Blood Eternal getting closer!

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As those of you who were around for the title change on Book II (Blood Sine Qua Non ➡️ Blood Demands) will remember, changing a book title is a ridiculous process (and one I hope to never experience again after this!)

At least going through it the second time is a bit less overwhelming because I know what nonsense to expect. But please, all of you, cross your fingers for this one to go more smoothly than Blood Demands on the Ingram level.

Last time, Ingram messed up my name on their listing, as just “belasco.” I found it pretty quickly, and submitted that they change how the name was inputted, and after the usual thing where Ingram ignores your customer service request for a few weeks they finally did so. At the time of sending this email it is still not repaired, and so people who are looking for Blood Demands in non-Amazon places like B&N still can’t find it. Bookstores tell me “Ingram needs to fix it on their end,” and Ingram tells me, “It’s been fixed—bookstores need to update their systems” and rinse and repeat, with the problem never getting resolved.

So everyone, please cross your fingers for me that this time Ingram does not mess up the new book listing! 🤞🤞🤞

 In Conversation with Paulette Kennedy

If you remember the last newsletter, I was having a conversation about vampires with the brilliant author Paulette Kennedy. Well, it rocked even harder than I anticipated, and happily if you didn’t catch it live, it’s available for replay! It runs about an hour, so perfect for your drive or for playing while you do laundry or the dishes—or while settled into a luxurious hot bath.

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Follow me to friendlier skies 🦋

Unless you’ve been living under a very nice rock and ignoring all the news (which is a valid lifestyle option!) you’ll be aware that Meta has been and continues to be up to some shady, shady shit.

I am less and less enjoying spending time on Facebook (wading through ads and random other account’s posts to get to my friend’s posts is not my idea of a good time, nevermind how toxic the site is becoming) and Instagram is now just a work place for me. I can’t look at any content except “bookish” content, because it messes up the algorithm that determines who sees my posts, so even my scrolling through the app must be optimized for sales. If I pause too long over an adorable corgi skateboarding, there goes my carefully curated blah blah blah.

Bluesky has become the place where I really have fun. I was a pretty early adopter, but I didn’t really click with the place at first. Now, I count on it for some fun moments in my day. If you have a bsky account, give me a follow so I can share those happy moments with you!

Villaintine’s Day 2025 Update

For those of you who’ve been around for over a year, you’ll remember the Villaintine’s Day madness from last year. For those who are new, basically, I make Valentine’s Day cards for you featuring one of the villains from the Blood & Ancient Scrolls series, and you get to choose which you like best.

Here was the selection from last year:

This year will feature a surprise Baddie, from the upcoming still-untitled “lesbian pirate vampires” story, and she will be showing up in the fourth book in the series as well! So something to seriously look forward to in February!

 WIP update

If it seems like I spend all my time trying to learn marketing and doing the business stuff for the books, well, yeah, there is too much of that in my life. However, that doesn’t mean that writing isn’t happening (just not as fast as any of us would like.) Here’s the current status for all works-in-progress:

• Blood Eternal — at Ingram, going through their system for as many weeks as that takes. Once Ingram announces it published, I can do the same over at Amazon. (There is an order, and it Must Be Done In That Order.) And then it will be available to buy!

• Bela Lugosi’s Dead (short story) — with sensitivity editor

• “lesbian pirate vampires” story — with reviewer before final revision (and I still need a damn title!) Cover reveal coming soon!

• Book IV — to be resumed in March. Most research done and/or research materials acquired, so the story can just take off smoothly from the research runway and fly in the (hopefully) friendly skies of “pure imagination”

OK, this is shorter newsletter, because my every day this month has too many things for me to do in it. So I’m off to do those things, which will hopefully lead to me getting stories out in February…!

Looking at the analytics from previous newsletters, nobody is clicking on the music rec links, so I’m going to stop wasting time on that section. If this distresses you, hit reply to this email and tell me you want me to keep doing the music recs.

For those of you who have read to this point, I appreciate you! 😍 Until the next newsletter: be good or be good at it!

💭 I'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: drop me a note 📨

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