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 | Feb 21, 2017 | Kindle Worlds, New Releases, Paranormal Romance
Buy Now!
I have a new release today. it’s the 4th and final book in my Black & White Series in Eliza Gayle’s Southern Shifters Kindle World.
Writing in someone else’s world, one that they lovingly and painstakingly created was a challenge, one I didn’t think I’d create anything but one story around. But here we are and there are 4.
The characters I created… Bex and Gus, Michael and Maxine, Marcel and Mari, Leah and Blake, even Gus’s parents, Beck, the Mayor, and the newest character, Roan… these are my characters and I will be taking them outside the Southern Shifters Kindle World and into my own world that will at some point intersect with my dormant Denali Heat series that will get new life breathed into it.
Luke Blackwood is not a character I created. He is one of Eliza’s characters and I cannot take him out of the Kindle World. He must stay there. Others will write about him in their own way and it’s possible I’ll return to write a tale about him myself. But it won’t be anytime soon.
This series was a labor of love and learning and frustration and headaches and fear.
I also know that there will be some who will hate the way it ended. Others will understand and look forward to the next series. But I had to stay true to what Bex and Gus were telling me over these last months. And when all was said and done, I did what they, the characters dictated to me.
I have always been a character driven author and am proud to remain so. I have nothing but love for this book and this series.
I appreciate each and every reader who read it from start to finish and who loved it more with each book and always, always asked for more. Thank you. So very much.
Blurb:
Tracking Luke Blackwood, wolf shifter and all around pain in the ass, hadn’t been the toughest part of Gus’s current situation. No… Lying to his mate had been.
While Bex was home overseeing the renovations on her house, Gus and Luke were working to gather information on their enemies. But in their absence, danger has closed in on Bex and the ragtag band of werewolves and werebears left behind to watch out for her.
When the threat causes her to lose everything she owns, lines in the sand blur and choices have to be made. The safety of not only their immediate friends and family, but that of all the shifters in and around the Dragon and Deal’s Gap depends on it.
Author’s Note: This fast paced story is the final installment of my Black & White series within Eliza Gayle’s Southern Shifters Kindle World.
Author’s Additional Note: This cannot be read as a standalone. If you try, you will be very confused. Please start with book one, Ink To Bear.
Buy Now!
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 | May 21, 2016 | Kindle Worlds, New Releases, Paranormal Romance
“a little different from other shifter books…” Oh My God, y’all… I LOVE that! One of the reviews says it. And yes, it IS a little different.
Bryson City, North Carolina. It was her home. It was her childhood. Now it’s the key to a horrible reality.
Poachers. Unscrupulous hunters who take the lives of full blood animals and shifters alike. Sport for most. Revenge for one.
Confronted by a man she believed to be dead, Bex, along with her newfound family, and Gus by her side, face down a stunning realization that nothing is as it seems and where dots connect past to present.
Bears and wolves must find a common thread that weaves together an unconventional alliance. They’re all targets. They’re all in danger.
And when hearts are involved, it always gets messy.
#SouthernShiftersKW
There will be other books coming, but I have no idea when. More bears, definitely. Wolves now, too. First though, I owe y’all The Billionaire’s Heiress and that’s what I plan to deliver on.
I hope you’ll enjoy the trip back into the Southern Shifters Kindle World…
~lissa
by Mlissa | Feb 17, 2016 | Wordy Wednesday, writing
Because let’s face it, there’s a crapload out there to be fearful of when it comes to writing:
Failure
Success
The success or failure of other writers
Falling behind the curve or being way ahead of it
Writing great stories
Writing craptastic stories
What are other writers saying
What if other writers aren’t saying anything at all
Doing it right or doing it wrong
Being different
Being the same
And there are countless more fears… We all share some level of the same fears, but we also share some level of more personal ones. None of it feels good. Fear can motivate and fear can paralyze.
I’ve talked about fear some this year, and it would seem that while I thought maybe I’d admitted most of my fears, it turns out I was wrong.
I promised a book by the end of October and I didn’t deliver. Then I promised it by the end of the year and I didn’t deliver. I then promised it by the first week of February and still nada. So, while I’ve been working on this book, I’ve not finished it. And part of the reason for that, is fear. I’m scared.
Are you wondering why?
When I started working in the Southern Shifter Kindle World, I had only planned one book, Ink To Bear. Then, I was asked if I’d write another one. I said yes and added on to Gus and Bex’s story with Inked By The Bear, which ended in a bit of a cliffhanger. I didn’t want to leave it for long, but I did have other commitments to finish at the time, and I worked on it. Real life bit me in the ass HARD and I lost all sense of time beyond exhaustion; mental, physical, and emotional. I didn’t have anything else in me. I had no creative spark. I’d sit down to write and end up going to bed instead. I looked to all the things going on and I just couldn’t do it.
Now, when I was writing Inked By The Bear, and hearing a lot of other voices in my head, I got a wild idea to connect all my
bear worlds into one big conspiracy. I drew no frills diagram on my whiteboard. I started playing with how to connect things in my brain. It consumed me and I was ready to spend the next few months on this.
Then life happened. Then the holidays happened. Then deep thinking happened. Then new directions happened.
And in the midst of all that, fear happened. What the hell was I thinking? I couldn’t connect different worlds like that. I couldn’t pull off something that big. I didn’t and don’t like reading things that intricately woven together, how on Earth was I going to write something so intricately woven together? I wasn’t a paranormal romance author. I don’t watch all the paranormal shows. I don’t read all the paranormal romance books. What the hell was I thinking? I didn’t and don’t have people I can turn to and ask for help in plotting such a massive over-arching storyline.
Those were just some of my thoughts. There were others. The point being, Bearing The Ink isn’t finished and part of it is because of fear. Fear that I wouldn’t measure up. Fear that I would fuck it up. Fear that I would tank more than I usually do. Fear that other writers would laugh and mock. Fear that they wouldn’t even notice. Fear that readers would hate it. Fear that I would hate it. Fear that I would fail. The thought of succeeding never entered my mind so I couldn’t be fearful of it. I was and am very scared and it paralyzed me.
Paralyzed. Past tense.
I’m still fearful. In fact, I’m scared shitless. But I’ve been scared shitless since the beginning of the 2016. I’m writing contemporary in a new voice and trying new things. I’m looking at marketing a little differently. I’ve walked away from a couple of projects. And I’ve begun working hard on Bearing The Ink again. All of it scares me. Every bit of it. The fear of screwing up, of making a fool of myself, of failing freaks me the fuck out and I truly want to go crawl into a hole. But, I’m not going to. I’m going to do this, no matter what. I’m going to deliver the book. I’m going to continue writing. I’m going to figure it out.
And if you’re along for the ride, hold on.
If you’re waiting for Bearing the Ink, please hold on just a little longer. You won’t be disappointed.
~lissa
