SHIVAREE

Around five years ago, I had an idea for a story about a small southern town where a cruel young woman uses blackmail to control everyone around her. The limits of her control would be tested when her former boyfriend returns home from the war with a new bride. I took a couple of runs at it, but the story refused to gel. 

Then one morning I woke up, the fading images of a dream still haunting me. A simple scene, a moonlit field of corn. A woman running through the razor sharp leaves calling the name Ruby over and over. I awoke not remembering a thing about the dream, other than that this Ruby wasn't normal. Ruby was a vampire.

I started noodling the dream over, and realized that the Ruby of my dream was the same character I had been trying to write about in the short story. Still I couldn't quite figure out how the two strands came together. I jotted my thoughts down in the "Story Ideas" file I keep on my computer, then got distracted by a couple of other projects, one of which grew into the Witching Savannah series.

Last spring I started chatting with my friend and fellow 47North author Roberta Trahan about bringing out a collection of short stories together, and I decided to brush off some of the ideas I keep in my file. Ruby's story began to speak to me, so I started writing a new version of the story I'd put aside back in 2010. Then the story kept speaking to me, and soon it outgrew the short story format. I decided to bring it out as a self-published novella, even purchased a cover (see above) that captured the feel of the story. Then the story kept speaking to me. Odd characters with dark obsessions seemed to be lining up to join the cast of the story. Soon the story grew well beyond the scope of a novella; it was a full blown novel.

I'm happy to relate that 47North has decided to publish SHIVAREE, and it is scheduled to come out in November of this year. Following is a summary:

SHIVAREE

At the close of the Korean War, sturdy army nurse Corinne Ford turns her back on a troubled past to travel to rural Mississippi and marry her battlefield sweetheart. Corinne soon learns she was not the first woman in her fiancé's life. The once exquisite Ruby, failed actress and dabbler in dark magic, had been brought back from Hollywood to her father's house, sick, broken, changed. Her death cleared the way for many who had wished that she had never returned. Soon, Corinne is confronted with evidence that her fiancé's first love is neither forgotten nor truly gone. Backlit by the Klan's burning crosses and scored by the cacophony of shivaree, the traditional wedding night abduction of the groom, SHIVAREE looks into a world where the monsters of folklore confront the monsters of history. 

Lost in Translations (and Updates in General)

It's been a while since I've posted here. I spent a good part of December doped up and riding around on a knee scooter, after having to undergo surgery on my my ankle to stabilize it. Evidently, that's what happens when you flip the same ankle too many times. (And yes, I am that big of  a klutz.) I'm now back up and limping around (in my boot), and am claiming my regained mobility as a total victory.

In the meantime, I've gotten some great news about translations. THE LINE comes out next month in Germany from Amazon Crossing as Der Bann-Die Hexen von Savannah. Additionally major publishing houses in Russia and Turkey have optioned the entire Witching Savannah series. Fingers crossed for news of other translations soon!

I'll be heading back to Savannah in March, not only for my beautiful niece's wedding, but also to do more research on the Lowcountry area. If you see a geeky guy walking Savannah and Beaufort with a notepad in hand, say hello.

Pankhurst's Amazons

I was lucky enough to be offered an advance copy of the first installment of SUFFRAJITSU, a three part graphic novel by Tony Wolf and Joao Vieira, for review. In early twentieth century Britain the phrase “the battle of the sexes” took a literal turn when, after forty years of peaceful protests failed to gain women in the UK the right to vote, the suffragettes under Emmeline Pankhurst lost faith in words and began taking action. SUFFRAJITSU is an alternative history based on the true story of Pankhurst and “The Bodyguard,” her elite security force composed of kickass women trained in the martial arts.

A solid grounding in the actual events of the day makes for an excellent springboard into a tale of international intrigue and adventure. There’s a big twist in the first issue that moves the story from canonical to alternative history. I can’t tell you what it is, but I can tell you it left me breathless.  The artwork is fabulous, the storytelling tight. My greatest disappointment is that since I received the first issue early, I now have a longer wait than most for the next. SUFFRAJITSU debuts January 2015.

Learn more about the project here: http://suffrajitsu.com/

More Than Your Usual Hocus-Pocus

A RE-PURPOSED REPOST FROM MY FB PAGE:

Okay, gang! The conclusion of the Witching Savannah trilogy debuted yesterday. I am both excited and terrified, as I tried to do something a wee bit different from the other "Urban Fantasy" series out there. Those of you who read UF regularly have probably picked up on that by now. 

THE LINE was the set-up, building a comfortable entry to the story, where enough well-worn tropes (the self-absorbed outsider young woman, the romantic entanglements) are present for a habitual reader of UF to feel she/he is in familiar territory. There are a few twists, a few hints that this sense of familiarity is every bit as much of a lie as one of Mercy's Liar's Tour tales, but nothing too jarring,

Then comes THE SOURCE, the bridge book, which honestly was my favorite to write.A healthy dose of actual history works its way in--Jack Parsons, Maria Orsic, the aviation hero whose name shall not be said as he has living descendants--these people were all real. One of them, Parsons, got up to some odd occult things. Maria and the flyboy were stains upon the soul of humanity. (And that is putting it mildly.) THE SOURCE addresses questions about the existence of things larger than ourselves. (And yes, most of my characters share my probably antiquated view that there is indeed something out there. Just because we can figure out some of the magic tricks, doesn't mean there is no magician.)

That brings us to THE VOID. I understand an early reader has described it as "bat shit crazy." That may actually be the best way to sum it up. Those well-worn tropes get ripped apart and set on fire as Mercy concludes her "hero's journey," and reality on every level gets questioned. Hence my terror. 

Still, I thank all of you who have taken this trip so far with Mercy and me. You should hang on to your hats, though, as it is a wild ride to the end.

Release Day

Today THE VOID, the conclusion of the Witching Savannah trilogy, was released. 2014 has been an incredible year with all three of the novels coming out in around a ten month period. I couldn't have asked for a better experience; it has been a dream come true.

I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who has come along for the ride with Mercy and me. So here's that moment. Get ready, 'cause I'm taking it.

Thank you!

In THE VOID, I hope you'll enjoy seeing all the final secrets uncovered and the final truths revealed. 

And for everyone who has been wondering just where in the he double toothpicks I came up with these crazy ideas, check out today's Kindle Post for a few clues.

http://www.kindlepost.com/2014/11/my-dreams-in-the-witch-house.html

Goodreads Choice Nomination

So pleased to be an official nominee in the Best Debut Author category in the 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards event. If you're so inclined to vote for me, please do!

https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-debut-goodreads-author-2014

Join me THIS THURSDAY 10/30 for A Murder of Authors

Join me THIS THURSDAY 10/30 for A Murder of Authors:

https://www.facebook.com/events/556908761122642/

In addition to the chance to interact with all the great authors listed above, you'll also have the chance to win a Kindle Paperwhite of your very own (US + Canada only).