Demon Heart & Links

Monday was release day for Demon Heart, the third novel in the YA paranormal Darkworld series, by Emma L. Adams, and I'm pleased to welcome her here today!

Can a demon’s heart of ice be thawed?

Ash may have escaped death several times, but now things are finally looking up. The doppelganger is gone, she’s dating Leo, and the Venantium are staying away from her – for now. But a new threat rises from the Darkworld, and only the fortune-teller knows the true extent of the danger they’re in.

Lucifer, a sorcerer who did the impossible and cheated death through escaping to the Darkworld, is on the move. Now his second-in-command, Mephistopheles the demon, is loose in our world – and will do anything to win Ash over to his side.

The Venantium fear a repeat of the Demon Wars, the demonic invasion that wiped out the Blackstone family. But there’s more to those events than the records reveal. When Ash finds the lost diary of Melivia Blackstone, she starts to dig into the past to find the town’s forgotten history – leading to a revelation that shocks her to the core.

Leo seems to be the only person Ash can rely on, yet can she truly open up to him, knowing what she is? Blackstone’s dark history is rising to the surface, and it seems even memory can lie. The worst betrayal waits around the corner, and Ash has to decide whether to trust Leo with her darkest secret, even when it has the potential to destroy them both…

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Fire sprang up all around me, orange flames licking at my skin. I flinched away from the writhing wall of fire, which cut off any chance of escape.

I stood in a large room, a bedroom. Through the haze of smoke I could see a four-poster bed, its feathery curtains ablaze. Flickering tendrils of fire ate away at the posh-looking furniture, smoke gushing out in clouds. On the wall opposite hung a magnificent, gilt-framed painting of a girl with long, curly black hair. As I watched, the paint peeled away from the background as the ever-spreading blaze devoured it. Underneath the roar of the fire I heard a whimper, and realised I wasn’t alone.

A girl crouched in the corner of the room, arms wrapped around her knees, apparently oblivious to the fire raging around her. I tried to walk over to her but a wall of flames barred my way, flaring out of the lush carpet.

"Stay... out."

 The girl raised her head, but she didn’t seem to see me standing there. She was older than I’d thought; her hunched position had made her look like a child, but she was probably around the same age as me. Her dark hair spilled from a bun, and her gown, similar to the one in the painting, was crumpled and stained, as though she’d fallen in the mud outside.

“Stay… out.”

 Her eyes looked right through me, and I gasped. They shone violet. A demon’s eyes.

 She doubled over, coughing. I tried to call to her to get out of the burning room, but it was like something had stapled my mouth shut. Dreaming. I’m dreaming.

“Stay… out!”

Happy Book Release Week, Emma!

Now for some links. Bear in mind that I'm just passing these along, not endorsing them. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

Accepting Submissions:

FTB Press is seeking stories for their anthology Odd-isms. Add -ism to a word and make a story of it. 4000 words or less. Pays in royalties and a contributor copy. Deadline November 21.

Garden Gnome Publications is seeking stories for their Biblical Legends anthology series. The theme is Resurrections. Flash fiction, short stories, narrative poems, and novelettes. Pays token flat rates. Deadline November 23.

Black Books Publishing is seeking stories for their anthology Illuminati at my Door. They're also taking submissions for their Urban Fantasy Romance anthology Sugar Daddy Wanted: No Experience Necessary. 3000-10,000 words. Pays $50 + royalties. Open until filled. (They are also taking queries for novel length fiction.)

In Short Publishing Co is seeking short genre fiction. 3000-4500 words. Pays in royalties.

Contests: 

The Subtopian is holding their News Competition. They take stories from the news and ask you to write about the possible future imagined from them. 500-2000 words. Pays $25 + publication. Deadline for this set of news topics is October 31.

Of Interest:

Textbroker matches authors up with freelance writing jobs for pay. While I have not extensively researched it, I did find articles saying it was a legitimate freelance site. You'll want to research for yourself before trying it.

Writer Beware is a site that discusses various writing related topics and their risks to writers. I've specifically linked to a piece on crowdfunded anthologies, but this is a great site to explore overall.

This one's outdated, and he may have a newer one, but Dean Wesley Smith wrote a piece on the New World of Publishing. It includes tips and various information about being a working writer.

Bookbub put out the Ultimate Guide to Self-Publishing and Book Distribution Tools.

Kameron Hurley wrote a piece about The Cold Publishing Equations: Books Sold + Marketability + Love.

Any of these of interest to you? Anything to share? Publishing news? What do you think of Demon Heart? Have you read books 1 or 2?

May you find your Muse.