “Where’d you meet him?”
“An auction house.” Daniel leaned forward and pulled the business card from the pages of a book on the low table in front of him and held it out.
Stewart took the card. “Strange Objects?”
“He’s an antiques dealer. Deals in weird history stuff. Phrenology busts, Fiji mermaids, that kind of thing. He was bidding against me on a portrait.” Daniel nodded to where A Portrait in Blue, looking massive in its brown craft-paper wrap, leaned against the far wall.
Stewart was quiet, turning the card over in his hand, no doubt wondering what the hell had gotten into him. True, Daniel had never tried to fix him up. The man didn’t need it. There was a reason Stewart Young always kept an overnight bag in the back of his car. He was smart, funny, and unquestionably handsome. Maybe more handsome now at thirty-five even than he’d been when the two of them had been thrown together as freshmen bunkmates in college -- Daniel struggling to feed himself while paying for classes, Stewart, the grandson of a wealthy businessman, with money to burn.
At nineteen, his sandy hair and pale eyes could have been Daniel’s undoing if he hadn’t also been the messiest fucking roommate on the planet. Of course Stewart made up for this shortcoming by pretty much feeding them both for their entire first three years of school and having a maid in once a week.
“Why’d he want the portrait?”
It had not been the question Daniel had been expecting but he answered, sure of his friend’s response. “It’s supposed to be haunted.”
“Haunted?” Stewart’s face lit up, perfect brows raised in absolute glee. “How fucking delightful.”
And that’s it for now! Hopefully I’ll be back soon with good news on the car front and maybe a cover reveal or two!
Stay safe! Love you all!
