Embermyst: Going Out of Print Sale

Image credit belongs to VTP and PbRJV.

 

For those of you who have followed my blog since mid-2016, you probably saw all my ecstatic posts about scoring my first publication with Victory Tales Press. I had entered a short story I wrote for a chance to be in their Fall/Halloween anthology and to my utter shock my story had been chosen along with three others to be published.

The anthology — titled Paranormal Pleasures — was released late September/early October in 2016. Unfortunately, my story won’t even live till its first book birthday.

Earlier this year I received word that Victory Tales Press and Publishing by Rebecca J. Vickery were going to be closing their business doors at the end of the October 2017, due to numerous reasons. I was, of course, devastated to hear this news just five months after becoming a published author for the first time. No author, no matter how long they’ve been around in the business, wants to receive a letter or email stating the agency they published with is going out of business. It was one of my biggest fears all along when I first submitted my tale.

On August 31st, all anthologies and books published by these two companies will be taken down. Ebook and print versions alike. Since that dreadful date is only a week away now all eBook versions have gone on sale for just 99 cents. That means the anthology in which I was published in is on sale now. The print version is still available to buy as well, but it is not discounted unfortunately.

To anyone who wishes to purchase a copy of this anthology with my short, Embermyst, (I will leave details about it below), now is the final time in which you can do so. To anyone who has supported my first publication, THANK YOU! I am greatly appreciative for your support. It means the world to me, and I wish this wasn’t the case now.

For those that may be interested yet, here are the details about Emberymyst and Paranormal Pleasures as a whole. You can also click here to view the page on this blog with all its information. On that page you can find an excerpt of my story as well. Should you wish a bigger peak at Embermyst, you can go back to my archives from October 2016 and click through the Sunday posts (starting on October 2nd), they will be Snippet Sunday sneak peeks to this story from its release.

Till eternity do we remain…

As the God of the Afterlife, Death has grown accustomed to his dreary duty until he meets an unlikely soul: an empowered woman named Morticia. She was living with a big secret in a world full of fear before an exorcism gone wrong landed her in his realm.

Was it a twist of the Fates?

Death didn’t think so.

While she hovers between the mortal plane and the land of the dead, can he convince her of the legends of the divine, claiming she is his one perfect Mate? Or will the promise hanging around her neck cause her to return to the land of the living and the man that failed her?

Embermyst is a paranormal romance short story of legends, gods, and alternate realms all vying for perfect balance during the oppressing times of the early 1690’s witch hunts across the globe. It is part of the Paranormal Pleasures: 2016 Halloween anthology published by Victory Tales Press in October 2016 and features three other authors as well as myself.

About Paranormal Pleasures as a whole…

Victory Tales Press offers four sweet to sensual stories to stir your heart and satisfy your craving for romance. Our talented storytellers dare you to enter a world where romance dwells in the most unlikely places.

Ghost of a Chance
By: Gerald Costlow

Billy Sherritt, the only warlock born in 300 years, is now a teenager and facing some choices about his life that he doesn’t like. He unexpectedly gets sent back in time to 1640 in England, to meet the previous warlock and namesake Bill Sherritt and his sweetheart, Abigail. A Witchfinder is about to show up and the entire witch community is in danger. Billy wants to help, but he arrived as a disembodied ghost and he’s forced to stay with Bill wherever he goes.

If he can’t help this couple escape and make their way to America, his own future might be in danger. So far, he’s only managed to compound their love life. It’s hard to have a romantic rendezvous with a teenage ghost in the room.

Right Turn
By: Barbara Miller

Greg Sutton comes to Maple Grove looking for an inexpensive house since his estranged wife will end up with the current one in their divorce. His kids Eric and Kelly are not happy about the move, which will take them away from their friends, but he has to find work to take care of his children.

Lois Smith has a more desperate reason for hunting an out-of-the-way place. She is a romance author and is being stalked by a fan who wants to play out his fantasies about her. Her realtor sends her to a place in Maple Grove, a mansion in need of some tender loving care. Though Lois doubts she is at the right house, it looks like a perfect place to hide away from her stalker.

Without realizing it, the realtor sent both Greg and Lois to the same wrong place. The Mansion has secrets and wounds of its own. Will the mishap end up being the right turn in Lois and Greg’s lives?

Embermyst
By: Daelyn Morgana

As the God of the Afterlife, Death has grown accustomed to his dreary duty until he meets an unlikely soul: an empowered woman named Morticia. She was living with a big secret in a world full of fear before an exorcism gone wrong landed her in his realm.

Was it a twist of the Fates?

Death didn’t think so.

While she hovers between the mortal plane and the land of the dead, can he convince her of the legends of the divine, claiming she is his one perfect Mate? Or will the promise hanging around her neck cause her to return to the land of the living and the man that failed her?

Something About Autumn
By: Vicki Crum

Autumn Graham has always been a dreamer, a free spirit who never quite fit in with her peers. As an adult, and now an independent business owner, she’s worked hard to put all that fanciful nonsense behind her—until a mysterious stranger walks into her bookstore asking for books on the occult. Tall, charming, handsome as sin, Dorian fascinates Autumn like no man ever has. He claims to be a fantasy writer, but she suspects there’s a lot more to him than meets the eye. When the instant attraction they share quickly spirals out of control, Autumn finds herself falling hard for the enigmatic stranger. But can she handle the astounding truth about Dorian’s real identity?

Available in eBook format at:
Amazon
Amazon UK
iTunes
Smashwords
B&N Nook

Available in Print format at:
Amazon
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble
CreateSpace

As far as I know it is still available for sale at all retailers listed, but do remember the eBook versions only are now on sale for 99 cents.

For weeks, months now, I have tossed around the possibilities of what I can do with Embermyst from this point onwards. I am receiving my Reversion of Rights to the story, which leaves me able to take the story to another publisher, or to self-publish it. I am leaning toward taking it to another publisher, possibly Prairie Rose Publications. (They have graciously offered to take a look at the authors from VTP and PbRJV.) However, for the time being — while my focus is on editing my novel — Embermyst will be unavailable for purchase or viewing. It will one day be re-released, I just do not know when. Perhaps as a treat I will share a small piece of it around Halloween since it is a Halloween story, but that is as far as I see it right now. No matter which path I choose to go forward with, I am fairly certain the story will undergo some additional plot added to it to make it a little longer and a little better before it is resubmitted to another publisher, or self-published.

Again, I thank any from the bottom of my heart who choose to pick up a copy in its last remaining days. I also thank any who have already picked up a copy and read it. I wish these were not the circumstances of my first publication, but it is what it is. I just happened to have rotten luck in timing for this publication I suppose.

I truly want to thank my followers, readers, helpers, and cheering squad through this amazing process for their continued support. It means more than I may ever be able to fully express. And I want to thank VTP for the opportunity they provided me as an author just starting out, as well as their patience and assistance throughout the publication to make this as smooth as possible for me. I will never forget the experience.

Thank you all.

Reflecting On A Chaotic Win

Camp NaNoWriMo has come to a close for the year 2017, sadly. They always go by so quickly, each time making me realize I am way too close to the cold months, holiday madness, and the big November NaNoWriMo. (Which, as of right now, I have absolutely no idea what I’m working on during that month.)

Camp NaNoWriMo July 2017 WINNER!!!

I can officially say I made goal for Camp NaNo in July. It was not a pretty win, but I did make it.

If anyone recalls from my post last Tuesday, I had lowered my goal — on what I thought was the last possible day before validating began — down to a mere 55 pages compared to my hope of 146 at the beginning of July. If you also recall from that post, I had started working daily on the editing for Fated to Darkness with a writing buddy and had made it half way to my original goal with six days left to Camp yet. So yes, I had technically already passed goal and could have stopped but I did wish to see if I could hit my original before the month ended.

I found out a couple days later through my email that Camp NaNo no longer has a cut off date for goal changing. That meant I could officially bump my goal back up so that I would have to keep working every day. (I was going to keep working anyways, but this just gave it a little more motivation. I’m not quite sure how I feel about this change though.)

Truthfully I didn’t bump by goal back up until the 30th, once I determined how much I could manage to get through on the last day of Camp. I didn’t jump to my original 146 pages, but I did jump pretty close to it.

At first I thought I could manage the whole 146, but then I told myself I better be a little bit more safe than sorry. (I’m glad I was.) I was on Chapter 9, and I wanted to get through at least Chapter 10 by the end. Well, turns out Chapter 10 was twenty-some pages long. I told myself I would cut that chapter in half for my final page goal of the month. It ended up evening out to 135 pages, which isn’t bad considering where I sat a week and a half ago at a mere 23 pages.

And yes, I made goal. I validated around nine o’clock Monday night. 31 days, 135 pages, 10.5 pages (including the prologue), and many, many concordance pages. It was probably more like roughly two weeks instead of 31 days after my complete fallout in the middle of the month, but I still did it.

I say I was glad I didn’t tell myself to do the whole 146 pages because my plans for Monday were tweaked after I woke up in excruciating pain that morning. It took me longer than I planned for to get myself up and moving to be able to edit yesterday. I’m still in pain and my movement is limited.

So despite all the hardships and roller coaster rides of July, I can say I put another winner’s certificate in my belt. It didn’t go at ALL how I had planned for the month to go, but I learned one important lesson. Or maybe two…

Perseverance is everything.

If you can push through and keep showing up every single day no matter what, then anything is possible to accomplish. You just have to have enough dare and nerve to do it, and keep doing it.

Secondly, never give up.

No matter how bleak, daunting, far off, or foolish a goal or dream looks, never give up on it when it means something to you. It can be attained with enough effort and perseverance.

Two weeks ago I wanted to give up, and two weeks ago now I learned to simply show up and persevere.

Now I’m one-fifth of the way through the first part of this phase of editing for Fated to Darkness. One milestone down, many more to come to add to my accomplishments list as I watch it grow. Camp NaNo may be over for the year, but I will find a way to keep making myself show up everyday to work.

This month may have been a chaotic mess, but it was in no way a fail even with all the faltering I did. Now’s the time to put what I learned to use outside of the madness that is NaNo:

To stop dreaming so much in the big picture and look at the stepping stones along the way. To stop making the ginormous goals and simply just show up day after day to do some work, even if it isn’t as much as I wanted it to be.

Progress is progress, no matter how small or big it may be.

Bring on August, and bring on the simple daily editing goal.