May has turned out to be a Pretty Fine Month. I moved out of the city centre to live on the edge of Berlin, next to a beautiful clear lake and a huge forest, and I’m buzzing on happiness to be so close to nature again. Even the rain is nice out here. The solitude and fresh air has been brilliant for helping me focus on editing and writing.

In other happy news, The Casquette Girls, which I edited for Alys Arden last year, was just selected to receive a rare star-review in Publisher’s Weekly. WOOHOO!!!! Star reviews are reserved for novel of exceptional quality. They called it “a thoroughly satisfying page-turner and a strong debut for Arden.” Congrats, Alys!

Wow, I feel so privileged to have been able to collaborate on this amazing book. It deserves all the recognition it’s been getting.

Another great novel that will be released very soon is D. Robert Pease’s Shadow Storm, which I co-edited alongside David Lane, Managing Publisher/Editor of Evolved Publishing.

Shadow Storm is a high fantasy with spectacular characters and scope. Check out the trailer: such beautiful artwork and style, and the novel is just as good as the trailer promises. Look out for it on June 02!

By the way, Evolved Publishing recently became one of the first outside publishers to receive an Independent Indies stamp of approval (!), another honor to add to their impressive awards list.

I’ve been a fan of the Awesome Indies website for years… they “showcase quality independent fiction for the discerning reader” and aim to improve independent publishing by using strict criteria for quality. Evolved Publishing fits right in with that, and they’re currently looking for new authors, so if you have a complete manuscript with killer storytelling and writing, now is a good time to go explore their submissions guidelines!

I also just finished developmental edits for an incredibly funny and engaging fantasy novel by James A Finegan, the first in his Spirit Rider series.

Can’t wait to tell you more about this book. His writing is amazing and the scenes are full of wonder, comedy and vivid details–but it’s still a work in progress, so you’ll have to wait a while yet. For now, let me just say it’s set in a world where there are TELEKINETIC DUCKS.

I am such a sucker for telekinetic animals in stories.

And last but not least, I’m also happy to announce that Kurt Erkan has released his beautiful and touching literary novel Heaven Must Be Like This. 

I’ve been working with Kurt to help him polish this story over the last year, and am so happy to see it published. This is a lovely, honest and unforgettable piece of work by an author with a talent for capturing the subtleties of the human experience.

Editing is currently underway for his next novel, Sleep Came So Late, which so far is just as compelling and beautifully written as his first.

What a great start to the summer! I’m looking forward to working on many more brilliant stories and hearing more good news from the talented authors I get to work with. 🙂