Mark Henwick's Blog
September 30, 2025
September update
This has images, so you need to view on the blog
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2025/09...
TEXT
Well, summer has definitely gone!
Writing Progress
I spent a few days this month down at a friend’s house in Teignmouth, a small port in Devon. It’s a place that helps me write because just about the only thing you can hear from his living room is the wind and the seagulls. I used the mornings to write and then we went for strenuous walks in the afternoon. There are lots of hills there. In the evening, I wrote some more and then we made ourselves some dinner and set to putting the world to rights with a glass of wine or two.
Progress on the book is good in fits and starts. I can’t seem to maintain a regular schedule of thousands of words a day. I’m too easily distracted.
As I’ve mentioned in previous updates, Amanda Lloyd comes in as a second point of view character in this book. Have a read of the two snippets below and tell me what you think…
Here’s a snippet from Amanda’s PoV:
image
And here’s one from Amber’s PoV:
image
Translations
I’m still waiting for the final, post-edit & beta-read versions of Bite Back 8 in French "L’œil du serpent" and The Long Way Home 4 in German "Jetzt oder Nie".
The previous French translations have all been done by Bragelonne (now part of Hachette), and they did the covers, which we have to match to a reasonable level. Here is a composite of the images:
image
Print versions
My apologies, it has taken me a year to get book 8 in German released as a paperback. Anyway, it’s there now.
https://www.amazon.de/dp/1912499606
I have also promised to make the novellas into paperbacks, and I will get to it. Soon. Ish.
Monthly content or short story release
For those who read my Science Fiction, you probably already know that I have a couple of short stories that will form part of book 3 of the Among The Stars series.
Whatever I do with them, they will be temporary, because they’d have to be taken down when the full book is released.
In the meantime, would you like to read them as posts on WordPress, or would you like to buy them as very short novellas on Amazon?
Other
I haven’t forgotten any of my ‘orphans’. Here’s a reminder that Bian’s Tale will continue with The Words of the Dead. This was part of an ad campaign I was working on when I shelved it.
image
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2025/09...
TEXT
Well, summer has definitely gone!
Writing Progress
I spent a few days this month down at a friend’s house in Teignmouth, a small port in Devon. It’s a place that helps me write because just about the only thing you can hear from his living room is the wind and the seagulls. I used the mornings to write and then we went for strenuous walks in the afternoon. There are lots of hills there. In the evening, I wrote some more and then we made ourselves some dinner and set to putting the world to rights with a glass of wine or two.
Progress on the book is good in fits and starts. I can’t seem to maintain a regular schedule of thousands of words a day. I’m too easily distracted.
As I’ve mentioned in previous updates, Amanda Lloyd comes in as a second point of view character in this book. Have a read of the two snippets below and tell me what you think…
Here’s a snippet from Amanda’s PoV:
image
And here’s one from Amber’s PoV:
image
Translations
I’m still waiting for the final, post-edit & beta-read versions of Bite Back 8 in French "L’œil du serpent" and The Long Way Home 4 in German "Jetzt oder Nie".
The previous French translations have all been done by Bragelonne (now part of Hachette), and they did the covers, which we have to match to a reasonable level. Here is a composite of the images:
image
Print versions
My apologies, it has taken me a year to get book 8 in German released as a paperback. Anyway, it’s there now.
https://www.amazon.de/dp/1912499606
I have also promised to make the novellas into paperbacks, and I will get to it. Soon. Ish.
Monthly content or short story release
For those who read my Science Fiction, you probably already know that I have a couple of short stories that will form part of book 3 of the Among The Stars series.
Whatever I do with them, they will be temporary, because they’d have to be taken down when the full book is released.
In the meantime, would you like to read them as posts on WordPress, or would you like to buy them as very short novellas on Amazon?
Other
I haven’t forgotten any of my ‘orphans’. Here’s a reminder that Bian’s Tale will continue with The Words of the Dead. This was part of an ad campaign I was working on when I shelved it.
image
August 31, 2025
August update
Urban Fantasy
Current project: Bite Back 9.
Not a huge amount to say about writing progress, other than August wasn’t the best month for concentrated work.
As mentioned in last month’s update, some of the scenes are being provided from Amanda Lloyd’s point of view. It’s quite fun using a different voice and perception of events to describe what’s happening at Haven.
I’m still debating on the amount of darkness I have in this book. It’s not so much the darkness itself, it’s the arc of the story. In a single book, the traditional arc of the book goes something like this:
1. Setup and background.
2. The event that precipitates the main story.
3. The major setback.
4. The point at which it all seems hopeless.
5. The fight back and victory.
6. Tie it up neatly.
In theory, a series should have a similar arc, but I’d drive many of you away if I spent an entire book on section 4, where everything seems hopeless. Bite Back 9 is in that area. Amber keeps winning, but she’s losing herself in the process.
As mentioned last time, Amber’s focus for much of this book is hunting down Askrynos, the Matlal operative that is highly placed in the government. That’s distracting her from the new Assembly, i.e. the Assembly put together to represent all the paranormal races. It’s a race between that and the official acknowledgement in the human world that the paranormal exists.
Translations.
Snake Eyes is nearly there in French. I’ve no idea how to market it and the novellas (which are ready to go) in France, where Bite Back 1-7 are still being published by Bragelonne division of Hachette.
Science Fiction
Book 4 in The Long Way Home, Don’t Stop Now to be released as ‘Jetzt oder Nie’ (Now or Never), has been translated, but it still in quality control checking. I don’t have a German-specific Facebook page for Science Fiction, but I will be announcing the release on the German UF page and the SciFi & author pages I run.
Marketing
Facebook is endlessly tweaking its algorithms, and several notable authors have posted that their sales have slowed dramatically, including writers like Jennifer Estep.
I don’t know what they’re doing. I’m spending much less on advertising with Facebook, but my team are coming up with an Amazon campaign, which is probably what we would have needed in France anyway.
I’ll keep you posted!
Other
I’m learning the piano. I can sort of play melodies with my right hand, and chords with my left, but when it gets to putting them together… lol!
I used to play the guitar at school (very badly), but I wrote a lot of lyrics, to which my friend Colin composed music.
There are a couple of lines in my books, which I’ll be turning into complete songs, but don’t worry, I will not be singing them. I may try and persuade Jessica.
May release them in the newsletter…
Also re-read a couple of police procedural books to get my mind into Amber being a PI again. I’ll review those and others in a separate post.
Current project: Bite Back 9.
Not a huge amount to say about writing progress, other than August wasn’t the best month for concentrated work.
As mentioned in last month’s update, some of the scenes are being provided from Amanda Lloyd’s point of view. It’s quite fun using a different voice and perception of events to describe what’s happening at Haven.
I’m still debating on the amount of darkness I have in this book. It’s not so much the darkness itself, it’s the arc of the story. In a single book, the traditional arc of the book goes something like this:
1. Setup and background.
2. The event that precipitates the main story.
3. The major setback.
4. The point at which it all seems hopeless.
5. The fight back and victory.
6. Tie it up neatly.
In theory, a series should have a similar arc, but I’d drive many of you away if I spent an entire book on section 4, where everything seems hopeless. Bite Back 9 is in that area. Amber keeps winning, but she’s losing herself in the process.
As mentioned last time, Amber’s focus for much of this book is hunting down Askrynos, the Matlal operative that is highly placed in the government. That’s distracting her from the new Assembly, i.e. the Assembly put together to represent all the paranormal races. It’s a race between that and the official acknowledgement in the human world that the paranormal exists.
Translations.
Snake Eyes is nearly there in French. I’ve no idea how to market it and the novellas (which are ready to go) in France, where Bite Back 1-7 are still being published by Bragelonne division of Hachette.
Science Fiction
Book 4 in The Long Way Home, Don’t Stop Now to be released as ‘Jetzt oder Nie’ (Now or Never), has been translated, but it still in quality control checking. I don’t have a German-specific Facebook page for Science Fiction, but I will be announcing the release on the German UF page and the SciFi & author pages I run.
Marketing
Facebook is endlessly tweaking its algorithms, and several notable authors have posted that their sales have slowed dramatically, including writers like Jennifer Estep.
I don’t know what they’re doing. I’m spending much less on advertising with Facebook, but my team are coming up with an Amazon campaign, which is probably what we would have needed in France anyway.
I’ll keep you posted!
Other
I’m learning the piano. I can sort of play melodies with my right hand, and chords with my left, but when it gets to putting them together… lol!
I used to play the guitar at school (very badly), but I wrote a lot of lyrics, to which my friend Colin composed music.
There are a couple of lines in my books, which I’ll be turning into complete songs, but don’t worry, I will not be singing them. I may try and persuade Jessica.
May release them in the newsletter…
Also re-read a couple of police procedural books to get my mind into Amber being a PI again. I’ll review those and others in a separate post.
July 28, 2025
Update on progress
I’ve become quite bad at updating, and I’ve added a prompt in my diary to write something at the end of every month.
Urban Fantasy
Current priority project: Bite Back 9.
Scheduled for release this year, slipping a little to Q4.
Amber and Bian have the initial meeting of the new Assembly to host in Denver, which itself is full of problems for both of them, but Amber also has to persuade the Were Confederation to attend, and she can’t simply ignore the war with Basilikos while the Assembly sits. Nor can she refuse to assist as Emergence seeps into the highest levels of government. And all the while, her friends are increasingly worried about her.
Developments… I tried to write some scenes in the Amber style, and I didn’t like them. After a lot of thinking, I decided that it wasn’t possible, and that some parts of the story had to be told by another person. It’s a long way into the series to pull something like this, but Amanda Lloyd, House Lloyd will be the point of view character in a few chapters. And I believe that it makes it more immersive if she’s talking in the first person. The majority of chapters will remain first person point of view from Amber.
I worked with different points of view in both my Science Fiction series, and, even though I had a few complaints, I think it told the stories well. I hope it will work in Bite Back too.
I had some messages this last week discussing antagonists, and it seems I was a bit too subtle in Snake Eyes. There are three major antagonist groups left: The big one is Matlal and the Lost Gods (Quetzalcoatl & Tezcatlipoca) I count all three together as one. Everyone knows that Vega Martine and her House is another. It seems quite a few of you haven’t spotted that Askrynos, the ‘Masked Demon’, is the third, and a few couldn’t even remember who this is.
From Snake Eyes:
And then there was the one I could not name or put a face to. The one behind Peterson, because sure as shit, a colonel in the army didn’t have the juice to do what he did without someone very high up in the government.
Askrynos, Diana called him. Or her. From an old Athanate myth: the Masked Demon. The hidden evil. The one who cannot be seen.
Askrynos. The name pulsed with hate in my stomach.
Three major antagonists suggest three novels left in the series.
Obviously, there are also what I call ‘incidental antagonists’. For example, the Central Mountain Confederation (the group of werewolves that tried to take over Colorado) need to be dealt with (book 9). The elements of all paranormal communities who regard Amber and her House as abominations (ongoing). And the human community…
Meanwhile, a good deal of book 9 is concerned with Amber reverting to her paranormal PI role to find Askrynos, because leaving such an enemy high in the US government as Emergence breaks would be a disaster.
Mixed in with this, Amber wants to reveal what she is to her family before the news breaks, and they join up the dots.
German market for Bite Back
We’re putting together a big boxset for the German versions, as we have done recently with the English versions.
Science Fiction
The Long Way Home
The fourth book of the series, Don’t Stop Now, has been released and is doing well.
This book takes the intrepid crew of the Dark Phoenix (formerly the Acid Penguin) into the heart of the Inner Worlds. Those star systems aren’t as rich and stable as Jan and Bjorn expected, and the best flow of commerce is all against their direction of travel.
But they find one good turn deserves…
Well, it would be difficult to say they get an easy good turn back, but life does become very shady and interesting for a while.
And then they’re in the depths of the Inner Worlds, where evil and corruption is rife.
Warning, it ends on a cliffhanger. Mwah ha ha ha!
German version
Don’t Stop Now, will be available in German in another month or so. The title will be ‘Jetzt oder Nie’ (Now or Never).
Other series
And now to my poor orphans.
Firstly, the other two series which I have promised I will get to…
Bian’s Tale
I loved writing the first book, The Harvest of Lies. (A good thing because my editor made me write it about 3 times).
I loved the research, and it was necessary because 1890s Saigon isn’t the most accessible of eras & places. I have a huge box of books (some of them in French), videos in DVD and VHS(!) format, TV recordings, entire battered notebooks, travel guides, etc. etc.
I found the box stuffed away in the back of the attic a couple of weeks ago.
Why?
Because when I released Bian’s Tale 1, The Harvest of Lies… it disappeared with barely a ripple. I don’t think the writing is bad, or the setting is too unusual. (Although someone complained of the evidence of too much research, lol). But I think I got the marketing wrong (cover, advertising etc.).
While I was still finding that out, for a few weeks, I was running on the enthusiasm of the first book, and outlined five others, and I wrote some of book 2, The Words of the Dead. Then I put it aside because the response to book 1 was so bad, and eventually I tidied the research away into the attic.
All that said, with the resurgence of Bite Back, now people are discovering The Harvest of Lies and complaining about the non-appearance of book 2.
I will return to The Words of the Dead. I hope next year. There are 5-6 books in the series which will take Bian through to the point where she is appointed Diakon of House Altau, with maybe an epilogue that shows Bian’s point of view at that first meeting with Amber described in Sleight of Hand.
Among the Stars
Another orphan series. The first two books were written as episodes which I posted on WordPress and made available in newsletters.
Book 1, A Name Among the Stars, was a definite success. I wrote it as a bit of an experiment, which freed me from the concept of narrow genres and writing styles. Book 1 was a deliberate attempt to write a mash-up of a Regency romance and Science Fiction adventure, in the first person, present tense. It was great fun to write. I thought it was going to be a stand-alone, but enough people asked for more, and so I wrote A Theat Among the Stars. The complexity of the story required the addition of multiple PoV characters, with Zara remaining in the first person and other PoV characters speaking in the third person. All fun to write as well.
Readers liked A Threat Among the Stars, but not in the numbers to make book 3, A Ship Among the Stars, a high enough priority.
I have written some short stories which form part of book 3, and I do want to finish this series, but it’s definitely a ‘next year’ thing.
There are a couple more books in this series.
Other Orphans
Stand Up
An unnamed sequel to Change of Regime (one of the novellas in the Bite Back universe)
A host of others.
Yes. I know. So many unfinished projects. I hate not finishing things. I will get through everything, but I started a slow writer and I haven’t got any faster!
That’s it for now. I hope you’re enjoying your summer (or winter), wherever you are.
Urban Fantasy
Current priority project: Bite Back 9.
Scheduled for release this year, slipping a little to Q4.
Amber and Bian have the initial meeting of the new Assembly to host in Denver, which itself is full of problems for both of them, but Amber also has to persuade the Were Confederation to attend, and she can’t simply ignore the war with Basilikos while the Assembly sits. Nor can she refuse to assist as Emergence seeps into the highest levels of government. And all the while, her friends are increasingly worried about her.
Developments… I tried to write some scenes in the Amber style, and I didn’t like them. After a lot of thinking, I decided that it wasn’t possible, and that some parts of the story had to be told by another person. It’s a long way into the series to pull something like this, but Amanda Lloyd, House Lloyd will be the point of view character in a few chapters. And I believe that it makes it more immersive if she’s talking in the first person. The majority of chapters will remain first person point of view from Amber.
I worked with different points of view in both my Science Fiction series, and, even though I had a few complaints, I think it told the stories well. I hope it will work in Bite Back too.
I had some messages this last week discussing antagonists, and it seems I was a bit too subtle in Snake Eyes. There are three major antagonist groups left: The big one is Matlal and the Lost Gods (Quetzalcoatl & Tezcatlipoca) I count all three together as one. Everyone knows that Vega Martine and her House is another. It seems quite a few of you haven’t spotted that Askrynos, the ‘Masked Demon’, is the third, and a few couldn’t even remember who this is.
From Snake Eyes:
And then there was the one I could not name or put a face to. The one behind Peterson, because sure as shit, a colonel in the army didn’t have the juice to do what he did without someone very high up in the government.
Askrynos, Diana called him. Or her. From an old Athanate myth: the Masked Demon. The hidden evil. The one who cannot be seen.
Askrynos. The name pulsed with hate in my stomach.
Three major antagonists suggest three novels left in the series.
Obviously, there are also what I call ‘incidental antagonists’. For example, the Central Mountain Confederation (the group of werewolves that tried to take over Colorado) need to be dealt with (book 9). The elements of all paranormal communities who regard Amber and her House as abominations (ongoing). And the human community…
Meanwhile, a good deal of book 9 is concerned with Amber reverting to her paranormal PI role to find Askrynos, because leaving such an enemy high in the US government as Emergence breaks would be a disaster.
Mixed in with this, Amber wants to reveal what she is to her family before the news breaks, and they join up the dots.
German market for Bite Back
We’re putting together a big boxset for the German versions, as we have done recently with the English versions.
Science Fiction
The Long Way Home
The fourth book of the series, Don’t Stop Now, has been released and is doing well.
This book takes the intrepid crew of the Dark Phoenix (formerly the Acid Penguin) into the heart of the Inner Worlds. Those star systems aren’t as rich and stable as Jan and Bjorn expected, and the best flow of commerce is all against their direction of travel.
But they find one good turn deserves…
Well, it would be difficult to say they get an easy good turn back, but life does become very shady and interesting for a while.
And then they’re in the depths of the Inner Worlds, where evil and corruption is rife.
Warning, it ends on a cliffhanger. Mwah ha ha ha!
German version
Don’t Stop Now, will be available in German in another month or so. The title will be ‘Jetzt oder Nie’ (Now or Never).
Other series
And now to my poor orphans.
Firstly, the other two series which I have promised I will get to…
Bian’s Tale
I loved writing the first book, The Harvest of Lies. (A good thing because my editor made me write it about 3 times).
I loved the research, and it was necessary because 1890s Saigon isn’t the most accessible of eras & places. I have a huge box of books (some of them in French), videos in DVD and VHS(!) format, TV recordings, entire battered notebooks, travel guides, etc. etc.
I found the box stuffed away in the back of the attic a couple of weeks ago.
Why?
Because when I released Bian’s Tale 1, The Harvest of Lies… it disappeared with barely a ripple. I don’t think the writing is bad, or the setting is too unusual. (Although someone complained of the evidence of too much research, lol). But I think I got the marketing wrong (cover, advertising etc.).
While I was still finding that out, for a few weeks, I was running on the enthusiasm of the first book, and outlined five others, and I wrote some of book 2, The Words of the Dead. Then I put it aside because the response to book 1 was so bad, and eventually I tidied the research away into the attic.
All that said, with the resurgence of Bite Back, now people are discovering The Harvest of Lies and complaining about the non-appearance of book 2.
I will return to The Words of the Dead. I hope next year. There are 5-6 books in the series which will take Bian through to the point where she is appointed Diakon of House Altau, with maybe an epilogue that shows Bian’s point of view at that first meeting with Amber described in Sleight of Hand.
Among the Stars
Another orphan series. The first two books were written as episodes which I posted on WordPress and made available in newsletters.
Book 1, A Name Among the Stars, was a definite success. I wrote it as a bit of an experiment, which freed me from the concept of narrow genres and writing styles. Book 1 was a deliberate attempt to write a mash-up of a Regency romance and Science Fiction adventure, in the first person, present tense. It was great fun to write. I thought it was going to be a stand-alone, but enough people asked for more, and so I wrote A Theat Among the Stars. The complexity of the story required the addition of multiple PoV characters, with Zara remaining in the first person and other PoV characters speaking in the third person. All fun to write as well.
Readers liked A Threat Among the Stars, but not in the numbers to make book 3, A Ship Among the Stars, a high enough priority.
I have written some short stories which form part of book 3, and I do want to finish this series, but it’s definitely a ‘next year’ thing.
There are a couple more books in this series.
Other Orphans
Stand Up
An unnamed sequel to Change of Regime (one of the novellas in the Bite Back universe)
A host of others.
Yes. I know. So many unfinished projects. I hate not finishing things. I will get through everything, but I started a slow writer and I haven’t got any faster!
That’s it for now. I hope you’re enjoying your summer (or winter), wherever you are.
November 13, 2021
SF/Space opera offer
2 free books! Full novels from The Long Way Home, my serial Science Fiction story.
Their war has just ended. Their struggle has just begun.
Finally discharged from the military, Jan and Bjorn must fight to get life-saving technology across the entire width of human space, back to their remote and isolated home planet before it’s too late and the colony dies.
Everything and everyone seem to be against them. They have to overcome betrayal, corruption, greed … and pirates … on The Long Way Home.
Reader feedback:
“I adore the Firefly/space Western vibe…”
Book1 The Dark Takes Fools : https://dl.bookfunnel.com/t084dkxws1
Book 2 Out of the Dark : https://dl.bookfunnel.com/hfbl9m9fjy
More info :
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2021/11...
The two books above are for anyone to download at the moment. If you've signed up to my newsletter, here is the link for the episodes which form the start of Book 3:
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/38rklkoxdz
Their war has just ended. Their struggle has just begun.
Finally discharged from the military, Jan and Bjorn must fight to get life-saving technology across the entire width of human space, back to their remote and isolated home planet before it’s too late and the colony dies.
Everything and everyone seem to be against them. They have to overcome betrayal, corruption, greed … and pirates … on The Long Way Home.
Reader feedback:
“I adore the Firefly/space Western vibe…”
Book1 The Dark Takes Fools : https://dl.bookfunnel.com/t084dkxws1
Book 2 Out of the Dark : https://dl.bookfunnel.com/hfbl9m9fjy
More info :
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2021/11...
The two books above are for anyone to download at the moment. If you've signed up to my newsletter, here is the link for the episodes which form the start of Book 3:
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/38rklkoxdz
January 25, 2021
Promo price box sets
Promotional 99c/99p pricing on box sets for the launch of Bite Back Book 7, Queen of Diamonds. (Links at the bottom)
“Some of the best the field has to offer” – Charles de Lint, Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Take a white-knuckle ride with Amber Farrell, ex-Special Forces, now private investigator, and discover a lethal paranormal war in the shadows that threatens the whole world.
"The politics of the Athanate (vampires), the hair-trigger passions of the Were, the awesome powers of the Adepts... Henwick takes UF tropes and gives them a fresh twist in an intriguing saga."
Launch into this immersive series and savor the intense storylines, fully developed, realistic characters and exceptional world building.
Promotional pricing on box sets in advance of the publication of book 7 in the Bite Back series, Queen of Diamonds on January 28. Normal pricing resumes afterwards :-)
Get started now!
Box set 1 (books 1-3) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZM5HNK2/
Box set 2 (books 4-6)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZQM2RZ5/
Book 7, Queen of Diamonds
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCHB272
“Some of the best the field has to offer” – Charles de Lint, Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Take a white-knuckle ride with Amber Farrell, ex-Special Forces, now private investigator, and discover a lethal paranormal war in the shadows that threatens the whole world.
"The politics of the Athanate (vampires), the hair-trigger passions of the Were, the awesome powers of the Adepts... Henwick takes UF tropes and gives them a fresh twist in an intriguing saga."
Launch into this immersive series and savor the intense storylines, fully developed, realistic characters and exceptional world building.
Promotional pricing on box sets in advance of the publication of book 7 in the Bite Back series, Queen of Diamonds on January 28. Normal pricing resumes afterwards :-)
Get started now!
Box set 1 (books 1-3) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZM5HNK2/
Box set 2 (books 4-6)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZQM2RZ5/
Book 7, Queen of Diamonds
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TCHB272
October 1, 2020
Mark Henwick Newsletter!
I'm producing a free monthly newsletter to attract new readers and as a thank-you for my existing readers.
Here's the signup link:
https://mailchi.mp/27afed3e7c0c/mark-...
The newsletter will mainly be episodes of two serial novels I'm writing, one Science Fiction space opera adventure (The Long Way Home), and one Urban Fantasy paranormal romance (Stand Up). These episodes aren't going to be available from anywhere else, except the first episode of The Long Way Home, which has to be obtained from purchasing The Great Beyond Anthology where it's the lead story.
The Long Way Home (Think of Firefly with a mission arc):
Their war has just ended. Their struggles have just begun.
A pair of ex-soldiers, weary of a war that went on too long, and desperate to take essential technology back to save their remote colony planet, have to overcome treachery, injustice, corruption, greed... and pirates...
on The Long Way Home.
(The Long Way Home is set in the same universe as my Among the Stars series, but several hundred years before, and does not require those books to be read)
Stand Up
Carla is a young standup comedienne with a dying act in New York's tough gig circuit, and a personal life that's coming to pieces. She needs some new inspiration, something edgy, something she can really get into. Something different...
Katja is a world-weary vampire, presenting herself as a bright, shining lie to the world, but struggling to overcome crippling grief, and in potentially lethal trouble with her community for her unorthodox behavior. She needs something safe for her fragile heart, something ordinary, something her community will regard as unexceptional...
They are both absolutely the last thing the other needs or wants.
(Stand Up is part of my Athanate paranormal world, and integrates into the Bite Back series, but does not require any of the other books to be read)
Here's the signup link:
https://mailchi.mp/27afed3e7c0c/mark-...
The newsletter will mainly be episodes of two serial novels I'm writing, one Science Fiction space opera adventure (The Long Way Home), and one Urban Fantasy paranormal romance (Stand Up). These episodes aren't going to be available from anywhere else, except the first episode of The Long Way Home, which has to be obtained from purchasing The Great Beyond Anthology where it's the lead story.
The Long Way Home (Think of Firefly with a mission arc):
Their war has just ended. Their struggles have just begun.
A pair of ex-soldiers, weary of a war that went on too long, and desperate to take essential technology back to save their remote colony planet, have to overcome treachery, injustice, corruption, greed... and pirates...
on The Long Way Home.
(The Long Way Home is set in the same universe as my Among the Stars series, but several hundred years before, and does not require those books to be read)
Stand Up
Carla is a young standup comedienne with a dying act in New York's tough gig circuit, and a personal life that's coming to pieces. She needs some new inspiration, something edgy, something she can really get into. Something different...
Katja is a world-weary vampire, presenting herself as a bright, shining lie to the world, but struggling to overcome crippling grief, and in potentially lethal trouble with her community for her unorthodox behavior. She needs something safe for her fragile heart, something ordinary, something her community will regard as unexceptional...
They are both absolutely the last thing the other needs or wants.
(Stand Up is part of my Athanate paranormal world, and integrates into the Bite Back series, but does not require any of the other books to be read)
October 31, 2019
Book 6 in Bite Back series
An outcast Athanate House with rebel Adept kin plead for sanctuary.
Amber's decision throws her into the terrifying world of the most secretive of paranormal races - the Adepts.
Will she risk everything, even her own soul, to save the world?
Another white-knuckle ride on Amazon at
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...
Amber's decision throws her into the terrifying world of the most secretive of paranormal races - the Adepts.
Will she risk everything, even her own soul, to save the world?
Another white-knuckle ride on Amazon at
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...
January 9, 2019
New SF book
Following the success of A Name Among the Stars, I have released a sequel called A Threat Among the Stars.
A Name Among the Stars leaves Zara happily married with adopted daughters on Kernow, believing her warnings to the Terran Council will result in the Terran Navy defeating the evil Hajnal conspiracy.
Alas, her illusions are shattered by a visit from a Terran naval cruiser.
At the same time she learns an awful truth from her former home world.
She faces a terrible test, and a horrific dilemma. What does it truly mean to be A Name Among the Stars?
A Threat Among the Stars
A Name Among the Stars leaves Zara happily married with adopted daughters on Kernow, believing her warnings to the Terran Council will result in the Terran Navy defeating the evil Hajnal conspiracy.
Alas, her illusions are shattered by a visit from a Terran naval cruiser.
At the same time she learns an awful truth from her former home world.
She faces a terrible test, and a horrific dilemma. What does it truly mean to be A Name Among the Stars?
A Threat Among the Stars
July 25, 2018
How they tie together!
I've been prompted by a discussion with a reader to explain the relationship between the novellas and the novels in the Athanate universe. Here goes!
The Bite Back series provides the main thread:
Sleight of Hand
Hidden Trump
Wild Card
Cool Hand
Angel Stakes
(Book 6 is being written now and is called Inside Straight)
The first two novellas, The Biting Cold and Winter's Kiss, form 2 parts of an expected 3 novella companion series. They follow a psychiatrist, Amanda Lloyd, from Detroit. The timeframe is actually the same as the last part of Angel Stakes, and mentions are made in Angel Stakes of matters happening in Michigan that directly affect what happens in LA.
SEMI SPOILER ALERT: Characters from this series turn up in Denver for the beginning of Inside Straight.
Now, you don't have to read these two novellas to understand what's going on in Inside Straight, but it will give background to those characters, and the response to the novellas has been good. They're short (20k and 40k words, as opposed to something like Sleight of Hand, which is 120k words).
The Biting Cold was written originally intending to be a stand-alone short story in the Athanate universe and also to be slightly more focused on the romantic aspect (hence the covers!), but there's action as well, certainly in Winter's Kiss.
The Biting Cold: An Athanate Novella
Winter's Kiss: An Athanate Novella
I am possibly going to write a 3rd novella in this series, which will provide Amanda's view, as opposed to Amber's, of some of the events of Inside Straight.
The third novella is Change of Regime. This is a different set of characters, set in New York as Skylur moves his mantle from Denver at the end of Angel Stakes. So the action takes place between the end of Angel Stakes and overlapping the beginning of Inside Straight. No characters (aside from Skylur) cross over, but things that are going in are commented on. The novella is 25k words long. I'm intending to write a follow-up to it called Rapture, and possibly another, but don't currently expect more characters to turn up in the main Bite Back series.
Change of Regime: An Athanate novella
The other novel series is a huge prequel to the Bite Back series, and that's Bian's Tale. Book 1, Harvest of Lies, is out and I hope to get book 2 done next year. I'm intending there will be about 5 of these, eash a bit shorter and simpler than the main Bite Back books. They cover the time from Bian's first encounters with the Athanate world in 1890 Saigon, to her becoming Diakon of House Altau, a few years before she meets Amber for the first time.
The Harvest of Lies: An Athanate Novel of Nineteenth Century Saigon
So... those are the novels and novellas that are linked together to produce the whole Bite Back world.
There is one other Athanate novella, which is a stand-alone, and which I *may* write a sequel to. That's Enzili (Enzili is a voodoo goddess). It's set in the West Indies, at the end of the 18th Century and I currently have no plans to integrate this into the Bite Back canon.
If you've read the novellas, I would very much appreciate feedback - a comment on here, or a review on GR or the 'Zon. :-)
The Bite Back series provides the main thread:
Sleight of Hand
Hidden Trump
Wild Card
Cool Hand
Angel Stakes
(Book 6 is being written now and is called Inside Straight)
The first two novellas, The Biting Cold and Winter's Kiss, form 2 parts of an expected 3 novella companion series. They follow a psychiatrist, Amanda Lloyd, from Detroit. The timeframe is actually the same as the last part of Angel Stakes, and mentions are made in Angel Stakes of matters happening in Michigan that directly affect what happens in LA.
SEMI SPOILER ALERT: Characters from this series turn up in Denver for the beginning of Inside Straight.
Now, you don't have to read these two novellas to understand what's going on in Inside Straight, but it will give background to those characters, and the response to the novellas has been good. They're short (20k and 40k words, as opposed to something like Sleight of Hand, which is 120k words).
The Biting Cold was written originally intending to be a stand-alone short story in the Athanate universe and also to be slightly more focused on the romantic aspect (hence the covers!), but there's action as well, certainly in Winter's Kiss.
The Biting Cold: An Athanate Novella
Winter's Kiss: An Athanate Novella
I am possibly going to write a 3rd novella in this series, which will provide Amanda's view, as opposed to Amber's, of some of the events of Inside Straight.
The third novella is Change of Regime. This is a different set of characters, set in New York as Skylur moves his mantle from Denver at the end of Angel Stakes. So the action takes place between the end of Angel Stakes and overlapping the beginning of Inside Straight. No characters (aside from Skylur) cross over, but things that are going in are commented on. The novella is 25k words long. I'm intending to write a follow-up to it called Rapture, and possibly another, but don't currently expect more characters to turn up in the main Bite Back series.
Change of Regime: An Athanate novella
The other novel series is a huge prequel to the Bite Back series, and that's Bian's Tale. Book 1, Harvest of Lies, is out and I hope to get book 2 done next year. I'm intending there will be about 5 of these, eash a bit shorter and simpler than the main Bite Back books. They cover the time from Bian's first encounters with the Athanate world in 1890 Saigon, to her becoming Diakon of House Altau, a few years before she meets Amber for the first time.
The Harvest of Lies: An Athanate Novel of Nineteenth Century Saigon
So... those are the novels and novellas that are linked together to produce the whole Bite Back world.
There is one other Athanate novella, which is a stand-alone, and which I *may* write a sequel to. That's Enzili (Enzili is a voodoo goddess). It's set in the West Indies, at the end of the 18th Century and I currently have no plans to integrate this into the Bite Back canon.
If you've read the novellas, I would very much appreciate feedback - a comment on here, or a review on GR or the 'Zon. :-)
May 27, 2018
The Harvest of Lies - new book
The first book in the Bian's Tale series is out. This is a companion series to the main Bite Back books, and follows Bian from her early days as a child in nineteenth century Saigon, up to the point where she becomes Diakon of House Altau and meets Amber in Sleight of Hand.
The Harvest of Lies is the first step...
The Harvest of Lies: An Athanate Novel of Nineteenth Century Saigon
The Harvest of Lies is the first step...
The Harvest of Lies: An Athanate Novel of Nineteenth Century Saigon
