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Monday 31 August 2015

August Update: What I've been up to!


This month has absolutely flown by! It's time for my monthly update on all things happening in the Writer's Nest. Firstly: 

What I've been reading


Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1)

This stunning sci-fi/space opera has one of the most strikingly original concepts I've come across in a while! It's complex and unique, and well worth reading for SF fans. Amazon

Ink and Bone (The Great Library, #1)

I was interested to read Ink and Bone, first and foremost because it's about libraries and books - how could I not want to read it? This is an engaging story based on alternative history that was completely up my alley, and I read it in a day! Amazon

The Young Elites (The Young Elites, #1)

I really enjoyed the Legend trilogy, and I was excited to read Marie Lu's new book. The Young Elites is beautifully written and the world-building is well done. The protagonist, Adelina, is more of an antihero than a traditional heroine, which was refreshing. A page-turning read! Amazon



I also picked up this free box set containing some fabulous sci-fi stories. Top favourites included Susan Kaye Quinn's Open Minds, Anthea Sharp's Feyland: The Dark Realm, and P.K. Hrezo's Diary of a Teenage Time-Traveller.

The Duality Bridge (Singularity, #2)

I was lucky enough to receive a review copy of The Duality Bridge, the second book in Susan Kaye Quinn's Singularity series (read my review of the first book, The Legacy Human, here!)

The Duality Bridge picks up where the first book left off, and once again, I was hooked from page one. Eli struggles with the aftermath of discovering he's something other than human--or ascender, the advanced human-machine hybrids created in the Singularity. The worldbuilding in this series is complex yet completely engaging.  The series flawlessly combines thought-provoking ideas with a breathtaking pace and three-dimensional characters. I'm thoroughly invested in this series!
Get on Amazon

Lair of Dreams (The Diviners, #2)

I finally got to read Lair of Dreams, and I was beyond thrilled to be approved for a Netgalley copy! I've been anticipating this one since 2013, so Lair of Dreams had a tough act to follow after the absolutely fantastic The Diviners. The scope of the narrative widens in the sequel, introducing new characters and adding new dimensions to old ones, and the world of the Diviners grows. Again, a sinister ghost forms the central mystery of the book--this time, people fall victim to a mysterious sleeping sickness, and just as with the first book, the engaging mystery had me turning the pages. As before. the level of historical detail and worldbuilding is stunning and really brings the story and characters to life. I confess I preferred The Diviners, purely because the creepiness factor was higher and I've never found a book quite like it before. But Lair of Dreams is a solid sequel set in a vividly realised alternative history.

What I've been writing

In writing, I did final revisions on Indestructible and another editing pass on the two sequels. I'm currently working on the final major revision round on Book 2 with notes from my editor.

I also did more revisions on Collision (Alliance, #3) after feedback and sent it to more CPs and beta readers.

And I did first-round revisions on Darkworld Book 4. ALL the edits landed in my inbox this month!

And I finished outlining my next trilogy and worked on the first book (still no titles, though).

I have release dates! Demon Heart (Darkworld, #3) will be out on the 19th October, and I'll be publishing Collision (Alliance, #3) in November. Then... 2016 is going to be very exciting. :D

Total words written in August: 15K (+15K added in edits)

What else I've been up to

Delinquent: An Alliance Novella came out!

I went to Lake Como, Italy with my family. :)






Plans for September
  • Final edits on Books 2 and 3 in my YA post-apocalyptic series (Book 3 goes to the editor next, and once I'm done with the major revision, I'm going to do a final pass on the whole series to make sure no more continuity errors slipped through!).
  • Final edits on Collision (Alliance, #3) after my last round of feedback.
  • Finish this round of edits on Darkworld 4 and send back to CQ.
  • Continue drafting YA SF Book 1.
...if my workload's anything like August, some of these will probably carry over into October (also depends on the level of changes needed in edits).

Coming up on the blog in September: a long-overdue post on marketing, and another on my thoughts after six months of indie publishing (spoiler: it's awesome). At the end of the month, I'll also be making the official announcement about my YA post-apocalyptic superhero-fantasy series!

And in next month's newsletter: a subscriber-only giveaway and a sneak peek at the covers for Demon Heart (Darkworld, #3) and Collision (Alliance, #3)!

Plans for the rest of the year

Once I'm done with edits on my YA post-apocalyptic series, I'll start planning the release properly. I also have cover art scheduled for next month, so it's all getting real! Look out for the series announcement in September!

In October, as I said, Demon Heart (Darkworld, #3) releases on the 19th. :) I'm almost done with Round 1 edits on Darkworld 4.

With the Alliance series, I should finish edits on Collision in September, and I'm planning to put the pre-order up in October. Then I'll be going through the usual process--final proofread, formatting, uploading to retailers, ordering proof copies. After the new-release-promo chaos is over, I'll be starting the next round of revisions on Alliance Book 4! At some point I also need to get cover art for Books 4-6, too (probably October, once I've sorted the cover art for my new series).

And of course, I'll still be drafting. I'm hoping to finish the first drafts of all three books in my YA SF trilogy by the end of the year!

Saturday 29 August 2015

#WIPMarathon August Update

It's time for another #WIPMarathon update, hosted by the lovely Ifeoma Dennis!

Last report wordcount:

I was at 84K of my draft and 2K of the new YA SF WIP.

Current report wordcount: 

I finished my draft at 88K. I'm now at 17K of the YA SF.

I got my edit letter for Indestructible. I added/rewrote 2-3K words and did some pretty big character/plot revisions. Then I did a quick editing pass on the other two books in the trilogy to fix continuity issues.

Delinquent: An Alliance Novella was published! Obviously, I spent release day editing. ;) I did another revision pass on Collision (Alliance, #3) after feedback, cutting around 1000 words, and sent it to more beta readers.

Then I did the final proofread of Demon Heart (Darkworld, #3). It's out on the 19th October! I also got first-round edit notes on Darkworld 4, so I had to switch my brain back to Darkworld mode. I added 5000 words and rewrote the climactic scenes twice.

And I got another editing letter today, so now I'm back in the editing cave with the sequel to Indestructible.

Related: my brain has melted, and I can't read because my Inner Editor is shredding everything in sight.

WIP issues this month: Time, focus and project-juggling. Two rough rounds in the editing cave and the accompanying self-doubt and impostor syndrome because I've written 22 books and still can't write a half-decent first or even third draft. *sigh* This seems to happen every single time, regardless of the genre/category/time spent drafting/level of outlining...

Four things I learned this month in writing:
  • I get a lot more writing done when I'm not juggling a dozen things at once. When I drafted the Alliance series, I didn't work on any other writing projects (apart from a brief break for Demon Heart (Darkworld, #3) edits) so I was constantly immersed in the series for about eight months. Jumping projects takes a lot of energy, and even more when it's a jump between drafting and edits. I currently have three series in edits, plus my WIP series... not to mention all the release planning and promotion. This is inevitable, really, but I do miss those 3-6K writing days...
  • Like I mentioned before, I'm now keeping a working chapter-by-chapter outline of my WIP as I write (an outline of what I actually wrote, not the original plan). I'm an idiot for not starting this sooner, because it's exactly how I approach content editing and manuscript appraisals for clients. I find the best way to get a good sense of the overall structure of a story is to write a quick summary of each chapter as I read (as well as a timeline and any issues that crop up). For some reason, it's taken two years to realise I can approach editing my own work in the same way. *headdesk*
  • 2013 Emma was an idiot. (The manuscripts I've been editing were written before I knew how to outline, plot character arcs or write fight scenes, among other things.) *more sighing and headdesking*
  • Related: it's easier to build a new world and story from scratch than to revamp an old one, particularly a series. I'm cleaning up the mess 2013 Emma made of two series, and it's hard to a) remember what in the world I was thinking when I wrote it, and b) add in new stuff without accidentally contradicting old stuff and introducing a flood of continuity errors. It's like playing Story Jenga on top of a conveyor belt...
    What distracted me this month when writing: Everything! The Pitch to Publication deadline was yesterday, and I've been working on that alongside client edits. I had an influx of emails due to the contest, which was awesome, except I decided to publish a book and go on holiday to Italy, too. Then I got another part-time freelance editing job. And I booked cover art and editing for my YA post-apocalyptic series, planned promotions for three series over the next year and a half, and generally flailed around in sleepless lunacy.

    *brain explodes*

    Goal for next month:

    I'm hoping to finish editing my YA post-apocalyptic trilogy, do final revisions on Collision (Alliance, #3), and finish Darkworld revisions. This may be over-ambitious, but we'll see!

    Last 200 words: 

    A rough excerpt from my YA Sci-Fi/Paranormal/Cyberpunk WIP :)

    My head’s down, my hood up, the cuff on my wrist hidden under my sleeve the best I can. Few people are about. This isn’t a place with a vibrant nightlife. Most of the windows are darkened. Houses abandoned when the spirits moved in.
    I turn the last corner, pulse drumming against my cuff. Then I feel it—the sharp tingle that tells me: a spirit’s around here somewhere.
    I walk slowly, then force my pace to quicken. If I can feel the spirit, I must be close, and I can’t afford to hesitate for long. If it’s been hours since the Agency sent in a team, there must be a reason.
    Maybe they’re planning to send in the major agents.
    Breathing slowly, trying to calm down, I ready my ghost light. This street is deserted and at least half the houses are abandoned. I follow the tingling sensation in my left wrist past house after house, waiting for that familiar feeling. Waiting to know there’s a ghost that needs to be exorcised.
    I’ll figure the rest out later.
    Lights flicker as the ghost lamp on the corner comes on under the darkening sky. The shadow stretches like a hand reaching from the dark. My ghost light’s reflected back at me from blackened windows, but underneath, I look like a frightened kid. Not a hunter.

    Monday 17 August 2015

    On reviewing as a writer

    Some of you may have noticed I don't often post reviews on the blog any more. This is mostly because of lack of time--obviously, I don't get paid for blogging, and I already juggle two demanding careers. But the second reason is the one sometimes tiptoed around: how can you review honestly while taking care not to alienate fellow writers? The publishing community is small, and bridges are easily burned. Because of this, I only leave a review when I liked or really liked the book, and I've been removing my lower rated reviews from Goodreads (I never leave reviews below 4 stars on Amazon).

    Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but as an indie author, I'm acutely tuned into how customer reviews affect my ability to sell and market my books. Most of the biggest promo sites require a minimum of 10 or 20 reviews, with a 4 star average. BookBub, considered the best of all the promo sites out there, had a dramatic effect on my sales when Darkness Watching was featured there. One lower rating, though, and my book would have been knocked out of the running. This time last year, I was selling a book a month. Being picked up by BookBub literally changed my career.

    I'm never dishonest in my reviews, but I've become more aware that there's a time and a place for critical feedback from a writer's perspective on how to "improve" a book, and that isn't in a customer review. As writers, we receive continual feedback on our work: from critique partners, beta readers, and editors. When the book is published, however, it's out of our hands. So how are we supposed to react to reviews saying we "should" have written the book a different way? Obviously, everything's subjective, and it's impossible to please every reader. But writer-readers tend to be the most critical, and post-publication feedback posted in a public place for potential readers to see can feel uncomfortable at best. Before publishing, I ask other writers and editors to rip my writing to pieces so I can improve it. But after publishing? A different story.

    I read as a writer. I'm an author, editor and English Literature graduate, and of course I'm a critical reader. I enjoy picking stories apart. But posting a review on retailer sites to this effect sends an entirely different message to the author. Publishing a book is an emotional rollercoaster, and where do authors turn to find encouragement and support? The writing community. Authors are expected to be thick-skinned and ignore reviews, but it's difficult to avoid seeing critical views of our work - again, especially indie authors, because we're responsible for creating and updating our own GR/Amazon book pages. I'd hate for a fellow writer to feel unwelcome in what's supposed to be a supportive environment. Maybe I'm being overly careful, but I've been ostracised from once-supportive writing groups before, and to be honest, it hurts like hell.

    I'm still posting mini-reviews in my monthly roundups and I review honestly for NetGalley, but I'm refraining from posting any less-than-complimentary reviews on Goodreads or Amazon. I find I'm being more picky about what I choose to read in the first place, which means my ratings are naturally higher than average. I'd never condemn another writer for choosing to review critically, but I feel my super-analytical, nitpicky inner grammar nerd is better suited for editing and beta reading.

    What do you think, fellow writers?

    Friday 7 August 2015

    Release Day: Delinquent: An Alliance Novella + a $10 Amazon giveaway!

    It's release day for Delinquent: An Alliance Novella! This is a novella set two years before Adamant. If you're curious about certain events mentioned in the series, this is the place to find out what really happened! :)


    Nineteen-year-old Kay Walker seems to have it all, including an assured future with the Alliance after he graduates from the prestigious Academy. But when he and his friends discover the lure of the Passages, the place between the worlds where monsters hide, they’re caught up in a contest with rival student Aric - which soon escalates into a deadly game.

    A perfect life hides lies, and Kay becomes a target for alluring yet deadly magic he has no way of understanding. Magic is a force on its own, and on no one’s side…


    Buy the book ($0.99/£0.99): Amazon   Kobo  Barnes and Noble  Apple  Smashwords


    Excerpt

    “Not to worry,” I said. “If there’s anything around, it’s nothing worse than we’ve faced in training.” Which was true. Coming face to face with a Passage monster wasn’t a big deal. We’d be doing that on a regular basis in a couple of years. And if it turned out we couldn’t handle it, we’d run like hell. If anything wandered this close to the stairs, then like I’d said—it was our duty to deal with it.
    “Let’s do this,” I said.
    My fingertips found the hidden panel in the wall. Loose. Something had tried to get it open before—recently. Marks on the edge became visible. Okay, something with really big hands had tried to get it open.
    Hmm. Maybe this wasn’t my smartest move. But it was too late to turn back. The panel opened at the slightest touch, and sure enough, a steep staircase appeared in the gloom.
    The staircase was shorter than I expected, and led into another corridor. I definitely heard movement ahead. Our footsteps made no noise, and gradually, a faint growling became distinct.
    “Damn,” I whispered. “That’s way too close to first level.”
    Andy froze, swearing under his breath. Simon and I continued, and when we rounded a corner, we found our monster.
    It was easily seven feet tall, and looked like a hairless bull, except it walked on two legs. Its pinkish skin was marked with scars, and two cracked tusks protruded from its huge jaw. It prowled the tunnel on legs thick as tree trunks. This was a kruchifal, and they were known for munching on stray travellers walking between the worlds. This one had wandered way out of Cethrax. Damn thing. No guards had come here, but if they went near those stairs—which newer guards might not even know about—then this monster could easily make trouble for them.
    And us. The kruchifal turned around with a bellow loud enough to alert half the Passages this side of Cethrax.
    Oh, shit.
    “Be quiet,” I muttered.
    The kruchifal swiped with a giant hand, forcing us to back away. Towards the stairs. Damn. Just what I’d wanted to avoid.
    “You don’t wanna be here, trust me,” I said.
    The kruchifal roared angrily again.
    Great. I hadn’t reckoned on actually playing the part of a guard without their fancy weaponry to back it up. We didn’t have a way to alert the Alliance without giving away that we were here illegally. Besides, the monster was only metres away from the stairs.
    We had to scare it off.
    Simon’s eyes widened as he realised what I was going to do, and got out of the way just in time. I ran, launching myself into the air, and grabbed onto the beast’s back, pulling myself up to balance on its shoulders. The kruchifal roared as it realised it had an unwanted passenger, and rocked back and forward, trying to throw me off. Laughing, I clung on with one hand, while Simon charged it. He dodged the snarling tusks and kicked at the beast’s thick leg. The monster roared again, and this time, it dislodged me. I flipped over backwards and landed on my feet. Andy was still here, to my surprise, but wasn’t inclined to join in the fight.
    All the more fun for me and Simon.


    Enter here to win a $10 Amazon gift card! :)


    a Rafflecopter giveaway

    Start the series with Adamant (Alliance, #1).

    Ada Fletcher is twenty-one, keeps a collection of knives in her room, and lives under the Alliance's radar in London, risking her life to help her family smuggle people away from a devastating magical war on her homeworld to hide on the low-magic Earth. But when a simple delivery goes wrong and she's forced to use magic to defend her own life, she becomes a prime suspect for a murder at the heart of the Alliance.

    Kay Walker, grandson of the Alliance's late founder, expects to spend his first week as an Alliance employee chasing monsters out of the dark Passages between worlds, not solving a murder or questioning a strange, fierce young woman he arrested in the Passages. Killer or not, she stole something highly dangerous - something tied to a dark time in the Alliance's history. The closer he gets to the truth, the higher the body count rises.

    The last thing Ada wants is to help the infuriating Alliance guard who arrested her, but it soon becomes clear that the Alliance knows too much about Ada's magic. More, in fact, than she knows herself. Now she has to choose between loyalty to her family, and helping the Alliance save the Earth - and the Multiverse - from a deadly enemy.

    Buy the book:  Amazon  Kobo  Barnes and Noble  Apple   Smashwords 

    Add on Goodreads   Read the first chapter

    What reviewers are saying


    "The world building is magical. Even though we only get a hint of what's out there, I am already in love with this world." - Lola at Lola's Reviews

    "...the beginning of a potentially brilliant and addictive series" - Jeanz Book Reviews


    "This book is a unique, fun read, and I'd recommend it to everyone who enjoys sci-fi and fantasy." - Amazon reviewer


    “Adamant is a fantastic start to a fun, adventurous and super cool series… a world so well written and brought to life you can totally lose yourself in it... Can't praise it enough!” - Alisha at Reality's A Bore


    Wednesday 5 August 2015

    Writing Wednesdays & IWSG: 10 signs you're a writing/publishing veteran!

    It's Wednesday, which means it's time for an update! Since last week, I've been revising my YA post-apocalyptic superhero story, Indestructible. I received extensive notes from my editor last week and I've been working to fix all the problems.

    My lesson of the week is that big editing changes can sometimes be solved by only changing a few lines. I was reminded of it when I read this post from Jami Gold about the same thing. You can change the entire impression a reader has of a scene just by switching out a handful of sentences. One of the issues I have that always comes up in edits is character motivations/reactions. I'm a plot-driven writer, so sometimes I forget to add in the internalisation which makes it clear to the reader why a character is acting/reacting in that way. It's a simple change, sometimes only adding a couple of sentences to a scene, but can make a huge difference to whether a reader connects with your character or not. I like writing characters with strong convictions who aren't conventionally likeable, but the reader hopefully still gets why they act the way they do. That's the goal, anyway!


    Picture

    It's also the first Wednesday of the month, so it's time for IWSG! The Insecure Writer's Support Group is the creation of Ninja Captain Alex, and is a great way for writers to share their worries, support and encouragement.

    I have another book coming out in two days! So naturally, I'm on that old rollercoaster of excitement and sudden inconvenient confidence drops. I'm also in the editing cave with an old manuscript, so I'm currently convinced I'm a fraud and want to apologise to my beta readers and editors for inflicting my crappy drafts on them. The life of a writer. :')

    Spoiler: intense edits and promoting a new release do not go well together. I really ought to know this by now...

    So naturally, instead of editing, I'm writing such blog posts as this: 10 signs you're a writing/publishing veteran:
    1. You expect the worst and are pleasantly surprised when anything goes right.
    2. You get suspicious when you manage to complete edits on your twentieth book in less than a week, because you're convinced you missed something.
    3. You get doubly suspicious when it takes months to edit a different book, because you're convinced your brain is broken.
    4. You have a mental list of sarcastic responses to the inevitable questions you face at family gatherings, social events, and from the optician/doctor/hairdresser/dentist - "How are your books selling?" "Are they in bookshops?" "Are you planning to write a real book soon?" "How do you write so fast?"...
    5. You hope no one ever finds your computer and goes through your files and bookmarked pages, because you have several years' worth of dubious research material saved there.
    6. You no longer flip out when a much-better-known author favourites one of your tweets. (Well... okay. Maybe a little.)
    7. A 2-star review kills your book's rating on release day, and you just laugh at it.
    8. You spend time writing posts like this instead of editing, because you have procrastination down to a fine art.
    9. Whenever you get a ten-page edit letter detailing everything wrong with your book, or a long, scathing review, you despair over your writing career for exactly ten seconds before remembering the two years' worth of nice reviews and feedback and readers waiting for your next release. That many people can't be wrong, right? ... Right?
    10. You wonder when you'll ever stop feeling like a fraud. But occasionally,  you remember you kept every old journal since you were ten, and in every single one, in answer to the question "What will your job be in ten years' time?", you put "writer."
    So hey, you're doing the job you've always dreamed of. You're writing books, publishing them, and getting paid for it. And that's pretty awesome. :D

    Interview with Samantha Bryant, author of Going Through the Change!

    Today I'm interviewing fellow Curiosity Quills writer Samantha Bryant, author of Going Through the Change - which is FREE for the next two days!

    Tell me three interesting facts about yourself!
    I nearly always wear Converse sneakers. My feet don't like any other shoes. Even my wedding shoes were Converse. They are white with blue trim and say "The Bride" on the ankle. 

    All my celebrity crushes are on men whose movies were filmed in black and white (Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Cary Grant). I'm a woman out of my time in that way. I'm a sucker for shoulders and an awesome hat. 

    I knew my husband was going to be a keeper when he gifted me a large figurine of Treebeard that speaks quotes from the LOTR movies when you push his shoulder. 

    Summarize your book in one line.

    What if menopausal women had superpowers?

    Tell me something cool/crazy/quirky about the book – it can be anything!

    When writing Linda Alvarez's transformation into Leonel Alvarez, I embarrassed the heck out of all the men in my life by asking a lot of very specific questions about penises. 

    Why did you decide to write this particular book?

    It started from a conversation about why superheroes always seem to have adolescent origin stories. I said that if hormones gave superpowers, then menopausal women would be the most powerful people on the planet. And a book was born.

    Best part of the writing process?

    Those days when the words seem to flow through you from somewhere out in the ether, like you are the conduit to something from beyond. It must be what it feels like to do magic. 

    (This is the BEST feeling! :))

    Share one thing you learned writing this book.

    Writing action scenes is a different ball of wax than other kinds of writing. Half logistics and half emotion and a balancing act of pacing those elements. They are also extremely satisfying to write!

    Tell me about one strange experience you’ve had. Again, it can be anything!

    When I was in my early twenties, I accepted a teaching job in a very small town in Alaska (Kenny Lake, population 400).  I showed up, assuming I could find a hotel or something and then get set up with a place to live in short order. Um . . .not so much. There's no hotel. I spent three nights in my truck before another teacher took pity on me and let me live in a little cabin on his property for two months until the place I found to rent came open. It was a real eye-opener to realize how different life was going to be in a truly small place. I came to love it with all my heart though. It's the kind of place where I could mention in class that I wanted a dog, and the next day a student was offering me a puppy. 

    Name one fictional place you’d love to visit.

    London Below, but only if I can get Door as my tour guide. 

    Name one real place you’d love to visit.

    New Zealand. It's been at the top of my someday list ever since the LOTR movies came out. 

    (Same here! :))

    Share one sentence/mini-excerpt from the book!

    "Police were not used to things like this, things that should be impossible: women becoming men, people who float like balloons or become dragons."




    Samantha Bryant is a middle school Spanish teacher by day and a mom and novelist by night. That makes her a superhero all the time. Her debut novel, Going Through the Change: A Menopausal Superhero Novel is now for sale by Curiosity Quills. You can find her online on her blog,Twitter, on Facebook, on Amazon, on Goodreads, on the Curiosity Quills page, or on Google+.


    Going through “the change” isn’t easy on any woman. Mood swings, hot flashes, hormonal imbalances, and itchy skin are par for the course. But for these four seemingly unrelated women, menopause brought changes none of them had ever anticipated—super-heroic changes. 

    Helen discovers a spark within that reignites her fire. Jessica finds that her mood is lighter, and so is her body. Patricia always had a tough hide, but now even bullets bounce off her. Linda doesn’t have trouble opening the pickle jar anymore… now that she’s a man. 

    When events throw the women together, they find out that they have more in common than they knew—one person has touched all their lives. The hunt for answers is on.


    Amazon - FREE on the 5th-6th August only!

    Tuesday 4 August 2015

    Release Day: Chameleon by K. T. Hanna!

    Chameleon Releases Today!

    CHAMELEON Domino Project Front with Text 2
    "Wow! A fast-paced, science fiction delight with fabulous action, a seamless world, and the most unique characters I've read in a long time." Elana Johnson, Author of the Possession Series.
     
    Four Fun Facts about Chameleon:
    Originally there was no double agent, but it made the plotline difficult to pull off and one of KT’s cps got into the genius juice during brainstorming and made the suggestion - and here we are!
    Deign was always a bitch.
    Nimue and Sai were originally enemies, but K.T. decided she couldn’t stomach a second Deign.
    At one point, the book was called Ebony, for one of the materials that make up the game piece also called Dominos. Ivory and Bone were also considered as names for the sequels at that point.
     
    The Blurb:
    When Sai's newly awoken psionic powers accidentally destroy her apartment complex, she’s thrown into an intensive training program. Her only options are pass or die.
    Surviving means proving her continued existence isn't a mistake--a task her new mentor, Bastian, takes personally. Her abilities place her in the GNW Enforcer division, and partners her with Domino 12, who is eerily human for an alien-parasite psionic hybrid.
    After eliminating an Exiled scientist, she discovers nothing is what it seems. With each mission more perilous, Sai must figure out who to trust before her next assignment becomes her last.

    Available at:

    Amazon | Kobo | iBooks | IndieBound

    If you'd like a signed physical copy, Watermark Books has them in stock.

    CELEBRATION!
    We're having a blog hop, and an e-card & mega swag Rafflecopter giveaway!
    The blog hop stops are noted below. Each day has a different theme and you can find out about the process, the idea, and the evolution of Chameleon, and even a bit about K.T. by visiting each blog, when their posts go live.
    4-Aug 5-Aug 6-Aug 7-Aug 10-Aug
    Fun facts about the book What I learned writing Chameleon Author Interviews The world of Chameleon The Evolution of Chameleon
    Manuel Soto Marlo Berliner Leatrice McKinney Rebecca Enzor Patricia Lynne
    J Elizabeth Hill Stacey Trombley Dawn Allen Sharon Johnston Bex Montgomery
    E.L. Wicker JC Davis Suzanne van Rooyen Mandy Baxter Madelyn Dyer
    Jessie Mullins Andrew Patterson Heather Rebel Jessica Therrien Carissa Taylor
    Emma Adams Lady Jai Elyana Noreme Kendra Young

    I’m giving away e-cards of your choice from B&N, iTunes, & Amazon – one to the value of $25, and three to the value of $10! Each prize includes a swag pack of a magnet, sticker, bookmark, postcard, and mousepad!

    Just follow the options listed on the giveaway and you'll be entered!full swag pack

    About the Author

    Me Squared
    KT Hanna has a love for words so extreme, a single word can spark entire worlds.
    Born in Australia, she met her husband in a computer game, moved to the U.S.A. and went into culture shock. Bonus? Not as many creatures specifically out to kill you.
    When she's not writing, she freelance edits for Chimera Editing, interns for a NYC Agency, and chases her daughter, husband, corgis, and cat. No, she doesn't sleep. She is entirely powered by the number 2, caffeine, and beef jerky.
    Note: Still searching for her Tardis
    MUG