And a sneak peek at The Precipice People!
Hello!
How are you? I hope things are going well. I have a ton of stuff in the newsletter this time out. A sneak peek, backlist love, some news…
Let’s talk books!
The Precipice People
We still have a ways to go until release day, but I thought I’d share the first scene! The Precipice People is the first book in The Epoch Rite of Passage trilogy, coming out in October. It follows several characters, and the scene below introduces the youngest one (the rest are adults).
I’m both excited and scared for this book to be out in the world.
Here’s the back cover blurb:
The High States once promised a world where anyone could pursue their dreams. Now a ruthless shift in policy morphs those dreams into nightmares.
The murder of a local woman during a state-sanctioned enforcement action leaves the country baffled. Lies replace the truth. Safe zones promise a trap. And public service programs mask a calculated plan to escalate control—and eradicate freedom.
The citizens stand at their breaking point: A boy with a yellow bike whose curiosity makes him a target. A state agent with shifting orders and a conscience that haunts his soul. A mother who’s certain her family’s status means all her loved ones are safe.
The fate of their lives and of their nation stands perilously on a precipice that’s crumbling beneath their feet. Surviving the fall will depend on how each of them answers one question:
When do you say goodbye to a dying way of life?
Experience the first stage of replacing an unraveling world in THE PRECIPICE PEOPLE—a near-future dystopian thriller for fans of 1984 who wish it had ended another way. Book One of The Epoch Rite of Passage Trilogy.
The Precipice People – Sample Chapter
Chapter 1: The Connection Circle
1. Joemin Zavala
Flowers formed a boundary in the snow around the six-foot-tall red gumball machine, where it had happened.
The gumball machine stood bolted to the sidewalk outside an elementary school. The school’s unassuming entrance peeked out from between two downtown shops: a neighborhood hardware store and a boutique that sold handmade soaps. The block often smelled faintly of wood chips and essential oils. Though not today.
The gumball machine’s glass globe had a crack in it. A rust-colored substance glued butter-yellow strands to the epicenter of the crack, like a morbid bandaid.
Some of the boundary flowers placed around the gumball machine were white roses standing upright in the packed frozen snow. Someone had poked them into the crust, like posts in a fence. The gesture had been made recently—maybe by one of the neighbors standing by. Joemin could still smell the crisp sweetness of roses on the evening’s silent breeze.
The tiny rose sentinels attempted to keep safe the bouquets of fresh red and pink carnations and yellow dahlias that lay piled high on the sidewalk around the gumball machine’s red base. But the flowers were no match for boots.
Footprints crushed most of the cellophane wrappings glinting under the streetlight. Tread patterns muddied the handwritten notes and the stuffed animals, broke the glass votive candles and the framed photographs, crumpled the sign that named the deceased.
Danielle Fatari.
Joemin had seen his fair share of roadside memorials in his twelve years, before moving to St. Brigid, Kildare, but he had never once seen one trampled.
The sight was uncanny.
Straddling his bike, one foot on the pavement and the other on a pedal, he stared at the defiled memorial like it was all a trick and if he just kept looking it would correct itself.
Backlist Love!
Glitching the Matrix. Can I be honest?
This was a fever dream book. All of a sudden I got the idea, and four weeks later it was done—raw, visceral, and exactly the way it needed to be. I’ve had people say that they don’t get/like the ending, and that makes me laugh because I remember discussing the ending before I wrote it. I’d just read another book that I thought had pulled its punch, and I wasn’t going to do that. And so I didn’t.
If you’re curious, you can read the first chapter here.
What I’m Working On Now
The Epoch Rite of Passage
I finished the trilogy this month! Hooray! 🎉 I have stuff to do still, readthroughs and editing and whatnot, but I reached “The End.”
And I love the ending. I was not at all expecting the ending. I thought I would end it with a totally different character, but then I started writing the scene that would become the ending, and not only did it surprise the hell out of me, it just flowed. It absolutely nailed what I was trying to say, and now that it’s done I cannot imagine it ending any other way. Love it when that happens.
Corbin D
I am now working on Corbin Kohl D in Hell. It has a title and a cover already! The cover makes me laugh.1 I had something else in mind, actually, but then I saw it and I just knew—because it made me laugh. If you’re reading this newsletter (❤️) because of Corbin books, I hope the cover makes you laugh, too!
(Which reminds me… if you’ve read Corbin C, he’d love a review from you. Here are some links:
❤️ Thank you!)
Any guesses about what the D might stand for? If you’ve got one, hit reply and let me know! Or…
What Else I’ve Been Up To
I was updating my website one day, and I happened to notice WordPress’s writing prompt. It asked about what book’s ending you would rewrite if you could. An answer immediately popped into mind, so I wrote a blog post about it.
The gist?
I’d rewrite 1984’s ending if I could. But since I can’t, I wrote The Epoch Rite of Passage Trilogy instead.
If you’re interested in the 3 things that inspired me to write the Epoch Rite of Passage, you can find the blog post here.
What I’ve Been Reading
Makers by Cory Doctorow. It’s about people who make things out of junk , the invention of new economic systems, the boom and bust cycle, and the conflict between decentralized economic models and big conglomerates. It’s good, and it makes you think. And the narrator was excellent.
Links to books are affiliate links.2
ICYMI
Get my books from your library
These are links to the info your library might need if they don’t have one of my books and you want them to get it for you:
Leave a review
If you’ve read one of the backlist books and want to leave a review (❤️), here are some quick links to do so:
Visit the Secret Pages
A couple of the books have secret pages with fun stuff, like bookmarks and playlists and whatnot. The passwords are in the Author’s Notes section at the back of the books. You can find the pages here:
The Trilogy will have a Secret Page!
The Corbin Kohl In Hell Secret Page (still adding stuff—might be September before I really get back to this)
(The Metanaut and Glitching the Matrix don’t have a Secret Page)
Winnie Pug Update
As I mentioned, it’s hot out, and we face south, so we have the shades drawn. The pug is not a fan of closed doors or drawn shades—or people not being able to see her in the window—so she spends most of her time peeking out the curtain.
Since you’ve made it this far…
Comment “Sneak Peek!” so I know you’re with me! (And let me know what you think!)
Good To Knows
This newsletter has more than one section. If you want to make sure you’re receiving everything you want and nothing you don’t want, you can update your preferences here…
Thank you for reading! Talk to you again soon!
I guess it’s been all about endings and laughing this month. I’m in the last month of my challenge, so maybe that’s got something to do with it. I’m becoming delirious.
Links to bookshop.org and/or amazon.com are affiliate links, meaning that if you make a purchase through a link, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support my work and allows me to continue writing for you. Thank you for your support!
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