A.F. Dery's Blog

January Update!

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Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and new year! 2016 was a hard year for many of us, but we made it!

With the new year comes new releases and new plans! But first, I really need to apologize for the unprecedented (and unexpected) delay in releasing my next A. F. Dery book. I had expected it would be out last month, but my migraines went from weekly to daily very quickly, and I finally had to throw in the towel and accept there was just no way this book would truly be ready and up to the standards my readers deserve when I hoped it would be. Being unable to use a computer without pain was a pretty serious setback for me! It was something of a miracle that anything got released last year between one thing and another. (And please let me say I deeply appreciate the feedback I’ve received about those releases! Thank you!❤ )

That being said, I’m seeing a new doctor and already feeling a LOT better. I have gotten more done writing-wise in the past two weeks than I have in MONTHS. It feels like a new lease on life.

Wedding the Dread Lord: Available Now for Pre-Order!

Thane promised Kesara a simple exchange of vows, but when has anything in their lives ever been that easy? The short, sweet, and light-hearted Postquel to Broken Lords.

Available for Pre-order NOW and for Purchase on October 2nd, only on Amazon! It will also be available in Paperback (but please give that an additional couple of days, there can be a bit of a lag on Amazon’s end.)

*Please note that this is a novella-length work, not a full-length novel. There were a couple of loose threads at the end of Broken Lords that never got picked up again (*cough*thebracelet*cough*), so I wrote this both for fun and as a thank-you to Thane and Kesara’s fans for all the love you’ve shown Broken Mirrors over the past almost-two years. It’s not Very Serious Business, but fun and fluffy with a couple of sappy moments (because hey, it’s their wedding day, cut them some slack

(Early) Fall Update: New Titles, New Name!

Hi everybody! An update, at long last!

It’s been a long, difficult summer here. We’ve been dealing with moving, illness, my husband’s retirement from active duty and search for a civilian job, house hunting in a new area, a worsening of my chronic migraines (no Mirrors to help me out, alas

Spring Update!

Hi! I hope everyone is enjoying a good start to Spring (or Fall, depending on your part of the world!) I am still hard at work on this year’s new releases for you.[image error]

As I mentioned in my last post, we are looking at only two novel-length releases this year because of some life upheaval I have going on. The first book of 2016 was originally planned to be released at the end of this month, but I’ve had to push back this release due to a significant uptick in migraines over the past couple of months that have severely limited my computer time (I’m sure readers of Broken Mirrors will not be shocked to hear I’m a life-long migraineur.) It’s taking me longer to get things done, but they are still getting done!

Now I’m questioning whether I should just release both of this year’s books back to back or if I should still break them up, but I won’t bore you with all my hand-wringing. I’ll just say: have no fear, the books are coming, and it will be this year as planned. I’m very, very excited about them and will update you with some teasers as soon as I have firm release dates nailed down! I’m sorry to make everyone wait so long, but I hope you will find the new stories worth the wait. I would never give you less than my best.

I also have another exciting bit of news: Drachenmond Verlag is officially bringing the Broken Mirrors Duology to German readers in both print and e-book! I’ll post more about that closer to the time. I’m planning a special Thane and Kesara treat to celebrate their German release (but no worries for the rest of you, it will still be in English!

Ready for Another Year of Great Reads?

Me too! First, I’d like to thank my wonderful readers for a fantastic 2015. I had a blast and I hope you did, too!

After releasing 6 novels last year, I took a much-needed breather for the month of December and caught up on my own to-read list! ;) Since the new year, I’ve been back at work on a new 2-book series. I’m very excited about it, but I will forego teasing you until it’s closer to completion (I’m about 50k into the first book, first draft, so there are still sure to be some pretty big changes before the final version you will see!)

I did want to “warn” you that this year’s releases will be fewer and slower than last year. As some of you know, my husband is an active duty servicemember, and with his impending retirement after 20 years of service, we have some fairly massive life changes in store for us in the next few months, including a big move and all the fuss that goes with one.

Unfortunately from an writerly point of view, this is going to be fairly disruptive to my normal writing routine and to my release schedule. I have a firm goal of at least two new full-length novels being released this year, the soonest likely being in the spring (taking into account the amount of time it’s in my editor’s hands and any rewrites I may have to do) and the other planned for release no later than fall; anything beyond or between that will be a cherry on the sundae from my perspective.

From a readerly point of view, I understand how frustrating wondering about the next book can be, so I urge you to please sign up for my mailing list or follow this blog if you want to be sure not the miss the next new release when it comes out or any upcoming sales. (I only mention sales to my mailing list if they occur around the time of a new release, though; the list only receives an email at that time. I hate spam too!)

I deeply appreciate your patience and hope you will find it amply rewarded :) I’ll try to do a better job of checking in here more often now that I’m back in the swing of things to let you know how the next book is progressing. Thanks again! I hope everybody is staying warm (or keeping cool, depending on what part of the world you’re in!)

Announcing the Conclusion of The Conquest of Kelemir!

The Beast of Lyntara, the sixth and final book in The Conquest of Kelemir series, is now available!

The Merrick Gwyn brought back from death isn’t the same Merrick who died, and in the work of a necromancer, there are no second chances. Now the only hope of saving the world from the effects of his dark magic lies with the Raiders’ mysterious prisoner…if Gwyn, Graunt, and Dominic can keep this Merrick alive long enough to find her.

Meanwhile, Thane and Kesara find themselves facing life-changing news while trying to untangle the web of deceit the former High Lord left behind. Betrayal comes from an unexpected quarter, and they quickly find their future and all they’ve accomplished in a far more imminent peril.

Will life triumph over death, or will the world as they know it be forever lost to darkness?

Find it today at: Amazon ~ B&N ~ iBooks ~ Kobo ~ tolino

Broken Mirrors is 1st Runner Up

for the Best Fantasy/Sci-fi Romance Category in the 4th annual Swirl Awards! Congrats to category winner Erin M. Leaf, and thanks very much to the judges for their consideration. :)

Check out Broken Mirrors today, only at Amazon!

It’s Been Real Quiet Around Here Lately

…because I’ve been hard at work finishing up the last book of The Conquest of Kelemir series, The Beast of Lyntara. This will be the longest book in the series, but I hope the extra pages will fly by so fast you won’t even notice ;)

Just today I received the cover art (from the very talented FrinaArt, who has made all but 2 of my novel covers), and I couldn’t wait to share it with you!

Isn’t it beautiful? I’m still working on the official blurb (if you follow my blog, you know I struggle mightily with my blurb writing!) but readers of the series can probably guess what’s coming next. We’re about to find out what happened to Merrick, former High Lord of the Union, after the rather disturbing events at the end of Forged in Spirit, as well as untangle the mystery of how he ended up magically bound to the Union in the first place (and why). Will the bond be broken and the Union be freed? Will Lyntara and the mystery woman Gwyn met in Bound in Blood be saved? And what in the world is going to happen to Kelemir in all of this?

There’s a good reason that’s the country named in the series title. By this story’s end, we will have come full circle as winter falls again in Kelemir…possibly for the last time. (And for those curious, yes, Lord and Lady Eladria both play a significant role in the events yet to come. You didn’t really think I’d leave you hanging  after Malachi’s observation in Forged in Spirit, did you? :P )

Broken Mirrors: Extra Fluff

With Broken Mirrors on sale (only through midnight tonight, so hurry on over to Amazon if you still need your copy!), I thought it would be fun to share this.

It may not be immediately obvious in its e-book form, but totaling 464 pages in print (over 115,000 words), Broken Mirrors is a pretty hefty book, and that’s after it was trimmed down. There was some extraneous “fluff” that had to be trimmed because, fun as it was to write, it slowed down the pacing too much and wasn’t really necessary to the story.

In this particular scene from Chapter 5, which still survives in a much leaner form in the final version of the book, Thane and Kesara are chatting in his laboratory. (My apologies for any imperfections you may see, this was cut before the book was edited).

“Pity,” she said with a sigh. “Another day and I could have caught up on my reading.”

“Reading? You can read?” Lord Eladria looked startled and she tried not to smirk. Really she did.

“Did you think Eladrians had some exclusivity when it came to literacy?”

“I never really thought about it, to be honest,” he admitted. “I know some of our neighbors do not take much of an interest in it. Many Eladrians do not, either. It is not exactly a priority for those who don’t need it. What sorts of books do you read?”

Kesara coughed a little, her cheeks suddenly warming. “Oh, you know, just the sort that goes around…”

“Ah,” said Lord Eladria gravely. “Has it…illustrations, then?”

Suddenly Kesara realized how fascinating the stone floor was. Why, if one looked without focusing one’s eyes over much, one could almost make out patterns! Look, there’s a…circle!

“There’s no shame in needing pictures to help figure out the big words, Kes,” he said sweetly.

Kesara looked up sharply, eyes narrowed in suspicion, and sure enough, though his face remained grim, Lord Eladria’s mouth twitched and his shoulders shook slightly.

“It is an adventure story, my lord,” she said firmly.

“I’m sure it is,” Lord Eladria managed to say before a questionable coughing fit overtook him and he turned away.

Kesara scowled. So easy for him to be critical, she thought, him with walls of books. I have to take whatever I can get my hands on. And what did he call me? Kes? Three little syllables are two too many for the Dread Lord of Eladria? She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Oh, pray don’t look so indignant,” Lord Eladria said, turning back around as he wiped at his eyes with his sleeve. “You’re certainly not the only female enamored of…those kinds of books. I remember having to track one down that Graunt wanted, poor sod I was, I had no idea why the book merchant was snickering over the Dread Lord of Eladria requesting ‘The Ballad of Red Morgana.’ I thought she’d just taken some odd interest in music.”

Kesara unfolded her arms, her ire somewhat assuaged but her pride still guarded. “I don’t read them for the, uh, adventurous bits.”

“No, of course not,” Lord Eladria agreed soothingly. But his eyes were suspiciously crinkly at the corners, even though his mouth was set in its usual lopsided line.

“Just for the story,” she insisted. “I’ve always enjoyed hearing about other people’s lives, even if they are fictional people.”

“Oh, keen on gossip?” he asked innocently.

“Of course not gossip.” Again the arms were folded. “Just…news.”

Lord Eladria looked at her in silence, his dark brown eyes sparkling not unlike his glass beakers.

“What?” she asked irritably. “It’s not the same thing at all, my lord.”

Still silence.

“It’s just…interest…normal, healthy interest in other people. If not that for that, I’d never have known about the ague passing through here, or the need for workers, and you’d be surrounded by nothing but Eladrians, your floors downstairs would have been filthy while everyone else was sick and your head would be pounding, and at least one of those is bad, my lord.”

Lord Eladria turned away again with a suddenness and an odd choking sound that renewed her scowl. Finally he turned back, lips still twitching, and said, “Yes, headaches I can bear, but filthy floors in rooms I never go in? Completely unacceptable. Thank goodness for your interest in the welfare of others.”

“No need for sarcasm, my lord,” she muttered.

I don’t know about you, but I strongly suspect Graunt’s request was just to mess with him ;)

Broken Mirrors is On Sale!

For a very limited time, Broken Mirrors is just 99 cents (USD) at Amazon!

What good is a broken Mirror? That’s what Thane, Dread Lord of Eladria, is about to find out when he finds one named Kesara working in his Keep. The impulsive decision of a moment binds the two together in ways neither fully understands…or trusts. With the outside world in turmoil, old alliances crumbling and a traitor in their midst, the only hope for a broken Mirror and her broken Lord to survive is each other.

Broken Mirrors remains one of my favorite books that I’ve written so far and is a nominee in the Fantasy/Sci-fi category of the 2014 Swirl Awards for interracial and multicultural romance. Check it out for yourself for less than the price of a cup of coffee, now through the end of Tuesday, September 29th, only on Amazon!