Weekly Newsletter 96: June 2-8

Author's Life:

     I’ll keep the medical info brief. A) still no news on the bloodwork from Endocrine testing. B) Orthopaedic saw me yesterday, gave me a viscus injection (not cortisone, Hyaluronic Acid). Also, shout out to my mom for being a trooper and taking me to the ortho’s office and for then taking me to the office in the city (23 minutes away) because they failed to tell me which office they scheduled me at. 😣

      Now for the good things! I had an author interview with Fixtion Addiction over on Tiktok, which will later be up on their podcast, and there will be a link to it over on the page when it’s up! If you missed it this time, I’ll be back on to talk about Chaos Theory on July 12, or possibly the 19th. I have a note into Nikki about which Friday she thinks would work best. If you are on Tiktok, and we’re friends there, and you’d like me to share the next one (as TikTok didn’t notify you all when I went live with them) Please drop your username in the form below and I'll be sure to share it with you personally)

Writing & Editing:

     Editing:

     I have 10 chapters left of edits to Input into Chaos Theory (cover and blurb reveal July 10th) before I send it off to Editor Number One. He looks at overall story, cultural issues/differences, and notes any spelling errors he might find.

      Writing:

      In between putting in the 26 chapters I’ve gotten through this week. I managed to write! An Angel Falls (Kalista Chronicles book 6) went from 16,266 to 19,511 which is a gain of 3,245 words, and I plan to write a whole lot more this week!

      With the editors:

      Maxine still has chunk 2 of An Angel Ensnared. 😅 She’s also getting through it and things have settled down a bit more so she should, hopefully, be able to edit a bit faster now. Also!

Publishing:

     Beta Signups for An Angel Ensnared have ended! I have 11 betas total, and I’m very excited for them to start! They’re chomping at the bit, and I’d start them early, but I don’t want them to catch up with Maxine. Also, ARC review copy signups are open for this book. (only 4 paperbacks available, sign up today!)

 Thank you for reading this far, here’s another Angel Ensnared tidbit: from chapter 34 (that’ll be chunk 4 for you betas 😉):

“You’re just mad because you can’t bring Clairice with you,” I jabbed, and she acted indignant, which proved I was right. She and Claire were attached at the hip, much like (redacted) and I, but for other reasons. Mostly because she was jealous of our situation, and Claire hated me, plus Justin and Ramah were friends.

“I come with Claire, or not at all,” Allistasia finally bartered.

“Then don’t come,” I said and hung up.

Next up for Beta Reading!

Thanks for getting this far! Here’s a Teaser for Chaos Theory from Chapter 7!

“What happened?”

“I need your help. I can’t explain in front of the lawyer. You can’t question my sanity, and we’ll never speak of it again.”

“Whose car we taking?”     

Art Feature:

   Alright, this week An Angel Ensnared’s new cover has been rendering, so I don’t have a new picture to show you. But before that, I redid an older picture, so I’ll put them both below so you can see how much Kalista has evolved since her inception to now.

    This is a picture of Kalista in her half angelic form, which is six foot six inches tall and has multiple sets of horns. I made it in 2018 and I didn’t exactly know what her full Angelic form looked like then.

And here is what it looks like now, after learning what her full form looks like. There was also a little story idea I had with it, thanks to AJ my writer friend that I made back in college and has stuck with me. In honor of that, I have written out the little “Concept” for you all to enjoy. This may or may not be a canon event.

~ Short Story/Snippet ~

   I sat in the basement of a Fortress among the skulls of long dead Preternaturals. It was the only quiet place to do my math homework. The Archaeology team was being too loud, and so were the ghosts. Don’t look at me like that. I know they’re just figments and traces of a time long past, but to me, they’re real and they talk to me.

    Unfortunately, it wasn’t about my homework. None of them knew algebra, and I needed help. So, here I sat, drawing chalk along the pentacle on the floor. I closed the circle and took a deep breath. I’d gotten to the hard part, the Demoki words. I didn’t get to learn Demoki like most preternatural children. I was raised by humans, but they were arrested and I was given to my biological Uncle. That’s neither here nor there. I stood outside the circle, looking at the smudged paper I’d hastily written down the words on before Uncle realized the book was missing from his collection.

     I took a deep breath, summoned the courage, and sounded out the words: “Ak-no-bas ka a char-kay, M’ coom M’.” When nothing happened, one of the ghosts leaned in. It looked at the writing then rolled it’s eyes and whispered to me.

    “Aknobas ka eh Charka. M’ Grækúm eh,” it corrected in flawless Demoki. I rubbed my temples, and it’s eyes rolled again. “Would you like help, Malik?”

   “What kind of help?” I asked then paused. “And since when do you speak English?”

    “We are not regular ghosts,” it said, gesturing to the skulls that lined the walls. “We were trapped here. Bound to this place to torture the Angel of Death who was our ally.”

     “Then shouldn’t I be asking to help you?” I asked, hoping to put off my homework for the greater good. He shook his head and pointed to the pentacle.

      “Summoning first. The Redeemer of the Broken will know how to lay us to rest,” he said, and I selfishly wanted more time with him, but they’d been bound here long enough too.

    “How are you going to help me?” I asked, looking between then paper in my hand and the pentacle.

    “I will possess you for a short time to help you form the words, then I will come out of you again,” he said. I looked to him then back.

     “You can possess people?” I asked.

      “You’re stalling, Malik.” He was right. I cursed and nodded.

     “Do it. We need to hurry before someone comes looking for me. I’m not supposed to be down here,” I said, and he dipped his head before his body transposed over mine like a hand sliding into a glove. It’s what scared the humans I grew up with into confessing to my kidnapping. They saw me be possessed by my Imaginary friend. I learned later it was the ghost of the boy they took before me. I shuddered at the thought as this ghost moved my lips.

     “Aknobas ka eh charka. Kúm, Roanoke et’em,” he said, and I understood the words. Redeemer of the Broken, come. Save us. He began chanting them until the wind whipped around the circle and snowflakes flew in the breeze. They were contained in the circle, but the chill wasn’t. I shuddered, and fell to my knees as a bright light appeared in the centre of the captured blizzard. Then the storm stopped, the chill was once again the dank of the fortress basement, and in the centre of the pentacle was a figure.

     She was a tall woman with deep purple hair, pentacles where here irises should be eyes, and the whites of her eyes were a deep purple that looked nearly black. Her skin was blue with glowing white marks and she had a pair of massive black feathered wings. Three sets of frosted horns stuck out from her head, and she was dressed in nothing but black jeans and a corset.

   “You summoned me?” She asked in Demoki, and I understood as if she spoke English. The ghost was still inside me.

   “Please, Judge, save us from this nothing existence. Lay us to rest,” he said from my lips. When I thought about the homework he added, “and please, help this schoolboy understand algebra. We cannot seem to teach him.”

    She blinked and her eyes were no longer pentacles but violet irises with white sclera. Her skin dimmed and then the blue retreated leaving freckled pale human flesh. She tilted her head and approached the edge of the circle, but didn’t break it.

    “Is that all you require?” she asked, and we nodded. “Ah, I’m used to harder things.” She crossed the pentacle and our eyes widened as she sat on the ground in front of my math book. “Don’t be scared. I’m not here to harm you, and it wasn’t your circle that contained my power, or me. It was the Maker’s power, and He released me from your circle.”

     “Oh, how nice of him,” I said, and when my eyes met hers, her face dropped. “what-?”

     “Malik…” she whispered my name as if it were impossible, and her eyes glossed with tears.

     “How did you know my name?” I asked, she took a deep breath, then another and blinked the tears back.

    “I knew your parents.”

My current reads:

Thanks for reading!

~Jenn (aka Born Angel Author)

For more information and little updates along the way follow me on social media:

Mark Your Calendars:

Kalista Chronicles: An Angel Ensnared, book 5

~ Beta Reading: June 21-July26
~ ARC sign-ups: closes September 1st.
~ ARC Reading: starts September 15th
~ Release Day: Thursday, October 31st

Created Angel Chronicles: Chaos Theory, book 5
~ Cover Reveal: Wednesday, July 10th 5pm EDT.
~ Beta Reader Sign-ups: Wednesday, July 17th - Sunday, September 1st.
~ Beta Reading begins: Friday, September 20th - Friday, October 25th. 
~ ARC sign-ups begin: October 1st.
~ WINTER HOLIDAYS! WRITING & RELAXING!
~ ARC Reading: March 1st. 
~ Release Day: April 9th, 2025