End of the Road

Or Was it? There's Always a U-Turn!

As I write this post, Death in the Cards, 2nd edition is out in the big wide world. Get your copy here on Amazon, hardcover, paperback, or e-book.

The trials and tribulations of marketing continued, but sales of Death in the Cards were going along steadily. I was getting lots of positive feedback, though more often that didn’t translate into a review. What I decided to do was copy and paste to my website, with permission, comments from readers that were emailed or even made during a conversation. I couldn’t post them with the official reviews on Amazon or Goodreads, but at least they were somewhere online that people could see them.

Everything was going along well. In March 2024, I finished another manuscript, a horrornovel. I offered the book to Christopher and we started to talk about Psychotoxin Press publishing it. It made sense to me to have both books with the same publisher, and he thought it was a great story.

Then disaster happened. The dream bubble popped, big time.

Psychotoxin Press and Christopher got caught up in a messy controversy. It had nothing to do with me or my book, but the worst happened. Christopher had to close down the Press.

All this happened while I was in Ireland, visiting my family. I didn’t find out until I got home, and by then it was done. Overnight, my book was out of print, and Psychotoxin Press was defunct and going to be sold.

Wait! I’d barely gotten started! It wasn’t fair.

My novella, the story I worked so hard to get published was about to be relegated to the back shelves. But, I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t abandon my novella to the netherworld. The story was too important to me and it had only been on the market a few months.

Once the acute confusion, anger, and grief was over, I realized I had options and a decision to make. I could:

1.      Leave Death out of print

2.      Find a new publisher

3.      Wait for the in-progress purchase of my publisher’s business to be completed, and discuss re-publishing under the new press

4.      Self-publish

I knew I couldn’t let Death stay out-of-print, so that was ruled out immediately. The same for self-publishing. I didn’t want that for this book. Death in the Cards was good enough to be accepted and published once by an independent press, so I knew I could find another. Re-publishing wouldn’t be easy. Most presses wanted only original, non-published work, not somebody else’s left-over. But, I had a plan.

In May, I contacted the Editor in Chief of Grendel Press, the independent press that had

another book of mine, Haunted in Paradise, under contract for publication. (More about that in future posts.)  She assured me that she would give Death in the Cards submission top priority, and didn’t see any reason why they wouldn’t take it on, though release probably wouldn’t take place for many months, maybe not until 2026. I agreed and sent her the manuscript. At least Death would come back to life at some point and I could relax. I still had thirty author copies, left over from Psychotoxin Press, so I kept looking for book fairs and other events to sell them.

Apparently, the Universe had other ideas.

I discovered Death in the Cards was still available for sale on Amazon. This was not a good thing. With Psychotoxin Press out of business, the revenue from any sales would be in limbo, and there was no way for me to get any royalties from sales. I contacted Jennifer Horgan, the new owner of Psychotoxin. She had changed the name to Twisted Dreams Press and was in the process of sorting through the legal details involved with the transfer and sale. Despite a number of issues she had to deal with, both personal and business, she offered to help me sort through the situation with Amazon and promised that if there were any sales, she would guarantee my royalties.

Finally, in August, after a lot of time and effort, Jennifer managed to get Amazon to fix the problem. No small victory, and I was very grateful. I was also impressed that she gave so much attention to my situation, when I wasn’t even one of her authors in the new press. This made me reconsider what I wanted to do with Death in the Cards.

When the Amazon issue was resolved, I sat back and thought long and hard about what I wanted for my book. Jennifer had proven herself with a level of conviction, honesty, integrity, and conscientiousness that I didn’t often see in my experiences in the publishing world.

I contacted Jennifer again. This time I asked if she would consider republishing Death under the Twisted Dreams banner. She replied that it would be an honor. We continued to discuss the details, but through it all, I felt very comfortable and connected with Jennifer and the way she was operating Twisted Dreams Press. I withdrew the book submission from Grendel Press and forged ahead with TDP.

During the process of working out the details for re-publishing Death, Twisted Dreams announced an open call for novel submissions. I approached Jennifer, and gave her the info on my horror novel that I never got to publish with Psychotoxin. She encouraged me to submit it to her editor and chief of acquisitions, Dawn Wilson. I knew Dawn and liked her writing and respected her judgement. Within two weeks of submission, the manuscript was accepted for future publication.

Over the following few months, we worked out the details for republishing Death and its release. In January 2025, Dawn and I started working on the editing, and I was pleased that she was so meticulous and thorough. We worked well together, going through several rounds of edits until we were both satisfied that the manuscript was perfect. Dawn also asked me to consider rewriting the ending as she felt it needed to have some loose ends taken care of. I wrote a new final chapter, not changing the story line, but finishing with a more satisfactory ending.

Jennifer and I set a date for the release. I signed the contract for both Death in the Cards and the new book. I was excited and relieved. Death was resurrected, and would get the chance at success it deserved.

Death in the Cards, 2nd Edition was launched into the world on April 1, 2025.

I am so grateful to Jennifer Horgan, Twisted Dreams Press, and Dawn Wilson for making the dream come true. You can buy your copy here on Amazon, hardcover, paperback, or e-book. And, watch for the new book coming soon – We’re hoping for a September release.

What’s next?

The Road to Paradise