One week to the omnibus

It’s been a while since I’ve updated–November was a crazy month! Now December has rolled in and we’re at the one week—well, 6-day—countdown to the release of the all-in-one version of The Knife of Narcissus. I hope the collected edition will entice a few new readers to try the story!

The Knife of Narcissus (omnibus)

The Knife of Narcissus Omnibus (all 7 parts) will release in a month, on December 9!

For anyone who wants it all in one chunk, here it is–and it’s a big chunk: 150,000 words.

The tentative cover (there may be a redesign):

In other news, I’m at work on this year’s NaNoWrimo, but it’s slow going. This year’s challenge: gladiators.

The Knife of Narcissus: review, giveaway, and guest post are up

Whew! Made it to the end!

If you haven’t read the series yet, there’s a chance to win all 7 parts, plus the Saturnalia novella, on Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews. This installment’s guest post is about the Roman holiday of Saturnalia: the festival of, well, carousing.

I may have caroused a little bit too hard today in celebration; tomorrow I’ll be recovering; and then Wednesday…back to writing!

Read an excerpt from Book 7 . . .

The End! Knife of Narcissus 7 release day is tomorrow

The end of the serial is almost here . . .

There will be a guest post, review, and a giveaway of the entire series—including the sequel novella Saturnalia—at Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews; plus, to go with the bonus novella, the cover reveal for Saturnalia. It’s my first “real” cover reveal. I’m all excited 🙂

Duck, incoming reviews…

It’s about two days to the release of the seventh and final part of The Knife of Narcissus on Monday, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the readers and reviewers who have been following the saga feel about the whole thing—both about the resolution for our heroes, and about the experience of reading the story in installments. Boy Meets Boy Reviews has some thoughts already.

One thing a reader might wonder about here at the end of Lucius and Trio’s tale is: why send a story out into the world as a serial, if the entire thing will be available eventually in one volume? I go back to my thoughts about serials in the guest post on Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews way back in August when this all began:

Some tales can be limericks. Some can be the epic of Gilgamesh. Ebooks also make it easy to send installments to readers—no more hanging around on the docks waiting to grab the latest chapter of David Copperfield. Which is great for the way I write. When I saw other romance writers using the serial format, it was as if someone had unlocked a door and said it’s all right to step through too.

At a workshop an awfully long time ago, the main critique for the story I brought was that, instead of following a traditional three-act structure, readers counted four, five, six, seven acts…and the story wasn’t even finished. It wanted to be nine acts. Maybe eleven. It wasn’t sure. I stuck it in a trunk and shut the lid so I wouldn’t have to hear it complain anymore. It took years of struggling against my instincts to realise that what I was writing were episodes in a story of many parts that didn’t easily fit the classic structure….

In all, it’s been an interesting experience to publish a serial, and I’ll have much more to say about it after I’ve had a chance to absorb and reflect. The novel I’m working on now won’t, I suspect, be published in parts. It’s more compact, a more tidy narrative. It is, however, also set in ancient Rome, because I cannot get enough of the place. And there’s more to tell about Lucius’s world.

Did I say above that this the end of Lucius and Trio’s story? I misspoke.

Alas, there will be no gladiators.

4-day Countdown to . . . THE END

The Knife of Narcissus part 7 releases next Monday. It’s been a busy two weeks here at the imperial villa (well, the very small house with big aspirations), so there hasn’t been a chance for many updates here on the site. But look for more this weekend.

It’s Knife of Narcissus 6 Release Day!

The penultimate episode is on sale today at all the usual places!

3 Chicks After Dark has the first review up, I think. I haven’t read it yet!

I was hoping to have a guest post over on at Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews today, but personal matters got in the way of it, drat. There’s still a giveaway, though!

3-day countdown to Book 6

The Knife of Narcissus part 6 releases next Monday and will be available at all the usual places. Once again there will be a guest post, review, and giveaway at Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews.

This installment’s guest post is on Roman Emperors—the crazy kind. (Yes, there were non-crazy ones, too, but it was hard to find them in the crowd of complete nutters.)

Let the next countdown begin!

5 days to the release of The Knife of Narcissus 6!

I’m pretty excited about this part of the serial and where it takes our heroes in their long summer journey (and let’s not forget the heroines).

Stand by for information about giveaways and guest posts!

An excerpt

(could be spoilery if you haven’t read through part 5):

It’s Knife of Narcissus 5 Release Day!

And once again there’s a guest post, review, and giveaway at Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews. This installment’s guest post is on dubious consent, non-con, and writing about slaves in the series.