I'm writing this with still a few more days until the actual autumnal equinox (up in this hemisphere) and I figure that's close enough. Plus, I need spooky season this year. There will be spooky books, and spooky shows, and spooky food, and once it cools down, spooky blankets. I'm also doing spooky crochet, just to really get all the spooky out of everything.
And I also have books this month! BUT FIRST...
Kickstarter
Just a heads up about my upcoming Kickstarter. The prelaunch pages is there to follow, but I'm not launching until October, hopefully no later. I want to have everything ready to go so there's no delay in fulfillment and life/work has been pretty busy. I want the Kickstarter to be the best I can make it before launching, and I need a little more time for that. Will keep everyone updated here!
And in the meantime, please consider following the prelaunch page--that helps with visibility and a good launch when I do launch. Plus, Kickstarter will let you know the campaign is live.
Releases
First up, we have book 10 in the Dragon Thief series! THE GOLDEN CHALICE JOB sees Myra and Christopher discovering a hidden secret and making a whole new enemy. A very very powerful one. So that was fun to write. LOL It's available today from KatSimonsBooks and up for preorder at all other eBook vendors! It'll will release wide on October 21st.
Waking in a stone-walled prison, her memories blank,
adrenaline rushing through her battered body, Myra has no idea what got her
there. No idea what danger awaits outside her cavern cell. Only knows she has
to escape. And she has to unearth her memories.
Because a deadly menace stalks her and Christopher.
A menace linked to artifacts she can’t remember. A job that
went horribly wrong?
To escape, Myra and Christopher have to trust in her magical
thief skills. Have to dredge up the secrets that brought them to the mysterious
cavern prison that smells like dragon. Have to discover the identity of their
captor. All before their captor comes back for them.
A new enemy, whose very existence could devastate their
future. If they survive long enough to have one…
This latest deadly adventure in the action-packed, romantic
urban fantasy Dragon Thief series will leave readers at the edge of their seats
as Myra and Christopher fight to survive a brand new enemy, and discover if
they have a future together.
~~
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Riley Anderson never balks at doing the work asked of her at
Friday’s Curious Shop. True strange things happen at the store sometimes. And occasionally
a weird customer comes in. But her bosses treat her well and ensure she eats. The
quirky thrift shop provided her a job when she might have ended up on the
streets. A little dusting and rearranging in exchange for a steady paycheck
feels like a win.
Yet when her boss asks her to dust the children’s toy
section, dread wells up in Riley. So strong and choking, she almost says no.
Almost refuses.
Almost runs away.
She has no reason to fear the old puzzle games and discarded
instruments, though. Nothing in the music box case that can hurt her. Nothing
truly menacing about the strange, eerie sounds coming from that part of the
store. Right?
But in Friday’s Curious Shop, appearances deceive. And even innocent toys might hold unseen terrors.
Author’s Note: This story is also published in the
collection HAUNTS
AND HOWLS AND FAIRY DALES.
~~
the Friday's Curious Shop series, and did a backmatter update for the previous two stories, but nothing in those stories has changed, and the covers are close enough! There's no need to look into updating your previous versions of the first two stories if you don't want to.
News
Heads up because this is Spooky Season, there will be sales and new merch and the like going on at KatSimonsBooks over this month and next. I will also be "decorating" the store! It's already got its autumn colors on but there will be more spooky next month. So be sure to check it out!
Reminder that stories are still posting on the 1st and 15th of every month over at the Cafe. At the moment, A DRAGON AT THE CAFE is live and free to read until the last day of September. And that story has a tie in with the Dragon Thief series (none of characters but in the same world), so it might be fun for my Dragon Thief readers.
As a look ahead to next month, you can expect the next Haunts and Howls collection! Just in time for Halloween. And (fingers crossed), the Demon Witch Kickstarter will go live! So it should be a fun month for spooky season with all the spooky books.
And finally, I will at some point soon be adding a page to the website, and probably to the store, addressing the whole generative AI thing.
For the record, I don't use any of it, unless it's done accidentally, and I do try to avoid accidentally picking up and using AI art. I don't use any of the text or video AI programs and I have yet to even try out the audio AI programs. As it happens, I'm one of the authors whose work was stolen to train the current iterations of generative AI text programs (see the Anthropic vs the Authors Guild case), so I do not have a good opinion of those programs and the companies making billions from them. And refuse to use any of them in my own writing and publishing.
Since there's at least one audio narration company who PAY the narrators to license their voices for use in generating things like audiobooks, I'm less adamant about that. The AI will never replace real voice actors, but they will have an opportunity to license their voices (getting paid for people to use their voices!) if they wish in the future. And that's a program I can see using to create low price point audio. HOWEVER, I'm waiting on that for now because I also know a lot of readers don't like AI narrated books.
At any rate, I want to put out a formal declaration for people who want that bit of knowledge. And I want to put it on a page that will stay up and be easy to find. I know since I write a lot and publish a lot, it might start to look a little suspicious, but the truth is, I just write ahead of myself by about a year, and I write all the time. So I just have a lot of things to publish (I'm still sitting on book 9 in the Cary Redmond series!) But given that generative AI is a thing now, I just want to let readers know where I stand and what they can expect from my writing and publishing.
Okay! I think that's more than enough for one post. LOL. HAPPY AUTUMN! (And HAPPY SPRING to those in the southern hemisphere!)
Bye until next month! Happy Reading!
