E.A. Copen's Blog

Best Books of 2017

I read a lot of books this year! Fifty, to be exact. They were spread over many genres, as my goal this year was to really push my comfort zone and read lots of new authors and new books. I didn't get to read quite as many books and genres as I would have liked, but I did read about twice as many books this year as last year. With the holidays coming up, I decided it would be time to recap some of my favorite books from 2017. Now, of course I can't choose just one, so I've broken it down into...

Grave Dealings Release: Interview with R.R. Virdi

New releases are always a time for celebration, and I've been waiting for this one to come out a while now. I had the pleasure of reading a very early version of Grave Dealings WAY back at the beginning of 2017 and I knew right away that this one was something special. So, to celebrate the release of the third installment of The Grave Report, I asked Mr. R.R. Virdi if he'd answer some exclusive questions about his work and Grave Dealings. E.A: First of all, welcome and  tell us a little about...

Review: Justice Calling

Jade Crow runs a gaming shop. She's also a powerful sorceress with a secret that's about to come back and bite her in the ass. When a stranger shows up at her shop, declaring she's about to become a murderer, things get murky in a hurry.  The Good I'll admit I get excited about any book with Magic the Gathering and Army of Darkness references. The nerd in me loves that. I also love a good female protagonist, even if she does chow down on a heart or two along the way.  The writing here was sol...

Review: Bounty by J.D. Cunegan

Jill Andersen is a cop. She's also a vigilante cyborg. If that piqued your interest, this book might be for you. It's not quite an origin story, though there is one mixed in. There's also a subplot concerning dirty cops and government cover ups.The good: Bounty has a lot of characters, giving you many perspectives on a complex crime. The world and characters presented are neither good nor bad, but mostly complex. The cast is diverse and I love that the plot doesn't fall into a hole, forcing t...

It's About Time For A Vacation

I’m going to commit to one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. That’s right. I’m going to take a vacation.I decided to publish Guilty by Association in December of 2015. Since then, almost every waking moment has been dedicated to writing, promoting, marketing, or learning about writing, promoting, and marketing. When I wasn’t working, I was thinking about working. When I wasn’t thinking about working, I was having nightmares about it. As in, Stephen King’s Misery style nightmares wh...

Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Autism

Aside from being an author, I’m also a mother. My kids are the best thing in the world some days and—if I’m being honest—exhausting other days. Part of the reason they’re such a handful is that my oldest is on the autism spectrum. He has Asperger’s, ADHD, a language processing disorder, and anxiety and…The list goes on.After his diagnosis, I spent a lot of time in seclusion and for good reason. For all the prevalence of autism and related disorders in the world today, very few understand what...

But I Was Never a Teenage Wereolf! How to write kids and pre-teens as characters

Tip: Read to the bottom for a writing exercise.Kids in adult fiction are often treated as a plot device. They’re there either to add color and dimension to another character—perhaps a parent or relative—or they’re a general annoyance. Very rarely do authors get them just right outside of young adult literature. Why? Partly because adults write adult fiction and contrary to what we might tell our own children, we sometimes have trouble remembering what it was like to be ten, eleven, and twelve...

10 Things I Learned Working My First Convention

If you’ve been following my newsletter or social media, you know I went to a small, local convention this past weekend. It was my very first convention, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was happy to start out somewhere small where the cost and risk were both low. So, if you’re in the same situation I was in, frantically Googling “first con” or “first convention as an author”, this post is for you. Here’s a quick list of 10 things I learned. Why 10? Because I love top 10 countdowns.10. Grin...

Character Witness: Marcus Rian Kelley

If you’ve read Chasing Ghosts, you’ve gotten a small glimpse of Concho County’s premier vampire, Marcus Kelley. Being the CEO of the successful Fitz Pharmaceuticals has made him a millionaire over the last decade, though many in Paint Rock believe he’s got his hands in dirty money as well. Judah wants at first to bring him down, but may find herself changing her tune by the end of Chasing Ghosts after spending some time with the vampire.Where did Marcus come from?Marcus is another character t...

Character Witness: Special Agent Abraham Viktor Helsinki

I thought I’d start doing something new. Paint Rock and Eden have a large cast of characters and I thought it would be fun to get to know some of them a little better, starting with Abe. I’m going to do my best to keep this spoiler free for the folks who haven’t read Blood Debt yet, but no promises. (Hey, the book’s been out since July!)Where did Abe come from?Abe has always kind of, sort of been there. He’s one of three characters to have survived from the very early, very bad first draft of...