Dean Murray's Blog, page 3

Another Bundle

Hi, Everyone.

I meant to have this up a few days ago, but just in case anyone missed the email announcing the release of the latest bundle I’ve spent so much time over the last few months putting together, here is the setup:

Strong, independent heroines join together with mysterious, dangerous heroes in explosive conflicts that are as much external as they are internal.

Hidden Realms has all of this along with mermaids, shape shifters, demigods, fae, demons and half-breeds with even darker inheritances. There’s love, both forbidden and true, and there’s all the sacrifice it takes to keep it. Regardless of what your preferred flavor of paranormal romance or urban fantasy actually is, there is something in this collection of 10 novels that will knock your socks off.

Hidden Realms contains multiple books that are otherwise only available for $2.99 or more, and Hidden Realms is available for FREE–but only for a limited time!

Torn by Dean Murray

Shape shifter Alec Graves has spent nearly a decade trying to keep his family from being drawn into open warfare with a larger pack. The new girl at school she seems to know things she shouldn’t about his shadowy world, and the more he gets to know her, the more mysterious she becomes.

Is she an unfortunate victim or bait designed to draw him into a fatal misstep?

Awaken by Skye Malone

Chloe had never been to the ocean, and now one simple vacation has altered her life forever. Her body is changing in bizarre ways, a mysterious boy is following her, and she’s become the target of killers too. Ancient and deadly secrets surround her and it’s going to take everything she has to discover the truth.

Beautiful Demons by Sarra Cannon

Harper moves to Peachville hoping for a fresh start, but when evidence ties her to the gruesome murder of a Demons cheerleader, she discovers this small town has a big secret.

Five by Christie Rich

Rayla Tate dreams of escaping her ordinary world for a bright future in the art world. Throw in an overbearing aunt who is keeping major secrets, a disgruntled best friend tagging along to college, and a bunch of fae warriors waiting in the wings to claim her the minute she leaves her sleepy little town, and Rayla’s dreams are about to shatter.

Bitterroot by Heather Hildenbrand

Charlie and Regan Vuk have secretly always wanted a sister. Now, they finally found each other, only to be forced into a head to head contest for pack alpha. A competition that threatens to destroy their new bond and 1 sister’s chance for true love. Bitterroot is a 3-part Young Adult Paranormal novella series with a dose of sibling rivalry… Who will you root for?

Bound by Duty by Stormy Smith

Amelia Bradbury is the last living Elder. She has power she can’t control, a prophecy dictating her fate, a betrothal she can’t stop and a heart lost to a human.

Ignited by Desni Dantone

When evil forces come for Kris Young, she is forced to go on the run with the young man she has long considered her guardian angel. As they search for the truth behind her role in the long-running battle between good and evil, they discover that nothing is as it seems, and nothing, least of all their hearts, are safe.

King of Ash and Bone by Melissa Wright

When monsters break through the veil between worlds, Mackenzie Scott devises a plan to stop them, whatever the cost. She finds an injured stranger who just might hold the key, but he’s not the helpless boy he appears to be. He’s one of them, and he’s got plans of his own.

Xoe by Sara C. Roethle

Xoe never thought she’d be the type of girl to contemplate murder. Of course, she never thought she’d be dealing with werewolves on top of her own strange, budding powers. Everything comes crashing down at once when her best friend’s life is put in peril, and Xoe will do whatever it takes to save her, even if it involves trusting a tall, handsome vampire with an infuriating attitude.

Meeting Destiny by Nancy Straight

Lauren is visited in her dreams for years by a stranger claiming to be her destiny. Destiny becomes reality when paths cross during a failed robbery attempt.

You can pick up your free copy of Hidden Realms at:

Amazon

Google Play

iBooks

Kobo

B&N

Smashwords

Giveaway Winner

Hi, Everyone.

I usually announce winners of my giveaways through my mailing list, but I’ve been sending out a ton of emails lately and I know I’ve got some more that need to go out pretty soon, so it seemed wisest to go ahead announce the winner of the $50 gift card (in association with the release of The Warlord) here on my blog.

I’m pleased to be able to announce that Cuyler C. from Alberta Canada was the winner this time around. I’ve just hit send, so the gift card should be arriving in his inbox momentarily.

Congrats, Cuyler–I hope you enjoy The Warlord as much or even more than you enjoyed The Society and The Destroyer!

–Dean

A Slew of Free Books!

Hello, everyone.

J.L. Hendricks, another writer who also happens to be a big fan of the Reflections series, has put together two big lists of free romance books and urban fantasy books that you can get through InstaFreebie.

I haven’t read the stuff on the list, but there are definitely some intriguing books there that I need to check out once I get all of these multi-author bundles done.

Here’s the romance list: http://jlhendricksauthor.com/2016/09/30/romance-on-instafreebie/

And here’s the urban fantasy list: http://jlhendricksauthor.com/2016/09/...

A big thanks to J.L. Hendricks for both mentioning a couple of my books in her posts and for the glowing endorsement/recommendation she included of Broken and the rest of the books in the Reflections Universe!

Dean

My Newest Multi-Author Bundle

Hello Everyone!

I have a ton of catching up to do now that i’m back from SLC Comic Con (more on that later), but I wanted to take a few moments and make sure that any of you who aren’t on my mailing list (you really ought to consider signing up) know that I have just finished putting together a multi-author bundle.

These are great ways to find a ton of new authors, especially since I did so much of the hard work wading through dozens of books looking for stuff that I thought you all would like.

Tastes and individual preferences being what they are, I suspect than not all of you will like everything in the bundle, but across so many excellent books there should be something for just about everyone and likely for most people there are multiple great books in here that you’ll be glad you had a chance to read.

So, please take a moment to grab a copy of your own from wherever it is that you normally get ebooks!

All the best,

Dean

Amazon

Itunes

B&N

Google Play

Kobo

Smashwords

Awesome Readers!

Hi, Everyone.

As many of you know, I’m at the Salt Lake City Comic Con this week. I’m exhausted and given that tomorrow is an earlier start even than today was, I should be in bed asleep already, but I met an awesome reader today (along with her mom and sister) who totally made my entire day.

We got pictures together and then it wasn’t until after the three of them had walked away that I realized that I should have asked to get a copy of the pictures as well (nobody but my daughters have ever been that excited about getting a picture with me before and I suspect even my girls are even starting to think that Dad isn’t as cool as he used to).

So apologies for not thinking to have someone get a picture of us with my phone while we were at it. If you’re going to be an the convention again tomorrow (and you happen to read this) I’d love for the three of you to stop by my table again, or failing that for you to email me a copy of the photos you took of us.

I’m meet a ton of really nice people over the last two days, but the three of you have definitely been the high-point of the experience so far!

All the best,

Dean

Giveaway and a Bunch of Free Books

Hi, Everyone.

This is super late notice and I’m so sorry. Comic Con prep was way more involved than I was expecting it to be and then once I got here and the con started up I was shocked at just how involved and draining everything was.

Here’s the next of those multi-author giveaways that I mentioned in my last email–apologies that I didn’t get the link posted until there was only 24 hours left.

http://smboyce.com/giveaway-paranormal-romance/

Some great books in the bundle there and a $65 gift card up for grabs.

Thanks,

Dean

Another Giveaway

Hi, Everyone.

Here’s the next in that sequence of giveaways that I emailed you about:

Giveaway – Epic Fantasy

There’s a $40 gift card up for grabs.

August 2016 Status Update

Hello, Everyone!

I can tell already that this is going to be a tougher status update to write than most of the previous ones have been. The last few months have been incredibly busy, but most of the work has been foundational in nature, which means it doesn’t feel like I have a ton to show for all of my effort.

New Baby!

Firstly, in case you missed the last email I sent out, we had our third child in June, and while he’s been a great sleeper, a good eater, and Katie has been a trooper, there has been some unavoidable disruption to my work schedule. We’re all glad to have him, and I knew going into things that there would be a disruption there for me this summer, but I ended up being much busier than expected on the marketing side of things, which meant that the disruption (from the writing side of things) has been a lot more extensive and lasted a lot longer than I’d been planning on.

Editing:

On the editing side of things, there are a few more moving pieces than I’m used to (for reasons which will become clear as I release my next few books), which means that the editing is starting to stack up. Currently I’ve got Dystopian #3 (The Warlord) back from my editors and out to my advance readers.

I haven’t heard back from all of my advance readers yet, and I think I’ve still got a few edits from those that I have heard back from that I need to get into the current master file, but if I can shake loose a solid half day or so to dedicate to finishing off the edits and formatting the various formats that the retailers need, I’ll be able to get The Warlord off to my Launch Team, at which point it will be 6 weeks or so from going live.

The Founder (Dystopian #4) has been through the first few rounds of edits, including the edits from RJ, which means it just needs to go through the last round of edits and then it can go out to my advance readers. Under normal circumstances I would say it was 3 months from going live. With the current backlog of work on the marketing side of things (more on that below), I can’t say for sure how long we’re actually going to be looking at, but it’s a safe bet at this point that it will be more than 3 months.

The Outsider (Dystopian #5) has been through my editing pass and has been gone through by my proofer, which means that I just need to get her fixes into my master file and then it will be ready for Katie to read it. Under normal circumanstances she would be chomping at the bit for me to get through my edits so that she could get started on the book (especially given the way that The Founder ends), but things have been so busy here that I’ve heard barely a peep out of her regarding the fact that I haven’t finished editing her book.

A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Giveaway

Hi, Everyone.

I really need to do another status update, and probably an email, but if you’re in the mood for some Fantasy or Science Fiction books, here’s a chance to pick up a bunch for free and enter to win a $35 Amazon gift card while you wait to hear what else is going on with the Murray household!

http://smboyce.com/giveaway-scififantasy/

A Bit of Art

I’ve got about a million things to do, and that doesn’t count the impending arrival of baby #3 or a ground-shaking realization that one of my fellow authors put me onto late last night, but I just had to stop for a second and show you all a bit of art that Katie made a little while ago.

We’ve been struggling to find a scene break graphic that would work for the last three series of books that we haven’t managed to get squared away in print, and this was one of the options that she came back with. I suspect that it’s not going to work because of limitations with our printer, but I think it’s absolutely stunning.

As with most of what we do, it’s stock art that she’s modified, but I say that only to give credit to whatever artist did the original bit that we purchased so that Katie could work her magic, not to discount Katie’s talent or hard work. I think that her changes have made the art even better, and it reminds me once again just how impressed I am with what she does.

Truth be told, I’m more than a little jealous sometimes that she works in a medium that can have such an immediate impact. It took me all of a tenth of a second to know that I loved these wings!