Two ways to get free books!
 The first way is a way to win a copy of Daros. There are 100 free ebook copies available in a GoodReads giveaway. You can enter here. They will pick winners at the end of May, and the books are distributed randomly to the winners. These usually gather about 400-800 entries, so your odds of winning are pretty good, and it's free to enter.
 The second way is a sort of a silly prize. My mother-in-law finished her copy of The Woeling Lass, and she returned the paperback to me. It is a bit well-worn (see the picture at left) but it is full of mother-in-law mojo, which should make it more valuable than most used books. I already have a bunch of new Woeling Lass paperbacks, and I can't sell this one as new, so I thought I'd give it away for free to the first person who asks. Just reply to this email with your name and address, and I'll send it out via media mail to the first person who replies who has a U.S. mailing address. If you'd like me to sign it or include a message, let me know and I'll do so before sending it out. I'd be happy to do so.
In other news, I'll be releasing my ebook boxed set of the three Inquisitors' Guild novels soon. Combining them all into a huge ebook is a little challenging - my newest ebook formatting software borked on the huge file and started deleting things at random, which just won't do. But I'll get it figured out, or I can use the old software, and then we should be good to go. I do have a great cover for the set thanks to Olivia Pro Design, who's done all my covers.
Competitions update
The 7th SPFBO (Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off) has just come to a close, with the fantasy romance book Reign and Ruin triumphing by a narrow margin with the best score of the ten judging teams. Exciting stuff. The next SPFBO starts in June, and I'll be entering The Woeling Lass.
The SPSFC (Self-Published Science Fiction Competition) continues, with some of the finalist reviews coming in. Daros is still in the running there, and the team at File 770 just published their semi-finalist review. They liked the book, which is cool. They will give my book (and their six others) a numeric score, which will be combined with the numeric scores Daros received in the quarter-finalist round, and then the top ten of the remaining 30 books become finalists. At that point, all ten judging teams will read each finalist. The finalists should be announced near the end of May, so that remains very exciting.
Other projects
I've been making slow but steady progress on my next book, about a mysterious starbase that spawns monsters and sends them out to harass human worlds in the hope of turning the inhabitants toward evil. It's definitely a weirder thing than I've tried before, but I think it's taking shape. I am probably somewhere between 20-25% done with the first draft.
I'm also "querying" my thriller, which means I'm sending query letters out to literary agents trying to see if they're interested in trying to get my book published through traditional channels. I've sent out about twenty of these queries, and I've gotten back six responses - five rejections and a request for the full book for the agent (or possibly their hard-working intern) to read through. This is a process with a very low percentage of success of any form, since agents get hundreds or thousands of queries each year and normally take on only a few new projects, so it's a little like buying lottery tickets, except instead of blowing your money for little return, you spend your self-esteem. Some agents respond pretty quickly, while others take up to a few months, and some don't respond at all, so it will be a while before I know whether I meet with any success here, or whether I should publish the book on my own as I have with my others. I'll keep you posted.
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