2021-2022 Update

The 21st year of the 21st century came to a close with a whimper instead of a bang. Now we’re more than halfway through January.

This is exciting for me as my second book comes out at the beginning of next month. Second Nature will be out on Groundhog’s Day, 2.2.22. I hope people buy it and then buy it again. And again.

Funny story: it took me a ridiculously long time to realize that Second Nature comes out on the second. Yeah. To say we’ve had some stuff going on would be an understatement.

Anyway, I would love to tell you more about the book. Before I give you the jacket copy, I want to tell you a little more about what writing it was like. At first, as my writing group can attest, I thought it would be a good idea to tell this story in the first person. And I would begin with my main character waking up in the hospital with no memory of who she was. (Did anyone else just hear a record scratch? Or a sad trombone? No? Just me? Okay.) Rightfully, and thankfully, after feedback, I did a course correction and changed a few things.

Second Nature is now told in the limited third-person and begins with what an ordinary day would look like for our protagonist, Mavis Corvid, six months after she woke up in the hospital with no idea of who she is. The story goes from there. In this instance, once I had the beginning nailed down, the rest of the story came without trouble and I was able to write straight through to the end. I’m not going to lie. It was kind of an odd experience. But I knew what needed to happen and what order it needed to happen in and it all came together.

What else can I tell you about Second Nature? I’ve already written a sequel. It’s from another character’s POV, again limited third-person. I can’t wait for you to meet him. Don’t know when that will be, but he ends up meeting Mavis, after about 10k words, in addition to a lot of the characters from the first book.

Here’s what’s on the jacket: “Mavis Corvid can’t remember. Not who she is, not where she came from, nothing. It’s been six months. Now she’s back on her feet and settling into a new life. She has an apartment, friends, a job working at a garage for a grumpy boss, and an insatiable curiosity about werewolves.

No one knows why the wolves disclosed their existence to the world. As the first anniversary of their reveal approaches, a fight brews between two alphas that could threaten the rest of humanity unless Mavis can remember who she was. She knows she’s not a werewolf, but she is something else.

When pushed from a balcony, Mavis’ second nature asserts itself. She shifts to save her skin. Now she’ll have to harness her strange abilities as she investigates her disappearance and what happened to the Aldwulf, the alpha of all alphas. However, the past is gone, and Mavis is not the same person she used to be.”

Second Nature is an urban fantasy featuring werewolves and shifters of different persuasions focused on the search of one person to find themselves, revolving around themes of identity and acceptance as well as finding your place. I hope everyone enjoys the story.

Again and again.