Release Day Ramblings

Dead Man and the Restless Spirits is officially out today, although I had a soft release yesterday. (I needed buy link for reviews so I sneaked it out.) The print version should be available for purchase in a couple of days, for those weirdos who like their books on paper. I kid. I like physical books and keep bringing them home, but I'm swiftly running out of room for them. Just the other day I had to dash to IKEA for new shelves.

There have already been a handful of reviews, mostly good, but even the ones with lower ratings had good things to say. An author responding to reviews is a minefield—some reviewers like it, others don't, and it tends to come across as chest beating. So I try not to do it, but I do appreciate the time and thought reviewers invest in their articles. They're for readers and not the author, but they often give me food for thought.

One review for Dead Man brought up Jordan Calstillo Price's Psycop series. It was bound to happen. When you write about vampires it's given that your mythology will be similar to somebody else's. However, protagonists who commune with the dead are less common. The Psycop series was among the firs m/m books I read, and a major reason why the genre sucked me in. I couldn't un-read them if I wanted to, and I wouldn't want to, unless to be able to read them for the first time again.

JCP is a hard act to follow. When I started working on Dead Man I was painfully aware that I had to watch my step not to end up in JCP territory. Some similarities are simply unavoidable, because ghosts are ghosts, and white light has its long established role in spirituality. On top of everything, both of our stories take place in Chicago. That's because the Windy City is the location of Spirit Sanguine. I've been to Chicago and love the city—except in winter—and it seemed like a nice place for vampires. LA with all its sun would've been cruel.

Overall though, I believe I created my own world. Not that I'll ever stop being a fan of Jordan's. She really needs to write that next Psycop book.

Aight, I'm done rambling. Tootles!