Heather Marie Adkins's Blog, page 3
March 19, 2017
Meet Haunted by Magic Authors N.D. Taylor & A. Payne!
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Haunted by Magic
Author Spotlight!
A. Payne & N. D. Taylor are a lovely, talented writing duo, so let’s learn a little more about them, shall we?
A. Payne loves to read and has always had a fondness for creative writing. She started with poetry and moved up to short stories, before eventually writing novels with her friend Nicole. She enjoys a whole range of genres and authors from Tolkien to James Rollins, and blames her love for reading on her mother, who introduced her to the worlds of Pern and Xanth at an early age. Alisha is a former Petty Officer of the United States Navy, which is where she met her wonderful husband. They have two children and now call Virginia their home.
N.D. Taylor enjoys writing as an outlet for her creativity. She is a video gamer by nature and enjoys watching movies and reading novels by Stephen King, Mary Higgins Clark, Scott Lynch, Tolkien and Michael Crichton among others. If it’s good, she’ll read it whether it’s suspense, thriller, fantasy, horror, or illustrated storytelling. She also enjoys the outdoors, jogging with her dog, riding horses, and going to renaissance fairs. Nick is currently working as a nurse and is the mother of two beautiful children ages eight and ten.
You can find out more about this writing pair and about their books here. Their book The Regent’s Gamble is included in the Haunted by Magic box set!
When wizard Addison Rhydderch goes out on a New Year’s Eve date, he doesn’t expect to end the night saving Manhattan from the undead. Afterward, he’s tasked with the duties of Regent – protector of the fragile balance between the mundane and supernatural realms. The job is easier said than done, even with the aid of Saraia, a half-dryad who’s as sultry as she is compassionate and strong. The attraction between them is immediate, powerful, and forbidden, but malevolent forces are threatening Saraia’s nature spirit kin.
Boundaries are tested as the new ruler and his companions are swept into a treacherous game of loyalty and betrayal. Addison’s office is hounded by the shadow of a dark magician who seemingly kills without rhyme or reason, a man who consorts with devils and always keeps one step ahead. Addison and Saraia, assisted by new allies, must face the demonic uprising while resisting the sparks flying between them.
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March 12, 2017
What Haunts Author Madisyn Ashmore
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Haunted by Magic Diaries:
Real life unexplainable events from the authors.
“When we bought our house, I noticed the old owners left a large collection of vintage dolls from the early 1900s in the backyard shed, in addition to other random stuff like old wigs, dentures, and manequin heads. I made it my business to sort out the junk from the treasure. I was planning on selling some of the nicer antique finds on Ebay. When it started to get dark, I locked up the shed and figured I’d take pictures of everything the next morning when there was better daylight.
The actual shed. Nope, that’s not creepy at all!
When I opened up the shed the next morning, I found several of the vintage porcelain dolls were in pieces and one of the oldest, most “used” porcelain dolls was completely missing. I couldn’t find the doll anywhere, even though I knew I left her laying on top of some of the old paintings in the shed. I never found the doll until four months later, I was up in the attic looking for Christmas lights. I found the doll sitting on an old box of Christmas ornaments that’d been forgotten in the attic by the old owners. I bolted from the attic and haven’t been back up there to this day!” – Madisyn Ashmore
Madisyn Ashmore is a bestselling contemporary and paranormal romance author. She is the winner of the BEA Writer’s Award, and is an active member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA).
She writes stories about alpha males and the strong women who love them. Her characters are billionaires, vampires, shifters, time-travelers, and small-town American good guys.
Sign up for her free book list at: http://www.madisyn.net
Madison is the author of Viper:
What turns me on? YOU.
Caleb Crane is a ripped and protective vampire who knows exactly what he wants. And what he wants is the sexy young lawyer, Abby March, who just showed up in Hollywood.
And then something shocking emerges from Abby’s past that changes everything. A secret so dark, she can’t hide from it or run away any longer. Will Caleb stay and fight for Abby, or will her shocking secret ruin everything?
Compulsively readable, Viper is a passionate, enthralling vampire romance and a must-read for paranormal fiction fans.
This is Book One in the Vampires of Hollywood series, and it’s also a great standalone alpha male romance with a HEA, No Cheating, and No Cliffhanger. This story is steamy, spicy, sexy, and hot. You’ve been warned…
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March 5, 2017
You need a little more mythology and romance in your life.
~ * ~
Prepare to unleash 22 haunting Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance adventures with the Haunted by Magic omnibus!
24 New York Times, USA Today, and International bestselling authors have come together to create a can’t-be-missed line up of 22 novels packed with demons, shifters, vampires, mages, witches, fae, alchemists, and more!
With over one million words of otherworldly fiction from the Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance genres, this boxed set collection will provide over one hundred hours of reading, including some BRAND NEW material!
From rune magic to steampunk to Norse mythology and a whole lot in between, these paranormal and fantasy pages will draw you in with a whisper and startle you with flare.
PRE-ORDER TODAY to find out how these magical stories will haunt your dreams and keep you glued to your reading tablet well into the witching hour.
Featuring Titles From…
NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Rebecca Hamilton
NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Margo Bond Collins
NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Catherine Vale
NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Tom Shutt writing with International bestselling author Danielle Annett
International bestselling author Lindsey R. Loucks
International bestselling author Heather Marie Adkins
International bestselling author D.N. Leo
International bestselling author Madisyn Ashmore
International bestselling author Tiffany Allee
International bestselling author A. Payne writing with International bestselling author N.D. Taylor
International bestselling author Jess Haines
International bestselling author N.M. Howell
International bestselling author Becca Fanning
International bestselling author Lily Thorn
International bestselling author Sharon Stevenson
Award-Winning author Elizabeth Kirke
International bestselling author J. S. Malcom
Award-Winning author Julie Morgan
International bestselling author M. H. Soars
International bestselling author Joanna Mazurkiewicz
International bestselling author Pamita Rao
International bestselling author Cate Farren
Secure your Limited Edition copy with one click today!
Haunted by Magic Diaries – What Haunts Author Heather Marie Adkins
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Haunted by Magic Diaries:
Real life unexplainable events from the authors.
“I’ve had a lot, actually. Let’s go with the one that holds the most meaning to me.
In 2008, my cousin – a United States Marine – died in a horrific car accident off-base. He was only 25 years old. I dreamed of him often in the ensuing years, and it always felt like a “visit” from him, usually corresponding to big events in my life.
Fast forward to 2014. It’s a Friday night. I haven’t dreamed of Cory in a long time. I was brushing my teeth by the light of my phone because my husband was asleep and had to work that night. I saw a face in the mirror over my shoulder, and it looked A LOT like Cory. That night, I dreamed of him, and it felt like a warning that something was coming, and a reassurance that he was there for me. When I woke up, my husband had sent me a picture of Cory’s Veteran’s Memorial glass block – I had not mentioned to my husband about seeing Cory’s face. We hadn’t talked about him at all recently. But something compelled him to visit the memorial while he was patrolling that night and send me that picture.
Two days later, my life imploded when I lost a parent to suicide.
I clung to Cory’s messages in the days that followed. I firmly believe he was preparing me and he was assuring me I wouldn’t be alone during the most traumatic period of my life.” – Heather Marie Adkins
Heather Marie Adkins loves magick and words, but not necessarily in that order. She is the author of numerous titles including Abigail (Witch Faery, Book One); Mother of All (Hedgewitch Mysteries, Book One); and Wiccan Wars, the first book in an occult bestselling trilogy. Heather lives in north-central Kentucky with the love of her life and a house full of cats, and works for a library when she’s not writing. Find out more about her at heathermarieadkins.com.
Heather is the author of Fragile Magick.
On Brigitta Holtzer’s 21st birthday, her father – one of the greatest witches of his generation – falls mysteriously, violently ill. To save him, Gitta must travel to the depths of hell accompanied only by a sexy, irritable vampire… named Scott.
To secure her father’s salvation, Gitta must risk her very soul – not to mention expose herself to the darkness of her father’s hidden world, and the inkiest corners of her own psyche. As the dark closes in on her, Gitta risks destroying both her father and her explosive connection with Scott.
Nothing remains unbroken in FRAGILE MAGICK.
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February 28, 2017
Haunted by Magic Diaries – What Haunts Author Cate Ferran
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Haunted by Magic Diaries:
Real life unexplainable events from the authors.
“My only experience with the paranormal is with the ghost of my cat jumping on my bed and going to sleep. I like to think he was looking out for me.” – Cate Farren
Cate is in her late thirties and lives in Sheffield, England. Follow Cate on Twitter!
Cate is the author of The Lucifer Pact.
When Ronnie Campbell was nine years old she made a pact with Lucifer to bring her parents back to life. He will return to collect what is owed him when she turns twenty-five.
Years pass. Ronnie is now a teacher for young witches, secretly training for the day Lucifer comes back. She’s prepared to fight him with every magic spell she has in her repertoire. But there are complications. A secret group called The Maleficium have become interested in her, and they will stop at nothing to get what they want, including sending assassins after her family. Can Ronnie stop Lucifer claiming her soul and the Maleficium from destroying her family or is she doomed to failure?
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February 22, 2017
Haunted by Magic Diaries – What Haunts Author Julie Morgan
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Haunted by Magic Diaries:
Real life unexplainable events from the authors.
“As a child, up until I was maybe 12 years old, at night someone would scream in my ear, then punch my back. It happened maybe once a week, maybe less, but it was often. The scream would wake me, the punch never left bruises, but it definitely scared me!” – Julie Morgan
More information about Julie can be found here: http://juliemorganbooks.com/
Julie is the author of Deadly Alchemy.
Winner 2015 sexiest steampunk book award
Vampires. Werewolves. An unlikely love story. How do you choose who lives and who dies?
Alchemist Amelia Rimos has just discovered the cure for the Undead. Being naïve and vulnerable, she does not realize the Undead have their targets set on her.
Happening upon a tall, dark, exotic man named Michel Gauthier, he saves her from becoming a victim, thrusting her into a game of cat and mouse.
Amelia realizes being an Alchemist is not in her best interest when she befriends him. Is Michel as sincere as he seems or does he have an ulterior motive?
When her life cannot be more complicated, John Hawthorne interjects himself into Amelia’s life and shifts it completely upside down. He informs Amelia she has the key to their survival. Soon, she will realize the Undead are not the only monsters in the world…
Amelia will find herself in a desperate stalemate.
She will be forced to choose between destroying her evidence and saving the man she’s grown to love or destroying over half the population of the world, including the love of her life with it.
Note: Deadly Alchemy will only be in version 1. Version 2 will contain a short story that will be a prequel to Deadly Alchemy.
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo
February 19, 2017
Prepare to be Haunted by Magic…
Prepare to unleash 22 haunting Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance adventures with the Haunted by Magic omnibus!
24 New York Times, USA Today, and International bestselling authors have come together to create a can’t-be-missed line up of 22 novels packed with demons, shifters, vampires, mages, witches, fae, alchemists, and more!
With over one million words of otherworldly fiction from the Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance genres, this boxed set collection will provide over one hundred hours of reading, including some BRAND NEW material!
From rune magic to steampunk to Norse mythology and a whole lot in between, these paranormal and fantasy pages will draw you in with a whisper and startle you with flare.
PreOrder Today to find out how these magical stories will haunt your dreams and keep you glued to your reading tablet well into the witching hour.
Only 99 cents!
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo
Featuring Titles From…
NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Rebecca Hamilton
NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Margo Bond Collins
NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Catherine Vale
NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Tom Shutt writing with International bestselling author Danielle Annett
International bestselling author Lindsey R. Loucks
International bestselling author Heather Marie Adkins
International bestselling author D.N. Leo
International bestselling author Madisyn Ashmore
International bestselling author Tiffany Allee
International bestselling author A. Payne writing with International bestselling author N.D. Taylor
International bestselling author Jess Haines
International bestselling author N.M. Howell
International bestselling author Becca Fanning
International bestselling author Lily Thorn
International bestselling author Sharon Stevenson
Award-Winning author Elizabeth Kirke
International bestselling author J. S. Malcom
Award-Winning author Julie Morgan
International bestselling author M. H. Soars
International bestselling author Joanna Mazurkiewicz
International bestselling author Pamita Rao
International bestselling author Cate Farren
Secure your Limited Edition copy with one click today!
*Estimated Total Page Count: 5,000+
Pre-order today for only 99 cents!
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo
January 22, 2017
Changing Tides
I start every year with these HUGE GRANDIOSE plans. I’m gonna finish X amount of books! (Usually an inhuman amount.) I plot out how many words I need to write a day! (Ungodly impossible amounts.) I set deadlines for each novel! (I mean, who can write and publish a novel every month if they’re NOT a full time writer?) Then I clap my hands together, laugh maniacally…
And don’t do shit.
Life – and my mental health – always have other plans beyond the goals I set. That’s how I’ve reached my 6th year as a published author and have yet to release a sequel for either of the books I published in the summer of 2011.
I’m only one person. One girl, diagnosed with severe clinical depression. One girl who sometimes can’t get out of bed in the morning because life feels too hard. One girl who runs out of energy working a day job and running a freelance formatting business and never has anything left for her own books.
I did it again this year. I even bought a calendar and mapped out my plan of attack. This year would be the year I began actually accomplishing things. I’d figure this writing career out. Find a way to make it lucrative, make it a real career!
Well, thwarted again. See, being employed part time at the day job in order to run my business and write was working great in the manner of time. I finished and published a book last year! Hurrah!
But money-wise? Not working. I maxed four credit cards buying food and gas, couldn’t pay medical bills from my gastro issues, and my husband’s car died and had to be replaced. By the end of the year, I was working a temporary second job and freaking out about how we would pay bills. We had lived too long outside our means, and the problem wasn’t my husband, who has a great full time job.
The problem was me.
So when a full time position opened at the library (and holy crap, I had some of the skills they desired!) I applied. In a dramatic turn of events, contrary to how nothing ever seems to go my way, I got the job.
Not only are our financial woes (future) history, but I really, really enjoy this job. It plays to the things I like, the things I’m good at – research, book news and info, graphic design, proofreading, brainstorming. I’m insecure AF, as usual, but I think I might actually work in this position. This might be the career I need.
But it’s my first time back to 40 hours a week in a long time. My time for CyberWitch work is severely limited. I’ve closed my business but for my longstanding clients – of whom I have quite a list, so they’ll still keep me hopping on the weekends.
Which means, yet again, my own writing will continue to suffer and be put off. It is what it is – keeping my marriage comfortable and secure is more important than my hobbies. My husband is my everything, so I have to make sure I’m doing my part to keep our life steady. Finances can wreck and ruin even the strongest relationships. So can cats, btw, but that’s another story.
I suppose ultimately, I’m just sorry. I’m sorry to the real, actual, existing fans I have out there who have waited so long for me to write more books. Those people who email and message me and comment on my blog and website. I’m sorry that I can’t seem to find a balance in my life that will support all the things I NEED with all the things I WANT.
I’m sorry to make plans to release long-awaited books, only for those dates to fly by with nary a word. That’s not fair to my fans. It’s also not fair to me to stress out over it all so much that I’ve ruined my mental and physical health.
I guess this is my public announcement that 2017 will NOT be my grand year as a writer. It sucks. I’ve thrown so much of myself, so much of my heart and energy, into the books I’ve released over the years. I had plans. Good plans. But like every other year, those plans won’t happen. In 2017, I have to focus on getting out of debt and figuring out a way to better our life. To do that, I can’t stress over writing. I can’t stress over the stories I haven’t told. I can’t cling to the idea that publishing can support me if I just hang in there long enough.
Five years is a long time to try to make something work without success. Now is a great time to be a writer – it’s not a great time to want to be a FULL TIME author. Thus, I adapt. I turn my focus to something I can enjoy that can actually support me. Because publishing books can’t do both, no matter how hard I try.
I’ll be writing here and there, slowly pecking away at that back log of books. Because I’m always – at heart – a writer. That’s what I do. That’s who I am. But I’m not rushing it anymore. I’m not stressing over it. I can’t afford to do that.
So I’m sorry to the fans who’ve stuck with me so long. I have to let you down to figure my life out.
December 9, 2016
New Release – FORGOTTEN
HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED THE OTHALA WITCH COLLECTION?
SIXTEEN SECTORS, SIXTEEN PARANORMAL DYSTOPIAN ROMANCES.
**You do not need to read these books in order. It is a collection of stories connected by a shared history. Each story stands alone.**
FORGOTTEN: Sector 14, The Othala Witch Collection
After the assassination of her parents by the Regent of Sector 14, Dajia Bray comes of age in the mundane world, living the life of a typical young woman – save that she practices her magick in secret while nursing her hatred of the man who stole her future.
The Regent’s heir, Elliott Pierce, lives in a golden palace of privilege stained by the shadow of his father’s dark rise to power. As the Regent’s days grow short, Eli is ill-prepared to assume both the title, and his family legacy of secret horrors.
As the Sector slips further into cold and darkness, Dajia and Eli are thrown together. Their otherworldly connection may be the last chance for their world to survive, or else prove its utter undoing.
Available now at AMAZON
COMING IN 2017…
I know a lot of you have been hanging in there, waiting on these sequels. I’m sorry my personal life has gotten in the way of my writing career. But now they’re coming!
The Taken, sequel to The Temple, January 10
Priestess Prophecies, sequel to Wiccan Wars, January 17
His Ordinary Kiss, sequel to His Haunting Kiss, February 14
Hell Above, sequel to Heaven Below, February 28
Logan, sequel to Abigail, March 7
Fragile Magick, a dark paranormal romance, mid-March
July 29, 2016
My Talent is a Skittish Wild Animal
I went for so long without writing that now, I have this very real fear I’ve lost my talent. Forgotten it in the wasteland of my depression, when even the things, people, places I loved drowned, buried beneath the weight of it.
It’s irrational, I know. I worked for Starbucks at twenty years old, and returned eight years later to find it was just as I’d left it. I knew how to make lattes as if the talent were remembered in the tendons and muscles of my arms and hands. Within a week of returning, I was just as quick and efficient as I had been nearly a decade before.
So I know talent isn’t something you can lose. It isn’t a threadbare connection easily cast aside by the strong winds of our lives. When you go back, that talent – whatever it may be – is there waiting for you.
Still, I find myself frozen sometimes. I’m writing again – have been for about two months now – but hesitantly. Cautiously. Like my talent is a skittish wild animal, frightened by my grasping fingers and cajoling expression. I’m before a dark forest, my scared talent my only salvation, and I’m so desperate to make that connection, to fit together with it like the puzzle pieces we were three years ago, because that is where my safety lies. I reach for it with no fear. It belongs to me. It is me. But inside, I am frightened. I’m frightened it will reject me, leaving me alone to the forest.
The anti-depressants have nixed my self loathing, but it’s been replaced by self doubt. Am I a real writer? Am I good enough? Will I find the rhythm again? The rhythm that used to drive me to type like a madwoman late into the night, when the rest of the world slept in reality but I existed solely in universes of my own creation?
Maybe I am good enough. I do know that I am dedicated to this path. It was my husband’s fear for me and my complete disassociation from writing that pushed me to seek help for my depression. Those two things I love most in the world – him and my art. I had to get better because I was losing the true loves of my life.
Now, I stare at the blinking cursor on a novel I’m writing, the first tentative steps of falling in love passing between us, and I am terrified. I want to do this beautiful story justice. Because high sales isn’t success, and I know that now in a way I never understood before.
MY success. The success I need, I seek, I grasp for – that success is finishing a book and feeling like I’ve closed a chapter on a grand love. A lover I gave everything to, so I could share it with the world.
I gently wrap my arms around this talent, this skittish, wild animal inside me that makes me a writer, and together we walk into the woods.
