Tosca Lee's Blog, page 10
August 24, 2018
THE LINE BETWEEN Cover Reveal!
The cover for my new thriller, coming out January 29! (And available for pre-order now!)
From the back cover:
An extinct disease has re-emerged from the melting Alaskan permafrost to cause madness in its victims.
For former apocalyptic cult member Wynter Roth, it’s the end she’s always been told was coming.
When 22-year-old Wynter Roth is cast out of self-contained doomsday cult New Earth, a mysterious outbreak of rapid early onset dementia is spreading across the nation.
As she struggles to start over in a world she’s been taught to regard as evil, Wynter finds herself face-to-face with the apocalypse she’s feared all her life, convinced she’s made a terrible mistake. Until the night her sister shows up with a set of medical samples key to decoding the disease and Wynter learns there’s something far more sinister at play.
Now, as the power grid fails and the country descends into chaos, Wynter must find a way to get the samples to a lab in Colorado. Uncertain who to trust, she takes up with former military man Chase Miller, who has his own reasons for wanting to get close to the samples in her possession, and to Wynter herself.
Filled with action, conspiracy, romance, and questions of whom—and what—to believe, The Line Between is a high-octane story of survival and love in a world on the brink of madness.
From the back cover:
An extinct disease has re-emerged from the melting Alaskan permafrost to cause madness in its victims.
For former apocalyptic cult member Wynter Roth, it’s the end she’s always been told was coming.
When 22-year-old Wynter Roth is cast out of self-contained doomsday cult New Earth, a mysterious outbreak of rapid early onset dementia is spreading across the nation.
As she struggles to start over in a world she’s been taught to regard as evil, Wynter finds herself face-to-face with the apocalypse she’s feared all her life, convinced she’s made a terrible mistake. Until the night her sister shows up with a set of medical samples key to decoding the disease and Wynter learns there’s something far more sinister at play.
Now, as the power grid fails and the country descends into chaos, Wynter must find a way to get the samples to a lab in Colorado. Uncertain who to trust, she takes up with former military man Chase Miller, who has his own reasons for wanting to get close to the samples in her possession, and to Wynter herself.
Filled with action, conspiracy, romance, and questions of whom—and what—to believe, The Line Between is a high-octane story of survival and love in a world on the brink of madness.
Later Today... Official Cover Reveal for The Line Between
I so loved writing The Line Between–complete with my brand new heroine Wynter Roth. She’s smart, sardonic, and doing her best to navigate a world gone mad and I cannot wait to introduce her to you! The Line Between comes to you January 29, 2019.
Make sure you're subscribed to my newsletter as I’ll probably leak some chapters in an upcoming edition. I’m a literary outlaw that way.
Make sure you're subscribed to my newsletter as I’ll probably leak some chapters in an upcoming edition. I’m a literary outlaw that way.
May 3, 2018
Which Progeny Character are You?
Which Progeny character are you? Hunter… or hunted? Take our test to find out whether you should be running for your life or reporting to The Historian.
Take our quiz at the link below:
https://www.playbuzz.com/toscaf10/whi...
Take our quiz at the link below:
https://www.playbuzz.com/toscaf10/whi...
May 1, 2018
Reader Bonus: Deleted Scenes from HAVAH and ISCARIOT
I’m going to let you in on a secret–I often overwrite. I mean really overwrite. When I’ve immersed myself in research and writing, I can get carried away. I overwrote Havah: The Story of Eve by 260 pages and Iscariot by more than 500!
Suffice it to say, I’ve written many scenes that never made it into my books—scenes I ultimately cut, but still loved. You’ll find a few of them below. Enjoy!
Havah: The Story of Eve
At some point during the six years I waited for Demon: A Memoir to sell, I randomly penned a single page in the voice of the earth’s first woman. I imagined her nearly 900 years old and near death, preparing at last to tell her full story. I’m not sure why I did this—I only remember her voice, warbled with age, as vivid in my head as my old Korean grandmother’s was the last time I saw her before her death. And then I put the page away in a drawer where I kept scribbles and random story notes, and forgot about it.
That page eventually became the prologue to Havah: The Story of Eve. I was fascinated with the emotional journey of Adam and Eve, with the potential for tension between the alpha Adam and his first son, the idea of seeing a first infant, the first death, the first enmity between human and animal and dysfunction in relationship.
I chased Eve’s story in a dogged panic and overwrote the first draft by 67,000 words (about 260 pages). That’s a picture of the cover from the first edition to the left.
Read deleted scenes from Havah: The Story of Eve at this link: http://toscalee.com/wp-content/upload...
Iscariot: A Novel of Judas
From the first moment that editor friend Jeff Gerke suggested the story of Judas, I was running fast and hard in the other direction. I knew how much research that story would take and was completely cowed.
The thing that finally got me was the idea of slipping into the skin of the only disciple Jesus called friend, of sitting down at the side of this mysterious healer, teacher and uncontrollable maverick called Jesus. I wanted to see him for myself, to experience him in this way.
I compiled a library and consulting team of academics, theologians and Bible experts. I went to Israel (and ate so much hummus I couldn’t touch the stuff for two months after returning), read incessantly and then sat down to write.
Once again, I overwrote the book—this time by 140,000 words (more than 500 pages). Somewhere in that giant forest of history and geek theology I realized I had lost my way, had utterly obscured the trail of this journey and the mystery of Judas and Jesus’ relationship with it.
Read deleted scenes from IscariotIscariot here:
http://toscalee.com/wp-content/upload...
Suffice it to say, I’ve written many scenes that never made it into my books—scenes I ultimately cut, but still loved. You’ll find a few of them below. Enjoy!
Havah: The Story of Eve
At some point during the six years I waited for Demon: A Memoir to sell, I randomly penned a single page in the voice of the earth’s first woman. I imagined her nearly 900 years old and near death, preparing at last to tell her full story. I’m not sure why I did this—I only remember her voice, warbled with age, as vivid in my head as my old Korean grandmother’s was the last time I saw her before her death. And then I put the page away in a drawer where I kept scribbles and random story notes, and forgot about it.
That page eventually became the prologue to Havah: The Story of Eve. I was fascinated with the emotional journey of Adam and Eve, with the potential for tension between the alpha Adam and his first son, the idea of seeing a first infant, the first death, the first enmity between human and animal and dysfunction in relationship.
I chased Eve’s story in a dogged panic and overwrote the first draft by 67,000 words (about 260 pages). That’s a picture of the cover from the first edition to the left.
Read deleted scenes from Havah: The Story of Eve at this link: http://toscalee.com/wp-content/upload...
Iscariot: A Novel of Judas
From the first moment that editor friend Jeff Gerke suggested the story of Judas, I was running fast and hard in the other direction. I knew how much research that story would take and was completely cowed.
The thing that finally got me was the idea of slipping into the skin of the only disciple Jesus called friend, of sitting down at the side of this mysterious healer, teacher and uncontrollable maverick called Jesus. I wanted to see him for myself, to experience him in this way.
I compiled a library and consulting team of academics, theologians and Bible experts. I went to Israel (and ate so much hummus I couldn’t touch the stuff for two months after returning), read incessantly and then sat down to write.
Once again, I overwrote the book—this time by 140,000 words (more than 500 pages). Somewhere in that giant forest of history and geek theology I realized I had lost my way, had utterly obscured the trail of this journey and the mystery of Judas and Jesus’ relationship with it.
Read deleted scenes from IscariotIscariot here:
http://toscalee.com/wp-content/upload...
March 15, 2018
Giveaway! 20 Copies of FIRSTBORN Up for Grabs
To celebrate the release of Firstborn in Paperback on March 20, my publisher is giving away 20 copies!!!
In this stunning conclusion to the House of Bathory duology, Audra Ellison now knows the secret she gave up everything—including her memory—to protect. A secret made vulnerable by her rediscovery, and so powerful neither the Historian nor the traitor Prince Nikola will ever let her live to keep it.
With Luka in the Historian’s custody and the clock ticking down on his life, Audra only has one impossible chance: find and kill the Historian and end the centuries old war between the Progeny and Scions at last—all while running from the law and struggling to control her growing powers.
With the help of a heretic monk and her Progeny friends Claudia, Piotrek, and Jester, Audra will risk all she holds dear in a final bid to save them all and put her powers to the ultimate test.
Enter the giveaway here:
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/en...
In this stunning conclusion to the House of Bathory duology, Audra Ellison now knows the secret she gave up everything—including her memory—to protect. A secret made vulnerable by her rediscovery, and so powerful neither the Historian nor the traitor Prince Nikola will ever let her live to keep it.
With Luka in the Historian’s custody and the clock ticking down on his life, Audra only has one impossible chance: find and kill the Historian and end the centuries old war between the Progeny and Scions at last—all while running from the law and struggling to control her growing powers.
With the help of a heretic monk and her Progeny friends Claudia, Piotrek, and Jester, Audra will risk all she holds dear in a final bid to save them all and put her powers to the ultimate test.
Enter the giveaway here:
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/en...
March 7, 2018
Book Swag, Free Story Extra, And an Exclusive Sneak Peek
Hi Goodreaders,
Just a quick note to tell you how you can get your hand on some book swag including The Lost Stories, Vol. 1!
This not-for-sale short story was written just for my fans and contains a secret not included in the House of Bathory duology. To get your e-copy of The Lost Stories, purchase any copy of The Progeny or Firstborn between February 27 and March 31, 2018 and e-mail a copy of your receipt with your snail mail address to cindy@toscalee.com. You'll receive The Lost Stories via email and also be on the list to receive a sneak peak of The Line Between, my new thriller coming next winter. (Please add it to your Goodsread shelf!)
And one more bonus: The Asylum Warden will send you an exclusive piece of Progeny swag (sorry, U.S. addresses only) like one of those pictured below.
Here's a quick link to find the Paperback version of Firstborn (out March 20) on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Firstborn-Prog...
Just a quick note to tell you how you can get your hand on some book swag including The Lost Stories, Vol. 1!
This not-for-sale short story was written just for my fans and contains a secret not included in the House of Bathory duology. To get your e-copy of The Lost Stories, purchase any copy of The Progeny or Firstborn between February 27 and March 31, 2018 and e-mail a copy of your receipt with your snail mail address to cindy@toscalee.com. You'll receive The Lost Stories via email and also be on the list to receive a sneak peak of The Line Between, my new thriller coming next winter. (Please add it to your Goodsread shelf!)
And one more bonus: The Asylum Warden will send you an exclusive piece of Progeny swag (sorry, U.S. addresses only) like one of those pictured below.
Here's a quick link to find the Paperback version of Firstborn (out March 20) on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Firstborn-Prog...
November 22, 2017
Happy Thanksgiving From Tosca
It’s nearly Thanksgiving and I'm getting my Cornish hens in the crock pot for my (dare I say famous?) stuffing and buying up all the cream of portobello mushroom soup at Trader Joe’s for the requisite green bean casserole.
I'm also thinking of all the people in my life I say thanks for every day—you among them. I may or may not know your name, and we may or may not have ever met in person, but there isn’t a day that I don’t sit down to work that I am not in awe of your presence in my life. So thank you for that gift, for reading my books, and for going on each of these adventures with me. I recently summed up my thoughts in this post for "Dear Reader" online. It is my heart in a nutshell: http://dearreader.typepad.com/dear/20...
Two new, very different projects have been taking shape on my desk, the first of which will be wending your way next year—a new thriller unlike any I’ve done before. It’s been a lot of fun and… it even has a bacon appearance in it. A veritable bacon cameo. (So we all want to read this now, right?) Never fear, vegetarians: it also has vegan food in it. No, it’s not a cookbook, but you know me—even my fiction is packed with food.
Meanwhile, the holidays are hard for so many. If you’re struggling this season for whatever reason—a death, a divorce, depression—please know I’m thinking of you. I’ve been there. And in a time when everyone’s happy on TV, it’s rough. Please be kind to yourself, give yourself good food, good sleep, and the gift of doing something you enjoy—or just a much-needed nap. There’s no right way to celebrate the season, and I believe God comes to us where we are. I pray for you peace, my friend—this season and in the New Year to come—and the knowledge that you are not alone.
So what am I doing with those Cornish hens anyway?
My step-grandma used to make the most fabulous Thanksgiving stuffing (and, if we were lucky, she made in on Christmas, too). She’s no longer with us, and so, given that I used to single-handedly eat half the pan, I took it upon myself to continue the tradition. Find my recipe here: http://toscalee.com/blog/
I'm also thinking of all the people in my life I say thanks for every day—you among them. I may or may not know your name, and we may or may not have ever met in person, but there isn’t a day that I don’t sit down to work that I am not in awe of your presence in my life. So thank you for that gift, for reading my books, and for going on each of these adventures with me. I recently summed up my thoughts in this post for "Dear Reader" online. It is my heart in a nutshell: http://dearreader.typepad.com/dear/20...
Two new, very different projects have been taking shape on my desk, the first of which will be wending your way next year—a new thriller unlike any I’ve done before. It’s been a lot of fun and… it even has a bacon appearance in it. A veritable bacon cameo. (So we all want to read this now, right?) Never fear, vegetarians: it also has vegan food in it. No, it’s not a cookbook, but you know me—even my fiction is packed with food.
Meanwhile, the holidays are hard for so many. If you’re struggling this season for whatever reason—a death, a divorce, depression—please know I’m thinking of you. I’ve been there. And in a time when everyone’s happy on TV, it’s rough. Please be kind to yourself, give yourself good food, good sleep, and the gift of doing something you enjoy—or just a much-needed nap. There’s no right way to celebrate the season, and I believe God comes to us where we are. I pray for you peace, my friend—this season and in the New Year to come—and the knowledge that you are not alone.
So what am I doing with those Cornish hens anyway?
My step-grandma used to make the most fabulous Thanksgiving stuffing (and, if we were lucky, she made in on Christmas, too). She’s no longer with us, and so, given that I used to single-handedly eat half the pan, I took it upon myself to continue the tradition. Find my recipe here: http://toscalee.com/blog/
November 8, 2017
Come See Me in Arizona
Colder temps have arrived in the Midwest. Last week we even had a bit of s-n-o-w. That means it's time to seek out warmer climates.
THURSDAY, Nov. 9th, I'll be in warm and sunny Arizona. If you're in the Phoenix area, join me Tuesday afternoon at the Encarta Book Club.
The event is open to the public and will be held at the Encanterra Country Club in San Tan Valley, AZ. Just tell the gatehouse you're there for the book event, and come to the Mallorca Room of the Club House. The event begins at 2:00 p.m. I'll be singing books and talking about The Progeny and Firstborn.
Get directions on my blog at www.toscalee.com.
THURSDAY, Nov. 9th, I'll be in warm and sunny Arizona. If you're in the Phoenix area, join me Tuesday afternoon at the Encarta Book Club.
The event is open to the public and will be held at the Encanterra Country Club in San Tan Valley, AZ. Just tell the gatehouse you're there for the book event, and come to the Mallorca Room of the Club House. The event begins at 2:00 p.m. I'll be singing books and talking about The Progeny and Firstborn.
Get directions on my blog at www.toscalee.com.
May 11, 2017
Confessions of Insta-Mom
As told to my friend, author and editor Ralene Burke. Click through at the end for the rest of the blog and to enter to win a copy of The Progeny and Firstborn!
Last year, in the space of “I do,” I married the man of my dreams, became a farmer’s wife and insta-mom of four.
And so this city girl who’d once sworn off marriage and had long given up the dream of children moved out to the farm and into my new family’s lives.
My confessions, to this end, are myriad:
-I own three crockpots. I’m not afraid to use them all at once.
- I now understand why my mom hid her Russell Stover candy under the chair in the living room.
- I may or may not have several caches of goodies stashed around the house.
- And there might be more hiding behind the vegetables.
- I have never downed so many energy drinks in my life …
- Or gone to bed before 9:30 pm more than once in a single year—until now.
- No one other than these kids has ever had the propensity to make me cry with a hug.
__________________
Finish reading and enter the giveaway for The Progeny and Firstborn on Ralene's blog here: http://raleneburke.com/confessions-of...
Last year, in the space of “I do,” I married the man of my dreams, became a farmer’s wife and insta-mom of four.
And so this city girl who’d once sworn off marriage and had long given up the dream of children moved out to the farm and into my new family’s lives.
My confessions, to this end, are myriad:
-I own three crockpots. I’m not afraid to use them all at once.
- I now understand why my mom hid her Russell Stover candy under the chair in the living room.
- I may or may not have several caches of goodies stashed around the house.
- And there might be more hiding behind the vegetables.
- I have never downed so many energy drinks in my life …
- Or gone to bed before 9:30 pm more than once in a single year—until now.
- No one other than these kids has ever had the propensity to make me cry with a hug.
__________________
Finish reading and enter the giveaway for The Progeny and Firstborn on Ralene's blog here: http://raleneburke.com/confessions-of...
March 2, 2017
My Spring/Summer Teaching Schedule
I’ll be giving workshops and keynote address at several writing conferences this year. I’d love to see you there!
April 28-29 – Wordsowers Christian Writers Conference, Omaha, NE http://wordsowers.com/upcoming-events...
May 21-25 – Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, Asheville, NC http://ridgecrestconferencecenter.org...
June 20-24 – SoCal Christian Writers Conference, La Mirada, CA http://socalcwc.com/
April 28-29 – Wordsowers Christian Writers Conference, Omaha, NE http://wordsowers.com/upcoming-events...
May 21-25 – Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, Asheville, NC http://ridgecrestconferencecenter.org...
June 20-24 – SoCal Christian Writers Conference, La Mirada, CA http://socalcwc.com/
