The Gatekeeper Series By Stacey Thompson-Geer and Stevie Trinity

A note from Stacey Thompson-Geer on her upcoming release:

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This series is about two strong women who have families and lives but when the world breaks, they are forced into fulfilling a bigger destiny. They are charged with closing doorways that have been opened to other layers of the worlds.

These women have real world issues within their families as well as facing supernatural entities that want to kill them and their families. Readers will be introduced to strong women, magick and the beginning of an underlying love story with both women.

The series starts in January with The Gatekeeper Series: Lynn. A short story letting readers understand Lynn a bit more. Each month a new short will be released until the first novel, The Gatekeeper Series: Dark Magick in June 2011.


Excerpt from The Gatekeeper Series: Lynn

I have been a warrior my entire existence. From the very first life I lived, I knew this to be true. My purpose is not my own. I’m to save people that are not ready to see the truth, not ready for the world that seems to have unraveled around them.

I walked past the dying plants in front of my new home, a hut made from trees and leaves. It wasn’t much, but it did the job against the cold Wyoming winters. I couldn’t help but wonder what the hurry was about. Normally we had a little time, but the way Rhea had sounded this time we didn’t.

I knocked and opened the handmade wooden door. A woman with long blond hair sat with her back to me, mixing herbs and at a small table. She didn’t turn to face me, but spoke. “I had a another vision.” She continued with what she was doing.

“I know. Their getting worse, aren’t they?” I stepped closer to her as I spoke.

She ignored me and kept going, “You have to go to Canada.”

“Great, more snow.” I joked fiddling with an open spot on the wall.

She turned to me and cocked an eyebrow. “There’s a group there. They don’t understand what’s happening.”

“Are they underground?” I didn’t look her way.

“No, but they’ll be hostile.”

“What else is new?” I snorted.

“One of them is important.” She didn’t look away from me. “I just don’t know which one.”

“Perfect. So, I have to get a whole group of people out of a very Demon occupied country and get back with all of them alive? Awesome.” I sighed.

“Demons aren’t the only thing there, you know,” she smarted off. I made a face at her and started for the door. “You should take Miles with you. He’s good.”

I didn’t say anything but stopped for a moment. “You’ll watch my kids?”

“You know I will.” She said smiling slightly and I dropped my gaze to the floor. This was not the kind of news I wanted to hear. Just one day off would be nice once and a while.

Wild Horse Press, Wicked Nights and Decadent Publishing

A word about my e-pubbing and my publishers.

Much has been said about e-book companies, some good and some derisive, but I am one of those who made e-books my first choice. This was partly because I respond better to smaller businesses, and like being a part of an independent venture - I find independent companies are more willing to work with everybody attached to a project, as a general rule. Primarily, however, I chose e-books because you don't need an agent, and my first attempt at publishing was an experiment; I had a manuscript, and I just wanted to see if someone found it worth publishing. I wasn't in it to write full time right away - I just wanted to see if someone would accept that first novel. When someone did, it was fast. I got word back within a month of submission, a turnover that would be impossible in traditional brick-n-mortar publishing, where the two years in the slush pile is the norm.

Two years of waiting, while life moves on, is simply not conducive to an experiment.

So, e-publishing was for me, straight away. Would I love to move into paperbacks? Sure. I will be thrilled when my current companies move into paper (like WHP has started to do, and Wicked Nights will be doing this year), and I wouldn't say no to a chance to publish something with a big print company someday, now that I know I'd like to stick with my writing for a while. But the general practice of e-publishing, of taking quality works fairly efficiently, and letting new authors get considered for publication without the work of an agent, was best for me at first, and will remain so for a while yet.

I won't be seeking an agent until I decide to write full time, if I ever do. So, e-pubbing is for me.

I now have works out with three e-pubs. I have two other companies in mind for current works in progress, but I am sure I will work with these companies again. Right now, I have my short paranormal erotic Waking Kara and my upcoming full length, Strings Attached, with Wild Horse Press; I have Good for the Goose with Wicked Nights' erotica line, After Dark, and I plan on a further series of holiday erotica with them (in the hopes of benefiting from their move to print). I have only one short Christmas romance, Unwrapping Scrooge, with Decadent Publishing, but I would love to work with them more.

Wild Horse took the very first chance on me, and has been instrumental on me staying in writing, and doing more. I have also met some of the most important writing friends I have through my association with this company, and the more experienced writers have been wonderful at helping me figure out where I am going. WHP is open to all of my creative suggestions, and, despite how busy life is for a publisher, they have remained enthusiastic and happy to hear from me. I owe WHP a lot.

My second company, Wicked Nights, was a heaven sent chance. I had a book that needed to go out by Christmas, and was in a panic because it was growing too long for the anthology for which it had originally been planned. I turned to Stacey Thompson-Geer, one of the authors at WHP, for advice, and she welcomed me to Wicked Nights with open arms. For a small, new company, Wicked Nights is getting it together - slick, determined and fresh, Wicked Nights has a strong future, and I am pleased to get in at the ground level.

My third company, Decadent, was a long shot for me. I knew they were quite powerful and "major league" for a startup, and, unlike Wicked, I didn't know anyone working there. But, I had Christmas romance that needed a home, and WHP simply couldn't accept any more submissions for 2010, as they were packed. Sitting with this romance, I was thinking to send it to Wicked, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to have two releases at one company within weeks of each other. I found Decadent, and was considering it when a happy Decadent author on Facebook gave me a nudge of encouragement, so I sent it off. I knew this book was strong, but I admit I wasn't sure it would be accepted. Then came word - Yes! Unwrapping Scrooge would have a home at Decadent!

I have really enjoyed my time with Decadent. They have lovely covers (which is important, despite the old adage), extremely rigorous editorial quality control, and they also do a bit more promotion than a lot of e-book companies do, which is great for a new author on a budget. They also have an incredibly supportive and active author community who have embraced me as one of their own, even though I am, at the moment, a one-short author with the company.

I would gladly work with all three of these companies again, and very likely will if I can come up with more works they like. Sure, my sales have been moderate at best, which is the price one does tend to pay for e-pubbing, and, in time, I might have been more successful (if you measure that in dollars or stats) had I been miraculously discovered in the slush pile two or three years from now... But I wouldn't have been happier.

And I wouldn't have been more keyed up, that's for sure. Right now, I have a great deal of enthusiasm for my avocation, which might not have been the case if I felt my publishing lacked momentum. Right now, I can feel the rise - when I Google myself, I get more and more hits, and I feel like putting out all of these works are starting to pay off. I may never be Nora Roberts, but that's okay - she has the big times all sewn up. I'm happy producing good work with small, intimate companies.

So, wherever I head now, and whether things work out with the other companies I have in mind, or if I never hit the big times, I am putting things out there, and proud of them all. I will always remain grateful to all of the companies who see in my work something worth taking a chance on.

2010 has been good to me. I wish us all the very best in 2011!

Unwrapping Scrooge Reviewed on Must Love Books

A big thank you to Ashlynn Monroe for giving a shout out about how much she enjoyed Unwrapping Scrooge (under its old title) on the BlogTalkRadio show Must Love Books. Ashlynn's guest tonight was publisher-author Stacey Thompson-Geer, owner of Wicked Nights!

I am so thrilled Ashlynn liked the book so much! It's such a kick to hear from readers, be they writers themselves or not, and I hope everyone will let me know how they like my stuff.

You can hear the show here.

Stacey Thompson-Geer on Co-Writing Fiction!

I asked fellow WHP author, Stacey Thompson-Geer, to come explain to me (and us) how it works to co-write fiction, which is something I have not tried, and couldn't even really visualize. For me, writing is a solitary act, and I have enough trouble agreeing with myself when it comes to creative decisions!

Stacey, it seems, has it down pat, and all laid out for us, right here:

Co-Writing Can Work For You

A lot of writers are not sure about the whole co-writing thing. They may think it’s not going to work because writing is such a personal thing. The problem with this kind of thinking is you could lose out on a great project with a lot of creative minds.

Know Who You’re Working With

One of the biggest things to a good co-writing project is being able to trust the writers you are working with. This often comes down to reading what they may have already done for work or being good friends with them. If you don’t know their style, then you won’t know how your writing is going to mesh with theirs.

Come Up With a Plan

The futuristic Fantasy Octavia, my co-writer, and I have been working on is written in a way that gives us each control over our own characters set in the same kind of world. While these two main characters interact, they also have their own way of thinking and viewing the story the reader is going through. We came up with this plan early so we each could have our own storyline set within the main one. So far it has worked out well.

On a different type of co-writing project, we all came up with a main theme and have written stories based around that theme. This helps to keep us in line with each other, but also helps us to keep something fun and different in each of our stories.

Don’t Be Afraid Of the Twists and Turns

When I started writing the futuristic Fantasy book with a good friend of mine, I didn’t know what was going to happen each time I sent the manuscript to her. She had her own ideas that took the story to places I probably wouldn’t have thought of. This can be great for the story and for the readers. They may think something is going to happen and be surprised when something totally different happens instead.

Co-writing is nothing any writer should be afraid of. It can open up new ideas and new doors for everyone involved and are a ton of fun. Just remember to talk and keep everyone involved floating on the ideas. That way you and the other writers will have a book that is great and have fun doing it.

Stacey Thompson-Geer is an author and a mom. You can find information about her work at her website: www.staceythompsongeer.com.