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 fromThe Write Focus.
Mysteries Fused with Romance
First up, we have two of the three Keytitles 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:
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 Two’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.
Watch the bundle trailer here: https://youtu.be/PqjouEJtbjY
For Writers, the January series of The Write Focus.
January starts with the opening scene in Remi Black’s recent short story, “Godriana’s Font”.
The four other Wednesdays in the month are devoted to the regular writing broadcast. We have a brief series. The first January writing episode is about resolutions and devotions. The other three episodes focus on the final three stages of any type of writing.
Jan. 5 > Resolve to Be a Write
Jan. 12 > Revision is a Process
Jan. 19 > Edit and Correct
Jan. 26 > Publish and Promo
Visit The Write Focus website for more information and links to every episode.
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?
The Lion’s Den is connected by a single thread to the Into Death series, which features the artist Isabella Newcombe. Jack and Filly first appeared in the mystery Christmas with Death.
Write to winkbooks@aol.com to receive a free copy of The Lion’s Den and to subscribe to our newsletter.
Here at Writers Ink Books we will Celebrate Five Anniversaries … and Two New Releases still to Come.
Four to Celebrate in November ~
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
Edie’s currently working on the final book in the Seasons in Sanswardquaternary. A corrupt invading army. Gitane Witches working dark spells. Scattered mages and swordsmen determined to fight evil.
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 soon
Dream a Deadly Dream
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:
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
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.
Celebrate with a best-bargain bundle of all three books, which should come out on December 1st. No links yet. Ebook only.
Two to Celebrate In December
Look for the Into Death Bundle on the first of the month. I’ll come back when it publishes and add a link.
It’s a Best-Bargain Bundle to Celebrate!
cover images by DDD
Finally, 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.
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 wantand 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.
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!
The Hearts in Hazard series
12 books set in the English Regency Era
Mystery & Suspense with a Dash of Romance
6 Years Ago ~
October 2015. I released the first three books in the Hearts in Hazard series.
The Game of Secrets
The Game of Spies
The Game of Hearts
1 Year Ago ~
In August, the final Hearts in Hazard book released: The Hazard with Hearts.
Now ~
Time for the annual Celebration of Hearts in Hazard.
Which book is right for you?
I’ve never actually written down all this information. I’ve written snippets, but never the whole thing. So here it is ~
how the books are interconnected without being sequels.
which books have common characters.
which books follow a similar plot or a similar trope.
With Hearts in Hazard~
Each novel is complete and stands alone, but the series has interconnected characters among the books. Not ALL the books and not ALL the characters.
New couples confront the primary conflict for each book.
What are the 12 books in the Hearts in Hazard series?
Visit M.A. Lee’s page on this website for links for more information, to view a trailer, and to buy!
1. A Game of Secrets
Cover by Deranged Doctor Design
2. A Game of Spies
3. A Game of Hearts
~ bundled as A Trio of Games.
4. The Danger of Secrets
5. The Danger for Spies
6. The Danger to Hearts
~ bundled as A Trio of Dangers.
7. The Key to Secrets
8. The Key for Spies
9. The Key with Hearts
~ bundled as A Trio of Keys.
10. The Hazard of Secrets
11. The Hazard for Spies
12. The Hazard with Hearts
~ bundled as A Trio of Hazards.
How are the Novels Interlinked?
1/2 ~ A Game of Secrets 1 leads to A Game of Spies 2. These two are the most like sequels: Kate & Tony and Josette & Giles will become good friends. The friendship of Tony and Giles started when they served in the military together and were both wounded.
2/3/11 ~ A Game of Hearts 3, featuring Rafe & Maggie and Connie & Roger, mentions one of the treacherous English traitors from A Game of Spies 2. That treacherous traitor will recur in The Hazard for Spies 11.
Also, the time frame for A Game of Hearts covers a month before A Game of Secrets to after A Game of Spies, and GSpies’ characters are mentioned in GHearts.
2/4/5 ~ Building on the characters in A Game of Spies 2 are The Danger of Secrets 4 (Gordon & Maddy) and The Danger for Spies 5 (Tony & Melanie).
The Danger of Secrets 4 was a joy to write. I laughed often at the repartee between Gordon & Maddy.
The Danger for Spies 5 has as its primary couple Eugenie & Charles.
1/6 ~ The Danger to Hearts 6 brings back Jess Carter from A Game of Secrets 1. Jess becomes protector of Agatha.
6/7/10/11 ~ The Key to Secrets 7 features Constable Hector Evans (in love with Bee). Hector first appeared as a secondary in The Danger to Hearts 6.
Hector re-appears as a side character (chief constable!) in The Hazard of Secrets 10 and The Hazard for Spies 11.
1/2/3/5/10/11 ~ The Hazard for Spies 11 concludes the “Capture French Spies” conflict of Game/Secrets 1, Game/Spies 2, Game/Hearts 3, and Danger/Spies 5.
The Hazard for Spies 11 features Conrad and Phinney. She was barely mentioned in The Hazard of Secrets 10.
10/11 ~ The Hazard of Secrets 10 and The Hazard for Spies 11 have a secondary plot with the children Vic, Elise, and Hank. The three are not the main focus.
Corrie & Jem carry the main plot in The Hazard of Secrets.
6/9 ~ A character mentioned in The Danger with Hearts 6 becomes one of the primary leads in Key with Hearts 9. Greville Myers has married Liza Corbett to access her wealth. This convenient marriage inconveniently causes murder.
8 ~ The Key for Spies 8, one of the least-connected of the 12, is a stand-alone novel set in Spain. No interconnected characters. We do have spies, but I wished to break the constant focus on England. I justified my wish by saying, “Well, it has spies.” Let’s pretend our Simon Pargeter is friends with Hector Evans.
Simon & Miriella carry the plot, but Jesus & Elixane are strong secondaries.
9 / 12 ~ The Hazard with Hearts 12 is another stand-alone, with no interconnected characters. With The Key with Hearts 9, The Hazard with Hearts 12 is most like the vintage gothics of Victoria Holt and Dorothy Eden, from the 1960s.
It’s another marriage of convenience, this time with Vivienne & Max.
What Else will Help me Pick a Great Read?
Do You Like Couples falling in Love? (Not Lust.)
All the books are for you.
Want a Strong Heroine? Or a Strong Hero who is not an Alpha Dog?
All the books are for you.
Do you like Murder Mysteries? A Puzzle to Solve?
A Game of Hearts
The Danger of Secrets
The Danger to Hearts
The Key to Secrets
The Key with Hearts
The Hazard of Secrets (begins as suspense then morphs into a murder mystery)
The Hazard with Hearts (both murder and suspense)
Do you like Suspense more than Murder?
A Game of Secrets
A Game of Spies
The Danger for Spies
The Key for Spies
The Hazard of Secrets (which morphs into a murder mystery)
The Hazard for Spies
The Hazard with Hearts (because murders happen long before the novel begins)
Like Former or Current Soldiers? Or a Story in Wartime, on the battlefront?
A Game of Secrets
Cover by Deranged Doctor Design
The Danger for Spies
The Key for Spies
Like Early Law Enforcement?
A Game of Secrets
A Game with Hearts
The Danger to Hearts
The Key to Secrets
The Hazard for Spies
Want a Story with Spies?
A Game of Secrets
A Game of Spies
The Danger for Spies
The Key for Spies
The Hazard for Spies
Want a Smuggler Story?
A Game of Secrets
The Danger to Hearts
Want a Story with Nobles? (Earls and Marquesses and Barons are one of the primary characters: hero or heroine)
A Game of Spies
A Game with Hearts
The Danger of Secrets
The Key for Spies
The Key with Hearts
The Hazard with Hearts
Want a Story without Nobles? (Not the hero or the heroine)
A Game of Secrets
The Danger for Spies
The Danger to Hearts
The Key to Secrets
The Hazard of Secrets
The Hazard for Spies
Want a Marriage of Convenience Story?
A Game of Hearts
The Key with Hearts
The Hazard with Hearts
Want a High-Low Story? Someone of High Social Standing marries Someone Lower in Rank than them.
Nobles. No nobles. Law enforcement. Law breaker. Something for Everyone
A Game for Spies
A Game of Hearts
The Danger of Secrets
The Danger to Hearts
The Key to Secrets
The Key with Hearts
The Hazard with Hearts
Want a Story with a Runaway ?
A Game of Secrets
Want a Story with Children?
The Hazard of Secrets begins the story with Vic, Elise, and Hank, and it concludes in The Hazard for Spies.
Want a Story with a Young Couple?
A Game of Hearts
The Hazard for Spies
Want a Story with a Couple Approaching Middle-age?
A Game of Hearts
The Danger of Secrets
The Danger for Spies
The Danger to Hearts
The Key to Secrets
The Key for Spies
The Key with Hearts
The Hazard of Secrets
Want a Story set in a Foreign Land?
The Key for Spies
Want something like a Vintage Gothic?
The Key with Hearts
The Hazard with Hearts
. ~ . ~ . ~ .
This is all of the ways
to classify the 12 books in the Hearts in Hazard series.
If you can think of another, do write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.
Read them all, a book a month. (Wasn’t that a book club?)
