Giveaway at Joyfully Jay!

I wanted to pass along to everyone, over at Joyfully Jay, there's an exclusive excerpt posted of my newest release, Knight of Fire! And, there's a giveaway going on for the book too! 

So if you'd like a chance to win the book, just head on over to Jay's and leave a comment on the giveaway post: http://joyfullyjay.com/2014/04/excerpt-and-giveaway-knight-of-fire-by-s-j-frost.html

The giveaway will be running until Saturday May 4th at 11:59 pm EST

My thanks goes out to Jay for hosting the giveaway. Good luck to all who enter!

Cover Art, Blurb, and Release Date Announcement: Knight of Fire, Terra 2

Hello, ladies and gentlemen!

Wow! It's been a while since I posted some writing news. I promise you, that's not because I haven't had anything going on in my little writing world. I've been writing, writing, writing away. Now I'm thrilled to announce that one of those books I've been working on is in edits and will soon be making its way in the world! And that book is....Knight of Fire, Book 2 in the Terra series!

This book has been a long time coming. I worked on it for seven months before finally turning it over to my fantastically talented editor at MLR Press. With how long it's taken me to write this story, I'm super excited to share some more information about it.

Knight of Fire is the second book in my Terra series, the first being To The Other Side. As of right now, my plans for the Terra series is to make it four books and I've already started working on Book 3. I thought with how long Book 2 took me to write, I better get on the next one right away!

This story will bring back characters familiar to those who read To The Other Side and for those who haven't read the first one, I do recommend reading it first. You probably could get by without giving To The Other Side a read, but as is typical to me with my series, all the stories will follow a timeline and build off each other.

At this moment, Knight of Fire has a tentative release date of...April 25th! That's subject to change if editing takes a bit longer, but that's what we're shooting for.

And now, the cover! When I saw this cover, I almost screamed aloud, I was so thrilled with it. It fit so perfectly with what I was hoping for, all the way down to the royal blue color on Sir Karrick's regalia, his horse, Storm, and the archer on the back cover. I'm head over heels excited about it! And the artist...you may remember how I mentioned my editor at MLR Press being "fantastically talented." Along with the amazing work she does on making my books pretty on the inside, she did the same for this story on the outside. Yep, all the credit for this cover goes to the amazing Kris Jacen. My gratitude and appreciation go out to her for all her hard work.

Without further ado, I would like to present, Knight of Fire! I welcome everyone to return to Terra for more adventures with Torran, Karrick, and all their companions!

 Blurb:
Once in the kingdom of Ocassus, humans and dragons shared the lands as allies. That time has passed into legend. But there's one who wants to see it return.

As a Dragon Speaker, Torran is gifted with the rare ability to understand dragons. He knows dragons aren't the vicious, mindless creatures many believe them to be and uses his gift to save them. It's a lonely task. He's never found a partner who understands him. He doesn't believe he ever will.

Sir Karrick Brenton is a Knight of the Crown and a man with secrets...one in particular that draws him to Torran. They come from different positions in life, but never has he met anyone he feels more kindred to than Torran.

When Torran is requested to come to the capital city of Dragon's Landing, both he and Karrick realize their passion for each other. As he seeks to help the king, soon dangers to the crown shift to him, Karrick, and their friends.

Terra Series Inspiration

Wow! It's been forever since I've posted! I'm very sorry about that. But as always, when I'm quiet it usually means I'm working hard. These past couple of months, it's been working hard on writing and at the day job, both of which have left me with little Internet time. I thought it would be good to take a small break, though, and share some inspiration for the manuscript I'm currently working on, Book 2 in the Terra series.

This story is tentatively titled KNIGHT OF FIRE and I've been writing it for...well, a long time. Pretty much since TO THE OTHER SIDE, Book 1 in the Terra series, was released. Writing life and personal life has caused for some delays with it, but it's getting closer to being put in my editor's hands!

Sadly, I don't have links or artist/photographer credits for these images, but if anyone does know the artists and photographers, I'll absolutely post their information. Some of you may remember my post on Bryson and Garrett where I showed these two pics of how I envision them:

Bryson

Garrett

Now I thought I'd share some more images that make me think of some of Terra's other residents.

Ranger, Garrett's hound.

Ghost, Lark's cat.

Kit, Zain's fox.

Make this little guy white and you'll have Wynn :-)

With this image, I about died when I saw it after TO THE OTHER SIDE was released. It looks so much like how I envision Torran! The dragon here doesn't look anything like Torran's little dragon companion, Rose. She has scales of ruby red, a white underbelly, and rainbow feathered wings.

Torran

Karrick, Though, the eyes would need to be green.

If you've read TO THE OTHER SIDE, you know I describe Lark as having hair so black, it has a bluish sheen in the light. While in this image, the young man's hair is all blue and his lip is pierced, something that Lark doesn't have, for some reason, this image makes me think of him. Maybe it's the spirit of the image more than being a physical fit. Though, he's certainly beautiful enough to be Lark.

Zain...an image very similar just may be on the cover for Terra, Book 3 ;-)

Aleric. He has that noble, but haunted quality I imagine for him.

And there you go! A few visuals to go along with the Terra series from my personal Inspiration File :-) Hope you've all enjoyed them. And now that I've shared these, I'm ready to head back to Terra and keep working on getting Book 2 ready for everyone to read!

Overdue Writing Update

Hey, everyone! I'm not sure if this update is really overdue. Since all my updates are overdue, maybe that means technically this is right on time ;-)

I do know it's been awhile since I gave some information on what I've got going on. So, here's what's been happening in my little writing world. I've been hard at work on four manuscripts.

MODEL LOVE - This story will be my first Ellora's Cave release. This is a contemporary gay erotic romance story, about 47k words. The story features former model, Ian Eldridge, trying to overcome his guilt and grief over his twin brother's death, and trying to get his life back on track with the help of the beautiful Temaru Marceau. I've made it through stage 1 of edits on the story with my awesome editor at EC. Yay! There are still a couple more rounds left to go, but so far, everything is going very smooth on it. No release date yet, but that should be coming soon and when it does, I'll be posting it.

REFINED INSTINCTS, Instincts series Book 5 - I think this is one a few folks have been waiting on. It's in the hands of my fantastic editor at MLR Press and we should be starting edits on it soon. As of right now, we're aiming for a November release on it. The book is currently 62k in length. Timeline wise, this story falls after ADAPTING INSTINCTS, and it will be the story of Renart Bellerose and Troy Raines. Once I have more info to share on it, specific release date, cover, blurb, I will be sure to.

VAMPIRE PRINCE - This will be my second Ellora's Cave release. And yes, it's a gay erotic romance/paranormal/vampire story. And no, it's not connected in anyway to Instincts. The vampires in Vampire Prince are a little closer to traditional paranormal beings, where in Instincts the vampires are natural beings. This story is finished and in the hands of my EC editor. At the moment, it's complete at about 71k, but that word count could fluctuate a little bit once edits begin. The story follows Sebastian Beaumont, a young blood slave, and a three hundred-year-old vampire prince, Valentin Wyndham.

KNIGHT OF FIRE, Terra Series Book 2 - And rounding out the list of what I've been working on is Book 2 in the Terra series. I have been working on this book pretty much since I finished book 1! But real life and writing distractions have kept me from finishing it. Right now, my goal is to finish the first draft by mid-October and have it turned in to my MLR Press editor by the first week of November. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I'll be able to pull it off! The story is already over 50k with a lot more to go, and it is the story of Torran the Dragon Speaker and Sir Karrick Brenton.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what I've been up to! Hope all sounds good to you guys!