Love at First Bite will be DOA on Monday

Dang, this has been a busy week. Venus came out this week. A Pius Stand came backthis week. I almost forgot to mention what was going away next week.

Just a friendly reminder, but my Dragon Award nominated series Love at First Bite will be temporarily off the shelves as of this Monday, February 19th. Please remember, my friend and publisher Russell Newquist will be rereleasing them over the summer.

There are several good reasons to buy these books. First and foremost being that Silver Empire may not release them in paperback. I'm sure you're thinking "Duh, why would they? No one buys hard copies anymore."  Well, I do, and so do some of my readers. So if you care about such things, you should probably grab them why you can.

Not to mention that Silver Empire will be redoing the covers. So, as of Monday, these will all be collector's editions.

Finally ... well, the Dragon awards for 2018 are open for voting. If you've voted for the previous editions to make it to the Dragon awards, and want to read Good to the Last Drop before it becomes unavailable, this is your last shot.

Honor at Stake

This is the first one, the Dragon Award nominated work. It also took second place in Sad Puppies 4, for whatever that is worth. I figured I would do ... a lot of smartass routines around vampires, playing games with the lore, while staying as true to it as I could.

I suppose you could say I weaponized my degree in Catholic philosophy. Who knew that it could come in handy?

One is a blood thirsty monster. The other is a vampire.

College freshman Amanda Colt knows few people and wants to know fewer still. She enjoys fencing and prefers facing a challenge every once in a while. She is beautiful, smart, and possibly the most interesting person on campus...and most people stop after the first adjective.

Then she finds Marco Catalano in her fencing class. He is tall, attractive, and very intense. With a mind like a computer and manners of a medieval knight, he scares most people. Except Amanda. They both have secrets, for they are both monsters.

As they draw closer, they must find the line between how much they can trust each other, and how much they can care for each other. Each carries a secret that can destroy the other. They must come to grips with their personal drama soon, because a darkness is rising. Bodies are turning up all over New York, and an army of vampires is closing in on all sides.

They have only one hope ... each other.

THIS BOOK WILL BE RETURNING SOMETIME IN MAY. PERFECT SUMMER READING.

Murphy's Law of Vampires

It was amusing when I saw that one of the biggest criticisms of book one was that the vampires were too easy to dispatch in the final battle. I thought that given the artillery I brought down on them was fairly sufficient.

But I also laughed my ass off for one very good reason: Mister Day.

I won't say I'm particularly proud of this villain. Finding a way to kill him was the biggest problem, especially considering his various and sundry powers and abilities.

.... But I managed.

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.

Only slightly melodramatic. Largely, I think this underplayed the threat.

THIS BOOK WILL BE RETURNING SOMETIME IN JUNE 2018.

Live and Let Bite

I had to use the title. I really did. I didn't have much choice in the matter. I love me some puns ... if you didn't realize that from the Pius trilogy.

This is the other book in the series nominated for best horror. I'll say again, I'm not entirely certain that I see how these are "horror" novels, though there are several reviews that make me thing I scare the bejeezus out of more than a few.

Then again, I did show much concept of minions...

I also had an off page, vaguely implied lesbian rape sequence...

Okay, maybe there were one or two vaguely scary things here and there.

Merlin "Merle" Kraft has been fighting the darkness for months. He left San Francisco in the capable hands of Marco Catalano and his anti-vampire team to defend them against vampires. With special operators at his command, Kraft has been killing every vampire he can find in the Middle East. After clearing out a nest in Tora Bora, he is finally brought back to New York, and the investigation that led him to vampires in the first place.

Marco is starting to spiral. He knows it. His team knows it. Everyone around him can see that he's just a bomb waiting to explode. The only woman who can bring him back from the brink is also the woman who lit his fuse.

Ever since "Mister Day" tried to murder Marco, Amanda Colt has been hunting down every lead to find the ones ultimately behind the attempt. After months of investigation, she learns that something in the dark is colder than the dark. It is a vampire assassin that Amanda has faced once before .... and last time, Amanda lost. This assassin is stronger than anything they've face before, and it isn't alone.

With Marco ready to self-destruct, and the armies of Hell ready to descend, the three of them must come together and stop a thousand-year-old assassin that has never been stopped, and has never failed to kill her target.

THIS BOOK WILL BE RETURNING SOMETIME IN JULY 2018.

Good to the Last Drop

In all honesty, I suppose I could just ask every reader on this page to go forth and vote for this book in best horror, or even fantasy, but ... eh. Not really. I'd much rather people read it, like it, and vote for it.

I'm figuring that this year or next year is going to be my last shot at even getting nominated for the Dragons. There were over 8,000 people who voted in last year's Dragon Awards. If all of them vote to nominate this year? I may have all the nominations I'm going to get

But I'm going to keep trying. This works for horror this year, and I have a horror novel coming up that was supposed to be Urban Fantasy ... I kinda wrote a horror novel by accident. Oops.

Anyway, this is your last shot to get it before the Dragon Award nominations. The good news is that if I do get a nomination, the book will be back on the shelves just in time.

The final war is about to begin, in this conclusion to the Dragon Award Nominated series

Merle Kraft, Marco Catalano and Amanda Colt have battled against the mythical Council, a supernatural conspiracy that monsters fear. This war has brought them up against vampires, minions, and demons from Hell.. Along the way, they have accumulated allies among the police, the military, the mafia, college students, lowly street gangs, and even other vampires.

Marco and Amanda have overcome their biggest terror -- their passion for each other.

But now, they face the final threat, one that is the culmination of every threat before them. This creature from Hell has powers beyond anything they've ever seen before, and has allies of his own: including SpecOps minions, an army of vampires, and packs of werewolves.

And that was before Marco got bit.

AS I SAID, IT'S COMING BACK IN AUGUST.

And, while I think of it, enjoy the Dragon Award nominations.