Hi and welcome to my April newsletter.

This month, I can finally reveal the cover of A Crown Denied. There's news about one of my current dogs in training, followed by a bumper four links to free samples of fantasy reads to help you discover new authors. And finally, a limited time offer of the ebook of A Queen To Come: The Complete Prequel Trilogy. 

I hope you enjoy reading this email.

Thank you for being part of my publishing experience ❤️

Best wishes

Frances

Cover reveal: A Crown Denied

So here it is, the cover design for A Crown Denied, with Sky's magic Mark and band colour. I'm really happy with it, and it looks great next to From Fury Reborn, continuing the trend of magic Mark and colour. Book three's cover is already done, but I'm still figuring out how to represent some of the remaining Marks - if only I'd thought this through before I started 🤣

A Crown Denied

Their greatest enemy always one step ahead. The shattering reveal - a traitor in their midst. Can the spy be unmasked before critical secrets are exposed and lives are lost?

Available for pre-order on Amazon

Progress report: A Crown Denied

It was a holiday weekend this month which means, yes, I found time to crack on with more chapters. Just a few more and I can send the last 15 or so to my editor, and then I can turn my attention to reviewing the edits on the earlier chapters. 
I'm also drafting out the back cover description, which I'll share in next month's newsletter. This is much harder than you might imagine, even for authors; I think because it's marketing copy rather than writing out an epic story. There's advice galore about how to do this right, and I'm part of a Facebook group whose members kindly help each other on their pitches. You can tell me next time if I'm getting it right.  

The day job, for now....?

If you've come across my Author Bio you will know that I train guide dogs for the blind. This time I want to tell you about a little girl I’ve been training for the past few months. Her name is Fado, and she is absolutely the dark horse of my group of dogs at the moment. From the beginning of her training she was stable and serious when she was working. And she learnt the basics of guide work incredibly quickly. Though, sometimes, she thought she knew exactly what she was doing, when in reality she wasn’t that far along yet.  

At some point Fado thought that she was the one who could make all the decisions as to where we were going. And she was quite adamant in where she wanted to go, too. If I asked her to go left, away from where she knew the park was, she would plainly refuse. She thought: I’m leading you, right? So I will be leading you to the park where I can have a run around with other dogs. 

It took her a while to realise that there were a few restrictions in her leading me around. In the beginning, when she started to learn this, she would throw the dog-version of a tantrum, and walk incredibly slowly in protest of walking in the opposite direction of the park.

But soon enough, she learnt that if she and I worked together, and she listened to where I wanted to go, she could earn a whole lot of treats, and she could still put her brain to work, making sure I don’t trip over anything, or bash my head against anything. Once she discovered that she could show off her mad guide work skills, she started to really love it. Every now and again she will still attempt to manipulate me into going to the park, but she doesn’t put up a fight anymore if we’re supposed to go the other way. Of course, sometimes we do go to the park or to the woods, so that she does get that free time to run around. She deserves that, too, especially with all the hard work she’s been doing!

Discover new fantasy reads

To find new readers for my books I work with fellow authors to widen our readership by promoting our books to each other's email list. We offer an e copy of a book, novella or custom short story for free on sign-up to our newsletter, to help the reader decide if they want to keep following us. 
Interested? Just click on the images or links below to get to the website, browse through the free book(s) on offer, and take a punt.

Natural Selection is the prequel to the urban fantasy Spirit Seekers series, based around an elite group of soldiers trained to battle nature’s wrath.

"Awesomely original - urban fantasy at its best." 

"Action packed, fast-paced and also good fun."

Get your free prequel story here.

This is a sample of The Sword and the Ring, Book 1 in the Mythikal Majik sword and sorcery high fantasy series.

"An "Old School" swords and sorcery [fantasy]..... The characters were well developed, the action was great, the bad guys were really bad and the good guys were all slightly flawed."

Get your free sample here.

A dangerous journey into a world of dragons and enslaved creatures in search of magic mastery, The Resin Chronicles is the first in an epic fantasy series. 

"Fun to read!" 

Get your free download here.

Check out the bumper selection of over 60 offers here.

A Queen To Come: The Complete Prequel Trilogy 

$1.99, a 75% discount 

20-23 April

If you haven't yet got your kindle copy, or want to share this offer with your reader friends, now's your chance

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