And it’s official: I have a book. An honest-to-goodness, this-is-for-real, my-name-on-the-cover, out-in-the-wild book. And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe is now available, both at the JournalStone website as well as through Amazon.

Seriously. This is real. And surreal.

Today is truly one of the most thrilling and overwhelming experiences of my life. Even as I’m writing this blog, I wonder: how do you encapsulate all the highs and lows that lead up to an author’s first book?

Well, for one, I want to give a major shout-out right here and now. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again (and again and again): tremendous thanks to Jess Landry, my amazing editor at JournalStone. If not for her, this book would not be making its debut in the world. While there were certainly plenty of challenges over the course of writing these fourteen stories, the experience working with Jess was nothing short of a dream. She is the most wonderful, professional, and extraordinarily talented editor (and writer!), and it was beyond an honor to work with her on this project. I’m still in awe and shock that I had such a fantastic editor and fantastic experience for my first book. Writing’s a tough, tough business, but every once in a great while, the stars align in your favor. Jess made those stars align, track changes and all.

While today marks the official debut of the collection, this is hardly the end of the journey. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be back at this blog to highlight the stories from the collection, in particular the five brand-new tales. I’ll also be making a few virtual appearances elsewhere. I recently recorded a very fun and very lively interview with the terrific guys at Miskatonic Musings; we discussed the collection in-depth and also talked about everything from Oscar winners and outsiders to the terrors of childbirth. Good, gory stuff all around!

Also, please check out my interview on Hellnotes where I give a peek behind the curtain at the making of the collection as well as a second feature that spotlighted “All the Red Apples Have Withered to Gray,” one of the fourteen tales that appears in And Her Smile‘s table of contents.

So as if it weren’t already obvious, you’ll be hearing lots from me in the next month, both here as well as out and about in the great ether of the internet. After all, a writer only gets their first book once, and I plan on relishing every minute of this process!

In the meantime, if you’re one of the very awesome people who purchased the collection, please let me know what you think! Obviously, reviews are always terrific, but if you’d rather just drop me a note via my website or in a message on social media, that would be incredible too. I’d absolutely love to hear your thoughts on the stories! After all, books are merely dead trees if they don’t have readers to enjoy them!

And if you don’t have a copy yet, head on over to the official Goodreads page, and enter to win one of ten paperback editions of the collection! Hooray for free books!

Finally, to everyone reading this post, I want to thank you so much for your support of my writing. I appreciate it more than you will ever know!

Happy reading!