Ember of the Undying is Coming Soon!

This is a difficult update to make, not because the news it will contain is in any way negative - it's all great! - but because I'm one of those unforgivable people who is terrible at communicating when I should, and is therefore super embarrassed about it when I finally do. I know it's a problem, and I'll be working on mitigating it in the future.

So, first the good news: I've updated the preview of the first few chapters of Ember of the Undying to more accurately reflect the current state of the work, which is a super good segue into the even better news:

Ember of the Undying is DONE.

All caps. D-O-N-E "finished."

I'll be working on the steps necessary to get it out where you lovely people can read it in the next few...weeks? Months? The time frame really depends on how long the cover takes and how much time I put into marketing before releasing it, but I hate marketing all the way down to the lizardiest depths of my lizard brain, so I don't expect that will take long.

The even better news is that due to non-specific changes in my life situation, I'll have a lot more time to devote to writing projects for the near future, at least. How long that will last depends on how well the book does (so maybe I should...do...marketing?), but the immediate consequence is that book 3 is already half-drafted and the wait for it should be much, MUCH shorter than the wait for EotU was. The longer consequences remain to be seen, but other projects I'm working on should move at a quicker pace as well.

Expect to hear more (including a hard release date for Ember of the Undying) in the near future. Or don't. I'm not the boss of you.

That's all for today. More soon!

New Cover for Speak of Ashes

Check it out! 👉

Credit to Damonza.com for updating and improving the original. The new cover is available on newly purchased copies of the e-book right now, and the print copy will be coming very soon.

Sample chapters are up!

If you're dying for a taste of what's coming next for Gwyn, check out the first three chapters of the upcoming sequel to Speak of Ashes at the link below. Obviously, significant spoilers for book one abound, so only click if you're ready to read them.

Ember of the Undying

Once Upon a Time...

... a debut novel was written.

Then life happened.

But now the sequel's nearly done. The second book of Chant of the Departed is in the polishing phase at last. More news to come.

Keep an eye out for a sample chapter, coming soon!

The Print Copy Is Out

Top and center forever.

The News That Justifies This Post

After spending entirely too much time obsessing over every little detail, the print edition of Speak of Ashes is complete and available for purchase on Amazon. Buy it! Meanwhile, I think I'd like to nap for half a week.

First Real Post

This will remain top and center forever.

In (preemptive) celebration of the print release of Speak of Ashes, it's time for a real progress update and the current situation of book two.

The Obligatory Second Book Update

It's in progress. Update concluded.

The Relevant Update

I have finished formatting and typesetting the print copy, which has me absolutely giddy with terror very convincing happiness. Soon I'll have to look over the proof with yet another fine toothed comb and sullenly admit I missed a comma somewhere and must redo the entire thing.

I cannot wait.

The Absolutely Necessary, Yet Brief to Prevent Rambling, Personal Blurb

On the personal end of things, I now know what three straight days of nauseated terror and unrelenting anxiety feels like. That's what happened when I hit publish on my very first book. Luckily, Friday night rolled around, some friends weaseled a few beers into me, and all was right-ish with the world again. Now I just have to do everything else.

The Appeal

If you're here because you've just read my book and you liked it so much that you want to know when the next one will be available, you're in the right place! The answer is as soon as I can without completely ruining it. I'm a big fan of calling things done when they are done and not one minute before. When the first draft is done, I will update this page just after I convince myself it's really true. Then there will be rewrites, edits, re-edits, more-writes, and at least two instances of swearing I'm going to delete the whole thing and start over, only to realize that I've backed it up in so many unique places that truly erasing its existence would require effort. Then I'll quit being so dramatic and edit some more.

When all of that's finished, I shall post.

In the meantime, if you really enjoyed Speak of Ashes, please consider posting a review where you purchased it. Letting other people know how much you've enjoyed a work encourages them to give it a chance too.

Speak of Ashes Just Released

Available at amazon.com

The Border keeps infernals at bay. That's the official line.

Infernals are immortal, supernaturally strong, and resilient, as long as they can feed on the energy of living souls. The worst part is, they look human.

Peace in the decaying metropolis of Ash is built on the belief that infernals can't slip past the city's defenses, so when Gwyn Hawthorn barely survived an assault by one, most people dismissed her story as a fluke or a lie. The church knows the truth. After nursing her back to health, they trained her to quietly execute the monsters hiding in plain sight.

Now, an unexpected discovery points Gwyn toward the killer who left her just this side of dead and puts vengeance within reach—until a brutal attack dumps her neck-deep in the troubles of a hunted man. Together, they might solve their problems, if their problems don't find them first.

Speak of Ashes is the first novel of Chant of the Departed.


Read a sample with Amazon's kindle viewer OR as a web page!