Welcoming a Summer of Weirdness

Well, like last year I’m taking the summer off from blogging. Here’s what I’ll be working on: In a few weeks, I’ll release a novelette. If you’ve ever wondered what makes a book a novelette, a novella, or a novel, here’s the determining factor: A novelette contains between 7,500 and 17,499 words. A novella contains between 17,500 and 39,999 words. And a novel has more than 40,000 words. My own novels run about 80,000 words.

My novelette is around 13,000 words, which makes it about fifty pages long. Oh, but there won’t be any pages because it will only be available on Kindle. This really short novel (or really long short story) is called Gears. Here’s the blurb:

What happens in the black box truck? Rae hopes she never finds out. She hides at night from the truck and the slavers. The truck is a mystery, but the screaming inside it can’t mean anything good. The slavers are more obvious—they’re out for young drifters to supply their markets. And they’ve got their sights set on Rae. After a stranger rescues her from being captured and sold, she hides in an old house, where she’s brave enough, or stupid enough, to read an outlawed book.

When she meets her hero she finds out he’s the one who drives that black truck. Is he an enemy or a friend? After he saves her again, she decides to trust him. And she steps inside the truck she swore to avoid to her death. Will the enticing young man bring her salvation a third time? Or will Rae be the one whose screams fill the darkness tonight?

Okay, if you’re thinking that sounds weirder than my transhuman’s woeful tale, you’re right. Gears is young adult post-rapture dystopian with a little steampunk thrown in for fun. Yeah, one of those. Yes, it’s got a Christian slant. No, the Christian market is still not too open to this kind of stuff. So I’m stubborn. I write what I’d like to read. And as I’ve said before, it ain’t Amish romance. 

I’ll also spend some summer days working on my next novel. It’s a book for the Christian market…and it’s atypical for the target readership. Again. But it’s not futuristic, or sci-fi, or dystopian. And that’s all I have to say about that for now.

As for my sweet, misunderstood, on-the-run transhuman, book three releases September 22! Transfusion brings the journey of Chase Sterling to a satisfying conclusion. Is it a real ending? I’m not sure I can end a story, but it is book three of a trilogy so we’ll call it the end. Here’s the blurb:

Held captive in the frozen wilderness, transhuman Chase Sterling almost loses faith that he’ll ever be reunited with his bride and with the persecuted souls he’s promised to guard. His escape leads to even greater struggles, and discoveries about his own abilities. At last, he arrives at the unusual location his people have chosen as a hiding place. And then things get complicated. His wife’s been kidnapped and the underground faces annihilation. Victory and heartbreak build Chase’s resolve, until he is forced to face his worst fear. Now he must choose whether to sacrifice himself. He's endured so much since they transformed him into the world's first transhuman, but will he survive the final transfusion?

Watch for my guest blog post at ACFW in July, and for new posts at Unchained beginning September first. Enjoy your summer. Read a book or two, even if it’s Amish romance. As for me, I’ll be writing something weird.