Open for Free Books! + The Strangest Week of My Life
October has been AT IT.
A quick PSA to start: Please vote! Most states have early voting available right now—November 5th is the deadline, not the first time you can vote. Make your voice heard!
This newsletter is a bit different from my usual ones, as you’ll see below. But I want to make sure you don’t miss the free books linked here, or the events and links to podcasts at the end. After this month, back to regularly-scheduled, perfectly normal sized emails (usually once a month)!
Hi friends, and welcome to all the new followers who found me at RomanceCon, BookBash, or during the booktour! In order to entice new subscribers, I offered a free download of one of my books, Museum of Magic. This offer is available to anyone reading this message, as a thank you for subscribing to my newsletter and being here, but the deal will end at the end of November, so don’t wait to download!
Additionally, I’ve got ten codes for FREE audiobooks, five for Full Speed to a Crash Landing and five for The Fate of Magic. These codes are first-come, first-claimed—they only work one time. So I suggest, if you want them, that you don’t delay and snag some right away.
To Claim a Code: Go to www.audiobooks.com/promo and fill in one of the following promo codes. If it works, it’s yours! If it doesn’t someone else claimed it first:
Full Speed to a Crash Landing codes:
2NM76S0WFYP4
FL4Y8NXRV9CS
KCYU4N6Z5GQX
8T2G9Z5XA34H
MVCW5S629YKE
The Fate of Magic codes:
DK9ZLMUWX3CY
JWB60N8D4EVZ
TD9Q8KEWPXZS
AZ6NYT247X13
06NXEV1FY245
PS3K87RHFUGN
And in addition to that, an audiobook sale on Night of the Witch for 70% off!
Those of you who found me at RomanceCon may have forgotten about me already…I usually send out one newsletter a month, and I’d planned on sending one at the end of September to celebrate the launch of my latest book, The Fate of Magic, written with Sara Raasch.
But as you will see below….everything went sideways.
The Most Surreal, Strange Week of My ENTIRE Life
I live in Western North Carolina. Just days prior to The Fate of Magic coming out, my publisher arranged for me to have early copies available at the Lexington, KY book festival called Book Bash. It’s an easy 4 hour drive (and since I live in the mountains, it’s 2 hours to get to the airport anyway, plus arriving early, waiting, etc.). It made so much more sense to just drive.
Of course, we made these plans before we knew Hurricane Helene was coming. And even after, I thought, Well, we’re just going to get a bit of rain. By the time it reaches the mountains, it’ll fizzle out. I cannot emphasize enough how that had always been true before.
Thursday, Sept 25: I start the drive up to BookBash. Along the way, I take a call from my literary agent, going over some major career milestones, and I have a moment of perfect clarity in realizing, this is all I’ve ever wanted. It was almost spiritual, driving down I-40 with a loving family at home behind me, a fun book festival in front of me, talking about the career I have worked my entire life towards. After this, I dropped by Fable Hollow, a charming Knoxville bookstore:
When I reached the hotel and ate my dinner (thanks, Buccee’s!), I called my husband and told my son goodnight. We wondered if there was a chance the storms meant they would lose power, but that was about all we expected to happen. To be honest, I was more worried about the rain keeping readers away from Book Bash.
Friday, Sept 26: First day of Book Bash! I threw myself into the joy of celebrating books and loved being able to hint (subtly!) about the (multiple!) projects I have contracts for. This time two years ago, my career was uncertain. Now I’ve got books scheduled out for the next four years.
When I got back to the hotel, I couldn’t reach any of my family. The phone would ring and ring and then cut off. Eventually, my husband was able to get a text to me—cells were down. This has happened before. Concerning, but not too much. Cells are notoriously bad in the mountains.
Saturday, Sept 27: I woke up and immediately started seeing reports of the damage. My heart bottomed out—here I was in Kentucky, and my community was being wiped off the map. I stared in horror at the news, confirmed that my mother and husband and child were safe, and then…went into the book festival. Roads I needed to get home were being labeled as unsafe to drive, so there was little else I could do. I hoped things weren’t as bad as they seemed, and I distracted myself with new friends and lots of fun book things. (Meeting Molly Harper and Kate Dramis and Kristen Cast remain a highlight!)
Sunday, Sept 28: I was supposed to have my book launch for The Fate of Magic with Sara Raasch at my beloved Malaprops, a bookstore in downtown Asheville. Checking the maps, the roads were in even worse condition than yesterday. Very early on, my Sourcebooks team confirmed that Malaprops would be an impossible book event, and all focus needed to be on recovery in the community. We spent time meticulously re-arranging flights and book tour options while exploring ways to help.
My leisurely 4 hour drive back was looking like it would take more than twice that to get home. Whole sections of multiple highways were just…gone.
I took this screenshot of my phone as I left BookBash—you can see Fable Hollow marked on the map to get an idea of my original route, a route that no longer existed. Previously, I had a pretty straight shot west, and then an hour north. Now I was going to have to go from Kentucky into West Freaking Virginia and then regular Virgina, and then more than two hours west to get home.
The map says about 7 hours, but warned of floods. The flooding didn’t delay me, but the actual drive took closer to 10 hours, with solidly one hour of that being the two streets closest to my home.
It was long and tedious, and I was already exhausted, but I had to get home. I was desperate to see my family. So I kept driving. Warning signs started showing up on the interstate, all of them saying “travel to Western NC is forbidden.” Not dangerous. Forbidden.
Around midnight, everything turned into a war zone. There was a particular stretch of highway where everything went dark—all the houses, street lights, traffic signals. Nothing at all. Occassionally, I would see people walking down the street (at midnight! on rural country roads!) or small fires outside, but for the most part, nothing.
For the last thirty or so miles, I had to crawl at a snail’s pace. Trees were down everywhere. Everywhere. Eventually, I realized that I wasn’t driving over just branches—downed power lines crisscrossed the roads. Turning onto my street, I was unsure if I would make it to my house. Later, my husband confirmed that had I come home the day prior, the car would never have made it. Nearly ten hours after I left, I’d finally made it home. I used my cell phone’s flashlight to get inside, then crawled into bed. Every window in the house was open for fresh air; there was no power, no water, no cell service.
Monday, Sept 29: Yesterday, I’d woken up in a hotel and had been given the luxury treatment as a guest of the festival. Today, I woke up sweaty, dirty, and tired. No air conditioning and high, high humidty spelled for a fitful night’s sleep, but I was grateful to be back with my boys. My husband had seen my mother—she was okay and was able to leave her house—but worries about a gas shortage were growing. None of the stations near us could get tankers in so we could refill cars, and I worried it was too risky to visit my mother.
We went to a McDonalds, one of the few places with power and hot food, and ate a meal and charged devices. We tried to reach family and friends, but cell towers were gone; it was impossible. Not difficult. Impossible. It’s hard for people to wrap their heads around that, the total breakdown of communication when power and cell towers are gone. Radio stations used generators to announce series of missing person reports, locations of aid, and emergency services.
Everyone we saw walked around with a dazed look. No one knew what to do next.
One thing that really hits my memory is the sound—constant chainsaws, broken up by the helicopters. The hum of normal life was gone, replaced with these harsh bursts of noise. I live in the same county as Lake Lure and Chimney Rock Village, two areas that are now…nearly gone.
Tuesday, Sept 30: The main town had power, so we went back there. The library was also open, distributing water and information. I sat on the floor of the library, and was able to use their internet to connect to my phone. Streams of texts came in—a mix of worried family and friends checking on us, and other friends and family congratulating me on a book release.
I had not showered since I left Kentucky, there was no flushing toilet (no water), my clothes were dirty, I was juggling FEMA forms and discussing aid with the librarians and community helpers…
And my book had come out that day.
We had to get back before it got dark, because I needed the sunlight to pack my clothes for the book tour.
Supper that night was hotdogs over an open fire. I kept thinking about how we were supposed to be at the launch party at Malaprops, and hoping that Malaprops was still there (it is, thankfully, but if you want to help support the employees who didn’t fair as well, please consider contributing here). I was so glad I’d been able to communicate with Katie at Malaprops before this, but my heart broke that the community I love was hurting so, so much.
If you want to help, please consider clicking here for ways to support.
Wednesday, Oct 1: I drove to Charlotte (opposite direction of the storm), deeply conscious that I smelled bad and hadn’t had a proper bath in a long time. After going through security, I rushed to the airport bathroom, revelling in the toilet that could flush, the clean water that came out of the sink. Soon after, I met Sara, my co-author who had arranged for her flight to transfer in Charlotte so we could meet up early.
Then a quick flight to Texas. I just kept marvelling at the sudden shift in everything, the total one-eighty from disaster zone to book tour. It was deeply strange.
Even stranger? When we landed, I got two text messages almost at the same time. One was from my mother, who had gotten MREs and was excited to have a warm meal for the first time in almost a week courtesy of FEMA. The other was from my literary agent, informing me that Night of the Witch had hit the New York Times bestseller list for YA paperback—a career first for me, as this is one of the hardest lists to get on, and data is compiled over a month of sales, not just a week’s.
When we arrived at the hotel, I had my first shower since Kentucky, and then Sara and I were off to our first event on the tour!
See that joy on my face? It was because of the shower.
Thursday, Oct 3: A full week had passed since Hurricane Helene…and it was also, coincidentally, my birthday. I woke up after the first full good night sleep I’d had in a week, thanks to AC and knowing my family was well. I boarded a plane, and during the flight, I finished the pass pages for Last Chance to Save the World while in the air, saw Night of the Witch in the airport bookstore, then we had to rush to a hotel, get ready super fast, and rush to the bookstore, where I got to see some good friends I’d not seen in years, talk books with readers, sign copies…and then return to the hotel to work on a super secret book that hasn’t been announced yet.
To be honest, this is almost a perfect birthday to me—working on three different books at three different stages while on a book tour while also being on the NY Times bestseller list? Heaven! The only thing missing was my family, but I did get to have a “you smell like a monkey” birthday song sung to me by my kiddo. Power was not yet on at home (sorry for abandonning you, fam!), but cell signals were improving.
And that is the story of the strangest week of my entire life. After Orem, UT, Sara and I went to Decatur, GA, for the Decatur Book Fest. My family still didn’t have power, so they drove down to stay in the hotel with me (another one of those “easy” four hour drives…), and my kid ran into the hotel room and shouted “OH MY GOSH WATER COMES OUT OF THE SINK!” with sheer joy. Soon after we got home a few days later, power was back on at our house, and we began the work of cleaning up.
But After That, a Little Magic
Fortunately, the next week after that was pretty joyful. In the space of one week, I and my family got to see both the aurora borealis and a comet on an 80,000 year loop right from our backyard!
I must confess, I absolutely missed the first time the aurora was visible in the south. It was entirely due to my inability to read a calendar, I have no one to blame but myself. So when I first heard there was a chance to see it again? I WAS DETERMINED.
And the universe said, yeah, let’s give her a light show. Plus a comet!
So…October started off with a pretty big bang! Bookfests and tours, birthdays and hurricanes, disaster relief and celebrations, with some natural astral phenomena slipped in. It has definitely been a time I will never forget.
And thank you for being a part of it, whether you supported me by reading my books, checked in to make sure we were okay, visited me at an event, or just read to the end of this post—thank you.
In Other News: Events and Podcasts and Articles!
Did you see the art reveal with an excerpt to Full Speed to a Crash Landing, hosted by Reactor Mag? Read all about it here!
THIS WEEKEND I will be at the Southern Festival of the Book in Nashville, TN. Get the full schedule of events here!
November 15 & 16, I will be in Charleston, SC for Y’all Fest! See the full schedule here.
I’ve also recently been featured on two fun podcasts! First, I spoke with
and my co-author Sara Raasch for Evelyn’s Creative Inspired Happy podcast:And then I spoke with Meister Kahn at his Too Opinionated podcast, talking about writing, sci fi, Full Speed, and Star Wars. You can listen here.
What I’m Working on Now
Adult romantasy novel: 87k words—I WILL finish by Halloween!
YA historical fantasy: Done! Deal announcement soon!
Darkness Fills the Void: YA horror novel set in Western North Carolina. On Patreonand Kindle Vella
House of Hex: Currently in copy edits
New sci fi idea? It’s more likely than you think.
Side gigs!
Weekly posts and videos about writing at Patreon
SNHU as an online adjunct in the MFA writing program
Accepting critique and coaching jobs with Wordsmith Workshops—in addition to doing Word Lab!
Actively doing in-person school, library, and book fair events—book me for panels, signings, and workshops for both adults and teens on writing! If you’d like to get an idea of some of the programming I do, I describe it a bit here.
So sorry for the hardships you've all endured this month, glad you're okay! And congratulations on all the highs! I also missed thr first aurora but caught it this time - didn't get photos anywhere near as good as yours though!
So glad you & your family are safe. I will hopefully see you at Southern Festival of Books!