After a long trip, the destination looms

The first book in my fantasy trilogy is being released this Friday. I've written the entire trilogy, over 300,000 words spread across three books. It feels like I just wrote them, and yet I began this journey in November of 2015. Seven years! Here's the original blog post in which I take the first step: https://gaylecarline.blogspot.com/2015/11/mrs-carline-builds-her-dream-dragon.html

The story has gone through iterations of sometimes immense proportions. I began writing it in third person, changed it over to first person, and changed it back again. At one point, I believed I might have accidentally ended up in Hades, doomed to spend eternity rewriting a manuscript from first to third person and back again. The only good thing to come from that is there would be some new word invented meaning, "to do and redo a task over and over," like sisyphean. 

Gaylepovian: The act of relentlessly changing a story's POV until the writer's brain collapses.

This is where the book started:

I have an old boyfriend, Perry Kaufman, to thank for introducing me to used bookstores in Chicago, where I found this magnificent copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, revised and published in 1894.

I began writing a microscopic version of the count's story, gender-twisted to a tale of a young noblewoman who is betrayed by her so-called friends. I was thinking it would be perhaps a novella, but nothing more than a standard novel.

And then the dragons came, dragons that arrived for a reason and refused to leave until the entire story was told in all the books and all the words.

As with each book, I'm tremendously proud of its release and consider it my favorite. I've worked hard to help it find its readership and I hope they love it, too. If you read it and love it, I promise you will love the second book and the third.

And after the third book, who knows where else we may go?

The suspense is killing me. I hope it lasts.

Extra points for the movie this post's title is from.

I've been a busy bunny these past many months, trying desperately to finish the 5th Peri mystery, give it a name, and prepare for its debut. At times, I thought it would never happen. At times, I was willing to "half-ass" it, throw it all together, shrug, and release it without much fanfare. 

But reason prevailed.

I can't release a book I'm not proud to have written. There are a couple of books among the ones I've published that are not my favorites, but I'm not ashamed to have my name on the covers.  The more I edited this novel, the more I fell in love with it, and the more justice I wanted to do to the story.

The current status is:
1. It's in its final phase with my lovely and talented editor, Jennifer Silva Redmond.
2. It has a title.
3. It has a jacket teaser (that probably still needs tweaking).
4. I have four strong contenders for the cover art. This is where you come in. Take a gander at the cover options I'm considering and let me know your preference. BTW, we can mix and match fonts and colors if you think there's a better combo.

People of Earth, I give you:

MURDER BYTES

P.I. Peri Min­neopa has had enough. She’s clos­ing her busi­ness, mar­ry­ing her detec­tive boyfriend, and set­tling down to a life of ease–until her brother shows up, accused of a mur­der he swears he didn’t com­mit. Now she’s back in the thick of things, inves­ti­gat­ing the death of an engi­neer who may have been steal­ing techno-secrets from other com­pa­nies. Her rela­tion­ship with her brother is an icy one, at best, and she strug­gles with her ambiva­lence, as well as her desire to leave inves­tiga­tive work behind. Dig­ging around in people’s lives is rea­son­ably easy, but when the bul­lets start fly­ing, will Peri be able to keep her promise?

Cover Option 1

Cover Option 2

Cover Option 3

Cover Option 4

Look for one of these covers, and more Peri Minneopa to come your way February 2020!

I got you covered

Good news, Peri lovers! The fourth book is in the editing and design phase. It was a difficult story and I had to wrestle it into submission at several points, but I'm satisfied with the results. I thought it was going to take me as long to think of a title as it did to write the darn thing. Fortunately, my editor and friend, Jennifer Silva Redmond began throwing phrases my way, which led me to other phrases, which eventually led me to:

A MORE DEADLY UNION.

Perfect, trust me. Once I had the title, I could start Joe Felipe on the cover art. It took us our normal three rounds to come up with something I liked.

I love the symbols used, in that the story covers an election, marriage, and quite a bit of shooting. When I placed my order with Joe, I said the cover needed to reflect the previous books in the series. He followed my request faithfully, down to the block lettering in the title. 

The problem is, I find the block lettering boring. So I asked him to come up with some alternatives. Here's what he did, along with a note that he could make the letters any color that suited my fancy.

Cover 1

Cover 2

Cover 3

Cover 4

Which one do you prefer? Don't be shy - you can let me know in the comments here or in social media. I need all the help I can get.

I'll be seeing you

Tomorrow I may be going under the knife - well, the laser - but this day almost couldn't have gone better. I didn't get to ride Snoopy, because yesterday he got his vaccinations and we don't like to stress them or raise their heart rates for twenty-four hours. But other than that:

1. I received my proof copy of THE HOT MESS, so I'll have something to read while I convalesce.

2. Last week I turned Snoopy's memoir over to the very capable and trustworthy hands of an editor. I decided I was too close to the story to be able to tell whether I had told a story worth reading. Today I got an email saying she enjoyed reading it and that it was really good. Like any giddy little goofball, I've re-read that email ten times. I wasn't dreaming - it is a good tale.

3. I submitted my column for next Thursday's Placentia News-Times, after being on hiatus due to the election. It feels great to be back.

4. I got the laundry done, the house cleaned, the dogs bathed, and a pot of chicken stew in the fridge, so I'm ready to come home from the surgery and not worry about a thing.

Do be on the lookout for the release of THE HOT MESS. I'm going to be running a contest for a free copy, and lots of my friends are going to be helping me out. Details will follow.

In the meantime, I'm thinking of a trailer for the new book. I'm obsessed with using this song, although I need to find out if it's useable, Public Domain and all that. While looking around for it, I stumbled across this cartoon, that I think is just wicked fun. I love the way the animators play with reality - there is none! I mean, what were these guys on?



See you after my procedure. And removing my cataract means I'll actually SEE you.