A funny thing happened on the way to tying up a loose thread. Initially, when I wrote and released Light Up the Night as a shorter story than originally planned (in order to fit the length requirements of the anthology it was scheduled to appear in), I figured I'd go back and add a few scenes in alternate POVs, expand a little on what was already there, and be done with it.
Not so fast, said my muse. These couple of scenes and alternate POVs are not so much a subplot as a whole separate story. A story in which your vampires must confront a werewolf pack. How is that going to fit in with the sweet friends-to-lovers, age gap vampire Christmas story you've got going on?
Well, she was right. Muses generally are, after all. So I looked around, noticed that someone was putting together a shifter-themed newsletter builder. Perfect, I thought. I'll write a second short story--vampires vs werewolves--and release it in that.
So, I signed up. I thought up a title for the new story, created a cover for it, and wrote down a quick outline, and...a somewhat ridiculous amount of time later. Weeks, at least. Probably more like months. It occurred to me that, fabulous as this story is, and happy though I am to be giving my h/h an HEA...this is a book about vampires who have some dealings with werewolves. And the anthology I've signed myself up for is allllll about the shifters.
So. Back to the drawing board.
Ya know what...my muse had the nerve to say, at that point, peeking out from wherever she'd been sneakily hiding. Vampires and werewolves practically beg for the Romeo and Juliet treatment--different ending, of course. Why don't you have one of your vampires fall in love with one of the werewolves.
Now, I'm getting annoyed because this is supposed to be a short story. If I add a whole new subplot to it, I'm right back where I started, with a long ass book. Also: A, all of the vampires that were slated to be in the story are already spoken for and B, how does this love story end? Does the werewolf leave home to be with their insta-love vampire? Does my vampire leave the nest and move in with a werewolf pack? At Christmas time???
It was at about this point that DepositPhoto ran one of their sales. And, armed with fresh credits I went on a cover search (for an entirely different story, of course) and...I found my story. And it's nothing like I thought it would be...well, it does have sort of a Romeo and Juliet vibe. Not the happy kind, either. It's got a Cinderella vibe, too, but that's beside the point. It involves an entirely new vampire, and it takes place at least several weeks before the original story does, so that these characters get to come in and play a brief part in that story, too.
And, of course, now I have a whole new series to write and a whole new shifter world to play in.
Here's the blurb. And a version of the cover--it's the start of a whole new series, it needs a new look. Font choices are still in the "well, I kind of like that. I think," stage.
The Sierra Nevada foothills have been vampire Josiah Lodge’s hunting grounds for nearly two centuries. Alone since a lover’s betrayal cost him his nest, the former trapper-turned-wild-crafter has given up on ever again finding love or acceptance. If he didn’t have to eat, he’d never venture out of his woods again. But needs must.
When Coldpelt (Cole) Moonwalker’s true shifter nature asserted itself, he was judged an abomination and cast out of his pack. Without a territory to call his own, he’s constantly on the move, constantly in danger—which is how he ends up passed out and injured on Josh’s front porch. While Cole dreams of someday finding a place where he can belong, he knows that place can never be with the scarred and surly vampire who undoubtedly has the blood of Cole’s people on his hands.
Will the attraction they feel for one another allow these natural enemies to overcome their sense of mutual distrust? Is enemies with benefits even a thing? Find out when the FREE anthology Shifter Fever debuts April 1st.
