Here Be News

New Releases

Out October 29!

At last, the much-anticipated next installment in the Sorcerous Moons series.

A Narrow Escape 

With her secrets uncovered and her power-mad brother bent on her execution, Princess Oria has no sanctuary left. Her bid to make herself and her new barbarian husband rulers of walled Bára has failed. She and Lonen have no choice but to flee through the leagues of brutal desert between her home and his—certain death for a sorceress, and only a bit slower than the blade.

A Race Against Time 

At the mercy of a husband barely more than a stranger, Oria must war with her fears and her desires. Wild desert magic buffets her; her husband’s touch allures and burns. Lonen is pushed to the brink, sure he’s doomed his proud bride and all too aware of the restless, ruthless pursuit that follows…

A Danger Beyond Death… 

Can Oria trust a savage warrior, now that her strength has vanished? Can Lonen choose her against the future of his people? Alone together in the wastes, Lonen and Oria must forge a bond based on more than lust and power, or neither will survive the test…

Buy the Book

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The Transition that Became a Book

At last! The next installment in Lonen and Oria's epic tale is here!

I have a somewhat sheepish confession to make. You can gaze on this gorgeous cover by Louisa Gallie to salve your soul while you brace yourself. I'll wait.

Ready?

(It really is a pretty cover, isn't it?)

Okay, this is not the book I meant to write.

Well, it's part of it, but not all of it. This sometimes happens to authors like me, who discover the story as they write. I had a pretty good idea of what this book should do storywise. I thought. (Spoilers here for the first two books, LONEN'S WAR and ORIA'S GAMBIT, if you're not caught up on the series.) I figured it would see Lonen and Oria escaping Bára, journeying to Dru and continuing the war from there, to the dramatic conclusion. I had all sorts of stuff in mind for what would happen in Dru and the various challenges they'd face.

I even fretted over my certainty that this book should be called THE TIDES OF BÁRA when very likely 75-80% of the story would take place in Dru.

Silly me.

Turns out that there will be at least book four (possibly six or seven) and that the next is called THE FORESTS OF DRU for a really good reason. Because that's the next phase in the story. 

What I thought would be a fraught journey to Dru turned into an epic adventure. It seemed Lonen and Oria had much more to overcome during their travels than I'd realized. No small transition there.

Which is okay, because I love this story - and a great deal more has been laid into the foundation of the ongoing conflict.

Can't wait for you all to read it!

THE TIDES OF BÁRA

A Narrow Escape 

With her secrets uncovered and her power-mad brother bent on her execution, Princess Oria has no sanctuary left. Her bid to make herself and her new barbarian husband rulers of walled Bára has failed. She and Lonen have no choice but to flee through the leagues of brutal desert between her home and his—certain death for a sorceress, and only a bit slower than the blade.

A Race Against Time 

At the mercy of a husband barely more than a stranger, Oria must war with her fears and her desires. Wild desert magic buffets her; her husband’s touch allures and burns. Lonen is pushed to the brink, sure he’s doomed his proud bride and all too aware of the restless, ruthless pursuit that follows…

A Danger Beyond Death… 

Can Oria trust a savage warrior, now that her strength has vanished? Can Lonen choose her against the future of his people? Alone together in the wastes, Lonen and Oria must forge a bond based on more than lust and power, or neither will survive the test…

Buy the Book

Kindle
Google Play
Kobo
Smashwords

iBooks

Here Be News

New Releases

(Available Tomorrow!)

MIRACLE
Above All, Book 1
Paranormal / Supernatural / Contemporary Fantasy Romance
by Linda Mooney
Word Count: 41.3K
$2.99 e

I died and was resurrected, and I don’t know why.

My name is Casi Clarity. I was 26 years old when I died in 1969. Then I woke up in the 21st century—whole, sane, and unblemished. And at the same age I was when I died.

What's more, when I came back, I brought a friend with me. His name is Coheed. He's a corporeal spirit, and he is also my protector. Against what, you ask? Well, it seems that ever since my return, I've been chased by ghosts. Demons. Ancient evil. Monsters. You name it.

Why are they after me? Because they want to know my secret. They want to wreak havoc on mankind and bring about our ultimate destruction, and the only way they can accomplish that is by being fleshy beings again. To inhabit as many bodies as they can to cause untold horror. They are determined to discover how I returned from the dead, even if it means trapping me, torturing me, and ultimately killing me again to see if I'm resurrected a second time.

My name is Casi.

The undead call me Mouse.

Coheed calls me Miracle.

Warning! Contains a houseboat, explosions, a rain of ashes, invisibility, sanctuary, a forbidden testament, and a love that was prophesied thousands of years ago.

Excerpt and buy links.

DISRUPTOR

Runaway. Experiment. Superhero?

The streets were the safest place for Dani, until the night she was caught by traffickers who sold her to a laboratory. She survived five years of experiments: biotech implants, gene therapy, and other things she could barely comprehend. The pain, though, that she understood. The lab pushed her body past its limits, drove her mind to its darkest corners, but somehow her spirit remained unbroken. She escaped, and sought refuge on the streets once again. But this time she doesn’t run away from cries for help. Now, she runs toward them.

Playboy. Dilettante. Sidekick?

Kevin Moynihan is the youngest son of Point Sable’s most wealthy and storied family. A permanent fixture in the society pages, he’s known for his good looks, his charm, and his aversion to an honest day’s work. His life is a whirlwind of fast women, faster cars, all night parties and endless champagne – until his latest drunk and disorderly charge lands him a stint doing community service in the roughest part of town. The part of town where someone is always screaming for help.


A chance meeting will bring two unlikely people together – first as reluctant allies, then friends, and finally partners.

Excerpt and buy links. 

Other News

Cover Reveal!

Jeffe Kennedy's The Tides of Bára, #3 in the Sorcerous Moons fantasy romance series, will be out October 29. and the books in the series can be found here on Amazon, or here on her website. The pre-order Amazon is here! 

Gang A-Gley Giveaway!

What happens when you just can't meet a writing goal or deadline?

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men

Gang aft a-gley.

~Robert Burns

So...

I'd asked for this date on the illustrious Here Be Magic calendar - governed by the menacing and truly frightening Calendarzilla - because I'd planned to have book three in my Sorcerous Moons, fantasy romance series out around now. 

Like yesterday, even. 

Instead, I finished writing it the day before yesterday. This isn't the first time I've had to adjust a deadline, but it feels like the most egregious slip. When I had to push back a deadline by a month once before - also (not coincidentally) for the third book in a trilogy - it was for my publisher, who'd built in months of buffer to the production schedule. I knew it; my editor knew it (and was cool with it); otherwise it didn't show.

This time it shows and I feel sheepish about it. Maybe that's not a strong enough word.

See, I figured back in mid-August that I simply wouldn't be able to write this book in time. Part of it was tying up the story. The rest was... well, all those mice and men!  I started off great - I wrote more than 18,000 words the first week, at the end of July. Good words, too. They survived mostly intact to the draft I just completed. 

Then I had a couple of weeks of totally unproductive shite. I could go into all the things that did happen instead, but I'm pretty clear with myself that I make the writing a priority, regardless of what else happens. 

And, really, what happened is the dominoes that started falling back in February caught up and smashed down. It wasn't that I didn't make the time. I just couldn't produce the words.

For the first time, I believed that burn-out might be a real thing.

I hauled back, shed a few tears, spent a few days staring at the sky, and pushed back my own personal production deadline.

TA DAHHHH!!!

Pay no attention to the woman behind the curtain.

At any rate - the big ratchet-back helped. I finished a story I owed Grace Draven for TEETH, LONG AND SHARP, which turned out pretty damn cool after all.

And I finally finished THE TIDES OF BARA. More: I'm happy with it. Just wait until you see the freaking cover for that! It's coming out October 29, so stay tuned for that.

In the meanwhile, I'm offering a giveaway of the first two Sorcerous Moons books. Comment here and tell me about a plan gone wrong, and I'll give a commenter those two novels in the digital format of their choice. Open to international!

Here Be News

New Releases

New!

MONSTER OF THE GLADES
Subwoofers, Book 3
Contemporary Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
(Alligator Shifter)
by Linda Mooney
Word Count: 36.3K
$2.99 e

Alligator, Bear, Cougar, Deer, Eagle
They found each other by accident. They became a team for life.

When Clint Abrams of Bag It and Tag It Excursions is approached by representatives of JayMax Productions to film scenes in the swamp for a horror movie, he is intrigued. Both by the movie, whose subject hits a little too close to home, and by the tall, freckled redhead, Charlie Dupine.

Clint can’t hide his feelings for Charlie, and the more time he spends with her, the more he knows she is his destiny. His life mate. His everything.

There is something about Clint that Charlie can’t quite explain, and she can’t get him off her mind. She’s not big on relationships but if nothing else, a one-night stand with the guy can’t hurt while she’s at the lodge. He’s causing feelings in her that she’s not sure about.

But when danger rears its head, it’s not all because of the wildlife. Clint will do whatever it takes to save her, but that may mean exposing his secret. Will she run when she learns the truth? Or can she love him just the same? That choice may be taken away when lives are threatened and the FBI becomes involved. 

Warning! Contains swampy bogs, a snare pole necklace, alligator soup, were-gators, an explosive pineapple, and one insane act that could cost a man his life, as well as the woman he loves.

Excerpt and buy links

Released August 20, 2016! Book Two of The Sorcerous Moons

Oria’s Gambit

A Play For Power

Princess Oria has one chance to keep her word and stop her brother’s reign of terror: She must become queen. All she has to do is marry first. And marry Lonen, the barbarian king who defeated her city bare weeks ago, who can never join her in a marriage of minds, who can never even touch her—no matter how badly she wants him to.

A Fragile Bond

To rule is to suffer, but Lonen never thought his marriage would become a torment. Still, he’s a resourceful man. He can play the brute conqueror for Oria’s faceless officials and bide his time with his wife. And as he coaxes secrets from Oria, he may yet change their fate…

An Impossible Demand

With deception layering on deception, Lonen and Oria must claim the throne and brazen out the doubters. Failure means death— for them and their people.

But success might mean an alliance powerful beyond imagining.

Buy on 

Amazon

Smashwords

To celebrate the release of Book Two, Book One in the series, LONEN'S WAR is on sale for only .99!

Amazon
Smashwords
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Cover Reveal for ORIA'S GAMBIT!!!

Finally, it's here!

Book Two of my Sorcerous Moons series is ready to go! ORIA'S GAMBIT will be hitting the virtual shelves this week.

The book's been ready, but we've been tweaking the cover. And Louisa Gallie did an amazing job, as always. I'll put up the buy links as they go live.

A Play For Power

Princess Oria has one chance to keep her word and stop her brother’s reign of terror: She must become queen. All she has to do is marry first. And marry Lonen, the barbarian king who defeated her city bare weeks ago, who can never join her in a marriage of minds, who can never even touch her—no matter how badly she wants him to.

A Fragile Bond

To rule is to suffer, but Lonen never thought his marriage would become a torment. Still, he’s a resourceful man. He can play the brute conqueror for Oria’s faceless officials and bide his time with his wife. And as he coaxes secrets from Oria, he may yet change their fate…

An Impossible Demand

With deception layering on deception, Lonen and Oria must claim the throne and brazen out the doubters. Failure means death— for them and their people.

But success might mean an alliance powerful beyond imagining...

In the meanwhile, if you haven't yet picked up a copy of book one, LONEN'S WAR, then this is a good time to do it! 

Release Day! LONEN'S WAR

I have a new book in a new series out today!

LONEN'S WAR kicks off a new Fantasy Romance series, Sorcerous Moons. I did it on my own (self-published) because my agent felt the story concept too closely paralleled that of THE MARK OF THE TALA.

I can see it. Marriage of convenience between rulers of warring nations just really rocks my fantasy romance heart. What can I say?

And I really wanted to tell this story, particularly a very slow-burn romance. Also, caveat: as some reviewers rightfully point out, this first book has no heat and very little romance, because slow burn.

Oh yeah - we'll get there, people.

This review tickled me no end:

If you like stories of overlooked princesses coming into their own in spite of withering expectations, you will love Lonen’s War. Likewise if you enjoy epic fantasy with lots of political skullduggery, ( like The Goblin Emperor and Sorcerer to the Crown) because this book certainly fills that bill as well.
And if you are a fan of Jeffe Kennedy’s Twelve Kingdoms series, you are going to absolutely adore this.

I hope you all DO adore it! It really hits my own personal sweet spot. 

An Unquiet Heart

Alone in her tower, Princess Oria has spent too long studying her people’s barbarian enemies, the Destrye—and neglected the search for calm that will control her magic and release her to society. Her restlessness makes meditation hopeless and her fragility renders human companionship unbearable. Oria is near giving up. Then the Destrye attack, and her people’s lives depend on her handling of their prince…

A Fight Without Hope
When the cornered Destrye decided to strike back, Lonen never thought he’d live through the battle, let alone demand justice as a conqueror. And yet he must keep up his guard against the sorceress who speaks for the city. Oria’s people are devious, her claims of ignorance absurd. The frank honesty her eyes promise could be just one more layer of deception.

A Savage Bargain
Fighting for time and trust, Oria and Lonen have one final sacrifice to choose… before an even greater threat consumes them all.

BUY IT NOW

Amazon   |   Kobo   |   Smashwords

Here Be News

New Releases

New from Jeffe Kennedy!!

LONEN'S WAR, the first book in her new fantasy romance series, Sorcerous Moons, will be out on Tuesday!!

Watch this page for buy links.

An Unquiet Heart

Alone in her tower, Princess Oria has spent too long studying her people’s barbarian enemies, the Destrye—and neglected the search for calm that will control her magic and release her to society. Her restlessness makes meditation hopeless and her fragility renders human companionship unbearable. Oria is near giving up. Then the Destrye attack, and her people’s lives depend on her handling of their prince…

A Fight Without Hope

When the cornered Destrye decided to strike back, Lonen never thought he’d live through the battle, let alone demand justice as a conqueror. And yet he must keep up his guard against the sorceress who speaks for the city. Oria’s people are devious, her claims of ignorance absurd. The frank honesty her eyes promise could be just one more layer of deception.

A Savage Bargain

Fighting for time and trust, Oria and Lonen have one final sacrifice to choose… before an even greater threat consumes them all.

Other News

Cindy Spencer Pape will be speaking and signing books at Motor City Steam Con this weekend! If you're in the Detroit area , stop by and check out the action.


HUGE Science Fiction Romance Sale, 40 books, including Veronica Scott's Award Winning  WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM, and Shona Husk's DECADENT MOON and YOURS TO COMMAND. Details and links here.  

Overcoming Two Towers Syndrome

It's been a great week for my duology with Grace Draven, FOR CROWN AND KINGDOM! I'm frankly astonished at the response and grateful to all of you enthusiastic readers. If you'd still like to pick up a copy, here are some linkys:

Amazon
Apple/iTunes
Kobo
Barnes & Noble

Now that the promo pony parade is wearing down for both this release and for THE PAGES OF THE MIND, which also released last week to the best rankings that series has seen so far (yay - thank you!!), I'm turning my attention back to book two in this new series I'm writing, The Sorcerous Moons. Book one, LONEN'S WAR, is done and I have an actual blurb now!

An Unquiet Heart 

Alone in her tower, Princess Oria has spent too long studying her people’s barbarian enemies, the Destrye—and neglected the search for calm that will control her magic and release her to society. Her restlessness makes meditation hopeless and her fragility renders human companionship unbearable. Oria is near giving up. Then the Destrye attack, and her people’s lives depend on her handling of their prince…  

A Fight Without Hope 

When the cornered Destrye decided to strike back, Lonen never thought he’d live through the battle, let alone demand justice as a conqueror. And yet he must keep up his guard against the sorceress who speaks for the city. Oria’s people are devious, her claims of ignorance absurd. The frank honesty her eyes promise could be just one more layer of deception.  

A Savage Bargain 

Fighting for time and trust, Oria and Lonen have one final sacrifice to choose… before an even greater threat consumes them all.

Book two is called ORIA'S GAMBIT and it's slow going so far. I'm working hard to keep from hitting Two Towers Syndrome, which is a common pitfall of second books in trilogies. 

You know what I'm talking about? It's a common complaint that the second book in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, THE TWO TOWERS, is simply a bridge between THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING and THE RETURN OF THE KING. Nothing really happens in the book, except things that fill in from the grand beginning to the crashing finale.

Now, if we can get over criticizing Tolkien, master of all things epic fantasy, we can take a look at why the book feels this way.

Something I like to do to create a scaffolding for my novels, given that I'm much more a gardener than an architect - so this is more like a trellis for the story vine to grow on - is to break down into the three-act structure. This is a natural storytelling structure for most of western culture, hearkening back to the Greeks. 

Basically, it works like this: 

Act I = first 25%

Act II = middle 50%

Act III = final 25%

Breaking this into beats it goes:

Act I Climax - 25%

Midpoint - 50%

Act II Climax - 75%

Act III Climax - 90%

Denouement

This matches the perhaps more familiar structure of introduction, rising action, climax, falling action. Or get your heroine up a tree, throw rocks at her, get her down again.

Thus, for say a 100,000 word novel, the word count would break out roughly as:

Act I Climax - 25K

Midpoint - 50K

Act II Climax - 75K

Act III Climax - 90K

Denouement - 100K

Of course there's variation in there, but it's remarkable to me how closely my major beats hit this scaffolding. It helps me because I know I have to have all the stakes set by the first 25%, a big pivot around 50%, a huge all-is-lost climax at 75% and then the final climax. 

Okay, so! Now's where it gets fun! (If you're a geeky, spreadsheet queen like me.) You can apply this same math to the arc of a trilogy. Let's say you have three books, all 100K, for ease of round numbers. The numbers in parentheses are the running sum of the wordcount for the entire trilogy.

Book 1

Act I Climax - 25K

Midpoint - 50K

Act II Climax - 75K

Act III Climax - 90K

Denouement - 100K

Book 2

Act I Climax - 25K (125K)

Midpoint - 50K (150K)

Act II Climax - 75K (175K)

Act III Climax - 90K (190K)

Denouement - 100K (200K)

Book 3

Act I Climax - 25K (225K)

Midpoint - 50K (250K)

Act II Climax - 75K (275K)

Act III Climax - 90K (290K)

Denouement - 100K (300K)

Now let's figure the overall arc:

Overall Arc

Act I Climax - 75K

Midpoint - 150K

Act II Climax - 225K

Act III Climax - 270K

Denouement - 300K

With me so far? Then we paste this against the three-book story arcs:

Book 1

Act I Climax - 25K

Midpoint - 50K

Act II Climax - 75K - Overall Act I Climax

Act III Climax - 90K

Denouement - 100K

Book 2

Act I Climax - 25K (125K)

Midpoint - 50K (150K) - Overall Midpoint

Act II Climax - 75K (175K)

Act III Climax - 90K (190K)

Denouement - 100K (200K)

Book 3

Act I Climax - 25K (225K) - Overall Act II Climax

Midpoint - 50K (250K)

Act II Climax - 75K (275K) - Overall Act III Climax

Act III Climax - 90K (290K) - Overall Denoument

Denouement - 100K (300K)

See what we did there?? Hopefully you're getting excited and the lightbulbs are going off in your pretty heads. So, looking at the overall arc, the Act II all-is-lost climax of book one is the Act I climax of the trilogy. We spent basically the first 75% of book one setting up the stakes for the entire trilogy! Then the Act I Climax of book three is the Overall all-is-lost moment. Book three also contains the overall Act III Climax. This can move a little to coincide with the book three Act III Climax for even more punch. Or, often there's a series of climaxes in book three, to wind everything up. 

But let's look at The Two Towers syndrome. What happens in the overall arc in book two? Right! ZERO CLIMAXES. Basically the book is one big midpoint, all-is-lost moment, so far as the overall arc is concerned. *This* is why the middle book of a trilogy can feel like a bridge. It kind of IS.

What are some solutions to this? Well, one that works well is to make book two longer. If book two is 125K, then the Overall Act II Climax can occur at the end. Though this can create a cliffhanger. The other solution is to be very aware of this syndrome and make the act climaxes particularly powerful. The book gets no help from the overall arc, so needs a strong momentum of its own. Resist having the quest team be split up, wandering about having various incidental adventures. *cough*

Any other solutions?? I'm all ears as I dive back into ORIA'S GAMBIT. One big midpoint... yeah.