August 2016 Newsletter

I'm hoping to get my newsletter posted so I can have my contest and get prizes mailed out before Doug and I take off for a few days. I've been writing non-stop, working on my new Spirit Wild story, DARK TERROR. It's finally coming together and I'm having a lot of fun with some new characters. Reko and Ari are Berserkers who have always lived as sentient wolves. The have never been able to shift, but I've just gotten to the point in the story where they're starting to take the nutrients. It's so much fun writing from a wolf's point of view!

There's an excerpt at the end of the newsletter, the part the introduces the two wolves. I can't really post them when I'm writing for a traditional publisher, so love being able to do this with my indy books!

We took off for a night at the coast a while back--it's less than an hour's drive, so we spent the night at Salt Point, a really neat beach north of Fort Ross where the rock formations are just flat-out weird! The rocks, which are mostly sandstone, have all worn in a honeycombed manner, and there are all sorts of bizarre shapes.

​There were wildflowers everywhere, too. It was absolutely gorgeous walking the trail above the beach. I think we walked about four miles.

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We both thought this one was pretty cool. It looked like a huge dragon! I wanted to get a shot of more of it, but there were very few vantage points where you could see the whole thing without risking falling off a cliff. I'm not THAT devoted to my photography! The picture at the top of the page was taken south of Jenner, at Goat Rock. We're really lucky to live so close to the ocean, though it's not the kind you want to swim in. Even in summer, the water temperature is around 55 degrees.

I've been doing some reading since getting back from San Diego--I really love YA paranormals--the romance is there but it takes second stage to the story, and C.C. Hunter aka Christie Craig does the best damned job at creating angsty teens! I loved her Shadow Falls series and have been collecting her Shadow Falls After Dark books so that I could read them all at once. (I know...therapy, anyone?) I just finished the first in the spin-off series, REBORN, and I loved it. Have started the second, ETERNAL and wish I had more time to read!

I was lucky enough to get an advance readers copy of Robyn Carr's new womens fiction, THE LIFE SHE WANTS. Loved this story! I'm a huge fan of Robyn's "voice." I love the characters she creates and the situations she throws them into, along with the wonderful ways she finds to give them that perfect "happily ever after."

This one comes out at the end of September, but it's up for pre-sale now. The title above and the cover to the right are linked to Robyn's page where you can read a blurb that spells it all out much better than I can. 

I'm a huge fan of Robyn's because of books like this one. They're the kinds I finish and instead of putting them on the shelf, I go back to page one and start all over again. They're just that good!

CONTEST TIME!

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I had such a terrific response last month to my box of books that I may do that again one of these days, as soon as I have another stack to give away, but for now I think it's time to give away some copies of INTIMATE, REDEMPTION and AWAKENED, my INTIMATE RELATIONS series.

PLEASE PAY ATTENTION--send me a complete address. You must include your zip code--the post office won't mail without it and I don't have time to hunt for it. And you MUST TELL ME which book you want. Put it in the entry where you write your address. There's room. And do not put your personal information on my FACEBOOK page or in the comments section of the blog. I'll just delete it because it's not safe.

Okay...got it? Good! I'll start watching for your entries. This contest will end on Sunday, August 21. 

I really hope that it's not flooding where you live, that there aren't forest fires close, or sandstorms looming. Weather has been so scary this summer--be safe, be well, and please manage to find a bit of time to read a good book!

Enjoy the excerpt, and Moms, wave bye-bye to the kids as you send them off to school!

Take care,
Kate

​Excerpt of Dark Terror, from Spirit Wild #5

Yellowstone National Park June 8, 2040
 
This was a truly wondrous place, this fierce land called Yellowstone. It was even more magical after the sun went down. Reko crouched beside Ari, his brother. He’d been told they were almost identical, the way they were marked, two massive wolves much larger than their wild brethren. He and Ari had paused here to watch the boiling mud bubble up from beneath the ground. The ambient starlight illuminated wisps of steam as it danced overhead before disappearing into the darkness. Fi would have loved it, would have wanted to know everything there was to know about the boiling muck that flowed up from the ground and smelled so foul, but their littermate—their sister—was gone, killed by a rabid wolf somewhere north of here in a place the humans called Idaho.
 
Thank the goddess she'd bled out after fighting the beast rather than die a slow, agonizing death from the sickness.
 
I hear your thoughts, Reko. We’ve no reason to thank the goddess. That bitch forgot us long ago.
 
Reko turned his head slowly and stared at Ari. Like their father before them, Ari blamed the goddess for just about everything. Reko, however, preferred to believe as their mother had. We don’t know that for sure, Ari. Our kind stopped honoring her long ago. Maybe, after we forgot her, she just couldn’t find us.
 
Ari’s snort was all the answer Reko was going to get. Carefully he stood—sniffed the air, and immediately went flat to the ground. Ari! To the right. Men. It’s hard to smell them over the sulfur, but if that’s their scent I caught, they stink of fear.
 
Ari raised his head. His nose twitched and he sucked in a great breath. Fear and adrenaline. They’re excited about something. We need to get away from here before they find us.
 
No. Reko glanced at his brother. They’re afraid of getting caught, which means they’re doing something wrong. I’m going to see what I can find out.
 
Idiot. This isn’t our battle.
 
We live on this world, for better or worse...
 
It’s usually worse. Ari shot him a dirty look.
 
For better or worse, and we need to protect it when things are wrong. Whatever they’re doing feels wrong.
 
Be careful, Reko. Ari’s eyes filled with sadness, as if he, like Reko, already knew their future. What little they might have. You’re all I have left. With Fi gone...
 
I know. I promise. Reko gave his brother one final glance before quietly blending with the shadows.  Moving with great stealth through the darkness, he crept around the rocks to move closer to the group of men
 
Reko heard the muffled shot at the same moment fire streaked across his skull. Damn. His legs crumpled beneath him as one final thought seared his brain. Ari is going to be so fucking pissed.

 NOTICE: This excerpt is protected under Copyright Registration with the
United States of America.