The Home for Mell Eight's Original Fiction
Mell Eight is an author of LGBTQIA original fiction, primarily M/M.
If that is not your thing, hit the back button, otherwise welcome and enjoy!
If that is not your thing, hit the back button, otherwise welcome and enjoy!
Out Now:Gifting a Dragon's Heart
March 19, 2024 Soul Bond
January 30, 2024 Coming Soon:
The Chef
More Information Coming Soon Current Projects:
Submitted Projects:
I have been working with Nine Star Press since August 2019.
I worked with Less Than Three Press from December 2011 to July 2019.
Supernatural Consultant Volume One received this award.
Ground of Insurrection was Nominated
Hadash Aviv was Nominated
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3/30/24
For many reasons this week has both dragged and gone way too fast. Every time I looked at a clock, it felt like the hands were moving backward, and yet I blinked and suddenly it was already Friday! I can't really put how odd this feels into words, so instead let me explain everything I've been up to this week. First of all, the response for Gifting a Dragon's Heart has been beyond positive. Not a single bad review, which is almost unheard of! You all really seem to have enjoyed my quirky sci-fi/fantasy crossover story. For anyone that missed it, Gifting is available for purchase at most major retailers. My next story on the docket for release is The Chef, which is completely different in style to Gifting a Dragon's Heart. Beyond the fact that The Chef is almost double the length of Gifting, it also has a lot more world building and a slower build up to the romance and the plot. I received the first round of edits for The Chef this week. It's amazing how much more time and effort editing 60k words is compared to all the shorter stories I've been releasing. I was so excited to be working on The Chef again, but this was another instance of the clock moving in the wrong direction. I'd think I had made a lot of progress and was enjoying the opportunity to play with this story again, and then I'd realize I had only finished five pages. In a 20 to 30k story, five pages is a ton. In a 60k story that's barely scratching the surface. Lol It took me all week to return The Chef to my editor for round two. Despite that, my goal is still to write more longer works so this process has been very rewarding. Speaking of writing, I added another chapter to the third book in the trilogy, The Spy, which concludes the fun that began in The Chef. I've finished the needed introductory parts to the second half of the story and now it's time to dive into the meat of the plot as the climax for this book and the series takes off. The Spy is currently 35k words long and I believe I have enough outlined to get it to 50k, which would put it in the longer range for my books. I had to pause writing this story when the edits for The Chef came in, so I hope I can jump back in where I left off. I want to finish writing The Spy as quickly as possible because there are a ton of other plots dancing around in my head, asking for their turn. If a book is listed on my Current Projects page, it is one of those stories demanding I write them too. The problem is if I start working on one of them, The Spy won't get finished. That's what happened with my Magnified trilogy; I got distracted by other series and plots, and now it feels too daunting to go back and finish the last book. Codified is absolutely still on my to-do list, but so is Dragon Spy and Vivary Tales, and the list goes on. There's a lot to look forward to, so I'm excited to see where the next few weeks of writing take me! 3/17/24
In fact, I have a book coming out in two days! For anyone who pre-ordered with NSP, you can read Gifting a Dragon's Heart right now! For everyone else, Gifting will come out at most major retailers on Tuesday. This fact literally dawned on me about an hour ago. I did send out a proper cover reveal in my newsletter a little over a week ago, but I also meant to re-post it here. I also wanted to do some more hype. Somehow, none of that happened. If I say I was distracted with writing The Spy, does that excuse me for not remembering to advertise properly? Probably not. Lol A combination of things have kept me totally fried. You remember from my previous blog post about how I was starting to catch up from being behind? Yeah, that failed. I'm still behind on everything. Work has been kicking my butt lately, so all I have the energy to do when I get home is nuke some leftovers and collapse onto the couch to watch anime. Weekends are therefore filled with all the things I couldn't get accomplished on the weeknights, and therefore aren't as relaxing or rejuvenating as usual. Truth is, I can find plenty of excuses as to why Gifting has inadvertently fallen by the wayside. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel! I am taking a lot of vacation very soon, and I am hoping the R&R will get me back on my feet. I will be traveling for fun and I'll be going home for the holidays next month. I'll tell you all about the traveling when I'm done, but I'm really excited! Anyway, Gifting a Dragon's Heart is available to read right now at NSP, and available for preorder at most major retailers until it comes out on March 19th! Please go and get your copy today! In the meantime, I have actually been writing. The Spy continues to go well. I have had a couple of fun ideas for my characters that are helping to bring the major plot points together, one of which I'm particularly eager to start writing in the next chapter. I also got a new idea for one of my older stand alone stories that was languishing. I'm hopeful that this idea will lead to something and I'll be able to get another story off my to-do list. We'll see. 2/21/24
Today it feels as if I'm behind on everything. One of the things I'm delinquent on is keeping all of you in the loop about my stories, so writing this post is a good start at catching up. There's a lot of information about what's going on to share, so here we go! The reception and reviews for Soul Bond have been excellent. Everyone seems to have enjoyed my Valentine's-themed short story! Mixing illegal magic with a good mystery and sweet romance appears to be what everyone wants to read this time of year. I don't currently have any plans for more short stories, but I will make sure not to ignore a plot bunny for one should it hop into my brain. Gifting a Dragon's Heart is my next story getting released. You can pre-order it at NSP, Amazon, or Smashwords right now! If you want, you can also add it to your Goodreads list, where positive ARC reviews are already coming in. Gifting officially comes out on March 19th, just over a month away. As usual, if you pre-order with NSP, you can get it four days early. For a sneak peak of the cover, head over to any of those sites. I should have the official graphic to share really soon! The Prince, book two in my Princes of Toval series, was accepted for publishing with NSP! I'm really happy, as this means it's just as good as the first book, The Chef. I expect the editing process for The Chef to begin really soon, but The Prince likely won't start that process until fall. I've made great progress writing the third book in the trilogy, The Spy. I have written over 30k words, which is more than halfway. I will definitely reach 50k total words, although I'm still aiming for closer to 60k. There was some major action right before the halfway point, which means this story needs to enter a lull as I set things up for the final punch. Making sure the slower build-up is as interesting as the fast-paced action is always a good challenge so I'm very hopeful the next few scenes turn out. |