[Large, whining yawn]

Morning, everyone. The last week has been a topsy-turvy mess in this slice of reality, and one we don’t particularly want to discuss right now. There’s some good news, even for a Monday, though.

First, WE HAVE A WINNER:

BN100

Our lucky winner gets a copy of Haunted as the grand prize for participation in the backlist blog hop last weekend. Email will be out shortly – please be sure to check for it!

Second… WE HAVE A NEW BOOK!

“The Devil is a busy man.”

Lydia St. Clair was seventeen when she made her first deal with The Devil. Now twenty-one years old and a professional bounty hunter, Lydia possesses a unique set of skills that make her valuable to Lucifer’s grand plans. In the four years since that fateful night she has come full-circle, and now her nemesis has come back to collect on that debt.

Unfortunately for Lydia, He has leverage that will leave her questioning her own humanity.

Where To Get It:
Amazon ♦ No Boundaries Press Store

It’s a little different from what I normally write.  Yes, it has horror elements but this one lives more in the realm of urban fantasy. It’s dark…very dark. And it isn’t a very happy story. It’s intensely personal. This was written entirely for me, and it wasn’t until one of my beta readers told me to do it that I submitted it for publication. It has since sparked an idea for a series, but we won’t get into that yet.

And now for that confession…

I’ve had a few people ask me about this story and where it came from. I may have already told everyone about this, but Devil’s Daughter was written in direct response to my father’s death in April. He was my own personal superhero, and when we lost him, my world fell to pieces. I’m still not dealing well with it. Almost everything reminds me of him. I spend more time than is healthy crying because the stupidest little things trigger it. I lose large chunks of time. Very little filters through my brain that actually stays for extended periods of time.

Truth be told, I don’t really remember writing this story. I just know that when we got back to my mother’s house that Wednesday afternoon, I sat down at the table and put pen to paper. On Sunday afternoon as we left her house for the funeral home, I had a complete first draft in my notebook.

Logically I know there wasn’t anything I could do to save him – years of smoking weakened his lungs to where they couldn’t support him after heart surgery – but by giving Lydia the opportunity to save hers, I found at least a little bit of peace. It’s not the same, but just knowing that I could give someone else a second chance helped.

The story itself is about more than second chances. It’s also about redemption. Doing what’s right isn’t always easy, but doing what’s right isn’t always the right thing to do either. Just because someone is labeled as the “bad guy” doesn’t mean he’s all that bad. Good and bad, at least where Lydia and her fellow characters are concerned, are all matters of opinion. It depends on which side of the argument they’re on.

Read the story…you’ll see what I mean.