NobleDead.org - High/Dark Fantasy Fiction by Barb Hendee and J.C. Hendee

Exciting news! As part of a series promotion, our publisher has dropped the price of the e-book edition of The Mist-Torn Witches, Book One in the series, to $1.99 USD though October 30th.

The sale is active at all vendors selling this e-book. If you haven't read this one, it's a fun series, take advantage of this sale while it lasts!

Hi Folks; Barb Here.

So… we're just about to the one-month countdown for the release of TO KILL A KETTLE WITCH. This one feels like it's been a long time coming. I don't how much you follow the publishing industry, but last year, Penguin and Random House merged. This sort of thing always has repercussions, and as a result, our editor of nine years “retired.” We were assigned a brand new editor, and this novel was turned over to her. I was nervous, as she hadn't read the previous three books. But she turned out to be quite wonderful, and we worked on the book together. It was she who suggested simply putting Amelie on the cover even though Celine has a large role in the book.

This is a fun novel where Amelie, Jaromir, Celine, and Helga go on quite an adventure. Amelie and Jaromir are sleeping in close quarters (smiles), and Marcus (the shape-shifting wolf from book two) re-joins the group.

I'm so looking forward to hearing what people think of this one. It's “out” on May 3rd, and you can learn more under Novels (and select “Mist-Torn”).

It’s a book birthday! Today, Witches with the Enemy hit the stands; you can find more information and some current purchase links in the "Books" section at NobleDead.org.

For some reason, this one has felt like a long time coming. For those of you who haven’t tried the series, it’s set in Droevinka, the homeland of Magiere from Dhampir and The Noble Dead Saga as a whole. The stories are a lot of fun, and the tone is similar to the earlier Noble Dead books. So happy reading! Oh, and one more thing…

We have something extra and special coming your way for this book birthday. Watch for it by 5pm PST tomorrow!

Chris Strickland has won the first Noble­Dead­.org audiobook raffle for The Mist-Torn Witches, book 1.  His promo code has already been delivered.

The next raffle opens on April 13th for 3 copies of the audiobook edition of S1B1: Dhampir in the Noble Dead Saga. Please note that any entries submitted before the raffle officially opens will be discarded.

The Audiobook raffle for The Mist-Torn Witches, book 1 (set in the world of the Noble Dead Saga)  ended as of last night at Midnight PST. We will now proceed to selecting and notifying winner. [See the original raffle notice and read the rules to learn how.] By Monday, we hope to announce the winner.
NEXT UP: We will wait one week to begin Audiobook Raffle #2 for the audiobook edition of S1B1: Dhampir in the Noble Dead Saga. Please note that any entries submitted before the raffle officially opens will be discarded.

The Audio book raffle for The Mist-Torn Witches, book 1 (set in the world of the Noble Dead Saga)  is still on-going. Hop over to the original raffle notice and read the rules. This raffle closes Friday, April 3rd, 2015, Midnight PST (by the received timestamp on your emailed entry), so you still have time.

NEXT UP: We now have complete promo codes for free copies of audio books for the first six Noble Dead Saga books. The next raffle to come will be for an audio edition of S1B1: Dhampir. More to come on this once the current raffle is completed.

It took a while to work things out, but here we are finally. The first two Mist-Torn Witches novels are now available at Audible, so we start with the first.

NOTE: We are waiting for Audible to catch up on the first six Noble Dead Saga books. Soon as they deliver our promo codes, we will raffle some of those.

All audio raffles will be for “promo codes” of one time use for a free edition of the prize through Audible.com. Please visit their “apps page” now to see multiple options for how to enjoy your prize if you win. Audiobooks through Audible (Amazon) are handled much the same way as ebooks. And so...

Okay, we know many fans are eagerly awaiting the release of audio editions for the Noble Dead Saga and The Mist-Torn Witches series as announced late last year. Audible has production for both series well under way, so here are the pending release dates we have so far…

We are in the “one-month” countdown to the publication of Witches in Red. Barb is very excited about this book being released into the hands of readers. The story is quite a ride. It will be available for purchase on May 6th.

Also… our publisher is hosting an early give-away over at Goodreads. Fifteen copies are up for grabs! Pop over and enter to win your copy.

Happy reading!

There was a time when several of my peers had story ideas rejected by pub­lishers for this marketing reason: “The bookstores will have too much dif­fi­culty deciding where to shelve this novel.”

In essence, the author submitted a fantasy cum la western, mystery, horror, etc. which the publisher feared might confuse the book­stores as to where to shelve it. There was a time when nothing drove fear into the hearts of publishers as much as confusing major book vendors. In more recent years, though, this problem appears to have vanished for the most part…

Just a quick note today; as we work our way through the copyediting for S3B3: A Wind in the Night, some vendors are already making it available for pre-order. In addition, the cover for Barb’s next volume in the Mist-Torn Witches series has been finalized… along with the back-blurb / cover copy.

Have a peek at what is to come; you can find them both in the “Books” section at NobleDead.org, which is still undergoing more slow and careful transformations. Report any troubles you have there through the “Contact” section, though be aware that having JavaScript enabled is necessary for most of our site.

In the near future, there will come a few cosmetic makeovers for the site and some of its social system satellite pages. Some accessory content at Barb’s old site also still needs to be merged over. There should not be any interruption of services / news out of NobleDead.org.

Welcome to an all new series by Barb Hendee, set in the world of The Noble Dead Saga. It’s a book birthday! The starting volume has officially hit the shelves this morning!

Come join the sisters, Céline and Amelie Fawe, who come to discover their own hidden powers as they are caught up in the tangled, dark land of Droevinka, ruled by the “Grand Prince” whose throne is constantly in flux among great noble houses and intrigue.

Get it while its hot!

Learn more and find purchase links in the “Books” page.

It has been a while since we did an update on “Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga.” Time for a little catch-up on this and a few other Noble Dead related topics. As previously mentioned before S3B2: The Dog in the Dark hit the shelves, we told our publisher we would not release any “tale” during the month before (and after) the release date of a new book in the saga. As we near the end of that window, here is what is coming…

Now and again, we notice a stream of new readers have tuned into our social satellite pages or directly to news releases through NobleDead.org. So just a few catch up notices for those who might have missed them.

Barb and J.C. are engaged in more than writing the Noble Dead Saga. So whether you are catching up with the books so far, or awaiting S3B2: The Dog in the Dark, stop by the main site and have a peek at Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga.

The “Tales” project of short ebook only works currently contains two on-going  sequences: “Homeward” and “Bones of the Earth.” Short stories and novellas in the former are not sequential, per se; you can read them in any order. Those in the latter are sequential (so far), but we know of readers who started with either one first and did just fine. And yes, there will be new sequences debuting sometime in 2013 along with the continuation of “Bones of the Earth.”

We will not be releasing new “Tales” until something in February 2013 outside the release window of the S3B2: The Dog in the Dark and after we have a little break from finishing the draft version of next year’s volume. But there are more “Tales” to come, oh yes.

And of course, there is Barb’s coming new series, The Mist-Torn Witches, which debuts May 2013. It is set in the world of (but not linked to) the Noble Dead Saga.

And lastly… we know a lot of you expected the next news from ND.org would be about the new “Noble Dead Raffles.” Hang in there. That notice is coming late tomorrow, guaranteed!

Now, has everyone finished their list of holiday preparations? Cough, cough, ahem… we are probably in no position to talk! And we’ll be back tomorrow.

Well, let us be honest: we do not really have anything new to share, but…

It has been over a week since we lifted our bleary eyes from the keyboards… or took a break from chasing Cinders and Ashes out of the artificial holiday tree we put up but have not yet decorated.

We were waiting on the ornaments until we taught the “sisters” not to climb indoor trees since we do not let them climb the outdoor type. And they are getting big(!) at just past seven months. We took an hour last night to bend all of the artificial tree’s branches back into place. That should also tell you how successful we have been in cat training after trying every trick in the book. Oh, and that includes the old lemon trick and cat’s hating the scent of it sprayed on anything. J.C. repeatedly misted the whole tree in a 50/50 mix of lemon juice and filtered water… and the sisters did not even flinch as they hit that tree in a run and a leap the first time… the second time… the third time… sigh…

The only real thing going on around our office is grinding away on the draft for S2B3: The Wind in the Night [working title] while we wait for S3B2: The Dog in the Dark to hit the real and virtual shelves. The winter holiday season is upon us, so only another 5+ weeks to go… before both the new release and that new manuscript has to be in our editor’s hands.

With all of that and then some, there has been no time for other projects like more “Tales,” finishing changes on the websites, the Noble Dead “Codex” project, or even a quick boardgame or something. We should also remind all of you that, as planned, there will no new releases in Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga around the release of a new book in the Noble Dead Saga. So no new Tales until after January, but yes, there are more to come. Also, down the road, we may need to do the same thing when Barb’s new Mist-Torn Witches series debuts. And before anyone asks, changes to the websites will be finished once J.C. has time to breath… and the free ebook Codex of the Noble Dead World is still on his to-do list.

We will leave off here and hope all of you have had a good start to the holiday season. Please do not get trampled in the stores! We will back to you again when we have some actual news to share… or when we realize it has been too long yet again.

Time for a little update on what is going on around the home office, and what is coming up in the near to not-so-near future. Obviously there is another entry in The Noble Dead Saga that will be hitting the shelves (online and in stores) at the end of December. If you have not taken a peek at it as yet, drop by NobleDead.org.

For the Saga’s Future…

A little while back, we finally finished the outline for the next book to come, S3B3. We have chosen a working title but this is still subject to additional changes—The Wind in the Night. Our collaborative outlines go way beyond what is done for a solo author, so there was a lot of work involved for yet another three interwoven stories in one novel, like you will see in S3B2: The Dog in the Dark.

J.C. and Barb received the copyeditor’s notes for S3B2: The Dog in the Dark and are going over that whole manuscript now while working on the next one already in the planning process (S3B3, untitled as yet). Needless to say, the scramble is on, though that’s always the way of things this time of year. Mid-summer and over the year’s end holidays are always hectic. Still no finalized version for the cover of S3B2, but as soon as that is officially settled, we’ll share it with you.

It has been a little while since we posted an update of any kind. Work has been that busy between outlining the next volume in the Noble Dead Saga for 2014 (yes we work that far ahead), writing and prepping more “tales,” researching ways to streamline our e-publishing process, and, well, just daily life stuff. So time to catch up on a number of things…