Dreams and Inspiration (aka, Where do you get your ideas?)

The other night, I had what I call a “story” dream. In these I’m either a character or an onlooker in some scenario. My husband and I were doing the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage … in the middle ages. We must have been a noble couple, because we had nice clothes and rode horses. We spent the night at a castle (as you do), and there, my husband and I ended up having to solve a murder mystery.

When I woke up, I wondered if I was replaying something I’d read or watched, then I realized–no, I made it up! (Not that there has never been this storyline in any mystery novel, ever, but not in any I’ve read at least.) Cool! I thought. Another story idea for the files.

Will I ever write this book? I don’t know, but I’d like to. I have numerous ideas in the folder marked “worth pursuing,” which I go through every once in a while. Sometimes those ideas are incorporated into ongoing series, and sometimes they begin a new series (e.g., Kat Holloway).

Likewise, the Nvengaria series, which combines fantasy and historical romance, started as a dream. In this dream, I was a young woman visiting a palace with my parents (who were not my real parents but ones a young woman in a Regency novel might have). We were in a fairy-tale like kingdom in eastern Europe, and the man who lived in this palace was a dashing, lonely, charming prince in search of a wife. Even in my dream, I knew the wife-to-be was not me, but I was interested in his plight.

I turned that snippet of a dream into Penelope and Prince Charming, which developed an entire a fantasy kingdom (juxtaposed with Regency-era England), with magic, shape-shifters, prophecies, love potions, quests, and the like. Penelope began a four-book series, which I recently have released as a complete boxed set. I’d love to do more in that world, but I’m already writing a ton of series, and getting back to it is difficult.

Another series came not so much from a dream but a daydream on a road trip. I travel often in northern Arizona (and live there part time now). We were driving back roads in that area, where the land is vast and wide open (if you have watched the TV series Dark Winds, you’ll see it. It’s real.) I pictured a young woman zooming down these roads on a motorcycle, free and wild. Who was she? And why was she being pursued by a pissed-off sheriff? And her bad-ass biker boyfriend, who was a magical creature in disguise … ?

The Stormwalker series, which is one of my very favorites, was born. I have so many more ideas for that series and even for spinoffs. Janet has many cousins, and I populated two towns full of imaginary people, who all have histories, not to mention all those dragons flying around.

I have also put the Stormwalker series into boxed sets (Volume 1, Volume 2), with more sets to come as the series grows.

One day I’ll tell the story of how Captain Lacey came to be, following a visit to a local library. I was terribly discouraged during this visit, but it turned out, in the long run, to be a wonderful thing! Serendipity.

I also have the ambition to walk the Camino de Santiago, though while you can do segments of it instead of the entire traditional way from Lyon, I’m trying to picture myself walking 10-15 miles a day. Not sure about that! I suppose training is the key. Have you done the Camino or know anyone who has?

Take care, and happy spring!

Haunted Houses

In the Shifters Unbound series, one of the characters is a haunted house outside of New Orleans. I introduce this house in Wild Things, and use it extensively in Red Wolf, The Last Warrior, and especially in A Shifter Christmas Carol. It’s not really “haunted” in the conventional sense, but is sentient, with its own personality.

My inspiration for that house came from the one I’m living in now. When I moved in the year I wrote Wild Things, I wondered if the house would like me. It’s an older home (mid-20th century and older than me), and I hoped I’d connect with it.

Good news is, I did. The moment I walked into it on a rainy November day when there was an open house–we were the only ones who came to see it–I immediately knew this was the place for me. The house has a simple design inside, long and narrow like a railroad car. Sounds a little weird, but it works for me. A plus, was there were plenty of nooks in which to put my miniatures (always important).

We bought it and then spent a month fixing it up, because it needed new bathroom fixtures and painting plus it had layers of old vinyl floors and very strange curtains that dragged across the worn-out carpet in the living room. I think the only flooring we kept intact was the ceramic tile in the kitchen and bathrooms.

I’m very sensitive atmosphere in buildings, and I felt welcome here from day one. I wasn’t afraid or creeped out to stay alone, and it seemed the house appreciated the TLC. Through the years, the bond has deepened.

UNTIL …

A few years ago, we decided to spend our very hot summers in a cooler area of the state. My husband has MS and extreme heat can flare up the symptoms (I believe extreme cold can too.)

Therefore, we spend a few months each year away from our main house.

And it gets mad at us.

This past October we returned to find water trickling from the roof in front of the house, nonstop. Turns out our solar water heater had sprung a leak on the roof. We had someone fix the pipe. Next day, the water was gushing from the roof instead of trickling.

Everyone we spoke to said, sorry can’t fix it. You’ll have to replace the whole system.

I bypassed the solar heating part of the cycle, and the water ceased flowing. We’ll have to deal with the solar later, but for now, everything is dry.

At least in the front of the house. Water was still dribbling off the back. We have a pool, which also has a solar heater. Well, one of the panels decided to give up the ghost and as soon as the water hit it–spew. And I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to bypass that loop.

Again, we consulted several repair companies to come and take a look, none of which could fix it, but who still charged us the call out fee. It took nearly $1K to find a company who could actually repair it. They did, bless their hearts (and I have them bookmarked).

We also have ominous cracks in the ceiling of the garage, possibly water damage related, but I have no idea, because again, no one wants to investigate or fix it.

The faucet in the kitchen sink would not cease dripping, so we had to replace that too. There have been a few more minor mishaps and repairs that we’ve had to make as well, such as the latch to the screen door breaking off and falling inside the door frame. Irretrievable unless we take apart the entire door and frame. Though the screen door is relatively new, the company who custom made it is out of business, so I can’t call them to repair it. (We’re having it replaced.)

Now, the logical conclusion is that this is an old house and the plumbing is old, and the solar panels, exposed to blasting hot sun (110s F in the summer, which is why we seek cooler air) are wearing out and breaking. Other things age and break.

BUT. Nothing ever happens while we are here. Since October, we’ve been repairing all the things that broke in our absence, but otherwise, the house has been quiet and cozy, a happy place.

The minute we leave it for any length of time … It gets mad.

Hence, the growing personality of the haunted house in the Shifters books, with its many quirks and temper tantrums.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen when we depart again for the summer … (Shh. Don’t tell it.)

New Book, and Happy New Year!

I didn’t want to say anything in my last post, because I wasn’t certain I’d finish, but I have a brand new book out for the New Year! It’s called A Matter at New Year’s and is a paranormal historical mystery (Regency) under my Ashley Gardner name.

Find it at

My web store: https://geni.us/0khJTk

Kindle: https://geni.us/N95X0Ka

Kobo (and Kobo Plus): https://geni.us/dubAS

Google: https://geni.us/2ZDnJjA

Apple: https://geni.us/2fkKrOk

Nook: https://geni.us/NFBy

Excerpt: https://geni.us/Dr6vY

If you prefer paperback, I am working on that edition, but my cover designer is on vacation and I can’t upload until she gets back and can do the print cover. Should be soon.

The novella features Robert Archer, a former lieutenant in the army who fought at Waterloo. Now he lives in London, where shape-shifters, vampires, and other magical beings walk. When Robert stumbles across three were-beasts in the wrong place as he walks home from New Year’s festivities in 1823, he’s thrown into more danger than he’d like.

I have plans to make this into a series, and I am pleased I could finish the story in time for New Year’s.

If you take a chance on it, I hope you enjoy it.

Currently I’m working on revisions to A Silence in Belgrave Square (Kat Holloway, Book 8), because who needs time off at the holidays? 🙂

Once I turn in that book, I can return to Shiftertown! Looking forward to that in a big way.

Hope your holidays have been good, and Happy New Year!

Full Circle (and Happy Holidays)

In October this year, my husband and I took a trip to Catalina Island off the coast of California. We are luckily close to this jewel–a short airplane hop and an hour on the ferry away.

We’d gone there the year before as well, to attend the annual jazz festival. Three days of concerts by very talented musicians was both restful and invigorating. There are no cars allowed on the island (or very few, anyway), which means I walked everywhere, so the trip was good for my physical as well as mental health.

As I sat in the beautiful ballroom of the casino, I realized that in this year, I’d healed in a big way. The year before (2023), I spent burned out, grieving, and seeming to make bad decision after bad decision. My mom had passed away in late 2022, after a long time of declining, with me there for every minute. It was a tough time, and once she was gone, though I was glad she was no longer miserable, I spent a long while numb and sad.

I had a very hard time writing in 2023. I managed to finish a couple of books and I think two novellas, but had to turn down offers to collaborate with other authors in anthologies (unless it was for a backlist story) or offers to do book signings or conferences.

The stories were there in my head, but getting myself to sit down and write a paragraph was almost impossible. I could manage maybe 500 words (about two pages) if I really pushed, and then I’d be done for the day.

I’d also contracted with Dragonblade Publishing right before my mom died to write some historical romances. I had to go back to them and admit that I couldn’t possibly produce the books in the time-frame I’d at first agreed on. (I am still working on book 1, which shows the extent of my troubles.)

It was very frustrating, and I was pretty sure I was witnessing the end of my writing career. I wasn’t certain how we’d make a living, because my husband is disabled, and I don’t have any other job skills.

To say that by the time I reached Catalina Island in Oct 2023, I was a mess, is an understatement.

But something happened to me there. I’m not sure exactly what. It could be that I’d had enough time to finish my first stage of grieving (it had been almost a year). Or maybe it was the first time in several years I’d been able to stop.

Somehow, in that art deco ballroom from 1929, listening to the amazing musicians play their hearts out, my creativity came back to me.

It was like a light in a dim room being turned up, showing everything in bright colors instead of subdued hues. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but I felt this relaxed glow, like everything was going to be all right.

By the time the concerts had finished, and we were winding down to go back home, I’d come up with an idea for a Christmas novella featuring Kat Holloway and a renewed determination to write my books.

I couldn’t start anything right away, because I’d booked a conference back to back with the vacation (one of those bad decisions), but once I finished that, I opened my laptop and started writing.

Mrs. Holloway’s Christmas Pudding came out, and then the final chapters of Bear Facts, which I had been struggling to write for about eight months (I never take that long on a book).

Not only could I write more than a page at a time, but I also did some useful planning. I marked out the year (2024) with books in series I needed to–and seriously wanted to–continue.

Once I finished Bear Facts, I dove into another Captain Lacey, and then Wing Dancer, the newest in the Stormwalker series (which I’d been trying to write for years). I managed to have a book out every couple of months in the first part of 2024, including Speculations in Sin, in the Kat Holloway mystery series (one of the few books I’d managed to write in 2023).

I then had to step back and write another Kat Holloway for Berkley (A Silence in Belgrave Square, which is being edited at the moment), and finish the dang book for Dragonblade! (I have about 10K words to go on that, yipee!)

In the second half of 2024, I had a novella out in October (A Measure of Menace, a Kat Holloway story). I’ll start publishing afresh early next year, starting with more Shifters.

I’m writing a lot more now, though my pace has slowed per book over what I used to do, and probably will not get any faster than that. However, I’m feeling good about where I am in my writing life. In October 2023 I was half-panicked, half resigned, thinking I’d have to give up writing for a living.

I’m in a good place to retreat to write books and make them the best they can be. I have French, German, and Italian editions consistently releasing, I’m having a blast fixing up my web store, finding the freedom there to set up things I can’t elsewhere, and I’m also having fun doing seasonal sales. Who knew I’d enjoy retail so much?

Anyway, when I was sitting in the art deco ballroom this year (2024), I realized that my comeback year had started there, in the very same seats we’d occupied in 2023.

Music, historic architecture, and the blue beauty of the Pacific Ocean had seeped into my soul and helped me heal.

Thank you for reading my tale. It’s been a hard road, and it’s not over (my husband has MS, which is a daily struggle, and we lost another of our beloved cats this year), but it’s a bit easier. I’d lost my confidence and any sort of serenity, but I am enjoying this calm while it lasts.

I wish everyone Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!

Many more books to come!

Reading for the Holidays

I tried to do a new holiday story this year, but it’s been a full year, I’m working on several books right now, and I’m not sure if I can squeeze one in (if I do, I’ll let you know!).

I realized, though, that I do have a number of holiday novellas already, so I decided to bundle up the e-books on my web store. They are also available individually at all vendors (Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Google, Nook), but I’m able to give a bit of a discount on the bundles.

For Historical Romance lovers:

https://geni.us/U59W

Includes: Mrs. Holloway’s Christmas Pudding, A First-Footer for Lady Jane, A Mackenzie Family Christmas, Fiona and the Three Wise Highlanders, and The Longest Night.

For Contemporary / Paranormal Readers:

https://geni.us/tUcR

Includes: A Riverbend Christmas, A Shifter Christmas Carol, and Snowbound in Starlight Bend.

And a Complete Holiday Bundle with all of the above:

https://geni.us/PzWiHA8

Again, these books are available individually at my store plus Amazon, Kobo, Google, Apple, and Nook.

For info on the whole lot, I built a page on my website:

https://jenniferashley.com/holiday-reads/

Oh, and Highlander Ever After, a full-length novel in the Nvengaria series is also a holiday story! I always forget about that one.

I hope you find a holiday tale to enjoy. And who knows, I might get one written by New Year’s! (If not, I’ll put it out next year …)

Continuing the Kat Holloway series

I realized this summer that my publisher has scheduled the Below Stairs Mysteries books quite far apart (next one, A Silence in Belgrave Square, is August 2025), so I decided to write two new novellas to fill in the gap.

The first one: A Measure of Menace, is finished and ready for release over the next two weeks.

E-books ordered directly from my web store drop on September 23: https://geni.us/QUfeS9B

Print books (signed or unsigned) can also be ordered on my site (same link), but I can only ship those out as soon as they are shipped to me.

The book is out at all other vendors on September 30:

Amazon: https://geni.us/PX44WA (print and ebook)

Apple: https://geni.us/s5TZXl3

Google: https://geni.us/wQcSQ

Kobo: https://geni.us/Zmt8

B&N: https://geni.us/MD7F2 (print and ebook)

More about the book plus an excerpt on my website:

https://jenniferashley.com/jennifer-ashley-books/below-stairs-mysteries/a-measure-of-menace/

A Measure of Menace takes a closer look at Lady Cynthia and her family (mostly her father), when Lord Clifford is in danger of being framed for murder. A few nice Kat and Daniel moments as well.

The second novella will be A Moveable Feast, out in spring (probably April). As the name suggests, the story revolves around a disastrous Easter dinner.

Side note: I have to thank my husband for the title A Measure of Menace. I thought of A Moveable Feast first, but I couldn’t announce the two novellas until I had a title for the first one. I was considering all kinds of things cooking / measuring related, and my husband, standing in the hall outside the kitchen just says, “A Measure of Menace?”

“That’s brilliant!” I cry. “Do you mind if I use it?”

He shrugs in his typical, stoic manner, a bit bewildered by my enthusiasm. “Sure. Why not?”

So, he gets all the credit for the title, for better or worse.

I’ve decided to do a deeper dive into selling directly from my site, which is much easier these days, thanks to BookFunnel. When you buy any e-book, BookFunnel sends an email with a link that takes you right to the book. You can either read on the BookFunnel phone app (which I am loving! it’s a great app!), or sideload to your Kindle / Kobo / Nook. Or, you can read on the BookFunnel site under your (free) account. Any problems? Bookfunnel has a help email and a help page, and they are great at walking your though how to access the book

The pre-order of Wing Dancer on my site worked well, so I am going to offer pre-orders of all my books (except my Berkley ones) via my own site, having them drop a week earlier than on the other vendors.

The print pre-orders still have kinks on my end, but I am researching better shipping options, that won’t be too expensive either for me or you.

Why are authors suddenly obsessed with selling direct? Because all vendors take a chunk of the book’s price for hosting / selling / delivering the e-books. While better than the still more massive chunk traditional publishing takes, still we lose some, plus we can do things on our sites that vendors don’t allow (large book bundles, free books whenever we wish, pre-orders without penalties). There are fees involved in selling directly, but far lower ones (at least right now) than we deal with at vendors.

Now you know.

If you read this far, thank you! That’s the story of how A Measure of Menace came to be. If you choose to partake, I hope you enjoy it.

(BTW, I’m working on having all the Kat Holloway novellas put into audio, maybe as a collection. More on that when things progress.)

Wing Dancer

Wing Dancer, the latest release in the Stormwalker series I write as Allyson James, released this morning! (For info, excerpt, and where to purchase, see: https://geni.us/Mdsge)

I am thrilled be back in this world. I wrote the first book (Stormwalker), a while ago, inspired by the landscape of Northern Arizona. It’s beautiful here, with vistas ranging from tall mountains (at 12,000 feet and change), to the stark beauty of Glen Canyon, the Grand Canyon, and Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de Shay), the bands of the painted desert, the monoliths of Monument Valley, intriguing slot canyons, and vast stretches of red-earthed desert.

The lands are a kaleidoscope of ever-changing colors as sun and clouds play their effects over the landscape. I imagined a small town in the middle of this emptiness, an intersection of two highways I called the Crossroads. Because I have a wild imagination, I decided the Crossroads would also exist between the real world and a supernatural one.

I invented an entire county and called it Hopi (there are Navajo and Apache counties nearby, so why not Hopi?), and put in two towns, Magellan and Flat Mesa. Magellan is not named, incidentally, for Ferdinand Magellan, but because of the nearby Mogollon Rim (the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau). I pretended it was the first settlers’ attempt to spell and pronounce Mogollon (which is actually like Muggy-on). If you want to go to the area in real life, take the 99 about twenty miles south of Winslow. I made up another highway at that point that goes another fifteen miles to Magellan.

The first story in this world was actually in an anthology my publisher was putting together. “A Little Night Magic” is the tale of Jamison Kee, Janet’s longtime friend and Navajo storyteller, who discovers to his surprise that he’s a shape-shifter (he changes into a mountain lion).

I didn’t want to introduce Janet Begay, the heroine of the Stormwalker series in a novella that might be lost in an old anthology, so I don’t mention her until she appears in Book 1. Jamison Kee suggests Janet, who is good at reading auras of places, to try to locate the missing daughter of Magellan’s chief of police.

Janet has seen an old hotel at the Crossroads (which was inspired by one in Gila Bend, south of Phoenix) that she feels drawn to, and decides to buy and renovate it. She’s there for other reasons that have to do with her past, and figures she’ll use the hotel as her base to find the chief of police’s daughter and deal with her own problems..

I hadn’t actually cast Mick when I started the first novel. I wanted Janet to find a love interest, but I wasn’t quite sure who she’d end up with.

Mick just walked in, announced he was Janet’s ex-boyfriend, and took over. Mick is like that. Naturally, he was a dragon shape-shifter, though he liked to keep that under wraps.

From there, the first book and the whole series mushroomed. I rarely sit and plot a story and all the characters all the way out before I start writing. I’m a “discovery” author (also known as a pantser, because we write by the seat of our pants). I put the characters on the page and watch what they do. Most of the time they surprise me!

So, from Mick came all the dragons (Colby, Drake, and now Titus), the dragon council, and Mick and Janet’s complicated past relationship. Janet’s family–her dad and grandmother, who live in Many Farms–also walked in and introduced themselves.

In Wing Dancer, I have Janet interacting more with her family, including her many cousins, and added a new friend for Janet’s grandmother. (But is he friend or foe?) The story is also very dragon-y, and I added to some of the dragon lore of this world.

The one character who has appeared in all the books and novellas is Coyote. I read everything I could about this trickster god who can be both evil and good, but he’s always unpredictable. He’s another character who walked in and said, “Here I am! Deal with it!” I love writing Coyote’s scenes!

This series is one from my heart. When it was first published, my trad publisher really didn’t know what to do with it. Sometimes it showed up in bookstores in the romance section, sometimes the fantasy section, and it didn’t get much marketing or publicity. Because of all this, I don’t think readers could find it, or knew what to make of it, and the publisher dropped it after book 3. (A similar thing happened to my Captain Lacey series).

I waited for years before I was able to regain the rights to Books 1-3 (I have them now, and they have been republished). For that reason, I had to stop writing the Stormwalker series altogether, because I could only retrieve the rights when the sales dipped below a certain threshold. Hence why there is such a gap between the last book and this one (though in story time, it’s only a few months).

Happily I now have full control of the entire series (except for the novella about Jamison, and another novella called “Double Hexed.”). I have them all out in e-book and print, have moved forward with audio, and have begun translations into other languages.

I have more stories planned in the series. This world is so rich in possibilities. Next time, I will explore the shape-shifters (called Changers in this series), with Janet having to enter a Changer pack to help them out of problems that of course turn deadly. (Tentative title of the book is Shape Changer.)

If you have made it to the end of this post, thank you for reading all this! I truly love the Stormwalker series. If you have not tried it, I’d be pleased if you take the chance. You do not have to read the novellas (I planned it that way), though of course do if you’d like. Start with Stormwalker, and go from there. I also have the e-books in 2 boxed sets (Volume 1, Volume 2), and a 6-book e-book bundle on my web store. All books are also in paperback from Amazon, B&N, and my web store.

If you are a Stormwalker fan already, then I hope you enjoy Wing Dancer!

Buy links below. Hillary is working on the audio book, which should be ready in a couple of weeks.

Buy from my web store: https://geni.us/PzHy (print and ebook)

Amazon: https://geni.us/xR1gB (print and ebook)

Kobo: https://geni.us/KADkMf (also in Kobo Plus)

BN: https://geni.us/nuUV4XL (print and ebook)

Apple: https://geni.us/xckIgHS

Google Play: https://geni.us/T4GBk9

New Audio Book Available

A Darkness in Seven Dials (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries, Book 17) is now available in audio! Find it here:

Google: https://geni.us/Pghno

Kobo: https://geni.us/ApoZ

Apple: https://geni.us/vfQPm

Audible: https://geni.us/HIt3wB

Direct from my store via Bookfunnel: https://geni.us/vsta

It sounds wonderful! I especially like how James Gillies read Mr. Arthur. I hope you enjoy it.

New Captain Lacey Release!

A Darkness in Seven Dials (Captain Lacey Book 17) is out! Released yesterday. Woo hoo!

Nook: https://geni.us/oHgh1N5

BN Print: https://geni.us/bWBjNhg

Apple: https://geni.us/rKiG96Y

Kobo: https://geni.us/li0C8

Google: https://geni.us/BKXB

Amazon: https://geni.us/WNLoTw

Read an Excerpt: https://geni.us/Q6kPR

(Audio to come: James Gillies is working on it!)

When James Denis is found standing over a body, a knife in his hand, it’s up to Captain Lacey to prove his innocence. 

I am more than thrilled to have this book released! I know it’s been a while since the last Captain Lacey. However I have more stories to tell. I believe the next book will take Lacey on vacation with his family to Oxfordshire for adventures there, unless another idea whacks me and takes over. You never know what story Captain Lacey is going to tell me next.

Before that, I will have another Leonidas book out (I’m thinking early 2025), Brother at Arms, where Leonidas learns more about his friend Xerxes’s past, and ultimately, his own.

An interesting (to me) side note. When I come up with a mystery series, usually I don’t have a set book list in mind. I start with the first one and then let it lead me into the characters and more things this sleuth can do.

Not with Leonidas. I have eight books in mind (maybe 10; need to look at my notes), with titles and plots, waiting to be written. I have ideas for other mystery series (historical and otherwise), but those too have a book one and then open field. Leonidas, though, knew exactly what he wanted!

I’m also working on another Kat Holloway novel, out in 2025 (A Silence in Belgrave Square.)

That is it from me in my Mystery Hat.

I am currently writing another romance while I work on edits for Wing Dancer (Stormwalker Book 7). More on that anon.

Wing Dancer can be pre-ordered now!

Take care, and happy reading. Summer is upon us! (in the northern hemisphere).