Halloween Greetings!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Here we are, at the end of October again already. Mother Nature finally allowed autumn to arrive in Colorado and the weather feels like it should, rather than eternal summer. Don't get me wrong, I like things about all the seasons (and I live someplace where I'm lucky enough to get all four of them), but fall is my absolute favorite. Time to break out the cozy sweaters and hot cocoa! Yay! And in the spirit of Halloween, I've brought you all a treat.

Trust me when I say I desperately wanted to get this out before today. But with life being as it is, I simply ran out of time. I spent the whole month writing this story and got it out to all the vendors this morning. It's a delightful little (angsty) Halloween tale from the Galactic Explorers universe, told from the perspectives of Liam, Skylar, and Aitana. It was fun to write and discover the surprises along the way. I hope you enjoy it too.

With the release of this short story, I decided to revamp how I'm making my free reads available. I'll still make them free, but I'll be publishing them through my vendor sites rather than posting the files here. I want to make it as easy as possible for people to read my stories, which is why I'm making them available via whatever app readers prefer most. I will offer one tiny caveat, however. Making titles free at Amazon requires a little extra effort and time, so it may take a couple days for stories to flip to free there. For all other vendors, I can set the price as free upon publishing.

Featured artwork for this post is, as you might be able to guess, the renders I created of my characters' costumes in the story. The header image is Ethan and Liam as pirates, which, I must admit, turned out even better than I imagined. Ethan was born to be a pirate, I swear.

Skylar and Noa chose the angel vs. devil trope. If you know my characters, then you might think I unfairly typecast them, but I offer some fair warning that Skylar isn't quite as innocent as he looks. I mean, those boots... That boy certainly obliterates some misconceptions in this story.

And that brings me to the lovely ladies who will be getting their turn in the spotlight soon. I'm still figuring out who Kat and Aitana really are. I introduced them properly in Rasalas (though their names came up in earlier books too), and this story gave me a chance to learn some more about them. To be perfectly honest, I hadn't committed to writing a whole book with them until recently. The more I thought about it, though, I realized the series wouldn't feel complete without their story, so they will be getting book five. A word to the wise, though. If you think Ethan is a handful, then watch out for Kateryna. She's already making mischief in my head. Writing her shenanigans will be fun. The way things are lining up in my head, I think book five will be the summer 2025 release. We'll see how things go.

Speaking of upcoming projects, I can say for certain that there are currently six books queued up in my brain. I've outlined and started the first book of a new series which I've planned to be a little less... epic than my last couple of series. There will be four books in that one. And then two more books for Galactic Explorers. I already mentioned book five, but I also know I'll be writing an epilogue for the series as well. I cannot get that one out of my head. I have to write it.

So, that's what's happening in Leah's world at the moment. Keep an eye on the free reads page for the short stories as I get them posted. I'll also announce them here on the blog when I do.

​I hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween and I'll see you again soon! Thanks for your support and thanks for reading!