Friday, September 9, 2016

Ducks in a Row

I had to recheck that title a couple of times lest there be an unfortunate (but not entirely inaccurate) typo. Somehow I managed to rub some kind of lotion or oil in my eyes this morning and my vision is infuriatingly blurry. I've tried rinsing my eyes, eye drops, etc. but...the blurriness persists. I said DUCKS, right?


I was going to discuss...well, it doesn't matter. I'm going to settle for a quickish update on what you can expect to see from me over the next few months.


I'm currently working on Fair Chance, the final book in the All's Fair trilogy (and on Wednesday I'll be blogging a bit more on the pressures of wrapping up a mini-series over at Not Your Usual Suspects)  but that's not due out until next March or so.


What is coming out this year?


First up is Murder Between the Pages. It's...nutty. It's a post World War 2 bit of kooky amateur sleuthing by two rival mystery writers.


Felix Day, author of the Constantine Sphinx mysteries, and Leonard Fuller, author of the Inspector Fez mysteries, are bitter rivals and the best of enemies. Both happen to be present when a notorious author of roman à clef is shot by an invisible assailant during a signing at historic Marlborough Bookstore.

Even if they weren’t both suspects, it’s the perfect opportunity to match wits and sleuthing skills.

If only the murderer was equally amused.


Here's a snippet from Chapter Two...






The bell jingled as Harp yanked open the door and breezed out, and to my astonishment, Day let him leave without so much as a peep.


“What the hell?” I said as I reached him. “You let him go?”


Day seemed almost distracted as he replied, “He’s with the police.”


“Are you kidding me? That’s the oldest trick in the book!” I grabbed the door handle--and Day grabbed my arm with bony but surprisingly strong fingers.


He was scowling--which is his usual expression with me--and I scowled back.


“Oh, no, you don’t,” he said.


“If you don’t want a punch in the nose, let go my arm,” I warned him.


“Just try it.” Day's black eyes were narrow and hostile. Again, perfectly normal for him. “Where were you when that shot went off?”


Me?” I gaped at him. “That shot came from the back of the room. As you very well know.”


“I don’t know any such thing.”


“Where were you? That’s the question.”


His eyes blazed. “Had I been planning to shoot anyone today, it wouldn’t have been Josiah Shelton.”


“Oh, very nice!” I retorted. “Well, maybe you missed and shot Shelton by mistake.”


“I don’t miss.”


“That’s not what the critics say.”


Day’s face turned a nice healthy red.




This is my Kindle Unlimited experiment, which I consider to be something of a disaster already. By now I would typically have about 2000 preorders. Instead we're looking at a very scary and unsustainable 700ish. But I'm locked in and anyway this all started because I'm so tired of so many writers insisting the only way they can make money is through KU, so the experiment shall continue. And I'll be honest about the results, biased though I am. I mean, what's the point of an experiment if you're not going to really look at what's in the test tube?


So there's that. And then there's The Curse of the Blue Scarab, which is even kookier. But I'vealready chatted about that one (which, if you missed, you can read about  here). I haven't listed it for preorders yet on Amazon, but probably in the next day or so.


And then we've got the much anticipated (or maybe just long delayed)  Adrien English holiday novella. So This is Christmas. If you're on my mailing list, you got a teeny sneak peek at that. It's also available for preorder, though again not yet at Amazon. 











And then lastly we have the final release of 2016: Christmas Waltz, the second collection of holiday codas. Like the first collection the existing codas have been edited and expanded. And of course there will be several new codas as well as some other bits and bobs.


Not my most productive writing year, I agree. But definitely some interesting stuff (or at least, I hope you'll think so too).

Next year... well, the plan next year is to finish off a lot of these long promised titles, particularly the sequels and series. So it should be fairly busy.

But why worry today about what we can worry about even more tomorrow?

We're in the process of doing a major updating of my website, so if you're wondering about the fate of a particular title, you can always check in there. It's quite a study in optimism and my faith in the power of positive thinking. ;-)




31 comments:

  1. Better than catnip! ...ok, maybe a near equal to catnip...I really like catnip.
    *DUCKS*

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  2. I love these 'update,' blogs. They fill me with optimism. The same with going to your website and looking around. I usually find something that I haven't seen before, and that's always exciting. It matters less to me as to when you get it out there. Creativity can be fickle that way, but I love the promise of it all. :) Btw, as one suffering from, 'infuriatingly blurry,' vision myself at the moment, (((hugs))) No fun. I hope you clear up soon.

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    1. It's a little better now, but it was really making me nuts earlier. Ugh. I hope yours clears soon as well.

      As for the books...I'm actually kind of thrilled at clearing so many off my plate next year. :-D But it does require some serious concentration. :-D

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  3. Cool! So many new Josh Lanyon stories to look forward to! And I love, love, LOVE that there's going to be a second collection of holiday codas.

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    1. Oh my God. I forgot to mention who did the adorable cover! WASN'T THAT YOU???? :-D

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    2. My first thought when I saw the cover is that Johanna must have done it. It goes so nicely with the first collection.

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    3. LOL, Josh. I've almost forgotten myself that I painted the cover pic. :-D (It happened such a long time ago, it seems.) In any case, I'm glad you remembered it existed... :-)

      And thank you, Lori, for your kind words. I feel honored that Josh wanted to continue using one of my paintings also on the second Coda Collection cover. I absolutely LOVE her Christmas stories — codas and books! — so much! It was one of the happiest moments of my life, when she asked me to paint something for the cover of the first collection. No doubt one of the coolest things ever happened to me! :-)

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    4. There is an inner light to that cover. I think it's the glowy little star on the Christmas tree, but something about it exudes coziness and love. :-D

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  4. I was actually really excited to see you have a KU title. We cannot pre-order those, but just know that I will be one clicking it as soon as it goes live.

    I absolutely cannot wait for So This is Christmas!

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    1. Oh! Well, you've just taught me something I did not know! Thank you for that info.

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  5. I'm more or less content knowing there's something new coming. Sure, I'd love to see a new book every month or two, but I also know it's not realistic. Besides, it's like they say, it's the quality not the quantity, right?

    Right now, I'm not sure if I'm more excited about the Adrien English or the Christmas Codas. I love being able to read those little snippets over and over. :)

    Hope your vision's getting better. Blurry eyes just suck.

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    1. Thanks, Rosy5000. The blurry eyes thing happens every so often and maybe it's allergies or something. My afternoon swim finally cleared it up.

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  6. Thank you, Josh! That is a nice bunch of books I am going to be eagerly waiting for ☺

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  7. I am really looking forward to Murder Between the Pages. I can already tell I will love it. I zipped over to Amazon to preorder, but alas I already had.

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    1. Ha! Well, I appreciate the diligent and repeated efforts.

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  8. So very awesome plans! Can't wait! :-)

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  9. Not sure about "Murder Between the Pages" being out on Amazon's KU. I own a Nook and have purchased every one of your books as soon as they popped up on B&N. One of my other favorite authors, Eli Easton, put her third book in her "Howl @ the Moon" series out via what I believe is KU. It was suppose to be available later on other sites in August. As of today, nope, not on B&N. I don't know if that is because of the agreement w/Amazon or other factors, but it is disappointing not to have that third book in the series on my Nook! Hope "Murder..." becomes available for Nook sometime before Christmas! Please do not put the Adrien & Jake story just on Amazon. I would have to break down and get a damn Kindle just to have it.

    Terri

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    1. No worries! I don't believe in exclusivity and plan to make sure all my titles are everywhere possible. The KU commitment is for 3 months only (not counting the preorder period)and after that, the book will be in all channels.

      And I would never be so cruel as to make an Adrien English story exclusive. :-D

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  10. I don't have KU but some (most?) of those titles are available as my once-a-month PRIME freebie. Normally I want to own all your stuff, rather than borrow it, but I was holding off on this one because of the page count. Is 31 pages correct? That makes 31 pages for $3.99 while Blue Scarab is 272 pages for $4.99? In that case I'd probably do the short story as my freebie, while I plan to preorder Blue Scarab.

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    1. Murder Between the Pages will be novella length at least. The problem with listing preorders on Amazon is if you don't have the complete rough, Amazon just goes by the page count you do have. Thus the 31 pages. :-D

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    2. Ah. I figured that wasn't right but was waiting to see. Now I can preorder. Thanks!

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  11. Yay for all the new books!! But... Under 'The Ghost Had an Early Check Out' on your webside it says 'October 27, 2016'
    Is it a typo? Please don't let it be a typo :D

    Best Wishes
    Heike

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  12. I am excited, that I can read these books in my near future. I have them preordered the minute as it was possible:-)
    And for all the other, later available books...the expectations I have and the ideas I have. For example I have played with the next story about Elliot and Tucker in my mind very often, dialogs, misunderstandings and torturing included.

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