Current Projects, October 2014

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Jessica

I have been horrible about getting over here and updating my site lately, but in my defense, I’ve had a lot of stuff going on in my life since July and haven’t had the time to even think about this kind of thing.

To smooth things over into the new month, I’m going to take a few moments to update you guys on my current writing projects and where everything stands as of right now.

Here’s my list of Current Projects. This should give readers some idea of what’s in the pipeline and what will (hopefully) be released someday. This also explains why I’m so erratic when it comes to posting and being active, both here and on my assorted social media sites. A busy author means a distracted author!

Things that are contracted by a publisher will be noted; otherwise, assume that it hasn’t been sold yet or a publication date hasn’t been set yet.

Note that books that have been published are no longer on the list.

The Becoming Series

The Becoming: Descent
The Becoming Series, Book 5. Zombie fiction / post-apocalyptic thriller. The direct continuation of The Becoming: Under Siege. With the loss of their new lives, Cade and her companions are forced to try to pick up the pieces and go in search of a member of the group that has gone missing.
Status: Completed, turned in to publisher. Publication date, September 2015.

The Becoming: Redemption
The Becoming Series, Book 6. Zombie fiction / post-apocalyptic thriller. This one picks up where Descent will leave off. Cade et al have the opportunity to save the world. I can’t say much more about this one until Descent is in the wild for readers to indulge in.
Status: First draft in progress.

The Becoming: My Brother’s Keeper
The Becoming Series, Book 6.5. Zombie fiction / post-apocalyptic thriller. Jude and Sadie O’Dell’s story.
Status: In the idea / outline sketching stages.

The Unnaturals Series

The Unnaturals
The Unnaturals Series, Book 1. Urban fantasy / covert-ops thriller. The first book in the series. Two special agents are transferred to a sector of the US government that investigates supernatural activity and get more than they bargained for.
Status: Completed, turned in to publisher. Publication date, November 2015.

Hellforged
The Unnaturals Series, Book 2. Urban fantasy / covert-ops thriller. Sequel to The Unnaturals. After the events of the first novel, Riley Walker is forced to go on the run as forces stronger than her make her destruction their goal.
Status: First draft in progress.

The Agency Series

Nightfall
The Agency Series, Book 1. Urban fantasy / covert-ops thriller. First book in a prequel series to The Unnaturals. Nightfall tells how Zachariah and Ashton met and how The Unnaturals was formed.
Status: First draft in progress.

The Deadening Series

The Deadening: Collapse
The Deadening, Part 1. Serialized Novel. Horror / historical western. In an 1868 silver mining town, the sheriff, a schoolteacher, and an outlaw team up to protect the town’s citizens from a mysterious outbreak of violence.
Status: First draft in progress.

Stand Alone Novels

Small Town Dead
Standalone novel. Horror / pandemic fiction / post-apocalyptic. A small town is turned completely upside down when an Ebola outbreak begins to spread through their town and the military quarantines them.
Status: First draft in progress.

There are a ton of other books on my list of future projects, but they won’t make an appearance on my list until I actually start on some point of the process on them.

Taking a Trip Down Memory Lane…

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Jessica

So I took a trip down Memory Lane recently (no, not the Memory Lane in Birmingham, AL), thanks in part to the #SoulBooks hashtag on Twitter, and it resulted in me doing a mad scramble for a whole lot of great books I haven’t read since I was a kid. In the process, I found and bought this:

I can hear you guys now: what in the world? Why is an author who writes in the horror and urban fantasy genres buying a book called The Bubble Gum Christmas, of all things? I mean, I write about zombies and demons and vampires and werewolves and all manner of evil, icky nasties, and I’m purchasing books wherein Santa Claus loses his beard due to showing off while blowing gum bubbles (as he does) and elves use (what else?) more bubble gum to stick a fake beard on because Santa isn’t Santa without a beard? What in the world sort of crack have I been smoking?

There’s a funny little story about this book. You see, The Bubble Gum Christmas is the very first book I ever learned how to read. Like, ever. I was, I think, three or four years old and so excited that I’d figured out how to read it that I went running to my mom and read the entire book to her right then and there.

So this is why The Bubble Gum Christmas has a special place in my heart: it’s the very first book I ever read by myself, and it fueled a love of reading and, eventually, a love of writing that got me where I am sitting today.

In the vein of the #SoulBooks hashtag on Twitter, what books hold a special place in your heart?

The Jessica Meigs Super-Massive Giveaway Extravaganza!

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Jessica

During the month of July is my birthday, and you know what that means? It’s time to celebrate!

This year, I figured we could celebrate my birthday in style with the Jessica Meigs Super-Massive Giveaway Extravaganza!

So what’s the details?

There will be a giveaway every week in the month of July!

For the first week’s giveaway, I’ll be doing a random drawing for a set of ebooks for The Becoming, The Becoming: Ground Zero, The Becoming: Revelations, The Becoming: Origins, and The Becoming: Under Siege in the format of your choice. This drawing will happen on July 9, 2014.

For the second week’s giveaway, I’ll be drawing for the lucky winner to receive audiobooks from Audible.com of The Becoming, The Becoming: Ground Zero, and The Becoming: Revelations. Unfortunately, due to the nature of Audible, only people in the United States will be eligible for this prize. This giveaway will take place on July 16, 2014.

For week three, I’m doing something a little more special: I’m sending the winner for that week autographed paperback copies of The Becoming, The Becoming: Ground Zero, The Becoming: Revelations, and The Becoming: Under Siege! This drawing will happen on July 23, 2014.

What happens with week four, you ask? Well, week four has the GRAND PRIZE DRAWING.

The Grand Prize winner for the month of July will receive the massive, action-packed, super-awesome prize package that includes:

– a $50 Amazon, iTunes, or B&N gift card (winner’s choice of retailer);

– a set of autographed paperbacks of The Becoming, The Becoming: Ground Zero, The Becoming: Revelations, and The Becoming: Under Siege;

– a set of Audible audiobooks for The Becoming, The Becoming: Ground Zero, and The Becoming: Revelations (US winners only, sadly);

– a set of ebooks for all of the Becoming Series, including The Becoming: Origins;

– and a set of the super-awesome, reasonably rare Becoming Series bookmarks.

(Note: If you win one of the smaller prizes, this does not disqualify you from winning the grand prize package; however, the prize you won during the smaller giveaway will be excluded from the grand prize pack.)

So how do you enter to have a chance to win any of these super-awesome prizes?

You have multiple ways to enter:

1. You can friend me on Facebook (assuming you’re not already a friend) and comment to THIS POST (please comment only once; wall posts for entry will be discarded);

2. You can follow me on Twitter and tweet the following: “I’ve entered to win The @JessicaMeigs Super-Massive Giveaway Extravaganza! Here’s how you can win: http://bit.ly/1qS7Pon ”;

3. You can comment to this post.

Only one entry per person or Twitter handle, please.

Want to earn two extra entries into the contest? There’s two easy ways to do that!

1. You can subscribe to my mailing list! This will earn you one extra entry into the contest;

2. You can leave an honest review on Amazon on any of my books (see THIS POST for links to the Amazon pages). If you choose to do this, please email a link to your review to my email at jessica.meigs@gmail.com

Deadline for entry is July 31st, 2014 at midnight CST.

Winners will be added to an Excel spreadsheet and selected via an internet-based randomized number selector.

Good luck to all of you, and spread the word about this contest to all your friends!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! The Unnaturals Series to Be Published by Permuted Press!

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Jessica

Ladies and gents, I am very, very, VERY excited to announce that I have signed a contract with Permuted Press for them to publish The Unnaturals Series!

What’s The Unnaturals Series, you ask? For those of you who have been loitering around for a while and remember the long-ago days of 2012, it’s my urban fantasy/covert-ops/horror series! I originally self-published a version of the first book, titled The Unnaturals, back in I think September 2012, and I sold 300-some copies before I removed it from sale in late November 2012 to do some rewrites and start the submission process to publishers. Shortly afterward, I got an agent, who loved the book and helped make it even better, and after some work, we got it placed at Permuted Press, who really truly did make the best offer out of the ones we did get.

So what’s the series about? Well, here’s the synopsis my agent and I worked up:

Riley Walker is one of the world’s best covert operatives, employed by a top-secret sector of the U.S. government known only as the Agency. Highly skilled and lethal in a fight, Riley is fiercely independent and adamant that she work alone after the mysterious death of her partner in an assignment gone wrong.

All that changes when she’s thrust onto a new assignment investigating the deaths of twenty-seven Agency operatives. Forced to work with twelve-year Agency veteran Scott Hunter—a stickler for following orders and a loner by nature—Riley doesn’t get a chance to protest before she and her new partner are passed to a sector of the Agency that they never knew existed: The Unnaturals. There, they meet Ashton Miller and Zachariah Lawrence—one the Director of The Unnaturals, the other the group’s top field agent—and learn of the existence of creatures out of their wildest dreams: Vampires. Demons. Werewolves. And even more. And it’s up to them to prevent these creatures from harming humanity and taking over the world.

But then everything goes horribly wrong when Riley and Scott are attacked by vampires and Zachariah is taken. As Riley and Scott race the clock to track down the one weapon that is capable of killing the powerful vampires, they uncover a web of lies from the unlikeliest of sources in the Agency, one that they never saw coming and aren’t sure they can survive.

And that’s just book one.

There will be six full-length novels in the series at this point, with assorted short stories and novellas inserted all up in between them. Right now, the book listing is as follows:

Book One: The Unnaturals
Book Two: Hellforged
Book Three: With Teeth
Book Four: Crucifixion
Book Five: Reaper
Book Six: Equinox Rising

I am really freakin’ excited to get this series out there and in the hands of readers. It’s been stewing in my brain in some way, shape, or form since early 2012, and I think it’s ready to get out!

So who’s looking forward to the new series?

Current Projects, May 2014

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Jessica

Here’s my list of Current Projects, updated from my last post in mid-March. This should give readers some idea of what’s in the pipeline and what will (hopefully) be released someday. This also explains why I’m so erratic when it comes to posting and being active, both here and on my assorted social media sites. A busy author means a distracted author!

Things that are contracted by a publisher will be noted; otherwise, assume that it hasn’t been sold yet or a publication date hasn’t been set yet.

Note that books that have been published are no longer on the list.

The Becoming Series

The Becoming: Redemption
The Becoming Series, Book 6. Zombie fiction / post-apocalyptic thriller. This one picks up where Descent will leave off. Cade et al have the opportunity to save the world. I can’t say much more about this one until Descent is in the wild for readers to indulge in.
Status: Outline written, awaiting Descent’s completion.

Jude and Sadie’s Story (Currently Untitled)
The Becoming Series, Book 6.5. Zombie fiction / post-apocalyptic thriller. Jude and Sadie O’Dell’s story.
Status: In the idea / outline sketching stages.

The Unnaturals Series

Nightfall
The Unnaturals Series, Book 0.5. Urban fantasy / covert-ops thriller. Prequel to The Unnaturals. Nightfall is a three-part book that tells how Zachariah and Ashton met and how The Unnaturals was formed.
Status: First draft in progress.

The Deadening Series

Stand Alone Novels

Small Town Dead
Standalone novel. Horror / zombie fiction / post-apocalyptic. Side novel in The Becoming Series. An EMT travels from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to her hometown in the midst of a zombie outbreak in a desperate attempt to reunite with her family.
Status: Outlining / planning stages.

Short Story Projects

“Revenant”
The Unnaturals Series. Short story. Urban fantasy / covert-ops thriller. Riley and Scott are tasked with finding a way to rid a family’s residence of a particularly vicious poltergeist.
Status: outlined, pending writing this fall for a Creative Writing project.

There are a ton of other books on my list of future projects, but they won’t make an appearance on my list until I actually start on some point of the process on them.

THE BECOMING: UNDER SIEGE Now Available!

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Jessica

Yes, you read that right, folks! The Becoming: Under Siege, book four in The Becoming Series, is now available for purchase from major e-Retailers!

It has been almost two years since the Michaluk Virus outbreak began, and Remy Angellette has helped her friends establish Woodside, a walled-in community of survivors in South Carolina. But underneath the veneer of simplicity of their day-to-day lives, not all is as it seems. Dr. Derek Rivers, a former CDC scientist who was involved in the virus’s testing, has come close to a cure for the virus, and he’s used it to cure Ethan Bennett—who promptly begins to show strange side-effects from the cure. Despite her pleas, Derek delays giving the cure to Remy, who has found herself beginning to dance a fine line between sanity and madness as the virus continues its relentless attack on her brain.

When Dominic Jackson smuggles Remy out of the community on a supply run and brings back a set of twins that they’ve rescued, hundreds upon hundreds of infected follow them back to Woodside. Within hours, the community is besieged by the infected, who attack the main gates and slowly begin to surround the community. Desperate to get the cure and all the information about it out of Woodside before the infected get in, two members of the community pack the doctor’s samples and notes and slip out of Woodside to search for a still-operational CDC facility—but not before Remy steals a dose of the cure and injects herself with it.

As the community’s gates collapse under the assault from the other side, one of the community’s members manages to get in touch with the military, begging them for assistance before they all end up dead. But will they be able to survive until the military shows up to help them—or will they end up dead at the hands of the infected after nearly two years of survival?

Want to purchase The Becoming: Under Siege?

You can CLICK HERE to purchase a copy of The Becoming: Under Siege from Amazon…

…and you can click RIGHT HERE to buy a Nookbook copy from Barnes & Noble!

The ebook is also available DRM-free from Smashwords if that’s your preference. 🙂

Other retailers, such as Kobo and iTunes, will be available soon!

THE BECOMING: ORIGINS on Sale for $2.99!

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Jessica

In celebration of the release of The Becoming: Under Siege, I’ve marked down the price of The Becoming: Origins from $4.99 to $2.99 for the entire month of April! So be sure to grab your copy at the lower price while you can!

In January 2009, the Michaluk Virus escaped from the Centers for Disease Control and decimated Atlanta, Georgia. It spread to the major city centers of the southeast, wrecking havoc in Memphis, Birmingham, Mobile, Jackson, Biloxi, and New Orleans.

This is the story of how it began.

In THE BECOMING: ORIGINS, Brandt Evans’s life is spiraling out of control. Depressed at the way his life is heading and desperate to help his sister pay for school, he accepts an offer from Dr. Derek Rivers that will result in either a large payday…or his death.

Instead, what results is the beginning of the end of the world.

In THE BECOMING: BROTHERS IN ARMS, Theo and Gray Carter find themselves surrounded by chaos, death, and misery on all sides. As their worlds collapse around them, both are forced to do the unimaginable to not only ensure their survival but to protect each other from the cannibalistic infected that cross their paths.

Weaponless and alone, the two brothers quickly learn that the only thing they can count on is each other.

**This edition of stories from The Becoming universe features a revised and rewritten edition of THE BECOMING: BROTHERS IN ARMS, previously released in March 2012.

You can pick up your discounted copy of The Becoming: Origins from Amazon by clicking here.

And you can grab your copy from Barnes & Noble by clicking on this link.