fantasy books

Preorder Draconic Search and Rescue

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I’m thrilled to announce that the Draconic Search and Rescue ebook is now available for preorder on many online retailers!

Nathan McMannis is bored. His friends have gone on to new adventures, while he’s stuck at the Alexandra Institute doing correspondence school. All he wants is more excitement, less maths homework.

But you know what they say: Be careful what you wish for.

A huge earthquake strikes, and emergency services are overwhelmed, unable to rescue the thousands of people in danger. To make matters worse, the weather turns deadly. 

Against his father’s orders, Nathan flies away with his draconic partners, Foggy Bottom and Rata, to rally the dragons. The Draconic Search and Rescue Team descends upon isolated and endangered towns to ferry people to safety. But the task might be too big, even for the dragons.

If they fail, thousands will die. 

Will the fragile peace between people and dragons hold in the face of disaster? How far are the dragons willing to push themselves to save the humans who persecuted them for centuries?

Another wild, dragon-filled adventure set in modern day New Zealand! This standalone adventure can also be read as Book 5 of the Dragon Defence League series.

Preorder Now!

Release Day is Coming!

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Book 2 in the Rifton Chronicles is almost here! 

Meet Katie Cochrane, budding restauranteur. She has no idea what she’s in for when her crazy Aunt Rachael gifts her the burnt out Rifton Pub for her birthday. Before long, it’s clear that renovations are the least of her worries. She always knew running a restaurant would be challenging, but she never expected it to involve witchcraft.

This cosy urban fantasy can be read as a standalone, but, Rifton being a small town, it includes many of the characters from book 1 of the series. I was excited to have a chance to spend more time with the quirky ladies of the Rifton garden group and Rifton’s demonic felines.

So pull out your gardening gloves and secateurs, and pop on down to the Rifton pub for some supernatural fun!

Preorder today, and be the first to read Demonic Summoning for the Modern Gardener!

Release date is 31 January, so you won’t have to wait long!

View the trailer

Cover Reveal: Demonic Summoning for the Modern Gardener

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I’m pleased to show you the cover for the next book in the Rifton Chronicles! I’m loving the bright colours of these cosy urban fantasy covers!

Available: one pub. As is, where is.

Who buys a burnt out pub for their niece’s thirtieth birthday? Katie Cochrane’s aunt, apparently. Faced with the decrepit building, Katie does the only logical thing—starts her own restaurant.

But the Rifton Pub has issues, and fire damage is the least of them.

Patrons who haven’t even had a drink start showing up ‘drunk’ around Rifton, and Katie’s liquor license is suspended.

When the Rifton Garden Group takes notice, Katie is forced to concede that the ‘demon drink’ isn’t responsible for her troubles, but another sort of demon altogether. And it’s going to take all of Rifton’s witches to banish what has taken root.

Another cosy urban fantasy set in Rifton. You might never look at your garden the same way again. Perfect for fans of Legends and Lattes!

Coming Early 2025!

Spooky Reading

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As a kid in North America, I used to love celebrating Halloween. I love spiders, bats and black cats. I love crisp autumn days and frosty nights. I love carving pumpkins. I love making costumes—I’d start planning each year’s costume in April. 

Yes, the candy was a nice bonus, but the real fun was walking the streets after dark wearing a costume and seeing all the other creative costumes out and about.

Here in the southern hemisphere? Well, Halloween makes no sense. By the end of October, spring is well advanced. We’re on daylight savings time, so the evenings are long and bright. I’m planting pumpkin seeds, not harvesting pumpkin fruits. We’re enjoying a riotous display of colours from the flowerbeds and eating delicious springtime crops like peas, asparagus and spinach. We’re planning our summer vacations, and looking forward to days on the beach.

Spooky? Not so much.

Still, I enjoy spiders, bats and black cats at any time of year. And witches never go out of style. 

Maybe that’s why I wrote The Ipswich Witch a few years ago. Because not all witches wear black, and maybe witches enjoy a little summer sun, too. (And a good date scone.)

So here’s to all the southern hemisphere witches, who are busy tending their gardens in October, growing all those herbs for their potions, filleting their fenny snakes, and drying fresh eye of newt and toe of frog. 

Reading never goes out of style either, so whether you’re a fan of the spooky season or prefer your Halloween reading to be a bit cosier, here are a few suggestions, all written by Kiwi authors:

Remains to be Told: Dark Tales of Aotearoa

Remains to be Told: Dark Tales of Aotearoa is mired in the shifting landscape of the long white cloud, and deeply imbued with the myth, culture, and character of Aotearoa-New Zealand.

Curated by multi-award-winning author-editor Lee Murray, the anthology opens with a foreword by six-time Bram Stoker Awards®-winner and former HWA President Lisa Morton; and includes a brutal, lyrical poem by Kiwi resident Neil Gaiman.

Laced with intrigue, suspense, horror, and even a touch of humour, the anthology brings together stories and poems by some of the best homegrown and Kiwi-at-heart voices working in dark fiction today.

Remains to be Told features stories and poems by Dan Rabarts, Kirsten McKenzie, Celine Murray, Kathryn Burnett, Helena Claudia, Marty Young, Gina Cole, William Cook, Del Gibson, Paul Mannering, Tim Jones, Owen Marshall, Denver Grenell, Bryce Stevens, Debbie Cowens, Lee Murray, Jacqui Greaves, Tracie McBride, and Nikky Lee. 

Overdues and Occultism

(Book 1 Mt Eden Witches) by Jamie Sands

A witch in the broom closet probably shouldn’t be so interested in a ghost hunter, right?

That Basil is a librarian comes as no surprise to his Mt Eden community. That he’s a witch?

Yeah. That might raise more than a few eyebrows.

When Sebastian, a paranormal investigator filming a web series starts snooping around Basil’s library, he stirs up more than just Basil’s heart. Between Basil’s own self-doubt, a ghost who steals books and Sebastian, an enthusiastic extrovert bent on uncovering secrets, Basil’s life is about to get a lot more complicated.

Overdues and Occultism is a novella-length story featuring ghosts, witches and a sweet gay romance. It’s part of the Witchy Fiction project of New Zealand authors.

Angelfire

by Deryn Pittar and Meg Buchanan

Emma isn’t looking for trouble. She’s an angel in hiding – but her evil brother has found her.

She’s been chosen as this year’s offering for Halloween, and she’s prepared to fight to the death to prevent it happening.

Her neighbour is home on leave: Handsome, fighting fit and after one meeting their mutual attraction is sparking. Can she dare to ask for his help? Will he believe her?

He has a problem he’s struggling to conquer, but he’s used to death walking beside him and isn’t afraid of anything. Is being brave enough?

Angelfire is the first book in the touching Angelfire series. If you like appealing characters, heart-warming moments and action, then you’ll love Meg and Deryn’s exciting novel.

Author Lee Murray

For the spooky season, you can’t go wrong with just about any title by New Zealand’s mistress of horror, Lee Murray. Check out all her books on her website or her Amazon author page.

Release Day!

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Demonic Summoning for the Modern Woman is here! Woo hoo!

Alex Blackburn is not a witch.

So how the hell did she summon a demon?

More importantly, how is she going to get rid of it?

When Alex Blackburn returns to small-town Rifton to settle her grandmother’s estate, she doesn’t expect to uncover Gran’s secret affair or to accidentally summon a giant centipede from the netherworld.

With a pet-eating demon on the loose, Gran’s things to dispose of, and only two weeks off work, she doesn’t have time to waste. Getting rid of the creature is her first priority. 

Shelby Saunders, grandson of Gran’s lover, might just be the one to help her. If she can convince him the demon is real.

Can two people who don’t believe in magic conjure enough of it to send a demon home? In Rifton, you never know what might happen.

This cosy urban fantasy set in small-town New Zealand will have you checking under your seat for centipedes and cheering on Alex and Shelby as they bumble their way around magic and each other. The first in a brand new series of magical adventures set in Rifton.

Buy now

A Great Start to 2023!

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January was a good writing month. I was blessed with three weeks of full-time writing—no kids, no day job, and even the garden was relatively low-maintenance.

Fatemaker, the third and final book of my Fatecarver series, had been hanging over my head for months. I’d meant to write it during the winter school holidays, but a different book jumped out and wrote itself down instead (more about that in a moment). In the lead-up to Christmas, I finally wrote out a detailed outline of Fatemaker, so when I hit January, the writing flowed at a rate of over 4000 words per day for weeks. On 25 January, I typed The End on the series, which felt amazing.

But I didn’t just write a novel in January. While banging out Fatemaker, I was also preparing for the publication of Demonic Summoning for the Modern Woman—a cosy urban fantasy I wrote when I meant to be writing Fatemaker during the winter. I sent a brief to the cover designer and the manuscript to the editor early in the month. Working with the cover designer was a nice distraction and break throughout the month, ending with a fun and bold cover I love. Then, on the last day of the month, I got the manuscript back from the editor, so Demonic Summoning for the Modern Woman is well on its way to a March publication date.

But that isn’t all. I wrote a new short story, almost finished a second short story, and fired off a bunch of magazine submissions, one of which resulted in an acceptance that squeaked into January on the 31st.

January was supposed to be focused on marketing—I’ve got a fun promotion project in the works—but I simply didn’t have the time or headspace to do it. I did, however, manage to make some progress, and at least get the ball rolling.

Weekly blog posts and my monthly newsletter rounded out the workload of January’s 10 to 12-hour workdays.

In fact, I accomplished so much in January, I’ve ticked off the majority of my 2023 first quarter goals. It was a great way to start the year!

October Book Promotions

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Whether you’re heading into autumn or coming into spring, October is a great month for reading. (Okay, EVERY month is a great month for reading!) This month, I’m participating in a pair of promotions with other authors, so if you like fantasy, get ready to go wild, because there are some fabulous reads here.

The first is a selection of free Fantasy books for Children and Teens. The selection includes The Dragon Slayer’s Son and a whole bunch of other great books. Definitely worth checking out!

The second is a fabulous group of fantasy books ranging from teen to adult titles that includes Fatecarver. Check out the list. Who knows? You may find your new favourite author here!