Praise for Angel's Ink

I’m sorry about the extended silence. The mix of internet issues, copyedits, articles, interviews, and a new book to write have largely kept me away from the blog and many other places.  I will still be about, trolling all my usual spots, but it just might take me a few extra days to respond to any questions or comments.

So, the work continues to flow.  I have finished the copyedits for Angel’s Ink and returned the manuscript to my editor.  I believe I have two more edits of the book before I can never touch it again.  I am happy to see that I still love the book.  For the previous six books, I started to hate the manuscript somewhere between the revisions and the copyedits.  It’s a sad thing.  Somewhere along the way, I stop seeing the bigger picture – the great story – and I can only see the words.  You read each sentence, weighting every word as to whether it does what you need to it do.  (And with a 115,000-word manuscript, that’s a lot of words.) The emotion gets sucked out of the book.

But my love holds true for Gage and his friends.

In the meantime, I am thrilled to say that a couple authors have read the book and quite enjoyed it.  This is the scary time for a writer.  The book is finished and now it’s being sent out to authors that I admire in hopes of getting some positive comments that can be placed on the cover.  For the Dark Days series, Kim Harrison was kind enough to say that Nightwalker is “A must-read addition to the urban fantasy genre.”

Well, my editor sent Angel’s Ink to Kim Harrison and she was kind enough to read it.  Her reaction was:

“Jocelynn Drake’s writing holds a wonderfully wry humor akin to dark chocolate: bitter but irresistible.  With a unique and fascinating magic system, Angel’s Ink is a new take on traditional and urban fantasy themes, spinning a tale of personal vendettas, mob bosses, and just a touch of romance.

“Gage is an engaging, sympathetic character with curiously twisted problems that he brings upon himself despite his best efforts.  Keeping secrets from his friends works … until the hapless Gage makes the largest, and perhaps best, mistake of his life.  Now he just has to survive it.

“Angel’s Ink is an other-earthly blend of magic and technology in the best tradition of urban fantasy that refused to let me go.  The continuing Asylum Tales promise to be intriguing and wildly inventive.”

That made my day.  Seriously.  Kim is a fantastic writer and when you can impress and delight someone you admire, it is a great accomplishment.

But I’m not done.  No, we reached out to another author I greatly admire and he read the book as well.  Simon R. Green is the amazing author of the Nightside series as well as several others.  I fell in love with the Nightside series about the time I started writing the Dark Days series.  There’s something twisted and insanely brilliant about that series, so I immediately started hyperventilating when I heard Mr. Green would read Angel’s Ink.  Here’s what he had to say:

“Bright and breezy, with fascinating characters, and a background with hidden depths.  Drake puts the ink in incredible.”

To answer your question: Yes, you can die of happiness.  I died a little when I read both quotes, my heart exploding with joy in my chest.  Thank you, Kim Harrison.  Thank you, Simon R. Green.  I know your time is precious and I am honored you agreed to read my book.

I’ve got three other authors who have agreed to read the book and my fingers are crossed that they like it as well.

Stay tuned as more new develops for the series.