Darkness Watching Release Day!!!!!! (and get a free bookmark!!!!!)

Eighteen-year-old Ashlyn is one interview away from her future when she first sees the demons. She thinks she's losing her mind, but the truth is far more frightening: she can see into the Darkworld, the home of spirits– and the darkness is staring back.

Desperate to escape the demons, Ash accepts a place at a university in the small town of Blackstone, in the middle of nowhere - little knowing that it isn't coincidence that led her there but the pull of the Venantium, the sorcerers who maintain the barrier keeping demons from crossing from the Darkworld into our own world.

All-night parties, new friendships and a life without rules or limits are all part of the package of student life - but demons never give up, and their focus on Ash has attracted the attention of every sorcerer in the area. Ash is soon caught between her new life and a group of other students with a connection to the Darkworld, who could offer the answers she's looking for. The demons want something from her, and someone is determined to kill her before she can find out what it is. 

In a world where darkness lurks beneath the surface, not everyone is what they appear to be...

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Read the first chapter

Guys! It's finally here!!!!!!!! (excuse the over-use of punctuation marks, I may be a little excited! :P)

And I'm offering a FREE bookmark (signed) to the first TEN people to buy a copy, in any format! Just email proof to emmaladams2@gmail.com and also send me your address so I can post it to you by airmail! Yes - it's international!

Here are the links:
Amazon
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

If you want to win a paperback, there's a fabulous giveaway happening on Goodreads!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Darkness Watching

by Emma L. Adams

Giveaway ends November 09, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

On finishing the Darkworld series...

On the 19th September 2013, I finished writing the Darkworld series. All 5 books EXIST. Of course, I still need to do a ton of editing. But the story's there. That's what matters.

I can't even summon the words to describe how this feels. I guess I'm a mixture of:

1. Elated. I've wanted to write this series for so long, and it was one of those strange, wonderful moments when a book wants to be written so much it tries to write itself, like I was possessed (heh). Even when I was stuck in the Costa Rican jungle with no internet access and only one small notebook and a few cheap pens (and no access to the first half of the draft!), I still finished the first book. Even with all the final-year stress at university, with a dissertation rearing its ugly head over me, I still wrote books 2 and 3 whilst studying for my exams, and started Book 4 after my exams were over. And now, after a marathon summer of writing (whilst juggling internships, freelance stuff, and the unpredictable insanity of life!), I'm done. Book 5 is finished. And hell, it was hard work. But so worth it!
2. Confused. What am I doing with my life?! This is my standard response to finishing a book, which involves wandering around staring at walls and wondering vaguely what to do with myself. This, multiplied five-fold because I'm at the end of a SERIES.
3. Overwhelmed. Major editing awaits, and I still don't feel like I've done the story total justice. I'm thrilled with how most of it turned out, but there are some things nagging at me, demanding that I fix them. And the thought of rereading the entire series all the way through again...well, I'll save that for later. As Stephen King wisely advises, letting a first draft stay in a drawer for a bit is always a great idea!

I have a strange relationship with first drafts. On the one hand, drafting's my favourite part of the process, and seeing the images in my head come to life is just...amazing. But there's so much anxiety involved, too, chief of which is the dreaded, totally irrational worry: What if I don't finish? What if the story falls apart? No matter how much planning I do, I'm always afraid the story will crash and burn. It's happened before, with the first few novels I attempted, and with a book I started writing at the end of last year (yes, that was the sequel to The Puppet Spell, but I think that might have been more to do with an overall lack of confidence due to the first book's less-than-stellar sales performance, and my subsequent hair-tearing about mounting debts, than the actual book...). I know the usual reason is losing interest in the idea, which was never going to happen with Darkworld, but after six years of starting projects and not finishing them, it's a fear I've yet to shake off!

I've described writing as like walking a tightrope between hope and fear before, and I stand by that. Hope is the beacon that guides you towards the end of a project. Fear is that the rope will tip before you reach the end. Yeah, dramatic metaphor, I know...but it's true. Writing scares me, I admit it. But it's the best thing in the world, and I wouldn't have it any other way! And finishing this series is like getting to the end of that tightrope and feeling the adrenaline rush! I've completed a vision that's been sitting in a corner of my brain for years. And I'm going to hold onto that.

Darkness Watching Cover Reveal!!!!!!

It's time! *dances* The Big Reveal! Ready?

***

Gorgeous, isn't it? And the demon eyes are PERFECT - just the way I imagined them! I'm thrilled - a massive thank you to Alex, my fabulous cover designer at Curiosity Quills Press! Here's her website if you want to check out some of her other work - she's super-talented! :)

She also designed me a blog banner:

and a blog button:

So if anyone wants to give me a shout-out on their blog, feel free to grab the button! :)

Only forty days left until publication! Eeeeeeek!! :D

Darkness Watching Release Date!

News, news, news...it's all getting exciting! 

I've finally set up an official author website, which has now gone live at http://emmaladams.weebly.com/ - at the moment, there isn't much on there that isn't on this blog, but it's useful to have a professional site too! I'm also planning to set up a website exclusively for the Darkworld series when Darkness Watching is published, as the series is totally different from my children's books and I think it deserves it's own space! Speaking of the Darkworld series, I've been talking cover designs and editorial changes with my publishers, and they're looking at a release date of 30th September! *excited squeal*

I'm also doing another re-edit of Book 2, which is titled Walking Shadow, and I'll be sending that along to the publishers shortly!