Haunting the Red Lotus (a recreated post)

This blog recreates a post that originally went up as part of a blog tour in support of the 2016 launch of Commanding the Red Lotus. It was an original marketing short story in script form and appeared on a host site that is no longer live.

View the Commanding the Red Lotus dedicated order page

Setting: RJ Sullivan’s home office

[RJ stares at a blank page on his laptop and wonders what to write about for the Cover2Cover entry of his blog tour. He doesn’t notice the gorgeous ghost Maxine Marie appear behind him]

MM: [Leans forward to whisper directly in his ear] Hello, RJ.

RJ: Yikes! [wheels around] Maxine!

MM: [flashes sexy smile] Doing anything fun?

RJ You shouldn’t be here.

MM: [her smile shifts to a pout] Well….that’s not a very nice thing to say. It’s just that you haven’t asked me about my ghostly existence in months. I was afraid you’d quit writing or something. I mean, I still remember all the success I brought you with Haunting Obsession, and now… [she folds her arms across her chest] now you never call!

RJ: Sorry, Maxine. It’s just I’ve been writing spaceship adventure stories in my Red Lotus universe, and I’ve been having a good time…. I guess I haven’t thought about you—

[Maxine’s eyes widen]

RJ: GHOSTS! I MEANT GHOSTS! I haven’t thought about GHOSTS in a long time.

MM: A likely story. And what’s this Red Lotus? Sounds like a lady ninja assassin I should be jealous of.

RJ: It’s the name of a spaceship.

COVER REVEAL Blue Omnibus


DarkWhimsy Books Presents…

The Complete Adventures of Blue Shaefer
The Entire Blue Shaefer Story Arc in a Single Volume

Coming soon to your favorite online outlet, the R.J. Home Store, and autumn 2021 personal appearances.

Links are already going live on its dedicated order page. UPDATE: AS I WAS WRITING THIS, THE AMAZON PAPERBACK EDITION WENT LIVE.  Click here to see all the order links.

Check out that amazing front cover, a collaborative team image, with my thanks to:

Cover Photo: Paul-Louis Webster Photography and Greg Hernandez.
Cover Model: Jessica Lynn Cannaday.
Cover design: Bryan Donihue and Section 28 Publishing

Darkness With a Chance of Whimsy Audiobook Now Live


I’m not gonna lie, Amazon put this up and out faster than anticipated, based on past experience. Nevertheless, it’s true that your greedy ears can hear Danielle Muething read the ten short stories from my collection now.

This includes Able Bodied, Starter Kit, and Backstage Pass. and of course, Robot Vampire. It’s great stuff, if I do say so myself.

Here are the direct links to get you there:
Audible
Amazon

My Web Page

Virtual Blue Audiobook Live


Following a long delay, the Virtual Blue audio book narrated by Team R.J. VIP Danielle Muething has finally gone live. This release completes my original paranormal trilogy available on audiobook. Click here to go to the Virtual Blue Links page.

Narrator Danielle Muething

Danielle and I began planning Virtual Blue in spring 2020, aiming for a September release and some awesome Halloween promotions. Yay for planning ahead. Alas, (I love using “Alas” in a sentence) due to unanticipated circumstances, my agreement with my original publisher ended and I had to re-release my back titles under my own  label, DarkWhimsy Books. To do this properly with the attention to quality that it deserved, the process took several months.

DarkWhimsy Books 2020 Revised Editions Overview

The work is done! With the release of Virtual Blue, the entirety of my paranormal thriller back titles are again available for purchase from all web-stores, ending a six-month project that was difficult but should be oh-so-worth it. Give me another month and I’ll have my stock replenished with my updated titles, and I will re-open my “order signed books from me” store.  (I ALSO wish my store could have been open in time for Christmas, but the timing did not cooperate).

In the meantime, if you want to grab up any of my back titles for gift-giving, you might just have time. So what’s the breakdown of the titles, what’s different from the previous editions, and what’s coming next? Great questions.

Four of my back titles, primarily those related to my ghost story/paranormal series, were, by mutual agreement, returned to me by my former publisher, allowing me to re-release them on my indie Publishing label, DarkWhimsy Books. In this agreement, I also obtained the original edition cover art.

Haunting Blue 2020 Edition Now Live

I’m thrilled to announce the re-publication of my first novel and Book One in the Adventures of Blue Shaefer. After six months of being out of print, the 2020 DarkWhimsy Books Revised Edition of Haunting Blue is now live at most online stores in both paperback and various ebook formats (as of this writing, Nook has not gone live but should happen in the next day or two.) I’ve heard enough, take me to the order page.

The DarkWhimsy Books release is the third edition of my novel. It retains the same cover and interior illustrations by Bonnie Wasson as the 2014 second edition. The manuscript has been given a fresh review by a copy editor for minor tweaks of the text, cleaning up typos and fixing tiny grammar errors missed in the previous edition.

RJ’s Holiday Paperback Now Live

NEW FOR 2020 For the first time ever (and going into the third Christmas since I conceived this) the author’s preferred edition paperback of the two Holiday short stories is now available to purchase directly from Amazon.

Links

NEW Paperback Now Available on Amazon in the DoubleFront Paperback Format
Or order directly from me.
Kindle (The text of both stories, flip-book not replicated.)

Slimmer, Cheaper, Sexier Haunting Obsession

Just in time for Halloween, the Revised Edition of Haunting Obsession by DarkWhimsy Books is now available in all formats and from all outlets (including the fabulous Audible read by Danielle Muething that never went away). The just-launched paperback features a new interior layout, bonus illustration, and lower price point! Here’s the breakdown.

  • The Revised Edition paperback has a tighter but still easy to read page layout. It’s now 106 pages over the previous 190 pages.
  • With the shorter page count, I dropped the everyday price from $12 to $8!
  • The Revised Edition paperback and ebook still feature the original cover and interior artwork by Bonnie Wasson. but now include her third interior illustration of Rebecca Burton previously only available in the limited edition hardback.

Haunting Blue Audio Book Now Live

NEW for 2020
Haunting Blue, my first published novel from 2010, is my second audio book release, and that release is now live. Published by DarkWhimsy Books, Haunting Blue puts Danielle Muething back in the narrator’s booth to repeat (and dare I say exceed) the amazing and dramatic performance similar to Haunting Obsession (Click here to order the Haunting Obsession audio book).

Click the link of your preferred format to order:  Audible        Amazon
Apple (not yet available)
Don’t care about audiobooks? Click here to go to the paperback and ebook page.

Check out this short YouTube Preview

A note to those who have already enjoyed the Haunting Obsession Audio Book:

Haunting Blue Audible Preview

As announced earlier, I’m excited to expand beyond the amazing first splash that is Danielle Muething narrating Haunting Obsession. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Click Here).

Now Seventh Star Press and my imprint DarkWhimsy Books have partnered to secure Danielle’s narration talents to bring the rest of the trilogy to audio! Danielle is already in the sound booth laying down tracks and voices for Haunting Blue, my first novel and the start of the paranormal adventures of punk girl Blue Shaefer and her boyfriend Chip Farren. Haunting Blue will likely be out on Audible and other popular audiobook options well before summer!