October is a major celebratory month for M.A. Lee.

 

First, it’s her launch month.

(To follow the month-long celebration of everything published, visit M.A. Lee (maleebooks.blogspot.com).

Back in 2015, she began self-publishing with her first three novels in the Hearts in Hazard 12-book series.

As a rapid release (a term she now understands much better), on October 21 she published

  1. A Game of Secrets

    Cover by Deranged Doctor Design
  2. A Game of Spies
  3. A Game of Hearts

Purchase or View A Game of Secrets at these links:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016XBYHSA/

https://books2read.com/u/bPKoZz

Trailer     https://youtu.be/BzwOWP5ssCA

Find A Game of Spies at these links:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734694637

https://books2read.com/u/b5ZzxR

Trailer     https://youtu.be/y3z34pr0ycM

And A Game of Hearts is here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734694645

https://books2read.com/u/m2Znx7

Trailer     https://youtu.be/rht6hMctbGI

These are bundled together in an ebook A Trio of Games ~ the bundle published in the summer of 2020.

available here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089T7WTFT

 

One year later / 2016 / M.A. Lee Starts a 2nd series.

Digging into Death with Isabella Newcombe, artist at an archaeological dig on the island of Crete in 1919. Isabella confronts thieves and murderers.

Digging into Death published on the 1st of the month. Links are here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXPRKHM

Trailer   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX1BPx6VUnU

The bundle Into Death with the first three books is here!

The Into Death bundle, ebook only,

In 2019, M.A. Lee Pubbed the 5th and Final writers’ guidebook in the Discovering series.

The Discovering series offers specific information in crucial areas every writer needs to understand.

The last book in the series, Discovering Sentence Craft, works at the base levels: sentences and words.

Cover offers the A to Z options!
  • Need to understand irony?
  • Or allusion?
  • Or implied metaphor?
  • What about rhetorical structures like asyndeton, auxesis, and zeugma?

This book explains the concepts and structures that help a writer shine, wax lyrical, or strongly present a debatable point.

With DiscSentCraft, M.A. Lee reached over 2 million published words in a five-year period: 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019.

Check out this link https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZQXKY87 to find the individual book.

Also available is the paperback of the bundled Discovering Your Writing, for every writer’s shelf.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S

Trailer: https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk

Let’s all Celebrate an auspicious beginning!

 

 

 

M.A. Lee has 5 books to Celebrate in September

Celebrate on the Second of September with The Hazard of Secrets

We celebrate not just the original publication of The Hazard of Secrets but also the fact that we completed a book that just kept expanding and expanding. The word count was intended to be around 70,000. M.A. Lee 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.

original cover by Deranged Doctor Design for Writers Ink
Jem and Clarey face press gangs and murderers.

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. Can Clarey and Jem keep their secrets, or will murder force them to reveal all?

Fetch it here: https://books2read.com/u/4DWRJr

 

 

Celebrate Three Novels On the 10th of September

With A Trio of Hazards

Three novels bundled together, to help Survive in plague year 2020.

Book 1 in the Bundle, The Hazard of Secrets,details above.

View the trailer at this link: https://youtu.be/I1hb4d9wCOg

Coming Soon

Book 2 in the Bundle, 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?

This book did exactly what it was supposed to do: story, length, everything. It concludes the spy narrative in the Hearts in Hazard trilogy, which also includes

  1. A Game of Secrets ~ Lee’s first published book.

2. A Game of Spies ~ her second published book.

3. A Game of Hearts ~ 3rd in publication order.

4. The Danger for Spies

and 5. The Key for Spies

The three children introduced in The Hazard of Secrets above are secondary characters in this novel.

Hector Evans, first introduced in The Danger to Hearts  and receiving his own story in The Key to Secrets, also makes an appearance in The Hazard of Secrets and The Hazard for Spies.

The Hazard for Spies originally published April 30 of 2020. For this ebook alone, try this link to purchase: https://books2read.com/u/4j2JEl

The Hazard with Hearts completes the bundle, with the original Novel published August 24, 2020.

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?

I loved this book. At first I struggled with the heroine … until I changed her name. Then she came alive! To purchase this ebook alone, try this link: https://books2read.com/u/boEVg1

When I finished this novel and knew I was finished with the entire Hearts in Hazard series, I was saddened. The characters became part of my family, and 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 available in ebook and paperback. The bundles are only available on Amazon and in ebook format–although the bundles are a bargain!

 

We celebrate two More books for September: nonfiction guidebooks for writers.

In the summer of the Plague Year, 2020, M.A. Lee was highly prolific. These two guidebooks along with The Hazard with Hearts are the evidence. We can’t really count the bundle above. Bundling books together is actually very simple, requiring little creativity. Writing the books, whether fiction or nonfiction, that requires LOTS of creativity.

On September 22, We celebrate 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.

  1. Starting Points ~ offering templates and character interviews
  2. Classifications ~ common and uncommon ways of discovering characters
  3. Relationships ~ couples, teams, allies, enemies, mentors, etc.
  4. Special Touches ~ progressions, transgressions, and transitions for character arcs
  5. 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

Finally this month, on the very last day, we Celebrate 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

Coming later this Fall

We have the paperback version of Discovering Your Writing, which combines our books on Plot, Characters, Branding, and Sentence Craft, a real deal!

TAFN!

Two hearts with dangerous pasts are twisted up into complex schemes in this 10th book of the Hearts in Hazard series ~ The Hazard of Secrets.

The Hazard of Secrets

Can these two hearts 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.

Can Clarey and Jem keep their secrets, or will murder force them to reveal all?

  1. Read the first chapter at this link.
  2. Here’s the second chapter of the newest release by M. A. Lee, The Hazard of Secrets, historical mystery set in 1814 Liverpool, England, with just a dash of romance. Find it at this link.
  3. Writers will tell you that sometimes characters take control of a story, and writers are just along for the write. That’s the case with Vic, a boy on the streets of 1814 Liverpool in M.A. Lee’s newest historical mystery. I liked Vic so much I might even ask him to write another story with me. Find Vic’s introduction at this link.

And watch the trailer: 

 

This is the book that became ever-expanding, blowing past the original length of 55,000 words, climbing on to 78,000 words, and then achieving 109,000 words.

I kept thinking about dividing it out, but events at the beginning cause events in the middle and connect to events at the end.

And I hate to read cliff-hangers which require two separate books. Better to have the cliff-hangers at the end of chapters!

 

Available Worldwide as an ebook https://books2read.com/u/4DWRJr

 

Available ebook and paperback on Amazon

 

 

Regency Mystery with an Eerie Touch of the Gothic and a Dash of Romance

The Hazard with Hearts concludes the Hearts in Hazard series.

Two wives haunt the castle. Will she be the third to die?

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.

cover by Deranged Doctor Design

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?

Had someone tried to Kill Vivienne with the stone?

In the gothic tradition of Victoria Holt and Dorothy Eden, The Hazard with Hearts offers a determined heroine who confronts doubts, superstition, and the dark passions of a killer who wants every countess of Sheldrake dead and buried.

The Hazard with Hearts is book 12 in the Hearts in Hazard series of mysteries and suspense, with just a dash of sweet romance. The stories are loosely connected with each story complete in one book.

2 Free Glimpses and 2 Audio Files

For an audio narrated by the Author M.A. Lee: Click the link to listen on PodBean. 

If you prefer to read the first chapter, please click this document file:

Haz with Hearts 1st chapter

You can listen to an audio file about Maxwell Herrick, 9th Earl of Sheldrake at this link

Or you can read this document file: Haz with Hearts Meet Max

They whisper that he is Bluebeard. His first two wives haunt the castle?  Will his third wife be next to die?

Want to Read about Writing Problems?

“What’s in a Name?” That was a major question at the beginning of the rough draft for M.A. Lee’s The Hazard with Hearts.

Read about her problems here!

Enjoy.

 

 

LINKS 

Trailer https://youtu.be/y9gELz8G6-E

Ebook only :: https://books2read.com/u/boEVg1

For ebook and paperback :: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GJXKK2N/

Outlaws of Wild Sherwood

In this anthology, five men are the Outlaws of Wild Sherwood, and they encounter Robin Hood’s enemies as well as the Faeries of British legend.

Wild Sherwood collection 2
Cover by Deranged Doctor Design

Wild Sherwood short story 6First up, Dav the Wrestler, a friend of Robin Hood and his men.

A Twist of Faerie Magic

Twist after twist reveals the true heart.

Dav spent months earning prizes for wrestling, all to raise enough coins to marry his love Edrys.

On his return to Nottingham, however, he discovers Edrys married another man during his absence. When he sees bruises on her, he threatens her husband.

Then the man is found dead, and Dav is accused.

How can a twist of Faerie magic reveal the true culprit?

https://books2read.com/u/bo2RMa

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8B9KHCV

 

No fighter, unskilled with knife or bow or sword, the singer Alan discovers a way to defeat Robin’s enemies.Wild Sherwood short story 7

“A Faerie Song for a Feast”

Masks, Mummers, and a Faerie Song

When a corrupt abbot double-charges the rents of simple farmers, Robin Hood and his men decide to intervene. Alan-a-Dale risks playing a song learned in the land of Faeries to help Robin Hood and his men.

Yet the Faerie Elandrielle warned him never to play music he learned while visiting Underhill.

What will she do when he breaks her command?

https://books2read.com/u/bPg2vl

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8TBYQJL

 

Wild Sherwood short story 8Arthur à Bland joined the outlaw band. What will he do when he believes Little John has wronged his sister?

“Mischief Of A Faerie”

A Challenge With Quarterstaves

Arthur’s sister names a bearded giant as her newborn’s father. The only bearded giant that the young poacher knows is the outlaw Little John. Arthur storms off, resolved to force John to support his child.

He can’t shame an outlaw into honor. He can’t force a man taller and stronger than he is to shoulder his responsibilities.

Will the Faerie Iofrin’s mischief lead to the answer?

https://books2read.com/u/mg7AER

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B996HFX2

 

 

The outlaw Jack Greenleaf only belongs to Robin’s band of men.

“The Green Man”

A Venture With Destiny

Bad luck has plagued Jack Greenleaf for years. Abandoned, evicted, and rejected, he joined the other outcasts in Sherwood Forest. The Green Man of the Faerie may seal his fate.

https://books2read.com/u/mv1aDX

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9QFCZBR

 

 

 

 

Gilbert Whitehand works the bar at the Tinker’s Wife Tavern, but he’s a great friend of Robin Hood.

“The Prize of a Golden Arrow”

By Hook or Crook or Arrow

Gil vowed never again to take up the long bow. Then he learns the May Day archery contest is a trap to capture Robin Hood. He resolves to foil the Sheriff’s plan.

https://books2read.com/u/m0EzaP

. ~ . ~ . ~ .

The bundled anthology is available Now!

Lovers of fantasy and the Robin Hood legends, Edie Roones and M.A. Lee enjoy fusing the stories of the medieval English outlaws with the dangerous faeries of British myth. 

Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/4Aj99N

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B92V1PKT

the trailer https://youtu.be/aCftiZFqq1E

Cover by Deranged Doctor Design

. ~ . ~ .  ~ .

The first five stories with the Robin Hood legends fused with the British faeries appear in the anthology Into Wild Sherwood, which is also available now.

https://books2read.com/u/bOzoDE

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09YX79TMH

https://youtu.be/O9qWTwRZgoI

Watch for more stories about Wild Sherwoodmen driven to crime to fight evil and corruption.

Robin Hood,

Will Scarlet,

Little John,

and Much the Miller’s son