Author News – Page 3 – Jessie Mihalik

Hunt the Stars is Here!!

February 1, 2022 / Author News, Hunt the Stars, Writing

Hunt the Stars cover on a blue starry background. Available Now!

Hunt the Stars is out today! 🎉🎉🎉 I know it’s been a long wait, and I appreciate your patience so, so much!

This book is near and dear to my heart because I wrote it in the early days of the pandemic, and I filled it with everything I was dearly missing—found family, hope, kindness, and joy. If you’re having a rough day, Tavi would absolutely give you a hug and a hot meal, no questions asked.

I hope you enjoy Tavi and Torran’s story, and Eclipse the Moon (book two) comes out in July, so only a few months to go! :)

Happy reading!

Hunt the Stars Cover. A woman with a ponytail and a man with short hair in silhouette in front of a blue background of stars and alien planets.

The critically acclaimed author of Polaris Rising takes readers on an exciting journey across the galaxy with the start of her brand-new series about a female bounty hunter and the man who is her sworn enemy.

Octavia Zarola would do anything to keep her tiny, close-knit bounty hunting crew together—even if it means accepting a job from Torran Fletcher, a ruthless former general and bitter adversary. When Torran offers her enough credits to not only keep her crew afloat but also hire someone to fix her ship, Tavi knows that she can’t refuse—no matter how much she’d like to.

There’s just one catch: with so much money on the line, Torran and his crew insist on joining the hunt. Tavi reluctantly agrees because while the handsome, stoic leader pushes all of her buttons—for both anger and desire—she’s endured worse, and the massive bonus payment he’s promised for a completed job is reason enough to shut up and deal.

But when they uncover a deeper plot that threatens the delicate peace between humans and Valoffs, Tavi suspects that Torran has been using her as the impetus for a new war. With the fate of her crew balanced on a knife’s edge, Tavi must decide where her loyalties lie—with the quiet Valoff who’s been lying to her, or with the human leaders who left her squad to die on the battlefield. Because this time, her heart is on the line.

And if you preordered and signed up for the bonus content, those emails will start going out later today. It may take me a few days, depending on how Gmail feels about me sending hundreds of emails, but I’ll get to everyone eventually!

Edit: The preorder bonus email has been sent, so if you don’t have it, check your spam folders. Gmail gets weird when you send an email with hundreds of people bcc’ed. I’m not a spammer, Google, I promise! :)

Eclipse the Moon Cover Reveal & Snippet!

December 13, 2021 / Author News, Eclipse the Moon, Snippet, Writing

The cover for Eclipse the Moon is here, and it’s absolutely lovely!! Am I awful to tease you with this when Hunt the Stars isn’t even out yet? Yes. Am I doing it anyway? Also yes. :)

The cover will be going up on retailers soon, and I wanted to ensure you all got the very first peek at it! Behold:

Eclipse the Moon cover, featuring a man and woman in silhouette in front of a purple background with an alien planet. — Click to embiggen

Eclipse the Moon will be out in July of next year, so it’s not too long of a wait after HTS. I’m not putting the cover copy here just in case anyone wants to avoid all spoilers for HTS (they are very generic/minor), but you can find it over on the book page behind a spoiler tag.

If you’d like to get your preorder on, here are some handy links for you. (And thank you!!)

Now, for a teensy snippet. This is not at all spoilery for book one, so enjoy this little peek at Kee and Varro!

I checked on the other plants, making sure they were healthy and strong. I talked to them as I worked, telling them how nice it was that they were growing food for us, and how pretty they looked with their green leaves and strong roots. It was mostly happy nonsense, but I’d read an ancient study that said plants did better when they were spoken to, and I tended to anthropomorphize them anyway, so talking to them came naturally.

I noted the tomatoes and other veggies that were ready for harvest and put them into the log so Tavi would know what was available for dinner. If she didn’t harvest them tonight, I would pick them tomorrow and put them in the galley for everyone to enjoy.

By the time I was done, several hours had passed. I hadn’t heard a peep from Varro, so I hoped he had fallen asleep. With nothing else to do, I approached the arbor on soft feet.

Varro’s head was tipped back, his breathing deep and even. I hesitated for a moment, then slipped into the arbor and sank into the chair beside his. I stared at the leafy vines overhead and enjoyed a moment of peace as the sweet smell of honeysuckle drifted around me.

“You talked to the plants,” Varro said, his voice low and rough. I bet he sounded just like that in the morning, sleepy and rumpled after a night in bed.

Heat crept into my cheeks at the imagined visual, and I redirected my thoughts to a safer subject. I peeked at him, but his eyes remained closed, so I went back to staring at the ceiling. “I thought you were asleep.”

“It’s harder to sneak up on me than you might imagine. Your approach was quiet but not that quiet.” After a pause, he added, “But the talking was nice.”

“It’s supposed to help the plants grow better, and it gives me something to do.”

“I enjoyed listening to you. It was soothing.”

I laughed quietly. “Most people would disagree.” I rolled my head toward him with a grin. “Have you considered that you may be part plant?”

“Mmm,” he murmured without opening his eyes, “perhaps that is why I’m drawn to sunshine.”

I glanced at his sun-kissed skin before reminding myself that he wasn’t for me. I purposefully kept my tone light. “Well, it’s hard to get sunshine in a spaceship, but you’re welcome to hang out in here with me for the rest of the week and pretend. If you want, I’ll even babble at you like you’re a plant.”

He slanted a glance at me, his eyes dark and fathomless. “I would enjoy that. Thank you.”

And don’t forget, you still have time to enter to win an early copy of Hunt the Stars! See the linked blog post for details. Happy holidays!

Preorder Signed Copies of Hunt the Stars!

November 15, 2021 / Author News, Hunt the Stars, Writing

We’re less than three months from the release date for Hunt the Stars! Woohoo! If you’d like to get your hands on a signed copy, I have good news for you!

Preorder Hunt the Stars signed books / bookplates from BookPeople, Copper Dog Books, or Mysterious Galaxy, while supplies last.

Three independent bookstores have been kind enough to work with me to get signed books/bookplates into your hands with your preorder! Each one is a little different, so I’m going to go through them one by one.

Important: Please pay careful attention to the ordering instructions on each bookstore’s page! Some of them require you to add notes to your order to get a signed copy, so read carefully. :)

We’ve got stores on both coasts as well as here in TX, so hopefully you’ll find something close to you!

BookPeople is my local indie, which means I can physically go to the store and sign the books. So if you order from BookPeople, you’ll get my signature on the page, no fancy bookplate. I will also personalize the books, so I’ll sign them to you, your cat, your best friend, etc.

Next up, I will sign and personalize up to 100 bookplates for people who order from Copper Dog Books in Beverly, MA. If you’re nearby, go check them out because their bookstore looks so cosy and their selection of SF/F and Romance looks awesome!

And finally, I will sign up to 50 bookplates for Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego, CA. They are a specialty SF/F bookstore, and I’ve wanted to visit them forever, but thanks to covid, that is still something for the future. Maybe by the time book three comes out. 😭😭😭

I don’t have a picture of the bookplates yet because I haven’t designed them, but they’ll be pretty, promise. :) And no matter which store you order from, I’m hoping to include some additional swag, like a bookmark and stickers, but those haven’t been ordered yet, either. I should probably get on that because with the way time is flying, it’ll be February before I know it.

And all preorders, including ebooks and library requests, will have the opportunity to get an exclusive, free bonus scene/short story at release. My publisher is still getting the form set up, but I’ll let you know once it’s live!

Finally, the last big news on the signed books front: Hunt the Stars is the March adult pick for The Bookish Box! If you don’t know, The Bookish Box is a subscription service that sends out a book (and other related swag, depending on your subscription level) every month.

Hunt the Stars is the March pick for The Bookish Box

They also do exclusive, custom editions of the books. The Bookish Box version of Hunt the Stars will be a limited edition hardcover, with a custom cover on a two-sided dust jacket and sprayed edges! I will be signing several thousand tip-in pages that will be bound into the book, so they’ll be signed, too!

Please send me many happy thoughts for signing hand strength. I’ve never signed thousands of things before, so it’ll be an adventure, one I hope doesn’t turn out too painful.

You can find more info on The Bookish Box website or on the announcement on Instagram. Unfortunately, because it’s a subscription service, it’s not quite as easy as preordering a book at one of the bookstores above.

The Bookish Box Adult Book subscriptions are currently sold out, but they’re supposed to be adding more later this month for books in January. If you just want a spot for March, you’ll have to pay attention to the site or sign up for their newsletter. Also, be aware they are facing the same shipping / supply chain challenges as everyone else, so you may not end up getting the book until April or later.

If I get more information, I’ll be sure to share it!

Say Hello to Eclipse the Moon!

October 14, 2021 / Author News, Eclipse the Moon, Writing

Voyager placeholder cover for ECLIPSE THE MOON. Official cover to come.

Book two has a title, Eclipse the Moon, and it’s up for preorder! But, Jessie, I hear you saying, book one isn’t even out yet! And you would be correct. However, Eclipse the Moon is coming out next summer, so after you read Hunt the Stars, you’ll only have a few months to wait for book two. Yay!

If you mosey over to the book page, you can see the preliminary catalog copy, the placeholder cover, and preorder links. I put the catalog copy behind a spoiler tag just in case you don’t want to know anything about book two until you read HTS.

All of the info is subject to change, because I didn’t even know the release date until I happened upon the preorder page this morning, so I don’t know if it’s completely final or not. If it is, then it’ll come out during my birthday week! 🎉

I’m probably not going to be pushing this one too hard until HTS comes out, but now when I refer to ETM, you’ll know what I’m talking about. :)

Oh, and I saw an early copy of the cover today and it’s gorgeous, so I will definitely share that when it’s ready!

Hunt the Stars Cover Reveal & First Chapter!

July 22, 2021 / Author News, Hunt the Stars, Writing

I know I’ve been teasing this forever (and my newsletter subscribers got a sneak peek earlier this week), but the cover for Hunt the Stars is finally here, and it’s absolutely gorgeous!! 😍

The silhouettes, the stars, the ship, the tiny creature that you’ll have to read to find out about!! 😉 I love it all.

I also got an amazing blurb from Kit Rocha:

Fans of Nalini Singh will swoon for this stoic psychic space warrior hero, and fall in love with a badass mercenary captain heroine who will go to any lengths to protect her wounded-squad-turned-found-family. Compelling, steamy, and impossible to put down–Mihalik has created a world I want to visit again and again for years to come. Give me more sexy hot psychic space aliens!
Kit Rocha, New York Times bestselling author

And in case you missed the back cover copy, here you go!

The critically acclaimed author of Polaris Rising takes readers on an exciting journey with the start of her brand-new series about a female bounty hunter and the man who is her sworn enemy.

Octavia Zarola would do anything to keep her tiny, close-knit bounty hunting crew together—even if it means accepting a job from Torran Fletcher, a ruthless former general and her sworn enemy. When Torran offers her enough credits to not only keep her crew afloat but also hire someone to fix her ship, Tavi knows that she can’t refuse—no matter how much she’d like to.

With so much money on the line, Torran and his crew insist on joining the hunt. Tavi reluctantly agrees because while the handsome, stoic leader pushes all of her buttons—for both anger and desire—she’s endured worse, and the massive bonus payment he’s promised for a completed job is reason enough to shut up and deal.

But wait, I also promised you the first chapter! If you mosey over to the book page, you’ll find the entire chapter in it’s freshly copyedited glory. Chapter two will have to wait until closer to release, but I hope this at least gives you a little hint of Tavi and Torran.

And if you are able, please consider preordering the book or recommending it to your local library or telling your friends about it! :)