Author Archives: Moira Callahan

Thank goodness it’s Saturday

wake upHappy weekend to everyone! Hope you are all enjoying it as much as I am. The last week was brutal attempting to get back into the swing of things after a much needed break over Christmas. Still not fully back into it all yet but I’m getting there slowly. The worst of it all was that first Monday morning alarm that went off. I am such a natural night owl that having to pry myself from the warm depths of my bed is a chore and a half. But I managed it, and then had to repeat it four more times until today. I admit, I did sleep in a little more than I normally would but it’s the weekend – WHO CARES?! LOL!

MFAntho-001-07012015-evernightpublishing-JayAheer2015-3DrenderBut there was one particularly amazing shining spot in my week I must share. Got home on Thursday to find a great little surprise in my inbox. The covers, and some other visual goodies for the Uniform Anthology that I’m honored to be a part of. They are so damn pretty, so a huge thank you to the artist Jay Aheer for these. They are truly stunning. It took me a while to finally pry my eyeballs off the bloody things, and then only because I realized I was drooling and had the nearly uncontrollable urge to lick my screen.

It’s pretty amazing to see it all begin to come together. It won’t be out for a while yet, projected release is in February but a date hasn’t yet been finalized. Depends on our poor editor for the books, and how quickly we all get through whatever changes are required of us I think. But as soon as I know more I’ll definitely be sharing the news.

On other fronts the final edits for C&M Security 5, Dangerous Pasts, along with the teaser/dedication have been submitted back to my publisher for the last look through on their end. Should hopefully be seeing a cover draft in the next few days. Can’t wait to share that with everyone. In the meantime though I need to get to work on book 6 of the series. I have a lot of ground still to cover before the big finale of that one that will tie up the last little threads left dangling in a couple of the other books.

After that who knows what I’ll be working on. I know what I should be working on, the two WIP’s I have in my docs, or even the new “something” that’s tickling my brain. But for now it’s all about focusing on the one to get it done and submitted. Easier said then done with a case of attention jumping going on right now. My brain is all over the map, twitchy, and may or may not have something to do with all the coffee I’ve pumped into my system. Oh well, eventually I’ll come down from whatever’s got me and my thoughts all over the map. In the meantime maybe I’ll just randomly open up a WIP and see what pops out. Until later ~ Moira

Here we go…

Well it’s been a very chilly start to 2015 so far. We had a huge blizzard blow in yesterday, dumping a lot of snow onto the city, and brought some very unnecessarily cold weather with it. I know it’s winter and all, but it really wasn’t nice of Mother Nature to do that.

SnowyDayThankfully I haven’t had any reason to go outside beyond sticking my nose out my balcony doors to see just how chilly it was. It was damn chilly I’ll tell you right now. So I pulled the blinds, turned on the TV to the Holiday Fireplace for some ambiance, grabbed more coffee, and got down to some writing. Or attempted to. Apparently all my characters went off on an unauthorized bender over the holidays, and still haven’t fully recovered.

I did manage to get in some stuff on my C&M Security book, but definitely nothing of significance. Which is okay I guess, the brain isn’t back into full gear as it is anyway so getting back at this slowly isn’t a horrific plan. Especially since I’m still figuring out my new laptop, and the fact it has a few interesting quirks I’m having to work around. Like a possessed mouse pad. Which raises another question, who was the bloody brainiac that though increasing the size of the damn mouse pad on a laptop was a good idea? Like I don’t have enough problems with the things, no-no, lets make the space even bigger and ten times more sensitive than all previous models. Great plan there.

In other news my place has never been so spotless. I’ve had more than a bit of time to clean, obviously since the characters went off on hiatus. Not even complaining a little. Before the holidays I was too busy running around like a crazed lunatic to give it more than a quick once over, so it was nice to do the down and gritty cleaning. Though my knees may hate me for a few more days from scrubbing my floor by hand lol!

EPHolidayHangoverHopAnd before I completely forget to mention this. There is still a few hours left to my publishers Holiday Hangover Blog Hop. I’m hosting on my blog, A Great New Read, and there are also many other great spots to get in on the action as well. You can start right [HERE] on my publisher’s site.

Well that’s it for this rambling blog post. Hope everyone’s having a great start to the New Year. Have a great night, a great weekend, and I’ll post again soon… ~ Moira

Ringing in 2015

It’s that time yet again, the time to say bon voyage to yet another year. While I wouldn’t say that 2014 was a completely smooth year – it had more than a few bumps along the way – it was definitely an interesting one.

It started like any other year. Too little sleep, a little too much alcohol, and a desperate need to get some form of caffeinated beverage into my body. There was a mild familial crises to deal with, some time off the day job to tend to that, and then there was some brutally cold weather.

Amid all of that I was working on my very first book. A novella I’d call it given the word count. After showing it to a long time friend, who was an author in her own right, she advised that I send it into a publisher. Then came the big choice. Who the hell to send this to? A few late night discussions, a lot of pros and cons lists later my friend helped me to make the decision. Evernight Publishing was the top of the pile. There were a couple of other really close runners on the list, but from what we’d dug up, and generally discovered I thought that EP was the best fit for who I am as a person, and who I’d like to be as an author. So off I sent that very first submission.

What my friend neglected to tell me about was the gut clenching terror that immediately takes hold the moment you hit the send button for your submission. The doubts that creep in: Did I forget one of the items on their checklist? Did I attach the right file? Did I actually read the file I sent to them at any point? And then, the worst in my opinion, did I spell my own name right? ARGH! Quickly into the “sent” folder to review exactly what was sent. While this relieves a bit of the terror, it definitely does not ease it fully. Because now I’m a part of that dreaded “waiting game” I’ve heard her talk about, and read about from other author type people I’d friended on the various social networks.

The good news was, EP accepted the story, put me and it under contract, and the terror eased. Right up until that first round of editors. Again from various author folk I “know” you never knew what type of editor you may end up with. I was truly blessed with an amazing woman, Laurie Temple, who instantly relaxed me with her very first comment bubble on page one. She gave me a little information about herself, her general rules of thumb when she’s editing, and then gave me her impressions on the story itself. She was helpful, polite, and at times even threw in a wickedly amusing comment that made me actually LOL in my living room. I don’t know if I’ll forever be blessed with her awesome self, but I can definitely dream. I truly don’t know what I’d have done without her gentle, but firm, handling during that first book.

All through the C&M Security series I was again blessed to have Laurie as my editor. She became as invested in the characters as I was. And it quickly became apparent she was keeping track of what I was, and wasn’t sharing with readers in books. She started looking for things in the next ones, and keeping me honest along the way. The woman is a rock star in my books, and deserves a huge bonus. Ahem! Hear that Evernight admin people – give that woman a raise! LOL!

Thankfully my personal life was relatively calm, mundane even for the balance of 2014. It allowed me to have time to focus on my writing, finding my groove with my series, and left me time to actually interact with my readers. I have readers, fans even. Freaky right? But apparently this happens, or so the great mystics proclaimed. I’ve even had more than one reader adopt a character from my books. Now if I could only get him back from her 😉

Now, here I am, heading into a whole new year – 2015. Fresh, unknown, open to all sorts of possibilities. While there will always be challenges, personal and professional, I can only continue forward one day at a time. I’m not one to make resolutions since I know myself too well. All I can say is that I will be writing every day, I will be who I am and let no one change me, and I will come through it all the better for hopefully having learned something new and amazing along the way.

champagne glass - 2015 - bokeh background - shot 1

So to all my website readers, my book readers and fans, and everyone out there on the web. Happy New Year, may it be bright, wonderful, and may you too learn something new and amazing this year. Until next year ~ Moira

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas card with red baubles on snowy surfaceIt’s been a wild year for me I must admit. Signing my first contract, having my very first book go up for sale, and then of course having that very first sale of something I created. To say it was absolutely, 100% terrifying would be a grave understatement. I was scared spitless, shaking in my boots, and completely sure I’d made a horrific mistake.

But then you, my readers, soothed all my ragged nerves, and made my day – my month – my year! You started to talk about my books, discussing them with me, and even adopting some of my characters in rather unconventional ways. I won’t name names, you all know who you are, and I adore every single one of you.

Small side note – GIVE VINCENT BACK ALREADY YOU HUSSIES!! (ps – Love you all to bits!)

So, thank you from the bottom of my heart for not only buying my books, but loving the stories I created, as well as the characters as much as I do. Even though some of your relationships with said characters might be a tad unhealthy. Just an observation.

2015 is a brand New Year, with many new things to come from me. I hope to see you all on the flip side as we turn the page, and start new once more…

Christmas2014ReaderMessage

Officially on vacation!

Out of officeAt least from the day job. I plan on taking a couple of “me” days off from writing as well, but I have edits to get done and sent back prior to the New Year, so there will only be a little rest for the weary. The rest of my vacation time will likely be spent pounding on the keyboard to get more of my stories done up. Thankfully though I can do that from the comfort of my home, in my jammies since I have ZERO interest in getting dressed when it’s uncalled for, and with an unlimited supply of coffee at my fingertips. Ahhhhh, bliss :)

In other news (like you care) I did complete all my shopping with the exception of one item that I’ve spent three months attempting to find all to no avail. Mainly because I’m pretty sure it doesn’t exist except in a delusional mind. I’m just not sure if it’s the one who asked me to find it, or the original person who wanted said item. It’s a continual coin toss on that one. I shall spend most of tomorrow on the phone to determine if said item might, however remotely, exist in reality. Should it then I will venture forth into the insanity to procure it with no thought to my own well-being, or sanity. Both of which are sorely in question after spending four hours in a mall, yes…A MALL!, the Sunday before Christmas. I know – I have no clue what I was thinking doing that either.

On the editing front for C&M Security 5, Dangerous Pasts, I’ve had zero motivation since Saturday to do the blasted things. Can’t get into the right mindset for it. Part of that may have been the fact I knew I’d be going *shudder* to the mall for an extended period of time. My mind may have been preparing for the onslaught of insanity, noise, and idiocy that is to be found there. Whatever the reason I haven’t got a lot completed yet. I’ll likely open them up once more tomorrow while enjoying the fact I’m home, in my jammies, while my coworkers are making their way into the office. Might be what I need to get some more done on them. Or at least figure out where the bloody hell I left off.

Usually I’m good about that kind of thing. I leave myself a little note so I can go right to that spot, or at the very least bookmark my last point so I don’t have to slog through. This time though I must have thought I’d remember. Well, hate to disillusion those that know me, I don’t have that great of a memory because I’ve got no clue. *rolls eyes*

Well, that’s it from me for tonight. I have food on the way – as there’s none in the house currently. So enjoy your evening, and I hope you’ve gotten everything you needed to get done, done. ~ Moira

Holiday chaos

christmas treeEvery damn year I swear I’ll do all my shopping early. Every damn year I’m down to the line to get it done in time. This year is absolutely no different sadly. Maybe next year I’ll actually start early. HA! Yeah, I don’t believe it either. But it’s a truly nice thought.

I went out on the hunt for a few items today, and must brave the masses again tomorrow for even more things. It wasn’t too bad today, did what I needed to do, and even found a few extra bits to add to the gift bags for the family. Tomorrow will be a slightly grander experiment in patience. I hate crowds. I despise people who can’t seem to walk a straight line from point A to point B. And I truly hate the fact that when someone stops to talk to another person they must stand out in the flow of bodies so that everyone needs to squish around them. Really? How is that necessary?

But I know exactly what I’m going for. I will get there at an appropriately early hour so I can complete my shopping prior to the mad crush of people who leave their brains at home, yet bring the attitude. Yes, it should be a rip roaring fun day in the mall. Ugh!

In much happier news I have the edits for book 5 of the C&M Security series. Took a quick look through some of it, and there’s definitely more than a few things I need to tend to. Some are very quick fixes, others are much more complicated but I should be able to get through them before I depart for the familial gathering. At least that’s my hope. Given when it was sent to me I’ll be out of town when it needs to be sent back – not exactly the best of timing I fear on my publisher’s part, but these things happen so I will roll with it, and figure it out.

Book 6 of the series is progressing, though the characters appear to have run off for a time. My trip to the shops may have had something to do with that. Christmas madness isn’t conducive to a creative mind. A homicidal one perhaps, but definitely not anything of a creative nature LOL! I haven’t had any new inspiration on my paranormal story, or the other one that’s in bits and pieces in a Word doc. I’m hopeful that once the crazy time has passed my characters will come out of hiding again and I can get back to writing.

Well, that’s all I have to say today. So I hope you enjoy your evening, and the balance of your weekend. ~ Moira

Release Day!

It’s that time again, yay! Release day for book 4 in the C&M Security series – Dangerous Circumstances. I’m excited about this one as it will let the readers meet the doctor, Mackenzie Vaughn, who patched Rhonda up in the last book. Readers also get to know more about the lovely Denise Franklyn, the C&M computer guru. I also introduce a new character that is integral to the book that follows this one.

Since I’m not sure what else to say, here’s a little snippet to enjoy…

*****

She looked like a slightly mussed angel in her sleep. Mack smiled a little as he watched Denise. Her lips were parted ever so slightly, her hair a bit tousled around her head and her breaths nice and slow. She had one arm tucked under her pillow and head. The other was stretched toward him, her fingers lightly brushing his arm.

Easing slowly onto his side, he moved her hand so he didn’t crush it. He didn’t let it go either, holding it loosely as he pressed her palm to his chest. For a moment, Mack closed his eyes. Not too long though. He wanted to watch her sleep. She was so relaxed, so calm, so at peace when she slept. It was very different from her normal wide-awake mode.

After adjusting his pillow, Mack wiggled in closer to her. Slowly, carefully, so he didn’t wake her. He didn’t want her to wake up yet. While he could easily function on two, three, or even four hours of sleep after years of training during medical school and his residency, Denise definitely needed more.

A quick peek over his shoulder at the clock showed it had been around six hours since they’d hit the sheets. More than enough for him. Highly doubtful it would be enough for her. Really he should just leave her be and let her sleep. He was tempted to get up, but he didn’t actually want to.

Once more he settled his gaze on her face and smiled when her lips moved in a manner that suggested she was talking in her sleep. Maybe she was having a dream. It would be too much to hope it was about him. It might be though, given the small frown on her face. He tended to push her through all the range of emotions, usually once every hour when they were in the same space.

*****

And here are the links that I have as of this moment:

Evernight Publishing – http://www.evernightpublishing.com/dangerous-circumstances-by-moira-callahan/

Amazon (US) – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R42TIOQ/

Amazon (CDN) – http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00R42TIOQ/

Bookstrand – http://www.bookstrand.com/dangerous-circumstances-mf

All Romance – https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-dangerouscircumstances-1704508-149.html

That’s all I have folks. Gotta go and get to work on book 6 of the series while I await edits on book 5 (due out January 2015). Have a fantastic day! ~ Moira

Taking a short break

antike SchreibutensilienI’ve been busily working on the next book in the C&M Security series. Book six is the prequel book for the series, the one that shows how the entire thing got started. It also is the story of Robyn Matthews, the “M” of C&M Security. It’s a little about her, and Shawn’s pasts as well as how she meets her fiancé Grant. My other goal to the book, beyond a bit of history of the two biggest characters of the series -Shawn and Robyn- is to also reveal why Robyn, and Grant are still engaged many years after the fact.

The biggest challenge is ensuring I don’t muck up anything so the other books still work in the series. So far so good since it’s all “history” at the moment. The plus of doing the prequel after the fact is knowing what’s to come since it’s already all laid out.

The biggest problem is working on it, it’s all at my characters whim what I manage to get down at any given time. That and my muse who seems to have a bit of a problem these days. She’s got me working not only on C&M, but also a new paranormal. On top of all that she’s kicking around another idea. Nothing solid on the third one as of yet, but who knows what it may end up being. Guess I’ll have to wait and see what all she gives me in regards to that.

Now, on that note I need to get a few things from the store so I’m heading offline for a time. Hopefully when I get back my muse’ll have some more for me to write. Hope everyone is having a great weekend, talk soon ~ Moira

Here comes book four…

dangerous-circumstancesI have an awesome cover (thank you Sour Cherry Designs!), I have a date, and my publisher has the finished, smoothed out version of the book. Life is awesome! Don’t really have a lot to say except that Dangerous Circumstances, C&M Security 4 will be available December 17, 2014 for purchase at a bunch of places. And then a few more about a week later when they finally catch up with the cool kids.

So, please enjoy the fan-freaking-tastic cover, I know I am, and here’s a little something to whet the appetite…

***************     ***************     ***************

It wasn’t so much a sound that woke him. There was a sound, but it was so soft he really shouldn’t have noticed. It wasn’t like he was a light sleeper or anything, but he also knew when he wasn’t in his own bed.

Cracking open an eye, Mack peered around.

He recognized the furniture around him. He was on Denise’s sofa. What caught his eye was Denise. She was in the kitchen of her condo, puttering around while the heady scent of coffee teased his senses.

With a groan, he pushed up to a sitting position and rubbed his face. When he dropped his hands, a coffee mug was in front of his face. Taking it automatically, he looked up to see Denise’s worried face staring down at him. Yeah, she likely had a reason to be worried given how and when he’d shown up at her door.

“Thanks,” he croaked out.

She just nodded and went back to the kitchen. “Breakfast will be ready in ten.”

“What time is it?” Taking a sip of the strong brew Mack let out a sigh. Another sip helped push the caffeine into his system.

“Uh, it’s almost noon. So technically it’s lunchtime, but whatever. We’re having breakfast,” she told him.

Shit, noon? Fucking hell. He hadn’t expected to sleep so late, normally wouldn’t have if he hadn’t wandered around San Francisco in the wee hours of the morning. Pushing up from the sofa, he stretched and winced at the aching muscles.

“Let me hit the bathroom and I’ll be right out,” he said. Another gulp of coffee, and he set the mug aside as she flicked a hand in acknowledgement. Not sure what else to say, he went to the bathroom.

When he came back out she had the food on the table, mugs refilled, and was wiping down the stove. Unsure what to do, not for the first time around Denise, he waited on her.

“Sit down, Mack,” she said. Tossing the sponge she’d been using into the sink, she came around the island to the table and sat.

Well, all right. Frowning, he went to one of the chairs with a plate set before it, and sat down. Pancakes, eggs and bacon. Not exactly the healthiest of meals but it was great comfort food, and just what he needed.

***************     ***************     ***************     ***************

Have a wonderful night! ~ Moira

A slightly chaotic rant

da020a81-a502-45bf-8f26-3422ecfc225eFiguring I should do up another post on my website I sit here staring at my screen. I have no clue what this post will be about given the number of things tumbling around in my head currently. So I think I’ll let it just ramble out at it’s own pace and see where it might lead. Be warned, this may be long, with some point to point insanity tossed in, and may actually get down, dirty, and plain old nasty. Here we go…

First thing that comes to mind is an issue of piracy. An author friend of mine recently had a release, and as part of the lead up to it had an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) give away. Being the smart cookie that she is, my friend found a way to embed coding into each copy to make them individually unique so when she gave them to the readers who won a copy, she’d know if any of them decided to be a douche. One such person proved themselves to be just that, a douche. This person took the gift from my author friend, and promptly uploaded it to a known piracy site. Because of the encoded meta data my friend put in it was easily traceable.

It’s people like this that make us authors so wary to gift our books. Personally I always do it via a site that has the DRM in place. Not saying this is the be all, end all to stop these folks. But it’s definitely a step in the right direction. The personalized meta data encoding is another. Making each book unique, easily traceable, and so you know exactly who the perpetrator is. Sadly I’m not sure what else you can do. While the FBI has a division set for cyber crime, including intellectual property theft on the Net, what all can truly be done to stop these jerks? You shut down one site, and another pops up. You find new ways to secure books to prevent this from happening, and some jackass finds three ways around it. It really makes me, as an author, wonder why I bother to do prize giveaways. Or at least ones involving my books. It also makes me fucking mad that these people continuously get away with stealing. And that others seem to think it’s perfectly fine.

Yes books cost money, so does gas, so do things like clothing, shoes, food. But not a one of these pirates goes out to steal a cup of coffee, or a loaf of bread because that would be “wrong”. So where the fuck do they get off thinking it’s perfectly okay to steal an author’s work? We spend hours, days, months getting a book just right before we send it into our publishers. Then there is more time in refining it, getting it perfect for sale, and then the hours of pimping the books to garner those sales. This is all time that we, at least initially, are giving away free. Because it takes a damn long time to actually make any money off your books.

Prime example. My first quarter as an author I earned enough to buy exactly 8 XL cups of Tim Horton’s coffee with a few pennies left over. Yes, I am a Timmy’s addict, and damn proud of it – so shush. My second quarter I earned enough to get exactly 16 XL cups of Tim Horton’s coffee (should mention this is prior to the just recent price hike of said XL coffee cup) with a few pennies left over. Yes that was twice as much as the first quarter, but it’s still not enough to live off of. No where NEAR enough. Yet I hear all too often, and this is a paraphrase of several different people, “authors make so much money why are they bitching about one/two/three (whatever number) of their books being pirated – it’s free advertising basically”. Bull-fucking-shit. It is THEFT. Unfortunately there’s no way YET to nail these assholes to the proverbial wall. Yet.

Okay, enough on that topic. All it does is piss me the fuck off which is totally not conducive to getting my head into the proper writing space. Which I need to do soon enough. I now have three, yes THREE damn WIP’s on the burner. Don’t know where the hell they keep coming from but they do seem to pop up to drive me insane.

Second topic of irritation I want to throw out there since I’m in a venting mood – Christmas. It is not the “holiday season”, it is Christmas. In a lot of things I am PC…to a degree. But not on this. I don’t give two shits who I offend, cause it’s my fucking country, it’s Merry Christmas. Every culture has their own version, I say celebrate it accordingly and proudly. But when folks who come to our country for a better life get all pissy because our holiday offends them, too fucking bad. We were here first and it’s our holiday. You get to celebrate your holidays without all of us getting pissy at you. So, quite honestly, if you don’t like it, there’s the fucking door – don’t let it hit you in the ass on the way out.

Sadly too many things are getting all white washed out to ensure we don’t offend anyone. It’s more than beyond time to get back to the way things were. A time when kids weren’t given everything they snivelled for, but had to earn it with hard work. Or where a teacher actually had some authority over her classroom instead of getting fired for giving a student a failing grade – I had to earn my marks, why don’t the “next generation”? Come on, all this is doing is raising a bunch of people who think they don’t have to do anything to get it all. Personally I can’t wait for the reality check most of these little shits will get one day when they are all flipping burgers at McD’s or somewhere similar for barely minimum wage. How you going to afford the latest and greatest toys then?

Okay, I’d better stop before I really get myself worked into an unholy tizzy. Time to take some of my annoyance and put it into my writing. I need to get to work on those otherwise there’s not much coming out from me in the New Year. EEEK! Not good. All right. Sorry again for the rambling, spewing crap I tossed out. But I needed to get it out of my system. I hope all of you have a lovely weekend, and play safe out there in the malls, and stores. ~ Moira