Hello again, lovely reader!
If you read my last blog post, you’ll be glad to know I managed to write a wang-shaped plant into my rom-com.
Or, as I like to call it, a cocktus.
Yes, I am way too proud of myself for that pun.
It’s been a little while since I last shared a sneak peek, so I thought today I’d share another. But before that, I have a couple of things to tell you about.
I’ve added a Latest page to this site where you can see my most recent news at a glance. This includes new books, pre-orders, current sales, and whatever else I’ve got going on at a given time.
On the Latest page, I’ve also added a slot for a cause I care about. Currently I’m highlighting Raise the Age, a campaign to change the age kids in Australia can be arrested from 10 years old to at least 14.
The current laws disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids, who make up 65% of the 10-13 year olds who are in prison. (For context, Indigenous people make up less than 3% of the total population. ‘Disproportionate’ doesn’t really come close.)
If you want more information, head to raisetheage.org.au, where Australians can sign the petition. It honestly takes less than thirty seconds.
Thanks, friend.
Now for some writing news.
I spent some time flip-flopping between projects before returning to Get Folked, the romantic comedy, again. I felt bad that I wasn’t writing a mystery, but then when I tried to write mysteries they just weren’t working. Then I felt bad about that.
Then I realised how ridiculous I was being and switched back to the romantic comedy. Now I can’t get myself to stop writing. I love it. It’s just so much fun. Plus everyone in the comments on the last sneak peek was very supportive about my writing Get Folked, even if it wasn’t their normal genre, so there wasn’t really any point in me getting bent up over it. Might as well write what I’m feeling.
Oh, and I designed the covers. Do you like them? You can see the cover of Folking Around, book 2 in the Wayward Folk Romantic Comedies, on the header picture of this post if you look at the phone in the top left. (You probably already saw it, but just in case I thought I should tell you. I really love that cover.)
I’ve also redone all the Charlie covers and the Baxter & Co. ones – you’re going to love the cover for Gone Ghoul. I’m not going to reveal it yet, but when you see it you’ll know why I find it so hilarious.
(Which is good, because poor Gone Ghoul has always had the most uggo cover. Seriously. Just really bad. I didn’t like it even when I first published it, but I was desperate because the book was already coming out late so I just went with the one I had. Now the cover reflects what’s inside. And if you’ve read it, you might have some idea of what that means there will be on the cover. Yes. One of those. Kind of.)
I’ve even put Get Folked on pre-order so you know that when I say it’s coming out on September 29, it actually, really, for sure is.
So! Here are the preorder links:
[buttonC text=”Amazon US” url=”https://amzn.to/3lmd8hE” color=”#940595″] (affiliate link – if you click through and purchase something I might make a small commission. Thanks, friend! 💛)
[buttonC text=”Amazon AU” url=”https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08GP6JHFB” color=”#940595″]
[buttonC text=”Amazon DE” url=”https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08GP6JHFB” color=”#940595″]
[buttonC text=”Kobo” url=”https://www.kobo.com/en/ebook/get-folked” color=”#940595″]
[buttonC text=”Apple Books” url=”https://books.apple.com/us/book/get-folked/id1529219339″ color=”#940595″]
[buttonC text=”Nook” url=”https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=2940162700869″ color=”#940595″]
And here is your sneak peek. Enjoy!
Cole
Someone had posted a picture of me lying on top of Danny online.
They’d apparently missed the full-speed collision we’d had a moment before and decided that the aftermath of our crash tackle was evidence of our deep love for each other, which we were expressing by writhing around together in a park. Like normal humans do.
I wondered how she’d woken up feeling today. I’d managed to avoid injuring myself, but she’d taken the brunt of it and I wasn’t exactly a little guy. At least she didn’t seem to want to sacrifice me anymore. I still felt pretty bad, though. I’d nearly killed the poor woman and now she’d been splashed across all the gossip blogs with questions about whether we were dating.
Maybe the worst part of all of this, though, was Celia’s latest brainwave.
“I am not paying Danny to pretend we’re dating to sell more albums, C,” I said for the fortieth time since I’d arrived at the shed. “Let it go.”
“Cole ‘Doesn’t Believe In Love’ Brooks potentially having a girlfriend is juicy news. It’s the main story on the Gazette’s website.”
“The Gerongate Gazette ran a story on my love life? Man, this town needs to get some real news.”
“Oh, it has real news. There was a murder yesterday as well. You beat them for the top of the homepage.”
“I didn’t realise my love life was in competition with local corpses.”
“People prefer this kind of horizontal news rather than dead bodies. Less upsetting.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Horizontal news? That’s a gross way to put it.”
“You don’t look like you found it gross in that photograph.”
As much as I wanted to disagree, I couldn’t. It really did look like I was enjoying what was happening, which probably made me seem like an epic creep in Danny’s eyes if she’d seen the picture.
“You can’t actually be suggesting this. I’m not sure it’s possible for Danny to start liking me at this point.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t make a great first impression, and then I may have made it worse on our second encounter.”
C waved her hand dismissively. “She likes you fine. She hasn’t shut up about those fucking headphones since you bought them for her.”
“Really?” Warmth spread through my chest, probably from the coffee I was drinking. “I only got them for her yesterday.”
“Yes, really. She said they were way too expensive and she was mortified that you insisted on buying them, but they turned out to be so good she was kind of glad you tackled her and broke her old ones.”
“I didn’t mean to tackle her.”
“Well, you did and now we have a prime opportunity to sell tickets and merch. It won’t require much effort on your part. A couple of dinners together in public that look like dates, that kind of thing.”
I shook my head. “I’m not pretending to date her. The whole idea’s ridiculous. Besides, what makes you think she’ll agree? She didn’t exactly sign up for this.”
“She’ll agree,” said Celia. “I’m very persuasive.”
If only she was wrong about that.
“You should do it,” said Dean. “Celia knows her shit. Without her we’d still be scraping a layer of grease off ourselves every night after the late shift at Chip Slip.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Chase. “I’ll keep up that routine for the rest of my life. I make a habit of rubbing grease all over myself purely so I get the joy of removing it in the evening.”
“I thought the grease was for all the wrestling you do,” said Forrest.
“That too.”
“As much as I usually love talking about lubrication and wrestling,” said Dean, “shut up so Cole doesn’t try to wriggle out of this like the slippery, oil-coated fucker he is.”
If you’d like to pre-order:
[buttonC text=”Amazon US” url=”https://amzn.to/3lmd8hE” color=”#940595″] (Again, this is an affiliate link – if you click through and purchase something I might make a commission. Cheers, buddy! 🐷)
[buttonC text=”Amazon AU” url=”https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08GP6JHFB” color=”#940595″]
[buttonC text=”Amazon DE” url=”https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08GP6JHFB” color=”#940595″]
[buttonC text=”Kobo” url=”https://www.kobo.com/en/ebook/get-folked” color=”#940595″]
[buttonC text=”Apple Books” url=”https://books.apple.com/us/book/get-folked/id1529219339″ color=”#940595″]
[buttonC text=”Nook” url=”https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=2940162700869″ color=”#940595″]
Now on to this week’s questions – drop a reply in the comments below. I had so much fun reading your thoughts last time.
(I mean reading the thoughts you left in the comments. I didn’t suddenly become a psychic.)
Did you enjoy the sneak peek? Do you like the cover for Get Folked? And, most importantly, are you in awe of my mum’s epic gardening skills with that amazing cactus?
I look forward to hearing from you. 😄
(Psst… Here’s the link to raisetheage.org.au again. xx)
Yay preordered! Glad you are writing!
Sneek peek was fun. Cover fit the folk theme and Yes your mum’s gardening skills are awesome (or is it your identification skills?)
Yaaay! I hope you like it! This book is so much fun to write. 😄
Mum sent me that picture, so clearly my identification skills are hereditary. 😂