Kit Rocha's Blog, page 4

Ana & Deacon are almost here!

Ana has trained most of her life to achieve one goal: to prove that anything men can do, she can do better. Now she’s Sector One’s first female Rider, and being the best is the only way to ensure she won’t be its last. Distractions aren’t allowed–especially not her painful attraction to the reserved but demanding leader whose stern, grumpy demeanor has already gotten into her head.

Deacon has spent the last twenty years trying to atone for his past, but the blood he spilled as a mercenary and assassin will never wash away entirely. If his Riders knew the extent of his sins, he’d lose their trust and respect. It’s easier to keep them all at arm’s length, especially Ana. But his newest recruit’s stubbornness is starting to crack his defenses.

And their sparring matches are driving him wild.

The passion sparking between them can’t be denied, but neither can the vengeance barreling toward Deacon. When his old squad comes back to punish him for his betrayal, Ana and the Riders are squarely in the line of fire. The only way to save his people may be to make the ultimate sacrifice.

But first, he has to convince Ana not to follow him straight into hell.

Available August 29th

Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble

Behold…cover #4!

We are finishing up the last few chapters of Deacon this week, so now feels like a good time to talk about what happens next! And we are so excited to reveal the fourth cover in Gideon’s Riders. Gene Mollica has knocked it out of the park on all of these covers, but I really feel like this one is something special.

The models brought it and my vague instructions were something along the lines of “I want it soft and romantic and cherry blossoms maybe but also post-apocalyptic still” and you gotta admit… those are some pretty tough instructions to nail. Luckily, Gene is an art wizard.

You can confirm exactly who those characters are on the book page (sorry, these titles are a little spoilery in and of themselves) but I gotta say, we can. not. wait. to write this book. (But after we write Ivan. Because we also can. not. wait. to write that one. God, this job is sweet.)

In the meantime, if you haven’t started the series, grab Ashwin ASAP! Deacon comes out on August 29th and you’ll want to be ready. Ana and Deacon are dangerous, badass, totally unstoppable and also love to have smoking hot sex. Athletic sex maybe even.

Episode 6: Sorting Hats, Sorting Hats, and More Sorting Hats

Welcome back to our Not-a-Podcast, where Bree & Donna chat about the writing & self-publishing life and answer questions that make us spin wildly off-topic. (Previous episodes!) This week comes with bonus chickens! Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see all about Donna’s chickens and her new chicken coop.

This week’s episode is a little bit laser-focused. And also long. It includes:

Us sorting all of the O’Kanes into Harry Potter houses.
No really, all of them.
Sometimes we don’t agree about it, too.
This is like an hour of Sorting Hat hijinks, guys.
Okay, it also starts with talk about our characterization process.
How we use AUs and viginttes to develop characters.
How that process secretly started the O’Kanes.
Our Virtual Signing is starting!

Relevant links:

The Instigating Tweet
The sorting matrix post.
The tumblr post that is totally Nessa.
The Virtual Signing!
Bree’s twitter: @mostlybree
Donna’s twitter: @totallydonna
Our website: kitrocha.com

Episode 5: Burnout, Baby Chickens, and Brutal Honesty

Welcome back to our Not-a-Podcast, where Bree & Donna chat about the writing & self-publishing life and answer questions that make us spin wildly off-topic. (Previous episodes!) This week comes with bonus chickens! Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see all about Donna’s chickens and her new chicken coop.

This week’s episode contains chatter about, but not limited to:

Baby Chickens (Legal Purchase Requirements)
Burnout. (Oh noooo)
Refilling the Well
The pressure we put on ourselves.
Please don’t get your tattoo lasered off. Sob.
Tired Brains & TV Shows We Binged
The Law of Diminishing Returns
Why it’s okay to not write every day.
Why sometimes you have to write anyway.
Brutal honesty about how you get work done.
How we learn to tell stories.

Relevant links:

Travelers
Into the Badlands
Selfie
Stephen King’s On Writing
Bree’s twitter: @mostlybree
Donna’s twitter: @totallydonna
Our website: kitrocha.com

Donna’s Chickens!

Episode 4: Sequel Bait, Balls of Twine, and Werewolves on the Oregon Trail

Welcome back to our Not-a-Podcast, where Bree & Donna chat about the writing & self-publishing life and answer questions that make us spin wildly off-topic. (Previous episodes!)

This week’s episode contains chatter about, but not limited to:

Bree Loves Spreadsheets. Donna Hates Spreadsheets.
Plotting vs Pantsing vs Bothing
Why Co-Writing means being constantly surprised!
Some people write multiple drafts. We don’t. It’s okay!
Where do you get your ideas?
The Year We Went Crazy (2011)
The Most Marketable Book Of Your Heart
The Best Place to Market Your (Kissing) Book
Story vs Plot
The Revisions That Almost Killed Us

Relevant links:

I’ll Never Write This – Donna’s spotify playlist.
Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes
Bree’s twitter: @mostlybree
Donna’s twitter: @totallydonna
Our website: kitrocha.com

Episode 3: Booty-Call Boots, Chicken Jailbreaks, and the Donner Party

Welcome back to our Not-a-Podcast, where Bree & Donna chat about the writing & self-publishing life and answer questions that make us spin wildly off-topic. (Previous episodes!)

This week’s episode contains chatter about, but not limited to:

Developing characters across a long series.
Why we ended our long-running (still successful) series.
Writing sex scenes. Donna makes a really dirty metaphor about a vase & we discuss rule #1: always deal with the boots first. Also, chicken jailbreaks.
How we split up characters and the unique challenges of co-writing romances with more than two protagonists.
Character development as a conscious vs unconscious process. (Case studies: Grace & Nessa!)

Reader/listener questions answered:

Are any of your characters based on anyone?
Does a character change throughout the story?
What type of research have you had to do?
Is Eden the only city left?
Where IS Eden anyway?
When does Gideon get a book?

Relevant links:

How to ADHD — a great youtube channel even if you don’t have ADHD. (Check out the Bullet Journal tutorial!)
The Solar Storm of 1859
Soap Queen: Bree’s One-Stop-Shop for Soap research obsession

Episode 2: Alien Spore, X-Men, and Polished Manuscripts

Welcome back to our Not a Podcast, your weekly-ish peek behind the curtain into the chaotic book-creating magic that is Kit Rocha. Bree & Donna will be answering questions, discussing our process, being really real and honest about the joys and hardships of self-publishing, and mostly admitting the truth: nobody knows what’s going on. Especially not us. Expect this to be barely edited, full of tangents and sometimes inadvisably authentic.

This is Bree & Donna, unfiltered. Click play below to listen in your browser, or scroll down for our iTunes link. (More links coming as we grapple with the reality that this actually just happened.)

This week’s episode includes, but is not limited to:

Chatter about two-party consent phone recording.
Texting Alisha Rai about alien spore.
Diego Luna in Star Wars.
Our Origin Story: how Wolverine and drama over first person POV fanfic brought us together.
Bree unplugs her microphone. And doesn’t edit it out.

Listener/reader questions tackled this week:

Do you live near each other?
How do you split up publication tasks?
How Donna creates polished manuscripts.
Bree’s basic self-pub production workflow.
Advice for new authors seeking to self-publish.
Why we chose solar flares as our apocalypse.

Relevant Links:

The Solar Superstorm of 2012
Rogue One actually comes out March 24th, Bree’s gonna have to wait 9 days.

 

Nobody Knows What’s Going On: Episode One

So. This is not a podcast. I mean, it is in that it’s shaped like a podcast and we’re deploying it (kind of?) like a podcast, but podcast sounds Official and Formal and very intimidating to two strung-out cowriters who are just trying to make it through the current dystopia so they can write books about their future apocalypse. So we’re not calling it a podcast.

We are calling it…a chat. A conversation. Your very own peek behind the curtain into the chaotic book-creating magic that is Kit Rocha. Bree & Donna will be answering questions, discussing our process, being really real and honest about the joys and hardships of self-publishing, and mostly admitting the truth: nobody knows what’s going on. Especially not us. Expect this to be barely edited, full of tangents and sometimes inadvisably authentic.

This is Bree & Donna, unfiltered. Click play below to listen in your browser, or scroll down for our iTunes link. (More links coming as we grapple with the reality that this actually just happened.)

In this first not-episode, we figure out how skype recording works. Then we discuss exciting topics such as:

Terrible and wonderful snack foods.
Donna’s trip to Selma for the 52nd Bridge Crossing Jubilee.
Post-apocalyptic grooming. (Who in Sector Four cuts their own hair?)
The basics of how we split up our writing.
Reader question: Who is the hardest character you’ve ever written?

Relevant links:

The Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee: http://www.selma50.com/
Highly Dubious Twizzlers: http://amzn.to/2mYLMUc
Horizon Zero Dawn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon_Zero_Dawn

Special thanks to Sarah Wendell at Smart Bitches Trashy Books who was a huge cheerleader and walked Bree through all the software required. If this is enjoyable for you, thank her! If you feel tormented, blame us. We’re the ones who can’t stop talking about twizzlers.

 

Welcome to Sector One…

Gideon’s Riders is here!

Eeeeeeeeeek!

After more than a year of plotting and planning, we’ve finally reached the big day. Ashwin, book #1 in the new series, is out in the wild. Soon you guys will meet all the characters who have been consuming our thoughts, and hopefully fall in love with them like we have.  (And of course, O’Kane fans will get a chance to catch up with some old friends–Cruz, Ace and Rachel specifically, in this book.)

Ashwin

Gideon’s Riders, Book One

Lieutenant Ashwin Malhotra is a Makhai soldier—genetically engineered to be cold, ruthless. Unfeeling. His commanding officers consider him the perfect operative, and they’re right. Now, he has a simple mission: to infiltrate Gideon’s Riders, the infamous sect of holy warriors that protects the people of Sector One.

He’s never failed to execute an objective, but there’s one thing he didn’t anticipate—running into Dr. Kora Bellamy, the only woman to ever break through his icy exterior.

When Kora fled her life as a military doctor for the Makhai Project, all she wanted was peace—a quiet life where she could heal the sick and injured.  The royal Rios family welcomed her like a sister, but she could never forget Ashwin. His sudden reappearance is a second chance—if she can manage to touch his heart.

When the simmering tension between them finally ignites, Kora doesn’t realize she’s playing with fire. Because she’s not just falling in love with a man who may not be able to love her back. Ashwin has too many secrets—and one of them could destroy her.

Get the ebook now: Amazon US, Amazon UK, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Amazon CA, Amazon AUS, Amazon DE

The end is here! And so is a new beginning.

Here we are! There’s no expressing how emotional it is to write the following words, so I guess I’ll just say them: the final Beyond novel is available now! Whew!

Thank you to all of you who have come along on this adventure. To everyone who has read the books, whether you picked the first one up in 2012 or yesterday. You are all Broken Circle VIPs, and your first drink will always be on us.

O’Kane for Life.

She’s the heart of O’Kane liquor.

For years, Nessa has been focused on work. She keeps the whiskey—and the money—flowing, and life is sweet. Sure, she’s tired of being everyone’s baby sister, and she longs for a man who can stand up to her overprotective O’Kane brothers. But she never thought she’d meet him in the middle of a war.

He’s the brains of the revolution.

War is all Ryder knows. He was raised with one goal: to ensure the sectors’ successful rebellion against Eden. His father and his mentor both died for freedom, and nothing will stop him from securing their legacies with victory. He doesn’t have time for distractions—especially beautiful, impulsive ones like Nessa.

Opposites don’t just attract, they combust. Together, Nessa and Ryder have a chance for something more than the lives they’ve always known. But this is war—deadly, bloody war—and the only way to happily-ever-after is straight through Eden.

Purchase your copy today:

Amazon, iBooks, B&N, Kobo, Google, All Romance Ebooks

 

The end of the Beyond series may be here, but that doesn’t mean we’re leaving the sectors. While the O’Kanes enjoy some hard-earned rest and relaxation, Gideon Rios and his people are facing a brave new world. And two long-time Beyond series characters are about to discover that the answers they’ve been looking for might have been in Sector One all along.

(Ashwin & Kora. It’s Ashwin & Kora, guys.)

Ashwin

Gideon’s Riders #1

Follow Ashwin and Kora to Sector One, where the man who’s not supposed to feel finds himself face-to-face with the one woman who has always made him feel too much.

It’s the ultimate battle between intellect and passion. Between loyalty and treason.

Between logic and love.

Available March 7th, 2017

Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

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