by Mlissa | Apr 11, 2017 | Kindle Worlds, Shifters, writing
Because there seems to be some confusion.
In the beginning of Bear Haven, I said this: The ride in general isn’t over, but the ride in the Southern Shifters Kindle World, for me, is. At least for these characters. At least for the foreseeable future.
So, lets clarify some things. YES, Gus and Bex are over, but ONLY in the Southern Shifters Kindle World. I had to do what I did. I had to end Bear Haven as I ended it BECAUSE in order to tell the bigger story… to weave other characters in from other series, to connect some other dots into it all, I had to move Gus and Bex, Michael and Maxine, and other supporting characters OUT of the Southern Shifters Kindle World. (Remember… the Southern Shifters Kindle World does not belong to me and as such, there are limitations to what I can and cannot do.)
The Black and White series is, for the time being, done. I said that too (look above). I may go back and write another one. But only after I finish all the other tie ins.
Gus and Bex will be starting over. Elsewhere.
Michael and Maxine will be getting their own book.
Marcel and Mari will be getting their own book.
And ALL of these will be linked, loosely, but linked nonetheless with my Denali Heat bears which I just got the rights back to.
Keep in mind, as well, as I said in the back of Bear Haven, that none of these stories will be coming until either late 2017 or early 2018. I am sorry you have to wait, but other things happened (Samhain Publishing closing), that forced plans to be altered.
But, to reiterate… There are reasons I did what I did. I have mentioned it before Bear Haven came out AND after Bear Haven came out.
Please if you still have questions, ask me. I’m happy to answer them.
~lissa
by Mlissa | May 24, 2016 | Kindle Worlds, Paranormal Romance, Samhain Publishing, Shifters
So, I just had a new release (and yes I did sneak that buy button in there). It’s getting some great reviews and I’ve received some interesting, supportive, and bordering on obsessive emails and messages regarding the series. I love that people enjoy it, especially since I’m so far out of my element with what’s contained in the rest of this post.
The following image is one of my whiteboards. It has arrows and colors and a very, very, very loose idea of how I’ll be connecting several shifter series… Read this one as ‘Lissa’s brain on coffee’
It’s not pretty, but I do understand it… I see the overall picture…
This is a visual idea of what my brain looks like with the details and even with some of the overall idea of what I’m attempting to do…
Notice the difference? My mind is a scrambled mess of interwoven details and ideas and thoughts and “OMFG WTF am I doing?” Read this one as ‘Lissa’s brain on coffee but obviously laced with something because there’s no freakin’ clarity’
I know you want the next book. Some book. Any book that has to do with the shifters… Many want more Gus and Bex. Many still want the rest of Denali Heat. Some now also want the wolves that I’ve introduced. So on, and so forth. I get it. I really do.
Denali Heat books (This is indicated on the whiteboard in the upper left corner that got cut off)… Those are different. The first one is still at Samhain Publishing and I can’t have it back, yet. It will need to be revised and added to in order to incorporate it into the huge, jumbled mess I’ve shown you above. I can work on that before I get the rights back and get back to working on the next book in the series, but it won’t be available to anyone until I get the rights back to Arctic Shift.
Just bear with me as I try to figure out how to do what it want to do…
Just bear with me as I try to untangle my brain.
In the process, I’m also working on the new contemporaries I promised earlier in the year. My ‘Fuck You if you don’t like what I want to write’ books.
Lots in store, y’all…
~lissa
by Mlissa | Nov 27, 2015 | Author Friday, Paranormal Romance, Shifters
I haven’t been online a whole lot the last week or so. I know I haven’t kept up with the blog as much as I used to and I know I didn’t leave a Thanksgiving message this year as I have in the past, but my heartfelt gratitude is no less diminished.
I’ve been trying hard to be present. To be in the moment. Too much planning ahead or looking back ruins the RIGHT NOW and I’ve spent too much time looking around and not looking within to savor the minutes and seconds that are passing by.
When I started writing, I didn’t go into it with the idea of hitting a list. But guess what? Earlier this week, I found out that A Very Alpha Christmas box set hit the USA Today Bestseller’s List. This was a shock for me. Not because of the others in the set, because WOW there are some major paranormal authors in it, but it was a shock because I’m part of it. I’m sitting there in the list of author’s names right along with everyone else. I mean…Holy. Crap. L. Matthews. THAT’S ME!
I wanted to write good books. I wanted to write books that would resonate with readers. I wanted to touch people. I didn’t think about making a list. I didn’t think about making a lot of money as a writer. But I did think about a dream coming true and that was writing a story, having it published, and seeing my name on a cover. I’ve achieved those things. Time and time again.
I’ve made a little money, too.
And with an amazing and talented group of authors, I have become a USA Today Bestselling author.
None of it. NONE OF IT could have happened without you. Those who’ve been with me from the beginning and those who’ve come to read my work in recent months, weeks, days , who’ve held me up when I wanted to cry, who’d been in my corner when it seemed every review written was a bad one and made me want to quit, who’ve supported me when it seemed no one else did, who’ve shared in my achievements and my failures, THANK YOU!
And yes, if by chance you’ve haven’t ordered the book, click the cover to do so now!
Please visit the authors who make up A Very Alpha Christmas… I know you’ll be glad you did!
Have a wonderful weekend!
~lissa
by Mlissa | Sep 18, 2015 | Kindle Worlds, New Releases, Shifters
I have written a new Kindle Worlds story in the Southern Shifters world. It is a continuation of Gus and Bex’s story which began in Ink To Bear. In this new title, questions from Bex’s past arise and secrets are revealed that even I didn’t know until recently… There will be a book 3, as well, coming in late October.
Enjoy!
~lissa
Inked By The Bear
READ AN EXCERPT
Gus tried – and failed – to ignore the rumbling beneath his feet. He heard them coming long before anyone else would have. And, he felt them.
He turned the wrench harder than he should have and reminded himself that it wasn’t his bike he was working on right then.
It was a neighbor’s bike. A human’s bike. And a normal human wouldn’t have that kind of strength behind the simple turning of a wrench.
The roar of multiple engines gutted the silence of the normally peaceful little town of Dandridge, Tennessee. He’d brought Bex here when she sold her childhood home to start
He gave her a ride from North Carolina and hadn’t left. Didn’t have a plan to leave, either.
He also didn’t want to cause her or anyone in the small town issues and the wolf shifter leading the handful of other wolf shifters was nothing but one big, furry issue.
Gus stood, wiping his hands on a rag, and pretended he wasn’t tense as the first bike pulled right up to his feet. One by one, the engines shut off. It wasn’t until all was quiet again, that Gus looked up.
“Blackwood,” was all he said by way of greeting.
“I’m here to talk about the human woman.”
“She’s mine. Which makes her off limits to you. No need to talk about her. Have a… Safe trip back.”
“I’m not looking to cause trouble.”
Gus smirked. “You and your pack are nothing but trouble from what I hear. Especially, you.”
“At least the reputation fits,” the wolf said with a grin. His expression turned serious again. “She’s not a pure human. And I know you sense that. We all sense it. She’s part shifter, and given her age and where she comes from, I think I might I know something about her past.”Gus stared at the alpha wolf, one brow raised in question. That was a lot of specific information to just be tossed out into the open. Was Blackwood telling the truth? If he wasn’t, Gus would tear the wolf apart. But… But if he was…? Only Bex could say whether or not she’d want to know.
“Look, I know you have no reason to trust me, but when I saw her a few weeks back outside Sweet Retreat? Let’s just say it triggered some things I’ve been pulling together about past events involving our kind.”
Now, Gus was even more wary about the wolf and his intentions. “She gets off work in a few hours.”
“We can go see her now,” Luke said impatiently.
“We sure as hell can’t. I’m not letting you and your pack loose all over town or upsetting her at her job.”
“Possessive or protective?”
“Where you’re concerned, both. Definitely both.”
“Fair enough. What’ve you got for entertainment? Sounds like it’ll be a bit of a wait.”
“You can work on your bikes, or nap, or best idea, go back where you came from.”
“How about some ink?”
“You trust me with a needle?”
“Guess we’ll find out.”
Gus regarded the wolf shifter for a long moment. He couldn’t get a real solid read on the pack and their intentions. Something didn’t feel right, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. The best way to get to the bottom of it, was to keep the wolves around for a bit. “All right. Come with me. Don’t touch anything. She’ll know if it’s out of place.”
Through the back door, Gus led Luke through the kitchen. It was mostly put together. Bex was waiting on the stove top. She’d bought it at an estate sale when the money can through from the sale of the bed and breakfast in Bryson City.
She had a thing for vintage appliances and the oven was being repaired at a local shop down the road.
She had a whole vision for the place. His vision was only for her and the home he wanted with her.
“Don’t suppose you or any of your boys brought donuts from that little place in Deal’s Gap, did you?” He hadn’t had a chance to go get any himself since he’d been back from his last tattoo trip. He had a hankering for something sugary and cake like.
“No. Can’t say that was on my mind when we set out earlier.”
“Shame. Would’ve been nice, since I don’t think you’re here to talk about anything good.”
“Guess it all depends on what you consider good.”
“Guess so.”
“She tell you about what happened to her mother?” Luke asked as they climbed the staircase. Gus had refinished it down to the original wood a couple of weeks back. He needed to earn his keep. He couldn’t let her be the only one working while she got things off the ground. She didn’t make him feel that he did. No, the feeling came from within him, from when he’d been taken in and raised by a family who didn’t owe him anything, who didn’t have to keep him, yet did.
He couldn’t and wouldn’t be beholden to anyone, not even the woman who made him feel as though he fit with her more than he’d ever fit anywhere. “Yes, she told me,” he answered honestly.
“Did she tell you it was a bear? One like you?”
“She did, but he wasn’t anything like me. I wouldn’t have done what he did. I don’t know any bears who would.”
“No?”
Gus rounded on Luke so fast, the wolf nearly fell down the steps. “No, you son of a bitch. I don’t. If you’ve got something to say, say it. Otherwise, save your story for Bex or leave.”
Luke raised his hands in a show of surrender. “Guess donuts would’ve been a good idea. Maybe they’d have kept your temper in check. You’re touchy.”
“We’ll find out who’s touchy when I get the tattoo gun out.”
“You don’t scare me, bear,” the wolf muttered once they started up the stairs again.
“That was your second mistake,” Gus bit out.
“What was the first?”
“Showing up.
Available as an ebook:
The quaint little town of Dandridge, Tennessee is about to get a whole lot less quiet and a whole lot more interesting…
Bex and Gus have kept busy since leaving Bryson City and arriving in Dandridge. Between renovations on her would-be bed and breakfast, Gus tinkering on a couple of bikes and planting roots for the first time in his adult life, and Bex pulling long hours at a local restaurant, there’s been little time for much else.
But when werewolf Luke Blackwood, of the rogue Blackwood Pack, shows up with answers to secrets from Bex’s past, revelations that question whether or not she’s truly human, and and theories that may lead them all in dangerous directions, Gus must call in the cavalry to help them sort things out.
*Author’s Note: This is not a standalone read. Ink To Bear – Black and White series, Book One, can be read as a standalone, and is the beginning of how Bex and Gus met, but Inked By The Bear, a continuation of Bex and Gus’s story, cannot be read that way. Inked By The Bear has a cliffhanger ending. Book Three will be out in October 2015*
For More Information On Eliza Gayle’s Southern Shifters Kindle World, Click HERE For More Information on Kindle Worlds, Click HERE
by Mlissa | Sep 8, 2015 | Kindle Worlds, Shifters, Temptation Tuesday
I’m in the process of writing a second Southern Shifters novella for Eliza Gayle’s Southern Shifters Kindle World. I don’t usually drop everything else, or push other things back in order to work unexpected stories in, but this werebear did better than any other paranormal I’ve written, so while it was still doing fairly well, I figured I’d give in to the urging of readers, and Eliza, and The Blackraven, and try to get one out…
September 17th will be the next one… That’s right around the corner. Next week. ACK!
Did you read the first one? Ink To Bear? Here’s a little snippet for you, if you didn’t…
Bex shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Her orange canvas sneakers were bright in the pre-dawn light compared to her companion’s black motorcycle boots, the same one’s he’d been wearing the day before. His shirt had changed from black to a deep, dark espresso brown. The pair of jeans he wore were loose on his hips and threadbare. She wanted to lick him up and down and she wished she looked even a fraction as sexy as he did in jeans and t-shirt.
That’s all she’d brought with her to Bryson City, but hers didn’t do the justice for her body the way his did. She traveled light and hadn’t brought anything fit for riding a motorcycle while wrapped around Gus.
Wrapped around…
She probably shouldn’t let her mind travel down that particular road either. She’d wanted him so much just a few hours ago and when he’d teased her, but said it wasn’t the right time… No. She wasn’t going there at the moment. There were more pressing things she needed to focus on.
Like the fact her life was changing rapidly. So much so, she hadn’t had a chance to catch her breath. Maybe she didn’t want to. Maybe she didn’t want to stop and think about what she was doing. If she did —
“You seem nervous,” Gus remarked, interrupting her thoughts. She was grateful.
“You’re observant.” It was apparent she was also a smartass.
“Prickly, too.” His offhand remark did exactly what he knew it would; make her smile, in spite of herself.
“Are you sure I’m going to fit? There doesn’t seem to be room for me,” she said. Midnight blue fenders. Handlebars that were low in the middle like a U and wide at the top. Bags on the side that weren’t leather like those she’d seen on other motorcycles. No, these were hard plastic or something. She didn’t know anything really about motorcycles, not enough to be able to distinguish one from another other than cosmetic differences.
Gus’s was beautiful. All shiny chrome, black leather, and that shade of blue that would match the sky just as it shifted to black.
The dashboard… Was that what it was? Like in a car? The speedometer and other gauges looked old fashioned and fit the bike, but if she knew Gus, they were probably more high tech than what they seemed at face value.
She was consistently surprised by him.
“You’ll fit.” It was all he said as he attached a small seat to the back of the bike, bringing her back to the conversation. She’d been so lost in looking at the bike, that she’d almost forgotten her concerns. He turned toward her, a helmet in his hand.
“You came prepared.”
“You never know when there might be a damsel in need of assistance.”
She smirked and took the headgear. “Run into a lot of those, do ya?”
“Not one I’ve ever used the seat and helmet for.”
“I should consider myself special, then?”
“Without a doubt, pretty girl.”
Bex smiled at the endearment. She settled the helmet on her head and fumbled with the strap beneath her chin until she got it snug enough to not fly off. “Good thing I’m not vain enough to worry about having helmet head.”
“No one would care anyway.”
She scrunched her face in displeasure. “That’s not nice.”
“Not what I meant, but if it makes you feel better, I care. I care so much I’ll probably be unable to look at you after you remove the helmet. Happy?”
Bex did her best to keep from laughing, but her best wasn’t good enough. “You’re a jerk,” she said, in the midst of her laugh and shoved at his shoulder.
“Nah. Just a shifter trying to make you happy.”
Now, you should go grab the book, if you hadn’t before, so you’ll be ready to read the next one next week!
Buy Now!
~lissa
