Snippet – Page 4 – Jessie Mihalik

Chaos Reigning Chapter One!

March 11, 2020 / Chaos Reigning, Snippet, Writing

Yesterday, I turned in the first pass page proofs for Chaos Reigning. This is when it really starts to look like a book, because the PDF is formatted like the print book. For example, here are the title page and first page:

Title page for Chaos Reigning, with white wireframe text on a black background. — Click to embiggen

Don’t those look like real book pages? Yay! The page proofs are the last time I’ll read the book all the way through, and my last chance to catch any mistakes. I’ve read it so many times at this point that catching mistakes is difficult, but the formatted text makes it easier to see if I’ve overused a word in a paragraph. Which I do. A lot. :)

Page proofs also mean that the text is 99% done. There may be questions from proofreaders that change a tiny bit later on, but it’s mostly set in stone at this point.

And that means I can post the first chapter! 🎉

If you mosey over to the book page, you’ll find all of Chapter One in its (nearly) final glory.

We’re just a smidgen over two months out from release (May 19!!), and I can hardly believe it. I don’t know what happened to January and February, but I would like those months back, please and thank you.

If you haven’t preordered yet, now would be an excellent time. Or ask your library to buy a copy. Or your BFF. Or your dog. (Send me photos of that last one!)

CHAOS REIGNING cover. A woman with dark, curly hair, in a long leather coat, facing right and holding a blaster. The background is an alien landscape with a planet and two moons in the sky and everything is shaded green-blue.

This is the Consortium Rebellion trilogy’s last hurrah, and I would be delighted if it went out with a bang, because that ups the possibility of more Consortium stories in the future. Thank you all for sticking with me for my very first trilogy!! 😍🥰

Chaos Reigning Copyedits and a Snippet!

February 19, 2020 / Books, Chaos Reigning, Snippet, Writing

Yesterday, the copyedits for Chaos Reigning landed in my inbox. That means we are inching ever closer to release, which I can hardly believe. This will be the final book in the Consortium Rebellion trilogy and the the final book (for now) set in the Consortium universe.

I have ideas for future books, but they’ll have to get in line behind all of my other commitments. Speaking of, I haven’t forgotten about TQT, but it’s been eclipsed by contracted work, including the proposal for my new series (yay!!!), as I warned was possible. I promise I’m still doing it, just much later than I had hoped. :/

But enough with the sadness—time to celebrate CR being almost a real book! Here’s a little snippet to tide you over until copyedits are done and I can post the first chapter. And if you haven’t yet, now is an excellent time to preorder because the book comes out in May! ;)

I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror and willed myself to calm down. Alexander—now Alex—had flustered me, and I felt like I needed a cold shower. I shivered as I remembered his knowing grin. Maybe two cold showers.

After I’d dawdled as long as I could without looking like I was hiding, I returned to the bedroom. Alex was sitting on his pallet on the floor, looking at his com. He glanced up, and I tilted my head toward the bathroom. “All yours.”

He nodded his thanks and gathered his bag. Once he was gone, I slid into my enormous, fluffy bed. I looked at his sad little pile of blankets and hardened my heart. No. This was his decision. I’d offered an alternative and he’d chosen this. He could live with his choices.

“Jarvis, lights twenty percent.” The overhead lights flared to life, slightly brighter than a night-light setting. Alex would be able to see, even after coming out of the fully lit bathroom.

I set the windows to gradually lighten in four hours. The sunlight would wake me without the need for a harsh alarm. I checked my com one final time, but I hadn’t gotten anything else from Bianca. I wondered if she was getting updates from Alex or Aoife, or if she assumed no news was good news.

With nothing left to do, I turned off my bedside lamp and closed my eyes. Restless energy pulsed under my skin, but I feigned sleep.

Alex returned with a whisper of sound. He settled on his pallet and turned the overhead lights off. He was perfectly still and quiet, without so much as a discontented sigh. It would have been so much easier to ignore him if he’d acted disgruntled, but his quiet acceptance sent sympathy and guilt swirling through my veins. He had to be uncomfortable, but you’d never know it.

I lasted for maybe ten minutes before I sighed and whispered, “Are you awake?”

“Yes.” His voice rumbled from the dark. “Do you need something?”

“Jarvis, lights five percent.” The room was still deeply shadowed, but I had excellent night vision and could see clearly even in deep darkness. However, this would be easier if I could pretend the shadows hid us from each other. “Bring your pallet. You can sleep on the other side of the bed. On top of the covers.”

There was a long, silent pause. Finally, he asked, “Are you sure? I don’t mind sleeping here.”

…

Chaos Reigning Copyedits and a Snippet!Read More »

Aurora Blazing Cover Reveal and Snippet!

March 12, 2019 / Aurora Blazing, Author News, Snippet, Writing

The cover for Aurora Blazing is here, and I love it so, so much! Behold:

The back cover copy:

To save her brother and protect her family’s future, a powerful princess must join forces with a dashing man from her past in this thrilling space adventure, the second novel in the Consortium Rebellion trilogy.

As the dutiful daughter of High House von Hasenberg, Bianca set aside her personal feelings and agreed to a political match arranged by her family, only to end up trapped in a loveless, miserable marriage. When her husband unexpectedly dies, Bianca vows never to wed again. Newly independent, she secretly uses her wealth and influence to save other women stuck in dire circumstances. Information is power and Bianca has a network of allies and spies that would be the envy of the ’verse—if anyone knew about it.

When her family’s House is mysteriously attacked, Bianca’s oldest brother, the heir to House von Hasenberg, disappears. Fearful for her brother’s life, the headstrong Bianca defies her father and leaves Earth to save him. Ian Bishop, the director of House von Hasenberg security—and Bianca’s first love—is ordered to find and retrieve the rebellious woman.

Ian is the last man Bianca wants to see. To evade capture, she leads him on a merry chase across the universe. But when their paths finally collide, she knows she must persuade him to help her. Bianca will do anything to save her sibling, even if it means spending time alone on a small ship with the handsome, infuriating man who once broke her heart.

As the search takes them deep into rival House Rockhurst territory, Bianca must decide if she can trust Ian with the one piece of information that could destroy her completely . . .

Preorder:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Kobo
Google Play | IndieBound

I’m currently working on AB edits. Luckily, my editor liked it overall (woohoo!), so there were only some minor-ish changes needed, mostly around deepening the backstory. Ada was my first love, but after rereading large chunks of AB, I love Bianca just as much. I can’t wait for you to meet her!

Here’s a little snippet for you. This book is far more of a slow burn than PR, so this happens a little later in the book, but it’s spoiler-free. :) This is still rough draft, subject to change, etc, etc. Happy reading!

My alarm tried to drag me from sleep but I fought the pull. I’d slept hard, but I could use another hour or two. The heavy drapes were closed, leaving the room dim. Putting my com on the dresser had seemed like a good idea at the time, but it meant that now I had to drag myself from bed to turn off the cursed beeping.

…

Aurora Blazing Cover Reveal and Snippet!Read More »

Polaris Rising Chapter 3

January 29, 2019 / Author News, Snippet, Writing

I hadn’t planned to put up chapter three because the whole chapter was just over what I was contractually allowed to share, and I didn’t want to leave you hanging in the middle of a scene.

But HarperCollins shared it on their page (thanks to Ness on Twitter for the heads-up), so I asked permission to share it here, and my editor was kind enough to give me the go-ahead!

Head over to my Polaris Rising page to read the first THREE chapters (click READ MORE). Then don’t forget to preorder because we’re just one week away from release!! Cue the panic flail. 😂

Polaris Rising: ARC Giveaway and Book Signing!

January 9, 2019 / Author News, Events, Giveaway, Snippet, Writing

We are just under four weeks away from the release of Polaris Rising! I can’t believe it. And to make it even more unbelievable, I am going to have a book signing at BookPeople in Austin, TX on Saturday, February 9 at 2:00 PM!

A book signing! At a bookstore! 😱

If you are local, please, please consider coming. I feel a little bit like one of those MLM people, trying to coerce people into attending, but my nightmare is I show up to a room full of empty chairs. So tell your friends, tell your mom, and heck, tell your friends’ moms. :)

You must buy the book from BookPeople to get it signed, but you can come meet me and hear me nervously ramble for free!

If you are not local, you can still order signed books and BookPeople will ship them straight to your door! Details are available on the event page.

And if you haven’t preordered yet, now is an excellent time. :) Preorder numbers are important for a debut author, so if you’re planning to pick it up on release anyway, it would mean a lot to me if you preordered:

A million thanks to everyone who has already preordered or requested it from the library or told their friends about it. You all are the best! 😍

I’m doing two things to celebrate being less than a month from release. First, I’ve made some quote cards with tiny little snippets of PR. These will go up on Instagram first before migrating to my other social media.

Instagram is new for me and I’m still trying to find my footing, but here is the first snippet! (I’m not using the built-in embed because it’s terrible, but if you click the image, it’ll take you to the Instagram page with a bigger version.)

There are moments in your life when you absolutely know what you should do and then you absolutely choose to do something else entirely.

This was one of those moments.

—Ada von Hasenberg, Polaris Rising

Let me know what you think!

Secondly, I’m giving away six ARC copies of Polaris Rising! 🎉🚀🎉

Your patience in reading this far was rewarded!

To enter to win an ARC, here are the rules. Please read them all! Incomplete entries will be ignored.

1. The entry period starts now and ends on January 18, 2019 at 12:00PM (noon) CST. You must be eighteen or older. Open to US and international readers.

2. Leave ONE top-level comment (i.e., not a reply) below and tell me about something positive. It could be a promotion at work, getting to spend time with family, a book you love, etc. Let’s put some happiness out into the world. :) Duplicate top-level comments will be deleted. You are welcome to reply to other comments, though, because those won’t count as entries.

3. Comments must be on the blog post on my site (www.jessiemihalik.com). Comments on Facebook, Goodreads, etc. won’t count.

4. Come back after 1/18 and see if you’ve won! Winners must claim their book. Instructions will be included in the winning post.

I’ll start: In addition to all the publishing awesomeness, my husband got a new job he’s excited about, and I recently read The Emperor’s Edge by Lindsay Buroker. It was really fun. It’s like a high-fantasy Leverage where a determined woman turns a rag-tag bunch of criminals into a team for a crazy plot to save the empire. And it’s free!