Three Big Things:
Whew.
Here’re the headlines:
1) No Kings! Saturday, October 18th. It’s time for us all to get out in our local streets. Find an all-American protest near you at www.NoKings.org
2) 144,481 words, including “The” and “End.” Took me almost a year but I finally finished writing the latest Troubleshooters book...
3) My two “ghost” stories, Out of Body and Infamous are on e-sale for $2.99 for the month of October!
Here are the details:
1) No Kings! Saturday, October 18th. It’s time for us all to get out in our local streets. Join me and millions of my friends (I have friends everywhere!) and find an all-American protest near you at www.NoKings.org
For much of this summer, I’ve been attending Wednesday noon-time protests bearing witness at the inhuman ICE facility in Burlington, Massachusetts. (It’s an office building where they’ve been keeping people locked in rooms with no beds, no blankets, no toilets, no showers, no other facilities. This is NOT okay.)
People like me who oppose brutal treatment of our fellow human beings have been gathering, weekly. The protests are growing—the latest was over 700 people. Mid-week, middle of the day. It’s been a great experience to go and stand in the company of so many patriotic Americans who understand that we’re nearly all immigrants here—to stand together in support of our neighbors.
From seeing these “little” community protests constantly growing, I believe that Saturday, October 18th’s No Kings rally is going to be enormous.
I want to urge each and everyone who believes in freedom, democracy, decency, and love to find a protest near you. It’s long past time to rise up, peacefully, and stand together against cruelty and hate. Find out more at www.nokings.org
2) 144,481 words, including “The” and “End.”
Whew. So that happened.
Took me almost a year but I finally finished writing my latest book, a Troubleshooters Bromance novel, celebrating the deep friendship between former FBI agent Jules Cassidy and former Navy SEAL Sam Starrett.
And yeah, this book is ridiculously long, because it’s really two books in one. It not only tells the present-day story of Jules’s first case heading up the Los Angeles division of Troubleshooters Inc. (Robin is happy to be back in LA!), but it also goes back in time and shows seventeen-year-old Jules as he and a new group of friends catch a high school criminal, leading him to his illustrious career with the FBI.
As usual per Troubleshooters books, the two storylines, with certain fun central characters, collide towards the end of the book.
Not as usual per TS books, there are only romantic elements in this story. It’s the start of a new mystery/dramady/comedy series (bromance novels!) featuring Jules Cassidy (with heavy helpings of Sam and Alyssa, and other familiar faces from the TS world), so that’s a little different. But I think if you’ve enjoyed the TS books in the past, this story will appeal. (Also, if you’ve been missing Jules, Robin, Sam, and Alyssa the way I have, I think you’ll like this book. And I gotta admit, writing those scenes with baby Jules was so much fun.)
Okay, so I can hear you shouting for logistical details.
First things first: Working title for this giant tome is Jules Cassidy, PI. It’s Troubleshooters Bromance Novel #1. (And or TS book #20 in the series, depending on how you’re counting.)
Other titles I’ve been toying with include Just Before Dawn (as in, it’s always darkest just before... which is something I think we can all relate to lately!!). But I think Jules Cassidy, PI gets right to the point, since I’m not going to be doing much marketing for this book. (Do let me know what you think!!)
So when’s it coming out? As soon as I can figure out the best way to get it into your hands. (After I do another polish, which will take as long as it takes, maybe another month? Depends a lot on if/when my Long Covid next flares up. September was a really rough month for me, but October is better, knock on wood.)
My first draft a pretty clean draft—with Long Covid breathing down my neck, I really had to reinvent my method of writing. And instead of producing a fast and sloppy first draft, filled with lots of notes saying “FIX THIS!”, this book has already been revised, revised, and revised. But there’s still additional revision needed, because nothing’s perfect, and I do so hate me a typo.
I’m considering making JCPI available to you via Kickstarter and BookFunnel. I’m trying really hard not to support our evil billionaire overlords, so I’d love to get this book to you via a non-Amazon source.
BookFunnel (it’s a free service for readers!) allows you to download ebooks in your choice of format, and makes it very easy to put said ebooks onto your Kindle, if that’s your e-reader choice as it currently is mine, so that’s pretty great.
Kickstarter will also take significantly less of a cut than any of the usual ebooksellers, so that’ll allow me to get this book to you at the lowest possible price. (I know we’re all worried about money as the world burns.)
Anyway, that’s what I’m thinking right now, but stay tuned.
Subscribe to this enewsletter (more about this below) and make sure that it actually shows up in your inbox instead of your spam, and/or follow me over at Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/suzannebrockmann
And lastly, my October e-sale news:
3) If, like me, you cover your eyes when gruesome ads for horror movies appear on your TV or computer screen, and you prefer your ghost stories to be only mildly spooky, with an emphasis on romance and comedy, Out of Body and/or Infamous might be the right October read for you! (And I’ve put them both on e-sale for $2.99 or the world-wide equivalent, for the entire month!)
So yeah, if you’re only ever tuned in to my Troubleshooters and Tall, Dark & Dangerous series books about Navy SEAL Teams Ten and Sixteen, you may not know that a few years back I wrote a coupla books that feature the paranormal element of, ahem, ghosts. Well, spirits. In both books, characters will let you know that the preferred term is spirit.
Infamous is a weird mix of romance, dramedy, adventure, thriller, historical western, and yup paranormal. Here’s the blurb:
Alison Carter wrote the definitive book on legendary American hero, U.S. Marshal Silas Quinn, who survived the infamous 1898 shootout at the Red Rock Saloon only to witness the murder of his wife, Melody, by the brutal outlaw Jamie “Kid” Gallagher in the desolate Arizona hills.
Now Quinn, a big-budget Hollywood movie, is being made on location in Jubilation, Arizona, and Alison’s the historical consultant, making sure the production team gets the story right.
Then a too-handsome man in a cowboy hat waltzes into Alison’s trailer, claiming to be the great-grandson of Kid Gallagher—and oh, by the way, Alison and the rest of the world have gotten the facts of America’s best-known legend completely wrong…
Military veteran A.J. Gallagher hasn’t had an easy life, but hard work and a return to his large, supportive family in his Alaskan hometown has helped him earn ten solid years of sobriety—one quiet, uneventful day at a time. Only now A.J.’s being haunted by the ghost of his beloved great-grandfather, Jamie “please don’t call him Kid” Gallagher, who wants A.J. to set the record straight—Quinn was the real villain of the legend. But the only person who can see or hear Jamie is A.J., and with his history of mental illness, he’s unwilling to believe his own eyes. Still, A.J. travels to the movie set with his invisible sidekick, hoping that doing so will end his “hallucinations.” But one conversation with brilliant and funny Professor Alison Carter is all it takes to make sparks fly.
When Alison witnesses an altercation that puts her life in danger, she’s targeted by ruthless criminals who want her dead. And A.J.—with Jamie’s very real help—has the military training and skill-set to keep her alive…
Part rom-com, part thriller, part Old West historical, part paranormal, Infamous was originally published in 2010 (144K words or 394 pages)
(Hmm. That book was 144K words, too. Interesting.)
Here’s the Infamous page on my website, which includes links to all of your favorite ebook sellers: https://suzannebrockmann.com/books/infamous/
Next up in gently spooky romance reads for October is Out of Body.
This was a fun book to write, because it’s the novelization of a screenplay that I co-wrote with my son, Jason T. Gaffney. We wrote the movie script together, and then I turned it into a novel. There’s an audiobook version that’s dual-narrated (in a very cool way) by the two romantic leads of the movie, Jason and his co-star Kevin Held. (It’s a really fabulously-produced audiobook, if you haven’t given it a listen!)
Here’s the blurb for Out of Body:
Friends to lovers, with a supernatural twist…
Henry’s been in love with his best friend Malcolm since college, but after he kisses Mal on Halloween night, things go desperately wrong. Awkward turns to just plain weird when Mal mysteriously vanishes.
And weird gets freaky when Henry starts to wonder if he’s being haunted by Mal’s ghost.
Henry’s other friends think he’s losing it—that Mal’s just run from conflict. But freaky turns to full-on crazy when, with the help of a “spirit guide,” Henry casts a spell that allows him—and only him—to see and hear Malcolm, who’s been right there, in his house, the entire time.
If Mal really is a “lingering spirit,” he won’t “move on” until he completes some undetermined “unfinished business.” And Mal—who’s been in love with Henry since forever, too—assumes his task is to help his best friend woo and fall in love with another man.
But sometimes things aren’t what they seem, being invisible doesn’t always mean you’re dead, and love really can conquer all…
Suzanne Brockmann is back with a stand-alone romantic comedy that’s now a feature film starring Jason T. Gaffney and Kevin Held. (50,000 words or 200 pages)
Out of Body was a finalist for the now-defunct Romance Writers of America Rita Award in the paranormal category.
You can read Out of Body, listen to the audiobook narrated by the movie’s stars, or you can watch the movie. It’s available on Amazon Prime, or as a rental on Amazon and iTunes/Apple.
Find out more, including links to the ebook at your fav ebooksellers at: https://suzannebrockmann.com/books/out-of-body/
and watch a trailer of the movie at: https://suzannebrockmann.com/movies/outofbody/
Okey dokey, that’s all the news for now!
Needless to say, but I’ll say it anyway: No AI has been or will ever ever EVER be used in the writing/creation of any of my books. Never ever ever EVER. #AISucks
Follow me on Bluesky @SuzBrockmann, if you’re over there!
Thank you for your time and attention.
Please never stop fighting for our freedom, for our democracy, for equality, equity, peace, love, hope, and for the rights of ALL of our neighbors both here and around the world,
P.S. See you on October 18th at the local No Kings rally!