Jordan Castillo Price's Blog, page 23

Body Art, now in audio

Body ArtNarrated by Gomez Pugh

Does everyone have a certain “type” they end up with…whether they want to or not? If Ray Carlucci’s ex is anything to go by, Ray likes his men gorgeous, rebellious, and chock-full of issues. But now that Ray is single again, he has a shot at a fresh start—a very fresh start, since his tattoo shop was gutted by repo men and he can fit all his belongings in the trunk of a taxi.

Ray’s shiny new chauffeur’s license lands him a job as a driver for an elderly couple on Red Wing Island. It’s a cold fall, and since the Michigan island is the summer home to snowbirds who fly south for the winter, it’s practically deserted—save for Ray’s new household and a sculptor named Anton Kopec, who works day and night twisting brambles and twine into the distorted shapes of macabre creatures. Compelling, bizarre, and somewhat disturbing…not just the sculptures, but the artist, too. Ray has a feeling Anton is just his “type.”

Despite their scorching chemistry, when a dead body is unearthed by some workers and a freak ice storm traps them all on the island, Ray can’t say for certain that his new flame isn’t capable of murder.

Buy the audio at Audible, iTunes or Amazon

The music cut. The door opened, and there he was—Anton, framed like a vision in bright yellow light. I’d been worried that maybe the light of the full moon had played tricks on me, that maybe once I got a really good look at him, the spell would be broken and I’d see that he was just some guy. A guy with black hair down to his shoulders and finger bones dangling from his porch, but just a guy, nonetheless.

I’d been wrong. Up close and well lit, Anton was a wet dream.

The ebook version of Body Art also got spiffy new cover art. If you already own it, you can re-download it from the site where you purchased it (and if you bought it direct from JCPbooks.com, let me know and I can replace your old copy.)

Find the Body Art ebook at Amazon, Amazon UK, BN and Smashwords

What's the single most important thing a book cover must do?

Don’t judge a book by its cover. As sayings go, it makes sense to me. I read books. I know they have covers. And I understand that by and large, the two of them might have something to do with one another…but not necessarily. Maybe the warning should be, “Don’t judge a book by its cover, unless that cover is successful.”

Read the rest in this month's JCP News!

A Channeling Morpheus conversation

I'm sure plenty of writers write because they need to give expression to the ideas in their head. I think writers who publish are motivated by more than just the hope of expressing themselves. We're trying to communicate something. Watching a couple of readers chat about my work is phenomenally gratifying. Really. It's huge. So thanks for letting me be a fly on the wall here while you discuss the Channeling Morpheus series, Karen and Kat!...

Hello, and welcome to Kat, we did an buddy read of all The Chanelling Morpheus novellas over the space of a week, and spent the next two weeks fangirling over the books and Jordan Castillo Price, so thought we should share our love with the world.

Kat: Howdy. We clearly needed another place to talk about how amazing we think Jordan Castillo Price and her  books are,  didn’t we?

K: Yes we did. I have to say that I was really apprehensive about reading this, because everyone mentioned the…sex

Kat: I started the first set of novellas before you did and because of your apprehension, it took a little bit of persuasive fangirling from me to get you to start this series.

K: It did. So, vaguely spoilery here I guess, but the first novella starts with Mikey (the vampire hunter) locating a particular vampire who he intends to…kill. At the bar where they meet he also bumps into Wild Bill, and well, one things leads to another and all three end up having sex. Now I was really nervous of a menage, and I’m not totally sure why, maybe because it upsets my idea of what constitutes a relationship?

Kat: You’re certainly not the first person to feel that way. Read the rest at May Contain Dragons

More Morpheus

A Bitter Taste of Sweet Oblivion

Ebook Box Set Novellas 6-10

Staking a vampire isn't so easy now that Michael's got a vampire of his very own. Although killing them is no longer an option, he's as determined as ever to stop the spread of vampirism.

Wild Bill is a lover, not a fighter—so he's tickled when Michael's new agenda, to dispense condoms and sterile phlebotomy gear among vampires, replaces the old "heads will roll" approach.

It takes courage to track down vamps in their own territory and deliver a lecture on safe sex, and more importantly, safe bloodletting. Michael's never been short on audacity...but he's finding that he and Wild Bill aren't the only ones with agendas.

Contains the novellas Brazen, Snare, Fluid, Swarm, and Elixir

Buy A Bitter Taste of Sweet Oblivion at  Amazon, Amazon UK, iTunes, Kobo, BN

CanineAll New Channeling Morpheus Short 10.2

What’s the difference between a faithful companion and a feral animal? Wild Bill suspects the line separating the two is shaky at best. Supposedly, Michael has been tamed, and he swears he gave up hunting. But when he comes home covered in blood and reeking of adrenaline, Bill fears Michael has crossed paths with another bloodsucker, and the urge to exterminate the vamp was too powerful to resist.

Michael doesn’t need to hunt vampires to stir up trouble. His run-in with threatening neighbors has left him baffled, demoralized, and teetering on the brink of yet another episode of depression. It tears Bill up inside to see Michael suffer—unfortunately, the sorrow also trips his most primal vamp triggers. Before he knows it, his own inner beast rears up, ravenous, insatiable, and ready to tear into the next thing that crosses his path…making him wonder if it was wishful thinking to hope that either of them had been successfully domesticated.

Buy Canine at Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Kobo, iTunes, BN

What are reviewers saying?
Bike Book Reviews says, "I should know by now that you can never predict what is going to happen in a book by this author! I love how you have an idea in your head and it is totally different from what actually happens! I love this author and that is one of many reasons why!"

The Novel Approach says, "Michael and Wild Bill are each other’s abyss—they look into each other’s eyes and sometimes it’s the abyss that looks back."

Did you Ace the Quiz?

How did you do on the Channeling Morpheus quiz? Find out how I made it so challenging in this month's JCP News.
Also drool over the cover reveal for the upcoming Canine: A Channeling Morpheus Short.
See this month's news!

Slam that Trunk Lid

You may or may not be familiar with the term "trunk novel" ... it's what writers call those early manuscripts we never managed to sell. Imagine a big fat typewritten manuscript buried under some spare blankets and old sweaters in the bottom of the trunk. (Whew, thankfully we don't have to print stuff out in double-spaced courier anymore.)

I have at least three trunk novels under my belt, though something tells me I'm forgeting one and there are really four. They're not just unsold. They're too malformed to even consider showing anyone.

The weird thing is, this morning I woke up at 4am and tossed and turned, and even considered getting up for the day until I talked myself out of it by saying, "It will ruin EVERYTHING, don't do it!!" So as I was trapped in bed and wakeful, one of my trunk novels popped into my head. I don't generally think of them, ever. And I started telling myself about this one as if I was describing it to someone, and I thought, "Wait, all these characters are pretty cool." The setting (Dustbowl Kansas) was cool too. So were a few of the backstory reveals.

But believe me when I tell you, that book sucks.

A few years ago I thought I might have developed the chops to edit into something saleable. Then I looked at it and scorched my eyes. It wasn't just hokey dialog and clunker sentences, it was awkwardly paced everywhere and not engaging whatsoever, despite whatever cool ideas were in there.

So with my idle mind, I began thinking about whether it would help to take this or that character out. Whether I'd change the big reveal. Whether I needed that climactic fight scene or another would be more interesting.

Luckily I also came up with a good idea for the story I'm currently working on. Now I can stick my dustbowl story back in the trunk where it belongs.

Mnevermind - An In-Depth Conversation

Alexis Hall, Santino Hassell and Kat talk in depth about the Mnevermind series on Prism Book Alliance! It was very cool to see some frank discussion and reaction to the series.

When a Short Grows Up

I love random writing prompts for jogging me out of "I don't know what to do" mode.After my last novel Life is Awesome came out, I was hoping to write a palate cleanser short story while I readied myself for the next big project. I've tried taking breaks when I don't have a big project going on and I just end up anxious and miserable, so for me writing shorts is the way to go.I generated the following prompts:-utopia-helpless sinner-generous glutton...and boom, story hit me.So I wrote the piece, sent it to my early readers, chatted with them about it, got ready to share it with my readership... and then realized it wasn't done.In speculative fiction, worldbuilding is a crucial part of the story, even if it's just a 100-word flash fic. The worldbuilding in my utopia was pretty extensive. I don't think that aspect alone is enough to justify extending a story from a short to a longer piece. I personally LOVE reading short stories that offer a taste of a world, the tip of the iceberg, and leave me with a single shining image or concept to ponder. But something nagged at me in this case, that I needed to show the characters doing more stuff. I needed to show certain aspects of the worldbuilding rather than alluding to them.So it's back to the drawing board with my sinner and my glutton, and that's fine. As long as I have the gumption to work on something, I'm happy, whether it's a flash fic or a series.

Channeling Morpheus for Scary Mary Box Set

Now In Box SetChanneling Morpheus for Scary MaryChanneling Morpheus Ebooks 1-5

Michael is a waif in eyeliner who's determined to wipe vampires off the face of the earth. Wild Bill's got the hots for Michael, and will stop at nothing to go home with him.

Forget about moonlit castles and windswept moors. These bad boys haunt all-night diners and cheap motels, cut-rate department stores and long, lonely stretches of the Interstate. Ride along with Wild Bill and Michael as the twists and turns of Channeling Morpheus for Scary Mary unfold in America's Heartland.

Ebook box set contains the following novelettes: Payback, Vertigo, Manikin, Tainted, Rebirth.

Buy your copy at Amazon - Amazon UK - BN - iTunes - Smashwords - Scribd
(Kobo coming soon)

And you can win a copy at The Novel Approach!

Typing versus writing and my stubborn right-handedness

Do you write much by hand anymore? I do three "morning pages" faithfully ever day, occasional freewriting, and I jot notes to myself here and there, though every now and then I try to weed out and condense my notes-to-self into Evernote, where I have a chance of someday finding them again when I need them. I have two types of writing, self-writing and other-people writing. My self-writing is a scrawly lowercase thing that's barely legible. My more presentible writing is all caps, block print. Writing cursive is awkward for me and I hardly ever do it, it feels like "impostor" writing, not real.

I'm reading (yet another) book on writers block that suggests our left and right hemespheres have different takes on why we do or don't write. It suggests posing questions to yourself and answering first with your dominant and then your non-dominant hand. MY LEFT HAND CAN BARELY HOLD A PEN. I find this extremely weird. I can play a guitar. The left hand is called upon to do some pretty complicated stuff on a guitar neck. But it can't hold a pen.

And this notion led me to wondering if maybe typing has some kind of special access to both hemespheres. I've never seen that theory floated anywhere and I've always thought it must. Last writing group I was brainstorming with a friend and she started speaking an idea at the same time she was typing it, and I saw that "click" happening. I think it's the "click" I get when I'm working successfully on a story. Typing.

What about you? Right handed? Left handed? Hopeless with your non-dominant hand? See a big difference when you're typing versus writing?

My mom is a semi-ambidextrous lefty. Weird random fact.

The book is Write: 10 Days to Overcome Writer's Block. Period.