Book 3 in the Choronzon Chronicles is finally ready!
*insert overwrought voice-over*
It’s been a long road...getting from there to here.
It’s been a long road. It’s been a journey. Things have changed, things are happening.
But Book 3 is finally here. (And as long as we’re celebrating: I’ve also got over 15,000 words in the outline for book 4!) Honestly, it’s been a pretty surreal experience to spend my last few weeks with my head forcibly buried in the sand as I focused on getting everything ready for this book’s release (final edits, reviewing cover art, contacting formatters, grabbing some new Instagram-images and lining up ads, etc.) while the country still feels like it’s deep in the throes of apocalypse. I mean, all our private plans have been put on indefinite hold. My partner and I originally had 3 different weddings to go to this year before that got thrown out the window. A few friends held remote birthday parties over zoom, but I declined to do anything for my own. As it turned out, my birthday fell right in the middle of the smoke period of apocalypse--I do live on the west coast, so my birthday was literally spent entirely indoors, afraid to open the windows and ruin my lungs. And we haven’t seen most of our friends in weeks, if not months.
In general, it just feels like the future has been put on hold. But not for the book.
As the release date gets closer, I’ve just been focusing in more and more. Which means that it feels like I spend half my time keeping track of the apocalypse, and half of it pretending it’s not happening as I try to ramp up my instagram posts and get everything else ready for the upcoming day-of-commerce.
And then a minor catastrophe happened this past week. My formatter missed their due date. When I contacted them, they did manage to get me the ebook format right away--but not the print version. One day passed, then another. I started emailing them every day, my internal anxiety chronometer slowly rising as the announcement email I’d already put in place crept closer. Eventually I pushed the email back by a day, took a breath and reminded myself that at least the ebook was (mostly) ready. Then after 3 unanswered emails and ten days past the original due date, I decided I needed a backup plan and stayed up until 1:30am testing out different software and website options to format it myself. I actually *had* to try all the different options out, as one thing or another kept eliminating the option I was looking at. But, to my great relief, I finally found one that seemed to work. It had some issues, though. For starters, its knowledge base was dense, and there were no video tutorials available on the site. Still, after one semi-successful attempt, followed by 3 failed ones, I finally got myself a mostly workable version--apart from the fact that the indents at the beginning of every paragraph were way, way too wide on the page. Still, I did manage to figure out how to fix that issue, and I tested that fix on the first chapter, and it worked! But by then, it was 1:30am and implementing the entire fix was going to take some time. So, I decided to go to sleep and finish it all up in the morning, when I’d have a little more energy and would probably be better at catching mistakes.
The next day, I woke up to an email from my formatters. They’d finally sent me the print version.
It me.
Oh, the trials and tribulations of indie publishing. Honestly, I must be having a high-mood month because I’m not even bothered. I’m just glad I’ve got the print version, now. And because my cover artist is amazing, the wrap-around print version of the cover is already here, which means the print version is fully on schedule for the release this week.
And book 4 is already in the works, too! I’ve still got a lot to do to get ready for the release, but once that’s all good to go, I might re-start my writing blog. Or maybe I’ll do a video blog instead? I haven’t quite decided. I might try out both and see which is easier. We shall see! Either way, I’ll announce it here. Even if it is a video blog, I might still post blog links with the video embedded. Again, it depends on the workload involved.
Anyway, that’s pretty much all I’ve got for now. Book 3 of the Choronzon Chronicles is on its way! And now, here’s your teaser:
Choronzon Chronicles Book 3:
Shadow of the Wolf
A potent artifact. A diabolical nemesis. Will a half-demon detective’s determined pursuit usher in the apocalypse?
H.C. Logan is still haunted by the pain of her abuse-riddled childhood. And the powerful relic embedded in her back won’t let her rest, as it drives her to chase down threats striking at the innocent. But she recklessly ignores its persistent visions when she uncovers an opportunity to ambush her bitter enemy.
Lured by an unrelenting premonition, Logan’s ploy backfires spectacularly, unleashing mayhem. And as the minutes melt away, the hunter has become the hunted…
Can Logan break free of her foe’s deadly clutches, or will she burn in the flames of the Abyss?
Shadow of the Wolf is the third book in the electrifying Choronzon Chronicles dark urban fantasy series. If you like kick-butt heroines, original lore, and diverse sexualities, then you’ll love Tess Adair’s fast-paced adventure.
