Alyson Burdette, Author
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Book Release and a Free Read!
I've got a couple of announcements. First of all, I finally have a release date for Nightwater. It's official release is December 22, 2015. It's available for pre-order now!
Also, I'm running a free book promotion on Amazon until December 18th. You can download Nightfire for free for the next two days!
Happy reading! :)
Also, I'm running a free book promotion on Amazon until December 18th. You can download Nightfire for free for the next two days!
Happy reading! :)
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Cover Reveal!
Today I finally get to reveal the cover to my second book- Nightwater. What do you guys think? I love how it turned out! Thanks to Marianne from Premade Ebook Cover Shop.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Read the first chapter of Nightwater!
Today I finished my final edits of Nightwater! All that's left is to get the cover design and formatting done and I'll be able to make the book available for everyone. To celebrate, I thought I would post the first chapter of Nightwater: Book 2 in the Night Series below. ***There are major spoilers below if you haven't read book 1- you have been warned!*** Hopefully, I'll be able to share the cover art with you soon!
Nightwater: Book 2 in the Night Series
Chapter 1
Love overcomes all
challenges. It knows no boundaries. No limits. That’s what I tell myself as I
rock back and forth in William’s arms. He’s a creature now, like me. A vampire trapped
in a world of darkness. A world of death. Just moments ago, I thought he had
left this world forever; a slave to the fragile nature of mortality. Things
change, though. Everything’s different. He’s not leaving this world anymore.
Not now.
The cold basement
holding us is lit by the glow from a few dying embers. He pulls away and begins
to cough. “What’s going to happen to me?” William’s voice is raspy and soft.
His forehead wrinkles with confusion. Painful understanding stirs in his eyes. He
must know he’s a vampire, or at least in the process of becoming one. William
wipes his face with his hand. “I mean, physically. I need to be prepared if I’m
going to be a killer.” Yep, he definitely knows. He’s becoming a monster and
there’s nothing either of us can do to stop it.
I lean against the
stone basement wall and think back to when I turned. It’s a memory I’ve tried
hard to forget; some memories are not worth keeping. “You’re weak right now but
you’re going to get stronger. Once the initial pain and confusion clears, you’re
going to be hungry. It shouldn’t take long.” I keep my voice low, as if it
might hurt him. “You will feel unsettled for awhile. The sensation will last until
you feed.” I hate saying those words. I know they must hurt him. William values
human life more than anything.
“I’m not going to
feed,” he says, resolute.
William was always
too moral for his own good. He would never kill anything that wasn’t a monster.
“We can try animal blood,” I say in my best reassuring voice. “I don’t know how
long it will hold you, though.” I wish I could be good the way William is. “It
might buy us some time to figure things out, at least.”
His head rests
just inches from my face. I push dark, chestnut hair away from his midnight
blue eyes. “You look different already.”
“Different?” he
asks.
“Mm-hm. Like,
prettier I guess. That’s the only way I can describe it.” William was always
good-looking—masculine, strong—but he’s more than that now. Much more.
He takes a moment
to examine the back of his hands, which have become a beautiful, rich olive
color. I’m glad he’s distracted. “I think I’m hungry.” He looks up at me and terror
moves into his eyes.
“We need to get
you out of here.” I glance around the dark underground dungeon as I plot out
some sort of plan. The light from embers in the oversized fireplace across the
room is fading. It’s so dark that I can barely see the arsenal of deadly
weapons I know are laid out on a table across the room. This is probably a bad place
to be while he’s shifting. It’s full of dangerous objects; not something you
want around a new vampire. “Let’s get you somewhere safe. We need to get you
out of this house. The staff can’t see you like this.”
“Do I look that
different?’
I don’t respond.
“Agh!” He cries
out, biting his full lower lip as he wraps his hands around his stomach. I have
no idea where to take him. My place isn’t a realistic option right now; all kinds
of danger has found its way to my home. He mouths to me, It hurts. I hate that the pain is taking away his voice.
“I know,” I say. I
don’t remember the agony of the change. I only remember overwhelming hunger.
But maybe it’s because I’m different. I’m not pure vampire—at least not according
to Jesse. If he’s right, I’m half vampire, half…something else. Ruslka. A water
demon or something. All I know for sure is that I’m not human. I’m monster
through and through.
Maybe I have no
real idea of what to expect as William changes. I lead him by the hand to the
stairs, but he doubles over in agony before we make it up the first step. The
pain of transformation appears to be taking over. “The kitchen. Can you make it
to the kitchen?”
He doesn’t answer,
but feebly crawls up a few steps. I consider making a mad dash across the house
to get some raw, bloody meat and then running it back to him, but I’m terrified
of leaving him alone. Who knows what he might do. He slides up two more steps.
“I can handle this.” The words squeeze out his lips like the sour juice from a
lemon. I’m not sure if he’s saying it for his sake or mine. He glances down at
his feet.
“Do you think you
can get up? Maybe we can cover your face or something.” I try to arrange the
collar of his shirt to hide as much of his face as possible. It doesn’t work.
“I don’t think so,”
he says, as he struggles to stand.
Maybe I can carry
him and run somewhere safe, if such a place even exists. I bend down with every
intention of throwing him over my shoulders and carrying him up the stairs, but
stop as I remember why I ended up here in the first place.
There are vampires
after me. Lots of them. I’m pretty much guaranteed to run into a few the second
I step out the front door and there will be no way to avoid them with William
in my arms. I bend down again and try to guide him to kneel onto the steps, but
he pulls away. I know what I have to do and I hate it.
“Listen.” My words
are barely above a whisper. “You need to stay here. You aren’t going to make it
much farther.” I wish I knew more about this. “I need to get you something to
help with the pain.”
At the mention of
pain, William drops to the ground, writhing and convulsing on the crumbling
stone stairs. I have to go. There’s no more time. I open the door at the top of
the stairs and am momentarily blinded by the light filling the office. I take
two cautious steps forward then hear a click
behind me.
Friday, July 17, 2015
Book Two Update
I just wanted to post a quick update on the progress of the Nightfire sequel because a lot of people have been asking me about it.
Nightwater recently went through a really nice copyedit- if anyone is looking for an editor I would highly recommend Thomas at Main Line Editing! I've finally completed the edits after some delays due to a death in my family, and am preparing to have it go through a final proofreading. Once it hit's that stage it will just be a matter of having the book formatted and uploaded, so I think there's a good chance that Nightwater will be available within the next few months!
I'm excited to have it out in the world after waiting so long to release it-I hope my readers love the book as much as I do.
Also, the print version of Nightfire is available now on Amazon (as well as the ebook)- you can find it here if you are interested.
Transitioning to self publishing has been a fun learning experience for me. I can't wait to see what it brings in the future!
Nightwater recently went through a really nice copyedit- if anyone is looking for an editor I would highly recommend Thomas at Main Line Editing! I've finally completed the edits after some delays due to a death in my family, and am preparing to have it go through a final proofreading. Once it hit's that stage it will just be a matter of having the book formatted and uploaded, so I think there's a good chance that Nightwater will be available within the next few months!
I'm excited to have it out in the world after waiting so long to release it-I hope my readers love the book as much as I do.
Also, the print version of Nightfire is available now on Amazon (as well as the ebook)- you can find it here if you are interested.
Transitioning to self publishing has been a fun learning experience for me. I can't wait to see what it brings in the future!
Friday, May 15, 2015
Nightfire is Back!
So after a lot of thought and research, I've decided to self publish Nightfire and the following books in the series. The second book, Nightwater, is currently being edited and I'm hoping to have it available sometime in the next three to six months.
Check out the lovely new cover art from Marianne Nowicki! You can find more of her work here if you are looking for a cover artist!
Nightfire is available again in digital format an Amazon. If you are interested in checking it out click below:
Nightfire Ebook
I'm also working on making it available in print, which should happen in the next few weeks. Thanks to everyone who has helped me get my book back on track. I'm looking forward to an exciting future!
Check out the lovely new cover art from Marianne Nowicki! You can find more of her work here if you are looking for a cover artist!
Nightfire is available again in digital format an Amazon. If you are interested in checking it out click below:
Nightfire Ebook
I'm also working on making it available in print, which should happen in the next few weeks. Thanks to everyone who has helped me get my book back on track. I'm looking forward to an exciting future!
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Musa Publishing Announcement
Yesterday I received an email from my publisher announcing that they are closing their doors at the end of the month. It was hard to hear as I had high hope for the company and have made friends over the years with many of the other authors and employees. This also means that my book, Nightfire will only be available for purchase until Febuary 28th, 2015. Right now I'm exploring other options that would let me republish the book and the rest of the series (I always intended to Nighfire to be a four part series.) I've been looking into self publishing or even finding another small pub to work with but I haven't made a full decision yet.
Right now, Musa is holding a huge sale of all Musa books on their site so it's a good time to stock up if you need reading material. Nightfire is also on most major E-retail sites until the end of the month.
I'm hoping this closing door means another one is opening. While I am sad to see this happen, I believe it could move me down another publishing path. Feel free to message me if you have any questions. Thanks for all your support over the last few years.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)