New Release! A Grim Situation is live!!

Kane and Ariana are back!!

I had soooo much fun writing this book. And I think y'all will enjoy it, too! Kane and Ariana are back, defending West Houston, Texas against a shadowy threat that's inserting demons into unsuspecting innocents. When they step in, they're going to need all of their skills, magick, and firepower just to stay alive. Check out A Grim Situation: Book 2 of the GrimFaerie Chronicles!


This book introduces a couple of new characters that are screaming for their own stories, so keep an eye out for Detectives Avery Lynne and Jim Kaley!

A Grim Situation: Book 2 of the GrimFaerie Chronicles

Kane the Grim is a hard-bitten assassin. He's also a Faerie, who brings fangs, claws, and magick to his work...and loves it. Ariana is a gun-toting Texas witch, a force of nature with a blonde ponytail. Together, they keep the Houston area safe. When drugs that induce instant demon possession hit the scene, they sense someone with vast powers pulling the strings. 

Kane and Ariana go on the hunt, but the police aren’t far behind, and a detective from Kane’s past suspects his true nature. When Kane is framed for murder, he and Ariana must evade the police while pursuing a killer from Houston to the desert of New Mexico. It’s a heart-stopping thrill ride as Kane and Ariana race to catch the demon-monger before all hell breaks loose…literally.

BLACK FRIDAY SALE!!

The whole Trilogy and first-in-series only $0.99!

I know I'm getting this out a bit late, but I'll keep the sale going for a few days to catch up! Now, you get the entire Fire of the Jidaan Trilogy for under a buck. Or you could follow Reyanna on her adventures in Reyanna's Prophecy. And if you haven't read the first book in the GrimFaerie Chronicles, Grim Undertakings, that's on sale too.

Title: The Fire of the Jidaan Trilogy Boxset(ALL THREE BOOKS!)
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Sale Price: $.99 Ebook
Buy links ---> https://books2read.com/u/bQaKpZ

Title: Reyanna’s Prophecy: Book 1 of the Forge Born Duology
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Sale Price: $.99 Ebook
Buy links ---> https://www.amzn.com/B07G4MG74Y/

Title: Grim Undertakings: Book 1 of the GrimFaerie Chronicles
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Sale Price: $.99 Ebook
Buy links ---> https://www.amzn.com/B07P9DGSMZ/

What's that? You prefer paperbacks?  I've got paperback copies of all my books available at a holiday discount, and I'll be happy to sign them or personalize them so you can give them as gifts. Just fill out this form, and I'll hook you up! 

--->  https://forms.gle/4eKFZUdi5bTmeFWf8 

E-BOOK GIVEAWAYS & BOOK FAIRS!!

The weather's getting colder, and it's a great time to curl up with some awesome fantasy and sci-fi books! Check out these cool books in C.L. Cannon's Fantasy & Sci fi Holiday Sale!

GrimFaeries, Conventions, and stuff!

It's been a busy summer out here, and with school starting up again, it's only gotten busier. Even so, I've managed to keep working on the new GrimFaerie tale, and the end is getting closer! I've got a convention coming up in Houston in October, and I'd love to have copies on hand, so that's motivated me to keep working. That, and the fans who keep asking me when the next one's coming out. ;-)  Haven't read Grim Undertakings yet? It's available on Kindle Unlimited...you can check it out here:

 The event I'll be attending is called The Fandemic Tour, at Houston's NRG Center on October 18-20th. I've really enjoyed having booths at the various fantasy/sci-fi conventions the past few years...there's just so much cool stuff to see! At past events, I've met folks like Adrian Paul, Ron Perlman, Brent Spiner, Gil Gerard, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Marina Sirtis, and Sandahl Bergman. All of them were super-fun to talk to, and I always enjoyed the experience. More importantly, I loooove the chance to talk to fantasy fans, meet new people, and occasionally run across folks who enjoy my books!

If you're interested in checking out all the fun stuff at Fandemic, I've got a deal for you! If you use my code, you'll get 10% off your ticket! Just click the pic below and use JADEMOUNTAIN10 to get your discount!

After a Marvel movie binge a couple of weeks ago, I've been wondering...what fictional hero inspires you?

It was always Spider-Man for me, ever since I was a little kid. "With great power comes great responsibility." What a profound lesson that was for me as a child, to see this teenager gain incredible powers and then choose to use them to help others. Great, noble stuff. Of course, the fact that there were exciting battles, fantastic villains, and creative storylines helped a lot, but I was always drawn to Spidey's strong sense of responsibility. Was there a character that meant something to you, inspired you? I'd love to hear!

Ok, I'll get back to work here. Thanks for spending a little time with me, my fabulous readers! Don't be strangers, feel free to give me a holler anytime!

E-BOOK GIVEAWAYS & BOOK FAIRS!!

Hey, if you're looking for a way to spend the Holiday Weekend, here's a Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Paranormal Book Binge for you! Discounted box sets and awesome individual books, priced from FREE to CHEAP! Settle in for some serious relaxing and reading this Labor Day!

Searching for your next favorite story? Check out this Book Fair! These authors have teamed up to offer a delightful selection of 100+ Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance books. Take a look, these are too good to miss!

More awesome Fantasy and Paranormal Romance books, all for FREE! Check 'em out at the 
Fantasy and PNR Summer Book Fair!

Happy reading, folks! I'll touch base again soon!

What Makes a Villain?

Hey, folks! Still working on GrimFaerie Chronicles here. It appears on the page at whatever pace it wants, which is either frustrating or exciting, depending on the day. Some interesting possibilities are rolling around in my mind at the moment, and I'm waiting for a clearer picture of the story to emerge. It's fun, though, and as always, I hope y'all will enjoy it when it's ready!

The title of this email refers to my current, slow-cooking, epic fantasy project. I had an idea for it a loooong time ago, and finally started writing it back in October 2018. Of course, Grim Undertakings jumped ahead of it in line, but that's how Kane rolls. Even so, I got around 24K words in before I set that other story aside to work on GU. Now, I'm working on the next story in the GrimFaerie series, but that other one...well...it's still calling me, whispering in my ear, telling me that it wants to be written. OK, I hear you, I hear you! 

Darth Vader was one of my favorite villains. Seriously. I remember being in the theater as a young child, seeing him onscreen for the first time, and holding my breath in fear and excitement as he casually strolled through the smoke on Leia's ship as he boarded. It was totally silent in that theater except for the sounds of his mechanical breathing. WOW. Talk about making a first impression! As the series continued over the years, it became clear that Vader was a ruthless, terrifying character, but he had layers. He had not always been like that. Back then, I wondered what he had been like, before the cape, before the helmet. What made him like that?

Thanks to 'the prequels,' we all know that story by now. We all know better than to attack Obi-Wan when he's got the high ground. And we all know that young Anakin was led astray by a very powerful dark lord. However much you loved (or loved to hate) those movies, they showed the making of a famous villain. And to be honest, Anakin always seemed to be leaning in that direction anyway. He didn't need much of a push to go all Sithy...he was a pouty, arrogant, and angry young man, a perfect tool for the evil emperor. 

So why tell you that? Bear with me, I'm getting there. In Mage's Burden, you're introduced to a guy who's a villain in every sense of the word: Mordak. He's straight-up evil. An indiscriminate killer bent on domination, willing to sacrifice anything to achieve his goals. He relishes the suffering of others, finds it amusing, and causes pain as a matter of course. Insane enough to make a deal with a Daemon-God for power, fully knowing the price he'd pay, Mordak is a dangerous, ruthless, and mighty villain. 

But was he always like that? I think not. And I think there's a story or two that needs to be told. Many of my friends and fellow Star Wars fans were generally unhappy with how Anakin's backstory was depicted in the movies. Anakin was pretty unlikable, even when he was good! Mordak's tale is very different. It's tragic, exciting, and heartbreaking, from what I've seen of it so far. And don't worry...Mordak wasn't nearly as annoying as Anakin was. He was actually pretty cool. ;-)   

As always, dear readers, I'll keep you posted. This pic shows him as he appeared in the Fire of the Jidaan Trilogy. A master sorcerer, consumed by hatred and ambition, he's a bad, bad man. 

Want to know more about this Mordak guy? Check out The Fire of the Jidaan Trilogy! It's classic Epic Fantasy, written for fans of Terry Brooks, Raymond E. Feist, Robert E. Howard, and Dennis L. McKiernan!

E-BOOK GIVEAWAYS & BOOK FAIRS!!

Are you ready for more FREE books? Check out the Perma Free Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Paranormal event! 

 

If you're looking for other cool fantasy ebooks to read, check out Portal to Fantasy's Kindle Unlimited event, Summer is Coming! There are tons of different books available, all for FREE with your Kindle Unlimited membership! (Yes, the membership costs around $11/month, and that allows you to access millions of awesome books for no additional charge.) 

This one is still going strong, too...check out some kick-ass books available for purchase at the Too Good to Miss Urban Fantasy Book Fair!  

  

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Audiobook and New Forge Born Covers!

Woo hooo! At long last, the Audio version of Mage's Burden is available! I'm so excited for you all to hear it! Gene Rowley did an amazing job of bringing the book to life, and I found myself listening to the story as if I weren't the guy who wrote it! You can check it out here, and it's also available on iTunes!

Head on over to Audible...Mage's Burden is free with a new subscription!

In other news, I recently reread the Forge Born Duology and decided that those two books desperately needed new covers. Seriously. I'm quite pleased with the story and felt that it deserved better covers than those I originally had made. Enter Dar Albert of Wicked Smart Designs. The woman is magick, I tell you! Check them out...

If you haven't checked out this short series, of course I think you should! The fact that you're reading my blog hopefully means you're a fan of the genre, and this epic fantasy story is filled with action, memorable characters, and even a few laughs here and there. In addition, if you're a fan of the original trilogy, The Fire of the Jidaan, then you'll love seeing a few of the Guardians in their middle years: older, wiser, and still perfectly capable of kicking some butts! See if you can find my subtle (well, maybe not so much so) nods to a couple of my favorite 80's movies!

Another lacrosse season ends...

Ouch! My legs are telling me that they did a TON of running yesterday at the GCLA Invitational Lacrosse Tournament...but it was worth it! We joined with the Pearland Panthers and had a blast playing first Metro, then the North Stars. So...much...running. Even so, I was thrilled to be there. You see, I thought my season was over already. Then the founder of the league, Steve Mathiason, called us up to play, and I was beyond ecstatic to have another two games this year. If you know me at all, you know how much I love to play lacrosse. Oddly, I seldom watch it on TV, except for the Division I college finals in May. I much prefer actually suiting up and playing to only watching it onscreen. I'm far from amazing on the field, but I score now and then, win a faceoff or two, and generally try to play tough enough defense that our opponents have to work to get around me. They still do, mind you...I just want them to work for it.

I started playing lacrosse at Texas A&M way back in 1988. I played on their club team that year, and loved every second of it. When I transferred to Brazosport College a year or so later, I thought my lacrosse days were over. I was lounging between classes wearing one of my lacrosse team shirts when a guy passed by and said "Hey, nice shirt. Are you playing in the summer league?" As I think about it, I have to feel so grateful to that guy for that passing remark. I had no idea that anyone played lacrosse outside of college, especially here in Texas! I jumped up and started asking questions, and discovered that there was a big summer league starting up in Houston the very next day. Of course, I went. And I had an absolute blast. Moreover, I became acquainted with the Southwest Lacrosse Association, the men's club lacrosse league in Texas.

The closest team to me was Bay Area Lacrosse, a great bunch of guys who played out of Texas A&M Galveston, and I happily joined up. I still have VHS tapes of some of those games! Some of my buddies came out as well, and it was sooo much fun. Eventually, I decided that I wanted to run a team of my own closer to home. I recall that some folks were somewhat doubtful that I could start a team in Angleton, Tx, where so few people had even heard of the game. I posted flyers everywhere, called everyone I knew from summer league, and held exhibition games in Angleton in an empty field next to the Kroger. Folks drove from Kingwood, Klein, and all over Houston to play with us, and it was fabulous. I remember one guy (who ended up playing defense for us for years) who literally walked up in jeans and said that it really looked like fun. We slapped gloves and a helmet on him, pushed him onto the field, and he was hooked. Lacrosse is like that. Even if you don't know what you're doing, it's still fun! Before too long, I had enough enthusiastic guys to start our own team, and the Brazoria County Lacrosse Club was born!

We played in the SWLA for years. The league assigned us the team colors green and white, which I found fitting since both of the baseball teams I played on as a child, the Birds and the Braves, were green and white. And my favorite color is green, so, there ya go. I have so many wonderful memories of those days. It was around 1991. I was in my early twenties, all full of energy and enthusiasm. I just wanted everyone to have as much fun as I did on the field, and we had such a wonderful bunch of guys, we had fun whether we won or lost. And to be perfectly honest, we lost a LOT. That never stopped us, though. We kept showing up and playing our guts out. It was great.

It just about broke my heart when I had to stop playing. I had moved to Houston, gotten a new job, and was spending every spare minute training in martial arts so that I could open a school of my own one day. It was all too much, so I handed the reins of the team over to the other guys. I played a bit for a year or so after I moved, but in the end, I had to prioritize my activities. I hated to give it up, oh yes. But I kept pursuing my dream, telling myself that I would play again one day. When I finally did start Jade Mountain back in 2003, I was still working at an engineering firm...I had even less time! But I still missed it. I finally made a promise to myself that I would play again when I left my day job to run Jade Mountain full-time.

I'd love to tell you when that happened. 2006? 2008? I'm not sure, but I immediately called Steve Mathiason and found that Bayou City was playing out of Katy at the time. And they were green and white. It could not have been more perfect! I was back on the field! The GCLA was a newer league that catered more to the 'everyman' lacrosse player. We wanted a game a weekend in the spring, not cutthroat competition, but competitive enough for us to have fun. I've been playing with Bayou ever since, and it's hard to explain just how much I enjoy it.

Another year of lacrosse is done for me, though. I'll cherish the time I spent on the field, and look forward to next year. I may be a bit slower then, but that's ok, I'll just pass the ball more often!

Grim Undertakings is here!

Hey, folks!

It's finally done! Woo hooo! Grim Undertakings is finally available in both paperback and ebook at Amazon.com.  It's a slight change of pace from my epic fantasy series, but it's still full of action, monsters, and magick...and it's set right here in Houston!

Not all of the Faerie are sweet little Pixies. There are a few who do the dirty work on the side of the Light. Unknown protectors walk among us, gleefully using fang and claw and magick, leaving a bloody trail of vanquished evildoers in their wake. They are the GrimFaeries. If you are evil enough to try to tip the balance towards the Dark side, you might just get a visit from one. And they won't be leaving a coin under your pillow.

When Kane the Grim is tasked with finding a serial murderer in Houston, he discovers that there is much more at stake. Magick is afoot, and an evil sorcerer is behind the killings. When he rescues a witch from certain death, his new mission becomes clear: stop the bad guy before it’s too late. Teaming up with a witch who's as good with a gun as with her spells, they'll face monsters, magick, and M-16's, as they risk everything to stop the evil in its tracks before all is lost.

I love Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, and this is along that same vein. It's a fast, adventurous tale that's both modern and magickal, and I had a blast writing it. I hope y'all enjoy!

In other news, I'll be signing books at Katy Budget Books this Saturday, March 9, from 12 noon to 1pm! I'll have copies of all of my books, including Grim Undertakings, and I'll be SO excited to talk to fans and readers and pretty much anyone who wants to stop by. Come on out and say hello, I'd love to see y'all!

Whoops...it's almost time for me to run a SWEAT class. I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Hello, 2019!

Wow, I'm so glad to see 2019! In all honesty, 2017 was a really rough year. 2018 was a lot better, but still held its share of challenges (mostly left over from 2017). Now it's finally 2019, and things have settled into a different, but more manageable groove. The good thing about challenges is that they change you. When you endure challenging times, they often give you capabilities far beyond what you had before. I had to learn an awful lot to get through the past couple of years, and although I wouldn't have chosen some of those particular challenges, I can now be grateful for the new skills I developed as a result. Growth is uncomfortable, yes, but if you place any priority on self-improvement, you have to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. It's definitely a process. Now, I look forward to taking the skills I've learned and moving forward!

This year, I 've got quite a few goals in mind. You see, New Year's Resolutions have never worked for me. By nature, they are built to fail. The first time you 'break' a resolution, it's easy to throw up your hands and say, "Well, now I've done it. I screwed up. Now I'll just go back to the usual." A dear friend told me about his own, alternative process for approaching a new year, and it really resonated with me, so I adopted it.  You're not asking for my advice, but this has been rolling around in my head lately, so I figure I'll throw it out there anyway. Instead of making resolutions, try this instead...

1. List ALL the stuff you accomplished last year. Pat yourself on the back, you deserve it. Got a new job? List that. Completed a project? That too. Ran your first 5K? or 1K? Woo hooo! Anything that you did during the last year that gave you a sense of triumph and accomplishment, put that down. It can be big or small, just write it! Chances are that you'll be surprised, pleased, and motivated when your list is done.

2. Make some GOALS for this year. Not resolutions. Want to make more money? Put down a specific number. Trying to lose weight? Do the same. Don't be vague, put down something specific that you can shoot for. Think about all the areas of your life, too, don't let it only be about money or fitness. Want to start a new career? That's a good one! Think about what you truly want to accomplish this year.

3. Here's the step folks often leave out, and it's the reason for their defeat: Make a plan of action for each goal. Think about what you're trying to do, figure out how you're going to do it, and write down those steps. Make it realistic and achievable, something you can really see yourself doing on a consistent basis. Create a roadmap for your upcoming year.

4. Get started! You've got the goal, you've got the plan, now all you have to do is just follow the steps you made for yourself! When you stumble, just get back up and keep going. If your plan doesn't work, adjust the plan. You haven't failed..you've corrected your course! And slow progress is still progress, so as long as you're working consistently towards your goals, you'll see movement along the way. Just keep going.

I hate for people to hit this time of year with big ambitions only to feel crushed and defeated by the end of the first month or two. It doesn't have to be that way! Try this method and see if it works for you. Make this year your best one ever! You can do it...I believe in you. So get to work!

As for me, I'm working on an urban fantasy story that I started a long time ago. I let it sit for a few years, worked on it during Nanowrimo back in 2016, and then let it sit again. When I hit a snag in my latest fantasy story I decided to take another look at it, and now I'm finally closing in on its ending. I'm always too optimistic when I say things like 'I'll have it done by the end of December!'. As you can see, it's January, and it's not finished yet...but it's getting there. I'm having fun with it, and I hope you will too. I'll keep you posted.

Have a great year, folks. Make it your best ever.

#goals #motivation #newyearsresolutions #happynewyear #youcandoit #goalsetting