Icy mountains hold danger and death.

The wizard Alstera continues her quest to restore access to her bound powers.  A nightmare of foul sorcery gives her an opportunity.  She tracks the evil to a snow-smothered village deep in the mountains.

A vengeful woman wielded spells based in sorcery.  To fulfill her revenge, she re-animated a corpse, turning the dead man into a death-walker.

When Alstera and her friend Raul arrive, the suspicious villagers don’t trust them.  Too many have died mysteriously, victims to a monster that don’t dare name.

Alstera is shocked when she discovers the sorcery  re-animated a corpse.  Walking Death drinks blood to retain a semblance of life.

But to fight the death-walker, she must once more rely on primitive and forbidden blood-magic.

With her powers bound, she had to use blood-magic in Vaermonde (Dream a Deadly Dream).  She wanted to avoid another use.  She wanted an easy battle against sorcery.

Yet this battle isn’t easy.  She can’t find the sorcerer.  She can’t find the death-walker.  And a wizard from the Enclave is in close pursuit.

She knows the Enclave wizard comes to discover if she is keeping the wizard tenets

or if she is crossing the tenuous barrier that separates wizardry from sorcery.  Every time she uses blood-magic is a mark against her.

If he returns her to the Enclave, the wizard council will strip away all her powers.

Then Walking Death claims his re-animator as a victim.

With only a small portion of her powers freed, not enough against the death-walker, can Alstera wield blood-magic to defeat a blood-spelled monster?

Remi Black’s Sing a Graveyard Song is available now, exclusively on Amazon.

 

Dark Fantasy. Twisted Magic. Foul Sorcery.

A blood-drinking monster.

The icy mountains hold danger and death but not in the way

that the Fae Mark’d wizard Alstera expects in Sing a Graveyard Song.

Suspicious villagers, justice-seeking pursuers, and foul sorcery

are nothing compared to a blood-drinking monster.

With her powers still shackled for crimes against wizardry, Alstera reaches a snow-smothered village being attacked by a death walker. The re-animated corpse drinks blood to exist. To fight the death-walker, Alstera relies primitive and forbidden blood-magic.

Yet will blood-magic defeat a blood-spelled creature?

How many lives will the death walker take before Alstera finds the way to destroy it?

Will Alstera cross the tenuous barrier that separates wizardry from foul sorcery?

The dark fantasy Sing a Graveyard Song continues the grim story of twisted magic and foul sorcery and Alstera, walking the silvery thread that separates them. Third in the Fae Mark’d Wizard series, Grave follows Weave a Wizardry Web and Dream a Deadly Dream. Although each novel is a complete story, readers will have a richer experience if they read all three in order.

View the trailer here: https://youtu.be/zwWFb11GP1g

Fetch it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BK9DYDK

Available now / 3# in Fae Mark’d Wizard

Start January off Right!

Three Books to Enjoy!

From M.A. Lee, we have two Regency mysteries with a dash of suspense.

From Remi Black, we have the second novella in the Fae Mark’d World series, Spells of Air.

We also have the audio Podcast from The Write Focus.

 

Mysteries Fused with Romance

First up, we have two of the three Key titles in the Hearts in Hazard series. All three have strong male protagonists. With The Key for Spies, Lee also achieved 1.5 million published fiction words. With all the titles that she’s published since 2019, she’s over 2 million published words.

The third book in the subseries is The Key with Hearts. We’ll celebrate that novel in February.

On January 15, The Key for Spies.

Spies and traitors.  Lies and treachery.  Unexpected love where bullets fly.

One traitor destroys loyalty.  What will two traitors destroy?

Here are three links.

  • View the trailer for The Key for Spies: https://youtu.be/Ehc7VxUxCp4 

The ebook and paperback can be published at online distributors everywhere or ask for it at the library:

A Trio of Keys with Intriguing Men

On January 20

The Key to Secrets, book 7 in the Hearts in Hazard series, published in 2018 and featuring one of Lee’s recurring characters, Constable Hector Evans.

Dark Hearts and Sharp Knives.

Hector Evans has plenty of suspects for a bloody death—including the woman he once loved.

View the trailer at this link: https://youtu.be/1Sj7NfvxzXg

The ebook and paperback can be found at online distributors or ask for it your library.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0795F86YW

B&N / Kobo and more: https://books2read.com/u/mZj0Ke

Fantasy Fused with Romance

On January 25 is Remi Black’s To Charm the Wind,  published in 2021 and now 2 years old!

To Charm the Wind has entered the terrible 2’s!

When Haven isn’t a Sanctuary—

When the untried wizard Orielle enters the Wilding on her journey to Iscleft Haven, she expects threats from bears and mountain lions, vipers and hornets.

Published January 31, 2021

She certainly doesn’t expect the creatures of legend: wraiths and gobbers, shape-shifting wyre, and the Dark Fae called the Kyrgy.

Grim, an outcast from Iscleft Haven, is the keen steel that stands with her against these dangers.

Yet when they reach the Haven, the elder arrests Grim. The Haveners aren’t interested in a renewed alliance with the Wizard Enclave.

Is her mission for the Enclave in vain?

Will she ever escape the Wilding?

 

For Writers, the January series of The Write Focus.

January starts with a free opening scene.

  • Last year was Remi Black’s short story, “Godriana’s Font”. You can get the entire story free with this Book Funnel link: click.
  • The year before was M.A. Lee’s “The Lion’s Den”, also available as a freebie through Book Funnel: here.
  • This year, things are little hectic. (Okay, a LOT hectic.) If we manage the recording, it will be the opening scene from “The Poisoner and the Faerie Huntsman”. You can access the story as a freebie through Book Funnel: also here.

The starting series for 2023, our fourth season, is Discovering Characters. Enjoy!

Visit The Write Focus website for more information and links to every episode.

Here’s the link to the blog site: https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/

Enjoy January and look forward to February.

The thaw is coming!

Assassination.  A fugitive comtesse.  A lethal sleep-spell. 

Wyre and wraiths.  Wizardry against sorcery.  And regicide.

In Dream a Deadly Dream, a sorcerer’s plot to kill the king weaves together past and present, dream and reality, to create a nightmare that can kill.

The Fugitive Comtesse

For three years Cherai, the comtesse Muirée, has hidden from the conspirators who assassinated her father.  Now, in the weeping season, a sorcerer has woven a lethal sleep-snare to entrap her.  Although she doesn’t know it, she holds the key to the conspirators’ chance to seize the throne of Vaermonde, a chance thwarted when they killed her father too quickly.  The poisoned nightmares sent by the sorcerer will compel Cherai to turn herself over to her father’s murderers.

Only a chance-met wizard can free her from the sorcerous sleep-spell.

The Exiled Wizard

Alstera wandered into Vaermonde, seeking an opportunity to rid herself of the bindings on her power.  When she encounters Cherai, she realizes the nightmares are caused by a sorcerer.  Breaking a simple sleep-spell without any expectation of extrinsic reward should remove one of the bindings.  Selfishly, she attaches herself to Cherai.

Yet the sleep-spell is not a simple one:  it is a powerful sleep-snare, designed to kill once the conspirators have the document that Cherai’s father hid.  Alstera must use forbidden blood-magic—another crime against wizardry—to slip her powers through the binding sigils tattooed on her wrists.

Will the poisoned nightmares kill Cherai?  Can Alstera free her from the sorcerer’s web before the conspirators kill the king?  Threats come from both enemies and friends, from steely blades and magickal spells.

Dream a Deadly Dream, a novel of 119,000 words, is the second book in the Fae Mark’d Wizard series. 

1st is Weave a Wizardry Web

3rd is Sing A Graveyard Song

Visit Remi Black’s blog or her page on this website to discover more.

https://remiblack.blogspot.com/2021/05/weave-wizardry-web.html

View the Weave a Wizardry web Trailer https://youtu.be/jePz27U2Y6U

 

 

Celebrate! The Holiday Season Is Upon Us!

We’re past Halloween.

image in public domain

Thanksgiving!

Christmas!

New Year’s!

All Important Times for Family & Friends.

Here at Writers Ink Books we will Celebrate Five Anniversaries … and Two New Releases still to Come.

Five to Celebrate in November ~

published in 2016
cover design by Deranged Doctor Design

Autumn Spells

The corrupt dame Neehla wants the swordsman Hethan to bring a Green mage to Senric Keep.  There she will reincarnate herself in Saisha’s younger body.  She bespells Hethan to rip away Saisha’s power.

Hethan and Saisha first met in Baien Castletown. Although they were attracted, her magic prevented him from pursuing any connection.

Now the dame’s dark spells brings them together.

Can Saisha disentangle Hethan from the sorcery?  Or will she be trapped and turned into a wraith while the dark dame inhabits her body?

Back in 2016, Edie Roones published her second book (which is actually the first book she wrote — and rewrote — and reworked — and revised — then totally gutted and wrote again — then revised one more time during 2016 to publish it ~ on the 5th! And we celebrate it now!

Discover more at this site: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MFHDUOZ

Discover more on Edie Roones’ page: Edie Roones | Writers’ Ink Books (writersinkbooks.com)

Edie’s currently working on the final book in the Seasons in Sansward quaternary. A corrupt invading army. Gitane Witches working dark spells. Scattered mages and swordsmen determined to fight evil. [But she’s distracted by Wild Sherwood, so this keeps being pushed back. Oh well.)

Book 1: Summer Sieges https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014OMJBFY

Bk 2: Autumn Spells https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MFHDUOZ

& Bk 3: Winter Sorcery https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BK88CDV

with Bk 4: Spring Magicks — coming for real, just not soon. Gives you time to read the others.

Dream a Deadly Dream

published in 2017
cover design by Deranged Doctor Design

The exiled wizard Alstera wandered into Vaermonde, seeking an opportunity to rid herself of the Fae marks that shackle her power. The nightmares of the fugitive comtesse Cherai offer the chance to serve one of her penances and free one element of her power.

Can Alstera stop the poisoned nightmares before they kill Cherai? Or will she fall into the tainted blood magic before she frees Cherai from those sorcerous deadly dreams?

Published in 2017, the dark epic fantasy Dream a Deadly Dream is the second book in the grim Fae Mark’d Wizard series.

Bk 1: Weave a Wizardry Web  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074HJG1P7

Bk 2: Dream a Deadly Dream  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077CTRD9V

And Bk 3: Sing a Graveyard Song  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BK9DYDK

The opening trilogy is a best-bargain bundle of this epic fantasy, released this summer as Tangled Spells. Available as an ebook or a massive paperback here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0973LXLC2

View the trailer at this link: https://youtu.be/zwWFb11GP1g

“The Lion’s Den”

J. Heyendecker
cover design based on a public domain image

This novella, intended to be a short story, brings to the forefront two secondary characters from Christmas with Death. (See below. It’s also a 2017 November publication to celebrate.

Jack Portman had never forgotten Filly Malvaise.

Then she walked into his local pub and into the clutches of a loan shark.

Can he rescue her before she falls victim to evil?

Published in 2020, “The Lion’s Den” is set in the London of the early 1920s with the Bright Young Things. The returned soldiers of the Great War — like Jack Portman — have settled uncomfortably into their lives.

You can join M.A. Lee’s newsletter to receive a free copy of this novella. Then you can celebrate a bargain! Email us at winkbooks@aol.com.

Christmas with Death

published in 2017
cover design by Deranged Doctor Design

A November 2017 publication for the Christmas market, Christmas with Death was never on the plan until M.A. Lee’s sister wanted to see the next book with Isabella Newcombe and Madoc Tarrant.

Christmas is for miracles, merriment, and murder.

An English country Christmas in 1919 should be a joyful celebration.  Isabella Newcombe, however, discovers only petty sniping and bitterness when she and her friends are invited to Emberley.

Rumors of affaires and drug addiction as well as accusations of blackmail sour the holiday atmosphere.  Then the four friends discover the body of a fellow visitor, shot dead and left lying in an ice-skimmed pond.

With multiple motives and suspects, will Scotland Yard solve the crime before Isabella is the murderer’s next target?  Will an imperfect murder be impossible to solve?

Christmas with Death is the second novel in the Into Death series. Each novel of the Into Death series is complete and not a cliff-hanger.  Enjoy a richer experience by reading all three books in the Into Death series. All three books are available in paperback and ebook.

Bk 1: Digging into Death 

celebrate for it is publishing soon
cover designs by Deranged Doctor Design

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

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

Bk 2: Christmas with Death

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077SBB4DN

trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgr99ForHpA

& Bk 3: Portrait with Death, published this past summer.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0973GVKSQ

https://books2read.com/u/b6vrjZ

Trailer available July 1, 2021 https://youtu.be/6cfEOGy-fXQ

Celebrate with a best-bargain bundle of all three books, which should come out on December 1st. No links yet. Ebook only.

Into Death

This collection contains the first three novels with artist Isabella Newcombe Tarrant, solving murders as she paints away.

It’s a Best-Bargain Bundle to Celebrate!

Digging into Death

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

Christmas with Death

trailer https://youtu.be/Cgr99ForHpA

Portrait with Death

trailer https://youtu.be/6cfEOGy-fXQ

Get the bundle at this link: https://books2read.com/u/baDN1L

Find it everywhereFind it at the Zon.

celebrate for it is publishing soon
cover images by DDD

Only One Publication for December ~ So Far.

Plans for More Books!

We would not be Writers Ink Books if we didn’t also celebrate a nonfiction publication.

Discovering Your Plot

On the 29th of December, barely making 2019, DiscPlot released.

published in 2019
cover by DDD — who else?

What do writers want from plot?

What do writers need from plot?

Are those questions the same? Not really.

As wordsmiths, we writers know that want and need are two different words.

  • The want is a circumstance that we writers can control. We want plot specifics to help us craft story and exceed reader expectations.
  • The need is a circumstance of obligations from reader expectations of story. While readers may want the comfort of the genre elements (the tropes), they also wish to have their interest and curiosity piqued.

Can we writers deliver on the expectations and the surprises in order to please our readers?

That’s the involved question that Discovering Your Plot hopes to answer.

This guidebook covers plot structure and the necessities of genre expectations so we writers can anticipate what readers want.

  • It is NOT a list of tropes by genre or even a list of tropes that every novel should have.

DiscPlot explores the six most common plot structures.

  • It is NOT a list of characters for plot or story. It is not a list of the “17 characters your novel needs” or the “characters used by famous authors”, as listed on social media sites.

It’s a detailed examination of the major sections of a novel.

  • It’s NOT a word-based or page-based formula of a novel’s structure.

    celebrate this published in April 2020
    cover designed by — guess who?
By the end of Discovering Your Plot¸ writers will have the tools to construct a story as well as diagnose problems with pacing, tension and suspense, and sequencing events.

Discovering Your Plot is Book 6 in the Think like a Pro Writer series and the second of the Discovering set of how-to guidebooks for writers at all skill levels. While the approach is for newbies, every writer can benefit from this fresh look at any novel’s framework.

The Discovering set covers Characters, Plot, Author Branding, and Sentence Craft as well as completing a Novel—from the seeds of idea to publishing the manuscript.

Find DiscPlot at this link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0838PTN49/

DiscPlot is part of the Discovering Your Writing four-book best-bargain bundle, available in ebook and paperback. As of this writing, the paperback cover has not arrived … although it is close. I will add a link when the ppb releases … and then I’ll celebrate another Best-Bargain Bundle!

Here’s a link for DiscWriting:

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

View the Trailer: https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk

TTFN! Celebrate your holidays!