Hello, Paranormal Romance enthusiasts. How’s it going?
Can you tell I’m grinning? Trust me. I am.
I am so excited to be reporting
this week that things have progressed well on my latest novel. We
have a cover, a new title and have already passed the first beta hurdle.
You know, I have never really spent that much time
choosing a book title. With Dance on Fire,
I recall hating it, and assumed I would find something better by the time I’d
finished the book. Well, as many of you know, it took nearly twenty years to
complete. By then, the title had already cemented itself into my head and there
would be no changing it. Flash Point
had itself titled well in the beginning because of the whole fire theme. I had
planned to use “Inferno” for the next one, but Dan Brown just grabbed it, so
we’ll see what happens. See how important it can be? I finally did get around to
checking how many books had the original title I had hoped to use. The result
of this caused me to change it. There was much discussion as to what title I could choose, but everything seemed too dark or just plain silly. With a paranormal audience in mind, I think I found just the right balance.
Therefore, my latest novel is entitled: Seeing Ghosts.
The manuscript has been to the first beta reader. With
her busy schedule she had it read in four days. She reported that she cried at
the end. That’s got to be a good sign. Right? And, no, it wasn’t my mother!
She’s actually got next. J My friend the beta did give me some great feedback. I have already taken some of that to heart and made the necessary tweaks. It’s going to be read a
couple more times, but then it’s off to my professional editor.
As I mentioned previously, I had been working with
Author and cover artist extraordinaire Maria Zannini. We spent the big money
and a good bit of time on this, and the result is quite striking. My wife and
kids adored it immediately. Bless her heart, Maria also made me a wallpaper of
the cover. I have it on my computer at work and the guys can’t stop
drooling over the lovely model that graces the cover. I have shared
it with another writing buddy. She was very envious and called it a
“gorgeous cover.” I think you’ll agree, but I apologize because I’m not ready
to reveal it. *teases*
What I am
doing right now is building a list of folks who might be interested in hosting
a cover reveal. Trust me - you’re going to adore this cover. However, you do
not have to agree to do anything until you’ve seen it. So, leave me a note
somewhere. You can e-mail at rapture22 (at) hotmail (dot) com, leave a comment
here, or drop me a note on any of the social networks – wherever is the easiest
to get hold of you. I will then send you the cover and you can choose to be
involved or not. I’m easy. At that point, if you just wanted to display it
somewhere, you could do that. Perhaps you would schedule it as a post one day,
along with the synopsis; or perhaps we could do an interview where we discuss
the cover and the book. Whatever. Again, I’m easy. I’d also love to hear from
you if you’d like to read/review it…
Seeing Ghosts
Paul Herrera finds
himself bequeathed a mysterious old house near the California central coast by
a deceased aunt he never knew. The woman who shows it to him is the spitting
image of his wife, taken from him three years before in a senseless car
accident which also took his unborn son. While he deals with the ghosts of a
past he cannot let go, there are new ghosts Paul must deal with - alone for the
week in the expansive two-story house that he will soon discover holds many
secrets. Eventually, he will see that he is surrounded by ghosts as he
struggles to hold onto the only thing that he has left in this world - his
sanity.
I think that’s enough for now, my friends, but oh so
much more to come. I hope I’ve whetted your appetite, and you are as excited as
I am about this latest project.
We’ll talk soon.
