Hey everyone! It’s been a bit of a weird summer for me for different reasons. Adjusting to the headaches and trying to figure out how to work around them has been lots of trial and error. A few other things have been happening, including a new puppy (a Golden Retriever\Boston Terrier mix girl named Charlie), a pet to help ease a bit of anxiety (which was possibly triggering headaches) and basically forces me to get outside to walk and seek fresh air daily.

In any case, as will be obvious in the newsletter, there are many things happening!

BIG NEWS ONE: BRAND NEW BOOK/SERIES ANNOUNCEMENT

This is a bit of a surprise, but two years ago I wrote a book that I gave to various trade publishers at their request. It had been quite a while since I heard a response and instead of having it linger for longer, I asked for it to be returned to publish it myself.

So I found myself with this book that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with. It had been two years and I’d even forgotten parts of the book.

Then I was tinkering with Smoking Gun, a book I’ve had for a while, the second book I ever officially wrote (the first one hasn’t been published), and something connected in my brain to link them in a series.

In a women’s revenge series called Charleston’s Leading Ladies, Evelyn, Celeste, and Rainee come together after several terrifying events lead them to seek help. Once they make their plan and work together, the boys are done for.

The series starts with Evelyn, (the book I wrote two years ago) sharing her story about what happened and why she’s looking for revenge. The whole series is set in Charleston, in a similar universe as the Academy series. While these aren’t Academy books, you’ll still see some familiar characters within the pages.

In the future, we’ll have a re-release of what was Smoking Gun, rewritten as Celeste for this series as book two. It’ll be similar in what happens, but enough might change to want to re-read the new version if you’ve read the previous one. If you’ve already purchased Smoking Gun, don’t worry, you’ll get the option to update your copy with the new version. If you’d like to get the old version for whatever reason, this will be made available.

Evelyn is coming out soon (July 23rd). Celeste should be out later this year. Rainee will probably be out mid next year, along with the concluding final book in the series showing up shortly after.

Question: weren’t you supposed to be working on Academy things?

Answer: All three books (Evelyn, Celeste, Rainee) were already finished. As mentioned, Evelyn was written two years ago, Celeste is basically a rewrite of another published book to match the series, Rainee is actually an old book that just never fit with anything else. Now it has a home. The only book left to write is the finale, which should be concluded by next summer (taking up the usual Scarab Beetle slot since it used to be my summer book to write).

Basically, these were done and just hanging around. I figured why let them sit here waiting for a time slot after Academy things when we can just push them now.