#ScienceFiction #Fantasy Saturday - Welcome to the afterlife! #FREE #YA #zombie #paranormal

Welcome to a Halloween edition of #sffsat! To celebrate the spooky holiday and all things supernatural, my YA zombie novella - Restless In Peaceville - is free for the 30th and 31st of October, a story that my editor described as 'adorable'. Yep, that's not a typo! Apparently she's even been reading it to her 8th grade students, who were loving it. So today I'm sharing part of the opening, where my young hero has found himself standing in a long line of people in a huge gray hall stretching to infinity for no reason he can recall. He's a little freaked out. WARNING: he swears a lot. But then, you probably would do too in this situation...

I lean out of the line, but duck back in quickly because I can't believe what I just saw. There's a fucking demon walking down the line. I'm not kidding. An actual demon, with glowing red eyes, horns and all, dressed in a suit. Shit, an actual suit, with a shirt and tie, and huge ruby cufflinks at its wrists. Like the devil went shopping in Armani. And the suit fits so perfectly the damn thing must have got it special ordered. For an instant I imagine that scene, trying to pull myself away from what must be insanity. No way did I just see that. I've gotta be hallucinating or something.

The demon starts talking to the guy in front of me and I can't tear my attention away. This is some weird shit dream.

"Welcome to the afterlife, I'm your check in assistant for eternity. Name?"

I hope you enjoyed that (and don't judge my teen hero too harshly). You can download the full novella for FREE from Amazon until the end of the 31st of October.

A YA Zombie Novella
Goodreads | Amazon (inc KU)

In the meantime, check out the other participants in Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday by clicking on the link under the banner below.

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday

#Free Days - Restless In Peaceville #YA #zombie #paranormal

Because it's Halloween, I've decided to put my YA zombie novella - Restless In Peaceville - up for free at Amazon for a couple of days. Seems kind of appropriate, being as it's a zombie book and a Halloween zombie walk actually takes place about halfway through the story. To check it out on Amazon, simply click on the link below the book cover. Happy Halloween!

A YA Zombie Novella
Goodreads | Amazon (inc KU)

#ScienceFiction #Fantasy Saturday 79 - Cajun #Zombie Problems

EXCERPT | GOODREADS
Available at... Lycaon Press
 AllRomanceeBooks  
Bookstrand | Amazon
Smashwords | B&N
Print available at...
Lycaon Press | Amazon 
The Book Depository

Welcome to another #sffsat snippet! This week I'm continuing with my YA zombie story, Restless In Peaceville, now available in gloriously gory print. Last week my hero Luke had woken to find a gator dragging him off for dinner. How's he going to get out of that one?!

My resistance earns me a growling from the gator, and he yanks all the harder on my foot until I can hear my joints popping as they threaten to snap. He shakes his head, hoping to break my hold, and my damn fingers slip. I feel things parting in my ankle. Shit, I can't afford to lose my foot. I let go of the tree but I kick him in the head with my free leg, hard enough that he lets go. Most gators wouldn't give up a meal so lightly, but I hit a damn site too forceful to be classed as easy. He growls and goes for another bite, but my next kick breaks his jaw. Bleeding, several teeth missing, he scuttles away into the river, more than his pride hurt. I sit and stare until the ripples he made smooth out into stillness. Then I check the damage.

His teeth have gone deep, leaving a pretty pattern and some of my flesh torn. I don't have nothing to patch it up, and I don't much care. I've lost Annabelle. I should have just let the gator take me. 

So there is one advantage to being a zombie - superhuman strength! If you enjoyed that you can check out further excerpts by clicking on any of the book links under the cover image above or in the side bar. In the meantime, why not read some excerpts from the other participants by clicking on the banner below?

#ScienceFiction #Fantasy Saturday 78 - Cajun #Zombie Problems

EXCERPT | GOODREADS
Available at... Lycaon Press
 AllRomanceeBooks  
Bookstrand | Amazon
Smashwords | B&N
Print available at...
Lycaon Press | Amazon 
The Book Depository

Hello, and welcome to another #sffsat snippet. I missed last week due to the death of my beloved smartphone just as my three monsters were home for the half term holidays - eep! So that was pretty much all my social media interaction out the window for nine days. O.o
So, last time I left you with a first kiss for my two adorable zombies. This time it's far less romantic. Knocked out cold during a supernatural squirmish, Luke has a rude awakening: a hungry gator attracted by the traditional aroma of zombie - rotting flesh!

I can hear the frogs. Above me, the moon is so fiercely white and full, it hurts my eyes. It's also jerking across the sky between the branches of the cypress like someone's hauling on the leash of a disobedient hound. I frown at it, and then realize it ain't the moon moving. It's me. Something's got a hold of my leg and is dragging me along.

Glancing down sets me yelling. A gator has my right ankle in its jaws as it pulls me down to the river. A small one as alligators go and probably why he hasn't dug himself a hole in the mud to hibernate. I guess he's planning to stick me under a log until I rot and tenderize a little more. But I ain't planning to end up in his stomach. Not when I might still be conscious all the way through digestion.

I twist and latch onto a nearby tree. I'm so slick with mud that sheer strength and bloody minded stubbornness are all that keep me clinging on. 

Gee, who'd be a zombie in swampy Louisiana?! If you enjoyed that, you can check out more by clicking on any of the links under the book cover at the top of this post. Also, today (28th February) is also the very last day to enter the Goodreads giveaway for a signed print edition of Restless In Peaceville (you can now buy the paperback from Amazon, or get a better deal direct from my publisher Lycaon Press or The Book Depository).

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Restless In Peaceville

by Pippa Jay

Giveaway ends February 28, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

In the meantime, please check out the other participants in this week's sffsat by clicking on the banner below. Enjoy!

#ScienceFiction #Fantasy Saturday 77 - Cajun #Zombie Problems

EXCERPT | GOODREADS
Available at... Lycaon Press
 AllRomanceeBooks  
Bookstrand | Amazon
Smashwords | B&N
Print available at...
Lycaon Press | Amazon

Welcome to another #sffsat snippet, and Happy Valentine's Day! To celebrate, I'm posting something DEAD romantic from my YA zombie novella, Restless In Peaceville. Did you see what I did there? Zombies? Dead romantic? Oh, never mind... :P 
But since my adorable zombies have just come out in gloriously gory print and bearing in mind the date, I thought I'd share a more romantic moment from the story. Here, my two teen zombies have just evaded the supernatural hunter who likes to put the undead to permanent rest. Having done a heroic deed by standing between Annabelle and the bullet meant to finish her off,  Luke begins to think perhaps this whole being undead thing isn't so bad after all...

She's still smiling at me. Hell, girls have never smiled at me, except when they were laughing at me. Maybe this being dead ain't so bad. I lean forward. I don't know what I'm doing, but I want to try this. What's the worst that can happen?
So I kiss her. I don't know what it's meant to be like, but I've imagined it often enough. Dreamed about it sometimes. Her lips are cold, but they're soft and she doesn't pull away. Instead her arms go round my neck and she pulls me closer. And for a few minutes I forget that we're both dead and there's a big black shadow and a madman after us, and that we've no idea how to get out of this. Because Annabelle is kissing me, and suddenly that's all that matters for the next five minutes of my death.

Awww! Aren't they cute?! My editor thought so, anyway. If you'd like more, you can check out the book at any of the links below the book cover, and you can now pick it up in print as well as ebook format. In the meantime, why not check out the other participants in this week's round of sffsat by clicking on the banner below?

Release Day - Restless In Peaceville in Print! #YA #paranormal #zombies

It's the official release day for the print version of Restless In Peaceville. I'm back in print, baby! You can now pick up my adorable zombies in gloriously gory paperback from Lycaon Press and all Amazon sites. And why should you? Well, if you like Warm Bodies and Supernatural, this could be the book for you. Set in the rich and swampy depths of Louisiana, this was the hardest book I've every written and one that I'm the most proud of. Not enough? Check out the blurb below, and then you can always pop over to Goodreads to see what the reviewers have said. (psst, for UK peeps at least, you'll get a better deal buying the book direct from my publisher than from Amazon).

Blurb:

Luke Chester has had enough. He's the school geek, the girls laugh at him, he's lost his dead-end job at the pizza place, and in the midst of the world's messiest divorce his parents don't even know he exists. An overdose of his mom's tranquilizers and a stomach full of whiskey should solve all his problems... 

But they don't. Instead, Luke finds himself booted out of the afterlife for not dying a natural death, with nowhere to go but back to his recently vacated corpse and reality. How the hell is he going to pass for one of the living without someone trying to blow his brains out for being one of the undead? 

And it just gets worse. He's got to fight his own desperate craving to consume the living, evade the weird supernatural hunter who's having a field day with the new undeads rising, and there's this creepy black shadow following him around. Add to that the distraction of female fellow undead Annabelle burning to avenge her own murder, and clearly there's no rest for the wicked. Jeez, all he wanted to do was R.I.P.

You can check out the tour stops and release day blitz spots at my hosts below.

6th - Savvy Authors - Getting out of my comfort zone

11th - Literary YA Fiction - Top Five Story Inspirations

Release Day Blitz 11th

Marva Dasef

My Creative Desk

Rachel Leigh Smith

Ian Smith

Aurora Springer

Laurel Kriegler

SA Hoag

12th - spotlight at Lindsey & Jane's Views & Reviews
13th - J.Lilley - Things I Learned from the story

16th - Kelly Smith Reviews - interview

And if you like all things zombie, you can get a sneak preview of the cover for my YA dystopian romance - Zombie Girl: Dead Awakened - by signing up for my newsletter HERE.

Print Release - Restless In Peaceville #YA #PNR #zombies #giveaway

Pre-order/buy the paperback at Lycaon Press, Amazon US, Amazon UK

Today sees the tour begin for the print release of Restless In Peaceville. Woot! This is my second print title (though the first is no longer available). You can find out some of my research resources, inspirations, and who I see playing the main characters by following any of the links below. Enjoy!

6th - Savvy Authors - Getting out of my comfort zone
11th - Literary YA Fiction - Top Five Story Inspirations
Release Day Blitz 11th
Marva Dasef
My Creative Desk
Rachel Leigh Smith
Ian Smith
Aurora Springer
Laurel Kriegler
SA Hoag

13th - J.Lilley - Things I Learned from the story
16th - Kelly Smith Reviews - interview

(psst, for UK peeps at least, you're better off ordering direct from my publisher rather than buying from Amazon - it'll work out cheaper).

Adorable #Zombies in #Print #YA #paranormal

I'm so excited! Today the print edition of my YA zombie novella went on pre-order at my publisher's site. This is my first book in print since my debut novel went OUT of print in August last year. Much as I love ebooks (I have over 300 on my Kindle), there's nothing like a print book. And especially a print book that you wrote yourself.

So now you have the chance to get what my editor called an 'adorable' zombie story to put on a real shelf instead of a virtual one, or as my cover artist put it, have it in the 'flesh'. :P

Not sure if you'd like it? Think of it as Warm Bodies meets Supernatural in Louisiana. You can also check out excerpts HERE and HERE, or see what others had to say about it over on Goodreads.

Blurb:

Luke Chester has had enough. He's the school geek, the girls laugh at him, he's lost his dead-end job at the pizza place, and in the midst of the world's messiest divorce his parents don't even know he exists. An overdose of his mom's tranquilizers and a stomach full of whiskey should solve all his problems... 

But they don't. Instead, Luke finds himself booted out of the afterlife for not dying a natural death, with nowhere to go but back to his recently vacated corpse and reality. How the hell is he going to pass for one of the living without someone trying to blow his brains out for being one of the undead? 

And it just gets worse. He's got to fight his own desperate craving to consume the living, evade the weird supernatural hunter who's having a field day with the new undeads rising, and there's this creepy black shadow following him around. Add to that the distraction of female fellow undead Annabelle burning to avenge her own murder, and clearly there's no rest for the wicked. Jeez, all he wanted to do was R.I.P.

***

In the meantime, you can click on the image above to go to the pre-order link, or click HERE.

Restless In Peaceville - Excerpt

"There." Annabelle snaps the second set of stitches with her teeth and packs her sewing stuff away in the box. "That's the best I can do."

"Thanks, Annabelle."

She flops onto the bed beside me with a smile and takes my hand. Funny how the little things she does mean so much. Bring me back as close to alive as either of us are likely to get.

"You saved my life, Luke."

I shrug my good shoulder. "Not really."

"Yes, really. I mean, I know we're dead already, but I remember what Ma Robbins said. He would have blown my head off and sent me straight to hell. You stopped him. You took the bullet for me."

I shrug again. Yeah, I did do that but I couldn't have stood there and let him shoot her. I look into her eyes again. Never to see her? To know what kind of place I'd let her get sent to? And the grin the Peacemaker would have had on his face at sending her to hell? No. I ain't gonna let that happen to her.

She's still smiling at me. Hell, girls have never smiled at me, except when they were laughing at me. Maybe this being dead ain't so bad.

I lean forward. I don't know what I'm doing, but I want to try this. What's the worst that can happen?

So I kiss her. I don't know what it's meant to be like, but I've imagined it often enough. Dreamed about it sometimes. Her lips are cold, but they're soft and she doesn't pull away. Instead her arms go round my neck and she pulls me closer. And for a few minutes I forget that we're both dead and there's a big black shadow and a madman after us, and that we've no idea how to get out of this. Because Annabelle is kissing me, and suddenly that's all that matters for the next five minutes of my death.

Upcoming - #Reveals, #Releases & More!

It feels like a non-stop rollercoaster of excitement since Tethered released at the end of July, followed by Restless In Peaceville in August, and now rushing toward my October release. Wow. But there's even more in the next month.

Blog Tour! The tour and giveaway for Restless is winding down. You can still visit and enter the rafflecopter by clicking on any of the links below, or there's a bonus giveaway at Aussie Owned and Read on the 26th. The rafflecopter is open until the end of September. PLUS, I received news that Restless will be coming out in PRINT! No date yet, but I'm anticipating 2015.

1st - Dana's YA Bookpile (interview)

3rd - Winter Bayne (Adorable Zombies)

4th - Mark of the Stars (The Appeal of Zombies)

5th - Paranormal Reads (excerpt)

6th - Rachel Leigh Smith (5 Facts about Restless In Peaceville)

8th - Liana Brooks (How To Date A Zombie)

9th - Rise of the Slush (excerpt)

11th - Cassandra Page (excerpt)

11th - Ryan Hill (interview)

12th - Celia Breslin (10 Facts you might not know about Zombies)

14th - An Author's Quest (review)

14th - My Creative Desk (Five Research Resources)

15th - Everyday Fangirl Why Teen TV Shows Rock

17th - Going from Nobody to Somebody (character interview)

17th - Kyndra Hatch (review)

18th - YA Readers America

26th - Aussie Owned and Read (interview)

Exclusive cover reveal at The Galaxy Express! I'll finally be showing off my cover for my November release--superhero romance When Dark Falls--this Friday!

Cover reveal! On the 1st October, my fabulous blog hosts listed below will be hosting the cover for my October release--a Halloween-themed paranormal romance short. Want to get a sneak early peek a day before anyone else? Sign up to my no-spam newsletter HERE. Visit any of the blogs listed to enter the international giveaway for a pentagram necklace and six jasmine-scented glitter candles. The rafflecopter is open for the whole of October.

Celia Breslin

Layna Pimentel

Mark of the Stars

Liana Brooks

Melisse Aires

Cate Peace

Sonya Clark

Everyday Fangirl

Liza O'Connor (plus review)

Winter Bayne

Karen Y Bynum

EJ Frost

My Creative Desk

Rise of the Slush

Racing to Read

Paranormal Reads

Spacefreighters Lounge

News! Except I can't tell you it yet, bwahahaa! Stay tuned for an announcement.

Events!
October sees the start of Scream! For the Cure, a charity event where bundles of books and goodies will be auctioned off for a cancer charity. Check out the website HERE for details.
Visit the LRC yahoo group on the 14th October for Witches, Warlocks and Wizards where I'll be sharing an excerpt from my Halloween release, and there'll be lots of fun and giveaways.
Also Embrace Your Madness Facebook Party HERE on the 25th October for giveaways and fun. Unfortunately I'm away at BristolCon, but a copy of my Halloween release will be given away during the party.

Restless In Peaceville - #Zombies on Tour! #YA #paranormal

The zombies are coming! Restless In Peaceville is on tour, and there's a suitably cute zombie themed giveaway if you follow along on the tour by visiting my wonderful hosts listed below. And today only (1st September), Restless In Peaceville is 30% off at All Romance eBooks HERE - $3.49. Grab it quick!

Zombie Heart Pendant

Tour dates (September):

1st - Dana's YA Bookpile (interview)
3rd - Winter Bayne (Adorable Zombies)
4th - Mark of the Stars (The Appeal of Zombies)
5th - Paranormal Reads (excerpt)
5th - Literature YA Fiction (10 Things That Inspired RIP)
6th - Rachel Leigh Smith (5 Facts about Restless In Peaceville)
7th - Ryan Hill Writes (interview)
8th - Liana Brooks (How To Date A Zombie)
9th - Rise of the Slush (excerpt)
11th - Cassandra Page (excerpt)
12th - Celia Breslin (5 Songs That Inspired RIP)
14th - An Author's Quest (review)
14th - My Creative Desk (Five Research Resources)
15th - Everyday Fangirl
17th - Going from Nobody to Somebody (character interview)
17th - Kyndra Hatch (review)
18th - YA Readers America
26th - Aussie Owned and Read (interview)

#Ebook #Sale Bonanza! #scifi #romance #PNR #YA

Wow, this is a great weekend for book lovers everywhere, with sales left, right and centre. And all of mine are in them too! If you wanted to try out one of my books, this is probably the best time to grab them. You can pick up my whole library for under $10!!

My new SciFi romance adventure Tethered is still 50% off at Breathless Press until the end of August HERE - just $2

ALL my titles are 30% off at All Romance eBooks HERE. That includes Terms & Conditions Apply (SciFi romance) and my brand new YA paranormal Restless In Peaceville.

My YA SciFi Gethyon is 50% off at Champagne Books HERE - only $1 for a fast paced adventure novel.

And lastly, my cyberpunk short story Reboot is only $0.70 at Omnilit HERE.

As always, you can still pick up Tales from the SFR Brigade (a SciFi romance anthology of eight stellar shorts) for FREE from HERE.

So you could pick up my entire backlist for less than $10. Enjoy!

Tethered Tour - winner!

The tour for Tethered is over and the giveaway has closed. I'm pleased to announce that the winner of the DNA necklace and $5 Breathless Press gift card as selected by rafflecopter is...

EJ Frost

Huge congrats! In the meantime, a quick reminder that Tethered is still only $2 at my publisher's website HERE until the end of August, to celebrate their fifth birthday. In less than a week my tour for Restless In Peaceville begins (though you can check out a couple of posts about it now at Karen Y Bynum's blog and at the Writer's Nest), and there'll be another giveaway to tempt you with then. Enjoy!

Karen Y Bynum 20^th August Why Zombies?!

The Writer's Nest 22^nd interview

Dana's YA Bookpile 1st interview

Winter Bayne 3^rd Adorable Zombies – This Is Not A Typo

Mark of the Stars 4^th The Appeal of Zombies

Paranormal Reads 5^th Excerpt

Literature YA Fiction 5th Five things that got me writing teen zombies

Rachel Leigh Smith 6^th Five Facts About RIP

Ryan Hill Writes 7^th Interview

Liana Brooks 8^th How to Date a Zombie

Rise of the Slush 9^th Excerpt

Cassandra Page 11^th excerpt

Celia Breslin 12^th Ten Facts about Zombies

An Author's Quest 14^th review

Everyday Fangirl 15^th Two Teen Paranormal Inspirations – Why Kids TV Rocks

(Rachel Leigh Smith at mine) 16th

Going From Somebody To Nobody 17^th Character interview

YA Readers America 18^th Ten Things You might not know from reading the book

Aussie Owned and Read 26^th interview

Restless In Peaceville - #Release Day! #YA #zombies #paranormal

Lycaon Press

My zombies are finally here! Restless In Peaceville releases today. This one has been a bit of a rollercoaster. From arguing with muse over writing zombies, powering through NaNoWriMo last year with it, then getting a request from the full to working solidly on it for four months from start to submission. But now my adorable zombies are out in the world, waiting for you to fall in love with them like I did. You can hop over to Lindsay and Jane's Views and Reviews HERE to see their book spotlight with an excerpt, or visit the lovely Karen Y Bynum HERE for an explanation on Why The Heck Zombies?! I'll also be doing an interview about Restless In Peaceville at From The Writer's Nest HERE on the 22nd. The official tour starts on the 1st September - pop back then to find out what I'm giving away and why a scifi romance author suddenly started writing about the undead.

#Science #Fiction #Fantasy Saturday #72

Hello, and welcome to my excerpt for this week's #sffsat. I'm continuing with the opening from my upcoming August release - Restless In Peaceville - a YA paranormal novella (think Warm Bodies meets Supernatural in Louisiana). You can read the previous excerpt HERE. My MC Luke is still trying to come to terms with awakening some place he didn't expect...

Around us—well, it's a big gray hall. A really, really huge space, like an aircraft hangar kind of place, only no planes and no doors. In fact, no walls or roof either. The edges just blur into the darkness, as though none of it exists except the floor we're standing on, and I'm not even sure about that. Looking up makes me giddy. You know when you're dizzy from spinning around, and you lay down, but you feel as if you just keep on falling? That. So I don't try it again. I keep my eyes away from the endless line of other people waiting. Instead, I stare at the back of the person in front of me and try not to think about where I am and what may be going on. Because now I have a nasty suspicion about it and what might have happened. My mind scurries away from the thought. This ain't good. 

Restless In Peaceville will be available in all digital formats from Lycaon Press from the 20th August. In the meantime you can check it out on Goodreads HERE or my website HERE, or sign up to my newsletter to get the release announcement. Why not visit the others taking part in Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday by clicking the banner below.

#Science #Fiction #Fantasy Saturday #71

Hello, and welcome to my excerpt for this week's #sffsat. Long time, no see, huh? For my return I'm sharing the opening sentences from my upcoming August release - Restless In Peaceville - a YA paranormal novella (think Warm Bodies meets Supernatural in Louisiana). Here, my MC Luke is trying to come to terms with awakening some place he didn't expect...

Where the hell am I?

Not the most original question, I know, but it's the best place to start. The only place. I don't know where I am. I can't remember where I was. What I was. But nothing about this place is familiar, and some part of me didn't expect this.

There's a line of people all the way to infinity. I'm not exaggerating—I do mean infinity. And it hurts to look at it because the human mind can't handle that. Not completely. You think you know how that looks? You don't. You can't. 


Restless In Peaceville will be available in all digital formats from Lycaon Press from the 20th August. In the meantime you can check it out on Goodreads HERE or my website HERE, or sign up to my newsletter to get the release announcement. Why not visit the others taking part in Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday by clicking the banner below.

Restless In Peaceville - The #Zombies are coming! #cover #reveal #YA #supernatural

Today's the day, when I unleash the cover for my cute teen zombie story - Restless In Peaceville. Yes, that's not a typo. Cute zombies. Gorgeous cover. And below you'll find a list of my lovely, brave hosts who were willing to host my zombies for the cover reveal. Enjoy!

Karen Y Bynum

Winter Bayne

Celia Breslin

Joyce Mangola

Melisse Aires

My Creative Desk

Adventures of the Everyday Fangirl
Cassandra Page

Liana Brooks
Paranormal Reads

Racing to Read

Going from Nobody to Somebody (from the 28th)
Mark of the Stars (from the 29th)

Tuesday Teaser - Where am I? #YA #paranormal #zombies

You gotta be kidding me...Waking up inside a small dark space is a pretty bad experience. Although I didn't wake as such because I wasn't asleep. I just became...aware maybe? The darkness kind of faded away until I can see I'm inside this metal box. Well, as far as I can tell. I tap the wall with one knuckle to check, and the hollow metallic knock proves at least part of my assumption right. So, what is this? I died and got kicked out of the afterlife. As far as I know, coffins ain't made of metal. So at a guess, I'm in the mortuary, and since I'm not laid out on a slab I must have been put away in storage. I've never been stuck in a drawer before, but somehow this fits with how I imagine it would be.

I suppose I should count myself lucky they hadn't started carving me up, and that I'd gone for an overdose rather than throwing myself in front of a truck or out of a window. I'm in damn good condition...for a corpse. Still in one piece as far as I can ascertain, and that ain't easy to determine, let me tell you. You know how an arm or a leg goes after you've sat on it for a while, cutting off the circulation? But before the blood flow starts again and you get pins and needles? That numb heaviness? My whole body is like that. Like every part of me is full of lead.

Also, the not breathing is weird. I take a couple of breaths out of habit, for the familiar feeling of air moving in and out of my chest. After that I don't bother. It takes too much concentration and there are other things I need to focus on. Like, what do I do next, for instance?

So, what, I'm just gonna lie here?

Restless In Peaceville, YA paranormal romance coming August 20th, from Lycaon Press. Add it to your Goodreads shelf HERE. Sign up to my newsletter for sneak previews and release news HERE.

Happy Beltane 2014!

Since today traditionally marks the beginning of summer, it seemed an appropriate point to sum up the year so far, and what lies ahead. After a tempestuous start, things turned around quite radically. 2014 has so far been the year of the edits, with me cranking up only around 15K on the new words side. However...

My YA paranormal romance Restless in Peaceville, and my SciFi romance Tethered have both been through copy edits, and are now in the queue for line edits. As yet I've no official release date (unofficially it could be any time from July), no cover art, and the blurbs still require edits. I can't wait to share these with you!

Keir is still being edited for re-release. I'm sorry - with everything else happening right now my personal deadline on this just keeps moving. All I can promise us that it *will* be this year, with book two releasing either late this year or early next. In the meantime, to celebrate what would have been Keir's second book birthday I'll be running a giveaway on Goodreads for my last two print editions. I believe you can still buy print editions on Amazon, although I don't think there's many left.

My decopunk superhero story Darkfall (working title) received a rejection as I wrote this post, but since I have a request on it elsewhere I'm not the slightest disheartened (well, maybe just a tiny bit. But rejection is part of the business. You accept it, you move on). I'm currently trying to write a separate superhero short for an anthology call from Breathless Press, although I'm not sure I'll make the word count or the deadline.

My Halloween-themed sweet paranormal romance short is still with my editor Dani. The title is a secret until the cover reveal, and the story will release in October.

Everything else is still a WIP.

On the other side...

The Brenda Novak Online Auction starts later today, and I have a special Keir gift set as part of the SFR Brigade sponsored category. You can check out all the space-related goodies HERE, or click on the button top right-hand side bar.

On the 8th May I'll be attending a Women in Scifi panel up in London, with two of my fave authors speaking - Jaine Fenn and Janet Edwards. The event is FREE to attend - you can read about the event and get tickets HERE (if there are any left). So excited!

And also on the 8th, I'll be celebrating 21 years of marriage to my first love (in spirit, at least. We have a day booked to celebrate properly). This means I will now have been married for half my lifetime. Wow!

Restless In Peaceville - Excerpt and Links

A YA Paranormal Novella

EXCERPT: 
Copyright 2014, Pippa Jay
All rights reserved, Lycaon Press

I suppose I should count myself lucky they hadn't started carving me up, and that I'd gone for an overdose rather than throwing myself in front of a truck or out of a window. I'm in damn good condition...for a corpse. Still in one piece as far as I can ascertain, and that ain't easy to determine, let me tell you. You know how an arm or a leg goes after you've sat on it for a while, cutting off the circulation? But before the blood flow starts again and you get pins and needles? That numb heaviness? My whole body is like that. Like every part of me is full of lead.

Also, the not breathing is weird. I take a couple of breaths out of habit, for the familiar feeling of air moving in and out of my chest. After that I don't bother. It takes too much concentration and there are other things I need to focus on. Like, what do I do next, for instance? 

So, what, I'm just gonna lie here?

It's an option, but I'd probably give the next person who opens up my drawer a heart attack. I don't want another death on my conscience. Not when I already have my own. 

I put my hands up against the metal above me, and leave dents in it. Whoa. Gonna have to watch that. Clearly, I don't need a lot of muscle or effort as a zombie, which is good because I never had the first and never gave the second. I try again, but more hesitantly, and push myself outward. The drawer slams open so fast, wheels screeching, that it reaches its full extent hard enough to slam my skull into the drawer front, and then rebounds until it's almost closed again. That should've hurt, but it didn't. I touch my skull, half expecting it to be cracked in two, but there's nothing. Not even a dent...or a lump for that matter. But when I twist my head to look, the drawer front looks like it got beat by a baseball bat. That's gonna be one hell of a giveaway. 

I reach up and use just one finger to push the drawer wider. This time I roll out until my upper half is free of the drawer. That should do. Careful not to squeeze too tight, I grip the sides of the slab I'm lying on. I'm not sure about sitting up, because clearly I don't know my own strength any more, and the weird all-over numbness means I can't sense what I'm doing, or how much pressure I'm using. There's no pain to tell me when I might be damaging myself, if that's possible. 

Okay, this is it. I push myself upright easily enough, but can't stop myself slumping forward. Everything feels heavy. My head too heavy for my neck, my shoulders too heavy for my torso. Still holding the sides, I drag one leg up until my knee touches my chin, and then the other. I shuffle 'round until both feet drop to the floor, pulling my legs with them. I have plenty of strength but pretty damn poor coordination. It's kind of hard to synchronize your moves when it's like someone has attached weights to every bit of you.Won't this be fun? 

So I've got my feet on the ground. I stare at them and wiggle my toes. Back in the afterlife, they moved easily and in sequence. Now they just jerk. There are bruises and needle marks in both my arms, probably from them trying to pump a ton of drugs into me to bring me back. My skin is pale, only one shade away from stark white, with a bluish tint. Oxygen deprivation, I'd guess. I thought I'd be gray. Maybe that happens later. For now, I can probably pass for just being sick, if I can get my coordination together and get out of here. 

With that objective in mind, I lurch to my feet and fall flat on my face, luckily with one arm preventing my nose from getting smashed. Not that it hurts, but I really don't need to make myself look any worse. I push back onto my hands and knees, grab the edge of the table beside me, and then pull myself up slow and easy. At least I'm standing, even if I am swaying like I'm still getting hit by the alcohol. For the first time, I get a good look of where I'm at. 

The morgue. I've seen enough cop shows to recognize it. Never expected to be in one, least not and be aware I was. The table I'm hanging onto is one of those where they lay a body, clean it, and slice it up to figure out who or what killed you. I guess I should be grateful they hadn't got to that stage with me. Trying to stitch myself up with zombie fingers and with all my innards falling out would have been tricky.

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