December 2011

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The year in review for my DeAnna Knippling ebooks…

Novel:

Chance Damnation: A Tale of the Weird West

A little girl with the power of a God. Invaders from another world. When demons rewrite history on the Great Plains, three brothers follow one of their own into a strange Hell to change it back.

(Related short story) The Vengeance Quilt

God’s work weighs on Sebastian, a new priest, harder than most. But dealing with demons is his penance, and God never makes a burden harder than you can carry. Or so he believes when the rivalry between two of his parishioners spirals into the supernatural. A Weird West tale.  Can be read independently of the novel; happens after the novel.

Novellas:

Haunted Empire

SF Adventure in the vein of Firefly/Serenity: When Aoife Cavenaugh is kidnapped by her thieving, smuggling bastard of a cousin-in-law, she’s torn between the need to avenge her beloved cousin and her greed for the research lab on his spaceship. If only she can trick him into satisfying both of her obsessions…

Death by Chocolate

Ellie doesn’t like chocolate. So when the Devil makes her a deal—she can be skinny, pretty and immortal, but if she ever eats chocolate, she’s going to Hell—she takes it. Then the bad boy at the top of her sexual bucket list appears.. She’s tempted, but she trusts him even less than she trusts the Devil…

Nonfiction:

How to Fail & Keep on Writing

Afraid of rejections? So afraid that you never put your stories in the mail? This book will show you how to overcome fear of failure when It comes to writing, submitting, and publishing your fiction.

(Track record to date for my submitting process: 156 rejections, 12 accepts. Duotrope tells me this is better than average.)

Standalone Short Stories:

  • The Procrustean Mirror. Tom tracked his wife as far as the Zorcico before he ran out of leads. Now the bartender’s trying to tell him he can either have what’s in an old wooden box, or he can find out what Betty was coming to the dive bar for. “What’s in the box?” he asks. “Your marriage.”
  • The Cliff House. Ardahl loves his land, even though he’s been crippled in its service and trapped in the Cliff House to work the magic that brings water. But using the magic twists the land so tightly that it must break, sooner or later…
  • Threads of Life, Threads of Guilt.  Mattie’s ready to give up when her twin, Matt, drags her to Casa Eva, reputed to be St. Augustine’s “fountain of youth” for cancer patients. But can she be cured of losing her will to live?
  • Creators of Small Worlds.  Andrea had one chance to talk to Chris Demoulin before he unleashed horror on Las Vegas—and failed. Now the question isn’t, “could she have stopped him?” but, “can she keep stop herself from becoming just like him?”
  • The Woods Behind Grandmother’s House.  Ellen warned her fiance Philip not to get involved with the Rockford brothers. But now he has gone with them down a dark path heavy with deadfalls and demons, and only she can bring him back.
  • Hand of Glory.  Like a thief in the digital night. Georgia’s brother didn’t hang himself for being gay or for being bullied about it. He was murdered over something that happened in the game—possibly over a mysterious hacker’s item called the Hand of Glory or Butler’s Candelabra, that lets you go anywhere, kill anyone, and steal anything. And now it belongs to Georgia.
  • The Edge of the World.  His best friend Felix kidnapped him on dragonback to make him go to his abuser’s funeral, then tried to blackmail him into abducting changlings for them—the same thing that had happened to him. Fairies suck. Honorable Mention, Best Horror of the Year Vol 3.
  • Basement Noir.  Private Investigator Spade comes up from the basement to investigate the death of Gramps in an old hotel run by a monkey and populated by lunatics. But sometimes the person who hires you insn’t the one in charge. And sometimes the crime you’re investigating isn’t the one that needs to be solved.
  • Miracle, Texas.  The man rode into Amazon Valley the same way they all did, blindfolded, hooded, and with his hands tied behind his back. Men were trouble, and Justine liked them that way. A Weird West tale.
  • Lady of the Floods.  The gods can build in a single night a tower that would require the toil of many men over many seasons. Balathu, chief of scribes, brings the King’s offerings. Balathu is a virtuous man, but the tools of the gods are lovely in his sight, and in the sight of the King. Truly, weak men are always seized by fate.
  • Blind Spot.  An artist who sees what nobody else sees: the visual code generated by the eye’s own blind spot. A VR developer who sees the possiblities–including the threat to her life.
  • Devil Mountain.  The alien called him her beloved devil for tempting her away from her brood and tried to make him promise not to take revenge if the other humans turned on him. Now he’s on top of Devil Mountain, looking down at the town that murdered his wife, and he has no promises to keep.
  • Monsoon.  Too old to flirt with the Norwegian meditation teacher. Too young for menopause. It’s “Eat, Pray, Love” for sarcastic people.
  • Things You Don’t Want But Have to Take.  She hid from the thing for years, but it found her and came to her in a box with no real return address and her own handwriting on the label. She knew what would happen if she tried to fight the cold thing with its claws in her neck. Her only hope was to hide it from her husband…
  • Family Gods.  A young soldier returns from a war to bury his mother, only to find that his wife has betrayed him. His rage doesn’t come from his wife’s betrayal, but from the family god, a god of murder, fire, and anger that has haunted them for generations…and killed his mother.
  • Lanes of the Living Dead. It ain’t easy being divorced. But Bart’s ex-wife’s lawyer, also a voodoo priest, didn’t make it any easier.
  • The Debt:  A Zombie Tale.  He hired Dr. Skalos to put his brother to rest. He paid and paid and paid, yet still his brother walks, and hungers…
  • Mother & Child.  A boy who wants to rescue his mother from her perfect, imaginary life—at any cost. A girl who finds her life’s calling in a journal entry about a classmate’s pain. A mother who knows that just because everyone else has decided it’s Judgment Day, her daughter doesn’t have to get judged, too. Three extremely short stories of mothers, children, and the uncanny bonds between them.
  • Abominable.  You find the love of your life, and work your ass off to get her what she wants. Now she doesn’t love you anymore. You need something. You need something warm. You’re not the only one.
  • The Business That Must Be Conducted in the Dark. Master Zorac wants sexbot Annalise to follow him into the dark, but her programming won’t allow it…until she’s sent to capture him.
  • A Fly in Amber.  Three bottles of the Shackleton Scotch have returned to Scotland over 100 years after the failed Antarctic expedition. But how do they taste?

You can find my work online at all good ebookstores, including Amazon.com, B&N, and Smashwords.

 

The year in review for my De Kenyon pen name…

The Exotics Book 1: The Floating Menagerie

Nobody knows what happened when Rachael’s mom disappeared a week ago–except Rachael’s classmate Raul. So when giant talking dogs attack him, Rachael follows and gets kidnapped, too. Now she’s on a mysterious ship full of kids who can change into animals–the Exotics. Are their capturers selling Exotics into slavery? Or are they trying to rescue them from something worse?

I also have a short story in the series up…I haven’t announced it here yet, because I’m trying to get it to go free on Amazon first.  But it’s free on Smashwords…

The Exotics:  Tigerlilly (A Short Story)

After Rachael’s friend doesn’t return on the first day of second grade, she asks her mother to find her new address so they can be pen pals. But Rachael’s mother can’t find Brenna’s family anywhere: it’s like they were erased.

Tales Told Under the Covers: Zombie Girl Invasion & Other Stories

Ten tales of death, invasions from other realms, bullies, babysitters, liars, and the brave kids who fight back. Zombie girls who have to hide, lest they get eaten by bigger zombies. Food that bites back. Wizards who are scared of their own power. Murdered (and murderous) pets. Secret superpowers. And that last, great voyage into the unknown.

And I have all the individual Tales listed separately under De Kenyon:

  • Bunny Attack!
  • Zombie Girl Invasion
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Sushi Monster
  • A Picture is Worth 1000 Chomps
  • Class Pet from Beyond the Grave
  • The Society of Secret Cats
  • Which is Bigger, the Moon or an Elephant? And Other Stupid Questions
  • The Scaredy Wizard of Theornin
  • Factory Above, Factory Below
  • The Last Voyage of the Mermaid

All books are listed on Amazon, Smashwords, and B&N online, as well as a ton of other online stores too numerous to mention.

 

Adventure.  Spies.  Magic.

New chapter book/middle-grade fantasy series inspired by…my daughter.  Bored with reading the chapter books available and with a mother who wasn’t going to take it anymore, she’s read the first three books in the series with relish, jumping up and down, and yelling about what was and wasn’t fair.

The main character is eight in book 1 and gets older as the series progresses (thus, the chapter book/middle-grade definition).

Purchase at SmashwordsAmazon.comBarnes & Noble–other online bookstores coming soon.  Amazon and B&N are set up to be able to give ebooks as gifts; contact me personally if you want to send an gift book via Smashwords.

Nobody knows what really happened when second-grader Rachael Baptiste’s mom disappeared a week ago–not her dad, not the police, and not even the members of her hobby group, the Animal Lovers’ Club. So when Rachael’s classmate Raul tries to break into her mom’s computer only to be chased away by giant talking dogs, she follows him into the night and discovers that he–and everyone in the ALC, including her mom–have caught a magical sickness that lets them turn into animals. The ALC is a group of spies that works to defend these people, or Exotics, and Rachael’s mom helps lead them in her secret identity as the Queen Bee. As for Raul, Rachael discovers that he can turn into a wolf as they try to escape a rival group of Exotics, the Shadow Dogs. However, the Shadow Dogs capture them and kidnap them to a mysterious ship, The Floating Menagerie, where a group of Exotic kids waits to be sold into slavery…or do they?

The Exotics Series follows Rachael’s adventures with the Exotics from second to fourth grade as she tries to protect the people she loves in the face of hate, betrayal, and overwhelming magic.

Chapter 1

Rachael, who had just brushed her teeth and changed into green spotted pajamas and fuzzy pink slippers, was almost ready to kill the final wave of zombies on her video game when the doorbell rang.

From the kitchen where he was washing dishes after supper, her dad yelled, “Rachael! Will you check the door?”

“I’m on the last wave, dad!” she yelled back.

“Just push the pause button.”

“Please?”

“It’s your turn!”

That was true. Rachael pushed pause on the game, annoyed because it was never the same when you had to push pause all the time. Meanwhile, the person at the front door had started pushing the doorbell button over and over again and pounding on the door.

Rachael peeked out of the glass beside the door. Even though it was dark out and he should have been getting ready for bed, Raul was outside their door. He looked mad and scared at the same time.

“Open the door!” he yelled.

Rachael liked Raul, but he wouldn’t talk to her at school. They were both in Mrs. Sorensen’s second-grade class. Sometimes they played tag at recess, and she’d let him catch her. He was part of a club, the Animal Lovers’ Club, that met with Rachael’s mom at their house once a week (Tuesdays). Sometimes he would talk to her after the meeting, but mostly not.
Rachael unlocked the door. Raul rushed in, slammed the door behind him, and locked it.

“Your mom—” he said, too out of breath to say anything else.

“Nobody’s found her yet,” Rachael said. Rachael’s mom had disappeared a week ago, but Rachael was an ordinary girl who couldn’t do anything about it. So she tried not to think about it too much.

“Your mom’s computer. Hurry.”

Rachael said, “Why?”

“Just come on.” Raul led her upstairs to her mom’s office.

“What’s the matter?”

Raul still had his uniform on from school, and it was dirty, with bits of leaves stuck to his back. “Nothing,” he said.
Somebody banged into the front door like they had run right into it. Raul said a bad word and ran up the stairs really fast, leaving Rachael behind.

“Rachael,” her dad called. “Would you get that? Please?”

“Don’t open the door,” Raul said. He went inside the office.

The front door thudded again, and Rachael heard a cracking sound as the wood started to break.

“Rachael,” her dad whined.

She ignored her dad and followed Raul into her mom’s office; she really didn’t want to open the door.

Raul was sitting at the computer desk, jiggling the mouse and saying more bad words. Rachael knew her mom’s password (she’d looked over her shoulder), but she wasn’t sure that she should give it to Raul.

Then the front door broke open and slammed against the wall. Rachael started to scream, but clapped her hands over her mouth to stop herself.

Raul jumped out of the chair. “I have to get out of here.”

“I’m coming, too,” Rachael said.

Raul almost growled at her. “Stay here. Hide in the closet, and they’ll leave you alone.”

“I said I’m coming too.”

Something barked loudly from downstairs like a really, really big dog.

Rachael’s dad said, “What is going on, Rachael? Are you messing around again?” Then he said, “Who broke the door? What are these dogs doing in here? Out! Out!”

Rachael opened the window into the back yard, where their gigantic dog, Ox, was barking and growling. “Go down the trellis,” she said. “Dad made it really strong in case of storms. Then jump onto the shed. There’s a big trash can on the other side.”

Rachael pulled out the window screen, and Raul slid out the window. She started to follow him.

“Go back,” he yelled.

Rachael stuck her slippers in the trellis, reached up, and slid the window shut the rest of the way, as quietly as she could. “Shh,” she said. “They’ll hear you.”

All, I’m giving away three signed copies of Tales Told Under the Covers: Zombie Girl Invasion & Other Stories. Three paper copies, via Goodreads–sign up from now to December 31st.  I may toss in an ebook copy of Exotics 1, if it’s ready.

If you would like to buy a signed copy for delivery before Christmas, contact me at dknippling {at} gmail {dot} com.

“…whilst reading “Tales Told Under The Covers” I definitely felt that De is the natural successor to Lewis Carroll in terms of imagination, variety, surreal madness and dark wit.” –Emma Hunneyball

“These kids were underdogs — like I was as a kid. They inspired bravery and made me laugh out loud. The stories themselves are a blast, even at their creepiest; De has the coolest imagination.” –Liz Barone

TALES TOLD UNDER THE COVERS: ZOMBIE GIRL INVASION & OTHER STORIES, by De Kenyon (that is, me!)

–Middle-grade horror, sf, and fantasy short stories.–

Ten tales of death, invasions from other realms, bullies, babysitters, liars, and the brave kids who fight back. Zombie girls who have to hide, lest they get eaten by bigger zombies. Food that bites back. Wizards who are scared of their own power. Murdered (and murderous) pets. Secret superpowers. And that last, great voyage into the unknown.

Stories to be whispered under the covers, by flashlight.

Stories to be read by firelight to the robots who come out of the woods.

Stories to be told when the witches are ready to eat you but want to hear just one more story before they shove you in the oven.

Creepy Stories. Fantastical Stories. Weird Stories.

Amazon.com

Barnes and Noble

Print

And other online stores.