Here's to 2016

I'm really awful about updating this blog in anything resembling a timely fashion so I'm going to just skip right over the last two weeks of this year and do a New Year's post instead.  See?  Now I'm early!

I published two books this year (The Result of a Straight Razor and The Inauspicious List) and finally got Chance Assassin in paperback, I begrudgingly joined Facebook (but don't think for a second that I'm any better at updating that than I am this blog) so I'm going to pretend those were last year's New Year's resolutions lest I admit that I didn't actually succeed in keeping any of my real resolutions.

Here are my resolutions (that I can probably keep) for 2016:

Publish the third Mako Shark book, of which I already have a full first draft, an idea for a cover and the means to implement it, and no official title as of yet.

Finish writing the fourth and likely final Chance Assassin book, of which I have an idea for a plot and basically nothing else.

Get the rest of my books in print.

And since tradition says that I need to break at least one of these: eat less cake.

There you go.  2016.  Nailed it.

Release Day Interview

The Inauspicious List is out today (buy it here), and Avon Gale, author of Let the Wrong Light In and the upcoming (and fantastic) Breakaway was kind enough to invite me over to her blog.  You can check the interview out here, and if you haven't already picked up a copy of her books, I highly recommend them.

Visit Avon Gale's blog and check out her books at Dreamspinner press.

Happy release day, and happy reading.

The Inauspicious List

I'm sorry that it's been awhile since my last post but I'm officially back, and on November 10th, so are Frank and Vincent!  The Inauspicious List takes place several months after the end of Les Recidivists, and Vincent once again takes the helm (and as much attention as he can get) as our faithful narrator.

Anyone reading the spinoff Mako Shark series will already know some of what's in store for Frank and V (and if you're following both series, I highly recommend reading The Result of a Straight Razor before The Inauspicious List.)  For those needing a bit of a catch up, you can read their first hit after getting back to work on my Greatest Hits site, and Les Recidivists will be free this weekend.

With a new handler and Silva's book of hits, Frank and Vincent's marital bliss is only interrupted by the occasional spat over whose turn it is to kill.  But when their jobs stop going according to plan, a detour takes them down a path that could bring the end of their careers.  And their lives.

Cover shoot outtakes

Last fall I visited my friend, the lovely S.K. Hart in Massachusetts.  The trip was primarily to hang out and see her in her native habitat...well let's be honest, the trip was primarily to steal Halloween candy from her kids and fill her mother's amazing bathtub with fake blood.  

I had a post about this last year that went into some of the details about this fun and messy cover shoot, but I wanted to show a few photos we took during the process.  That's her hand print on the side of the tub if anyone is wondering, and unfortunately I didn't get a shot of her precariously positioning herself over the bath to properly place it.  No, she did not fall in, otherwise there would be a few photos of a very grumpy, very pink, and very wet author.

Her mother worked for a floral supply company and brought a gazillion daisies for our project, and was kind enough to let us use (and potentially destroy) her amazing claw foot bathtub.  

Now, I have plenty of supplies for fake blood at home in Oregon.  Plenty.  A disconcerting amount.  But naturally with the TSA liquid restrictions and potential of ending up on the no-fly list, I didn't bring supplies with me across the country.  Of course, I figured no big deal, I could buy some red food dye when I got there, a little corn syrup and Hershey's chocolate syrup, and voila!  Blood.  What I didn't take into consideration was that it was almost Halloween and apparently other people were in the market for fake blood as well.  We visited two stores looking for red dye, of which all varieties were sold out.  Not willing to accept failure, I picked up some grenadine and the trusty chocolate syrup, but it just wasn't red enough.  Thankfully Ms. Hart's mother had a tiny amount of red dye, along with other items to try like molasses, and we got the effect we were looking for.  

The Result of a Straight Razor

Late last year I unleashed Miko the Mako Shark on the world, and in a week, he returns.  The Result of a Straight Razor takes right off where The Consequence of High Caliber ended, with emotions and insanity running high.  Miko has a lot to struggle through in this next book, but he's not without support from his nearest and dearest, as well as certain someones that my other readers may be quite familiar with.

Miko is in mourning.  He is plotting.  Miko is thinking about death and vengeance.  About forgiveness.  And love.  Miko is getting some new tattoos.

I highly recommend anyone who follows both series to read this one before The Inauspicious List (Chance Assassin #3.)  They do overlap but reading The Result of a Straight Razor spoils less of The Inauspicious List than the other way around.

The Result of a Straight Razor will be released on 8/21/2015, and to kick off the release, The Consequence of High Caliber will be FREE from 8/21/2015-8/23/2015.

That new book smell

For anyone who reads my blog regularly, you'll know that summer is my most despised time of year.  We've just gotten out of a horrific heatwave (and will soon be entering into another according to the Weather Channel) but it rained gloriously yesterday, I just turned 29*, and my first ever book, Chance Assassin, is officially in print.

A lot can be said for the digital age.  Authors are able to reach more readers than they otherwise could, I can take books with me on my phone while I'm out walking the dog, but you can't hold the book in your hands.  You can't smell it.  Well, now I can.  And so can you!  You can get a copy at Amazon.com here and I will soonish have my others in print as well.

In other digital news, I'll have updates on the release of The Result of a Straight Razor (Mako Shark 2) with my (hopefully) next blog post, as well as some information on The Inauspicious List (Chance Assassin 3).

Until then, happy reading, whatever your preferred format may be.

*32

Happy June 26th to EVERYONE

That's all I have to say about that.

Coming Soon to an eReader Near You

It's been a busy start to the year, and I'm happy to say that I have some WIPs very close to being finished.

As some of you know, I did a series of hits that took place during Chance Assassin on my other blog.  It's been awhile since I've had time to work on them, but I'm hoping to publish the ones you've read (along with two new ones) as a free ebook collection in the near future.  I mention this because book 3 of the Chance Assassin series just happens to be one of my upcoming releases and I'd like to share a few hits that happen between Les Recidivists and The Inauspicious List.  So for your reading please, you can view my Greatest Hits blog and catch up with Frank and Vincent.  Just a warning, there are major spoilers for readers who haven't read Les Recidivists yet.

That brings me to Chance Assassin 3, of course, which I'm just about ready to send off to beta readers.  The Inauspicious List starts a few months after Les Recidivists ends, with Frank and Vincent happily but perhaps unluckily returning to work.

But before I can publish Frank and Vincent's next book, I have to bring Miko back from that little cliff I left him hanging on.  The Result of a Straight Razor is under final edits and the cover is being worked on.  I'll have more updates closer to publication.

A Time for Reading the Fine Print

As some of you know, I did a post-Valentine's Day sale a few weeks ago.  There's this cool new program with Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon.com that lets you do countdown deals, and I wanted to try it out.  The countdown program is only available on the .com and .co.uk sites, but I figured I would just manually change the prices on the other sites as well...and there lies the rub.  Apparently you can't change pricing for 48 hours beforehand and 2 weeks after a countdown deal, even in other markets.  So I'm an idiot and I apologize to my European, Canadian, and Australian readers who weren't able to take advantage of the sale.  You can now.  In those markets all three of my books will be 0.99 for the next few days.  Let's call it the Nicole Castle will never be a lawyer sale.

Happy reading, even if you're reading fine print.  :)

A Time for Love

Of course I'm referring to the few days after the dreaded Valentine's Day when you can get all the yummy heart-chocolate for cheap.  I've never been a big proponent of Hallmark's idea of celebrating love but I am a proponent of sales, which brings me to my point.  On February 15th and 16th all three of my books will be discounted to $0.99 (or pounds) on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Happy reading and happy V-day.

For the coming year

2014 was a rough year for me in many ways, but I did take some time to look back at a few of the positive things:

I published two books last year, which is awesome if I do say so myself

I had a lovely vacation to see a friend who I never would've met without the power of the internet, and I've met several more the same way *cue hugs and sappy music*

And most of all, I survived the various personal setbacks and I think I'm a stronger person because of it.

So here's to 2015.  I have full first drafts for both The Inauspicious List (Chance Assassin #3) and The Result of a Straight Razor (Mako Shark #2) and at this rate, who knows?  Maybe I can get beat my record and get three books out this year.