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Throw the confetti, blow the noisemakers, and hide your wallets! Widdershins is back!

Today is the official release day for Lost Covenant, book three of the Widdershins series. As with the prior two, Thief’s Covenant and False Covenant, there is humor and horror, action and mystery, and much more.

If you’ve been following along, the next adventure’s waiting for you. If you haven’t met Widdershins yet, give Thief’s Covenant a whirl. (You can read them out of order, but it’s far better if you read them in sequence.)

I’m really proud of how this series has turned out so far. I hope you guys are all enjoying the ride.

Heya, folks.

This evening, I’ll be doing an AMA ("Ask Me Anything") over on Reddit.com. All you need to do to participate is go there and, if you haven’t already, sign up for the Reddit forums.

It’ll be starting at 7 PM Central Standard Time, and seriously, anything (that’s not rude/obscene/illegal) goes. I really hope to see a lot of you there. 🙂

It’ll all be happening here: http://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1qzek1/hey_redditshaped_internet_im_ari_marmell_novelist/

We made it. Thanks to a whole mess of generous backers, Strange New Words will become a reality. 😀 I’m very, very grateful, and I hope to make this a product more than worth everyone’s efforts.

But…

We’re not finished! There’s a week left to go, and I’m planning to work extra hard to see if we can’t make some of our stretch goals. And trust me, you want us to make those stretch goals. More art for the book, an entire additional novelette-length piece of fiction… These and more are just a short ways away.

You’ve already done so much for the project, and for me. If you can help just a tad more, by spreading the word, we can make this book even better than promised.

My deepest appreciation to all of you. I very literally wouldn’t be where I am without you.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1253132974/explore-strange-new-words

When I announced some major release dates yesterday, I said I had more big news to come. So, here ’tis.

I need your help to make this happen:

What is it? Strange New Words is a collection of short fiction–fantasy to horror to mythology, funny to FUBAR. By word count, it’s to be roughly half reprints from various anthologies/other markets, and half all original, never-before-seen fiction.

Oh, and some of that original fiction includes a brand new story set in the world of The Goblin Corps!

Why do you need help? Because, frankly, self-publishing a book is only cheap if you half-ass it. I’m a professional, and that means I have a reputation to maintain–and, more importantly, it means an implicit promise to all of you that I will never willingly stint on the quality of my work. Professional editing, original art… None of that is optional, as far as I’m concerned.

But it costs to do that. Sometimes a lot.

You’re launching a Kickstarter, aren’t you? How savvy! Yes, Strange New Words is to be funded via Kickstarter. I’ve put together what I believe is both an informative and entertaining presentation, where you can find all manner of details on the project. Including…

What do I get for helping? Obviously, it depends on what level you choose to back the project, and the specifics are all over on the Kickstarter page. But some possibilities include:

• A free copy of the collection–including an original story that will not appear when the collection goes to market; it is only available to Kickstarter backers.
• Signed novels.
• The chance to name characters in future novels after you or a loved one!
• And, depending on whether we make any of the stretch goals, far, far more.

Click on over. Take a look and a listen. Ask questions, should you have any. I hope you find it intriguing enough to help me make Strange New Words a reality. And thank you, all of you, in advance, whether or not you choose to back the project; I wouldn’t be where I am without each and every one of you.

And if you folks could help me spread the word, and the link, that’d be very much appreciated, too.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1253132974/explore-strange-new-words

So, I’ve got two books coming out in the semi-near future that I’ve discussed here and there, but never with much in the way of detail. So, here’s detail.

Lost Covenant, the third Widdershins Adventure, is scheduled to his shelves around December of this year. Pre-orders now available at all the old familiar places. And BTW? The cover rocks.

But this is only the first of what’s to come. Around spring of 2014 comes Hot Lead, Cold Iron, the first of my Mick Oberon novels. 1932, Prohibition-era gangland urban fantasy; fae noir, if you will. I’m exceptionally proud of this one, and I hope you guys find it equally compelling.

Pre-orders currently only at Amazon, but I’ll add all the others as they start to appear.

Oh, and this cover? Also rocks. 😀

And for the record? Yet more major news to come in a couple of days. Stay tuned. Same mouse-time, same mouse-channel. (I just hideously dated myself, didn’t I?)