Slow and Steady...
Jun 06, 2026 5:01 pm
June is here, and around these parts, summer came for a visit and then left. It does look look like it might be coming back for a return stay, so fingers crossed.
Updates on the Book Move
I've been hard at work shifting my books off Draft2Digital, figurative nose to the grindstone (because a literal nose to the grindstone could get painful and bloody). I hit a few snags, but survived, and most of my books are now delisted from Draft2Digital. Chronicles of the Undead, the Saga of the Outer Islands series, the Entangled Nightmares series, and the Heyward and Andersen series are in various stages of the re-uploading queue for Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and Google Play Books. Apple is still off the table as I have to look into a few things for that platform. The direct book sales on the website is stalled at stage one, due to the fact there isn't 48 hours in one day and I don't own a time machine, but, hey, fingers-crossed it will happen soon. There is light at the end of the tunnel, though.
----------------------------------------------
Book Progress Report
There has been progress on editing the fifth Heyward and Andersen story, Adventure at Reichenbach, and it's looking like it might be the longest story in the series. It's been slow, but it feels like it's coming together. Of course, in the middle of that, my demented brain starts having writing thoughts about two other projects, Masks and Shadows, and Dark Beacon.
Focus, brain, focus.
Even with the distractions, Adventure at Reichenbach should be published this year.
----------------------------------------------
Art
As you know I also do art and make my own merch designs. I'd like to do this more, so I thought I'd reach out and ask you all for suggestions on what you'd like to see as designs based on my books. No guarantees all your suggestions will be within my art capabilities, but I'm willing to give things a go.
So if you have any ideas you'd like me to try, feel free to send them my way.
----------------------------------------------
The Shadows and Ink Podcast
The May episode with author Jes Hart Stone talking about trauma, and how we authors torture our characters, has aired. Our upcoming June 20th chat is with author J. M. Shaw about being an autistic/ADHD author.
Check out the link below to see the latest episode.
----------------------------------------------
Giveaways and Books To Browse
Find Your Next Read with Kobo Plus
Ends July 2, 2026.
***
Summer Dark Reads
Ends June 30th, 2026.
***
HORROR FANTASY
The Blood Court of Blackvale by Laurie Bowler
Blackvale Manor rises at the edge of civilisation, home to an order of vampires that has hidden in plain sight for centuries. Henry Vale, the vampire lord who commands them, has built an empire on secrecy, carefully controlled feeding, sealed wards, and absolute silence. But that silence is fracturing.
When an ambitious vampire deliberately opens the manor's hidden protections, something ancient awakens beneath the house: a threshold intelligence that feeds on grief and maternal rage. It spreads through London like dark water, manifesting at doorways and mirrors, leaving bodies with impossible wounds. The vampire secret, the existence of Henry's kind, is days away from public exposure.
Enter Elias Thorne, an investigator obsessed with documenting the world's most dangerous secrets. He has spent years collecting evidence of vampiric activity across England, and now he's been summoned directly to Blackvale. Henry Vale wants to control the narrative before Elias exposes everything. But Elias has tasted the truth, and he won't be bought off or convinced to stay silent.
What unfolds is a desperate negotiation between a vampire lord trying to preserve his species' survival and a mortal man driven by the conviction that such secrets cannot, and should not, be kept. As the boundary between the vampire world and humanity crumbles, both must choose what price they're willing to pay.
A gothic thriller of seduction, secrets, and the dangerous arithmetic of exposure.
Fans of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and gothic vampire fiction will love this dark, haunting novel of ancient secrets and the price of survival.
***
Crown: Vampire Knights by Rick DeMille
In the dying light of medieval Spain, something ancient and evil stalks the dusty roads. When three vampire assassins slaughter a royal caravan, two mysterious knights in faded crusader tunics emerge from the darkness—not to prey, but to protect.
Ricardo and his son Stefan are reclusive Spanish noblemen, and vampires bound by an iron code: defend their lands, hunt the hunters, protect the innocent. But when King Alfonso summons them to face Malik al-Zahir—a terrifying vampire lord bent on conquering Europe—they must choose between the safety of isolation and a war that could consume their very souls.
As Malik's thralls multiply and his psychic powers enslave Spanish nobles, father and son become the Crown's secret weapons. But fighting monsters when you share their curse demands a terrible price. And Malik knows their weakness.
Medieval horror meets dark fantasy in this visceral tale of honor, bloodlust, and the razor's edge between monster and man.
----------------------------------------------
My Merch Stores:
Vintage and artsy designs on a variety of products
Scifi, fantasy, and horror designs on a variety of products
My shop on Redbubble featuring a variety of products.
Including evil chicken merch.
(with books and book merch)
----------------------------------------------
Find me on:
Website | Facebook Group | YouTube | BookBub
My Amazon page | My Books on StoryOrigin
----------------------------------------------
That's it for this edition. And I'll return next month with more updates.
