The next installment of The New Pioneers: Needs, Wants and Other Weaknesses (Book 6)

I am so excited to finally be able to share a preview of my latest novel. This will be released on October 3rd. A big thanks to Mia Darien and Erin Cawood for helping me pull this together, and another shout out to Caroline Fardig for helping me nail down the synopsis.

This is still the universe of The New Pioneers, and you may remember Detective Robert Teague from The China Doll and Let's Move On, but otherwise this is a huge departure for me. I felt pretty comfortable talking about politics in The Golden Boy Returns, but I squirmed as much as anyone would talking about the dark places and people in this book. This isn't about human trafficking as much as it is the banal human exploitation that goes on every day...and one person who decided to do something about it.

I hope you like it.

Boston Police Detective Robert Teague risked his professional reputation to close the case that ruined his father. He burned a lot of people to do that, and after six years the captain who saved his job hasn’t forgotten how much Robert screwed up. A detective of his experience should have something better to do than chasing down a complaint against a paroled convict, but maybe that's why his gut is telling him something doesn’t make sense. Why did this boyfriend pimp get such a light sentence in the first place, and why did one of Boston’s most prestigious law firms represent him? And what is it about the complaining witness that makes her less reliable every time he talks to her? (The fact that she’s using an alias isn’t helping.)

Even a hard-boiled cop would be shocked by the world Hannah Bruges has been slipping in and out of since she was a young teenager. Counterfeiting, child prostitution and slave labor in all its forms make the world a miserable place, and Hannah knows better than most how evil it can be when no one cares. When anyone can get what they want at every level of a dark market, nothing’s as cheap as a human life. Robert would be happy to close the case if Hannah didn’t keep walking into trouble and dragging him into it with her. And if he’s honest, the detective in him wants to know what she’s really after: the people the law can’t find, or the person no one bothered to look for?

There’s always someone who can give you what you want and what you need, but nothing comes without a price. How much are you willing to pay when it’s someone you love?

Buy it on Amazon

The Art of the Next Best: A New Pioneers Short Story

Sooo...I guess it's time to let everyone know my next book is coming out on March 17th?

:-)

The Art of the Next Best is a short story—very short—but it helps set the table for The Golden Boy Returns, which is available March 28th. I do hope you like them both.

Here's a little something to give you an idea of what it's all about...

Coming back...with a giveaway!

I don't like to chat unless I have something to say, you know what I mean? And while I could tell you all sorts of things about my personal journey- oh, just go read Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and you'll get the gist- I don't like to waste your time and I know that if you're going to come here, you expect to read about publishing news (mine or otherwise), and I did not have that much to say about it right now.

Although I've had my latest drafted for almost two years (what?!), because this story is more "where I live" than the other things I've written, I knew that I might be too close to the subject matter to be objective and that I was going to need some help. In other words, I've been extra-special worried about getting this right.

Separately, I think it's also fair to say that many people in the indie publishing world have started burning out, and while I'm not one of them, this has indirectly affected me. Even the most dedicated and ambitious person can work multiple jobs and not sleep for so long before something has to give. And when the industry has pretty much promised a protracted downturn, those who could slog away for three or four years before burning out deserve our applause. It's an industry reality I've had to adjust to.

But it's all good...

I'm still here and while I've been biting my nails about the best way to bring this latest story to market, I haven't stopped writing. I'm confident that readers are going to love the additions to the New Pioneers universe- and the stories they have to tell- and I'm even more excited about the next installment (already written). I think readers are also going to be very satisfied with how this series will wrap up (or at least this part of it). Thanks to everyone who has patiently awaited it.

Alrighty then! While I don't have a publication date yet (but it will happen before March, 2016!), I'd like to use this time to invite more people into my characters' little universe so you'll be all caught up when the time comes, and what better way to do that than with a giveaway? That's right- in exchange for signing up for my newsletter, you'll be entered to win not only my books but also some others I've loved in the last few years. And what kind of giveaway would it be without some Amazon gift cards?

You'll have plenty of chances to win a prize, but if you don't, you know I always take care of my newsletter subscribers. So please sign up (and tell your friends).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The New Year's Post

Because we all want to reflect, wrap up and move on.

What I published

I published three books this year. Yeah. And that furthered my resolve that I needed to keep up the ambitious pace I set for myself.

What I wrote

...so I wrote three more books this year. We're still in the universe of The New Pioneers, but I've added a bunch of new characters. All of them are introduced by people you've already met and one of them has been teased. I am excited about the direction the series is taking on and I can't wait to release Book 6. It's a short story that will use a character everyone wanted more of to segue into a subject everyone said I should write more about. (Need a hint? Check my Twitter feed on the right!)

What I read

I read...a lot!

The Miniaturist

The Golden Hour

The Sea Garden

The Summer of Dead Toys

The Deliverance of Evil

And The City Swallowed Them

Desert Star

Above All

The Big Hit

Double Down

Her Brilliant Career

Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials

The Prime Minister's Secret Agent

The Origins of The Second World War

Polliannah Got Married

Good Advice From Bad People

Habibi

Lover, Divine

Hero, Cursed

What can you recommend?

What I watched

I finally gave into my Netflix account when I realized that old Hawaii Five-O and The Rockford Files were on. God, I love Seventies hair. Why do I need to watch so many mysteries? Hmm...

What I'm thinking

In 2007 I wrote four novels. In reality, I wrote four novels in about four months. (Not coincidentally, this was before I joined social media, although I did keep a blog.) I enjoy social media, but I, like many other writers, stressed about which platforms to be on and how to conduct myself while there. So it was a little bit of a relief that Facebook changed its policies to make promotion more difficult. After some research and consideration, I decided to focus my professional efforts...here. (I already posted about some of the changes I’m making to this blog.)

If you’ve been paying attention to publishing news, “suddenly” indies are making less money than we were before. Mark Coker lays out the entirely reasonable proposition that there is now a glut of indie books that exceeds the demands. Having lived through the Dot Com, Real Estate (and even the Mind Body) bubbles, I would say Coker is correct. I would also say that his advice to stay the course and keep writing (and improving) is the only thing we indie writers can do. It’s good to be aware of what opportunities and limitations we have (Kindle Unlimited looks like a good place for shorter works, but overall readers seem to like longer works), but there’s no point in getting worked up over what we can’t control.

What I'm planning

• My wheels are spinning around the plot for Book 9, and I’ve already started making notes and writing snippets here and there.
• I’m hoping that I can place more ads on certain sites, but I will definitely be offering more giveaways, particularly on Goodreads. (As always, review copies are free at all times.)
• I’ll be reading and reviewing three books a month…(yikes!)