Hey, folks!
Welcome to the SECOND quarterly Tepris Press newsletter.
Since Nikki ably handled our first one, I’m stepping up to the plate and attempting to fill her massive shoes. Yes, Nikki has weirdly oversized feet. It’s odd, but absolutely true. It’s why she’s such a speedy swimmer and so very popular with feet fetishists...but I digress.
(Nikki here, ya’ll. Just popping in to say this is very…true. 🤦♀️I’m a Squatch! A Bigfoot! A Yeti! Nothing dainty about these boats. 🐾 Thanks for telling everyone, JON!)
A quick introduction.
I am Jon Ford, and I’m the Urban Fantasy/Science Fiction division of Tepris Press. Very pleased to meetcha! 😊
It’s been a few months now, and it’s time to bring you up to speed with our new developments. Disappointingly…there are few. However, that’s not to say we don’t have news to share because we do.
Progress has been slowed a little due to illness. The dreaded Covid finally caught up with Nikki. Recuperating put a little crimp in her writing plans and meant she needed a brief hiatus from her DJing, but she’s back up to speed now and working on an exciting project. She’ll likely give you all the details in the next newsletter.
As for myself, well, I’ve been trying to get the first draft of Tooth & Claw finished. This is the third book in my Ballad of the Songbird saga, and it’s been easily the most complicated (read: problematic!) one to get done. It wraps up a few storylines as well as sets up a bunch more. Trying to balance the tone and the story-flow while also keeping continuity with Hunters and Blood to Earth has been a challenge to say the least.
Remind me to tell you about the ‘Spreadsheet of Doom’ sometime.
Talking about challenges, both Nikki and I are in the process of finalizing our short stories for the next Malarky’s ImaginOmnibus anthology book. The first one was a huge success and a lot of fun to do. I won’t give away the theme for this one just yet (stay tuned to our social media feeds for more details!), but suffice it to say, it’s been much tougher than the first one. Writing a complete story in under 5,000 words is tough. Really tough.
It'll be worth it, though. I’m really pleased with my story, and I’ve also read Nikki’s (and a couple of others!), and they’re all amazing. Many of the authors from Volume 1 are returning, plus a couple new names. It’s possible this one could be better than Volume 1!
The ebook of Malarky’s ImaginOmnibus is still being given away for free on Amazon, so if you haven’t already got it, then what are you waiting for? It’s the perfect way to sample our writing before you jump in and buy all our other books.
Speaking of which…
We thought maybe it would be a good time to talk about our books. Maybe whet your appetite a little.
Let’s start with my primary series, The Ballad of the Songbird.
Welcome to a world where the supernatural is out in the open. No longer a hidden world just to the left of our own. In 2016, an event known as The Rising left the world very much changed. The United States is now a Vampyrii nation known as New Victus. Canada, now called Pack Nation, is the domain of the Werewolves. Russia went dark and nobody knows why. Japan and China retreated from world affairs. In NordScania, Trolls and Ice Giants now live out in the open.
The Human population of the world was decimated, on the verge of extinction until, in Europe, the Fae stepped in and brought The Rising to an abrupt end.
Fast forward to the year 2045. People have settled into this new world order…but things are about to change.
The first book, Hunters, sets the scene. It’s a multi-character story that follows a number of different threads.
We start in London where half Human/half Fae hybrid Captain Gayle Knightley is returning to duty after losing her combat unit on a disastrous mission gone wrong. She’s angry and grieving, and about to meet Captain Michael Reynolds. What begins as a begrudging working relationship starts to develop into something much more.
Simultaneously, we will meet Gayle’s sister, Allyson. She’s a security chief at Nexus City in Iceland. Nexus is the place where all the new factions of the world come together to discuss their grievances. The tenth annual Nexus City Peace Summit is fast approaching, and things are going a little awry because the Vampyrii leader is up to his shenanigans again.
In New Victus, Vanessa Balthazaar is a Vampyrii who yearns for life as it was before The Rising. She is secretly planning a coup to overthrow their leader, Grand Chancellor Sebastian StormHall, by allying herself with Werewolf leader Damian Dane.
Meanwhile, in Pack Nation, bounty hunter Zarra Anderson is tracking a rogue Werewolf while being forced to face the demons of her past.
What links all these threads? Well, you’ll have to read to find out.
The books have action, adventure, mystery, political intrigue, and romance. A bit of everything really.
The Ballad of the Songbird is planned to be a seven-book saga with LGBTQ+ representation treated as the norm. The first two books, Hunters and Blood to Earth, are out now, and the third book, Tooth & Claw, should be out around autumn 2023. Fingers crossed!
Over in the Romance Division, we have Nikki’s Acts trilogy.
This is an amazing romance saga based on one very simple premise…
Everyone has a story of the road not taken. That sliding door moment when you picked one future over another. But what would you do if you got the chance to find out where that road would have taken you?
Would you take the leap?
Acts of Closure is the first book in the trilogy and asks that very question of its protagonist, Natalie. Decades ago, she got very close to a man on MySpace. There was clear chemistry between her and Jack, but events transpired, and the online relationship fizzled out.
Natalie grows older, gets married, has a child.
But she always wondered about Jack. Always wondered…what if?
At a crossroads in her life, she decides to track Jack down and find out if the old chemistry is still there. To bring closure to an unanswered question. What she finds will change her life.
Expect spicy and steamy scenes as befitting an erotic-romance novel, but also expect a beautiful, heartwarming, and (*spoilers*), at times, heartbreaking story that’s a cut above the norm. There’s a reason it won an award!
This first book in the trilogy, Acts of Closure, sets the stage for more romance and mystery in the next two books, Acts of Confession and Acts of Commitment, that continue to follow Nat and J’s need to find out where the path not taken would have led them. Each book builds on the previous one, and the story gets more in depth and their lives more intertwined as it goes along.
This series is for anyone who has ‘the one that got away’ in their past, has ever thought about what would have happened if they zigged when they could have zagged, or who just wants to escape for a while into a meaningful, spicy love story that is unique and daring.
All the Tepris Press books are available in ebook and paperback. Selected books are also available in hardcover.
Hunters is available in audiobook format.
You can find them all on Amazon.
So, what are you waiting for? Go. Go. Go!
Anyhow, thanks for subscribing to our newsletter and letting us keep you up to date with our latest happenings! Nikki is up next with more news shenanigans in September. Until then, stay safe, sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs rise up in open rebellion against mankind. That would be bad.
Love and Books,
Jon