Wow. It has really happened.

Today is the official launch of Afterlife, Inc: Fury’s Bridge.  My very first novel.

That’s this book, right here:

It’s only on sale at my publisher’s website, though: www.boldstrokesbooks.com 

If you’re going to wait and order it on Amazon or get it in a bookstore, you’ll have to wait until the 14th. (It’s on sale with the other March releases at bold strokes, though; 30% off! So totally worth buying now.)

It’s exciting-scary. Like taking that first long run upward on a roller coaster. That building anticipation, the knowledge it’s about to drop and roll and plunge and rise…yeah, it’s a lot like that. There have been some nice reviews on Netgalley, where folks review books which haven’t come out yet. And there are a couple nice ones on Amazon.com.

There may be some bad ones, too. I don’t seek reviews out, though. Between my publisher and my partner, they send me the ones that won’t make me close my laptop for good. I’ve got very thin skin when it comes to criticism, you see. And I feel like a big part of me is in this book, so if people don’t like it, it will be hard not to take it personally. I think there may be a bit less of me in the second and third books in the series, and I wonder if I’ll be able to read the reviews myself one day.

Probably not.

From what I’ve read of other people’s reviews, reviewers can be really cruel. Like, instead of just saying, “Not for me” they go on and on about all the things they didn’t like and that they think the author didn’t do well…I think people forget this is someone’s sweat and tears, and there’s a real person behind that book who has feelings. It’s fine to say you don’t like something, but is it ever necessary to be really mean about it?

Anyway…I’m often off on tangents these days.

So. It’s launch day. If you read the book, I hope you enjoy it. Yes, it requires suspension of disbelief; it’s fantasy, after all. But I hope you’ll consider the questions that come up in it yourself. I think reading is a great way to engage with deeper questions about life. And, hopefully you’ll laugh a bit too.

Book two, Fury’s Choice, is out in September. Book three, Fury’s Death, is out in 2018. Chosen, a stand alone environmental apocalypse romance-ish book, is also out in 2018.

I hope you’ll stick around for some of the others. And if you want to drop me a line, please do!