​Well, it’s a surprise. But it’s like a big old surprise birthday party! It’s a good surprise! 
 
A bit of background first. I was told in early 2025 that readers these days like series released close together. So, although we were planning to release To Walk into the Sands next (Book 1 in a new desert-based fantasy, the Sands of Nanterac), 4HorsemenPublishing wanted a different series to go first so they could do get the whole lot out quickly because Book 2 of Sands of Nanterac wasn’t finished. They asked what else I had. I showed them Lione and Corelands. 
 
But then I got word that To Walk into the Sands was coming out September 25th, 2025! Great! I’m super excited about this new series, as it was what caught the attention of the publisher in the first place. It’s an adult otherworld fantasy with a mature near-retirement character and strong female leads that is very dear to me! 
 
At that point, I was told Lione and Corelands (which the editor had) were slated for February and March 2026, which made sense to me. I can only promote one thing at a time. 
 
But last week I got Lione’s release date. October 25th, 2025. Which is neither February, nor 2026. 
 
So since it’s now imminent, let’s talk about the Falling City for a second. This is such an old story for me, I don’t know where to start! 
 
The first thing to realize is that the order in which I published my books is not the order in which I wrote them. In fact, the first book released (Dragon’s Voice) was the LATEST book I had written at the time of its release. I followed it with Dragon’s Talon and SoulBurner, which were actually some of the oldest books. 
 
(Fun fact; the more recent the writing of the book, the less editing it required and the sooner I have been able to release them! Makes sense when you think about all I learned on my earlier works!)
 
Now the first book I finished is the Story that refuses to be written (not its real name). After that, came Dragon’s Voice. Then I was writing SoulBurner and, believe it or not, I got stuck. It wasn’t the story it is now (neither was Dragon’s Voice!) but I was writing and learning, and the characters were engaging and the story was fun! But I got stuck, even though I knew where the story needed to go. 
 
That is when my muse hit me with a (sigh… I know….) dream about a set of twins. They seemed much like my sister and I (we aren’t twins but are close). One is physically strong and tough, the other emotional and intuitive. But they were tied together by a single soul, and they were meant to change the world. 
 
I sketched them. And so I met Lania and Akara. 
 
Trouble was, it came together as a single novel at first, and whoo boy was it a doozy! I had to figure out how to split it, but for years, it just wouldn’t work. I had four uneven Acts in it, a large cast, and an immense world! I loved it for the flawed characters! It had so much more depth than anything I had written at that time. 
 
It also taught me a few important lessons that went on to influence my later writing. One was to try to write from another character’s POV. I’d gotten stuck on SoulBurner, but when I came to the part where Cairon and Gensiana meet Lania in the new book, it flowed. I learned so much more about the dynamic between the other characters, I was able to go back and finish SoulBurner! 
 
However, it was a good number of years later when I finally figured out how to adjust the enormous book that was then just called Lione. I was working through a new edit with the feedback sessions of the Sooke Writers’ Collective when it hit me. Cancel one Sovereign, fuse the character to another, and so simplify the flow between acts 2 and 3… and boom: Lione and Corelands (Book 1 and 2 of the Falling City) were finally done.
 
How long did it take? From 2001 to 2025. 
 
I write faster now. Dragon’s Voice only took 16 months from conception to completion (including professional edit) and then publication. But there is far less to fix. Lione and Corelands were the books that showed me what I wanted to do as a writer. They gave me the ‘voice’ of author-self. For that, they will always hold a special place in my heart.

​Freebies...

June means summer is here and with it fresh garden vegetables, farmers markets, and summer heat! 
Big in the news is that we have the official COVER in for the release of To Walk into the Sands, book 1 of a NEW series Sands of Nanterac. This was the book that the readers asked for in the poll last year, so here it is! The book is going to be released Sept 25th 2025!

This is a marked deviation from the World of the Tainted, with new characters, new magic, and new threats. It's definitely more mature as well. Follow the link HERE to your favourite website, or buy directly on this PREORDER option from the publisher for rocking discounts. They have 25% off this month for all LGBTQA+ books and are having a sale for pre-orders, which gives To Walk into the Sands a whopping 36% off if you get it now. 

In other news, I'll be at the Night Market in Sooke starting June 19th from 5-8pm at the Sooke Regional Museum grounds. We don't have the usual spot, so you'll just have to explore the market to find us (I know; shucks...all those great things to look at...)
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See you out there!

May is here and I sadly did a terrible job of planting this year so I don't know if we'll get any vegetables! But we've taken to growing sprouts on the windowsill, so that's fresh and fun! 

The littlest cat got his surgery, and it turns out he needed a tooth out too. The poor goof wasn't put together correctly at the manifacturer. But he's recovered well from most of it so far. He's happy to have no more cone on.

May is a lot quieter for events, but I'm being kept plenty busy. The typesets need to be reviewed for both Lione and Corelands and covers are in the works! I hope to have them by summer. Rumours have it I might see To Walk into the Sands coming out October 2025, but the official date is still TBA. 

In the meantime, I'm working on putting together a kids' book (which is a passion project in honour of my late cat Corsair) and have gotten the images back from the amazing Astra Crompton (link here). She's nailed the right mix of fun and colourful for the brown tabby who tamed my ginger scaredy cat with games. And it turned into a sweet story about making friends. I'm going to try and make it into a board book for kids age 3-7y.

I am also finishing the edits for Beyond the Southern Dunes (book 2 Sands of Nanterac) this month. It's due by the end of the month, so wish me luck!  Book 3 is percolating in my brain. Would it be cruel to drag poor Asakaran into another adventure? He's been trying to retire since book 1! 
Lastly, I've been updating the videos on YouTube, and now you can find all sorts of fun things, plus the occasional very random cat video! I'll be starting a series on where I got inspiration from over the years, too, so check me out at https://www.youtube.com/@shakatdamen

Busy, busy, busy...

March is shaping up to be busy! 

I'll be in Vancouver for some fun, but then, from March 28th through 30th, you'll find me at Island FanCon for the second year! I've got a bigger table, and I'm sharing! Meet my partner in crime below:  Richard Winder! 

I met Richard through the Sooke Writer's Collective, and I was blown away by how well he immediately fit in. He's a diligent member of the Long Prose Group and is throwing in great feedback for others while also working on an amazing new project involving realms and dragons! His current works are SciFi, although I'd be remiss not to mention his 4 seasons of non-fiction mushroom cookbooks. This man's knowledge is vast! Check out the links below to see more!
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Mid-April (specifically April 12th), I'm also at the Fantasy and Fairie Faire in Sidney at the Mary Winspear Centre. PLUS I'm in a writer's panel at the event!  It promises to be a day of great fun with costumes and magic. Yes, I have to dress up. I've decided to go as Shimmer. Pictures to follow! 
Promises to be a busy spring! Come out and see me!

MEET RICHARD and his SciFi books!!

Richard Winder is an indie science and science fiction writer and retired forest biologist living in Sooke, B.C. He likes to paint and draw, and to speculate about the futures that might lie ahead for all of us. He has been writing and publishing sci-fi stories for over a decade, and his self-published fictional works include two well-received space operas set in his Stella universe.
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He has also  published a post-apocalyptic novel about North American isolation titled Merika, along with New World Endings—an anthology with over a dozen very diverse short sci-fi stories and novelettes. 
You can follow Richard at @scifiwriter.bsky.social or https://www.facebook.com/richardswinder and his works are highlighted at https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rswinder

Check your inbox! I have drawn the name (well... email address) for the winner of the book from the Dragon Voice's 5h anniversary giveaway! One lucky winner is getting a free book! 

Thanks to everyone who shared and I hope it was fun for all! See you for another round... maybe in another 5 years!

Can you believe it's been 5 years since I took the leap into publishing. Since then, I've had a second child, grown my vet clinic, gotten a contract with 4 horsemen Publications, become an "international author" (4 countries!) and seen another either books come to life in print and ebooks! Wow! It's been a journey! 

I'm going back to basics on this one, reflecting on the many people who have helped me reach this point in my dream of sharing the World of the Tainted. I'm leaving Espar in the next few books, and one coming up leaves the world entirely so that's a whole new adventure! 

To celebrate, I'm giving away a book. I couldn't decide which book would be best, so I decided to just let the winner choose! Ebook or paperback (sorry; not all have hardcovers or audiobook so can't do that), and any of the Weapons of Espar, Son of No Man Series, or Dragon's Talon. If you ask nicely, and are willing to wait a bit, I might even be able to make it His Last Name (the newest release; Jan 20th!) 

Contest runs from Jan 1-15th, 2025. There's no sign up or special requirements to enter; just enter with your email at landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a4b7h8 and you're good to go. One entry per person!

So Happy Birthday to Dragon's Voice, and Happy 5th anniversary of publication to me! Help me celebrate!

News update? Absolutely time!

First, Happy holidays everyone! It's busy around here as I renovate instead of celebrate but we're close to finishing it off! Meantime, I've got presents organized but not wrapped! 

I had a blast at the Craft Fairs and looks like I've got a few more opportunities to do some more of that this year- maybe a con in the states, but for sure Island FanCon here in Langford and now a NEW faerie and fantasy event in the spring. Watch this space for details! 

While it's hard to believe, Nov 2019 was when I published my first book, Dragon's Voice. While it remains one of my favourites, we've certainly come a long way since then! So I wanted to celebrate and what better way than doing a book GIVEAWAY! 

Jan 1st to 20th, I am taking entries to win a free ebook OR paperback! No signing up for newsletters or reviews. Just enter to win a book OF YOUR CHOICE of mine. Watch the inbox and social media for the chance to enter (one entry per person) starting Jan 1st then share it around! Let's help someone start 2025 on the best foot!

I also had an exciting opportuntity to chat with J. L. Henker, a fellow writer! I've been following her for a long while; she was one of the first newsletters I signed up for! Her taste in art is gorgeous and fabulously dragon-filled! That video is now available at
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRslAfCqkbs

AND it turns out her free download was busted, so here's a fixed link! https://storyoriginapp.com/giveaways/221f6e90-b88f-11ee-8c12-e344a043283c

Lastly, here are the deal and shared group promos from this month! Get them while they're hot, then hunker down with a hot cup of cocoa and enjoy some reading time this holiday season!

A while ago (around May if you believe the blog posts) I came to the possibly erroneous conclusion that blogs were dead. Don't get me wrong; there were places where they still thrived, like cooking recommendations and travel experts. But for writers, who was reading blogs and is it really a way to connect with authors? I never read blogs. It's not my thing and never was. So why bother? 

Lately, I've had a bit of a change of heart. That said, I have no intention of becoming another "how to write" blog because that's for other writers, and I'm here for readers. I love to teach, answer questions, and help others, so there's still that behind what I write, but I don't want to re-hash that which already has a ton of information available. I don't need to talk about how to edit, where to publish, or whatever. There are many better resources than me for that! 

So, instead, I want to turn this into a news spot. For those who get the newsletter, this will be maybe a bit repetitive (or very repetitive depending on the month,) but I still want to have this available in case some (gasp) doesn't subscribe to the newsletter. The newsletter will still be the best place to get information first, but this blog will be a more permanent home for the updates that would otherwise have no place to land! 

Plus I can share other group promotions, free or on-sale ebooks from myself and other authors! On that note, I plan to swap over to BookFunnel in the next few months, as soon as I polish up a new Reader Magnet (aka freebie!). Don't worry; all current subscribers will get a link to download it for free!

So there you go; the new plan.... or maybe I should say the "news" plan. Watch this space for updates and news as it becomes available! See you out there!

Speaking of freebies and group promotions... check these out!