New Short Story | Thrift Store Vampire

Happy Hauntings, Darklings!

I have an early Halloween treat for you all.  My new short story, THRIFT STORE VAMPIRE (Winner of the WattpadVampires contest), is now up and free to read on my Wattpad page!
TSV is a Vampire Comedy with:

Halloween Party Vibes

Newbie Vamp Girl

Cursed Costumes

To-Die-For Puns

Enjoy this "spoopy" story, and have a Happy Halloween!

'The Dead Oaks: Midnight Monsters' Cover Reveal & Release Date

It's coming!  

The Dead Oaks - Book Two: Midnight Monsters will be released on Amazon on June 19th!

The Wattpad release date will be July 7th and it will be released in weekly chapter installments.

"The Dead Oaks Paranormal Society finds themselves on their first official case. A haunted house seems like a promising place to capture conclusive evidence that the paranormal is real; but like all plans, nothing goes the way that they intend.

Unwanted tagalongs, misunderstandings, and a malicious not-so-ghostly entity all collide to put the strength of Jasper and Wesley's bond to the test. This monster hunting sleepover could end their team, and possibly their lives, faster than they'd come together."

I'm thrilled to share the second novella in this YA M/M Paranormal series with you!  Obviously, I recommend reading it at midnight.  ;)

Happy New Year

(Quote from John Muir // Images found on Pinterest)

Hello 2017!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!  Mine was great and extremely relaxing which was something I definitely appreciated.  Of course, "relaxing" to me is a slightly different definition than most people would have.  I did a lot of research which goes hand in hand with writing.  I also had a chance to sit down and make some long-term decisions and plans regarding the ROAM series which I'm very excited about.  I hope everyone feels refreshed starting out this new year and ready to tackle their creative and personal goals!

The Softcover edition of The Revelation of Dacey Sinnett is almost here!  I'll be reviewing a proof copy soon and if everything looks good then I hope to have them available through Amazon sometime this month.  I also plan to release Fossegrimen (short story) on Kindle early on in the year.

I have two books on Wattpad which are being updated regularly.  HUNTER and The Dead Oaks: Book One.  I'll continue to work on these in the first part of the year and then hope to finish the year out with my (ROAM) spin-off/tie-in DůO.  I can't give too much about it away but I can tell you that it will delve deeper into the Order of Azoth, Hunters, and Techno Mages.  But that's all I'm revealing for now!  I may even begin some other projects but we'll just have to wait and see how scheduling works out.  I also plan to submit some things to a few publications and enter some writing contests.

A book signing event may be in the works.  No date set yet.  Still mulling a few possibilities over.  I will keep you all posted, though!  That leads into an art-related question that I've already been asked.  Will I have any booths at conventions this year like I have the past couple of years?  I have no idea.  I haven't made any plans to and I'm still juggling the logistics of it.  Please keep in mind that everything I do to market/promote my work is 100% me, so it really just depends on time/finances.  I do love seeing you in person, though!  That's why I think perhaps a book signing might be better suited this time around.  You can always find my art online, though!

I already listed a few fun sketch cards in my Etsy shop over the holiday and I plan to list more periodically throughout the year.  I could write an entire segment on my artistic plans and because of that I'll end those musings here and save them for a future post.

 

   

Speaking of art, how awesome are these drawings of Ethan, Benny, & Dacey (ROAM), and Jasper & Wes (The Dead Oaks) from Gaby of Whimsy and Noir!  I absolutely love them!  She also runs a paranormal webcomic and has her own Etsy shop; so be sure to check her out sometime!

If you guys have any fanart or things you'd like to share from these series please send them my way so that I can include them here on the blog!

 

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you all have a fantastic year!

~Dez~

New Release & Shop Talk

I hope everyone is having a great December so far!  I just wanted to drop in and let you know that the first couple of chapters of my new YA Paranormal Fiction series, The Dead Oaks, are now available to read on Wattpad! 

SYNOPSIS:
Jasper Jelinek believes in ghosts.  Probably more than he believes in himself.  After living a life of relative solitude and misanthropy, he suddenly becomes saddled with some unexpected new friends.  Their obsession with the paranormal forces them to face the thing they've all been avoiding most:  Life.  And each of them must learn to deal with what it truly means to be haunted.


Typically, I plan to update this much like I currently do with HUNTER.  Bi-weekly, unless I have those lucky weeks with more time to work on writing.

   

Speaking of HUNTER, have you caught up to the latest chapter yet?  What did you think about that bombshell (without getting too spoilery)?  I think you will love where this story is headed.  It's probably not what anyone expected but you'll realize the clues have been there all along.  Enjoy the rest of the crazy ride!  There are a couple more books to come after this one that tie everything together, so plenty of surprises still await you.

     

As for my illustration work, (Which I generally don't talk about much on here because this blog is mostly for my books but I might start to incorporate it more.), I have some ideas lined up that I'm really excited to work on over the holidays and into the new year.  I've got a fairly solid idea of where my focuses will be.  I'm also getting my hands on some new creative tools soon and I can't wait to practice using them.  Vague, I know, but I'd rather just wait to post the results once I get to that point.

There's really only one area that I'm debating on:  What storefront to use to sell my work??  I really don't know.  Currently, I mainly use Etsy & Redbubble but they're both rather empty at the moment while I decide my next move.   Most of my sales have actually happened by people contacting me directly through DMs on social media.  So, I'm not really sure how I should move forward with that.  I am definitely going to keep using Redbubble because they give me the ability to offer products that I normally couldn't on my own; but for prints and original drawings... I'll either just stick with Etsy or maybe give Storenvy a second chance.  I know, personally, I purchase most art from Storenvy.  I've also seen people just sell their work directly on their Twitter, Instagram, or Tumblr pages.  So many options!  What do you all think?  Thoughts, opinions, preferences, experiences?  Any feedback would be great.

Until next time, here: Have some Ethan/Grady feels!

 

Thanks for reading!
~Dez~

COMING SOON: The Dead Oaks

Thank you so much for your feedback on my last blog post!  I will, indeed, go ahead and work on both of my series simultaneously.  So, with that said, I will be posting up the first chapter of my new YA Paranormal Fiction series, The Dead Oaks, very soon!  Be sure to follow me on Wattpad for update notifications so that you can be the first to know when it's available.

Thanks for reading!
~Dez~

Vibes and a Q&A

I have a few thoughts to share today.  Before I get into that, though, I want to give a HUGE "Thank You" to everyone that purchased a copy of The Revelation of Dacey Sinnett on Kindle!  Also, much love and appreciation to everyone that has read it, either through there or Wattpad.  It made it to 1K Reads which is wonderful for a prequel story!  That means nearly everyone that read ROAM took the time to check out Dacey's origin story as well and I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

For those that have asked, I'm still working on getting print editions made.  I'll let you know the moment they're available.  I'll probably host a giveaway, so be on the look out for that.

I've started a fun little image series called "vibes" on my social media (I've included the first few here.).  Pretty straightforward and I love making them.  A mix of the "fan casting" idea and Pinterest-inspiration in collage form.

I'm about halfway through writing HUNTER!  Which brings me to the Q & A portion of today's post.  I've had a few inquiries flow in and so I'm going to go ahead and address them here so that everyone gets the information and not just the people that DMed.  Here goes!

• How many books will be in the ROAM series?

A:  This is a tricky question.  The base response would be 4 books total.  ROAM, The Revelation of Dacey Sinnett, HUNTER, and the final novel- DREAM WEAVER (also - There's your next title announcement!  haha).  However, that answer would be slightly misleading.  You see, I do plan to write at least two "spin-off" novels that will incorporate characters from the ROAM series in their own stories but with brand new lead characters.  I'm also not opposed to writing more "spin-off"'s in the future.  But, as for Ethan Roam and Dr. Grady Hunter, the four main books will cover their story arc to completion.

• Is Dacey dead or not?

A:  LOL, I get this question more than any other.  He would kill me if I told you.

• You've mentioned DůO is your next book.  Any details?  Is it part of ROAM or something else?

A:  DůO is one of the "spin-off" books.  It is a loose tie-in to ROAM but you won't have had to have read ROAM to read it.  Although, there will be a couple of character cameos that you'll enjoy if you have.  As for details, I don't want to get into it too much because it involves spoilers from HUNTER.  I will say, though, that the decision to write it before writing the final ROAM book is due to the timeline of events.  That's all you get for now.  :)

And now I get to turn the tables on you all!  I have my own question to ask.  You can feel free to answer in the comments or shoot me a message on social media at your leisure.  Here's the deal:  I've been "secretly" working on a YA Paranormal Fiction novella series.  It's completely separate from ROAM and, as novellas, the stories will be shorter.  So here's my question to you readers.  Would you prefer for me to only work on one series at a time OR do both simultaneously and just rotate?  Honestly, either way works for me, so I just want to know from a reader standpoint what you all would like best for your reading experience.

Thanks in advance for your input and please feel free to shoot me questions any time!  Now, I'd better get back to writing.  ;)

~Dez~
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"vibes" credits: Lyrics: Lana Del Rey, GUNSHIP // art: Len-Yan, Art of Animation/Tumblr

NEW RELEASE - HUNTER

The first chapter of 'HUNTER: Book II of the ROAM Series' is now available to read on Wattpad!  After conducting a poll on Twitter, I've decided to release each chapter after I finish writing it.  This will probably be on a weekly to bi-weekly basis (depending how busy each week is for me).

Once complete, I will format the entire story for Kindle readers.

I hope you enjoy this sequel to 'ROAM' and thank you so much for reading!

~Dez~

NEW RELEASE - Fossegrimen

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!  Just wanted to drop in and let you know that my new short story, 'Fossegrimen', is now available to read for FREE on Wattpad!

This folklore inspired fantasy tale is set in 19th century Sweden.:

"Fredrik Larsson is always second best.  At least that's the way he sees it.  His cousin, Elof, is constantly besting him at everything.  Especially the things he loves the most!  Consumed with envy, he sets out to seek help from the one creature he knows of that might actually be able to give him the upper-hand."

I hope you enjoy it!

~Dez~

TEASER - New Short Story

I'm excited to share this teaser of my new project.  My upcoming short story, 'Fossegrimen', will be available to read for free on Wattpad!  You can follow me on Wattpad or Twitter to be immediately notified once it is posted.

After this, I will begin working on the sequel to 'ROAM' which will be titled 'HUNTER'.  Looking forward to sharing more on that soon!

Thanks for reading!

BTS Writing: Upcoming Projects

(Illustration of Findlay McCrea from 'The Revelation of Dacey Sinnett')

I'm back from taking some time off for vacation and am now getting into the swing of things again.  I'm rounding out the final few chapters of 'The Revelation of Dacey Sinnett'.  I'm really excited to share them with you as there are now direct tie-ins to 'ROAM'.  You'll get to meet characters that were mentioned in the other book and also enjoy a cameo from a certain charming doctor.

As I finish up this novel, I'm working on ordering copies of 'ROAM' and having promotional materials printed so that I can do my first book signing.  More details to come later!

I've also taken some time to set a "Goal List" for all of the things I would like to accomplish and I've already filled up my calendar for the next two years. (!!!)  So, there will be plenty more stories about sassy supernaturals headed your way.

UPCOMING PROJECTS:

NOVEL

Hunter

Status:  Outlined

The sequel to 'ROAM'.  Ethan Roam returns from dream traveling to find that Shady Pines has somewhat of a vampire infestation.  As he and Dr. Grady Hunter find themselves at odds on how to deal with the problem a familiar face returns to offer some help.  But can he be trusted or is he there to ensure that they fail?  Grady also finds himself distracted and challenged by the ghosts of his past.

SHORT-STORY

The Fossegrimen

Status: Outlined, Working on Cover Art

An ambitious young musician befriends a handsome fiddle player full of promises that may cost him more than he bargained for.

As always, thank you for reading and for all of your continued support!  I look forward to sharing more with you as I progress.

Interview With A Vampire: Dacey Sinnett

Dacey Sinnett was the winning character when I polled readers about whom they would like a chance to interview.  First of all, thank you to everyone that voted and sent in questions!  I had a lot more come in than expected so I selected a nice crop of the ones that weren't too spoilery. ;)  So, without further ado, please enjoy Dacey sitting down with us today to answer your questions!

Who are your favorite composers of modern times?

D: Music took a fascinating turn this past century. I fell in love with so many things. But you know, it's rather funny, I think I grew most partial to rock music and theatrical scores. Don't tell the other vampires because they would find it very cliche' indeed, but I truly have to say that I enjoy the work of Queen and Danny Elfman most. More recently, I've also enjoyed the budding work of Abel Korzeniowski and the alternative band Marquis of Vaudeville.

You've spent a lot of time with all sorts of different creatures. Why did you grow so fond of a human like Grady and how did you meet?

D: [laughs] You've obviously never met him or else this wouldn't even be a question. Simply put, Grady was the most enigmatic and remarkable person I'd met since Marcus. There are not many people that I can read with my powers who can still keep me guessing. Grady is one of them. As far as how we met, I'm told that will be revealed at the end of 'The Revelation of Dacey Sinnett'.

You seem very fashionable. What time period had the best fashion so far?

D: Obvious bias but I'll forever be most fond of the Victorian era. Although, there was something to be said for the gothic fashion of the 1990s. I'm not entirely certain what that something is though.

Be honest. Aren't you at least a little bit jealous of Ethan?

D: I'm insanely jealous of Ethan! In all the best ways. He doesn't know it yet but he's going to turn out to be quite enviable. I'm privy to insight and I can guarantee you that boy will surprise everyone, most of all himself. Well, I suppose that all sounds more like pride than jealously doesn't it? I'm proud of him.

What is the coolest artifact you’ve come across?

D: I'm told that I am both allowed and not allowed to answer this question directly. So, you will find out but it will be through the books.

I read 'ROAM' and have been reading along as 'The Revelation of Dacey Sinnett' comes out. I'm very curious to know, what are your current feelings toward Marcus?

D: Marcus has my heart eternally. It's debatable as to whether or not that's a good thing. And trust me, it has been widely debated by everyone I've ever known for as long as I've been around.

What’s your favorite book?

D: This may surprise you but I've never really been one for reading. I know, I know. I'm in books but I'm not into them. [laughs] However, Marcus loved books and through him I did experience a few and I have to say that 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde was the only one that ever really spoke to me. Besides the Kama Sutra, of course. You know what I do like, though? Comic strips. They were always the best part of newspapers.

You were my favorite character so will you be in the next book in some capacity?

D: Thank you, darling heart! And, yes.

Do cats stare intensely at you?

D: Everyone stares intensely at me. Have you seen me?

Who's better in bed, Marcus or Grady?

D: Finally, an important question! [laughs] Really, you can't compare the two and I'm not just saying that to be a gentleman. Perhaps I need a refresher? I wonder how they'd feel about a threesome so that I may determine properly? I'm kidding, of course. Not on my part, I would definitely do it. But I know them both too well. They'd kill each other. [smiles]

Is there a creature that you haven't met but would like to?

D: Yes, many. And as you'll find out, I may very well get a chance to meet them all eventually.

In 'ROAM' you mention that there is a reason you no longer live with Marcus. What is that reason?

D: [sighs] Marcus and I had to part ways. Neither of us were happy about it but it was inevitable. The reason will be revealed in 'The Revelation of Dacey Sinnett'.

Why do you keep track of the other vampires?

D: Why do you keep track of anyone? For gossip, information, and out of boredom.

Who is your OTP from 'ROAM'?

D: I had to ask for help with this question. I try to evolve with times as best as I can but, really, the popularity of modern acronyms as slang is one of my least favorite things about this era. It's as if everyone is talking to each other in some form of crude Morse Code. Let me key you in on something: Language is sexy. Words can be an aphrodisiac. Learn them, love them, use them. Bend and tailor them to your will. Do not continue to castrate them, please.

As for the answer to the question, I'm actually rather fond of Grady and Ethan together. There's promise for something extraordinary there and I hope that I'm right.

Any hints or insights into the next 'ROAM' book that you're allowed to give??

D: Expect the unexpected. Old faces and new friends. Sexy times. Monkey wrenches. Multiverses. Deaths. And, of course, a lot of dapper sass.

Coming Soon - Character Interview

A few weeks back I ran a poll for readers to vote on which of my original characters they would like to have interviewed here on the blog.  It was a pretty close race between Dr. Grady Hunter and Dacey Sinnett but in the end (and as I suspected might be the case), Dacey won!

So, now is the time.  It is literally an interview with a vampire!  Send in your questions!  He's up for answering anything.  ANYTHING.  Silly, serious, spoiler-y, risqué - it's all up to you!

You can either comment your questions here or shoot them to me on social media (I check Twitter most often).

Don't worry.  The questions will be posted anonymously so feel free to get creative & don't be shy (Dacey certainly isn't.)!

Thanks for reading & keep an eye out for when Dacey meets the hot seat!

The Beginning Is, After All, The Best Place To Start

Welcome!

I decided to create this space to serve as a supplement to my books.  Here you will find news, illustrations, and behind-the-scenes features of my work.  One feature that I'm really excited about (but will be a continuous work in progress) is a Character Compendium.  I will attempt to organize the massive collection of characters from my stories with background information, etc.  So, if you'd ever like a quick reference (or even a sneak peek at newer characters) then you'll have an easy place to access information on them quickly.

Feel free to click around for now while I work on getting everything set up!  I think it's all pretty straightforward and I look forward to sharing some of my creative processes with you soon!  I'm also thinking it might be fun to have a post written by one of my characters from time to time.  Maybe even interview style where readers can ask them questions?  We'll see how that goes.  ;)

Thank you for stopping by!

~ Dez