FORBIDDEN THIRTEEN - eBook Available now!

FORBIDDEN THIRTEEN

Forbidden Legacy, Book 1
Urban Fantasy

Released: April 3, 2018

The number thirteen follows Aria Elle Walker like a bulldog. Lucky or unlucky, it triggers her telekinesis in freaky ways. In an era of banned magic, it could get her jailed…or worse.

One Friday the 13th, Aria’s telekinesis goes wild and she accidentally kills a bounty hunter in her home. Before her freakout begins, in walks Ronan Riley, another “thirteen” telekinetic, and his doppelgänger—a dying Forbidden fairy. Hells bells, everyone knows fairies and the Forbidden are extinct!

After claiming she’s the gateway “key” to releasing ancient magic into the world, the doppelgängers whisk Aria away from the goons Ronan’s father hired to snag her. Dodging bounty hunters and screwy magic, the trio race to fix the damaged Rift before tainted magic kills the doppelgängers…or opens the floodgates to abolished magic. But Aria never expected their desperate alliance to generate a force of a different kind...an uncanny bond and undeniable desire for both doppelgängers.

Destroying Ronan’s father, the mastermind behind the mayhem, is just icing on Aria’s chaos cake. If her luck cooperates and doesn’t kill her first, that is. And will unluck add Ronan to the body count after he betrays Aria?

Don't miss this fast-paced, fun Urban Fantasy--get your copy of Forbidden Thirteen today!

More Information 

When to Let Go?

The age old question when writing & editing a book. When is it done? I can keep reading it and line editing it, over and over and still find things to change. Every. Single. Time. But when I'm sick of it and the only thing I'm changing are words I've already changed ten times before, it's time to move on. Then I spot a pesky typo or a left out word. Grrrrr..........!!!!!!! That's where I'm at with THIRTEEN. So I put a deadline on myself. August 31. NO. MORE. CHANGES.

Even though I've submitted it to one publisher (who requested it after a contest win) and one agent (who I pitched to at the RWA conference and who requested the proposal): I WILL begin agent queries this coming week (there, it's on record now).

Everyone suggests starting out slow with a handful of agents, gauge their reaction, make changes if I get any helpful feedback (that's a big if in this era of form response). Then after a round of rejections or time gone by, send out another handful. So I'm starting out with 4 agents. Count them: 4. Can you tell I'm scared?

It's not like I haven't been rejected before. CHASING SHADOWS was rejected by 35 agents, and only 1 of them requested a partial and 1 requested the full. And the book was rejected by every New York publisher who accepted unsolicited queries. So I'm not a newbie when it comes to rejections. The competition is fierce. I know what to expect. I've polished my armor. Even J.K. Rowling, Stephen King and John Grisham were rejected tons of times. I'm in great company.

It's just that, like every other writer thinks at this stage, do I believe my book is the best it can be? It has to be. Because if I have to read it more than one last time in the next couple weeks, I may burn it!

Time to fling open the doors and let the faeries fly free.

Until next time...

Query...we don't need no stinkin' query

That's what I want to hear from agents and editors. But alas, it will never happen!

In order to catch an agent or editor's attention, most want to see you pitch your work in a 1-2 paragraph query letter. The pitch usually reads like the back blurb on a book. If you have writing credits, awards, etc, you add them to your query, also. Which means your query better be damn good, perfect, awesome. Of course, there are some agents/editors who will also ask you to send a writing sample along with the query, so you get a second chance to draw their interest even if your query letter sucked.

It's the pitch part of the query letter that's tough to write. You have to condense your entire novel, in my case a novel of 108K words, into 5 or 6 sentences, and make your novel sound like the agent/editor hit the lottery with your book. Yikes! Can we say intimidating? You bet.

So I started my query for THIRTEEN in early March with 3 boring pitch paragraphs. After a million revisions, I've reduced it to 5 sentences showing who, what, where, when and why. I think I've nailed it. My 5 sentences are engaging, exhibit my voice for the novel and contain all the elements. At least I hope. Gaaaa!

There are tons of agents, editors and authors who give great advice on how to write a query. Some agents & experts will even rip them apart...um...I mean critique them on their blogs, DearAuthor and Query Shark come to mind. There are various ways of writing your query. Over the last couple weeks, I've looked at samples of selling queries that the authors graciously posted on the web. No two were alike in style. Which goes to show that if you have an awesome, fresh idea and can get that across in your query, then it doesn't matter how your query reads. Does it??? (Grammer, punctuation and professionalism aside).

There comes a time when you just have to give it wings. Test out the air currents and see what response you get with 5-10 agents. And that's what I'm gonna do.

Agents be forewarned...THIRTEEN is coming.

Up next: my adventures in Synopsis writing. Another necessary evil.