Blood Prophecy (Sons of Navarus #4) Available Now! #PNR #newrelease

A day or so early, Blood Prophecy, the fourth novel in the Sons of Navarus series is now available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. Here's the blurb:

From this point on, nothing will ever be the same...

I am everything you fear. I am vampire.

As the two Sons chosen to decipher the Prophecy of Idolas, Ramiel and Thane journey to find the key to defeating the Archons. Together with Noele, a born vampire, they confront their fates as they fulfill their duty to their world. Along the way, they'll find love, but death and betrayal lurk in the shadows, threatening everything dear to them.

Descended from the gods and warriors all, each Son's loyalty will be tested. Every action has consequences, and the choices they make now seal their fates. Alliances as old as the vampire world itself are reforged, and the Sons' duty is clear. Stop the Archons. Or die trying.

Includes the additional Sons of Navarus short stories His Love and Forbidden Fruit

I'm very proud of this book. It took a long time to write and even longer in edits because of some of the plot points. It's definitely more urban fantasy than some of my other books, and the story is getting pretty dark now. To say Blood Prophecy is a turning point in the series is an understatement.

I think readers who've read the earlier Sons books will enjoy this book. And there are two extra series short stories with the ebook, including a short about Saint and Solenne that give readers a little more about the couple that will be seen a whole lot more in the next book, Blood Craving. Happy reading!

Amazon Kindle

Amazon Paperback

Kobo

Barnes and Noble

And remember that if you live in the US, you can order signed copies of any of my books at my website at http://www.gabriellebisset.com/virtual-book-signing.html

The Deepest Cut Now Available! #PNR

It's been a busy December for this author, to be sure. I've been unveiling all the new desktop wallpapers over at my website as a gift to readers (if you haven't seen them, definitely check them out! Talina does such a great job.), and a little over a week ago, I released the first Sons of Navarus short story, Longing. For readers of the series, that short gave them a little insight into Thane and his feelings for Sasa.

Now I've released another short story, The Deepest Cut, which deals with Vasilije and Sasa after he found her feeding from Thane. It's available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo and Kindle, Nook, Android, and even iPhone readers can enjoy it. Here's the blurb:

For Vasilije, Sasa is more than just one of his vampires. She's the only vampire he keeps in his life now. That comes with many perks, but also with its fair share of pain as Vasilije can be thoughtless of his empath girlfriend's feelings. His forgetfulness in this area has allowed another Son to befriend Sasa, and the result was Thane's willing assistance in feeding her while Vasilije was once again absent from her side.

Sasa is loyal to her sire and mate, but her mind is plagued with doubts that Vasilije isn't the devoted male she's believed him to be. The ease with which he leaves her makes her wonder if his eyes and other body parts have begun to stray from her. Naturally, she turns to her only true friend for sympathy, and Thane is happy to listen to the woman he secretly loves.

Conflict over a female between two alpha males can lead to a fatal misstep when so much is at stake. The Sons of Navarus can't afford to let their focus slip from deciphering the Prophecy of Idolas and defeating the Archons, and now more than ever they need to be united in their fight to save the vampire world.

This short sits right after Blood Spirit (the third book in the series) in the suggested series reading order. It could technically be read as a stand-alone, but it's so much better with the history of this couple in your mind.

So now it's Blood Prophecy next. I'm hoping that full length book will be available in early 2013. I can promise this: it's going to be a huge turning point in the series and for a lot of the characters' storylines. Don't miss it!

Why I'm Fine With A Buck Sometimes

Until recently, I hadn't considered writing any short stories. As an indie, I have a lot of freedom to do unique things with my stories, but for me, fair pricing is always an issue and I'm not a big fan of the .99 price range.

I think it's time we indies begin to see that the .99 price range for a novella of 30K or worse, for a novel 50K or above is degrading what we do. I know everyone wants to sell books, but I want you to imagine that somewhere like McDonald's began to sell some of their meals for .99.  You may think you were getting a great deal if it were a sale, but if the restaurant kept the price that low, wouldn't you wonder why those meals were so cheap compared to other meals priced up to 7x higher? Wouldn't you begin to think that they must be offering an inferior meal for such a cheap price?

Even as the economy struggles today, people know what cheap means, and it isn't just about price. As indies, do we want readers to believe that a story an author spent months writing and then spent money for professional editing and cover design is only worth .99? I'm sure some feel that way, but I don't. I am a professional who expects to be treated as such, and as a result, I won't charge less than a buck for a novel, no matter how many I want to sell. And I won't buy them either.

Short stories are different, however. While I do have them professionally edited and hire a cover designer, my short stories are around 6K words, so I feel .99 is a fair price for them. Did they take months to write? No. See, for me, that's the line of demarcation. I always pay for the services associated with my books. What changes with shorter stories is the length of time I work on them. While there are challenges associated with writing shorts (especially making sure that the stories have a beginning, middle, and end and they make sense to the series they are found in), they aren't as labor intensive to create, so I don't charge as much.

I will have two short stories out by later this week--Longing and The Deepest Cut--and both will be priced at .99. For readers who have come to know my Sons of Navarus series, the stories revolve around a growing love triangle between Sasa and two of the Sons, her sire Vasilije and Thane, her friend who has long harbored unrequited feelings for her. Those same readers can be sure that the level of writing is the same as in my novels. Nothing will be different but the length.

In some respect, I want to charge merely .99 for these not only because they're short but also because they're really for fans of the series. Reading these two shorts without knowing what occurred in the series so far will mean nothing if the reader hasn't gotten to know the Sons series, but for fans, it's a little more for them about the characters as they wait for the release of Blood Prophecy (the 4th book in the series) early next year.

So I'm okay with a buck sometimes, but I will continue to fight against the bottom basement pricing for indie work. I work too hard on my books to give readers the impression they aren't worth more. Readers want an entertaining story that's well crafted, and that's what they get in my novellas and novels. That's worth more than .99.

#PNR Friday-More #Sexy Men

It's another Friday, so that means it's PNR Friday at my blog. Today I figured I'd keep with the sexy man theme I did last week since it was so popular. But first, I'm over at fellow author Natasha Blackthorne's blog today with a Paranormal Fall Fling post, so stop over and show some love.

And yours truly is featured in USA Today's Happily Ever After blog's series on keeper books with a shout out to one of my all-time favorite paranormal romance authors, Marie Treanor. Most of the faves by my fellow authors seem to be historicals, but stop over and check out what others say are books they will always love.

Okay, onto the promised sexy men. In this case, it's one man. Henry Cavill. I'm showing him today because I can't think of a more perfect man to show as who inspires Thane from the Sons of Navarus series. I have to admit that he hasn't always been the inspiration, but a while back for a guest post I had to name someone who could play Thane in a Sons movie. I was at a total loss until my editor mentioned Henry Cavill. She said he'd be perfect, and she was right. Mmmmm....

Enjoy the pics and remember to enter the Paranormal Fall Fling for a chance to win the last weekly prize, the Sons of Navarus travel mug, and the grand prizes of Amazon gift cards ($10 and $50) and swag.

Happy Friday everyone!

#WIP Wednesday and 2 Fall Fling Stops

Actually, that title is backwards, but no matter. I'm over at GraveTells today talking about The Thorn Birds and its influence on Blood Spirit (yeah, it's an oldie that's really even too old for me, but it's amazing the things you remember from being a kid) and at fellow author Malia Mallory's blog with an excerpt from Blood Spirit. I hope you'll stop over and check them out after you enter to win the weekly and grand prizes in the Paranormal Fall Fling. Remember that you can earn points every day by posting on FB and tweeting about the giveaway.

As for the #WIP this Wednesday, I can report that Ramiel and Thane are experiencing a lot more than they ever expected as they travel to Italy to find the other two vampires who are like them and can help with the Prophecy of Idolas. To give you a little visual aid with Thane, here's his romance trading card. (I haven't had his made up yet, so it's just a proof for now.)

Yummy!

And if you're looking for my newest story about the Sons of Navarus, stop over at the Free Reads page on my website for The Deepest Cut, a short about Vasilije and Sasa after their "situation" with Thane in Blood Spirit.

Whew! I'm tired already. Time for me to get ready to go to the day job. Have a great one!

#WIP Wednesday #amwriting #amediting

I had a feeling today that these WIP Wednesdays come too fast.  My summer is quickly racing away from me. :( 

On the writing front, I've begun Blood Prophecy. Ramiel's story is set in Italy, and the plan now is to have him and Thane in various parts of that beautiful country, including Sicily and Rome. Since they must travel together to find what they need to decipher the prophecy, readers will get a healthy dose of Thane too. 

Thane and Ramiel have been a part of the series since Blood Avenged, and readers will get a great deal more of them in the third book, Blood Spirit. They're quite different from one another, but there's no acrimony between them. (Though they do have that underwear out of the pants thing in common...LOL)

Ramiel

Thane

Yet...

Conflict is where the story's found, so it could happen.

The villain who was introduced in Blood Betrayed is back too.  Because Blood Spirit isn't out yet, readers don't know how important he's become to the series, but Marc Verrater is front and center in both the third book and this fourth book.

I keep saying this book will be a turning point in the series, and someone asked how that would be. Well, this book marks the half-way point of the series. Also, this is the first time the Sons charged with figuring out the prophecy have left Vasilije's monastery. They've heard about the war with the Archons but only secondhand. Now they get to confront them. In addition, Ramiel is the most violent of the Sons, so that's sure to create conflict as they meet the other characters who will play a role in their quest.

I'm being intentionally mum on the heroine for Blood Prophecy, though. You'll have to wait a while to hear about her. I will say this: she's unlike any female character I've ever written.

As for book #3, Blood Spirit is in the middle of edits and I expect to have the first round back to me within a week. Then it's fine tuning and tweaking before the big day on September 17.  I'm very excited about the release of Blood Spirit. I enjoyed writing Terek's story so much, and I think readers will find him just as great as Vasilije and Saint.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everybody!

#WIP Wednesday #amwriting

Welcome to another WIP Wednesday! These weeks are flying by, I swear. Before I get to the work in progress, I want to tell everyone that Blood Betrayed is featured at Kindle Spice today, so head on over and show Saint some love.

Onto what I've been working on.  Progress continues to be made on Blood Spirit, and I've been working feverishly on that to make sure it's ready for the editor by the end of July. However, I have also been working on Vampire Dreams Revamped, which I'm happy to say is in the editor's hands already. I'm looking at a July release for that.

But back to Blood Spirit. Although the book's romance is about Terek and Ilona, I put a picture up of Thane on the Sons FB page (and mine too) with the mention that he'd be important as the series continued. Today's WIP Wednesday is dedicated to him since he's begun to play a large part in Blood Spirit.

Thane is one of two Sons who is in charge of deciphering the Prophecy of Idolas. Unlike Ramiel, the other Son he works with on this who can be vicious (it's the Visogoth barbarian in him), Thane is a sweetheart. The quiet Son, he's been a vampire longer than Vasilije and Saint and while he can take care of himself (he's 6'3 and built like the man in the picture above), he's not violent like Ramiel.

Because he's quiet, he's not very close to any of the Sons. He works with them, but that's really it. The one soul at the monastery that he's become close to is Sasa.  Her ability as an empath allows her to sense what others might not and when Sasa needs a friend, Thane is there for her.

When I was looking for pics that resemble Thane, I found this one and knew it was perfect. Sweet, with kind brown eyes, he's a gentle giant. Not to worry, though. He'll have more than enough opportunity to show those Archons not to mess with him when his chance comes. He's a Son of Navarus, after all.