As the five year anniversary of my first published book approaches, I’m giving it a refresh, and a sequel!
Aside from the gorgeous new cover, and a few spelling errors corrected, the book is essentially the same. However, there’s a new sneak peek at the sequel in the back, and I’m working hard on editing the mostly completed manuscript so I can get it out before the end of the year.
No one expected the last night of the Summer holidays to be deadly.
Rain and her best friends Rachel and Jackie head to the carnival. Rain’s plan was to chat up Jake, who runs the Ferris Wheel, and maybe get a kiss or two. But then Rachel’s killed in mysterious circumstances, and none of them will ever be the same again.
When Rachel returns as a ghost insisting Rain find out who killed her and why, she turns to Jake, who knows more than he seems to. In fact, he’s encountered weird stuff like ghosts and monsters before.
So now she just has to grieve for a friend who she’s still talking to, try not to fall deeper in love with Jake, keep her family off her back, decide who to trust, infiltrate the funfair and find Rachel’s killer. Piece of cake, right?
The Suburban Book of the Dead is available on multiple book platforms on ebook, and paperback via Amazon. I should have paperbacks in my online store soon enough.
As for the sequel, The Suburban Book of Dreams is coming soon.
Descent is a non-binary fantasy novel written entirely without the use of gendered pronouns, set in a magical world of towering mountains, frigid forests and shadowy chasms.
Tragedy has befallen the best and brightest at the Callan Imperial College of Striking. A young mage, a prodigy who once had a bright future ahead of them, flees terrified into the night. In an unyielding, foreign world, they are tested and tried time and time again as they battle with heartache and the loss of innocence, making new friends and new enemies on their steady descent into the shadows.
Too much chaos, if you ask me. I’m Chris, and I’m stuck in the Inbetween. It’s kinda my fault, I did jump, but I didn’t expect this. I don’t know what I was expecting… but now I’m the cat curiosity is trying to kill – or, at least, I can be.
Turns out I’m a Bone Magician. The last Bone Magician. And there’s a prophecy, because of course there is, and the deadline is my 16th birthday, because of course it is! I did not pack enough brownies for this mission. But there are good things too. Did I mention AJ? Have you met AJ? You need to meet AJ. He’s going to teach me magic, and we’re going to save the world.
Neurodiverse Jesse loves pop culture and the animals he cares for in the store. Drew is a high school teacher who has written a book on American poetry and loves Shakespeare and has a history of making bad relationship choices. How can their relationship survive when everyone around them constantly reminds them of the differences separating them? When one of Drew’s bad choices from the past shows up, it sets in motion a confusing and heartbreaking chain of events that tests their relationship. How can Drew and Jesse prove to their friends and family that what brings them together is stronger than what sets them apart? Can they demonstrate that sometimes, when it comes to love, the most important thing in the world is a smile?
Jesse’s Smile is a standalone MM romance featuring a slight age gap, hurt/comfort, opposites who attract, and a very sweet young man finding love in a world that doesn’t consider him worthy of it.
Modelling wasn’t the glamorous job portrayed in the media. It wasn’t all glitzy parties, fashion shows, and photoshoots. There was also the long hours being fitted for garments, of being told how to walk and when to smile. But for Addison, none of that mattered so long as she got paid. Several years of living on the streets after living in a world of excess had given her a new look on life, and she no longer took anything for granted.
But there was a darker side to the modelling world that wasn’t talked about.
There were people who viewed models as nothing more than mannequins with a heartbeat.
Men who refused to take ‘No’ for an answer… and those who thought Addison’s sexuality was something that could be changed with the right partner. Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
Then there were the stalkers. Addison had had her fair share of them since taking up the modelling contract with House of Bolton. But none of them had required Addison to be saddled with a bodyguard – Clio Di’lorio.
Until this one.
And the man behind the threats might be closer than Addison or Clio realise.
Runway Riot is a 59k fluffy dark, sapphic, mafia romance novel set in Melbourne, Australia. It involves a feisty bisexual bodyguard falling for her client, and a model with a dangerous stalker problem. Each book in the House of Bolton series can be read standalone.
A serial killer stalks the streets of Boggslake, Ohio. The victims are always found in pairs, one human and one vampire.
Simon Hawthorne has been a vampire for nearly a hundred years, and he has never seen anything like it. Neither have the other supernaturals he works with to keep the streets safe for both their kind and the humans.
One meeting with Simon finds Ben Leyton falling for a man he knows is keeping secrets, but he can’t ignore the growing attraction between them. A recent arrival in Boggslake, Ben finds it very different from his native New Zealand, but something about Simon makes Ben feel as though he’s found a new home.
After a close friend falls victim to the killer, Simon is torn between revealing his true nature to Ben, and walking away to avoid the reaction he fears. But with the body count rising and the murders becoming more frequent, either, or both of them, could be the killer’s next target.
Author’s note: This story was originally released in 2014 by another publisher. This edition has been revised and re-edited with the end result being a better, stronger story.
The case: a grandmother who vanished from a locked room. The best lead: a psychic who’s as mysterious as she is cute.
Detective Jack Duarte is the one called upon when weird cases hit Auckland. A fierce loner with a reputation for solving the unsolvable, she is the perfect choice for the latest odd mystery: the locked-room disappearance of a beloved grandmother, who has vanished without trace and, seemingly, without suspects or a motive. This time around, though, Jack has also been assigned a partner.
The fresh young detective Piper, who has transferred in with a difficult history, is determined to prove themself. Smart, perky, and inexperienced. They are exactly the kind of partner Jack manages to scare away. As they dig deeper into the mystery, though, Jack has to put her own reluctance in the back seat and help Piper navigate a whole different world — because the beloved grandmother has her own mysterious past, one that has already cost lives… and souls. With the help of the enigmatic and beautiful psychic Emmaline, Jack and Piper must confront the strange world on the other side of the mirror. Some mysteries can only be solved with magic!
Rival Princes by Jaxon Knight – now available wide on multiple book platforms
There are three golden rules for new recruits at Fairyland Theme Park:
1. No breaking character, even if you’re dying of heat exhaustion 2. Always give guests the most magical time 3. No falling in love. Nate’s only been at work one day, and he’s already broken all three.
Fast-tracked into a Prince role, Nate’s at odds with Dash, the handsome not-so-charming prince who is supposed to be training him. Nate doesn’t know how he ended up on Dash’s bad side, but the broody prince sure is hot when he gets mad.
Dash has worked long and hard to play Prince Justice at Fairyland. Now, instead of focusing on his own performance, he is forced to train newbie Nate to be the perfect prince. Nate’s annoying ease with the guests coupled with his charm and good looks could dethrone Dash from his number one spot … so why does he secretly want to kiss him?
Fairyland heats up as sparks fly between the two rival princes. Will they get their fairytale romance before they’re kicked out of Fairyland for good? Find out in this standalone MM contemporary romance by Jaxon Knight, set in an amusement park where fairytales can come true.
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Rival Princes is a sweet Rivals to Lovers romance with queer characters, set in a fairy tale themed amusement park. Guaranteed HEA. Some cursing, no cheating.
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For fans of Kiss Number 8 and On a Sunbeam, this debut graphic novel is a fast-paced time travel adventure with a hint of romance that has garnered 1.5 million views as a Tapas webcomic.
Ren Mittal’s last memory in the year 1996 is getting on a bus to visit his mystery pen pal Georgia. When he wakes up in 2122, he thinks he might be hallucinating…he’s not!
Tech conglomerate Chronotech sponsors a time-travel program to help students in 2122 learn what history was really like…from real-life subjects who’ve been transported into the future…and Ren is one of them.
In 2122, Ren’s life in the 1990s is practically ancient history—and Ren’s not sure how to feel about that. On top of it all, he learns that his memory will be wiped of all things 2122 before he’s sent back to the ’90s. Adding to Ren’s complicated feels, he’s forming a crush on his student guide, Mars.
And when he crosses paths with the absolute last person he expected to see in the future, he has a bigger problem on his hands: What if Chronotech isn’t the benevolent organization they claim to be, and he and his fellow subjects are in great danger
When life drowns you in lemons, to hell with making lemonade. I wanted to burn the whole world. But eighteen months from the day my life was torn apart, I’m tired of the anger. Tired of the nightmares. Tired of putting one foot in front of the other just trying to survive. Three months on a high country sheep station in the middle of nowhere is exactly the reboot I need. A chance to break free. To breathe again. To find a way forward. I put my entire life on hold and head south to Mackenzie Country. But falling for the captivating young station boss was never part of the plan. Holden Miller might be smart and sexy and push all my dusty buttons, but we come from two different worlds. I’m not looking for a relationship. I’m not interested in love. I’m done with all that. But Holden doesn’t care about my rules. Nestled safely in the arms of the spectacular Southern Alps, on an isolated sheep farm at the top of the world, Holden begins knitting my battered heart together one careful stitch at a time. And with every pass of the thread, every braid of the river on our doorstep, I catch a tantalising glimpse of something I’d almost given up on. Happiness, and maybe even love. If I have the courage to reach out and grab them.
When Mason Chynoweth inherits an old house in small-town New Zealand, he hopes to discover what happened to his great-great uncle Lewis after he returned from the war in 1945. Mason’s first encounter with the property is thankfully reassuring—his sensitive psychic powers aren’t triggered and he has a calm sense of coming home.
Elijah Whitaker arrives in Kedgetown for an extended visit with his aunts. He’s quickly drawn to Mason and offers to help him try to find some answers in the dusty old house. It soon becomes clear that Mason is keeping secrets, but Elijah has a few secrets of his own. Like his closely guarded knowledge of the hidden supernatural world, and the fact that many of the townspeople are psi and supernaturals.
What is the connection between the house and Postscript, the town’s enigmatic bookshop? Mason’s glimpses of the past give some clues, but not enough to make sense of the puzzle.
When a hidden journal comes to light, the true story of Lewis’s journey is revealed, and his path and Mason and Elijah’s begin to intertwine.
Meet Charley Deacon. She’s failing out of uni, being near the sea makes her inexplicably ill, and now her sister has gone missing in suspicious circumstances. Her only hope of finding her may lie with an impossibly old woman who lives – you’ve guessed it – by the sea.
Welcome to Inver Aora, a tiny settlement on the coast of New Zealand’s South Island. It has a holiday park, a woman who may or may not be a witch, and not a lot else. Most people can’t find their way here, but the locals find it hard to leave. If there’s anything weird going on, they’re not in the habit of talking about it.
Charley might be the least likely person to show up in Inver Aora, but it also might just be the place she discovers new powers, her own purpose, and some people that make her want to stick around.
2021 Sir Julius Vogel Award Finalist for Best Novella
Self-taught witch Ashley Robinson considers it her duty to protect her hometown Hamilton. She spends her time doing community work and picking up litter by the Waikato River.
But something is badly wrong with the river, a sickness deeper than mere pollution can explain. Magic must be the cause, but is it a curse or something else entirely? Ash has to get to the bottom of it, armed with nothing more than the support of her best friend Mikaere and a pocketful of crystals.
Then there’s Bryony Manu, the town’s only other witch. A charismatic practitioner of dark magic, Bryony is infuriating … and captivating. Ash needs their help to track down the source of the spell draining life from the river. Can she balance her work with her attraction to Bryony, and master her magic along the way?
Life is tough when you’re an eldritch abomination.
Trillin isn’t technically a person. She’s a tiny breakaway piece of consciousness from the all-devouring Endless, doomed to eventually rejoin it. But when a human witch stumbles into her world, Trillin suddenly has a new reason to figure out individuality–one shape-shifting tentacle at a time.
Sian is sure important magical discoveries are just around the corner, if she can just get her portals to work reliably. Reaching the dimension of the Endless without being eaten on sight is a dream come true, and Sian is determined to explore every bit of it. For science, of course, not for the strangely adorable life-form who keeps popping up and trying to… flirt?
But Trillin’s world can be a dangerous place, and keeping Sian safe might risk drawing the attention of the Endless itself–which will swallow Trillin up along with all her dreams of humanity. Together, can this unlikely duo escape the Endless, figure out the optimum number of appendages, and maybe even find love?
How to Get a Girlfriend (When You’re a Terrifying Monster) is a sapphic cozy fantasy romance between a witch scientist and a shape-shifting Cthulhu monster. HEA guaranteed!
An unsettling selection of sixteen quiet horror and dark speculative fiction stories from Australian Shadows Award-winner, Tabatha Wood.
It begins with a seed. A dream. An idea, planted and encouraged to grow. A thought that buries deep down inside and puts out monstrous roots. Until, at last, the bloom erupts and showers the land with life. It begins with a seed… The menopause brings some unusual and unexpected changes, a woman wakes up after a party in a body that isn’t hers, a teen’s life changes forever when they embrace the truth about who they are, and a lone mother tries to bury her traumatic past but instead grows a terrible future… An unsettling selection of sixteen quiet horror and dark speculative fiction stories brought together in a brand new collection from Australian Shadows Award-winner, Tabatha Wood.
Addison Harper is abruptly summoned to Milverton at the behest of an abrasive lawyer. He plans to be in and out, back to the city lickety-split. Instead, he finds himself charmed by the small town with its delightful and eccentric residents, not to mention the rather easy-on-the-eye Sergeant Jake Murphy.
Despite the rocky start, Addison admits he’s had a pleasant day out. That is, until returning to find the prickly old lawyer on the floor, and very much dead. Worse, it looks like murder, and Addison’s fingerprints are all over the crime scene.
Murder on Milverton Square is the first in a wonderful new cosy mystery series set in an enchanting small town nestled amongst stunning New Zealand scenery. The Milverton Mysteries features a chaotic cast of local busybodies, delicious baked treats, a demanding and disdainful ginger cat, a very slow-burn romance with a rather appealing policeman, and of course, murder…
Stitch-witch and costume supervisor Marnie Taylor knew she was taking a risk when she left her solid studio job in L.A. and returned to New Zealand to work on the film adaptation of her favourite fantasy series. But she didn’t expect supernatural sabotage – or her disastrous attraction to the star.
Rider Adams was hoping for something different for the next stage of his film career. Instead, he’s trapped with a terrible script and a production where everything that can go wrong does. And for some reason, he can’t stop making an idiot of himself in front of the costume supervisor…
Can Marnie and Rider overcome magical vandalism and studio stresses? Find out in Bespoke and Bespelled, the first Witchy Fiction novella in the Wellywood Magic series!
Felix Wood, valet, is determined to halt his employer’s downward spiral. Just because the man is a vicious beast three nights a month doesn’t mean he can’t be an impeccably dressed gentleman the rest of the month. Felix’s commitment to duty convinces Westaway, a man of more wealth than sense, that Felix is the valet he—and his large wardrobe—deserve.
There’s just one problem: Felix already has a gentleman, and his presence is the only thing between Robin and self-destruction. When a werewolf and his keeper are brutally murdered, Westaway and Felix must work together to prevent the Society of Lycanthropes and their Keepers being ripped apart. But even as he risks his life to save Robin, Felix finds himself drawn closer to Westaway, in an attraction that could destroy everything he values.
Non-Binary protagonist, urban fantasy Be careful what you wish for…
Arrow is fifteen, non-binary, and bored.
It’s one thing to read about magic, or watch ghost hunting shows. But Arrow yearns for something more. When they try out a prosperity spell from a magical library book, things start to go very very right.
Until they don’t.
Arrow’s good luck seems to be affecting a lot of the people around them. From A students suddenly failing quizzes to freak accidents, their good luck seems to be double-sided to say the least. Arrow’s best friend Ren knows not to mess with the unknown, but Arrow’s spell might just affect him all the same.
Arrow’s got to learn about how to wield their magic fast when the power they’ve drawn down proves to be beautiful, but dangerous as well.
Onesies and Ouijaboards is a young adult novella spinoff of the popular Mt Eden Witches series. There is no romance, but there are tarot cards, best friends, ghosts and bubble tea
Two rites stand before him. Fail one and he will be powerless, fail the other and he will likely be dead. Falric Mislan is torn. Born of a magical Voce and a mundane Dracan, he stands at a crossroads. One direction leads him to the magic he craves, the other to a warriors recognition and status. Stung by his first abortive attempt at awakening his power, Falric throws himself into Dracan life…
Two rites stand before him. Fail one and he will be powerless, fail the other and he will likely be dead. Falric Mislan is torn. Born of a magical Voce and a mundane Dracan, he stands at a crossroads. One direction leads him to the magic he craves, the other to a warriors recognition and status. Stung by his first abortive attempt at awakening his power, Falric throws himself into Dracan life, and inadvertently unearths a perilous talisman. Watching slip away the last chance of his mother aiding his ambition, Falric accepts that his father’s people, and his passing of their Moon Rite, are his only path. But in the aftermath of his find, Falric now faces a bitter enemy who is determined to see him fail. Spending a month alone in the southern desert for his ‘Moon of Solitude’ is dangerous enough, but can he survive his own doubts, his unrequited desire for the magic that alludes him…and a man who dreams of deadly vengeance? Moon Rite is the exhilarating first book in the LGBTQ+ Legend of the Ancients, Books of Locurnia Fantasy series. If you like deep friendship, dangerous trials, and lethal enemies, all with a touch of heated passion, then you’ll love Deonne Dane’s gripping adventure.
I use a lot of notebooks. Like, a lot. I have a large collection of notebooks, and a year ago I actually decluttered about half of them because after moving house I realised I had more notebooks than I could reasonably use in my lifetime. I gifted them to friends, it was a good time.
What that’s left me with is a few shelves of notebooks I genuinely love. I use a lot of notebooks, right now I have probably a dozen in active use for all my life admin and writing projects.
I’m telling you this to try to explain my love for notebooks because I think it was always a matter of time before I started to make my own. I watched some YouTube videos on how to do it, talked to a friend who is also in the notebook biz, and got to creating.
The reading log journal includes a 60 book reading challenge at the front, a series of pages with room for reviews and prompts, and then a generous number of pages of dot grid so you can continue to review or make notes however you like.
Reading Log Journal – tea and treats
This is the same interior as the other reading logs, but with a bright and cheery tea, baked goods and berries design all over the cover.
This is the same interior as the other reading logs, but with a cute repeating pattern of deer, rabbits and birdies to give a forest-core feel to the cover.
For nerds, tabletop roleplaying gamers, LARPers and anyone who just likes to take nerdy notes. This notebook is designed to make you think deeper about the characters you design – with prompts for character backstory, Non Player Characters, spaces for doodles or pasted in pictures.
The second part of the notebook is space for campaign notes, sketches and anything else you want to record.
When I was a teenager I started the habit of carrying around little notebooks that people gifted me, or that I bought on sale at the old Kirk’s department store. I invariably called these “useful book to put things in” and this is my iteration of those beloved notebooks.
Fully dot gridded and 180 pages, it’s a book for you to use any way you like
This week is KiwiRPG Week! An excellent collective of Aotearoa based game designers, players and podcasters have teamed up to do some excellent things this week. If you’re interested in Tabletop RPGs and want to learn about my newest game, read on!
The biggest excitement for me is today I launched my new game: Trading Places
Before I get into that, a shout out. My game isn’t the only one launching today, the esteemed Simon Carryer has released a D&D fan edit called Pyramid of the Undying which you should also check out!
Trading Places is a journaling game. It’s an introspective game about ordinary and extraordinary lives, and I’m very proud of it.
It’s about swapping bodies, a la Freaky Friday or the brilliant book The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. What if one day, you woke up in a body and a life that isn’t your own?
It’s run beautifully in playtests, with one game running full Hallmark Christmas movie, and another game going a lot more poetical and introspective about the nature of life. It’s a game which you can do a lot with, and I expect is only the first of many journaling games from me…
Jamie Sands - Author 