My two new books, Caged Animals and Escaped Animals have just been released! They are now available as paperbacks or e-books on Amazon. I’m extremely proud of the story told in these books (they’re parts 1 and 2 of a series called GRUNTS.) It took me two years to write it and close to another year to finalize them and get them out to the public.

The other thing that I absolutely love about my books is the artwork. Yes, that’s my work too. I’m not a professional cover designer, but I think they both came out looking pretty darn good. I wanted the covers to grab your attention and make you want to find out what’s inside. I believe I accomplished my goal.

I had a similar goal for the overall story as well. At the beginning of the writing process, when I was still outlining the books, I had one driving thought. I wanted to write a story that put my characters into an impossible situation that looked hopeless and then watch them try to work through it. Part of that goal was to have strong characters that my readers would identify with and root for. I knew if I could write those type of characters then the reader would naturally feel concerned for them and want to see what happened to them. Thus, as I allowed my imagination to run wild, looking for the perfect impossible situation to write about, I came up with the idea of high school kids being kidnapped by aliens and then turned into pets. And, that’s what this series is about. At first, its a hopeless, sad situation for my colorful cast of characters. But, even in the darkest moments of the book there is always a glimmer of light shining in the darkness that keeps these teenagers going. That light will grow brighter as the story goes on, even providing them with a possible yet dangerous way out.

I was inspired by two of my favorite books. They both became movies as well, but the books totally win over their cinematic counterpart, so let’s ignore the movies for now. The two books are The Martian and The Hunger Games. In both stories, the main character is forced, against their will, into an impossible situation that looks like it will mean certain death for them. I remember after reading chapter one of both books, stopping and saying to myself, “Oh, my gosh. I have to find out what happens to this person. I have to finish this book.” My goal, as I started writing Caged Animals was to cause my readers to say the exact same thing. If you want to see if I succeeded, you can click here to see Caged Animals on Amazon. If you look at the Kindle e-book version, you’ll be able to read 2 and a half chapters for free. The “Oh my gosh!” moment actually comes at the end of chapter 2. So, feel free to read it online and see if I accomplished my goal.

Here is an honest review about Caged Animals from one of my readers …..

“I actually had a chance to be a beta reader for this series and it was so good. As soon as it went up on Amazon, I had to grab a copy. Now, it’s hard to just stop at book one, though, so I’ll be grabbing book two as soon as it comes out too. The great thing about this series is not only is it a really good and original story, but it also has a lot of heart. The characters are fun and the twists are great! Thanks for another great book!”