Exciting Darkworld News! :D

YAY, I can finally post this! I've been driving people slightly crazy for the past couple of months hinting at what this is, but I was reluctant to say until it was absolutely certain, in case the universe decided to throw me another curveball (as sometimes happens!). But, here I am!

Firstly, the third Darkworld Book has been accepted for publication and I've signed the contract, so we're moving towards production! This should hopefully mean less of a wait between books 2 and 3, so that's great news! ^_^

Secondly, I'm delighted to announce I'll also be releasing a prequel Darkworld novella! This is the "Shiny Secret Mini-Project", as I've been referring to it on Twitter and my blog, and it's set a year before the events of Darkness Watching. It's from the perspective of Claudia, and is a full-length stand-alone story of around 21,000 words.

It's probably going to be electronic only, but I'm so happy this is going ahead to publication! I should add, it was something I decided to do on my own, as I missed writing in the world of the Darkworld series, and I realised there's so much backstory readers want to know about that I couldn't fit into the series - such as how Claudia, Cyrus, Leo and Howard came to meet. The limits of writing in first person are that it's sometimes hard for the other characters to get a look-in, which is why I enjoyed writing from Claudia's POV so much! She's a kickass girl with an attitude, and it was fun to run around in her head for a bit!

My awesome publishers at Curiosity Quills have been wonderfully supportive, and have offered me a contract for the novella. I don't know about release dates yet (though I'll hopefully be starting on Darkworld Book 2 edits in the next few weeks), but you guys will be the first to know! As will anyone who hears me shouting from the rooftops. ;)

Anyway, the title for the novella is: Fear's Touch: A Darkworld Novella.

And here's the blurb:

This is a standalone novella, intended as a prequel to the Darkworld series. As it takes place one year before the events of Darkness Watching, it doesn’t contain any spoilers (although it does hint at things which will come into play later in the series).

Freakish powers and staring demon eyes aren’t part of Claudia’s plans for the future – and neither is ending up stuck at the gloomy, isolated University of Blackstone. But bad life decisions are the least of her problems, when helping another magic-user puts her in the crossfire of both the shadow-beasts and the creepy organisation which hunt them down.

Claudia’s never had to worry about doing the right thing before, but every decision matters when you have a Darkworld connection. Soon, she’s going to have to make a choice: turn her back on the crazy and try to live a normal life, or take the monsters down.

But in a world where everyone seems to have secrets, can she really trust her fellow magic-users – or even herself?


As a special reward to Darkworld fans, if you subscribe to my newsletter, you'll get a sneak peek at an excerpt and a chance to sign up for an Advance Copy! I'll be sending out my first author newsletter at some point next month, and you'll now be getting two Darkworld excerpts (one from Walking Shadow, the other from Fear's Touch), as well as a chance to sign up for Walking Shadow ARC's. Walking Shadow is now in production, so hopefully I'll have a release date to share soon!

EEK! Excitement! :D