Curse of Anubis Chapter Headings

Hi all,

Like Celestial Plague, the Curse of Anubis series has multiple point of views of characters. By using chapters headers in Celestial Plague, it made it easier for you to differentiate which character had a chapter to themselves. I'm doing the same with Curse of Anubis, and I'm glad to show you the chapters headers for the two main characters: Bastet and Tahira. These chapter headers were done by the same person who did the Celestial Plague ones: Solcase Major.

Bastet.

As the cat goddess in Egyptian mythology, it should surprise no-one that her chapter header is of a cat! It wasn't going to be anything else and I absolutely love it.

Tahira.

Tahira is represented by a leopard. This will make more sense as the series goes on. She's surrounded by big cats throughout the series so I thought it made sense. This one is my favourite of the two, I do love big cat drawings.

The two chapter headers will be used throughout the series. There aren't any other characters who have a POV chapter so these are the only two you will see! No secret ones like in Celestial Plague with the butterfly header for the Sarjs.

If I do more multiple POV books in the future then I'll definitely use chapter headers! I think they're a fun and exciting way and it makes the book look prettier as well. So far all the other books I'm planning only have one main character so this may not happen for a while.

That's it for this week! I hope you like the new chapter headers. See you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles before you go:

Spring Science Fiction and Fantasy Books in Kindle Unlimited!

Kindle Unlimited Horror Bookfest!

How My Endings Have Changed

Hi all!

This week I thought I would talk about my book endings. As my mental state has improved, I've found that my book endings have changed a lot. They've gone from really dark endings to some lighter ones, or even ones where there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Celestial Plague.

This series would have ended with book three, with Jenna getting away with her crimes. With the release of book four, I wanted her to receive some comeuppance for her actions. I think turning into the very thing she hates is good enough for her. Plus, her friends are freed of their disease and are able to live forever. It's a much lighter one than the one I had originally planned with book three.

Street Rats.

As I'm sure you've heard, this book was written during an especially dark time of my life. I was getting bullied at work and was taking on more than I could handle. But whenever I complained, it was thrown back in my face that I was bring ungrateful. That's why the original ending of this book was depressing. The main character, Hailey, had been abandoned by all her friends and was left all alone. Her parents turned their backs on her and a few antagonists from earlier in the book appear to make her life hell again. Thankfully by the time it came to me writing the ending I felt much better so it's a lot lighter.

Mute.

This book was originally going to end with Audra killing the wendigo and getting caught by the police. She would be framed by the surviving characters and left in prison. There, her mother, who had turned into a wendigo, would break into her cell to kill her. Luckily I had the idea of resurrecting Solaris and having him bring his sister to the rescue. Even though her mother is left in the police station, Audra walks away with a chance.

Those are my darkest endings so far without spoiling too much about books that haven't come out yet. From now on, I'm going to write the endings that feel right rather than going off my mental state. My writing gets darker the more down I feel and I don't want that to keep happening.

That's it for this week, see you next week! 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles before you go:

Spring Science Fiction and Fantasy Books in Kindle Unlimited!

Kindle Unlimited Horror Bookfest!

Hell is Now Available on Amazon

Hi all,

The final book in the Celestial Plague series, Hell, is now avilable on Amazon in ebook, hardcover and paperback. You can start reading the conclusion to the series below…

Between the spreading Sarjs and impending doom of The Rot, the world continues to crumble into ruin.

Ashleigh, Shannon, and Raya have now all succumbed to the virus. When Jenna and Cindy escape to a forest, they come across a girl who can see into the future. She tells them that Jenna can stop The Rot with the combined powers of herself and three others. However, their situation becomes even more dire when the group discovers an alarming new type of Sarj, one that resurrects with The Rot.

Raya, Ashleigh, and Shannon are forced into a new area as The Rot slowly kills them. There, the land is rotting from dingy, Sarj polluted water. The three of them battle sick Sarjs in an effort to stop the pollution and reclaim the land.

Tensions rise when Jenna’s group reach the source of The Rot. With the group dwindling by the minute, Jenna swears revenge on the remaining members. As deceit spreads, so does pain. With little hope for the future as more and more are turned into Sarjs, they are forced to make difficult decisions to salvage what’s left.

That’s it for the Celestial Plague series! I’ll put together a boxset that will hopefully be published in July. I hope you loved reading the books as much as I loved writing them.

Have you picked up your copy of Hell? Let me know in the comments! See you next week.

PS; don’t forget to check out this Sci-Fi and Fantasy book bundle:

Spring Science Fiction and Fantasy Books in Kindle Unlimited!

Reedsy BookEditor Review

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about Reedsy BookEditor. It's a tool that you can use to write, edit and format your book. I use it exclusively to format my books and all of mine have been done through this tool.

When I first learned about formatting a book I was instantly overwhelmed with how it could be done. From having to make sure that everything stayed inside the margins to using headings for chapters, I just didn't get it. I watched a tutorial on how to do it in Word and it instantly made my anxiety flare up. I was worried that this was the point where I would hit a dead end. That maybe my book wouldn't get published after all.

But then I discovered the Reedsy BookEditor and it couldn't have been more simple. I just uploaded my book and it did everything for me! The only thing that I had to do was the front and back matter, but that was easy enough to add.

If you wanted to, you could write and edit your entire book in it. I've never done this as I prefer using Word and then uploading it. The tool does do a simple spell check but I've found that usually picks up on character names and places so I've never really gone with its corrections.

It's really been a lifesaver when it comes to publishing and I can't see myself going forward without it. The only downside is that there aren't a lot of fonts to choose from. I go with the default so it doesn't bother me but it may be an issue for others.

Overall, I would highly recommend it. Even if you only use it for short stories or reader magnets. It saves a lot of hassle of either formatting your book yourself or hiring someone to do it for you. This is one of my favourite tools and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments! That's it for this week, see you next Sunday. 

PS; take a look at this giveaway before it’s over!

Epic Fantasy Spring Giveaway

I Dyed My Hair Purple

Hi all,

If you've been reading my blog for a while then you may remember last year when I dyed my hair green. This year, I've decided to go purple!

It's my favourite colour and when I got hit by the urge to dye my hair, I knew it would be the next colour. I went to same hairdresser that I went to last time and I absolutely love it!

Thankfully my alopecia hasn't been too bad for a while so I've been able to dye my hair in recent years. It's nice to be able to try different colours after spending years not being able to.

Will I go a different colour in the future?

Probably. I love how I look after getting it done and I'm excited to try other colours too. Maybe next time I'll try a blue colour.

The only problem is that now I'm finding purple hairs everywhere. Mishka doesn't seem to mind too much though as she's still trying to eat the hair from my head.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles before you go!

Epic Fantasy Spring Giveaway

Fantastic Fantasy

The Rotten Sarjs

Hi all!

With Celestial Plague #4: Hell coming out soon I thought I would discuss the new type of Sarj that shows up in this book.

In previous books there have been three types: purple, blue and black. The colour a person will turn into depends on the way they were infected. If they complete the seven bite trial, they turn into a purple Sarj. If they are bitten by a Sarj, no matter how far along their infection, they will turn into a blue Sarj. Finally, if they are touched by the creator of the virus, they will turn into a black Sarj.

Hell introduces a brand new Sarj: grey. If you haven't guessed already by the title, this Sarj colour is influenced by The Rot. Even though Sarjs are technically not dead, they can still be effected by The Rot. It spreads through their body through the first point of contact and gradually turns their skin a pale grey. Once they've completed this transformation, they can then infect humans and Sarjs alike. The Rot damages their mind so they're incredibly aggressive and willing to infect anyone they come across.

As Jenna and her group will be traversing The Rot in this book, she will come across quite a few of these Sarjs. They are the most dangerous of all as without the creator, the other Sarjs aren't interested in infecting anyone new. Most other colour Sarjs will stay away from humans and live out their lives travelling and playing. But the rotten ones will forever roam the Earth unless they are put out of their misery.

I'm excited to release the final book in the Celestial Plague series and I love the ending of this series. I might continue to write short stories about Sarjs in the future if the right inspiration hits! I can't wait for you to read this book and finish the journey with Shannon, Ashleigh, Raya and Jenna.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these fantasy bundles before they disappear!

Epic Fantasy Spring Giveaway

Fantastic Fantasy

April 2024 Camp NaNoWriMo Project Announcement

Hi all,

It's a new year and the first Camp NaNoWriMo of 2024 starts on April 1st. I was going to start writing the next book in the Original Elementals series but I've really missed the characters in Empty Skies. So, I'm going to pivot to writing Empty Skies #2: Freezing Constellations.

This book will continue where book one left off, with Laelaps and Ataraxia. They've just defeated Scylla and are hoping for a bit of a rest before their next challenge. Unfortunately, that doesn't really pan out for them!

This book will have more scenes in the underworld and Cerberus will have a more active role. In the last book, they were there for the battle but that was about it. Now, their home is in danger and they need help to save it. The Namean Lion, Ichor, will be in this book with Charon, the boatman of the dead.

I'm also going to introduce a few more of the constellations in this book. One being Pegasus. They are one of my favourites and I'm hoping to give them a dark spin. They are working with The Freezing to take down all the constellations. I love writing pegasi as bad guys so I can't wait to continue with this book!

I have the prequel series planned which will introduce more characters and why they act the way they do in these books. But I really wanted to write this series first, even though Damaged Goods has been planned for ages. It gives me more time to flesh out events in between though. Some of the characters in this book will appear more often in the prequel series, so I hope you like them enough to continue reading about them.

This is my first Greek mythology series and I'm really excited to write the series which is why I've bumped it up a bit. I'm still undecided whether next NaNoWriMo I'll write Original Elementals or not. Luckily I still have loads of time to decide.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next Sunday. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these fantasy book bundles before you go:

Epic Fantasy Spring Giveaway

Fantastic Fantasy

Strong Women, Strange Worlds Live Reading

Hi all,

On March 1st I did a live reading for Strong Women, Strange Worlds. I've never done a live reading over Zoom before and it was actually really fun! I read a excerpt of Blood and Water and got to listen to the work of five fabulous authors!

I was first up, so I was incredibly nervous and wasn't really sure what to expect. Luckily Mishka didn't try to interrupt, instead she just slept next to me while the event went on. It would have been embarrassing to try to read while Mishka was practicing a musical number! There was a live chat which was really nice because I could get real time feedback when I get as reading. Next time I'll try not to look at the chat as I think that distracted me a bit when reading.

The other authors that read were: (click on their name to go to their websites)

Wen Wen Yang

Anne Karppinen

Phoebe Walker

Ilana DeBare

Carmen Baca

All of their stories were absolutely amazing and it was great watching them read in real time. I loved the different genres and tones that each reading set. Seeing the audience get excited about the readings as well was so lovely to see.

After all the readings were done we had a Q&A session where the audience could ask questions. We discussed researching books, what genres we write and if there's anything we would change about a book published years ago. It was a great session and I really liked getting to interact with the other authors and listen to their opinions on the different questions.

I gave away an ebook copy of Blood and Water to one lucky winner and I hope that they're enjoying it!

Now onto the big question: would I do this again?

The answer is a big fat yes!

I loved every aspect of it and my nerves disappeared quickly once I realised how nice the organisers and other authors are. Everyone was really friendly and supportive.

I would really recommend listening to Strong Women, Strange Worlds as they have a variety of authors on there with so many fantastic stories. If you want to check them out, click here.

That's it for this week! If you tuned in, I hope you enjoyed it. See you next week! 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles before you go:

A Box Set of Young Adult Magic

Epic Fantasy Spring Giveaway

Fantastic Fantasy

The New Book Titles for Curse of Anubis

Hi all,

About a year ago I made a blog post about how I want to change the titles of the Curse of Anubis books. Before, the titles were:

Halfway

Limbo

Middle

Dual

It's been a long time but I've managed to come up with some new names that will hopefully stick a bit better! The previous names were ones that were supposed to be placeholders until I started writing the books. But I struggled so much with coming up with names that they stayed far too long. But now, I'm glad that I can rectify that!

Book one: The Plague's Hope

Book two: The Burning Snake

Book three: The Frozen Eye

Book four: The Dead Kingdom

I think these titles are more fitting for what actually happens in the books and I think they sound a lot cooler too!

The Plague's Hope refers to Tahira as she is the first, and only, person to be partially resurrected after being a zombie. She can travel between the living world and the afterlife. The dead believe that the one who gets resurrected will find a cure for everyone.

The Burning Snake focuses more on Wadjet as she is the main antagonist in book two. She manages to get hold of Ra's Eye and takes the power for herself.

The Frozen Eye is about Horus' Eye and where it can be found. Seeing as one Eye has been found, the one who wields both is said to become the new ruler of the gods.

The Dead Kingdom I'm sure is a more obvious one, but it refers to all of the zombies. They have taken over most of the living world at this point and Anubis has stopped collecting their hearts.

I'm so glad that I finally sorted the titles out because it was driving me crazy. I've spent ages cycling through names that I think would work and then discarding them for not feeling right. These ones feel a lot better and I'm hoping that they'll stick. Especially since book one is coming out in October.

That's it for this week, I hope you like the new names! See you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles before you go:

A Box Set of Young Adult Magic

Epic Fantasy Spring Giveaway

Fantastic Fantasy

Hell Pre-Order Live

Hi all,

The final book in the Celestial Plague series, Hell, is now available to pre-order. It is currently available to pre-order in ebook version, but paperback and hardcover will follow on release day!

I can confirm that this book will be out April 9th 2024.

You can pre-order it below:

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That’s it for this week! I hope you’re looking forward to reading the conclusion of Celestial Plague. See you next week!