This is the first book in The Gates of Westmeath series.
Summary
Kennedy Fairfield just graduated in the class of 2002, and is now trying to find her purpose in life, or at least a job in her field. When she saves Jason Johnson, the leader of a secret Community of supernatural people called Aetherborn, from an attempted assassination, they embark on a whirlwind epic romance and adventure.
For Kennedy and Jason to discover why people are disappearing in time to save her friends, they’ll have to face teleporting assassins, grumpy wizards, gossiping hags, mafia robots, and secret military groups, all in the city of Westmeath, Ontario, which has more secrets than residents.
The first book of four in The Gates of Westmeath series.
AO3 tag system
If we were to put this book on AO3, it would require the following tags. The tagging system gives a hint about what can be found in the book without giving everything away.
Rating: M (mature for sex and violence)
Tags: Urban Fantasy, Romance, main character injuries, kidnappings, fight scenes, deaths of NPCs, death of villain, superheroes, magic is real, aliens exist, no relationship angst, flirting, dancing, happy ending, puns
Join us for an evening of literature as we announce our next releases! We will reveal the covers to our upcoming releases, show you our brand-new book trailers, and you will hear some exclusive readings.
On top of all that, we have some FABULOUS prizes to give out to the attendees: coffee, signed books, art, and so much more! Make sure to come so you have a chance to win something!
The event will happen over Zoom. You will receive the link via email after registering.
Join us for an evening of literature as we announce our next releases! We will reveal the covers to our upcoming releases, show you our brand-new book trailers, and you will hear some exclusive readings.
On top of all that, we have some FABULOUS prizes to give out to the attendees: coffee, signed books, art, and so much more! Make sure to come so you have a chance to win something!
The event will happen over Zoom. You will receive the link via email after registering.
Normally the last few chapters in a book that I’m writing take me a long time to write. Parasomnia took me four months to write up to the last three chapters and then another four months to finish. A Study in Aether took four weeks to write all but that last 10k words and then another year to finish.
It’s not that I think endings are hard. I just don’t like leaving the worlds of my books. I don’t like ending things. (Probably why I keep adding books to series)
Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers has been a quick ride. Three months of planning and three months of writing. It’s been exhausting and exiting and really awesome. I’m now on the last chapter and I don’t want it to end. Is this why some authors never finish their novels?
Hopefully I’ll take less time to finish this chapter than I have other novels.
I’m extremely lucky to have found a partner who I can spend lots of time with, who I can talk with until ridiculous o’clock in the morning, and who I can work with efficiently and happily.
Of course we have our problems and our disagreements, but I think we’re handling them okay. At least I hope we are.
Jen and I on our first Christmas as a couple back in 2005. Look at those baby faces.
Ten-ish years ago I ran a D20 modern game that was effectively my spin on Stargate. Jen played a character who was both awesome and badass. At one point I introduced a mafia/pizza restaurant owning superhero. He was supposed to be a one time character but the group kept bringing him back and Jen’s character developed a relationship with him.
When the game ended, we talked about their story and then it slowly faded into my subconscious.
Fast forward to five years ago and a very sleep deprived me. I was doing NaNoWriMo and felt like I needed two alien hunting characters. I used the ones from our game as a stand in.
A year ago, I mentioned it to Jen and we started talking about it. The more we talked, the more we planned, until finally I said we should write a book about them. We discussed it for over four months as I was trying (and failing) to finish other novels.
January 1st we started. As of today we have roughly 78,000 words and 21 of 26 chapters written in Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers. Jen has been so excited that we also have 3 short stories and the basic plot of the next 2 books discussed.
(That’s approximately 1100 words a day or 2.3 chapters per week.)
I’ve never written at this pace and not gotten burned out or stuck in my writing. Splitting the writing and Jen’s abundant enthusiasm has me writing so much better. Also having someone as, or more, obsessed with the story has made it much easier.
It’s stressful, because I’m constantly feeling like I’m slowing her down, but overall it’s been a great experience. One I hope she’ll be willing to repeat in the future.
All that to say I’m extremely lucky and thankful for my wonderful partner.
Jen and I have been writing, a lot, lately and we’re at the 2/3’s mark of The Untitled Mystery Book Project. It’s been a lot of fun working on it with her and I hope we can keep pace with the rest of the book.
“The Untitled Mystery Book Project” is a cool name but since the book doesn’t involve mystery, projects, or books; we thought we should probably pick a better name.
Without further ado the name is:
Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers
The Gates of Westmeath book 1
Hope you’ll enjoy reading this half as much as we enjoyed writing it.
Here’s some exciting news. Jen and Eric have started working on a book together. This is the first time either of us have co-authored a work of fiction.
The book is an Urban Fantasy Romance, with a superhero and robots.
Here’s the synopsis:
When Kennedy, a recent graduate trying to find her purpose in life or at least a job in her field, saves Jason, the leader of a secret community of supernatural people called Aetherborn, from an attempted assassination, they embark on a whirlwind epic romance and adventure.
For Kennedy to help Jason discover why people are disappearing in time to save her friends, they’ll have to navigate teleporting assassins, grumpy wizards, gossiping hags, mafia robots, and secret military groups all in the city of Westmeath, Ontario, which has more secrets than residents.
We’re currently 1/3 of the way through writing and have planned out most of the book. Accounting for us slowing down a little, we should have the book ready for beta readers in Fall at the latest.
So what do you think? Hope you are at least a tenth as excited as we are.
4. Ensure there’s content 5 days a week on JenEric Designs (Success)
It’s a year of change and there will be more in the new year.
5. Design and Produce 2 new coffee flavours (Success)
We released Apple Pie and a new branding for our unflavoured medium coffee. I’ll take that as a win.
6. Print, Package, and Sell Oneshot – The Simplest RPG (Fail)
I really think this will sell better at conventions if I can keep the price down. It’s on hold until the world is more vaccinated.
Editing and Marketing
7. Finish Playtesting the higher levels of Fadds (Success)
We tested the higher levels and it was great. I have a really good group at the moment and they’re finding all the loopholes and issues. I’ll hopefully keep going in the new year.
8. Figure out how to market my books better (Fail)
This is a great goal and a great idea… I wish I had something beyond this… I’m not great at pushing my stuff.
Personal
9. Read 20 books (Failed)
I managed 11 books this year. It’s not as much as I’d like, but like writing, I’ve had a hard time finding time to read.
10. Don’t Burnout (Success)
November almost killed me after some health issues. I came very close to a total burnout.
11. Be More Patient (Partial Success)
I’ve lost my temper a lot more than I should. I hate yelling. I hate that sometimes it’s the only way either child listens to me. I think I’ll say I half succeeded.
12. Play Some Video games with Dragon (Success)
It’s been ridiculously busy but we’ve played a few times. It’s fun and I hope we can manage it more in the new year.
13. Play Some Board Games with Dragon (Success)
We’ve played a few times and the holidays will hopefully lend themselves to some more games.
Looks like 7.5 successes out of 13… That’s 58%. For 2020, I’ll take it.
Here’s to hoping 2021 is a better year, for everyone.
