You Too Can Get the Girl! Modern Magic: Twelve Tales of Urban Fantasy! 12 novels for just $1.99!

Nobody Gets the Girl is the only novel I’ve ever written based on a dream. In the fall of 2000, I had a nightmare in which a woman was riding through the middle of a mansion on roller skates, gliding along a single railroad track. Adding to the weirdness of that vision, she had long, sharp spikes jutting from her ankles, which tore up the walls and smashed through furniture and paintings as she skated along. I woke up wondering just who the hell this woman was. To find out, I wrote a novel, working without an outline at a feverish pace, finishing the first draft in just 45 days.

The woman turned out to be a superhero named Rail Blade, and I regard the complexities of her character as a milestone on my journey to becoming a successful novelist. Rail Blade, AKA Amelia Knowbokov, was stern and aloof on the surface, with occasional flashes of dark humor that borders on the mean. But she’s driven by an admirable sense of duty and a genuine love for her family, and soon wins readers over as the get past her cold surface. She’s smart, brave, and a no-nonsense ass-kicker. She’s got a complicated relationship with her father, who treats her both as a daughter and as a soldier in his ongoing war to save mankind from dark forces he’s unwittingly released. And, in what would become a hallmark of most of my successful characters moving forward, you’ll never grasp the full nuances of her character until you discover her darkest secret.

Nobody Gets the Girl was the first novel I ever sold to a publisher. You can see echoes of this book in nearly everything I’ve written since.

And there’s never been a better time to read it than right now!  I’m pleased to announce that Nobody Gets the Girl is one of the novels selected to appear in Modern Magic: Twelve Tales of Urban Fantasy. For the sweet price of just $1.99 you get twelve complete novels by some of the hottest names in modern fantasy! This collection is only going to be available for a limited time, so order yours today!

The included novels are:

THE TENTACLE AFFAIRE: A Slip Traveler Novel by award-winning and RT Recommended bestselling author Jeanne Adams--He doesn't believe in aliens. She doesn't believe in magic. They're both wrong.

DAYS GONE BAD (Vesik, Book 1) by Eric Asher - An urban fantasy about a necromancer and his vampire sister. And chimichangas.

THE NIMBLE MAN by New York Times bestselling author and Stoker Award winner Christopher Golden & NY Times bestselling editor Thomas E. Sniegoski, the first book of The Menagerie series. They are beings of myth and legend. They possess powers beyond imagining. They are our only hope.

BILL THE VAMPIRE (The Tome of Bill, part 1) by Amazon Top 100 author Rick Gualtieri - Bill Ryder was a dateless geek, but then he met a girl to die for. So he did.

HARD DAY'S KNIGHT – by award-winning author John G. Hartness-- A pair of comic book nerds get turned into vampires, and now they have to save the world. The world is so screwed.

SOUTHERN BOUND (Max Porter, Book 1) by Top 100 Kindle author Stuart Jaffe - When Max Porter discovers his office is haunted by the ghost of a 1940s detective, he does the smartest thing possible -- starts a detective agency.

TAINTED (The Blood Lily Chronicles Book 1) by New York Times bestselling author Julie Kenner--The first installment of the Blood Lily Chronicles, an urban fantasy romance which introduces readers to Lily Carlyle, a tough-talking bad girl who's been chosen to save the world, and Deacon Camphire, the darkly sensual man whose words seduce her, but whose actions suggest he’s hiding secrets of his own.

THE SOUL CAGES: A Minister Knight Novel by Nicole Givens Kurtz -Sarah risks everything to save her soul and be reincarnated back into flesh. Now, the real adventure begins…

TRIFLES AND FOLLY (Deadly Curiosities Adventures) by #1 Kindle Top 100 bestselling author Gail Z. Martin – A Charleston, SC antique store is the cover for a coalition of mortals and immortals who have sworn their lives and magic to saving the world from supernatural threats and cursed relics.

NOBODY GETS THE GIRL by 2016 Piedmont Laureate and award-winning author James Maxey -- The fate of the free world is at stake as the superhuman battles escalate, wiping entire cities from the map, threatening the survival of all mankind. Who can save us from the looming apocalypse? Nobody!

TOUCH A DARK WOLF (Shadowmen Book 1) by USA Today bestselling author Jennifer St. Giles--Poisoned by evil, Jared fights to save Erin before the murderous darkness in him claims them both .

CELLAR by Bram Stoker Award-nominated author Karen E. Taylor– If Laura Wagner’s inner demons don’t get her, the real ones just might…

Seriously, why are  you still reading this blog? Get thee to Amazon!

366 Progress Report. Also, I just had a story published...

I reached the end of April with 135,256 for my word count. This includes the penalties I give myself for drafts (for instance, the fourth draft of Cinder I counted as 20% of total word count), but also some bonuses like credits for submitting stories, and also for selling a story.

In fact, that story appeared at IGMS a couple of weeks ago. It's a sign of how bad I am at self promotion that I just now remembered that as worth mentioning on my blog. The story in question is Cherry Red Rocket Ship, a tale I wrote years ago as a 2500 word space opera parody/tribute. I took another look at the story last year and realized that what was holding it back was the complete absence of any backstory for the protagonist, which left him very two-dimensional. Crafting his backstory also helped me flesh out the world building, and now, while the story is still humorous, it's not just the humor that carries it. You can read the story here.