New Year, New News!

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

It is the first Friday of 2023! Can you believe it? I surely can't. 2022 came in hot and fast, and the overall consensus was that this year needs to come in nice and quiet-like.

Well, I started 2023 with my first bout of COVID, so the year is super disrespectful already. I've been in bed since Tuesday, when I woke up ready to go to a scheduled doctor's appointment and realized something wasn't quite right. The past few days have taken me through rotating symptoms, and I'm grateful they all didn't hit at the same time. My doctor prescribed me treatment, so I started it last night. It gave me grapefruit mouth, but so far, so good.

On that note, some things I've gotten done the past few days:

• I rewatched The Witcher and The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. I am in the middle of rewatching the first 3 episodes of The Witcher: Blood Origin, which I watched with my sister last Saturday and had planned on finishing with her before I ended up in quarantine. I also watched all the bestiaries, and the narrator is so goofy.
• I finished the audiobook version of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which I read NINE YEARS AGO. I had to search both this blog and my old blog to remember that I was still over on my old blog when I read it. I even forgot how I found the book in the first place. It was in an article about Black fantasy authors! Here is the post, if you want to peek at it. That was back when I used Random.org to pick a page from the book, and seeing the line that I chose, it's funny because I just heard the line a little over 24 hours ago.
• I spent about 7 hours playing Apex Legends, and I don't know if it was being in bed or having to focus more because of the coughing and nose-blowing, but I played really well. Even won a couple of games. Yay!

Realizing I was at the end of the week, I knew I had to get a post up for today, especially because my book contract has now officially ended! That means I am free to self-publish again! This past year, I've spent most of my writing time revising Divided Princess, but I also had help from my friend, the author MultiMind (highlighted on my blog here), preparing Fractured Princess for its re-release, so I made some updates to it as well. I plan to have more information in the next few weeks, but I will be back at my local Comic-Con with a new edition of the book, hopefully in paperback and hardcover and featuring a newly designed version of the original cover by Racheal Scotland! I'm really excited about it.

So this far, that's the best thing to come of 2023, helping to balance out the bad, and it's only the beginning!

Black Author Spotlight: Amber McBride

Welcome back to the Black Author Spotlight!

The goal of this segment is to highlight black authors who are often marginalized and ignored in the publishing industry. Black writers usually turn to self-publishing--an already densely populated industry--to have their stories seen, and it is said that we have to work twice as hard to get half of what our white counterparts have. Hopefully, shining a little light on these authors will help to signal boost the work they are putting out there.

This week, I am highlighting Amber McBride.

Amber is an author, poet, English professor, National Book Award Finalist, and sensitivity reader whose website I need you all to go look at right now. Do it. It's STUNNING. Based on her bio and press kit, she is a whimsically dark character, and I am here for it. Her students call her Ms. Mermaid, and her family calls her Little Wolf. We will call her an author whose second YA novel-in-verse, We Are All So Good At Smiling, is currently available for pre-order!

When I shared this cover on my Facebook, I might've gotten more comments than I have since I launched the page. Because this cover is GORGEOUS! The soft colors and the transparent lettering make for a beautiful mix. Here is the blurb from Amazon:

They Both Die at the End meets The Bell Jar in this haunting, beautiful young adult novel-in-verse about clinical depression and healing from trauma, from National Book Award Finalist Amber McBride.

Whimsy is back in the hospital for treatment of clinical depression. When she meets a boy named Faerry, she recognizes they both have magic in the marrow of their bones. And when Faerry and his family move to the same street, the two start to realize that their lifelines may have twined and untwined many times before.

They are both terrified of the forest at the end of Marsh Creek Lane.

The Forest whispers to Whimsy. The Forest might hold the answers to the part of Faerry he feels is missing. They discover the Forest holds monsters, fairy tales, and pain that they have both been running from for 11 years.

I need this book. It sounds like it has a hint of surrealism that I love.

Preorder We Are All So Good At Smiling in Hardcover or Kindle at Amazon.

If you missed it above, visit her website at amber-mcbride.com.

Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at ambsmcbride.

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If you are a Black author who would like to be in the spotlight, email me the following information at debreneebyrd@gmail.com

Name or Pen Name

Genre

Website/Blog

Social Media handles

Book (if any) and where to buy

Permission to use photos

Black Author Spotlight: Tatiana Obey

 Welcome back to the Black Author Spotlight!

The goal of this segment is to highlight black authors who are often marginalized and ignored in the publishing industry. Black writers usually turn to self-publishing--an already densely populated industry--to have their stories seen, and it is said that we have to work twice as hard to get half of what our white counterparts have. Hopefully, shining a little light on these authors will help to signal boost the work they are putting out there.

This week, I am highlighting Tatiana Obey!

Tatiana Obey (pronounced O-bi) is an NA/Adult fantasy writer, and I am HERE FOR IT. Her debut novel, Bones to the Wind, is a coming-of-age sword and sorcery tale with LGBTQIA+ representation, and it is out now!

Here is the blurb:

Rasia is determined to destroy her old man’s record in the Forging, a trial each child must succeed to come of age. All Rasia needs to do is hunt down a gonda, hitch its tentacle ass to her windship, and haul it back home in record time. Easy. Or it would be if Rasia wasn’t stuck on the same team as Nico—a know-it-all, spoiled, grubworm who never does anything Rasia tells her to do.

Nico doesn’t care about Rasia’s egotistical dreams of glory. This is her brother’s last chance to pass the Forging or her father is going to banish him from the family. She needs to scour the desert to find whatever team the bones placed him on and help him kill a gonda before it kills him.

Too bad Nico and Rasia can’t get along to steer a windship straight.

Bones to the Wind is available in paperback, hardback, and ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, and Smashwords. Click here for each purchase link.

Visit Tatiana's website here, and follow her on Instagram!

________________________________________________________________________________

If you are a Black author who would like to be in the spotlight, email me the following information at debreneebyrd@gmail.com

Name or Pen Name

Genre

Website/Blog

Social Media handles

Book (if any) and where to buy

Permission to use photos

Black Author Spotlight: MultiMind

 

Welcome to the Black Author Spotlight!

The goal of this segment is to highlight black authors who are often marginalized and ignored in the publishing industry. Black writers usually turn to self-publishing--an already densely populated industry--to have their stories seen, and it is said that we have to work twice as hard to get half of what our white counterparts have. Hopefully, shining a little light on these authors will help to signal boost the work they are putting out there.

This month, I am highlighting MultiMind!

From her website: MultiMind resides in her hometown, Baltimore City, Maryland. She tries to find time for her countless hobbies, from 3D printing to bookbinding to virtual reality. And her vociferous cat. She writes books that are fairly Black, quite queer, and very much embedded in the world of Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror. She also pens the blog Black Witch, about being Black and Pagan.

Her book Dreamer debuts on March 18th and is available for pre-order now!

Vera has unusual dreams - anything she dreams comes alive. Dream Traveling, her family calls it. Doing it all her life, Dream Traveling doesn't affect Vera as much as it used to. She has her rules and her methods - as long as she follows them, all is fine.

Until she sees something she discovered she couldn't handle. Now, her dreams are plagued by The Hunter, a deadly character that wants nothing more than to haunt her mind and leave behind a bloody spree. Vera must find a way to get The Hunter out of her head before he makes sure she never wakes up again.

So much for "sweet dreams".

I started reading this one recently, and it's descriptive and imaginative, and this cover is ethereally creepy. Vera and the characters around her are fleshed out well. I've stumbled on the first creepy moment in the story, and I can't wait to see what happens next!

Pre-order Dreamer on multiple platforms, and buy MultiMind's other works through her website.

You can also visit and follow MultiMind on Twitter and Goodreads.

UPDATE: You can now follow MultiMind on Instagram!

________________________________________________________________________________

If you are a Black author who would like to be in the spotlight, email me the following information at debreneebyrd@gmail.com

Name or Pen Name

Genre

Website/Blog

Social Media handles

Book (if any) and where to buy

Permission to use photos

Black Author Spotlight: Zed Amadeo

 

Welcome to the Black Author Spotlight!

The goal of this segment is to highlight black authors who are often marginalized and ignored in the publishing industry. Black writers usually turn to self-publishing--an already densely populated industry--to have their stories seen, and it is said that we have to work twice as hard to get half of what our white counterparts have. Hopefully, shining a little light on these authors will help to signal boost the work they are putting out there.

This month, I am highlighting Zed Amadeo!

Zed Amadeo is an author of dark fantasy and horror. She has always held a curiosity for the unexplained and believes that every good story starts with “What If?” Zed resides in her adopted hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, where she spends far too much time watching horror movies and consuming the best works of fantasy and science fiction she can find, all of which refill her creative well and inspire her writing. When not writing or reading, Zed is a fan of day-long video game marathons, headbanging to 80s music, and connecting with other artists and creators in the speculative fiction world. Zed is currently signed with SF(F)or the Culture.

Her book Resurrection is available now on Amazon!

When a night out leads to tragedy, one life ends and a new one begins!

Despite her best efforts, Dina’s life felt ordinary - until the night her life was threatened by otherworldly forces. Now plunged into the extraordinary, Dina discovers a mysterious realm of demons, fantastic creatures, and powers beyond her dreams. Intent on revenge, Dina’s new life seems boundless. But the cost of her thrilling new life means leaving behind everything she had known, and even loved, and risking dangers beyond her worst nightmares. Her decision to embrace this mysterious new world will forever change her fate and, perhaps, have irrevocable consequences on more lives than just her own.

In her debut novel Resurrection, Zed Amadeo combines her mastery of horror fiction with the wonder and magic of Harry Potter to delight readers with a contemporary dark fantasy. This chilling debut is perfect for fans of A Discovery of Witches and The Last Apothecary! There’s treachery around every turn in Resurrection.

I can't wait to read this one!

You can visit Zed at her website: zedamadeo.com, on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!


________________________________________________________________________________

If you are a Black author who would like to be in the spotlight, email me the following information at debreneebyrd@gmail.com

Name or Pen Name

Genre

Website/Blog

Social Media handles

Book (if any) and where to buy

Permission to use photos

Wednesday Words: My New Project!

It's after 10 am, which I guess is normally the time I remember I forgot to post, so good morning! I set aside the 2nd Wednesday of each month to share what I am writing and/or reading. Today, I am going to share a piece of the YA/NA project I've begun working on (that magical princesses one I keep ranting about). It has a few kinks in it (I've almost successfully forced myself not to go back and touch anything yet because of NaNoWriMo. I was just trying to get words onto pages), but it's still exciting that I'm moving onto new work again. The tentative title is The Queen's Daughters, and here is a snippet from the chapter "The Festival."

Also, just for some context, my MC Ash and her sisters have been paraded back to their father's castle with their dead mother to a celebration of their "return home." Ash's power (she can conceal herself, her thoughts, and/or her feelings so no one else can see or detect her/them) isn't noticeable in this scene, but her sister Naiyalah's comes into play: she can both take in thoughts and emotions and project her own onto others.

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“My darling girls,” our father says softly. He looks at each of us in turn, and his eyes mist over before he blinks them dry. “I am glad you have returned to me.”

Words lodge in my throat, as they should. Instead of what I want to say, I follow my sisters and kneel, head bowed, hands folded demurely in my lap. He comes to Zuraiyah first, lifts her chin and guides her to her feet.

“My beauty,” he says and kisses her left cheek. “Welcome.” Then her right. “Welcome.”

“Thank you, Auba,” she says in a small voice.

We didn’t have to speak small with our mother.

He moves to Naiyalah next. She is “his purpose.” A kiss on her cheeks, a welcome for each as well.

I close my eyes for the briefest of moments before his touch to my chin. I open my eyes and stand. Of the five of us, I have his face. He always smiles proudly at that. I did too, once. I am his favorite. There has never been any denial of that.

“Ashula,” he says even more softly. “My love.”

Another pulse of calm from Naiyalah when I just want to explode and burn the whole world and curl up and cry.

“Auba,” I manage to say.

He cups my face and kisses my forehead. “Welcome home.”

“Thank you.”

He pulls both Babri and Katri up and wraps his arms around them, kissing Babri’s head, then Katri’s. “Welcome home, my sweet girls.”

They were six years old when we first returned. They had both cried and whined and held onto our mother as the royal guards came for us. Never having met our father, they couldn’t understand why our mother was sending us all away. Now, after seven years of visits, his pampering, and none of the memories of before, they aren’t quite old enough to hate this man the way the rest of us do.

Or at least the way I do.

I close my eyes again, take a deep breath. I must. We still have hours to go in this long, awful night.

“The Heavens have blessed us with my daughters’ return,” he calls to the crowd behind us. “Let us praise them and welcome peace back to our land.”

We turn towards the masses as they take up their cheering and singing once again, as the drums bounce off of the walls and more wine is poured before the festivities resume. We have done our part to mingle, and so we may return to our platform. Our father has already moved onto his, just above us. As we climb the stairs, we each must meet his eyes and bow our head. He smiles and does the same. Fortunately, we do not have to smile this time, although I’m certain we’re supposed to be at our height of revelry by this time. I can no longer muster the strength for it anyhow. I simply nod and return to my throne.

Once we are all seated, the steward returns, after once again tasting his wine before the guards, to refill our chalices. He bows and pours. He clears his throat as he stands straight and moves on to me. Beads of sweat form on his brow as he pours my wine. When he straightens his back again, his body stiffens. With one wispy gasp, he collapses dead at my feet.