The Only Sparkle: Released!

Finally, after much consternation and a lot of life-hurdles, we've released something new around here. granted, it is only a novelette, but it doubles my sales portfolio. Every little bit helps, and I'm really excited about this story. I guess I try to reign myself in because it was shorter, and therefore not as much work. Thus, I had a lot of fun doing it. And fun can't possibly be work, right? So I tend to hedge a bit.

I'm hoping the story will make you laugh out loud. At minimum, I expect a courtesy smile. If you find it silly, that's sort of the point. Though, I'm particularly proud of the explanation for vampires in this one. I think it's pretty clever (biased much?). It probably wouldn't work in a large scope, but for a short it's perfect and fun to play with.

Here's the final description for the novelette:

Mark’s claim to fame is as the manager of the local movie rental store. Sally is his beautiful, blonde employee with a penchant for vampires. It’s business as usual until Mark finds a note taped to a return. A note that claims inside knowledge about a vampire being behind a pair of recent murders. A note that explains the vampire’s weakness. A note addressed to Sally.

Is the information credible? Do vampires even exist? Is Sally intrepid enough to catch one? Will Mark be able keep to her safe? And, regardless of all that, can either of them find a way to get the killer to put on pants?

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The Only Sparkle On a Vampire Should Be the Zipper is a 12,000 word novelette. That’s about five chapters for those of you keeping track at home. It is urban fantasy with a humorous twist. Written based on a dare, the challenge was to create an engaging story where a vampire’s power revolves around wearing pants. Silly? You betcha! The Only Sparkle promises a short, fun read with an interesting hook.

It is already up on Smashwords, and should pop up on Amazon and B&N shortly (gotta work through the system). It's priced at $0.99, which is probably a steal. Even so, we're planning to offer a code so that you can get it for FREE through our newsletter. Just sign up (up there on the left of my sidebar, "Just the Important Stuff"), and we'll send it out with our "official" announcement in the next few days. The code will be good for unlimited downloads and active for a year. Feel encouraged to share it with friends. Especially "iffy" friends that may not be all that into reading. Who can turn away a free story, am I right?!

I hope to make a habit of putting up a shorter work right before releasing a larger novel. It has served as a good warm-up for us for Fates' Motif, reminding us of all the little self-pubbing intricacies that we may have forgotten since our last release. Plus, it was refreshing for me to write while I was waiting on edits. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.