Ch-ch-changes! We nuked the old website from orbit.

Dear humans,

Last night, the female snapped, much like a little twig under foot. It was truly delightful. She grabbed the digital shotgun, she aimed it at the server hosting my blog, and she opened fire. She then lit its digitally shredded corpse on fire, defenestrated it, and she possibly indulged in an act of exsanguination.

She had a great time.

As a result, there are ch-ch-changes coming! She’s hard at work recreating my website so it’s pretty… and better still, functional for readers! In the upper menu bar, you will notice a “Series by RJ Blain” link. It’s not finished, but in the upcoming days, you will see things like series reading orders and buy links for all of her books appearing there.

Series by RJ Blain will eventually be replaced with ‘Authors’, allowing you to browse between the female’s various incarnations. It’ll be glorious.

So, as the site was cruelly hosed in an act of digital violence, I’m taking the time to recap some things that have been going on lately. I’ll try to be brief, but there are a lot of things going on.

Audiobook News

Hypnos, Hoofin’ It, and No Kitten Around are finished and are currently being proofread. Hypnos’s proofreading run will be finished by Friday, which means Hypnos is on track for audiobook release in September.

It is possible that Hoofin’ It and No Kitten Around will also have September audiobook releases.

Please be patient with us, as this is a complicated and lengthy process.

As we’re expecting three audiobook releases to happen within a few weeks of each other, we will send the newsletter missive announcing the audiobook releases as one send when the final one is ready for purchase. We don’t want to be annoying with our newsletter sends.

What newsletter, you ask? This one. There will be at least one cat picture with every send, but I do not promise it will be a new cat picture. I am a beguiling tyrant, after all.

Or a tyrannical beguiler. Whichever pleases me the most at any given time.

If you want to know whenever we post to our blog, scroll down. There’s a form there. Sign up, and you’ll get our words in your inbox whenever we post our words.

We like using our words.

Since we’re talking about Audiobooks, here is the list of audiobooks currently available for sale:

By RJ Blain

• Playing with Fire
• Hearth, Home, and Havoc
• Serial Killer Princess
• Whatever for Hire
• Owl be Yours
• Last but not Leashed
• Blending In
• Cheetahs Never Win
• Fowl Play

By Susan Copperfield

• Null and Void (Published by Tantor Media)
• The Captive King (Published by Tantor Media)
• A Guiding Light (Published by Tantor Media)
• Huntress

Upcoming Novel Releases

Ginger Snapped (Bernadette Franklin) releases on November 5, 2019. There is a giveaway available on facebook. (Prize: books. If you preordered and win, you’re eligible to receive a painting. If you’ve preordered from multiple vendors, you’re cray-ray, we love you, and you’re eligible to receive a panel painting set if your name is drawn as a winner. See the facebook post for more details.) Preorder now at the following retailers:

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Kobo
• Apple Books

Bat out of Hell (Bernadette Franklin) will release on Halloween. It’s a novella, it will be priced at $2.99 unless it grows too big for its britches, and there will not be a preorder for this story.

Steel Heart (RJ Blain) will release on Christmas. Amazon preorders will be available sometime in October. You can preorder now at the following retailers:

• Barnes & Noble
• Kobo
• Apple Books

Blood Bound (RJ Blain) will release January 28, 2020. Amazon preorders will be available sometime in late October or November. You can preorder now at the following retailers:

• Barnes & Noble
• Kobo
• Apple Books

Surprise! More Novels on the Way!

Cold Flame by Susan Copperfield

The female is 2/3rds done this novel, and we expect it to release by the end of the year. She is undecided if she will do a three month preorder cycle for this story or not. She’ll decide when it is finished, which will hopefully be by the end of the month.

Warning: this is a slow burn book, it is not action oriented, and while there is action in places, Rachel of New York is not your typical New Yorker, and her problems are of the heart, not about how fast she can flash-fry somebody. (Hint: it’s fast.)

There will be magic and mayhem and action in places, but if you’re looking for another Bonds… it’s not Bonds. Hell, in some cases, even Null and Void has more action than Cold Flame does.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

In good news, the female utterly expects this book to bomb, and she’s okay with that. She likes the book.

Water Witch: A Dustin Walker Anthology plus other tales by RJ Blain

There is a lot of work left to do on this, including the writing of at least one Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) novella for inclusion in this set. It will be priced at $6.99 due to its length.

Water Witch will release November 26, 2019. A preorder will be made available as soon as the final count of stories included is completed. Expect September for the preorder to be launched.

This anthology will include a lot of new material, including:

• 4 or 5 new Dustin Walker stories
• 1 Magical Romantic Comedy Novella
• 1 Magical Romantic Comedy Short Story

Material seen before (in the former newsletter and on the website) includes:

• Dustin Walker Short Stories (3 or 4. Female can’t remember.)
• Karma/Jake short stories. (There are 3 in the set. Female can’t remember if she’d shared all 3 with readers before or not.)
• 1 Kalen Short Story (Gifts Fit for a Queen)
• 1 Breton Short Story (Can’t remember if it is named.)
• A few Richard/Frank centric Witch & Wolf stories.

Currently, the word count is somewhere around 100,000 words, and the novella and some of the shorts haven’t been typed up yet. Fortunately, a huge chunk of the anthology (75,000+ words) is already with the editor. (So don’t worry. This is not stressful on the female. It’s just making sure she stops pushing it off. She’s a master at pushing off fun things because she’s dumb.)

Other News

As the female’s battery is recharged, there are some other things we should discuss! Changes she’s making to ensure she’s happiest writing and can keep chugging along doing what she likes doing best: writing books.

In 2020, how she releases books will majorly change.

First, preorders may or may not be used. It will be decided on a book by book case. As such, this will significantly lower her stress levels. Why? She’s only going to be setting up preorders for finished books with one exception. Grave Humor will have a launched preorder at wide vendors (non-Amazon vendors) soon.

It will release on May 16, 2020, and will be the female’s birthday book. Amazon preorders will begin in February or March.

The part about performance of the Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) series still stands, however: the female will decide on a case by case basis on if she can afford to do stories of certain series; she DOES have to pay the bills.

So, rather than freaking out because fans want this or fans want that, and deadlines are hard… the female will be writing what makes her happy with an eye on what pays the bills, and while she’ll still consider what the fans want, as always, she’s not going to stress herself sick over it.

She’ll do the books that pay the bills as necessary, and everything else will be meant for the fun and enjoyment of everyone. She counts in this.

Two projects will fall into ‘Fans want it, so she’s going to do it while weeping into her tea’ category. These are License to Kill and Dual Nature. Wild Wolf/The Edge of Midnight fringe on this category as well, due to the inherent difficulties with the Witch & Wolf World stories… but they’re much easier on her because she just adores Declan.

The other Witch & Wolf stories are harder on her because they’re tied with a lot of unfortunate memories. She’ll get through it, but we ask for your patience.

We also ask that you please stop with the “I would rather have $this series’ comments, because they make her really unhappy and stress her out. She knows you’d rather have $this series… but $this series is the equivalent of a soul-sucking leech out for her soul, and if she drank, she’d need an entire bottle for fortitude to get through it.

Some stories are just hard and made of pain. But in good news, once 2020 rolls around, and she’s no longer clearing out the to-do list, should she magically be in the mood for those stories, she can stop what she’s doing and just work on them.

They’ll get done. They’ll just get done in a way that doesn’t cause her major stress and anxiety.

Thank you for your understanding on this matter.

ARCs, Readers’ Group, and More.

Wait. What? ARCs? Never! The female doesn’t do ARCs!

That will be changing, but there are rules involved with the ARCs. Here they are:

ARCs will only be open to people who have preordered the book, who have reviewed the female’s books before, and who have a good standing in the female’s Street Team.

An NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) will be required, and it is a legally binding document. All copies of ARCs sent out will be canary trapped. This means if you release your copy into the wilds, it will be stupidly easy for the author to know you did it, as every copy is unique to every reviewer. This may sound unfair, but one pirated copy can completely ruin a release, especially if it is released prior to publication.

The female cannot afford to have unreleased books pirated, and the pirate will pay the bill for her lost earnings.

Like, seriously. This is her job, and you wouldn’t want someone snatching your wages out of your hand after you spent months earning your paycheck.

To join the street team, which is located on facebook, please click here. Please note that you will be required to sign an NDA to remain a member of the street team, as one of the female’s staff uses her intellectual property to promote her works and operate the team. (The NDA essentially states that you can’t share or use street team materials without permission.) Click here to access the member signup form and NDA.

ARC NDAs will be issued before the book is distributed, and you will be required to read the book through an Amazon account using a kindle app. (This is the most secure and easiest way for the female and her staff to get the book(s) to you.)

Please note that readers are not required to leave a review; please view these ARCs as early access opportunities to the book(s.) You are not receiving the book in exchange for a review. You are preordering the book and receiving your copy early.

That said, readers who do not review the book will not receive advanced copies of purchased books again in the future.

Book Bloggers, if you have a large website/following and are interested in reviewing, please join the street team, fill out the NDA/member form, and contact Katie Welks to discuss potential ARC opportunities. Katie will be issuing special invitations to established book bloggers for ARCs of the female’s titles. Thank you!

Finally, onto the Readers’ Group: The Fantasy Worlds of RJ Blain is your first stop for sneak peeks at RJ’s books, the place to go for the latest information, and how to participate in the polls to see what everyone would like to read next. When the female does ask for input, it generally happens here.

Last but not least, if you enjoy the female’s paintings, she will be giving them away to people who have preordered books or have joined special giveaways for them. In addition, the Street Team (info above) will also have extra opportunities to receive paintings the female has created.

Ginger Snapped will have a potential collection of paintings available to those who have preordered, as she’s unlocking a new prize every 500 preorders of the title. Note: you are entering to receive a box of autographed books and other goodies. Only people with a preorder and can show their email receipt of their preorder will be eligible to receive a painting. The painting is an added thank you gift sent with the main prize for going above and beyond the call of duty.

The main prize is still going to be pretty badass.

I think that’s about all, so you have yourselves a fantastic day. I’ll be back (soon) as I begin the process of adding more content to my shiny, brand new and clean blog! I’m hoping to come back daily with something new and fun for you.

Because admit it, humans. You know you want to hear from my glamours, furry self every single day.