Whew! That was a month-long marathon of edits. Next it goes to my amazing editor, Elaine Jackson, then back to me for a final proofread before it goes live on May 16, 2023! But you can pre-order it right now! Find it HERE.
Note the pre-order price is $3.99. That will go up to $4.99 on launch day. I do this so you, my loyal readers, get a bit of a break, so be sure to get it before launch day.
I did things a bit backward this time. Normally, I like to have the cover ready by the time I set up pre-orders. But my cover artist wasn't ready to start until April. And rather than hold the book back, I decided to pre-order it with a place-holder cover. Check back here to see the new cover when it comes (well before launch day).
In the mean time, enjoy the blurb for Devils Don't Lie, along with a short excerpt.
Devils Don't Lie - Valkyrie Bestiary Book 7
Critter wrangler rule #18: if wrangling isn’t messy, you’re doing it wrong.
The forest is whispering to Kyra that something’s coming. The creatures are restless. Smoke and ash fall on their homestead. And the shanty towns outside the ward are bursting with refugees.
But Kyra doesn’t need omens. She has a direct line to Terra, the god who put humankind in their place once before and won’t hesitate to do it again.
Unless Kyra finds a weapon called a “world killer.” Finds it and destroys it.
The only problem is, that weapon is now in the hands of Montreal’s oldest enemy, the vampires.
Kyra and Mason have fought vampires before, but with Mason’s demonic magic threatening to push him over the edge, this time, the risk might be too high.
Can Kyra appease an angry god, face off against the vampires and protect her growing family?
It turns out that being a working mom chosen to save the world is going to take practice, and a whole crew of creature companions as backup.
Excerpt:
Mason had spent most of the last three hundred years in the dark. He rarely spoke of what it was like to make that switch from a nocturnal creature to a diurnal one, but once in a while I caught him standing in the light with his face tilted toward the sun.
He leaned the shovel and crowbar beside the discarded gate, then draped an arm over my shoulder and pulled me in close. He smelled outdoorsy—like fresh water and loamy earth.
He breathed into my hair and said, “Let’s go see about that glass of—”
A figure burst through open gate. Hooves clattered over the discarded wood. The beast was taller than me at the shoulder and crowned in a black shaggy mane. It reared and pawed at the sky, then took off toward the house, veering before it reached the porch and galloping into the trees.
Mason and I watched in silent awe.
“What was that?” he finally said.
“Dunno. Shagamaw, I think. Or maybe a hugag.” It was too dark and the intrusion and happened so fast, I didn’t get a good look.
“Dangerous?”
“Only if you get in their way.” Shagamaws were in the deer family, though closer to the moose side than the white-tails. They had claws on their front hooves and could eviscerate a man, but they mostly they kept to themselves. Hugags were like the hummingbirds of the deer clan. They never sat still and were notorious for trampling gardens in their frenzy to eat wildflowers, berries or anything sweet.
I turned to look up the driveway. The wards around our house were pretty solid. Errol boosted them every month. They were keyed to keep out humanoids and highly magical creatures. Forest creatures could come and go as they pleased, but they usually avoided the homestead, preferring to stay clear of our family bustle.
“Should we be worried about a shagamaw invasion?” He pointed to the path the creature had fled down. I gripped his fingers tightly in mine, needing the comfort of solid contact.
“No. We wanted to live with the forest, not apart from it.” Mason nodded his agreement. “That means respecting creatures and not driving them away for stomping on our wildflowers or breaking our gates. That’s just a shagamaw doing its thing, but…” I hesitated.
“But…” Mason prompted.
I thought of the shadows running beside the van on our way in and shivered.
“I don’t know. Something feels off. The forest is restless and that makes me nervous.”
Fat flakes started to fall from the sky. I groaned.
“More snow. Just what we need.” We were well into March and my usual childish delight at seeing snow fall had worn off months ago.
Mason tipped his face to the sky and scowled. “That’s not snow.”
I caught a flake on my hand. I didn’t melt.
“It’s ash.”
The flakes fell thick and fast, enough to dust the branches of he hedge.
I turned into the wind coming from the north. Somewhere up there, the Inbetween was burning.
Pre-order Devils Don't Lie
Book Fairs & Events
Along with online book fairs, I'm back to doing in-person markets for the spring. I often take part in craft fairs, where I bring my Valkyrie Bestiary books, my children's books (writing as Kim Chatel) and my hand-made felted ornaments. If you're in the Ottawa area, come out to see me on these dates:April 2, 2023: Merivale Mall Sunday Market, Nepean, Ontario. 12-5pm.
April 8, 2023: Spring Fling Easter Craft Show: Merivale Mall, Nepean Ontario, 9am-4pm.
Otherwise, enjoy this line-up of great book deals. Click on any banner to reveal the deal! Since it's the end of the month, many of these deals are time sensitive. Check them out asap!
Spotlight Book
Bad Luck Genie
Smoke & Magic, Book 1
by AE McKenna
Finding out you’re not human when your sleazy fiancé tricks you into a djinni bottle—Check.
Accidentally linking yourself to a hot djinni who can’t stand the sight of you—Check.
Having your fugitive mom chaperone your first adventure with said hot djinni—Check.
Lucy Avalon can’t catch a break and neither can undercover Fae Bureau of Investigation agent Malware Tanaka. Caught in the throes of magical sarcasm, Lucy’s bad luck curse conjures an unbreakable bond, and they both want to be free of one another as fast as possible.
Their only hope is an ancient artifact that grants impossible wishes—and they aren’t the only ones after it. A dark djinni seeking unlimited power to rule over the magic realms has a head start and will do anything to keep it.
To save the Fae Courts, Lucy and Malware need to find the relic first. But even if they do, Lucy must make the hardest decision of her life: free the captivating djinni who might just like Lucy for Lucy, or break her bad luck curse once and for all.
