I also got the entire Arhel Trilogy finished in CreateSpace (awaiting proofs), along with the third version of Sympathy for the Devil.

ALL the covers underwent some major morphing—I discovered that borders don’t work for CreateSpace, and as a result, was forced to completely rethink my whole Arhel Trilogy design, to the serious benefit of the books.

Take a look at the new covers. The Arhel covers are complete overhauls. They have some of the same elements, but a much livelier feel.

The Sympathy for the Devil cover has a blue sky, courtesy of the “no borders” issue, and again, I think benefits from it.

All images are clickable so you can see the larger version.

The NEW Fire in the Mist

The NEW Bones of the Past

The NEW Mind of the Magic

The NEW Sympathy for the Devil

Fire in the Mist

BOOK I: Fire in the Mist: Compton Crook Award Winner "Best First Novel"

Bones of the Past

BOOK II: Bones of the Past

Mind of the Magic

BOOK III: Mind of the Magic

I wanted something striking but simple for these books—and I wanted the central images to be meaningful. So I went with Ariss, the keyu, and a dragon. The toughest part of these was coming up with an appropriate title design and name layout without getting too friggin’ frou-frou with the font. And I still wanted that touch of gold to tie these together subliminally with the suspense stuff.

I’ll probably have something in that gold on every cover…though it might be very slight.

Midnight Rain

Midnight Rain: "He'll NEVER forget you..."

I See You

I See You: "Someone's watching..."

Last Girl Dancing

Last Girl Dancing: "Don't talk to strangers..."

Night Echoes

Night Echoes: "Your past is waiting..."

Because of a bit of a financial bump, I’m pushing hard to get all the backlist up in the next couple of months. To my amazement (because I thought exactly the opposite), I think the suspense novels are going to take the longest. I’m having to go through them and edit to bring the late-draft manuscript versions I have up to the published versions.

The scans don’t have to be rewritten. They just have to be edited, and my guys (and in two cases, my co-authors) are working on that.

So my release schedule is going to change completely, and will probably start with either the Arhel trilogy or the Devil’s Point trilogy.

But there will be books soon.

Fun...With Teeth

Back when I first got published, I signed a lot of my books with a little extra exuberance—I drew a toothy smiley face and wrote in under it the words “Fun…With Teeth.”

Which was how I saw my fiction—I always wanted my readers to laugh, but I wanted some real edge in there, too.

Because, let’s face it. Sometimes I want to scare your socks of.

As the wear and tear of publishing (and some pretty hard times in my life) began to get to me, I lost some of that exuberance. All of my books have funny places in them, but with some of them, you have to wade through a whole lot of darkness to find it.

But when I decided to walk away from the meat grinder that is professional publishing, to deal directly with my readers, and to publish my own work, something strange happened. It was as if someone switched on a light inside me.

I was digging through my early works, the ones for which rights have reverted to me, and I discovered how funny some of those early books were.

I’d forgotten. From cats with hands who liked to play with matches to winged horses with bad brakes to a Miata-driving, beer-swilling dragon to infesting the entire state of North Carolina with the denizens from Hell (to the serious detriment of Hell), I had a lot more fun back then.

I want to find my way back to that.

I’d like to have you share a part of my return to laughter. In my case, laughter with really big, sharp, pointy teeth.

In the next couple of months, as I start getting my reverted novels converted into digital and print versions and moved onto platforms like Kindle and iBooks and Nook, I’m going to put together a little private membership site especially for the folks who like my fiction. You’ll have a bulletin board there where you can talk to each other, and tell me what characters you’ve missed and who you want to read about next, as well as a place where I’ll post some snippets of work in progress, cover images, and news about each book as I release it.

I don’t know what else I’ll put in there. But it’ll be free, and I’ll make sure to include some nice surprises from time to time.

Here’s the place to ask questions, offer your wish list, comment on my radical career change…

I’m glad you’re here.

I’m struggling with Hawkspar. Must get that book finished. Promptly, yes? It was officially due last December, and Anna has been lovely about the delays, but I’m not . I want to have the book done, and done well, so that we can get it edited and into production.

Over the weekend, I finished the copyedit of Work-for-Hire I. Must get that mailed. Promptly, yes? It’s due Sept 1.

New deadline to add to the mix. Bad Moon Rising, December 1st. I’ll be doing numbers in a bit, but, well. Yes. It’s almost September now.

My main character isn’t the only one confronting alligators.

First time I’ve had a chances to look at other folks’ weblogs in a couple of weeks, and it was shorter than I would have wished. Deadlines compel, and one of the migraines that have been hovering and diving for the last couple of weeks is hovering now.