Hey Esme, does that mean the audiobook is finished?
YES.
It has been a year-long labour of love (questionable) but I am pleased to let you know that the audiobook, barring any glaring errors I hear in the playback, will be available to download by October.
That also means (hopefully) that there is a tentative release date of the second Spencer and DeWitt book, Way Down We Go, by January next year!
I appreciate your patience. I underestimated how insane doing this audiobook would turn out to be. I have, however, learned a lot and will be able to do it better next time round.
The new edition, with new cover, will be available to purchase on Amazon next week. I will also be debuting it in person at the Russo Book’s Writers Row event this Thanksgiving, with some nice business cards and a QR code to get to the audio.
It’s been almost a year since I updated the website. My bad.
See, what happens is, I have insanely productive summers. I cook, clean, write, produce, record, make videos, and all that good stuff. Then the school year starts and I don’t know if it’s the ADHD or the everything else in my head, but as soon as I get back from work, I can’t do anything except lay on the couch. I hardly write anything. I’m so overstimulated by 130 junior high students asking me questions and making noise all day that I can hardly hear myself think.
What I tend to do during the nine months of the school year is send out to agents. I’ve been in what they call ‘the query trenches’ for about three years. I have roughly 30 rejections and a great deal more agents who did not respond to me. That in itself is a full-time job and honestly, even though it’s been going on for years, very demotivating. When you get that rejection email, as scripted or personalised as it may be, the thought of putting pen to paper again is kind of, eh, what’s the point?
But I am still here! I’m alive! I went to South Korea! And I’m back now, I have 8 weeks of summer holiday left and the goal of finally – FINALLY – finishing this damn audiobook and getting it out to people.
The idea is this:
Finish editing the audiobook for Man on Fire, get that publicised again and put it out on the YouTube channel and hopefully Audible and Spotify.
At the same time, start recording the audio for Way Down We Go. I noticed during the recording of MoF that I do my best editing when I’m reading my work aloud, so kill two birds with one stone and edit while I read.
Once the audiobook for WDWG is recorded, get the novel set up for paperback.
Release the MoF audiobook and the WDWG paperback at roughly the same time
???
Profit
I also have a lot of writing projects floating in the ether.
Son of Songs novelisation (Royal Road)
The sixth and final necromancer book, The Prince’s Folly
The fifth and final Spencer and DeWitt book (is it five?), The Assassination of Brittany Spencer
A story about a werewolf accused of murder, Dust and Bones
A story about mechanical dragons, Wingbound
A couple of short stories
I do like giving myself work to do. This is something I have been doing since I was 12, working on more than one project at a time and then feeling overwhelmed by them. It’s fun!
And then still sending out to agents, figuring out how to market myself on social media, and this website. How would people feel about me doing some dumb videos about movies I like or video games? Anyway.
Thank you again for your continued support. My writing is still available on Royal Road (necromancer stories and Son of Songs), so please go and have a look!
It’s coming to the end of the summer holidays here in California. I’ve had ten weeks of free time to work on the Man On Fire audiobook and promoting my free books on Royal Road. I recall making several promises about the audiobook, so let’s break down the situation.
Is the audiobook finished?
No. Short answer.
Long answer (ahem) – when the summer holidays started, I had the promise of roughly ten uninterrupted weeks of being home alone, where nobody could interrupt me or hear me while I recorded the chapters, and plenty of associated minutes to then edit and polish those chapters, ready for publication.
And then my wonderful, hard-working husband got a work-from-home job. Yay! I’m very proud of him but that does now mean that my audiobook recordings have had to stop while he’s in meetings and calls just on the other side of the wall from me. I don’t have a soundproofed booth to work in, just my office with a drooly cat, so trying to set aside the hours I need to do this has proven difficult. Rest assured, the audiobook will be out before the year is!
You also promised a behind-the-scenes video like, a month ago?
Yeah. I did do that.
The video has been filmed but not edited. That’s something I need to just get done unfortunately. The medically diagnosed anxiety/suspected ADHD doesn’t help matters in that regard.
So what HAVE you been doing with all this time?
The gym, mostly, trying to lose some weight. A little travelling. Art practice! And a lot of writing.
I’m working on the novelisation of my comic script, ‘Son of Songs’, which you can read on Royal Road here. I’m almost at the end of Chapter 5 of 20 (!) so as you can see, that’s taking some time to complete to my satisfaction. I’m also finishing up a necromancer book (the first of which is here). I will admit that I have a lot of projects on the go at the moment:
5th necromancer book (The Scourge’s Shadow) – almost done, final few chapters, expected by Aug 31st
Spencer and DeWitt 5 (The Assassination of Brittany Spencer) – about half way through, big writer’s block here, expected by Jan 2026
Dragon book (Wingbound) – I started this a year ago and it fell by the wayside but it’s a cool idea
Werewolf detective story (Dust and Bones) – same as above
Son of Songs – this is taking most of my time because it’s so hefty
Man on Fire audiobook – see above
Way Down We Go audiobook – see above
Way Down We Go paperback – I want to do this after the audiobook this time, because of what I’m going to explain below
The continuing publications of Spencer and DeWitt
I am committed to getting these books printed, read for audiobook and released. Part of that is actually finishing ‘The Assassination’, which is kicking my backside.
I would like to get Way Down We Go out before the end of the year, but I’ve noticed a funny thing as I read the audiobook for Man On Fire, which is that I only notice editing mistakes when I read it out loud. Therefore, I’m going to do Way Down backwards – record the audiobook first, then release the paperback. That way I can catch all the weird little apostrophes and typos before it comes out to you guys.
Spencer and DeWitt is not the largest series I’ve ever written (looking at you, A War With No End) but it is the most complex because of the mystery aspect. I want it to be the best it can be before it comes out.
All of this to say, this stuff takes way more time than people think when it isn’t your only job and you don’t have the means to market or publish through anyone other than yourself. I wish I could just hire a famous voice actor and get them to do the audiobook for me but unfortunately, I’m not making that kind of money.
Thank you guys for bearing with me during this time! You can still follow all of my goings on at the Facebook page, the Insta, whatever we’re calling Twitter these days and Bluesky.
As soon as any projects are completed, you’ll be the first to know right here!
Want to start at the beginning of the Man On The Bridge arc? Start here.
Brittany Spencer and Francis DeWitt are rebuilding their lives, one piece at a time.
Spencer is working with the Special Crimes Unit, trying to be the detective they need and falling flat. In DeWitt’s shadow, she finds that being at the forefront of the Z-Type community is harder than he ever made it look and she has no idea where to begin, especially when it comes to anomalies.
DeWitt is sober and starting again – new home, new job, new purpose. Living with Spencer, however, has its own set of problems that hard work alone cannot fix. He knows that detective work was the thing that ruined him and he still can’t leave it alone, despite being busy enough with a brand new charity and his barista side-gig.
But the ghosts they thought they had long ago buried keep haunting them and all at once, DeWitt finds himself confronted by the childhood he tried to forget and Spencer needs help that he can’t give. Z-Types are anomalying at an alarming rate and children are going missing. When the only thing between DeWitt and the bottle is solving this final case, how can Spencer refuse?
Welcome to West Ridge. The hardest cases are the slow burns…
Brittany Spencer and Francis DeWitt are both detectives with the West Ridge Police Department. And it is best that they stay apart.
Spencer is returning to Homicide now that she has made a name for herself and she is supposed to be pleased about that, but her time with the Special Crimes Unit and DeWitt has changed her perspective. If the police aren’t there to protect every citizen, then what is the point of them? That, and she is sure that any interaction she might have with Francis is going to ruin their relationship for good, even though all she wants is to explain herself to him.
DeWitt, fresh from testifying in the trial of the century, is facing the brunt of revealing his identity and retreating into the lowest version of himself – but at least he has his job back in SCU. With the rest of his life heading into freefall, he can rely on the stability of his work – as long as he is left well alone.
But when a strange explosion in a downtown parking facility brings Spencer and DeWitt together again, all of their personal history must be set aside. If they cannot determine what caused the blast, the fate of SCU, West Ridge’s Z-Types and the Agency for the Specially-Abled is dire – and the lives of the ones they love are left in the balance.
Welcome to West Ridge. Will it rise from the ashes?
Brittany Spencer and Francis DeWitt are both detectives with the West Ridge Police Department. Well… they were.
Spencer has one foot in Homicide and one in the Special Crimes Unit. Her allegiances split and her biggest case as yet unresolved, she does not know what she is going to do in DeWitt’s shadow and there does not seem to be anyone to tell her how to do his job – a job she does not want, especially not now that the Z-Type protests are becoming restless.
DeWitt is in The Ward, a federal facility, technically of his own devices. He cannot be out in the real world, as far as he is concerned – what if he forgets who he is, again? And yet if he stays in his safe cage, the man who ruined him might walk free…
Just as DeWitt believes he has reached rock bottom, he trips headfirst over another murder case, spiralling him back into his past – and his worst vices. What can Spencer do, when the rest of West Ridge is ready to burst?
Brittany Spencer and Francis DeWitt are both detectives with the West Ridge Police Department. That is where their similarities end.
Spencer works homicide and she knows she is good at her job. She sees strange, grotesque things all the time and it hardly makes her bat an eye anymore. But one cold morning, a file comes across her desk that she is sure she was never meant to see.
DeWitt is a mess. He lives multiple lies trying to get by in a city where people like him are bottom of the food chain – but nobody at the precinct gets to know that. Until he becomes suspect number one in a perplexing murder case… and somehow, lead detective on it, too.
West Ridge is not a normal beat. Z-Types, humans with superhuman abilities, and the rest of the populace live side-by-side in an uneasy truce. What happens when the peace is threatened?
Esme Carpenter 