If you’re as excited about The Copper Tarnish as I am, then you probably wish you could read it right now. (I’ve wrote it and I want to read it again.)
Pre-orders coming soon!
While you wait, however, you can now buy the second printing of Parasomnia and learn the origins of Agent Katherine Price.
At the Aux-Anges institute, nestled in the woods outside of North Bay, they study and treat parasomnias, or sleep disorders. Ashley suffers from night terrors, Terrance sleepwalks, Kiri sleep-eats, and Paul sets fires; they are there for treatment. Adelaide took the job as a counselor to discover why she still has an imaginary friend. When they discover the secret hideout of an old club called the Dreamers, they are shocked to find that the five of them are connected through more than just the Institute.
Combine the “Sherlock Holmes” series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “Disappearing Nightly” by Laura Resnick, the “Nancy Drew” series by Carolyn Keene, and an amethyst necklace to get the “Baker City Mystery” series by @Éric Desmarais #CanLit#canadianauthor#indiepublishing
Combine “The Lost Hero” by Rick Riordan, “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams, “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie, and coffee beans to get “Coffee Shop Between the ‘Verses” by @Éric Desmarais #CanLit#canadianauthor#indiepublishing
If you’re as excited about Winging It as I am then you probably wish you could read it right now. (I’ve read it and I want to read it again.)
Go Pre-Order it… Seriously!
Winging It by Jen Desmarais is available June 3rd, 2025! Cover Art by Pinkpiggy93
While you wait, however, you can now buy the second printing of Everdome and learn about the world that will feature in part of the book.
Will YOU be Everdome’s next hero?
S.M. Ardwur’s epic ten novel series and the world’s biggest MMORPG is a world fractured by a magical disaster and saved from destruction by a brave king and mad wizard. It is now formed of twelve floating continents with magical domes protecting them.
For thirteen lucky contestants, when a man dressed as a knight offers them the opportunity to visit their favourite fantasy world as an immersive reality show, there’s only one answer they can give: YES!
The level of impressiveness is beyond anything they can believe and some of them start to wonder why. Abigail, James, Krista, Nicole, Richard, and Megan have to learn how to play the game and win; the fate of Everdome depends on it.
Before being published, I thought books lasted forever. Afterall, I can still go out and by a copy of Oliver Twist, The Scarlet Pimpernel, or Pride and Prejudice.
Unfortunately, the average lifespan of a book is 5-10 years. Most books don’t sell more than 500 copies in their entire life.
Two of my novels, Everdome and Parasomnia, haven’t been performing that well, and I’ve decided to buy the rights back from the publisher. They did a great job with the books, but it’s time I try to get them in more readers hands.
EverdomeParasomnia
What happens now?
Once the rights and files have been completely returned to me, I will republish them with some minor changes. I’m calling this a “Second Printing”.
Part of the buying of rights back was also buying out Renaissances stock. I’m going be selling those at cons and on our website. In a few months, I’ll do a full update, maybe add a short story to the back, and re-release them. Everdome will be getting a new cover to make it match more with Winging It, which partially takes place in the world.
This is new and exciting, but also kinda terrifying.
More news to come. Thank you for reading.
Éric
Winging It by Jen Desmarais is available June 3rd, 2025! Cover Art by Pinkpiggy93
As you might have heard on social media, River City Siren Press has agreed to publish my next book. The Copper Tarnish is a Sci-Fantasy inspired by classic monster movies and my own experiences growing up queer in a small town.
Until last summer, I was the most popular girl in school. Then I was accused of killing my boyfriend when he disappeared. Luckily, he didn’t die, but he wasn’t the same when he came back. Murder accusations are nothing compared to the rumours that I kissed said boyfriend’s sister. That rumor proved to be the real killer for my popularity.
Now everyone hates me except the gorgeous new girl who seems determined to ruin any chances of being popular by hanging out with me. There’s also a cute soldier hanging around my mom’s diner and freaky sounds in the woods.
Autumn definitely won’t be dull. All I need to do is graduate…and stay alive.
I’m realy proud of this book and it’s cover. It’s going to be released June 3rd and I can’t wait to have you read it.
Chapter 1: My team saves the day despite themselves
Tuesday the 10th of October, 2006 – Sudbury, Ontario
“What the hell is that?” Grant screamed at me. His long brown hair was in a low ponytail and his normally round pink face was white in terror.
“That is a vampire. Specifically, it’s a Blood Vampire,” I, Albert, said, grabbing the Dracula wannabe by his collar before shouting, “Ga Bort!”
As soon as I spoke, the thing imploded with a sucking sound, leaving a little ectoplasm, or Aethergoo, behind.
I’m only in my mid twenties and have been told I look like a gangly librarian or English teacher. I’m also the only one in the group with a military background.
“This nest must be freshly from the Aether,” Clifford said with a sigh of relief. He was the oldest of the group and the one most in shape. He looked more like an action hero than a mid-forties architect.
The perfectly put together Ursula asked, “Are these the sparkly kind or the classic?” Her perfectly fitted suit and dyed blonde hair would be normal in a country club but in an abandoned factory in Sudbury, she looked out of place.
“Please don’t be the sparkly ones. I feel bad for returning those to the Aether,” Robin said, her black curly hair bouncing in time with her movements. She was the youngest, beating Grant by a few months.
They were joking. If the vampires were anything but blood-thirsty animals, they’d be considered Aetherborn and we wouldn’t be sending them back to the Aether. Sapient blood vampires were becoming more and more common with their portrayal going from monster to romantic lead. Sapience was really the only difference between Aether-creatures and Aetherborn.
Had they been Aetherborn, we would have helped them transition to our world. There were several separate communities of vampires, mostly in the far north to take advantage of the long nights.
These were not sapient, and we didn’t get time to quip further as a dozen more vampires ran at us. Each of us activated the magic necklace we wore and were suddenly armoured in matching plate mail suits.
The five of us are Gatekeepers. We take care of the barrier between our world and pure magic. We strengthen it, we deal with anything that comes out of it, and we stop people from flooding our world with magic.
That last one sounds like fun until you understand that magic, or Aether, only wants to devour, and when it comes close to a human it transforms into whatever the human was thinking about. Let me tell you, we humans are great at thinking about two things: sex and fear. Sometimes at the same time. Hence the lengthy list of vampire types.
Each of the Guardians is chosen, we don’t know by who, and then have to seek out the order and find a mentor. We usually train in pairs but we were special. Mostly that we were the most accident-prone knights in the history of the order.
Not me, I was the poor schmuck that was supposed to teach them how to survive while doing the whole knight errant thing. The other four had been called to duty in the past year. They’d done training and were now getting extra training so they wouldn’t die.
There were less than a thousand of us in North America and I was hoping that number wouldn’t get any lower.
A Gatekeeper knight is chosen when they do something heroic or selfless. When that happens, a magic sword appears in the closest body of water. Mine was a lake not far from where we were fighting the vampires, Robin’s was a fountain, Ursula and Clifford’s were swimming pools, and poor Grant’s was a urinal.
The moment you take the sword, you know to find a senior knight to train you. After six months of training, you are supposed to travel the continent to help people. If you survive that, you are given an assignment. Mine was to take care of these four.
Somehow Grant had managed to get his sword stuck in Clifford’s armour, Robin dropped her sword, and Ursula was trying to slap the vampires without pulling out her sword.
“Guys. Remember your training. Use your dismissal word,” I said, trying not to sound annoyed. I held my sword high in the air and poured my will into the sword as I screamed again, “Ga Bort!” It’s bad Swedish for, “go away”.
My sword glowed with barrier energy and I started to slice through the vampires. When we get rid of an Aether-creature, its magical energy is sent to re-enforce the barrier.
The great thing about fresh Aether-creatures is that they haven’t the time to create any bodily fluids yet. Other than a few, which left some blood behind, they would just disappear with a pop. They were so fresh that they didn’t leave much Aethergoo either.
Once my team powered their swords, we cut through the vampires quickly, only hitting each other a few times. Thank goodness for armour.
When the vampires stopped coming at us we explored what little was left of the warehouse. We found what I was expecting: a young child hiding in a corner. They were maybe five years old and had their eyes closed while they rocked back and forth.
“Jo. My name is Albert. Your parents are worried about you.” I gestured for the other knights to spread out and stay back. They didn’t understand.
“But the vampires are coming,” the child said in a whimper. With his words, vampires appeared around us.
“We’re here to stop them and protect you,” I said. They opened their eyes. I had hoped they’d see me in all my glory and feel better. What they saw was my co-knights being caught off guard and falling all over the place like circus clowns. The kid started to laugh and the vampires popped out of existence.
I picked up the kid and they sighed, curling into my arms.
What my team lacked in combat, or coordination, they more than made up in their ability to shore up the barrier. They worked quickly together, and used their natural abilities to thicken the barrier so no one else would accidentally summon a monster.
For a regular human, to pierce the barrier and pull something out needs great fear or desire combined with a strong imagination. When the barrier is thinner, it means more accidental Aether-creatures.
Jo must have expended a lot of energy, because they stayed asleep the entire ride home and even transferred to their mother without a fuss. Back at the minivan, I said to the group, “We didn’t die, and we saved the kid. Good job. We’ll start more intense combat training in the morning.” I was still amazed that no one was hurt.
A few months later Suzie and I were relaxing on a beach on Earth. Zuri and the Galahad had returned to their home to try and organize the survivors. Where Zuri went, the Myrddin followed. Diamond Stars and the crew of The Revenge returned home with the remnants of Black Sun to try and fix the harm they’d done. Captain Ng and the crew of the Warship Ennill had stayed to learn all they could from the various people.
The other speakers and people of the Sun fleet were given the chance to stay with a quarter of them doing so and the rest returning to their systems.
With all the technology we’d gained, travel between systems was going to be a regular thing now. The universe had shrunk significantly.
I was enjoying the feel of clear water on my toeswhen we got a call.
“I shouldn’t answer it,” I said.
“They won’t stop,” Suzie replied. She’d seen it was the Hey Sunny Too.
“What is it?” I asked into the coms.
“The Gate activated, get up here,” Adric replied and we had no choice but to get the shuttle and head back to our new ship.
The gate dated from the beginning of the universe and seemed to emit a kind of power we couldn’t recognize. Sol didn’t know what it was. Of course I installed it on my ship.
Once we were aboard, Adric said, “The gate activated and a crude robot came through, left this, and then went back in. The whole thing lasted less than a minute.”
He handed me a nicely embossed piece of paper that had a tree on it. As I stared, the words swam and formed, Yggdrasil Command Aether Earth. If your atmosphere is safe for us, we shall visit you in 24 hours. It was followed by a complex mathematical algorithm.
Adric anticipated my confusion and said, “It’s a formula for figuring out what their 24 hours means using the speed of light and the emission frequency of a hydrogen atom.” He stopped there and I gave him a quizzical look. “Oh. It’s close to our Earth but their day is roughly 80 milliseconds longer than ours which means they are probably from an alternate reality Earth that is further in the past.”
I blinked a few times and asked, “How do you get that from a simple calculation?”
“It wasn’t simple, and I also analyzed the note. It has massive quantities of microplastics and greenhouse gases which was typical of Old-Earth.”
I nodded and said, “I’m impressed. How long do we have?”
“Ten minutes. You really took your time.”
Suzie wanted us to greet them remotely but I figured if we’re going to meet interdimensional aliens, we should do it in person.
The gate lit up with blue energy that looked like waves, which was different from our jumpgates that just shimmered silver.
Two people walked through, a man and a woman in what looked like pseudo-military garb. He had dark skin, was tall, broad, and his long brown hair was streaked with grey and tied in a bun on the top of his head. The woman with him was also tall, but had white skin and blonde hair, just starting to turn white.
They didn’t look like any military I’d met and there was a strange power about them.
The man smiled and it was obvious from the creases in his face that he did it a lot. He moved forward and spoke gibberish.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand you,” I said. I was surprised, we’d installed a translator designed by the Children of the Stars, and it was able to translate almost anything.
The woman said a few words, pointed at Suzie, and at Suzie’s sword.
“I think she wants you to talk about your sword?” I said.
“I don’t want to tell them about my sword,” Suzie said, sounding almost offended.
The man held his hand out for a handshake and said, “Thank you, our translations need two native speakers and a few sentences to parse the language. I am Agent Jason Johnson and this is Agent Kennedy Johnson.”
“Nice to meet you.” I shook his muscular hand. “I’m Hal the Sun Speaker, this is Suzie, and this is Adric. You are on my ship in orbit around our Earth.”
The woman smiled broadly and said, “I love it when it’s a spaceship gate. It’s always so cool.”
“I don’t want to be rude, but why are you here and where did you come from?” These two were likeable, but seemed genuine and not fake.
“We’re from Aether Earth and we’re here with a warning. The Mulciber are coming.”
The word meant nothing to me, but it triggered a vision from Sol. I stood on a tall mountain on Mars and watched as a silver serpent of massive size decimated the Martian military.
At least it was less disgusting than the void-beasts, but it looked like I had another threat to prepare for.
While you wait for the next serial story, check out the previous ones:
I’m filled with exclamation marks! (Sounds like a medical issue honestly.)
After a year and a month of writing, we’ve finally finished Fanatics! Inevitable Honeymoon Crashers.
This is the third of four books in The Gates of Westmeath series and honestly my current favourite.
Our characters are happily married and on a chase for all the peices of Kennedy’s magical gem. They’re not the only ones though, aliens and Fay alike are going to try and get there before them. It’s a treasure hunt and race across the world, with stops in Ottawa ON, Montreal QC, Hope BC, Parry Sound ON, Paris France, and the magical archives of the Library of Alexandria.
The next step for us is editing and sending it to beta readers. Once that’s done (hopefully a few months) then we submit to our publisher and if they like it, it should be published, if we’re lucky, in 2027 or 2028.
We’ve only been publishing one book per year and next year will be the thrilling sequel to Crushing It!, and in 2026 we have slated a book called Faymous, which is a fun portal/Fairy book.
If you’re interested in being a beta reader, and you’ve read the first two books, please contact us. We have two spots available.
Good Reading,
Éric
Until you get to read this awesome new book why not read the first two?
Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available now!
