Set to Kill, Awaiting the End

Yay. I have Pius History coming out on Sunday. For All Their Wars are Merry the next week .... or maybe the week after... then I have a proposal to make my Snarky Theology series into a nonfiction collection, and I'm going to run it past Jonathan Ryan of Ave Maria Press, to see if he's interested. I'd have him back on the radio show, but I don't want to make it seem as though I'm trying to bribe him with radio appearances.

And, of course, awaiting Castalia House to say yay or nay on Set to Kill, and my entire vampire series....

So, yeah, nothing to do. Everything is going according to plan ....

Yup .... nothing to do but wait .... Nothing at all....

At which point, I should ask and make sure, does everyone have some idea of what I'm talking about every time I say Set to Kill?

Let's start with something simple: the flap copy (the stuff on the back of the book).

After the events of "A Pius Stand," Sean A.P. Ryan has spent the last year in Italy, keeping his head down and his mouth shut. But now, he has been brought out of his exile for one big job: security at the world's largest science fiction convention, WyvernCon. His mission? To keep the peace between two factions warring over the "coveted" Hubble Awards -- the Tearful Puppies and the Puppy Punters. Even though Sean has a bad feeling about it, he takes the job, expecting a relatively quiet weekend.

Unfortunately, Sean soon learns that he has a bounty on his head. Every bounty hunter and mercenary within shouting distance of the internet is descending on the convention, each of them set on killing him. And his enemies list is long enough to cover half the free world, and most of the world still in chains. 

If that wasn't bad enough, the first casualties of the War of the Puppies happen at the convention. Could it have been one of the Puppies, who are all armed and dangerous? Or could it have been one of the Punters, who claim pacifist tendencies, and fanatical devotion to their cause?

With the bodies piling up, and the attacks becoming more frequent, Sean has to discover who wants him dead, and who the true Puppy killer is, before all of WyvernCon goes down in flames. 

And, just for the record, this is everything, to date, about Set to Kill that has shown up on the blog thus far.

Announcing: Set to Kill, A Sean AP Ryan Novel 
The original announcement and the concept behind it. And some of the initial insanity.

Meet the Puppies
This is the complete cast of the novel.

Chapter 1
Sean A.P. Ryan has an interesting return to the United States.

Chapter 5: Meeting the Puppies
Do I even need to discuss this one? Heh. Heh. Heh.

Chapter 7: Minions of the Puppy-Punters
Another one I don't need to elaborate on, huh? Though it was originally "Puppy Kickers," though that's been changed.

Chapter 8: Leveling Tokyo 
Elf versus Godzilla.

Set to Kill, Chapter 9 excerpt 
The children of Jesse James

Chapter 11 Excerpt 
Sean has found his type of people.

Chapter 12 Excerpt
Assassin on assassin violence. Only one's an elf, and the other's a mercenary.

Fight to the Pain
Hurting your characters.

Submitting to Castalia, the Intro 

Set to Kill, submitted to Castalia House
Sexy nerd stuff.

Awaiting the Castalia House Axe

Anyway, while you're waiting for that, consider Honor at Stake. You might like it.

Pius History, And #SadPuppies Bite Back

So, of course, now that I've got people suggesting that I publish nonfiction, I'm working on two books...

To be released in the next two - four weeks ...

Did I ever mention that I get bored easily, and I feel the need to publish at least one thing every 12 months?

Preferably every six months, because after month that, I feel like a knot is slowly tightening in my guts. It's that spot right above and behind my belly button, below the diaphragm, and if feels like someone is trying to constantly and consistently push it's way out of my guts.

Yeah. I feel sick if I don't publish in a timely fashion. You don't even want to know what my stomach feels like right now.

But you can imagine what it's been like since that I haven't published anything since Honor At Stake in September last year.

Technically, I republished Honor At Stake in June. But I haven't published anything new in nearly a year.

Of course, we're going to start with Pius History.  What will they be? Tied into the Pius Trilogy, really. They'll be the histories and footnotes in the books. Ever wondered what's real and what I made up? You're about to find out.

Ever wonder about what was fact or fiction in your favorite thriller? How much was made up or how much was just to push the story along?

Well, wonder no longer as Declan Finn pulls back the curtain on his epic trilogy to show you his meticulous, painstaking research. Did his fictional pope grow up in a world as rough as described? Are the bad guys really that motivated to end the church? Are some of the weapons real? Did Pius XII really take a side for or against the Nazis? This book has the answers you're looking for.

Now, after that will be For All Their Wars Are Merry, a historical look and review of Irish Rebel Songs. Not IRA songs per se, because saying that every Irish rebel is part of the IRA is like saying that ISIS, the PLO and al-Qaeda are all the same organization.

Again, Amazon wants me to post this at $3.99. I'm not going to object, certainly. They're the experts.

Pius Histories will be out on this Sunday, August 7th. Give or take a few hours, depending on how fast Kindle and Createspace will go. It may be a Kindle-only, I'm not entirely certain it's long enough for a paperback.

On August 21st, I'll release For All Their Wars Are Merry.

Here's where it gets tricky. If Castalia House rejects me by then -- if, I say -- then here's where things are going to get ugly. No, not for Castalia House, but for me.

Why? Because I'm thinking of publishing something .... a little sad.

That's right, not tearful. Sad. I'm done playing around.

That's right. I'm quite done thinking "oh, but what if they sue?" First of all, parody is covered under the first amendment. Second, if these schmucks sue me just for the pleasure of suing me, I'll CC all communication to whatever media outlets I can get my hands on.

Also please consider that Vox had a book titled "John Scalzi is a Rapist," and the most Scalzi did was whine to have Amazon take it down. The book was up with a different title the next day.

So, yes, if Castalia House rejects everything, I'm going to publish this and Set to Kill as almost a set. Definitely back to back.

Why wait? you ask. Because if Castalia wants Set to Kill, they might have a use for Sad Puppies Bite Back. If they can't see any use in Kill, they probably won't see a use in SPBB.

And what to do about Honor at Stake and Murphy's Law of Vampires if they are rejected? I've been talking with Matt Bowman over at Catholic Geeks.  If Castalia doesn't like Love at First Bite, then they'll be going to The Catholic Geeks Library.

Yup. I'm told it would be a shoe-in. Probably, so would the others in the series. Hilarity ensues.

Depending on if and / or when Castalia rejects me, Set to Kill will probably be out .... maybe even before World Con.

But if Castalia House accepts me ... again, I'd probably die from shock.

Anyway, do me a favor and check out Honor at Stake. You might like it.

On IRA Music and Free Books

While I await Castalia House's reply to my submissions, I've got some time to kill.

So, did I ever mention that my master's thesis was on "the songs of the IRA"?

Okay, that's inaccurate. I did a thesis called For All Their Wars are Merry: An Examination of Irish Rebel Songs. Yes, long title. Because I'm really overly precise in my nonfiction.

Anyway, it's been suggested that I go into nonfiction. And my thesis just happens to be about 50,000 words long.

And it's been edited to within an inch of it's life already. So, hey, guess what's one of the next items on the list of things to publish?

Also, I've had to make changes, if only because some research has overtaken my original study. Then again, I originally claimed that "Songs of the PLO" weren't a thing you got on CD. I've been told otherwise, but it's not like you can go on Amazon and purchase a copy. Trust me, I know, I tried.

Also, I'm trying to figure out what the heck Amazon is thinking in suggesting that this particular work should be $3.99. If they want to suggest a higher price like that, I'm not exactly going to argue with them.

Songs include things like, well, this.

Yes, this is one that comes with a play list.

Anyway, while I think about it, Pius Tales is going to be free this month. Today, for one, and August 8-10 next week.

Why today as well? Because I had an extra day lying around, thanks Amazon.

If you don't recall what Pius Tales is ... it's the complete anthology that compiles every short story connected to The Pius Trilogy.

If you haven't read the Pius books yet, I actually recommend starting with Pius Tales. It's actually a good deal -- it collects Pius Holidays, and Pius Origins, and throws in some essays, too.

There is, of course, some overlap between these projects. Why? Um.... duh? Because my Pius books are nothing but history.

Sigh. Nuts. That means I'm going to have to do "Pius History," the papers I originally used for the creation of TPT.  One on Pius XII, one on the Sudan, and one on JPII versus the Soviet Union.

Oh yay. More work.

That's alright, I'm just going to have to make more work for Dawn doing the covers. Heh.

Castalia House Update

For those of you who remember, on May 6, Set to Kill was sent to Castalia House to be published by the Supreme Dark Lord Vox Day.

As the Injustice Gamer told me, what had been a one month turnaround was been retasked for a three month turnaround.

As of this Saturday, three months will have passed.

Normal people would assume that's a rejection, right? I have, of course, already planned for a rejection. That's why I already have a cover. I've offered some Advanced Review Copies to certain parties who will remain unnamed.

Heck, I even started planning for rejection on the Love at First Bite series, which I submitted in June.

.... And then I got a letter from Vox Day.

See, since I'm a neurotic bugger who likes to cover all of my bases, I sent two emails asking for confirmation that they at least got the submissions (I had also sent my Love at First Bite series a month after Set to Kill).

With the first one, I didn't hear back. This wouldn't be news. Name me a publisher that acknowledges every random writer who sends in a request for "Hi, have you read my book yet?"  Unheard of. Imagine Tor doing that. Or Baen.

And I figured, with the deadline approaching, it was game over. I said as much in my Facebook group.

One member of said group is L. Jagi Lamplighter Wright. At her behest, I send the second letter in on the 27th.

Hello. This is my second attempt to at least conform that Castalia House at least received the submission "Set to Kill", if not "Honor at Stake," "Murphy's Law of Vampires," and "Live and Let Bite." Madam Wright suggested I contact you to confirm the receipt of these submissions. 

Thank you. 

Nothing. Dead silence.

Then, on Saturday the 30th, I got

Hello,

We do not have these and can confirm we never received them. 

Thank you,

Vox

Blink.

Well, that's something you don't see every day. The owner and editor in chief sending in a letter, personally, to some random schlub who asked how the submission was going.

I thanked him very kindly, and went on to prepare to self publish everything. Waiting another 3 months was not something I looked forward to.

It was suggested by a few people that I ask if something to be done about this. Give Castalia another shot at it.

All I could think is Really? There are no publishing houses with a backlog (ie: most of them) that is going to expedite the books for some random idiot online. Vox was on the radio show for a few minutes, literally before he went to bed, and he cited my blog once, so .... Not going to happen.

Yes, as much as it pains me to say it, I'm just not that big a deal within the Sad Puppies world, and I don't think I exist in the Rabid Puppies world ... if I do exist, someone please tell me.

Anyway, in the spirit of "You don't ask, you don't get," I sent a reply letter at 10:30 am EST.

Mr. Day,

I am going to presume that there is no way to expidite the three month turnaround process that you have described on your blog.

Is there a way to figure out what the glitch was that prevented the books from bring submitted back in May?

And notice, I misspelled expedite. I blame my smartphone. Which is less than brilliant, obviously.

And, notice, I didn't even ask about actually doing anything. I just figured there would be nothing to do. But it was a way to continue the conversation because, well, I really wanted to know what the bleep went wrong her. Is it because I used AOL?  Can't be that, he got the second submission confirmation letter. Did I go to spam? Something went wrong somewhere.

Also note that I'm not saying that Castalia House screwed up. I'm not blaming them for anything. At all. These. Things. HAPPEN. Period. End sentence.

Two hours later, I got another reply.

Send it in again and I'll send it directly to the submissions editor with instructions for priority review.

May I say, I did not see that one coming. The neurons come to a dead stop and ponder exactly what just happened. Seriously, did the editor in chief personally arrange to have my books fast-tracked? Who does that?

Vox Day, apparently.

Keep in mind, I did not expect anything to come of the exchange aside from confirming that I was just out of luck. The SOP of most businesses state that, well, rules are rules, and if something happens, well, what can you do.

Then there was this. Huh.

Obviously, I took him up on his offer. Why? Because when the editor of a publishing house makes you an offer like that, you say YES.

Now, what does fast track mean? Perhaps it means that it takes one or two months instead of three (keep in mind, I did just drop four books on these people).

Keep in mind, they are well within their rights to tell me to toss everything from Honor at Stake onward. Remember, not only was Honor self published, it was published by another company first. Normally, that would make it doubly tainted in the publishing industry -- it would also taint publishing any sequel.

Obviously, I can't really tell which way Castalia House can jump though.

But, to be fair, the whole set of books could be rejected tomorrow, and they would be perfectly within their rights to.

So, what does the publishing schedule look like then? Well, that depends.

Obviously, I can make no plans if they like Set to Kill. If they do, then I ask them about Sad Puppies Bite Back and see if they want to run the risk of publishing it whole and entire, or if they'd want to modify it to be Tearful Puppies Bite Back, as I discussed in June.

If they like everything I sent them...my next of kin can figure out what to do next, because I'll drop dead from shock.

On the other hand....

Assuming that "priority review" shaves a month or two off the submission. Let's say I get a rejection by the end of August. I can click the button, and publish at least two out of three books. I may stagger them out a few weeks, just in case. Either way, a rejection at this stage will not impact my books that badly.

By the way, for those of you who wonder why I have almost never commented about Vox, or anything he said, or what he's like, it's because my major impression about him has been set by his book The Irrational Atheist, which, frankly, is one of the better books I've ever read on countering the anti-theist crowd. I keep it on the shelf with Dan Dennett and Chris Hitchens, and see if they explode like matter / anti-matter.

And, obviously, I have no ability to predict what he's going to do.

Anyway, I'm going to start killing time by releasing a nonfiction work. And more on that next week.

A hint? Okay. Have I ever mentioned how I did work on songs of the IRA in college?

Heh heh heh.

The Catholic Geek: Superversive SF and the Wrights 07/31

The Catholic Geek: Superversive SF and the Wrights 07/31 , at 7:00 PM EST

John C. Wright and L. Jagi Lamplighter return to discuss superversive fiction, their work, and whatever else that might pop up.

John C. Wright is the author of Iron Chamber of Memory, Count to a Trillion, and Somewhither. He is is a retired attorney, newspaperman and newspaper editor, who was only once on the lam and forced to hide from the police who did not admire his newspaper.

L. Jagi Lamplighter is the author of The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin and The Raven, The Elf, and Rachel. and the upcoming Rachel and the Many-Splendored Dreamland, as well as the Prospero's Daughter Trilogy (Prospero Lost, Prospero In Hell, and Prospero Regained).She has also written a number of short stories, articles on anime, and is an author/assistant editor in the BaddAss Faeries series.

Anyway, if you haven't already, you might want to pick up Honor at Stake. 

Preferably before the sequel comes out.

Movie night: Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

From 1942, starring the usual suspects, Rathbone and Bruce again.

Anyway, if you haven't already, you might want to pick up Honor at Stake. 
Preferably before the sequel comes out.

LibertyCon 29 AAR

So, yeah. I went to LibertyCon. How was it?

It was okay.

To be honest, I got an attack of shingles during my trip to Chattanooga, so I missed the third day of the convention. But, to be honest, I was expecting to do more at the convention. On Friday, my only two things to do was to have a signing at 6, and a reading at 9.

I knew that I was going to have an hour. So, originally planned to do a reading for 45 minutes -- an intro, maybe some questions.

Then I learned that each hour was 50 minutes. Well, I planned for 45 minutes of reading, so I was good.

Then I learned that I had to read with someone else. Oh well. I had to make it up as I went along. You can see the video of my reading from a few days ago to see how well that went.

I arrived on Thursday, the day before the convention, and ended up in a party with Sarah Hoyt, and many of the people who I've known from Facebook. It was fun. And strange. I'm generally not a social person. But these were basically "my people." I think I talk more to more people face to face at conventions than I do every other month of the year. I met Lin Wicklund, and Dorothy Grant, and other people whose names haven't appeared on the blog. I was at least in the room with Gunny Mormon, but he was busy.

The first panel I saw on Friday was "Weaponized Artificial Intelligence" ... which went off the rails so much, someone from the audience screamed at the panel "TO GET BACK ON TOPIC ALREADY."  So that was fun.

Next was Eastern Weaponry, with Larry Correia and Baen editor Toni Weisskopf. Apparently, Toni's late husband collected swords. There was a nice collection of sharp pointy things.

The next panel I was at was Monster Hunter International, with John Ringo, Sarah Hoyt, Larry Correia, and it was high-jacked by Toni. The discussion turned to "writing about monsters." Toni had to leave, and the conversation went back to Larry's MHI universe. Ringo has done a trilogy going back to the 80s. Hoyt is doing a Julie Shackleford novel. And Larry is going back to Owen and the main series.

There were the opening ceremonies, where I managed to stand, wave, and sat down. I then tottered off to sign books and stuff.

Upon entering the dealer's room, I was stopped by Michael Z. Williamson. Mad Mike opened my blazer, checked my shirt, smiled, and said "Ah, that one," and wandered off.

The orange t-shirt I'm wearing in the picture above reads "Sometimes, I have to remind myself that it's not worth the jail time."

I do subtle so very well.

At 8 pm was "Georgette Heyer and her Influence on Science Fiction." Mostly, it was about how Heyer managed to do world building for historically-set novels, even down to getting slang right. Which of course, is also what you want to do when you're writing science fiction.

Not to mention that she did a lot of great character building, and did her best to write against standard cliche, in both character design and plot.

After my reading, I rushed to John Ringo's reading at 10 pm. I rushed there faster than Ringo himself did. So did everyone else, as we were jammed into a very nice, almost roomy, walk-in closet. He did readings from Monster Hunter: Grunge, which will be a laugh riot. It was standing room only, and I stood in the back, next to the door. At one point, someone in a bright green shirt came in; I think I noted him at first because he was the only other person as brightly dressed as I was. Then he sort of looked familiar. I looked down, and saw the tag "Tom Kratman."

Huh. Okay then. I went back to listening to the reading, and Col. Kratman wandered in and out of the room. I would have said hello (with an emphasis on "Thank you for the Sad Puppies Bite Back support"), but (if I gathered correctly) Kratman had been waiting for Ringo, and I wasn't going to be run over by John when he was running in "Convention mode."

Saturday morning. I was going to see Global Pandemics and Biosecurity, as well as "Bringing Modern Technology into Urban Fantasy," but my entourage wasn't moving quickly that morning, and we missed both of these panels. I also missed the first half of Principles of War.

However, I did run into Lou Antonelli, one of the nominees from Sad Puppies 3. He's a pleasant, genial fellow, who will even talk to a guy like me, and picked me out of a lineup. Who knew? Since I had no idea what to do for the next hour or so, I followed him to his panel "Retro-Futurist Alternate History." Basically, a high-tech alternate timeline ... sort of like the Fallout franchise, or Watchman, only fun, and with technology, instead of superheroes.

I went to Perspectives on Military SF ... which had very comfy seats. I must admit, I fell asleep. Which would have been interesting, because I fell asleep around the time that Peter Grant, military veteran, started arguing that you could only write military fiction if you're a veteran ... and he was arguing against another vet that insisted that, no, you didn't need to be a vet to write military fiction.

Afterwards, there was the very long winded title panel: Do Utopian cities or Dystopian cities make the better backdrop for Urban Fantasy? Starring Gail Z. Martin, MB Weston, Terry Maggert, and ... me.

I think I had only one good line. The question was "Can you have a plot in a true utopia? A utopia that has no dark underbelly?"

Me: "Remember, the first Utopia was written by Sir Thomas More. Utopia sounds like eu, as in good, like euphoric. So it's a good place ... only it's spelled with a U, which is a negative. It's a good place that doesn't exist. And at the end of the day, the book Utopia had no plot. It was just a travelogue. So the answer is probably not."

Martin: Unless someone is attacking or threatening the utopia from the outside.

Me: "Point."

I caught the second half of the Baen Slideshow, which is basically everything that's coming out in the next few months.

Panel Noir, With Kacey Ezell, Larry Correia, et al, was mostly a matter of dueling quotes by Hammett and Chandler. One of them did the best Sydney Greenstreet I've heard in a while.

Then I wound up doing the "Invasion of the Podcasters" panel. I think my best line in terms of giving advice was "be prepared for a crappy guest." I used the example of a man who had been at Inside the Actor's Studio with James Lipton, and the guest was Ed Norton. Apparently, Norton is such an empty suit, Lipton stopped the cameras, and bitched him out, telling him to straighten up, or else.

Immediately afterwards was the It's in the Blood panel from the video yesterday.

And Sunday, I ended up in the nearest ER, getting some nifty anti-virals. Yay. I'll spare you the pictures.

Anyway, if you haven't already, you might want to pick up Honor at Stake. 

Preferably before the sequel comes out.

LibertyCon 29 panel: It's in the Blood: What Fuels our Fears, Attraction and Fascination with Vampires

Premise: Karen Bogen moderates this panel on what motivates our unending quest for all things vampire.

Hilarity ensues.



To see what I actually do with vampires, take a look at Honor at Stake.

Declan Finn Reading Honor at Stake, LibertyCon 29

Obviously, there will be spoilers for Honor At Stake. Duh.

Enjoy.

To get the rest of this book, click here and buy a copy.

Publishing Schedule

The following schedule is liable to change without warning. I am held hostage by the whims of a publisher, and I can't really gauge when or how they'll be striking.

So, assuming everything goes to plan -- and assume it won't -- this is what my publishing schedule will look like this year. I'm going to give you some rational for it as well, so humor me.

Set to Kill -- Yes, this is still happening. I submitted it to Castalia House in May, and since they're now on 3-month turnaround, my rejection should be coming through by any day now. If, of course, they really like the book, this may be shunted to God-knows-when. I am, of course, killing time by having people read the book before the publishing date, getting feedback, prereviews, that sort of thing. Expect this to come out in August, 2016. When in August? No idea. Hopefully by the ides thereof.

Technically, this is a sequel to It Was Only on Stun!, but I wouldn't really say you had to read one to get the other. In fact, this is more of a sequel to The Pius Trilogy than anything else. Why do I say that? Because, well, there's way more blow back from Pius than from Stun!, that's all I'm saying.

For those of you who are wondering about the cover, well, it's brought to you by Dawn Witzke again, and I like it. I think it's charming.

But then, what do I know? I created the It Was Only On Stun! cover, and I thought it was perfectly feasible at the time.

After the events of "A Pius Stand," Sean A.P. Ryan has spent the last year in Italy, keeping his head down and his mouth shut. But now, he has been brought out of his exile for one big job: security at the world's largest science fiction convention, WyvernCon. His mission? To keep the peace between two factions warring over the "coveted" Hubble Awards -- the Tearful Puppies and the Puppy Punters. Even though Sean has a bad feeling about it, he takes the job, expecting a relatively quiet weekend.

Unfortunately, Sean soon learns that he has a bounty on his head. Every bounty hunter and mercenary within shouting distance of the internet is descending on the convention, each of them set on killing him. And his enemies list is long enough to cover half the free world, and most of the world still in chains. 

If that wasn't bad enough, the first casualties of the War of the Puppies happen at the convention. Could it have been one of the Puppies, who are all armed and dangerous? Or could it have been one of the Punters, who claim pacifist tendencies, and fanatical devotion to their cause?

With the bodies piling up, and the attacks becoming more frequent, Sean has to discover who wants him dead, and who the true Puppy killer is, before all of WyvernCon goes down in flames.

Of course, none of the cast members look anything like anyone in real life. Honest. Authors like Johnny Noah Prada, Gary Castelo, Jesse James, or Calvin "Crazy Cal" Y. Jefferson, look nothing like any real life counterpart.

Heh. Heh. Heh.

Murphy's Law of Vampires (Love at First Bite, book 2) -- I submitted all three books to Castalia House in June. This includes Honor at Stake (in case they wanted it), and book two and three of the continuing adventures of Marco Catalano and Amanda Colt. So expect this to be out in September. Again, same disclaimer. If lightning strikes and they want any of these novels, I'm not going to say no. But I'm going to plan as though they're going to say no.

What is this one about? Blowback. Remember how Honor at Stake opened nice, and slow, with an easy, gentle buildup? Yeah. Don't expect that here. By the time we get to the second half of the novel, the crap will hit the fan, and will be in a flat-out run. Romance? There will be some. Not as much as in book 1, but I will tell you that some of the .... issues ... raised in book 1 will be resolved, leading the way to a very intense book 3, in more ways than one.

I'm going to start posting excerpts from Murphy's Law of Vampires next week, and every Monday thereafter.

The flap copy I have is...

After saving Brooklyn from a nest of vampires, Amanda Colt and Marco Catalano are a little banged up. He's been given a job offer to deal with vampires in San Francisco, and it's a tempting offer – it would get him away from Amanda, his feelings for her, and get her away from the darkness inside him. When a death in the family compels Marco  to move to the West Coast, they're both left to fend for themselves.

But when a creature known only as “Mister Day” leaves their world in tatters, they must once more join forces against the darkness. Only "Day" is no vampire, but a creature beyond their experience. It will take the combined might of Marco, Amanda, and all of their allies just to slow it down. They have no weapons that can kill him. They have no ways to imprison him. To even fight him is death.

But they have to try, or face the end of everything they love. 

Live and Let Bite (Love at First Bite, book 3) -- as I said, I've send all of these to Castalia House. So it should be the same rejection period. Which means that this book should be out in November 2016. Why November? Because I want the trilogy to be available for the public for Christmas. Duh. :)

What's the premise of book 3? If you recall, there have been suggestions since Honor at Stake that there was something darker out there. Murphy's will follow up on it, and this will be when the "something darker" will decide that it has had enough of Marco, and is going to just freaking end him. And Amanda. And everyone around him.

No flap copy, because it might spoil books 1 and 2.

If Hell freezes over, and Castalia House likes any of this, the times will be altered. Otherwise, expect this to be the general schedule.