This blog post is very long (sorry!) and it contains several updates. Maybe you don’t want to read everything, or you don’t have the time to read it all. Here’s an index, so you can jump to whatever part is relevant to you.

• * Pre-order links for The Adversary
• * Why I took a hiatus from social media
• * I’m changing my social media presence
• * Heartfelt apology
• * Moving forward
• * Pre-order links for my vintage contemporary, A Deeper Dimension
• * Summary (TL;DR)

PRE-ORDER LINKS FOR THE ADVERSARY

From NYT bestselling author Thea Harrison comes the explosive conclusion to The Unseen! 

When Dragos and Pia move to the Other land of Rhyacia, they hope starting a new life will bring safety and freedom to their family, especially their young baby, Niall. And at first their new home seems perfect… but looks are deceiving.

Beneath Rhyacia’s idyllic façade an ancient, malevolent force lurks, waiting for the right opportunity to break free of its cage. When that opportunity comes, it strikes with devastating accuracy.

While Dragos has never backed down from a fight, he’s also never encountered an enemy like this one before. How can he fight a foe who doesn’t have a body? A foe who can invade and turn his own mind against him?

How can Dragos protect his family, when at any moment one of them may become the enemy?

As Dragos and Pia race against time to fight this unseen menace, they must also acknowledge a terrifying truth—when anyone can become the enemy, no one can be trusted.

An adversary who can trap the dragon poses a threat to everyone in Rhyacia, and that means no one is safe…

***This book does NOT end on a cliffhanger***

Available for pre-order through:

Amazon | Apple Books | Google Play | Kobo

It will also be available through my web store. It will not be available through Barnes & Noble at this time. You can read why here.

WHY I TOOK A HIATUS FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

By now, if you follow me on social media, it’s no secret that I’ve been taking a hiatus from work and social media for health reasons. The last few months, I’ve gone through the worst autoimmune flare up I’ve ever been through.

Honestly, I’m not comfortable with this section and have, in fact, rewritten this blog post several times. In the end I’ve decided to keep this, because it offers the reality behind such a lengthy delay and explains why I’m making a significant departure from previously stated plans and promises.

Did you know your body can react to traumatic things roughly 90 days after the event? If you didn’t, neither did I until this year. One of my doctors believes this is what happened: when I moved across country alone during the pandemic, I didn’t have the physical reserves with which to handle it and my autoimmune system kicked into overdrive.

During this flare, my symptoms have been the most challenging they have ever been, including intense fibromyalgia-like pain, severe chronic fatigue, brain fog, blurred vision, and visible hair loss. Regarding the hair, I’ve started taking Nutrafol and am hopeful to get some regrowth. If I don’t, I’ve mapped out where the local wig stores are located. I may end up with a better hair style than I could have possibly imagined!

During this period, writing was impossible. Any kind of work schedule was impossible. At times, I wondered if I needed to send my pets to family members and file for disability.

To complicate things, I worked with my doctor to try a few medications that would mitigate the symptoms. Much to my dismay, I reacted badly to almost everything. At one point I asked my pharmacist, “Is this really a thing where people can have adverse reactions to so many medications?” She said, in her experience, yes: if a person has a sensitivity to one type of medication it may be more likely they have a sensitivity to others.

Oy vey!

I’m currently on a waiting list locally to consult with a rheumatologist who specializes in autoimmune diseases, so there may be other medications that s/he can recommend. Only time will tell that tale. For the moment, my current doctor and I have tried everything we could think of, short of going to narcotics.

Cue superhero entrance: since prescription medications haven’t been a viable recourse—and I can’t take NSAIDs—I turned to Delta 8 THC and bought some THC gummies. After eating gummies regularly for a week, I had a significant reduction in pain and inflammation. Guys, THC is a miracle! At least it has been for me. It’s also legal to purchase Delta 8 THC and have it shipped cross state lines.

The gummies don’t fix everything, but they help enough that my relief and excitement is inexpressible. The only thing is, I have to be careful how much I eat or take, because I can get loopy and then I need to take a nap… which is also a hindrance to writing or holding down a regular work schedule.

During this difficult experience, I’ve had some personal movement on several things and….. 

I’M CHANGING MY SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

While keeping things light, positive, and funny on social media is a GOOD plan and nobody wants to wallow in negativity, least of all me, social media blurs lines and provides a skewed sense of reality.

Instead of seeing happy, upbeat posts as one small part of life someone is choosing to share, some people see it as a whole life laid bare. If nothing negative is shown, it means nothing negative exists. Posting a photo of a beach scene (which I’ve done) might literally be the only good thing that has happened in a month of difficulties (which it was), but some people see that photo and they equate it to the entirety of one’s life. They don’t differentiate between social media and reality.

Because if someone can post a great photo of a beach or repost a funny meme, where’s the book they’ve been waiting for?? “You can post on FB, Instagram and Twitter, but you can’t write the book?’ This is flawed thinking—even delusional thinking and definitely entitled–but that doesn’t change the fact that for some people this thought process exists. My assistant Gretchen has gotten emails that are basically demands—demands for content, demands for information, demands for access to my life.

While I know most readers would never dream of emailing someone in such a manner, my decision to take a step back from social media isn’t coming out of nowhere and isn’t only motivated by health issues.

Starting in June, Gretchen will be posting on social media once a week. We’ll focus on stories, either my backlist or news about new publications. I’m tossing around the idea of writing a blog post once a month. We’ll see.

And now for an update on publications.

MY SINCEREST, HEARTFELT APOLOGIES

I need to apologize to you, the reader. Last year with the best of intentions, I offered to create a set of four linked novellas about Dragos and Pia. I thought it would bring readers pleasure. And I was thinking of the way I used to be not that long ago, when I was a writing machine, before the autoimmune disease came into my life and demanded its own time table and its own events.

While I couldn’t know at the time how difficult things would get, I never should have offered this. I never should have set that expectation. This was, without doubt, the biggest misstep I’ve made in my writing career, and for that I am deeply, sincerely sorry.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry for creating an expectation that I was not able to fulfill.

It’s too late to take it back. The only thing I can do is correct course, not make the same mistake again, and move on. Readers will either continue to read my stories or not as they wish.

For that reason, The Adversary closes the storyline I started with The Unseen. There will not be a set of four novellas, just two, and there will be no more cliffhangers.

MOVING FORWARD

I’m going to be blunt: I’ve had a shitty couple of years filled with major disruptions. Despite that, I do have optimism for the long term.

I don’t know if I can access the rest of the American Witch trilogy. Right now when I think of that story line I feel nothing but the scorched earth these last few years have been for me. No storyline, no characters clamoring for me to get back to them. Nothing but memories of autoimmune disorder, brain fog, anxiety, and physical pain.

It hurts to admit this, and I’m terribly saddened by it, but I may have to call an end to that project.

It’s a terrible thing to disappoint readers. Once again, I’m deeply sorry. I’ll know more over the next few months after we finish the publication of The Adversary. I’m not sure what I’ll be working on next, but we will provide an update when it becomes appropriate.

REPUBLISHING MY OLD AMANDA CARPENTER STORIES

Over the next 18 months or so we’re going to repackage and publish the electronic version of my old Amanda Carpenter stories. Please keep in mind, Harlequin has the rights to the print version. We will only be able to repackage and publish these electronically.

This will be a labor of love for those relatively few readers who want electronic copies but don’t yet have them, because they will most likely not earn back the money it will take to produce them. We’ll pop them out over time as our schedules allow. We hope to publish one a month, but we’ll see how the process goes.

In the meantime, here are pre-order links for my first novel, A Deeper Dimension. It is being re-released June 8, 2021.

From New York Times best-selling author Thea Harrison comes a vintage contemporary romance, as originally published under the pen name Amanda Carpenter in 1984.

An independent woman. A successful businessman. A partnership neither expected, and passion neither can deny. 

Diana Carrington embodied independence. With no one to rely on but herself, she learned how to navigate the world alone, thriving despite the obstacles in her path.
 
Securing a position at Mason Steel was her big break into the corporate world. She expected the work to be challenging. She didn’t expect the biggest challenge to be Alex Mason, the charismatic owner of the company and her new boss. Alex demanded the best of himself and his employees, and Diana was determined to surpass his expectations.
 
When unscrupulous business rivals threaten his business, Diana gets to know the man behind the exacting business persona. Alex makes her feel things she’s never allowed herself to feel before. But with the threats to the company mounting, Diana stands to lose far more than her hard-earned independence. Someone wants to hurt Alex, and they aren’t afraid to use Diana to get to him.

Available for pre-order through:

Amazon | Apple Books | Google Play | Kobo

It will also be available through my web store. It will not be available through Barnes & Noble at this time. You can read why here.

So that’s all I’ve got right now.

• * Dragos and Pia are getting ONE more novella, The Adversary. There will be no more cliffhangers and I am deeply sorry for not being able to fulfill the expectation I created.
• * More stories in the American Witch trilogy may be off the table. I’ll know more about that in the next few months.
• * The old Amanda Carpenter books will be repackaged and rereleased as ebooks over time, starting June 8, 2021.
• * Major updates will be posted on the blog, in the newsletter, and on FB, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

With the pandemic, everybody has been going through a rough time. Everybody has been hurting for one reason or another. I do not consider myself unique in any way.

I do hope you are all coming out of this terrible time with some hope and optimism, that you have been able to celebrate getting fully vaccinated, and that you are able to hug your family and friends again.

As always, thanks for your time. Be well.

Xoxo ~ Thea