4 books to Celebrate in September
1st Up ~ The Hazard of Secrets
I’m celebrating two things with this novel.
- 1st, its publication, #10 in the Hearts in Hazard series.
- Second, this novel kept expanding and expanding. The word count was intended to be around 70,000. I blew past 70,000 then 80,000 then 95,000 and kept going. The final book topped out at nearly 109,000 words when I published it on September 2, 2019.
Two hearts with dangerous pasts ~
Can they keep their secrets, or will murder force them to reveal all?
Clarey Parton crosses the Atlantic to steal an inheritance. She hopes that no one discovers the rightful heir lies in a cold grave.
Jem Baxter returns to the England he fled three years before. He assumes the name James Axminster to conceal his past, one littered with misdeeds.
When a press gang sees two people traveling alone, they seize the opportunity for quick cash: they plan to sell Clarey to a brothel and impress Jem on a merchant ship. Fate brings these two lonely souls together. Chance helps them escape.
Yet escape traps them in another secret—one with murder as a bloody solution.
The Hazard of Secrets offers twists and turns as tight as knots.
Fetch it here:
Worldwide Distributors https://books2read.com/u/4DWRJr
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XDQTS2N
View the Trailer: https://youtu.be/I1hb4d9wCOg
2nd ~ A Trio of Hazards 
This collection combines novels 10, 11, and 12 that finish the Hearts in Hazard series.
1st Novel ~ The Hazard of Secrets, with the details above.
2nd Novel ~ The Hazard for Spies
Can Conrad discover the identity of the French spy mastermind? Will Phinney’s single-minded pursuit lead her into the murderer’s snare? Will three children be caught and sold into London’s underworld?
Can Conrad and Phinney discover the connection between past and present murders? Or will two bullets allow the murderer and the French master spy to continue their work against the British government?
3rd Novel ~ The Hazard with Hearts
Vivienne Northrup agreed to a marriage of convenience to reap the benefits of becoming the Countess of Sheldrake. While she explores the ruins of Sheldrake Castle, a falling stone dislodged from a tower nearly kills her.
Only then does Vivienne discover that the earl’s previous two wives died tragically. The first had jumped to her death from that very tower.
Or had the woman been pushed? The way the stone nearly killed Vivienne?
While I love all three of these books in A Trio of Hazards, this final book became a bit of a challenge. I struggled with the heroine … until I changed her name. Then she came alive!
In finishing this novel, which finished the entire Hearts in Hazard series, I was saddened. The characters had become part of my family. Moving on from the series was like moving far away from family. I know that I will want to return.
The bundle makes it look like we have more books available … and we do!
A Trio of Hazards can be purchased at this link:
Individual novels are also available in ebook and paperback.
two More books for September Are nonfiction guidebooks for writers.
In the summer of the Plague Year, 2020, words were bouncing around like bunnies.
These two guidebooks and a couple of works were fiction, all completed in the summer, are the evidence. I’m not counting the collection above. Bundling books together is actually very simple, requiring little creativity. Writing the books, whether fiction or nonfiction, that requires LOTS of creativity.
3rd of the 4 Books ~ Discovering Characters 
Our job as writers is to find every detail of our characters then use snippets so our readers will see our characters as they drive through our books. We hint at the foundations while opening doors to their plans and purposes.
Discovering Characters is designed to help writers find the exteriors and interiors, public and private. We’ll dig around the foundations and climb to the roof. We’ll explore the open rooms and the storage closets. And we’ll peek into rooms inhabited by such characters as diverse as Elizabeth and Darcy, the Iron Man, Aragorn and Frodo, Travis McGee, Medea, Macbeth, and Nanny McPhee.
Five areas comprise this guidebook. Just as characters—and houses—are individual, this info is individual. You won’t need every bit. Dip in and out, skim around. When you reach locked rooms, come back and explore to discover the keys to your characters.
- Starting Points ~ offering templates and character interviews
- Classifications ~ common and uncommon ways of discovering characters
- Relationships ~ couples, teams, allies, enemies, mentors, etc.
- Special Touches ~ progressions, transgressions, and transitions for character arcs
- Significant Lists ~ archetypal characters and much more
Discovering Characters, with 44,000-plus words, is the second book in the Discovering set, part of the Think like a Pro Writer series for writers new to the game as well as those wanting to up their game.
Fetch it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Y7LYK19
4th of the 4 Books ~ Discovering Your Author Brand
Discovering Your Author Brand understands that the browsing readers will only give a few nanoseconds to our books.
So, we explain the three main glances that hook the readers before they swim down the river. We also look at the keys to unlock those glances. With the right keys, the brand is revealed, and the door to the reader opens.
To help with the keys and glances, we have worksheets (charts!) to help you discover the brand for book, series, and your author persona—because the first leads to the last.
In addition to analyzing successful brands by writing greats from the last of the 20th century, we have information on how to develop a video book trailer. You can watch our own trailer for our book on Branding at this link: https://youtu.be/uthI5gEWic8
Fetch this guidebook at this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YL8GBM1
TAFN!
Another Significant Book Anniversary, this time from the prolific M.A. Lee