What is in store & a Jenna Update!

Hello friends!

I apologize I didn’t put out a blog last week. I have been sick for about 2 and a half weeks now. Which is absolutely ridiculous, but anyway. I’m back on track.

I have been busying myself both getting ready for fall and trying to hash out details for my next book, which is due in April, I believe. I keep coming up with new ideas, and I’m trying to hash out what works, what doesn’t, and what is just absolutely too ridiculous to even attempt. My character for the next story is about a young girl–late teens, or very early adulthood, who is a selkie. Selkies, by nature, are very docile creatures, but we can’t have that or else the story would probably be very boring, so I’ve been trying to come up with ideas that give her abilities beyond what the typical selkie can do. Of course, I’m not giving that away just yet, but I’m hashing out the details right now, and I’m kind’ve excited about what I’m coming up with.

Now, As per my last blog, I had given an update about Jenna’s condition, and things had been looking quite grim. I heard from her mother, and she is doing better, but as far as I know, she is still expected to leave us in the upcoming weeks. But I still wanted to share what her mother wrote me. I think it goes to highlight what a powerful warrior she truly is. I am honestly not surprised at all that she is moving around and eating now, when just a week and a half ago she wasn’t conscious at all.

“Jen sleeps and wakes, eats some with help, us still drinking. She has gotten cantankerous in a funny sort of way. She wants to call the nurses every few minutes. She will get out of bed to wander around if no one is there. She says things that are really offbeat and funny. I don’t know whether it is dementia or whether her disease has spread to her brain. I’m just holding on by the seat of my pants. Trying to be in 2 places, taking care of her and the dogs. Please pray for us.”

On that note, please consider pre-ordering her final work, our final work together. She was so happy to get this last piece of work done, and I feel like it’s just one more wonderful way to keep her alive, through what she loved most.... books.

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Preorder for 99¢!

Ties of Friendship

A Collection of YA Fantasy

Limited Edition Box Set

BLURB:

How much magic can true friendship hold?

How far can you go with a little magic in your pocket and friends backing you up?

Find out as Talented authors from around the world join spin tales of mysterious adventures, missing companions, and forbidden friendships that will keep you turning pages long after the sun’s gone down.

Dive into these young adult stories that entwine magic and friendship together in a whole new way. Adventure is just a click away.

Featured Authors & Stories:

• Orcus Pursued by: Cassie Greutman

• How to raise the dead (and then put them back) by: R.C. Barnes

• Shadows of Willow’s Creek by: Joli Campbell

• The Return by: Jenna D. Morrison & Joli Campbell

• Bonds of Friendship & Forbidden Friendship by: International Bestselling Author K.M. Jenkins

Preorder your Copy Today!

Another Update with Insights into our Books

Hello everyone!

Happy September! Or as my family is calling it, “Halloween Eve”! We get excited about the holidays and with all the sweet new littles in our family, we plan to go extra hard this year! Of course, for you guys, this means I will share recipes, pictures and spooky tidbits from some books I am working on right now.

But today, I still want to focus mostly on keeping everyone in the loop about my best friend, Jenna. So, first up, I just wanted to share that there has been no change in her condition. I have reached out to her mother recently to check in, but she has not gotten back to me yet. Though, given the situation, I expect to be much lower on the list of important things to worry about for her. I imagine she is working hard to ensure Jenna is as comfortable and well taken care of as humanly possible. When I hear anything new, I will update everyone.

So, I wanted to talk a bit about Jenna and my upcoming book, “The Return,” which is within the anthology “Ties of Friendship”. This story was mostly Jenna’s idea, as I have mentioned before. For those of you who love time travel, this might be the story for you! It originally took place in the 1960s. Two teen best friends go to a fair, when tragedy strikes and one girl goes missing. The friend left behind never fully moves on from the loss and spends her days wondering what became of her, and missing her terribly. Until one day there is a knock at the door that turns her world inside out and leaves her with even more questions than answers.

I urge everyone to pre-order this anthology now! It’s only 99 cents, and it is Jenna’s last literary work. I also have a second book within the anthology “Shadows of Willow’s Creek” as well that I truly hope all of you enjoy.

You can order the Ties of Friendship anthology here: https://books2read.com/tiesoffriendship

AND if you’re in the market for some fun YA fantasy stories, “Beyond the Realms” box set it still available here for $2.99: https://books2read.com/u/4XkyqN

A Final Goodbye is Near with a Book on the Horizon!

Hello dear reader friends.

I recently received some heavy news about my longtime best friend and fellow author, Jenna (Morrison) Campbell. As many of you know, Jenna has struggled with health issues for a very long time, Chiari malformation, and over the past few years, cancer. I had recently received a message from her, letting me know she had been missing me and loves me, and that she wants to talk. She told me she feared her time was coming soon, as her mother was now having to feed her. I told her I would call over the weekend, but then I had fallen ill, and had little in the way of a voice, so I messaged her and told her I’d talk to her this past Saturday, instead.

A day later, I receive a message that Jenna is no longer conscious, that they are looking to move her into a 24/7 care facility until she passes, which they expect to be within the next 30 days...

To say that I am devastated would be an understatement. Jenna has been my best friend since, I think around 2010. I remember, back in our hanging out with up-and-coming rock star days, I met her over Blue October’s bulletin board, of all places. I remember her approaching me at a concert with someone that I highly dislike, and I made her a bit scared because of the look I gave them. In fairness, it wasn’t about her; it was about the other girl who knew I disliked her, approaching me. This, of course, makes me sound mean and unapproachable. I’m actually not, but my face looks like I am! But, there have been a few people I’ve allowed into my life, who have done some things that are just not forgivable, that I do not want around me.

Anyway, so, a few weeks go by and Jenna thinks I hate her, but she mentions something on the board about how she was going through a terrible situation, so I private messaged her, called her and we spoke for hours. And the next thing you know, we’re besties going to all the cool shows together, having crazy adventures, her convincing me to do things I’d never be brave enough to do on my own, etc. She even convinced me to help her write, which is why I am an author today. Under a different name, I helped her write 4 books, some of which were part of best-selling anthologies, which I think is a pretty significant accomplishment. She didn’t think she would beat cancer the first time around, and brought me on board to ensure her books got completed and published. She was so happy when her books came out, something that had always been a dream of hers. I am grateful that she convinced me to write with her; it’s been a dream of mine as well. Jenna helped me become braver and bolder, got me out of my comfort zones, and because of her, my life was much more interesting.

So, here I am — sad as I can be, wishing I could travel up to Oklahoma to tell her goodbye and angry at myself for not calling when I had the chance, sick or not. I’ve missed out on enough goodbyes to know that we should never miss a chance to tell someone how much we love them.

Jenna’s last book will be “The Return”. It will be a part of the “Ties of Friendship” anthology. I co-wrote it with her, but the entire story is truly hers. Her idea, things that she wanted to happen in the book, everything. I just wrote a lot for her because she could no longer write/type. I have a story in there, too, called “Shadows of Willow’s Creek”. Us doing this last thing together, I hope, carries her onto the other side, knowing that I deeply cared about her and our friendship.

Pre-Order your copy of Ties of Friendship for 99¢! 

Releases October 15th

Now on Preorder: "Ties of Friendship," by: K.M. Jenkins

 Hi everyone. Today I am featuring our anthology "Ties of Friendship." It is on tour this week with Silver Dagger Book Tours. Check out the sneak peeks from my fellow author K.M. Jenkins. Dive into all the details and preorder your copy for 99¢ today. Make sure to read to the bottom for a special giveaway you could enter to win. Happy reading :).

Sneak Peeks and a Discounted Preorder!

Hello everyone!

I hope this week has been good to all of you. Today I am going to share a couple of snippets from my story, "Shadows of Willow's Creek" and from, "The Return." Each of these stories are inside the "Ties of Friendship," box set that is available for preorder right now for 99¢ at your favorite retailer. You can order your copy HERE. 

My story "Shadows of Willow's Creek" is a short tale that is a mystery, with a smidge of paranormal flavor. I hope you will enjoy it. You will also get a sneak peek from my co-author piece "The Return," between me and Jenna Morrison. You can call this story more of a time travel mystery. 

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Ties of Friendship: Joli Campbell

Shadows of Willow's Creek

Reports of strange misfortunes befalling those in power seemed to surface every twenty-five years, coinciding with the blood moon and seismic activity. Additionally, there were several unsolved missing persons cases that lingered in the shadows. As I continued to browse through archived news articles online, something unusual caught my attention. In several images, I recognized a face that had always stirred unease and a hint of dread within me. It belonged to a reclusive figure who had morphed into an urban legend in our community: Victor Azrael. But that couldn’t be right; Victor was in his forties. I speculated that perhaps these were images of his father or even his grandfather. Yet, the man in those photographs appeared to be ageless.

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Ties of Friendship: Joli Campbell & Jenna D. Morrison

The Return

Maggie jolted awake with a gasp, the familiar weight of dread settling upon her chest like a suffocating blanket. It was the same dream — every night it replayed like a well-worn record, a haunting echo of loss. She could see Judith in the crowd, her dark hair gleaming under the fairground lights, that wide headband holding back a cascade of memories. “Maggie!” she’d call, her laughter ringing like crystalline chimes, urging Maggie to join her amongst the swirl of colors and joy.

But next came the horror: the fading warmth of a hand slipping away, a desperate search through panicked faces, and then… nothing. Judith had gone missing at the fair, swallowed whole by shadows. Fifty years had passed, but the emptiness was a wound that refused to heal.

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I hope you enjoyed these two sneak peeks into stories I helped write for the Ties of Friendship box set. If you haven't already you should preorder your copy for the sale price of 99¢ at your favorite retailer. Click HERE to preorder. 

Author Life with a Duck Parade

 Hello friends!

Well, birthday month has begun! I gave it a solid kick off by visiting my doctor, where I got some super fun blood work done, and medication renewal. Whee! And to those who don’t know me, that was sarcasm. I am weird, but not so weird that I enjoy blood work. Hah! Unfortunately, it was scary as the nurse made a bit of a mess, and they described me as “juicy” after. Which is absolutely demented sounding, but they were very sweet about everything, so I let that slide.

I had also been planning a camping trip for this summer, but then I remembered I live in Texas, and summer camping was absolutely miserable here. I might have to wait until Autumn, but that is kind of a crap shoot since our Fall is pretty hot most of the time. Of course, at this rate, if I wish to camp in a tent, and not get a cabin somewhere instead, I’ll probably need to camp in February lol. Sigh.

Anyway, Oh! I did have something really cute happen the other day. My dog, Maple, who rarely barks, though she argues because she is part husky and that is what they do best, started barking early the other morning. I didn’t want her to wake the baby, so I ran across the house and into my room to find her looking out the window. When I looked, there was an entire family of ducks waddling across my front yard! Their “momma and daddy” ducks weren’t very large and had bright orange beaks, and their between them were maybe ten tiny little ducklings, their heads barely popping up over the grass, trucking it across my front yard. I ran to get my phone and take a little video. My 1-year-old granddaughter, Ellie, loves ducks, but alas, they were gone by the time I got outside. Those little things were so fast! They weren’t in any of my neighbor’s yards either. All I found was confused looking little outdoor cat looking like he did not know what just happened. (Thankfully, no signs of kitty involvement in the missing ducks were detected)

Oh, another nice thing from this weekend. The food has been excellent! The other night I made a creamy tomato, basil and garlic chicken which I served over pasta that was delectable. I’ll add the recipe. It’s a crock pot meal, so super easy on busy days. And the other was done by my wonderful husband. He grilled chicken, sausage, onions, red bell peppers. Made some bacon, cut up green onion, roasted garlic, and made two different sauces, and basically set up a fantastic pasta bar for us to enjoy. It was really nice, however, that much pasta has probably added another 10 pounds on me lol.

Anyway, other than that, I’ve had a fairly quiet weekend. Lots of shopping and day dreaming about camping. I think this Savannah dust that has hit us has me under the weather but obviously that isn’t anything serious. Just annoying lol.

Anyway, to all of my lovely readers, the best way to take part in my birthday month would be to order one of our books! If you get a physical copy, leave a review. <3 and E-book pre-orders for both are only 99 cents! That would be amazing! ;)

“Beyond the Realms” box set: https://books2read.com/u/4XkyqN

“Ties of Friendship” box set: https://books2read.com/tiesoffriendship

A Cover Reveal for You to Enjoy!

Hello friends!

I have some pretty exciting news! This past week, Katie Jenkins-Merical through Storyteller Publisher 22, LLC, released the next cover reveal for another YA fantasy anthology that I'm a part of! This one is the ”Ties of Friendship” boxed set. I think it is absolutely lovely and I'm very excited to be a part of it, along with some very talented authors! <3 My featured story is the ”Shadows of Willow's Creek," which I've talked about a bit, and have shared some of the characters for. But I also helped Jenna D. Morrison with her story: ”The Return" due to battling cancer, as most of you know by now, and her medication really got in the way with her being able to complete her idea. We weren't even sure that she would make it long enough to complete it.

There will be a pre-order link available soon for those of you who are interested! I'm including a list below so everyone can see which authors are involved!

Featured Authors & Stories:

• Orcus Pursued by: Cassie Greutman

• How to raise the dead (and then put them back) by: R.C. Barnes

• Shadows of Willow’s Creek by: Joli Campbell

• The Return by: Jenna D. Morrison & Joli Campbell

• Bonds of Friendship & Forbidden Friendship by: International Bestselling Author K.M. Jenkins

COVER REVEAL!