covers

Today’s Bubble & Squeek is brought to you by galley proofs, workshops, and the letter “C” for cover reveals!

Cover reveal and Release: Pre-Order/Order Shadowrun: A Kiss to Die For. Meet Sartorial and Kintsugi. This happens the night they meet. The cover is by the ever fabulous Peter Tikos.

Review: Way of the Laser: Future Crime Stories. Five star review. “I’m very glad I picked this book up to review, and I know any science fictions fans will be glad they picked it up to read.” This one has the story, “When a Patch Won’t Do” by me and Katie Cord.

Cover reveal for BattleTech: Ghost Hour. Jasper and Nadine are having a very bad time of it. The blonde is Lyric, Nadine’s girlfriend and all around “Death Pixie.” This is by the wonderful BattleTech artist Marco Mazzoni. He does such a good job!

Workshop: Clarion West – The Business of Writing, June 30. NOTE: However, sign-up will take place through a lottery system and you have to register for the Write-a-thon in order to sign up. They are closing the class lottery next Wednesday, June 17, so anyone interested needs to have signed up by then!

Support: As always… if you appreciate my work and would like to support me, I love coffee. I am made of caffeine. This is the quickest way to brighten my day.

Shadowrun: Makeda Red is officially out at Origins Game Fair. This Shadowrun novel is part of the origin story for Rune Red of “Rune’s Avatar Cafe” (my Casablanca homage) from the World of Shadows anthology. This cover was created by the marvelous Peter Tikos!

ON A COLLISION COURSE… It was supposed be a simple extraction from the Brussels2Rome party train. With an eclectic crowd, a willing target, and a lot of nuyen at stake, what could go wrong?

Everything—as Makeda Red discovers the hard way.

There’s more than one target on the train, and more than one shadowrunner team in play. When someone sabotages the tracks in the middle of the Swiss Alps, she’s forced to extract her client much earlier than planned.To complicate matters, other survivors are also fleeing the crash for their own reasons. One of them is trying to escape his corporate masters as well, and offers to pay Makeda to escort him to his safe haven.

A paying client is a paying client, and his corp won’t be looking for three people traveling together. Makeda knows it’s a risk, but one she’s willing to take. In the shadows, however, nothing and no one is what they seem. Before it’s over, this already complicated run may be Makeda’s last…

Amazon / Amazon ebook | Barnes & Noble 

BattleTech: Iron Dawn
Book 1 of the Rogue Academy Trilogy
Now available for pre-order!

GHOSTS IN THE DARK…

Jasper and Nadine Roux are cadets at the Ritza MechWarrior Academy; a dream come true for the orphaned siblings from the war-torn planet of Hoff. For the last six years, Emporia has been their home. Sponsored to the academy by the powerful Vogel House, both cadets are expected to excel in all tasks.

Their dream becomes a nightmare when the Draconis Combine comes knocking.

It’s up to the siblings to stop the renegade Seventh Ghost Regiment warlord when he lays claim to a piece of the Inner Sphere—starting with the Federated Suns’ planet of Emporia. The border world looks like easy prey, but this warrior of the Dragon is about to learn how wrong he is. After the few MechWarriors on the planet are taken hostage, the Sponsored and Blooded cadets of the Ritza Academy fight like they have nothing left to lose.

It’s a fight that will cost them more than they know.

Click here to view the full wraparound cover.

To be released on April 15.
Edited by Jennifer Brozek.
Such a beautiful cover by Peter Tikos!

“Away Game” by Seanan McGuire
“The Icarus Club” by Weston Ochse
“Stormy Monday” by Chesya Burke
“Pickman’s Daughter” by J. C. Koch
“Us and Ours” by Premee Mohamed
“The Art of Dreaming” by Josh Vogt
“Visions of a Dream Witch” by Lucy A. Snyder
“The Tall Ones” by Stephen Ross
“Just Imagine” by Tim Waggoner
“Holding Back” by Lisa Morton
“The Mouth of the Merrimack” by Douglas Wynne
“The Geometry of Dreams” by Wendy N. Wagner
“Being Emily-Claire” by Jonathan Maberry

I had so much fun editing this anthology. Ya’ll are going to love it.

Sometime, long ago, I had the idea for an ABC book. It was dark, creepy, and awfully cute. However, I have no skill at art. Thus, A is for Apex sat in the “hiatus” file for years. Then I met Elizabeth. I liked her art style. I liked her. I thought we might work well together. We auditioned each other on The Prince of Artemis V, a comic book version of my most popular YA short story to date. We liked it and thought, why not do another project together. Rubbing my hands together, I asked, “Have you ever wanted to do an ABC book?” The gleam in her eyes was answer enough.

May I present to you, A is for Apex!

Learn the English alphabet with this one-of-a-kind book for the little ghoul in your life. Monsters, mayhem, graveyards, and a zombie named Oscar, mixed with a little bit of science, come to life in charming rhymes and illustrations. Each letter receives its own two page fun illustration to spark the imagination of you and your little ghoul. There are many details to be explored during every read.

This book is dedicated to all the little mad scientists out there, especially those who like the creepy stuff.

I hope you all love this book.

Amazon ebook, physical | Barnes & Noble ebook, physical
Release date: 1 August 2018

Her malady—nightmares that left her bloody—seemed, at first, to be a common self-harm complex. Then I looked at the wounds. The mind is powerful, but I have never seen the mind create wounds like these. Little did I know her wounds were just the first of many mysteries I would face while caring for Josephine.
–Jennifer Brozek, To Fight the Black Wind

Not all patients can be cured—or want to be.

Psychologist Carolyn Fern’s newest patient suffers from nightmares that leave glyph-shaped wounds across her skin. The case is odd, even for an institution like Arkham Sanatorium, where the unusual becomes the everyday. Things become even more complicated after the young woman claims to have met Malachi—Carolyn’s former patient whose treatment was cut short when he was brutally murdered—in her dreams. What is the link between the two, and how can Carolyn help a patient who, it seems, does not wish to be cured?

Read the first chapter now! (PDF file.)

***

I am so pleased with this book. My editor, Katrina, helped me make a good story, excellent. Shane Pierce, the illustrator, got the cover and the interior images exactly right. I hope you all enjoy my journey into the Dreamlands.

The hardback, illustrated book is sold from the Fantasy Flight Games website. (Note, there are other Arkham Horror novellas on that site, too!) The ebook book will be available soon. (I will note that, on Amazon, the hardback versions are going for three times the price as what they are being sold for on the FFG site. Go to FFG.)

Cover reveal, book release: Arkham Horror – To Fight the Black Wind. To be released on April 5.

Guest Blog: Rising Shadows. Why do I write horror? Let me count the reasons… 
 
Kickstarter: Broken Eye Books – good people. It’s funded. Welcome to Miskatonic University! One week to go. My story “The Librarian’s Handbook is in the second anthology. The first is funded!

In Print: Look what’s in print. My award winning #BattleTech YA novel, THE NELLUS ACADEMY INCIDENT! You asked for it to be in print, and Cat Labs heard you.

Interview: An interview with me on Andrea Dawn of the Dead: The Women of Horror Literature – Jennifer Brozek – The Author’s Own Words. I’m the final girl who will try to keep you alive.

Norwescon: Here is my forthcoming schedule for Norwescon. If I’m not in a panel, I’m probably at my dealer’s table in the dealer’s room. No shyness zone around me. Come and say hello.

THURSDAY
Dealers Table, 4:00pm to 8:00pm

FRIDAY
Dealers Table, 10:00am to 7:00pm
Whipping Out That First Draft, 11:00am – 12:00pm @ Cascade 12
Reading: Jennifer Brozek, 12:00pm – 12:30pm @ Cascade 4
Social Horror, 6:00pm – 7:00pm @ Cascade 11
Anthologies Joy, 7:00pm – 8:00pm @ Cascade 11

SATURDAY
Dealers Table, 10:00am to 6:00pm
Why Agent? 11:00am – 12:00pm @ Cascade 11
YA’s Role In Genre, 1:00pm – 2:00pm @ Evergreen 1 & 2
Autograph Session 1, 2:00pm – 3:00pm @ Grand 2
The Horror Of Being Twelve, 6:00pm – 7:00pm @ Cascade 10

SUNDAY
Dealers Table, 10:00am to 4:00pm

Book two of the Melissa Allen series, NEVER LET ME LEAVE, has been released! I’m really happy with the series. The first book, NEVER LET ME SLEEP, is getting great reviews.

What would you do if you found yourself locked in an underground lab with a murderous alien hunting you? Melissa Allen and her new friends know exactly how it feels. With no help from the outside and time running out, it’s up to Melissa to keep herself and the other teens safe. How can she do that when she’s not sure who she can trust?

Someone in the lab helped that alien escape. Someone human.

NEVER LET ME LEAVE almost didn’t happen. This is why it did.

This is a big Bubble and Squeek today. A lot stuff came in all at once.

Article: For writers on the SFWA Blog. How do you ask for blurb?

Article: I talk about my love of gargoyles on My Favorite Things.

Article: SFSignal MIND MELD: Second Chances. I talk about why I gave Stephen R. Donaldson a second chance.

Article: Over at Ragnarok Publications, I talk about how I used my anger to fuel my writing career in Dreamer No More.

Interview: Permuted Press asked me some great questions about NEVER LET ME SLEEP. We touch on body image and mental illness.

Interview: Over at Eating Authors I get to talk about ramen. Really, really good ramen.

Review: I get a nice shout out in this review of NOT OUR KIND from the Eviscerating Pen (what a lovely name!).

Pre-Order: Remember, you can pre-order NEVER LET ME SLEEP and the hard copy Melissa Allen compilation NEVER LET ME.  Also, if you missed it, here’s a post that’s all about my fabulous covers.

SFSignal: I gotta say it. I love seeing my name on SFSignal and in such good company, too.

I am so happy with my Melissa Allen covers. The cover art was done by Ryan Truso. I don’t know the model’s name. I wanted a corn fed farm girl from South Dakota and that’s what I got. An actual teenager on my YA series. I love this.

October 13, 2015 – Never Let Me Sleep (Set in the town of Onida, South Dakota. The nightmare begins and Melissa has to stop the apocalypse from happening.)

November 10, 2015 – Never Let Me Leave (Set in an underground lab in North Dakota where Melissa discovers she’s not the only one to save the world… and that someone on the inside wants to kill them all.)

December 8, 2015 – Never Let Me Die (Set in Richland, Missouri. This is my favorite cover. Melissa has had enough. It’s been well over a year since that day in South Dakota and she lost everything. She’s gained some of it back but now someone else wants to take it all away from her again.)

January 26, 2016 – Never Let Me (The Melissa Allen Omnibus with the extra story. The extra story “Never Let Me Feel” gives you a hint of what’s to come for Melissa after the events of Never Let Me Die.)

I’m talking about this series on a couple of upcoming podcasts.