Celia Roman's Blog, page 4

Black Witch Rising is here!

The third Vanessa Kinley, Witch PI novel is now available at your favorite online retailer.

Black Witch Rising follows Nessa's continuing adventures uncovering the mystery surrounding her mother's past.

It also features some favorite characters (Nessa's chaos witch brother, Nick; Seth Rhone, alpha werewolf; Rick Peterson, a detective with the Crossville PD and Nessa's old partner; and others) as well as some new ones, like Puck Aefre, Nessa's rune magic mentor, and Jakob Kazlow, a werewolf who is Peterson's new partner.

Here's a little more about the story:

A few weeks ago, my brother and I found our mother, the criminal chaos witch, locked in a cage under the control of one of the most powerful supernaturals in the Greater Atlanta area. The rescue brought me and Nick closer, though not without consequence: by order of the Council, Mom now resides in the official custody of my almost boyfriend, the alpha of the Crossville werewolf pack.

I'm still grappling with Mom's abandonment, let alone her unexpected reappearance...especially when she may be connected to the ritual zealots, a secretive group so ruthlessly dangerous, other supernaturals are terrified of discussing them.

Now, a witch has been murdered just miles from the alpha's house, and my former partner at the Crossville PD wants to hire me as a consultant on the case. There's just one problem: another witch is the killer.

And the best suspect may be someone I know.

Black Witch Rising is available at Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, and other online retailers.

Happy reading!

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April Book Fairs

Here's April's roundups of BookFunnel book fairs!

The post April Book Fairs appeared first on Celia Roman.

$5 Off the Sunshine Walkingstick Omnibus (Books 1, 2, and 3)

From now through the end of April, get $5 off the regular retail price of the first Sunshine Walkingstick omnibus, containing Books 1, 2, and 3.

That's the US price, but comparable price cuts have been made for most currencies and locations. If you live outside the US, shop around to find the best deal!

Book 1, Greenwood Cove:
Sunny is challenged by a childhood friend to discover the cause behind damage done to docks along Lake Burton's Greenwood Cove, and she's never one to resist a challenge when monsters are involved

Book 2, The Deep Wood:
Sunny’s search for a monster terrorizing the county leads her into a past she never knew, and a secret that changes everything.

Book 3, Cemetery Hill:
After her uncle is framed for murder, Sunny must figure out who, or what, really killed his ex-wife before someone else falls victim to a vicious monster.

Happy reading!

Amazon | Apple | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Kobo | Other Retailers

The post $5 Off the Sunshine Walkingstick Omnibus (Books 1, 2, and 3) appeared first on Celia Roman.

Kobo Plus Expands into the US and the UK

Kobo has expanded its Kobo Plus reading and listening subscriptions to the US and the UK.

The subscription prices are quite low and include an option to subscribe to both the reading and listening services for $9.99 per month.

For readers, this means having a lower-cost access to the many indie (and other) titles, like mine, that aren't available through Amazon's Kindle Unlimited subscription program.

For authors, this means offering a lower-cost access option without having to be exclusive to one retailer, a requirement for participation in the KU program.

To be fair, neither Kindle Unlimited nor Kobo Plus pays well, but most authors participate in order to provide plenty of options for readers of every stripe.

Kobo is offering a 30-day free trial for anyone interested in trying out Kobo Plus. Most of my books published under the Celia Roman and Lucy Varna names are currently available there, making this a perfect time to read through my various series.

Happy reading!

The post Kobo Plus Expands into the US and the UK appeared first on Celia Roman.

Preorder Black Witch Rising

Black Witch Rising, the third novel in the Vanessa Kinley, Witch PI Series, is up for preorder at Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and other online retailers.

Here's a little more about it:

A few weeks ago, my brother and I found our mother, the criminal chaos witch, locked in a cage under the control of one of the most powerful supernaturals in the Greater Atlanta area. The rescue brought me and Nick closer, though not without consequence: by order of the Council, Mom now resides in the official custody of my almost boyfriend, the alpha of the Crossville werewolf pack.

I'm still grappling with Mom's abandonment, let alone her unexpected reappearance...especially when she may be connected to the ritual zealots, a secretive group so ruthlessly dangerous, other supernaturals are terrified of discussing them.

Now, a witch has been murdered just miles from the alpha's house, and my former partner at the Crossville PD wants to hire me as a consultant on the case. There's just one problem: another witch is the killer.

And the best suspect may be someone I know.

The post Preorder Black Witch Rising appeared first on Celia Roman.

BOGO on Mysteries and Thrillers at Kobo!

Kobo is running a Buy One, Get One Free promotion on Mysteries & Thrillers from now through the end of the month. The sale is for readers in Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

Five of my books are part of the BOGO, which makes this an excellent time to pick up any stories you haven't read.

Happy reading!

The post BOGO on Mysteries and Thrillers at Kobo! appeared first on Celia Roman.

March Book Fairs

I'm participating in some book fairs over at BookFunnel, featuring dozens of free and discounted books.

These collections are great ways to discover new-to-you authors. I take advantage of them all the time to discover great new reads!

Click on the images below to explore dozens of stories.

Happy reading!

The post March Book Fairs appeared first on Celia Roman.

The Single Witch’s Guide to Online Dating is on sale now!

You can now purchase the ebook edition of The Single Witch's Guide to Online Dating (A Vanessa Kinley, Witch PI Story) at your favorite online retailer!

When I planned the Vanessa Kinley Series, I intended this prequel to be exclusive to the newsletter and Facebook group for no more than a year, just until I had time to write a new free story for those readers.

Then I hit burnout and had to delay production of the remaining novels until I'd recovered enough to write again. It didn't seem fair to hold this one out as exclusive after my internally assigned deadline for public release, so I opted to go ahead and publish it while I finish out the other books in the series.

The Single Witch's Guide to Online Dating is still available for free to newsletter subscribers and members of the Facebook group, but now it's also available for readers who aren't joiners.

This fast-paced, action-packed story is available at Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, and other online retailers.

Happy reading!

The post The Single Witch’s Guide to Online Dating is on sale now! appeared first on Celia Roman.

Perspectives

Sunshine Walkingstick's continuing story has been on my mind these past few months as I prepare to write Book 6, Vampire Alley.

Much of Sunny's tale involves loops upon loops of family misfortunes and secrets. In the first novel (Greenwood Cove), Sunny's description of her family revolves around the dual tragedies of her son's and her father's deaths:

That pooka? I sent it straight to Ol’ Scratch, quick as I could find it, with my heart all cold like the great sea of ice on top of the world. I followed it for three days, no food in my gut, nothing ‘cept a hunting knife and a bottle of water to get me through. My daddy taught me that before he run off with that vacuum cleaner salesman. Not much else, but by golly, he taught me how to track.

My mama? She in prison now. Was her what taught me how to kill. She sure done a number on my daddy. I never could look on her straight like again, not after seeing what she done to him. That didn’t stop me none from doing the same to that pooka. You mess with my baby, you gonna pay.

She revisits her father's death again in Cemetery Hill (Book 3), when her uncle Fame is arrested for the deaths of his wife and brother:

Unbidden, my mind lunged back to the day Mama come home with my daddy’s blood on her hands. He run off the week before with that vacuum cleaner salesman. Reckon it took her that long to track him down. One night she left me with Fame and her eyes was feral, like a rabid coon, dark and greedy and vengeful. Fame fed me and the boys, then sat us down on the couch with a movie, and that’s where we fell asleep, Trey cuddled up on one side of me, Gentry on t’other, like they knowed something was coming, something so bad, it’d eat us alive, bone, skin, hair, and all.

Mama woke me up the next morning, and her eyes wasn’t wild no more. They was peaceful, calm, but the stench of blood lingered, a coppery tart sting in my nose, and the awfullest feeling enveloped me.

“What’d you do, Mama?” I asked, but she just shushed me and carried me home, and tucked me in bed like she done when I was no bigger’n knee high to a cricket. Not like I was then, on the cusp of being a woman and in full possession of the knowledge that the world weren’t always a fair abode.

Was Sheriff Treadwell what come for her, back when he was still a deputy. Was Chip Treadwell what stood in that shabby living room with its puke green carpet and water stained ceilings, and told me the DFACS people was coming to get me.

Fame come for me instead, my uncle. My friend. Fame saved me from the hell of revolving foster homes and state welfare and the shame of knowing my own family betrayed me.

Here, we feel Sunny's childhood fear, and her later shame and anger. This is her story, and Sunny's never been shy about sharing her feelings on a matter, so of course she gives us an intimate view on one of the keystone moments of her life. This is what she knows of her father's death, based on what she remembers, what others have told her, and the assumptions she's made over the years.

And these are her feelings on the matter: the abiding love for her father and sorrow over his death; and the equally strong love for her mother, made distant by the commission of what Sunny views as an unspeakably horrific crime.

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Sunny's perspective of the events surrounding her father's death isn't the only one. We could easily look to Fame or Sheriff Treadwell for a different take, assuming either would share their thoughts.

Or we could look to someone who has first-hand knowledge: Sunny's mother Claudia.

I left Devil's Branch (Book 5) with Sunny receiving a letter from her mother, and immediately knowing that something was wrong.

If you then guessed that Vampire Alley involves Sunny's mom, you'd be absolutely correct.

In fact, it's very likely that we're going to get a very intimate look at Sunny's relationship with her mom. This includes a reckoning between the two that I can't go into because it's a major plot point along their journey together.

I hate dropping spoilers on the unsuspecting.

But just know that this is coming and it probably won't be what you expect at all. And, like everything in Sunny's life, it's going to be a real humdinger. That's pretty much a guarantee.

Before I wrap this up, here's a tidbit I'd hoped readers would catch long before now: In Witch Hollow (Book 4), Sheriff Treadwell sits down with Sunny and recollects some fond memories of her mother, including this:

His gaze dropped to his plate and he sat back in his chair. “Later, after your daddy died, Ann talked me into letting your mama come over and cook for the inmates. That was before she was convicted, back when the old jail under the courthouse was still in use.”

“And you let her?”

“Ann trusted her, and she loved you. I think she would’ve done anything for you.”

“Mama?”

“Ann, but your mama, too..."

Has no one ever wondered why Sheriff Treadwell, a man known for his strict adherence to the letter of the law, would allow someone he knows committed murder into his house to cook for the other inmates?

Did no one ever wonder exactly what he meant by, "I think she would've done anything for you.", or to what extraordinary lengths Claudia and Ann would go to protect Sunny?

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Speaking of Ann and Claudia...

The limiting factor of using a first person point of view for narrating a story is just that: only one perspective can ever be shown.

Well, not quite.

The story is told from one person's point of view. Other perspectives can be shown, if the narrator has a way to explore those perspectives.

Unfortunately, some of the most important perspectives are still lost. I sidestep this by writing stories from other perspectives, or at least visiting those other perspectives during planning of future projects or during the development of an entire story world.

I don't have time to write every story that waltzes across my mind. That doesn't mean they're not worth pursuing, especially when those stories relate directly to the events underpinning an entire story world.

The relationship between Ann Treadwell and Claudia Carson Walkingstick is one such story. It's doubtful that I'll ever have time to explore this in depth, but their relationship is so very important to Sunny's life. There are so many things Sunny doesn't know or understand about her own life, let alone the events taking place in the background that shaped it.

We know that Ann and Claudia knew each other long before Riley and Sunny were born: Sheriff Treadwell implies as much when he shares that he met Ann while she was dating Fame.

We know that Ann took care of Sunny when Claudia disappeared during summers, because Sunny herself said so.

Sunny always thought it was because she saved Riley at the lake that one summer.

But was it?

What are the chances that something else entirely was going on between Ann and Claudia?

These are some of the questions and situations I've been pondering while constructing Vampire Alley and future stories involving her father, the elder Henry Walkingstick. There's definitely so much more going on in the background of Sunny's life, things that are hidden from her because she doesn't have access to other perspectives.

Or rather, because she hasn't been given a reason to question some aspects of her life, she's never thought to pick her own beliefs apart the way she had to in The Deep Wood (Book 2), when she learned some of the secrets Fame hid from her.

So, there's your food for thought. Have fun with it.

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Smashwords Read an eBook Week

From now through March 11th, 2023, you can get 25% off all my books at Smashwords for their Read an eBook Week celebration.

Here are my books, so you can take your pick, but do scroll through the other books on sale and take advantage of these discounts to fill up your ereader.

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