SINFUL INTENTIONS STUMBLING BLOCK

I should have seen it coming, but I didn't.  I've been forging ahead with the editing of Sinful Intentions with my self imposed deadline for release without considering the obvious.  The first two editions of Sinful Intentions were published by a national publisher and it took me ten years to get my rights back.  They were ten hard fought years, may I add, but I won't get into the details.  I'll save that story for another blog.  When the letter came from the publisher this year giving my publication rights back to me I was ecstatic.  

Immediately, I made plans to release Sinful Intentions under the banner of Crystal Ink Publishing and proceeded to Amazon.com to do so.  Of course I did so without thinking about the fact that the company would want me to verify my ownership rights since the former publisher had sold the title on Amazon for years.  Well, that's what happened when I started to publish Sinful Intentions on the date I originally had in mind, but don't worry.  Sinful Intentions should be released this month.  My rights have been presented to Amazon.com as requested and they have been approved.  Things are back on track for a June re-release and I'm sure it will be worth the wait! 

SINFUL INTENTIONS IS COMING!

In last month's blog I stated that I was  working on the re-release of one of my favorite Sin Series novels, Sinful Intentions.  It will be the third edition of the popular novel, and it will be released with the brand new cover below. 

Sinful Intentions is the third book in the SIN SERIES .  I consider it some of my best work.  I actually wrote this book without any kind of  outline, just an idea of what I wanted the book to be about.   For reasons I still don't understand, the storyline simply poured out of me as each day I sat down and wrote a couple of pages until the book was completed.  Here's the prologue to the romantic suspense novel, Sinful Intentions.

 

PROLOGUE

       It was a well-concealed street, obscured from prying eyes by a grove of aged trees.  The driver of the

dark sedan turned smoothly into the grove, knowing what lay beyond—another mile of paved road

that curved into a quiet, residential neighborhood.  A prominent sign displayed at the street’s entrance

warned visitors that there was no outlet.

As it silently continued its journey, the car’s headlights were turned off, making the vehicle practically invisible against the moonless night.   Five houses occupied this exclusive enclave.  A high wall with a monitored entrance gate surrounded the house on the immediate left. It belonged to a famous singer.  Directly across the street was another wall that surrounded the opulent home of a prominent financier.  A Middle Eastern businessman owned the house next door, while the one across from that one was the vacation home of a stockbroker who had fallen on hard times.  The sign advertising its sale was discreet. At the end of the cul du sac was the final house.  Like the last three homes, there was no wall surrounding it.  A long driveway sloped upward to the crest of the hill on which the structure stood majestically among a backdrop of windswept cypress trees.  It was in front of this house that the car came to a stop.

The car’s occupant quickly glanced around the well-lit street.  It was quiet.  He checked his illuminated watch. It was two o’clock in the morning. The security patrol would make an appearance in fifteen minutes.  Swiftly, the dark clad figure slid from behind the wheel, hurried around the car and opened the trunk.  Withdrawing two large garbage bags, each bulging with refuge, they were exchanged for the two bags sitting at the curb.  Closing the trunk, he was back in the car in less than two minutes. 

As the nondescript sedan moved along the highway, it passed the security patrol car going in the opposite direction.  The early morning prowler watched through the rear view mirror as the lights of the vehicle disappeared.  It was headed for the grove of trees.   A sinister smile of triumph appeared on his face. He had successfully avoided the night patrol. Nothing to worry about.  Everything would pass inspection. Everything would look as it should. All had gone perfectly as planned.

  

SOMEONE LIKE YOU cover is here!

April has been a busy month for me.  I've been working fervently on the next installment of the Stillwaters series.  As I've stated, the novel is titled Someone Like You and it follows , Jolene, the  second of the Carson sisters introduced in Someone Like Me.  The novel is still in the process of being edited.  That being the case, it will take a bit of time before its release, but progress is being made.  Below is the cover for Someone Like You.  Hope you like it!

Also stated in a previous blog, I am also working on the re-release of one of my favorite Sin Series novels, Sinful Intentions.  First released in 2006 and again in 2009, this time Sinful Intentions will be released under Crystal Ink Publishing. 

Sinful Intentions follows Sin, Nedra and their three children four years after the couple marries.  My acquisition of the novel from its mainstream publisher completes what I consider the Sin Series "set" of books which includes:  Sin, Sweet Sacrifice, Secrets, Strangers and Shadows of Love.   In reading the series, Sinful Intentions  would be the book to read after Sweet Sacrifice.  I will be writing more about both novels with release dates in the near future.   

ANNUAL SMASHWORDS BOOK SALE IS HERE!

I'm excited about the 9th Annual Read an Ebook Week Sale!  Starting March 4 - March 10, 2018 four of the books in the SIN romantic suspense book series will be on sale at Smashwords.

Sin, Sweet Sacrifice, Secrets and  Strangers will each be on sale for only $1.50.  Simply go to Smashwords.com, and apply the coupon provided at checkout so that you can purchase your favorite titles.  Better yet, read the entire series!  Hurry, because the sale only last a week!  

As stated on the blog last month another book in the Sin Series, an updated version of Sinful Intentions, will be released in the near future. Excerpts from Sinful Intentions and from Someone Like You, my latest book from the Stillwaters series will both be presented here. Look for them!

SINFUL INTENTIONS IS COMING!!

I just received great news this Black History Month!  SINFUL INTENTIONS my second book in the SIN SERIES is officially mine again!  Of course I've known that ever since I wrote it back in 2006.  It seemed that the publisher, whose name I won't dignify on this post, didn't seem to know it.  

It's a long story, but 'll make it short.  SINFUL INTENTIONS was first published in 2006 by a mainstream publisher, and it did so well that a second edition was published in 2009.  I was paid an advance when it was first published and the advance was paid up in 2008.  That means that a percentage of royalty payments should have been paid to me with each sale of the book from 2008  on, since I no longer owed the publisher any monies against the advance.  My royalties were never paid to me by the publisher, although each Income Statement that I received from the publisher stated that I had received royalty payments.  I've been contesting that lie through lawyers, registered letters, emails, you name it, from 2008 to 2017.  I was relentless in letting the publisher know that because the contract had been violated, I was taking my rights to SINFUL INTENTIONS back!  Finally, after my last lambasting letter to the publisher in September 2017, the publisher relented and agreed that the rights to SINFUL INTENTIONS do indeed belong to me!  Hallelujah!

So, it looks like in 2018 not only will SOMEONE LIKE YOU, the second novel in the Stillwaters Series be released, but I'll be releasing the third edition of SINFUL INTENTIONS, in ebook format.  This is the blurb for  SINFUL INENTIONS:

When Rev. NEDRA DAVIS shocked her congregation by engaging in a torrid love affair with sexy bad boy SINCLAIR REASONER, no one would have guessed the outcome.  Four years later and happily married, their world revolves around their passion for each other and their love for their three adopted children.  The sudden appearance of a sinister stranger and a deceptive woman sets into motion a chain of events that threatens the couple's marriage, their family and their lives. 

There will be more to come about SINFUL INTENTIONS and SOMEONE LIKE YOU.  Look for it!

A Very Late Happy 2018!

Whew!  I barely made it but with determination and grit,  I'm trying to keep my good intention to blog every month in 2018.  This month has been very busy as I continue to work on the next installment of the Stillwaters series, Someone Like Me.  Last month I said that I  should be finished with the first draft by the end of this year.  Wrong!  Life got in the way, but I can say at least I'm near the end. 

As I said in the last post, Some Like Me follows Melanie Carson, the youngest of the trio of Carson sisters in the Stillwaters trilogy.  Melanie is small, tough and has a big mouth, just the right combination for trouble when it comes to dealing with Solo Reedus,  a member of the indomitable Stillwater clan,. It's hate at first sight between these two, but of course, love conquers all.  Or does it?  Like I said, I'm still working on the end of the novel.

I've spent most of the first month of 2018 trying to drum up interest in a theatre producing my latest play, The Diary of Annie Mae Franklin.  The play was chosen to be read at the prestigious 2017 National Black Theatre Festival, and the reaction to it was great.  Now it's time for my baby to take flight.  The Diary of Annie Mae Franklin  will be produced.  I'm sure of it.  The only question is where and when.  I'll let you know the answer to that when I find out. 

Whose Knife is it Anyway? the latest cozy mystery co-written with my writing partner, L. Barnett Evans, is doing pretty well.  In Whose Knife is it Anyway? the ladies of Grandmothers, Incorporated are trapped in the woods with a group of feuding church ladies and they stumble on a body.  Whose Knife is it Anyway? is available on Amazon.com and Smashwords.com as are my romantic suspense novels.  

The first draft of the first non-fiction story I've ever written is finished.  It's about a solider during the Korean War.  I don't know when I'll get that one out and L. Barnett Evans and I have finished the first draft  of the first book in the trilogy of mysteries that we're writing.  How I find the time for all this I don't know!  So I'm proud of myself for making the January 2018 blog, even if it is on the last day of the month.  I think I'll pat myself on the back.

THERE'S A NEW BOOK COMING in 2018!

Well, all of my good intentions to blog every month in 2017 went down the drain after July 2017.  I really meant to keep my resolution regarding that one, but life got in the way and plenty of writing.  I wrote a new play early in 2017,  titled The Diary of Annie Mae Franklin, and submitted it to be read at  the National Black Theatre Festival held in August 2017.  Approximately 175 scripts were submitted but only forty were chosen to be read.  The Diary of Annie Mae Franklin was among those chosen.  I was both pleased and proud, and the play reading was a resounding success.

Meanwhile, the latest cozy mystery co-written with my writing partner, L. Barnett Evans, was released earlier this year.  The book is titled Whose Knife is it Anyway?  and it's funny,  even if I have to say so myself!  In Whose Knife is it Anyway?  the ladies of Grandmothers, Incorporated are trapped in the woods with a group of feuding church ladies.  When a stumble on a body in the woods, they wonder is a killer lurking in their midst.  Whose Knife is it Anyway? is available on Amazon.com and Smashwords.com.  Believe me, you're in for a round of belly laughs when you read it.

The next installment of the Stillwaters series, Someone Like You, is coming along nicely.  I should be finished with the first draft by the end of this year.  Some Like You follows Melanie Carson, the youngest of the trio of Carson sisters in Someone Like Me, the first book in the Stillwaters trilogy.  Melanie is small, tough and mouthy, just the right combination for trouble when it comes to dealing with Solo Reedus,  a member of the indomitable Stillwater clan, and a man who dislikes her at first sight.  Writing about these two fire brands has been quite a roller coaster ride.

I'm working on the first non-fiction story I've ever written as well. It's about a solider during the Korean War.  I'm learning a lot about that period in history and the strength and courage of the young men who served their nation.  Also, L. Barnett Evans and I are working on a trilogy of mysteries that should be completed some time next year.  Whew!

As you can see there hasn't been much time to keep this blog up, but I hope to do better in 2018.  Wish me luck!!!