S.K. Falls's Blog, page 5
January 20, 2014
Regret, episode 2 of season 3, is here!
Regret, episode 2 of season 3 of Fevered Souls, is out now! My heart was pounding as I wrote the last three chapters of this one…you guys will know it when you see it! 
I hope you enjoy this one–I’m hard at work on episode 3. Yay! I love spending time in this universe, and it means so much to me that you do, too.
Big hugs,
Sandhya
January 8, 2014
Change (Fevered Souls Season 3, Ep. 1) is here!
Change, episode 1 of Season 3 of Fevered Souls, is heeeere! Since so many lovely readers contacted me to tell me they NEEDED to know what was going to happen next, I decided to release the first episode sooner than I’d originally planned. Of course, the Fabulous Fevered Fanatics got to hear about the release first, and three of them even won a free copy! Are you a member yet?
Here’s what Change is about:
Season 3 picks up immediately after the stunning season 2 finale. Cara travels to New Orleans with Charlotte, intent on reuniting with her parents. But there’s a major surprise in store for her when she arrives, and the truth about her past sends her reeling. Now, Cara must escape the Alpha demoness’s clutches and plan her next move…
I hope you guys enjoy it!
January 3, 2014
2014 will be EPIC.
Hi, guys!
I’m mega-awesome-super-psyched about 2014. I really am. And that’s saying a lot because 2013 was an amazing year. Last year, I:
1. Saw World of Shell and Bone really resonate with readers and land on several Amazon bestselling lists. Which meant I got lots of reader email about how you guys love my twisted mind and some hate mail about the sequel taking FOREVAH to come out. 
2. Finally released that darn sequel! Got more reader love! Got some love from USA Today! Hoorayyyyy!
3. Worked my author muscles by writing in serial format about hot, sizzling (literally!) demons. Saw this also resonate with readers! I
See how fantabulous 2013 was? So, on the surface, it may seem as though 2014 has some major shoes to fill. But no worries! I’ve got this, yo! See below for the things I’m cooking up in my mad scientist’s laboratory writing cave this year.
1. Seasons 3, 4, and 5 of Fevered Souls to finish up Dax and Cara’s story! Many major surprises (and satisfying endings) coming soon!
2. A spin-off series based on the Fevered Souls universe with different characters. This new series will be (a) full-length novels (b) set in everyone’s favorite creepy/magical town, Eden and (c) feature different supernatural creatures! (Hint: Some of them may be furry. Also, second hint: There may be time travel involved.)
3. Contemporary fiction awesomeness! For those of you who’ve asked about Secret for a Song, there will be more stories in that vein!
Can you stand all that awesomeness?? It’s going to be a faaabulous year, darlings, simply faaaabulous! We shall make it so! *clinks champagne glass*
What are you most looking forward to about 2014? Any amazing projects/news to share?
December 23, 2013
A Mention in USA Today!
USA Today has a Happy Ever After blog that features romances in various genres. They picked Land of Masks and Moonlight as one of their featured books for the sci-fi category! I can hardly believe it. Here’s a screenshot because I’m super-nerdy like that. Thank you, fantabulous readers, for making this happen! Every bit of recognition just makes me grin, and this was beyond amazing. I heart you forever!
December 20, 2013
Wolfsbane by Ash Krafton: Cover Reveal!
Find the other Books of the Demimonde at
AMAZON | B&N | GOODREADS | PINK NARC
Sometimes, when life gives you lemons, all you can do is try to avoid paper cuts.
Since becoming oracle to the demivampire two years ago, advice columnist Sophie has battled werewolves and survived a vampire attack (or two). However, not only was she powerless to save her lover Marek when he slipped to the brink of evolution, she also witnessed his transformation into a falcon, the symbol of Horus United.
Sophie’s quest to save Marek is further complicated when rock star Dierk Adeluf – who also happens to be the king of the Werekind – invites her backstage after a concert. Just when it seems she will find respite from heartache, Sophie is bitten by a werewolf and Dierk decides she is destined to be his queen.
Sophie is caught between the demivamps she loves and the Were who commands her to love him. Throw in his jealous wanna-be girlfriend—a true bitch if ever there was one—and an ambush by witches, and there you have the big mess that Sophie calls her life. And, hello? Her soul mate is still a bird.
She’s supposed to be the girl with all the answers, but Sophie needs more than a little advice–she needs divine intervention.
Forthcoming Spring 2014 via Pink Narcissus Press
About Ash Krafton
Ash Krafton is a writer of all things spec fic. She believes spectacular endings make the best beginnings… Why not? One billion black holes can’t be wrong.
Her first novel BLEEDING HEARTS: Book One of the Demimonde is available through Pink Narcissus Press. The manuscript earned finalist distinction in several Romance Writers of America 2011 competitions and has earned several other awards. The follow-up BLOOD RUSH (Demimonde #2) was published in 2013 and the third installment WOLF’S BANE (Demimonde #3) is expected mid-2014.
December 12, 2013
Enjoy the Glimpsing Stars series? Other dystopian faves!
Hey guys,
So, if you’ve read World of Shell and Bone and Land of Masks and Moonlight, it’s probably a safe bet to say you like the dystopian genre, right? Are you jonesin’ for more awesome dystopian books to sink your teeth into? Here are a couple of recent releases I think you might like!
1. The Brilliant Darkness series by A.G. Henley
About The Scourge:
Seventeen-year-old Groundling, Fennel, is Sightless. She’s never been able to see her lush forest home, but she knows its secrets.
She knows how the shadows shift when she passes under a canopy of trees. She knows how to hide in the cool, damp caves when the Scourge comes. She knows how devious and arrogant the Groundlings’ tree-dwelling neighbors, the Lofties, can be. And she’s always known this day would come—the day she faces the Scourge alone.
A tale of star-crossed lovers, strange creatures, and secretive, feuding factions, THE SCOURGE introduces readers to a rich and exciting new world where nothing is as it seems.
Amazon | Goodreads
2. The Breeders series by Katie French
About The Breeders:
Sixteen-year-old Riley Meemick is one of the world’s last free girls. When Riley was born, her mother escaped the Breeders, the group of doctors using cruel experiments to bolster the dwindling human race. Her parents do everything possible to keep her from their clutches– moving from one desolate farm after another to escape the Breeders’ long reach. The Breeders control everything- the local war lords, the remaining factories, the fuel. They have unchecked power in this lawless society. And they’re hunting Riley.When the local Sheriff abducts the adult members of her family and hands her mother over to the Breeders, Riley and her eight-year-old brother, Ethan, hiding in a shelter, are left to starve. Then Clay arrives, the handsome gunslinger who seems determined to help to make up for past sins. The problem is Clay thinks Riley is a bender– a genderless mutation, neither male nor female. As Riley’s affection for Clay grows she wonders can she trust Clay with her secret and risk her freedom?The three embark on a journey across the scarred remains of New Mexico– escaping the Riders who use human sacrifice to appease their Good Mother, various men scrambling for luck, and a deranged lone survivor of a plague. When Riley is shot and forced into the Breeder’s hospital, she learns the horrible fate of her mother—a fate she’ll share unless she can find a way out.
3. The daynight series by Megan Thomason
About daynight:
Meet The Second Chance Institute (SCI): Earth’s benevolent non-profit by day, Thera’s totalitarian regime by night. Their motto: Because Everyone Deserves a Second Chance at Life(TM). Reality: the SCI subjects Second Chancers to strict controls and politically motivated science experiments like Cleaving–forced lifetime union between two people who have sex. Punishment for disobeying SCI edicts? Immediate Exile or death.
Meet Kira Donovan. Fiercely loyal, overly optimistic, and ensnared by the promise of a full-ride college scholarship, Kira signs the SCI Recruit contract to escape memories of a tragedy that left her boyfriend and friends dead.
Meet Blake Sundry. Bitter about being raised in Exile and his mother’s death, Blake’s been trained to infiltrate and destroy the SCI. Current barrier to success? His Recruit partner–Miss Goody Two Shoes Kira Donovan.
Meet Ethan Darcton. Born with a defective heart and resulting inferiority complex, Ethan’s forced to do his SCI elite family’s bidding. Cleave-worthy Kira Donovan catches his eye, but the presiding powers give defect-free Blake Sundry first dibs.
Full of competing agendas, romantic entanglements, humor, twists and turns, daynight is Megan Thomason’s debut young adult dystopian novel and first in the daynight series.
4. The Contributor series by Nicole Ciacchella
About Contributor
When the Great Famine threatened the existence of mankind, the Creators saved humanity. Humanity has been their loyal subject ever since.This history has been ingrained in seventeen-year-old Dara Morrow since her first day of Creator-sponsored school. Grateful for the life-giving necessities her Creator provides, Dara is thrilled to be one of three students chosen for an elite, year-long apprenticeship program. Now is her chance to prove herself a devoted Contributor.But Dara’s competition is ruthless and will stop at nothing to win the competition. Worse yet, her exacting master has little patience for her.Then Dara’s mother is seriously injured, and Dara realizes the price of being a Contributor: once you’ve outlived your usefulness, you’re discarded. Can Dara learn to manipulate the system to save not only herself, but everyone she loves?
Infiltrator, book 2, is coming December 20, 2013!
5. The Internal Defense series by Zoe Cannon
About The Torturer’s Daughter
When her best friend Heather calls in the middle of the night, Becca Dalcourt assumes it’s the usual drama. Wrong. Heather’s parents have been arrested as dissidents – and Becca’s mother, the dystopian regime’s most infamous torturer, has already executed them for their crimes against the state.To stop Heather from getting herself killed trying to prove her parents’ innocence, Becca hunts for proof of their guilt. She doesn’t expect to find evidence that leaves her questioning everything she thought she knew about the dissidents… and about her mother.When she risks her life to save a dissident, she learns her mother isn’t the only one with secrets – and the plot she uncovers will threaten the lives of the people she loves most. For Becca, it’s no longer just a choice between risking execution and ignoring the regime’s crimes; she has to decide whose life to save and whose to sacrifice.It’s easy to be a hero when you can save the world, but what about when all you can do is choose how you live in it? THE TORTURER’S DAUGHTER is a story about ordinary life amidst the realities of living under an oppressive regime… and the extraordinary courage it takes to do what’s right in a world gone wrong.
6. The Frost series by Kate Avery Ellison
About Frost
In the icy, monster-plagued world of the Frost, compassion might get a person killed, and Lia Weaver knows this better than anyone. After the monsters kill her parents, she must keep the family farm running or risk losing her siblings to reassignment by the village Elders. With dangers on all sides, she can’t afford to let her emotions lead her astray. But when her sister finds a fugitive bleeding to death in the forest, a young man from beyond the Frost named Gabe, Lia does the unthinkable. She saves his life. Giving shelter to the fugitive could get her in trouble. The Elders have always described the advanced society of people beyond the Frost, the “Farthers,” as ruthless and cruel. Lia is startled to find that Gabe is empathetic and intelligent-and handsome. And she might even be falling for him. But time is running out. The monsters in the forest are growing bold and restless. The village leader is starting to ask questions. Farther soldiers are searching for Gabe. Is compassion-and love-worth the risk? Finally, when a startling discovery challenges everything she thought was true about her life, Lia realizes exactly what she must do.
December 9, 2013
Land of Masks and Moonlight: Release Day!
Only $2.99 till 11:59 PM on December 10th! (After that, it’ll be $3.99.)
Ermahgerd, guys! Land of Masks and Moonlight is finally heeeeere! All of my sweat and tears and all of your waiting and waiting (and waiting) is finally going to pay off! Today you get to see what adventures Vika goes on, and how everything unfurls for her and some other special people. I’m offering it for a dollar off until tomorrow at midnight…just a gift for the readers who want to read it most. This book would not have happened without you–thank you!
I can’t waiiiiit to hear what you think!
Also, World of Shell and Bone is going on a $0.99 sale for a few days, until December 12th. Know any friends or family who might enjoy the series? I’d so appreciate it if you could tell them!
So, who wants to join me in a launch day celebration? I brought cupcakes and wine! *slaps on party hat*
November 29, 2013
The Believers (Breeders, Book 2) by Katie French: Release Day!
Hey guys!
Today I’m uber-excited to tell you about my dear friend, Katie French, who’s releasing the sequel to her bestselling dystopian, The Breeders (which, ahem, is only $0.99 right now)! The Believers promises to be just as good, if not better, and I’ve got my copy.
I know, I know, you want to know what the book’s about. Here you go! And check out that atmospheric cover–WOW.
Buy on Amazon | Add on Goodreads
About The Believers:
They’ve escaped the Breeders, yet their journey has just begun.
Riley and Clay are once again on the run from the Breeders. The group may have escaped the deranged breeding experiments at the hospital, but as one of the world’s last free women, Riley can never be safe. On the road back home, Riley and her crew are captured by a band of savage men. Their destination: the Citadel, run by a bizarre religious prophet named the Messiah. Somehow he knows their secrets. He wants them to join his group of Believers, but only if they’ll drink the baptismal water and swear allegiance.
The problem is there’s something wrong with the water. Something wrong with the people. And there’s human moaning coming from the bottom of a dark crevasse that no one wants to talk about. If they can’t figure out what’s going on, Riley and everyone she loves could become a Believer forever.
Doesn’t that sound amazeballs?? As if that’s not enough, you can hop on over to her blog and enter to win signed copies of both The Breeders and The Believers paperbacks, as well as a $25 Amazon gift card!
About Katie French:
I am a former English teacher and current High School Counselor. I’ve been writing since second grade and penned my first attempt at a novel at the age of thirteen. Besides writing and my job, my family comes first.
I am represented by Amanda Luedeke of MacGregor Literary.
You can find me at www.katiefrenchbooks.com.
November 9, 2013
Exciting news and ch-ch-changes!
Hey guys!
I’m so, so excited to let you all know that I am now represented by a literary agent. And not just any literary agent, but the talented, enthusiastic Thao Le from the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency! Now, if you’re not a writer, you might be wondering what the heck I’m talking about. What it means is that I now have professional support for my writing career. As Thao says, feel free to think of her as a “professional fan girl.” (If you’re a writer and want to read more about my journey to finding an agent who supports hybrid authors, please click here. Otherwise, keep reading!)
Also, you may have noticed that Secret for a Song is no longer showcased on this website, nor is it available on Amazon and the other retailers. That’s because I’m working with Thao to re-brand the book. It will be re-released in the future with a new cover and all sorts of awesomeness! I’m so happy about this because I think it’ll help Saylor and the rest of the crew get a lot more exposure than they have in the past.
And the last piece of good news? World of Shell and Bone will be released as an audiobook soon! I’m proofing the final files right now, and I have to say, the narrator Christina Kelley is absolutely jaw-droppingly amazing as Vika. I cannot wait for you guys to hear it! I’m hard at work on the edits for Land of Masks and Moonlight (coming December 2013!) so this is going to be a fabulous contribution to the Glimpsing Stars series.
I hope all of your weekends are going just as fabulously as mine! Thank you so much for reading and for supporting me so far in my career!
My Indie Journey to a Literary Agent
Hey, writer friends!
So, if you’re like me, you like to research all the avenues to publication and gaining a readership. It’s great that we have so many options now, but it can also be a little overwhelming. I thought it might be helpful for you to read about how I found my agent.
I self-published my dystopian, World of Shell and Bone, in December 2012. In January 2013, it went on to hit Amazon bestselling lists (ranking in the 200s in the entire store at one point). That was such an amazing thing. I have to say, though, I was a bit clueless about how to handle the success. I’d been expecting it to sell a few copies, but nothing like that. When readers began to ask for a sequel, I panicked. I definitely didn’t have one ready to go, and I needed time to plot and write it. I was too focused on what everyone would think of the sequel, so I decided to take a break and write my next novel instead. This one was a completely different genre–realistic NA fiction (social issues)–and needless to say, not a lot of my sci-fi/dystopian readers wanted to follow me there. Though the novel got great reviews by those who read it, it just wasn’t being seen. It wasn’t a hot genre like my dystopian was at the time I released it, and the cover was, unbeknownst to me, screaming romance. The book is most definitely not an NA romance.
So sales began to dip. I was disappointed, but I reminded myself that this is the whole thing with a creative career. Unless you’re willing to write what the hottest trend is, sales will fluctuate, sometimes wildly. I’d heard other indies speak on the matter, so I was prepared. It still stung, though, because I LOVED my realistic novel. My craft had grown in leaps and bounds between the two books, and I knew people would love it…if only they could find it.
Now I’d never been one for either 100% indie or 100% traditional publication. I wanted to go where the readers were–that was my only criteria. I was in this state of mind when, in late August 2013, I got an email from a literary agent. She said she’d found my realistic book because it had been featured on a blog (see why I love book bloggers so much??). She’d bought a copy and read it because the premise was enticing. She loved it and wanted to talk more.
My jaw dropped. I remember calling my husband over to ask him to read the email. We both sat there, staring, wondering what to do in this situation. Having a literary agent contact me was a goal in my five-year plan. It had come to fruition nine months after I self-published World of Shell and Bone. Once again, I was completely unprepared. But that was okay, because Thao seemed to know how overwhelming it all was.
The great thing about my agent is that she’s enthusiastic and supportive. She sees my career as that–my career. She understands that she is there in a supportive role, as a business partner and sounding board (and fabulous editor). My main issue was that I’d find an agent who looked down her nose at self-publishing or would try to convince me never to self-publish again. That’s definitely not been the case with Thao. She’s completely open to every facet of publication, and so willing to listen to what I want. I went with my gut after speaking with her because I have a good sense of people, and every time we spoke, I only got more confident that she and I would work well together. She negotiated the agency’s contract terms to be more amenable to me, which was a huge leap of faith.
Hugh Howey, indie extraordinaire, says that every writer in this day and age should self-publish first to gain a readership, and, as their craft grows, wait for an agent to find them. I listened to his advice because it made sense to me, and it has definitely worked in my favor. If I had queried World of Shell and Bone, it probably still wouldn’t be published (publishers stopped buying dystopians right around the time I wrote it). On the other hand, having an agent for a book like Secret for a Song is probably in my best interest. What I want, more than anything, is to find the most readers I can for any given project. And I think having an agent and a publishing team will help in that regard.
I won’t sign with a publisher who doesn’t respect me as an author. I’m looking for readers, and now that I’ve found them once on my own before, that whole “enigma” part of publishing has gone away for me. Now I just want to partner with people who want what I want: to pair great books with the right readers.
I hope this helps some of you! I’ll keep posting as I go along this journey with what my findings/experiences are. Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to email me at sandhya@skfalls.com or use the contact form above.
