A Light in the Dark is narrated by Keira Grace.
Please click here to purchase in the Patreon Store. Cindercorns and Spicy Ponies with Bite receive a copy of the book. (Joining these tiers will allow you access to the mp3s, as they are not delivered by BookFunnel.)
The yearly floods in Stonecreek inevitably claim lives, but when Valerie pulls a refugee from the turbulent waters, she uncovers a dark secret about her home.
For most, there is sanctuary to be had in their high-walled homes.
For outsiders shunned by those in power, there is only exile or death.
To create a better future for Stonecreek, Valerie must become a light in the dark—even if it means she joins the ranks of those doomed to be purged from the city-state’s stony streets.
Some News and Other Stuff!
1: I’m back from my two weeks off! I had a good time. I went on my adventure, where I played on a jet ski on Lake Berryessa in California! It was fabulous.
2: These super nice folks have been supportive of me while preparing the Prince of New York for publication. Thanks so much!
Initially, I was going to do a special with the kitties being snarky, but in reality, I’m super exhausted, so I’m going to just invite everyone to click over and view these authors’ Amazon author pages or books. (Some links go to author pages, some go to specific books.)
I appreciate these kind authors so very much!
Aurora Kelly writes Contemporary and Historical Fiction
Carysa Locke writes Space Opera / Science Fiction. (Note: you may encounter sexy funtimes within these stories.)
J.F. Posthumus writes Science Fiction and other fun things!
Faith Hunter is an awesome friend and writes urban fantasy and junkyard kitties!
Kelly Ethan writes Paranormal stories for your enjoyment!
Erin Hayes writes a mix of paranormal, urban fantasy, and contemporary romance!
Angela Roquet writes paranormal fantasy!
Nicole Zoltack writes paranormal fantasy!
3: Life-Debt and Experimental Voyage are in the production queue for audiobook creation. I am expecting 3 months for Life-Debt to be ready and 4-5 months for Experimental Voyage to be ready. (This process may go a little faster, but I do not anticipate it going any slower unless someone involved becomes ill.)
4: I have done some thinking while on vacation, and I made a decision regarding Lilith Daniels. I will consider doing one shot mysteries with the pen name should already published books under this pen name earn their keep. (I posted about the actual costs of book production two posts, which you can read here and here.)
Long story short, especially if you don’t feel like reading the links: If Grave Affairs and Grave Intentions clear approximately $35,000 each , I will consider writing ‘standalone’ mysteries. (AKA, the entire mystery is resolved in a singular longer book.) (Both stories are longer books and had more base time and editorial investment compared to the average book, which is roughly $33,000 each to produce, including paying me for my time, effort, taxes, etc. Yes, I deserve to be paid for writing the books.)
If I end up writing a 300k monster, it’ll be charged at $9.99 and I’ll call it a day. But I will not be putting this on the table or plotting or buying cover art until both books clear.
Grave Affairs has earned $23,446.43 over its lifetime. At current count (assuming no preorders are dropped, etc), Grave Intentions will earn $6,400 at release.
In comparison, Dead Weight has earned $31,634.84 of its approximate $35,000 bill, which is why I’m expanding the world and establishing the conclusion points for the series now. (Magic, Mayhem, and the Law in Precinct #153 is designed to have a longer ‘overreaching’ arc with a mix of ‘directly related to the overreaching arc’ titles and ‘some connection but cops doing cop things in Cauldron City’ titles. So far, all the titles have major relevance to the overreaching arc. As the series progresses, that will change. (Especially as the main first arc comes closer to a close. At the very ending of the series, I will decide if the penultimate title will be ‘opening of a new major arc’ or ‘somewhat driving series towards the next book, where it quietly ends’)
Note: if it ‘quietly ends’, it will move to Lilith Daniels’ version of ended; once all the previous books in the series have cleared bills, I will do shorter mysteries consisting of 1-3 books; G.P. Robbins has a much better track record thus far than Lilith Daniels, so I’ll be willing to do longer titles, etc, as continuations of the various series/city-scapes.)
Right now, I suspect I’ll end the Cauldron City titles with the current final book I have planned and move to “short mystery” format while opening a new series in a different city in that world. (Much like Whispers, which the Spicy Ponies with Bite are getting to advance read on Patreon.)
I know some of you strongly dislike pen names, but here’s the reality of the situation: those same folks are *also* the people who can’t keep the stuff under RJ Blain straight. (For example, thinking the Mag Rom Com series and the Booked for Murder series worlds / universes are the same, or wondering how the Witch & Wolf world stuff fits into the Fox Witch stuff…) Segregating series, especially ones I hope last a long time, like GP Robbins, truly makes the books more accessible for the majority.
There’s no confusion about the Susan Copperfield books; people know all the Susan Copperfield works are in the same universe/world and are tied together. (Although I have some serious questions about why people think the Susan Copperfield books share a universe with *any* other one of my series. This is not the case, nor will it ever be the case.)
It truly makes things easier for all of us.
And yes… if you’re confused on what I write, please DO check the back of the books for the ‘about the author’ page; I update this across *all* my books as new pen names are launched, so as long as you have a retail copy, you should be able to see all my pen names. (Or you can check out the menu to see my pen name listing on this site.)
Pen names keep us all sane. If you are confused now… just try to keep everything straight if these were all under the same pen name. (I would be the most unhappy person of us all, too. R.J. Blain is already my bane with her utter chaos and too many worlds/series under one umbrella.)
Yes, I’m a prolific author. Yes, I HATE writing same world/series books back to back. (I’d rather not write anything at all if I have to write them back to back, I hate it THAT much.) Yes, I’m human. No, I don’t use AI in any stage of my writing, and I ask my editors to disable all AI functionality when editing my books. Real humans work on these… and real humans are quirky beings.
And we are not perfect, so if you’re expecting perfection, yeah, I’m not the person to be reading.
Anyway, that’s the current state of things. I hope you have a fabulous day!
As you say, pen names help keep the worlds separate. That said, I enjoy all your books and thank you for all you do.
Will Light in the Dark be going to other retailers?
Yes, in 2-3 weeks. Patreon store always gets it first.