It’s Hammock Time

July 17, 2024 By JPMcLean Leave a Comment

Summer Sale

Now that the warm weather is here, it’s time to string up the hammock and put the cushions on the lounge chairs. Nothing screams summer like relaxing with a cold bevvie and a hot book! So it’s perfect timing for a book sale! Secret Sky will be available for just 99c at all your favourite retailers from today through July 21^st.

This stand-alone first book in the seven-book Gift Legacy Series has 0 cliffhangers and over 90 starred ratings on Goodreads.

Here’s a teaser: Everybody wishes they could fly—until it happens. In the heart of the city, a secret society uncovers an interloper: a woman who’s fallen from the sky. But is Emelynn Taylor a friend or a threat to their hidden world? Unbeknownst to Emelynn, whether she lives or dies is now in the hands of the powerful Tribunal Novem. And not everyone is buying her innocent act.

Secret Sky’s sneak peek is available for download on this page. Bring on the hammock and enjoy!

Snow Days and Audio Narration Update

January 19, 2024 By JPMcLean 6 Comments

Snow Days

There’s no better excuse than a snow day to stay indoors by a crackling fire with a great book and big mug of tea. Over the past week, our temperatures here on Denman Island took an unusual deep dive, and Tuesday night we got a dump of snow. It’s quiet and beautiful right now. Blindingly white. But snow rarely lasts long here. It’ll be a memory come the weekend.

New Course Offering

I’ve been invited to lead a workshop on Writing Deeper Dialogue at the North Island Writer’s Conference this weekend. It’s a three-hour workshop from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. on January 21^st at North Island College. Registration is still open if you’re interested. Program details are here.

Audio Narration News

My newest project of narrating the Dark Dreams books is coming along. But to be honest with you, it’s more time consuming than I’d hoped. The early mistakes I made created a ton of extra work. The biggest was being too self-conscious about animating my voice. I figured that out halfway through, so had to go back and re-record the first ten chapters. Fingers crossed, the process will smooth itself out and speed up as I get better at this. Voice actors who do this work all the time have my greatest admiration.

Dark Dreams News

Ghost Mark has received a wonderful review from Scribblesworth Reviews. Julio Carlos is the man behind the reviews, and his sense of humour hits my funny bone.Continue Reading

Holiday News

December 16, 2023 By JPMcLean 10 Comments

It seems impossible that Scorch Mark has been out for a month already, but it has. Among the flurry of release events, one of the most entertaining was my interview with Al Warren for NBC’s House of Mystery Radio show. Also high on the entertaining release events list was hearing my words read by Joanna Vandervlugt on SAM Magazine’s Podcast. She reads a teaser from Scorch Mark, in addition to a short story I wrote titled Scaredy Cat. (I keep a full listing of all the publicity on my website https://jpmcleanauthor.com/media/jpmclean-featured-on/)

Other exciting news

Ghost Mark has been long listed for the 2023 Paranormal Awards for Supernatural Fiction, a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

To celebrate, I’m offering Ghost Mark for 99 cents this weekend. You can get it from your favourite retailer here. And because I don’t want to leave out the Gift Legacy from all the fun, I’m also offering Secret Sky for 99 cents.

And here’s a thought . . . if you need a hostess gift this holiday season, why not take advantage of the sales and give them something unique and unexpected: the gift of an ebook?

New First-In-Series Collection

Blood Mark has a New Award

June 2, 2022 By JPMcLean 10 Comments

Blood Mark has a new award. This one from the Eric Hoffer Awards, and I couldn’t be more proud.

When I submitted Blood Mark to a handful of contests, it was a leap of faith. Seeing how well it’s done, I’m so glad I put the book into the ring. It’s now earned seven awards! And it’s not over yet—Blood Mark is still in the running for a few awards that won’t be decided until later in the year. I’ll keep you posted.

New Book Title

First, thank you for your thoughts on the new book’s title. After much discussion, research, and consideration of your input, I’ve named the new book Ghost Mark. As you know, this has been its working title, but it also came up as one of your favourites in the feedback. And because it’s a good fit with Blood Mark and a good match for the book’s subject, I think we’ve nailed it. So, again, thank you!

Ghost Mark Update

I’m thrilled to tell you that the first draft is finished, the first run-through edit is done, and Ghost Mark is now out for the big-picture edit. Whew! When I get that feedback, I’ll incorporate it, and then it’s off to betas. Next up will be the copy editor.

And now that Ghost Mark is on its way, I’m considering a series title. Originally, I planned to use Blood Mark Series, but I’ve been told that repeating the first book’s title is a wasted opportunity to include additional search words to help readers find the books. My first choice for a series name is one Roxy Boroughs suggested (Thanks Roxy!): Dark Dreams. Each of the books would be A Dark Dreams Novel and/or part of the Dark Dreams Series. What do you think?

I’ve now turned my attention to the other pieces of the writing puzzle that make up a book: writing the acknowledgements, teasing out the back-of-the-book description, working with the cover designer, planning the release with publicist extraordinaire, Mickey Mikkelson of Creative Edge Publicity, etc.

One Last Thing

Today, June 2nd, Hidden Enemy is on sale for 99c. It’s the second standalone book in the Gift Legacy Series. You can get it from Amazon, Kobo, Nook, and everywhere else books are sold. Scribble’s Worth Reviews says: the second book starts off with a thrilling scene and heart-pumping narration! OHHHHH YEEEEEAHHHH! JP McLean knows how to grip us at once and make us curious in the first scenes. Awesome!

Until next time . . .