Sometimes the passage of time sneaks up on you and smacks you in the face. Actually, not just sometimes, but usually it likes to knock you off your feet, just to keep you humble.
I was talking to a long time reader of mine via email the other day and she mentioned that she “discovered” me when I was publishing with Ellora’s Cave.
I almost shrugged. My thought process was …well, I had lots of books there…I’ve only been indie publishing a little while, so lots of readers remember those stories…
At which point I shook my head. I’ve been indie publishing since March 2011. That’s five years ago!
It is the first time I’ve had my attention drawn to how long I’ve been indie publishing. It’s such a new industry that I can almost call myself a veteran.
Things go in threes, right?
The second time I got my nose rubbed in the passing of time was when I was building the site page for my newest book, Sabrina’s Clan.
The Stonebrood Saga is the only series I’ve written out of order. I was writing book 2, Beauty’s Beasts, when Ellora’s Cave asked for submissions to a themed collection they were building, and I dropped everything and wrote the first book, Carson’s Night, in a weekend of frantic keyboarding, coffee and red eyes. There is a full story about this marathon-sprint writing session that I had up on the old site. I will resurrect that story in the next few days and repost it…along with the updates.
Anyway, Carson’s Night was duly published under the Teal Ceagh pen name, and became book 1 of an unofficial series — unofficial, because the second book had not been bought yet by Ellora’s Cave, even though I was more than half-way through writing it. EC did buy the book, and Beauty’s Beasts became book #2. EC at the time would not create a “series” unless there were at least three books in it. I proposed a third book, tentatively titled Sabrina’s Clan, and added that information to my website.
This all happened in mid-2010.
Things kinda went downhill at EC after that, and I ended up pulling all my titles from Ellora’s Cave. Over the next three years, I republished all of them under my own name and as indie titles, including Carson’s Night and Beauty’s Beasts, which were both re-issued in late 2013. At the time, I noted that the third book, Sabrina’s Clan, should probably be written sometime soon, as it had been sort-of promised since 2010.
Then readers started asking for the backstory of how Carson and Tally died…actually, they wanted to know why Nick and Damian split up, thirty years ago, and that story is wrapped around how Carson and Tally died. So I ended up writing Harvest of Holidays in early 2015. Why not 2014? Because most of that year I was researching and writing a huge, huge epic Norse fantasy, The Branded Rose Prophecy, which came out in December of that. 2014 was a self-indulgent year. 🙂
As soon as it was done I jumped right into writing the books that readers were waiting for, including Harvest of Holidays.
Then it was suddenly 2016. I put the second half of the backstory on the schedule, and Unbearable will be released at the end of this month (it’s already available for pre-order).
I thought it would be nice to get the next and last book in the series out quite close to Unbearable, and started writing it straight after Greyson’s Doom.
And now it’s available for pre-order, and that’s where I got the snotty reminder from the time minions that I was just a little bit tardy on this one. I’ve been promising Sabrina’s Clan since May 2010. It only took me six years to deliver!
If things really do come in threes, then what’s the next time-is-passing message going to be? I’m not sure I want to know!
Sabrina’s Clan has only just come out on pre-order, so some of the less-speedy retailers don’t have their copies up yet (I’m looking at you, iTunes). If you’re reading this somewhere in the future, you’re probably fine, but try the links, or try searching at your favourite bookseller if the links don’t work. Or email me and I’ll see if I can point you in the right direction.
Click here to go to the page with the buy links.
Here’s a snippet:
Excerpt from SABRINA’S CLAN
Tracy Cooper-Posey © June 2016
All rights reserved
Chapter One
There was another weirdo boho gypsy hunter person in Riley’s apartment and this one wasn’t wearing a shirt. Sabrina spotted him from the top of the iron staircase as she climbed up to Riley’s place. She paused a few steps from the top, debating whether she wanted to waste her energy dealing with yet another flake.
The guy was standing by the big, rough-hewn plank table that Riley, Damian and Nick used as a dining table. Well, Riley used the table to eat, because she was human. Nick and Damian were vampires, which meant they didn’t eat. Damian cooked for Riley and Nick always kept her company as she ate. He would pour red wine for her, sniff the glass and sigh.
When they weren’t pretending they were human, they were out hunting demons and gargoyles and God knows what else. Sabrina didn’t know, that was for sure. She mentally blocked off most of their talk about the supernatural. It was bad enough that the stuff was real and that hunters seemed to think Riley’s apartment was a way-station for anyone who landed in the city, which a great many of them frequently did.
Now this guy. His back was to her as he did something at the table and the flesh of his back rippled as the muscles beneath flexed. There were blue tattoes on his arms and lower back. Not blue like modern ink. It was lighter.
“You can come in. I don’t bite except when I’m hungry.” His voice was a deep, reverberating baritone.
Sabrina sighed and climbed up to the floor proper. “You’re another vampire.”
He turned to look at her. The blue curlicues were on his chest, too. He had pale flesh and shaggy, black hair. His eyes were a very clear grey, light and almost colourless. His brows pushed together. “You’re in the wrong apartment if you don’t like vampires.”
“Riley is family to me,” Sabrina said stiffly. “I’ve learned to live with them. Is Damian here?”
“He’s putting his daughter down for a nap.” The vampire tilted his head. “You’re…um…”
“Sabrina,” she supplied and pulled her suit jacket in around her, resettling it. “I’m Chloe’s birth mother.”
“Ah…” The man—the vampire—nodded. “Shouldn’t you be in your corner office at this time of day? Delegating to your minions?”
He knew who she was, then. “You don’t like corporate employees?”
“I’ve learned to live with them.”
Did I hook you? <wicked grin>
Cheers,
t.