Mid-December Status Update

First of all, thank you to everyone who downloaded a free copy of Blood Magick and bought Zombie Goddess and Sword and Sorceress 31. I hope all of you will leave a review once you've finished reading those books.

I'm about a month and a half behind compared to where I'd planned to be in completing the last three Bloodlines novels back in October. I actually thought I'd be finished with the first draft of Ravaged by today, but...

The story took a left turn that I wasn't expecting. Sometimes the characters do things you don't count on, but that make more sense than what you as the writer originally planned. That's both the fun and frustrating part of writing. As a result, Ravaged is going to be longer than planned as noted in the status bar to your right (if you're reading this on a fullscreen device).

While this means my entire schedule will be pushed back yet again, as [deity of your choice] as my witness, the last three books of the Bloodlines series will be done before I move on to the next series!

Blood Magick Is Free!

In a special one-time deal, I'm offering Blood Magick free on Amazon from now until December 10th.

Blood Magick at Amazon

In the meantime, Zombie Goddess is still $0.99 until Saturday, too.

On Sunday, they both go back to their regular price of $4.99.

Zombie Goddess Is Live!

After three-years, one-month, and four days, the latest episode of the Bloodlines saga is live! And it's only $0.99 until December 10th!

Blurb
Sam Ridgeway really thought her little family was settling into their new lives in Las Vegas.

Except her vampire fiancé turns into a jealous rage-monster every time Ares, the Greek god of war, tutors her in using her new powers. The daughter of one of her baby zombies sues Sam for desecrating her mother’s memory. And to top it off, Baron Samedi kidnaps her brother Max in exchange for a certain basketball-playing necromancer’s soul.

Which, by the way, she doesn’t have.

What’s a zombie goddess going to do? Because this time, Sam’s snarkalicious attitude won’t stop Armageddon.

Amazon

Sword and Sorceress 31 Is Out!

My latest story is available today! (Print versions will be coming soon.)

"Pig-Headed" - Sword and Sorceress 31

With the examiner from the university on his way to administer her entrance exam, Talis is stressed beyond belief. Add to that, accidentally turning her brother into a farm animal and an ogre threatening to eat her best friend, Talis's day becomes a whole lot worse.

Amazon, all countries
Barnes & Noble

Happy Halloween!

I'm not quite done with the proofs for the Zombie Goddess e-book. Let's just say a trip to the emergency room was involved last week. *sigh*

But needless to say, no matter how many times you go through a manuscript, no matter how many other eyes are on the pages, some little pesky gremlins sneak through!

And like Ash, I must catch them all!

At least until DH and Jaye pull me away from the computer and sedate me. Probably with fun-sized Snickers tonight. LOL

I promise I'll announce the release (plus some extras) as soon as ZG is officially released into the wilds!

Mid-October Status Update

It's hard to believe that we're half-way through October already! So what are the project priorities?

Priority #1
I'm nearly done with the edits on Zombie Goddess. Unfortunately, I'm not going to have it out by my arbitrary deadline of October 28th, which is the third anniversary of the release of Blood Sacrifice, aka the last new release in the Bloodlines series. So I'm shooting for Halloween provided my formatter isn't backlogged.

Priority #2
Finish writing Ravaged by Halloween. This has been a difficult story to complete because it deals with a lot of uncomfortable subjects. It doesn't help that the storyline mirrors some elements of the current U.S. political climate. I can honestly say this story was outlined well before the recent bullshit. I'm hoping to have it edited in time for a Thanksgiving release.

Priority #3
Finishing Sacrificed will be my National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNo or November) project. Frankly I lost a day when I accidentally deleted Chapter Nine of this book without a backup. *facepalm* If I can stay on schedule, I hoping for a Christmas release.

Priority #4
I'll spend the holidays finishing Resurrected. It won't be out until late January/early February because both my formatter and my cover artist take time off to spend with their children--as they should!

P.S. When a project's status bar disappears off the right column, you'll know the first draft is finished!

Not a Priority, but You're Going to Notice
I added a new project on the right, called The Four Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse. As a soccer mom myself, I said the only way I'd ever get a fucking mini-van is when the Four Horsemen arrive to announce the end of the world. Well, my heroine Danielle feels the same way. When a drunk driver totals her beloved pick-up, nearly killing her and her son, what does her hubby bring home as a replacement? Unfortunately in Danielle's case, it really does trigger Armageddon!

Starting the first chapter was my consolation the day I accidentally erased a chapter of Sacrificed because I was out of chocolate. (By the way, I placing a huge order with Lindt tonight to get me through the rest of the year.)

THE DEFINITE RELEASE!
Sword and Sorceress 31 with my story "Pig-Headed" will be out on November 2nd. In fact, Amazon is already taking pre-orders. This is an independent tale and doesn't take place in any of my pre-existing worlds. All I can say is Talis, a sorceress wannabe, is having a very bad day, starting with accidentally turning her brother into a farm animal and ending with an ogre threatening to eat her best friend.

All righty, then! Time for me to get back to work!

My First Paperback!

I know I haven't posted for the last month. I've been busy getting the last four books of the Bloodlines series written and edited. It's been nearly three years since the last novel came out, so I'm doing my damnedest to get the rest finished and *fingers crossed* published before the bells toll on New Year's Eve. Thank you to my readers for their patience!

In the meantime, my first paperback is now available!

Yep! Believe it or not, Justice: The Beginning is available in your local brick and mortar stores!

I've listed the links to a couple of the places it's available. If you want to give your favorite independent bookstore your business and they don't have it in stock, they can order it for you through Ingrams, one of the largest books distributors in the U.S.

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

For future reference, I plan on participating in Amazon's MatchBook Program. This means when you buy the paperback, you can get the e-book version free or at a greatly reduced price.

Just a little something extra to keep in mind down the road!

I'm Editing! Yes, I'm Editing!

I've had these words running through my mind to the tune of "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story.

And I really have been editing Zombie Goddess. I'm feeling pretty good about the story. A little smoothing of the rough edges is needed. Okay, in my case, that means adding articles and prepositions. When I write, I have a bad tendency to leave those out. My mind automatically fills them in when I read, which is why I have a text-to-voice program read the story back to me.

In my spare time, I updated the temporary website with the new book covers and blurbs. Hope you love the updated versions as much as I do!

I've also added little bar graphs on the right of the page so you have a rough idea of when to expect the next book. I'll try to update the graphs every Saturday night.

So progress on Ravaged may be a little slow while I finish editing Zombie Goddess. But I am excited about getting the next book out!

Update on Bloodlines

I got Zombie Goddess back from my beta reader. There were a few specific things that needed fixed, which I worked on over the weekend.

The last thing I can't address without fundamentally changing the nature of the novel. If you've been reading the Bloodlines series, you know there's a lot of action in my stories, but not everything turned into a major physical battle.

In fact, I thought the foreshadowing I put in Blood Sacrifice regarding Tiffany and Siobhan's efforts to hammer out a treaty between the vampires and the sidhe would have been more obvious. Maybe I was too subtle. Or maybe this is me as the writer looking at the Bloodlines series as a story in the whole.

That's not to say there aren't any conflicts in this novel, but the majority aren't physical. And there are gross, bloody bodies. Eventually. *smile*

Frankly, Zombie Goddess is the proverbially quiet before the storm. I close out a LOT of hanging story threads, but it sets up the last three novels. Readers will either love it or hate it.

I hope they love it.

Just need to finish those pesky edits. . .

Justice: The Beginning Is Live!

The e-book version of Justice: The Beginning is now live. So if you need a little entertainment this weekend, check it out!

Blurb
For the first time, the Justice Anthea and Brother Luc short stories are collected in one edition.

This anthology includes “Justice” and “Diplomacy in the Dark”, previously published in Sword and Sorceress 28 and 30 respectively. A brand new story “The Perfect Partner” gives readers the infamous tale of the illicit lovers’ first cantankerous, and odiferous, case together.

And a fourth bonus tale set in the Justice universe tells how a young sister of Light became a secret bodyguard for a member of the Jing Imperial family.

Magic, mayhem and mystery has never been so fun!

Amazon Buy Link for all countries

A Major WHOOPS!

Justice: The Beginning should have been out by now. *sigh* The best laid plans of mice and men...

I sent the file to the formatter two weeks ago. She sent me back a formatted Kindle file. I looked it over, found a hand full of typos that slipped by the editor, and sent the revisions back to her. She was backed up and couldn't get back to my stuff until the holiday weekend. At which point, I said, "Spend time with your family. We'll pick this up after the Fourth of July."

So I get an e-mail from her yesterday. The page count is too small for the printer for the paperback edition. WHOOPS!

Now we could have gone through a lot of trials and tribulations to make the print interior work, but there would still be the issue of my cover designer of jumping through hoops to make her side work, too. My formatter said she'd do whatever I wanted.

So I raided the chocolate stash and thought about it. Talked to my business partner (aka Darling Husband), and he agreed with me.

I e-mailed my formatter and asked, "What if I add another story to the collection, resend the master file to you, and you start over from scratch?"

Her reply? "Works for me."

On the plus side, you readers will get four stories for your money, not three. And you'll get a beautifully-formatted paperback if you so desire.

On the minus side, it'll take another two or three weeks longer to get the anthology into your hands.

What's the fourth story about, I hear you ask? I figured since "The Perfect Partner" told how Justice Anthea and Brother Luc first met, then it would be neatly book-ended by the tale of how Shi Hua became Ambassador Quan's bodyguard.

I also want to add thank you so much to my readers for your patience!

What's Coming Next

It's been a busy June!

The ebook version of A Question of Balance is available at Amazon. The proof copy of the paperback version is in the mail on its way as we as we speak. Once I've looked it over, it will go on sale at various online retailers. If you prefer to give your business to a local bookstore, the bookstore can order a copy through Ingrams (they're one of the largest paper book distributors, if not the largest, in the U.S.).

Which brings me to...

I'll be giving away copies of the paperback editions of my books as I get them published. So keep your eye out here for announcements. If you've signed up for my newsletter, you're already automatically entered.

In the meantime, I sent the files for Justice: The Beginning to my formatter Thursday night. I was late getting them to her, and she's getting hammered by other customers (writers) right now, so it might be another week or two before that volume is available. However, my lovely cover artist/designer sent me this gorgeous cover for the anthology!

In the meantime, I'll start working on the edits for Zombie Goddess while I finish Ravaged, which is Book 7 of Bloodlines. Though my Darling Husband is advocating that I write A Modicum of Truth (Justice #2) first.

I should never have introduced him to Game of Thrones. LOL

A Question of Balance Is Live!

Yes, I know it's my first new novel in nearly three years, but I'm feeling pretty darn good right now.

The e-book version of A Question of Balance will be available only at Amazon for the next three months. I'm testing a couple of their services, like Kindle Unlimited. However, you can read a sample right here by clicking on the preview button below the picture.

The paperback version is coming soon!

Blurb
From the pages of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword and Sorceress comes Justice Anthea and Brother Luc’s first full-length adventure…

The Reverend Mother’s machinations left Anthea as the chief justice in her home city of Orrin, a post she despises. Even worse, a messenger from Duke Marco interrupts her breakfast. Again. This time, the duke’s retainers found a body in a wine barrel at the duke’s estate. The body of a priestess from the Temple of Love.

In trying to solve the bizarre murder, Anthea and Luc stumble across a massive conspiracy to eliminate the Twelve Temples, the only thing standing between the human race and another demon invasion.

Will swords, magic, and wits be enough to stop the renegades?

Or is a little faith needed?

Novel, approximately 96,000 words or 320 printed pages

Status Report - June 2016

After I got over the Flu from Hell, May turned into an amazing and productive month! Here's the highlights:

- A short story called "Pig-Headed" will appear in Sword and Sorceress 31, which tentatively will be released in early November. This involves brand-new characters.

- The characters of my previous Sword and Sorceress stories now star in their first full-length novel, A Question of Balance. I'm planning on releasing it June 20th.

- Justice Anthea and Brother Luc's first stories are collected in a new volume, Justice: The Beginning. It also contains a brand new story about their first year together. Unless Murphy completely screws me, it should be out around June 30th.

- The first draft of Zombie Goddess is done! I hope to release it next month, depending on my Murphy-cursed life. I'll give everyone a specific date in July.

- For the rest of the summer, I'll hopefully get out the rest of the Bloodlines series with their new covers and in paperback format. If that goes well, the Seasons of Magick series will also get a facelift and a paperback version.

And then?

Well, I'll try to buckle down and finish writing the last three Bloodlines books. Next up will be Ravaged (it's currently sitting at 18,000 words).

An Apology to Nook Users

I'd planned a much more positive post today, but certain things degenerated this week faster than I anticipated.

First of all, my sincere apologies to my readers who use Barnes & Noble to buy ebooks. Over the weekend, they failed to pay not just my royalties due, but several hundred other indie writers that I know of. Further, they waited over sixty hours before issuing any kind of a statement or explanation. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time I've had a problem with them.

When a company starts paying its vendors late, it's a clear sign that the company is in trouble. As I said, this isn't the first time. As a result, I pulled my books from Barnes & Noble yesterday.

For those of you who prefer the EPUB format, I'm looking into alternative ways/retailers for you to purchase my books in that format.

Again, I apologize for the lack of notice, but this is my career. My livelihood. I needed to cut my losses before things became worse. If you have any questions, post them in comments, or you can contact me privately.

Thank you for your support.

I'm Moving...

No, it's not a thousand-plus-mile move of the family again.

My webmistress for the last five years is retiring. So until I can get my shit together, i.e. get my current list of books out this year, this will be the temporary home of suzanharden.com until I can figure out what I want to do for an official website.

I'll have some announcements after the Memorial Day weekend about new stories.

So in the meantime, honor your dead and have a wonderful holiday!

Making Progress

The last three years have been rough. The only new thing that's been published under Suzan Harden since November of 2013 was "Diplomacy in the Dark" in Sword and Sorceress 30 (and that was November of 2015). The last new story Alter Ego published was in May of 2014. Some days, I wondered if I'd ever publish again.

I finally feel like I'm getting traction this year. Over the last week, I've

- hit the 46K mark on Zombie Goddess (Bloodlines #6)

- wrote the first 5K on Resurrected (Bloodlines #9)

- thought I'd be done with an Alter Ego novella, but it's turning itself into a short novel

- found an Alter Ego idea from four years ago, got caught up in the story again and wrote another 1K before I made myself stop

- shopped for pix and fonts for the cover of an Alter Ego short story I finished nearly two weeks ago

It sounds like I'm bouncing between the last four books of Bloodlines, and yes, I am in a way. But a lot of it has to do with linking, foreshadowing and consistency. The first draft of Book 6 should be done by the end of April.

However, I have a bad habit of typing so fast when I get caught up in a story that I leave out words, mainly articles and prepositions. By the time editing and proofing are done, I add 10-20K words. LOL

Now that things have settle down in my personal life (which is probably an invitation to Murphy to fuck me over), I need to prioritize projects based on how close they are to completion.

Today, my first task is getting the cover and formatting done for the AE short story and getting it published. Depending on how fast I get that done, and it may not be totally done today since I'm really out of practice and software has changed/upgraded, I'll finish the novella/short novel. The cover for it was finished back in 2012. That leaves the formatting.

The next step is to run through second-round edits for A Question of Balance, the first Justice novel, since that story is completed. The incredible Elaina at For the Muse Designs has already produced a lovely cover, so the last thing I need is to write the back cover blurb and to have the book formatted.

After that, I need to finish reviewing the proof paperback for Blood Magick (Bloodlines #1). I already found a couple of things that missed the mumble, mumble rounds of editing it's gone through.

Then hopefully, I'll spend Friday and Saturday hiding at Panera's to crank out some more of Zombie Goddess.

I can't do all NOW, but I can chip away at the mountain one grain at a time.

What's Happening?

This year didn't get off to the rousing start I wanted. As I said on my post from January 7th, we've had a lot of health issues with in-laws. Unfortunately, things haven't let up any.

On the down side, MIL ended back in the hospital for a week with breathing problems. While the docs were scanning FIL again for a possible source of the leg pain, they found a mass in his bladder. I'm driving him to Toledo for a second opinion next Monday.

On the plus side, MIL has improved greatly since the last scary stint in the hospital. She's still a little shaky when it comes to walking on her own, but she's off oxygen. We moved FIL into an assisted living apartment at the same complex where MIL is doing her rehab. Despite next week's consultation, he was in good spirits tonight and heading to the main dining room for dinner.

Why am I talking about all this?

The recent personal crises have definitely affected my productivity. I got A Question of Balance back from my beta reader some time ago, and still haven't had a chance to go through their notes. The proof copies for the paperback versions of Blood Magick and Zombie Love are still sitting on my desk. The good side is I'm fifty pages into the first book, but I still need to order the proofs for the next two books. Also, the file for Blood Sacrifice needs to be reviewed before going to the my paperback formatter.

Zombie Goddess is sitting at 40.5K, Ravaged at 18K, and Sacrificed at Murphy only knows because I'm writing it on an iPhone app while waiting in various places, and the app doesn't have a word counter.

Plus, I came up with a cool new idea for an urban fantasy series. I scribbled some notes, but trust me I won't write it until the Bloodlines series is done.

None of the above has anything to do with Alter Ego, who is also way behind on her work. LOL

I was so stressed last week that DH made me take Wednesday off. It's amazing how a few episodes of Agent Carter and The Librarians can brighten your perspective.

Once again, I am SOOO thankful that I'm an indie writer. If I were under contract with a trad publisher, I would be royally screwed right now. I may be super slow right now, but I will get something published this year!