Some weeks are good news/bad news in equal proportions and this one was no exception. Earlier in the week I finished edits for my fantasy romance novella going into the “Masked Hearts” anthology being release by Roane Publishing around May of this year. The edit process was painless and I am delighted to have met and worked with Lynne Street for the edits.

I also had a weird SF story called “The Climb” that I wrote almost a year ago for an anthology call that it was ultimately not selected for find a home with Five2One Magazine for their May edition. It’s always satisfying to have a story placed that has been sitting around for a while.

The bad news is that Samhain Publishing, the publishing house releasing my first Elementals story “Fire Danger” is in the process of shutting down. That does not mean Fire Danger won’t be released as scheduled—I believe it will be—but that the sequels will not go through Samhain. I had sent Jennifer Miller, my wonderful editor, the synopsis for the second story in the hopes of facilitating conversations. Now that is no more. It is a sad day for publishing and for people like me who don’t quite like to color in the trope lines. I thought Samhain would be my home for this series, and perhaps others like it. Now that is no more.

I have to commend Samhain on the class on which they are handling this shut down. They are not merely clapping their hands together and walking away, they are trying to do it in an orderly, organized fashion and ensure that everyone gets the maximum out of this unfortunate situation. I wish them luck and dearly wish we could have worked together more.

What does that mean for Elementals’ Challenge? I wish I could tell you. I am hoping that when Fire Danger comes out I have more clarity on how to proceed, but right now I’m still absorbing the news and examining my options. Self-publishing is always on the table, as is trying to get another publisher to pick up the remaining books, or at least the finished second one. More than anything else I’ve written, Elementals’ Challenge is my passion project and I will not let it fade away no matter what. It’s come this far.

I’ll update people as things become clearer. I’m going to Romantic Times in April and am likely to pitch the series, unless I go the self-pub route. I feel a bit like I’m living that old Chinese curse—“may you live in interesting times.” These are interesting times for sure.

To be continued…

Claire