Strange Case News & Snippet #3

July 29, 2013 | Books, Uncategorized, Urban Fantasy | 6 comments

The Good, The Bad and The Ending

A few months ago, Strange Case was out of my hands and in those of an editor. I was gearing up for a mid-June release (just before my kids got out of school for the summer), and my world was perfect. Since my world so rarely stays perfect, I should’ve known something bad was about to hit. And boy did it. One morning I was woken up by a horrible realization:

The ending I had always envisioned for the series (and that was going through its final edits) was totally and completely and utterly wrong. Worst way to wake up ever.

Thankfully, none of the colorful expletives that filled my head for the next few hours passed my lips, or my children would’ve learned all sorts of words I pray they will never hear.

After the nausea went away, I understood that the ending of the book needed to be completely rewritten. And to make a new ending work, I had to go back and build it up from the very beginning. Which made my exciting-June-release turn into a fingers-crossed-July release. Which has now turned into a pretty-dang-sure-August release. As it is with some of the terrible comments that Mitch makes, I still don’t know exactly where the realization came from. But, as unpleasant as it was, I’m thankful it happened. Because the novel and the series are better for it.

So the good news is: the new ending is totally complete and totally better. I still have to read it over at least 4,000 more times (as I always do before I release a book because I'm insane). Seeing as how, in terms of word count, this book makes the first two look like children's picture books, you'll have to be patient for a little while longer. However, I truly believe that late August is a great time for reading and hope that everyone is ready for Strange Case.

Thanks so much for your continued support and understanding. And please remember to sign up for my newsletter to receive an email when the novel is released and to get the deleted scene between Mitch and Eden. Did I mention it's brutal? Until then, here's a snippet from Mitch that I enjoy. Hope you do too.

~~~~~

It had been out of desperation and Mitch knew it. But he never claimed any expertise with this kind of shit. Other things? Hell yes. He knew lots of other things. Sports, business, politics. And other equally predictable, straight-forward, simple things. Like how to spot a liar from twenty feet away. Or how to understand anyone with a dick. Because there wasn't that much to them.

But women? Women were like puzzles with half the pieces being invisible to anyone with a dick.

Emotions? Please. Emotions were things that shouldn't be seen or heard…from anyone with a dick.

And love? Yeah, that one was the worst. Something that— whether you feel it or not— you can't see, you can't control, you can't fake.

Someone had loved Mitch once, and he'd loved her. He killed for her. And she died for him. But his sister's love was different. It had always been there, ever since he was a drooling toddler, untouched by sin. He didn't need to understand Shelly's love or accept it or think it shouldn't be. It just was.

What it wasn't, was terrifying. What it didn't do was come at him from his blind spot and change his whole damn world. Nor did it push him to his knees and make him unable to think clearly.

So yeah, there were a lot of reasons he'd done something he shouldn't have. But only one of them was true:

He was a motherfucking idiot.

~~~~~