DOMINIC IS HERE! Let’s celebrate with a special sales deal!

05 May 2015 Leave a comment

by Tiffany M. Davis in Book Releases, Fiction, Indie Authors, My Stuff, The Craft, The Process, The Writing Biz Tags: , , , , ,

Drum roll, please…

The second installment of The Bastille Family Chronicles is here! WOOT!

BFC Dominic cover ebook

(BTW: the title is not missing: it’s on the spine. Chuck Palahniuk used a similar setup for his novel Haunted.)

The Bastille Family Chronicles: Dominic is the story of Dominic Bastille, a transplant surgeon and one-half of the youngest Bastille siblings (he has a twin sister, Nicollette. Look for her story this summer). Dominic has relocated from Newark, New Jersey to Atlanta, Georgia for a unique professional opportunity. Unfortunately for him, his past has caught up with him…in the form of his ex-fiancee, Cecily Porter. Three years post-engagement and Cecily still isn’t over Dominic; to make matters worse, Dominic has hired Taryn McIntyre, a very brilliant and attractive game developer, to help him with his medical research, which tends to integrate a lot of technology with commonplace medical procedures and training. Of course, Dominic and Taryn start a personal relationship in addition to the business one. But Cecily is not done with Dominic..and she plays for keeps.

Read an excerpt from The Bastille Family Chronicles: Dominic

This was more fun to write than The Bastille Family Chronicles: Camille, and that’s saying something!

Read an excerpt from The Bastille Family Chronicles: Camille

In the original draft of BFC: Dominic, Taryn was a freelance journalist who specialized in healthcare, and met Dominic when she was assigned to interview him for a new healthcare magazine. But I didn’t want to be accused of writing about a thinly-disguised version of myself (I worked in healthcare for years, once upon a time, and I’m a writer, so there’s that), so I changed her to a game developer. I liked this version of Taryn better because I have interacted with quite a few female gamers and game developers on Twitter, and I am also a fan of Back Girls Code and Women Who Code. These ladies deserve some literary shine, and I hope I did them justice. I also wanted Dominic to have a romantic relationship with someone who isn’t necessarily like the women he usually dates. Taryn, with her shoulder-length, bi-colored dreadlocks (I use the term “locs” in the book) eyebrow ring, and sleeve of tattoos is not the type of woman Dominic usually goes for. Plus, she’s smarter and makes more money…definitely not Dominic’s usual wheelhouse. 🙂

While this is technically Dominic’s story, I explored some issues that have been going on with women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields in general, as well as entrepreneurs. Taryn is in the minority regarding her viewpoints on life and her priorities…read the book to find out exactly how.

Check it out: in honor of the release of The Bastille Family Chronicles: Dominic, I am doing a sale special: if you purchase the paperback from my website (which is autographed, BTW), you get the ebook FREE! How cool is that? Use code EBOOK at checkout to get the free ebook. This deal also applies to The Bastille Family Chronicles: Camille (BFC #1) and Blizzard: A Sebastian Scott novel (which I wrote under a pen name and is more of a suspenseful book. It is centered around Brooklyn-born, Trinidadian-raised, San Francisco-based DEA Special Agent Sebastian Scott, who was introduced in BFC Camille).

Read an excerpt from Blizzard: A Sebastian Scott Novel

Camille ebook cover  Blizzard_Cover_for_Kindle

In order to get this book/ebook deal, you HAVE to purchase the book from my website; the code doesn’t work on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Can’t choose? Check out the starter pack, which includes BFC Camille and Blizzard, since they are the first books in their respective series. Good bargain!

To recap: Buy paperback from website. Use code EBOOK at checkout. Get free ebook. Lather, rinse, repeat. 🙂 Ebooks are also available for separate purchase in epub (Apple, NOOK, Kobo, Google) and Kindle formats.

Please spread the word, and #SupportINDIEWriters. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.  Feel free to drop me a line with your comments about the novel(s). Got Twitter? Speak your piece with the hashtag #BFCDominic (or #BFCCamille, or #SebastianScott ).

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Doubt

11 Dec 2014 Leave a comment

by Tiffany M. Davis in Brain Droppings, Fiction, My Stuff, Other People's Writing, Romance, Suspense/Thriller/Mystery, The Craft, The Process Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m re-reading Zero Day by David Baldacci, which is the introduction of his John Puller character. As I get into the story, one overwhelming thought continues to loom:

Why can’t I write like this?

My next Bastille novel is not progressing as I’d like, though I am loathe to admit it. I can tell because I’m finding too many other distractions. When a book is flowing for me, I focus on it and little can detract me from getting the words on the pages. Nowadays? I’m obsessing over tracing my family tree and going through boxes of old books, and thinking about whipping up a homemade batch of eggnog (’tis the season!). This effortless distraction is a clear sign that all is not well in the Tiffverse.

Why can’t I write like Baldacci?

I’m in awe of the way his words flow across the page, how he brings John Puller (and even Puller’s cat, named AWOL) to life, how even the scenery of the book leaps off the page. And I wonder how I can get to that level, or even a fraction of it, within the next month or so. Granted, Baldacci has been writing for almost half of my lifetime, and has many more books published to his credit. I’m a rookie author, he’s a veteran, and thus I should not really expect myself to be on his level right now. But I’m an overachiever, so of course I expect that of myself. 😀 Seriously, I don’t know how to be a rookie because I’m used to being around veterans. That being said…

Why can’t I write like that?

I am beginning to wonder, especially in light of feedback on my first novel, The Bastille Family Chronicles: Camille, if I am forcing myself to write in the romance genre; by that, I mean forcing myself to write within the carefully proscribed parameters/formula of the romance genre. Which would explain why I am having such a problem making progress on this installment of the Bastille Family Chronicles. My writing tends to naturally cross genres, so it’s difficult for me to stick to one or the other–which really irritates me when it comes time to classify my book for sales purposes (although at least most sellers offer the options of choosing different categories at once, so as not to pigeonhole in one genre). Still, I may be trying too hard to be one thing, instead of letting my writing be what it is. And that’s where I’m getting hung up.

That may be why I’m writing different books in different genres so early in my writing career; I don’t want to be pigeonholed, since the stories I write aren’t always about love and romance. My writing style is as eclectic as my reading selections, and I want to represent that to the fullest. I enjoy writing thrillers and suspenseful novels, and commercial fiction; more, dare I say, than writing romances. Then why am I writing romances? Simple: I like those too, and I read those, and that was the first book that I completed that was ready for publication. Plus, I’d already planned a six-book series around the Bastilles and their love lives. However, I am not solely or primarily defined as a romance author, as authors such as Nora Roberts or Brenda Jackson are.

Perhaps if I focus less on the “romance” label  (e.g., The Bastille Family Chronicles) and just write the story (e.g., A Bastille Family novel), it will take care of itself.

I will ponder that as I embark on yet another session of procrastination.

Thanks for stopping by.

What I’m Reading: Fantasy in Death by JD Robb (with video!)

24 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

by Tiffany M. Davis in Fiction, Live Video Chat, My Thoughts, Other People's Writing, Science Fiction (Sci Fi) Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I pulled out an oldie but goodie, as I work on a character for an upcoming Bastille Family novel.  It’s Fantasy in Death, by J.D. Robb (the pseudonym for bestselling romance author Nora Roberts).

Fantasy in Death cover

I actually talk about it a bit here (it’s NOT a book review, per se):

Anyway, the story is set around 2060, and involves the death of one of the partners in an upstart video game company. It’s a classic locked-door mystery: the victim was alone in a locked room, playing a video game, and there were no signs or evidence of anyone else entering or leaving the room. So whodunit? The series protagonist, Lieutenant Eve Dallas, is very technology-challenged and has no idea how to navigate the very tech-heavy world of video games. She gets valuable assistance from her husband, Roarke, who is very skilled in his own right in the area of computers and technology, as well as the Electronic Detective Division of the New York Security and Police Department.

(Since this is over 40 years into the future, I’m hoping that a separate division that focuses on technology used in crimes becomes a reality).

The plot is pretty good, and there is an interesting twist at the end. This is one of my favorite books in the entire In Death series, of which I have every book so far (Fantasy in Death is the 31st book in the series, or something). I especially like the positive portrayal of female gamers (so refreshing in the wake of #gamergate) and the leap in applications of video games, virtual reality, and holograms.

The book came out in 2011, so it should be readily available at your local library, if you’re not inspired to purchase a copy for yourself. I do recommend it, as it is an entertaining read.

Thanks for stopping by.

A Surgeon and a DEA Agent Walk Into A Hospital…

25 Jul 2014 Leave a comment

by Tiffany M. Davis in Fiction, My Stuff, Romance, The Craft Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A surgeon and a DEA agent walk into a hospital…

Camille ebook cover

(well, it’s better than a bar!).

How does that work, anyway? A forty-something neurosurgeon who is as beautiful as she is brilliant, and a Special Agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration who tends to talk in song lyrics?

Who does that? 🙂

The Bastille Family Chronicles: Camille (which is informally known as The Camille Chronicles) is a story about a demographic that is usually overlooked within the contemporary romance genre: women (and men) of a certain age (40 years old and up). Instead of twenty-something, nubile young women without much life experience who hook up with thirty-something, world-weary men, The Camille Chronicles offers a different take on love and dating past your thirties.

Set primarily in Baltimore, Maryland, The Camille Chronicles shows what happens when two people of two very different temperaments, from different backgrounds and vastly different professions, meet and sparks fly. See what happens when Camille Bastille, MD, a neurosurgeon from New Orleans meets Special Agent Andrew Paxson, a DEA agent from Chicago. To add a fun twist, the story incorporates the type of real music that is not often played on the radio anymore, and is usually relegated to Pandora, Spotify, or satellite radio. I’m talking Jodeci, Susan Tedeschi, Maxwell, Fleetwood Mac, Sly and the Family Stone, even The Sound of Music!

Save your shekels this weekend, because the pre-sale of The Bastille Family Chronicles happens MONDAY, July 28. How cool is that?

In case you missed it, learn a little about Dr. Camille Bastille and her five medical siblings in “Introducing the Bastilles“, a short story crafted especially for my readers.

See you Monday, and thanks for stopping by.

Camp NaNoWriMo (July 2014)– Day 1

01 Jul 2014 1 Comment

Target goal: 50,000 words

Target daily goal: 1,613 words

Words written today: 1,109

Total words written: 1,722

 

Today is my first day of Camp NaNoWriMo. I’d signed up last April, but didn’t finish it. I didn’t even write one word. I was determined to do better this year.

This book is going to be a stand-alone, more serious book about the Bastilles, the family upon which the Bastille Family novels are based (the first book in the series, The Camille Chronicles, comes out next month). In it, I will delve deeper into the family history that I alluded to in the books, namely the larger-than-life presence of their grandfather.

In some ways, the book will be easier to write because I’ve already planted the seed in the Bastille individual novels. But it will be more difficult because while those books are a bit more lighthearted, this book will be a bit darker in places. This book will appeal to those who may like dark examinations of human and family dynamics.

I had to push to make my word quota for the day; I kept getting hung up on a character’s age, versus his life timeline (birth of first child, marriage, parental age, etc). I’ll figure it out tomorrow, when my brain isn’t so tired.

I’ll keep you posted with my progress; blogging about it helps keep me accountable, so thank you to whomever is reading my brain droppings. 🙂

Thanks for stopping by.

Quote by Tiffany M. Davis