Authorpreneur Dashboard – Phoebe Matthews

Phoebe  Matthews

Handsome Harold (Turning Vampire)

Book Bubbles from Handsome Harold (Turning Vampire)

Guard Dog? (Mudflat Magic Short Stories)

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Guard Dog? 3 short stories, each originally appearing in one of the Wicked Good short stories anthologies and featuring characters in the Mudflat Magic series. The stories are: Guard Dog?: Claire walks into a smash wizard robbery. Bookstore Geek: Can the magic of a small cat change a romance? Burglar: Why would anyone be dumb enough to break into cousin Jimmy's house?

Book Bubbles from Guard Dog? (Mudflat Magic Short Stories)

Useless wizard, clever dogs

I didn't start out to make Rock Decko, the smash wizard, a main character in the Mudflat Magic series, but somehow, while I was writing my way through the seven current novels, he kept pushing his way into scenes. And when that wasn't enough, he filled enough short stories that I had to put them together in an anthology with his name on it: Rock's Dogs. Of all the folks in Mudflat, Rock is the one who always seems to have a dog trailing along with him. Even if you don't like Rock, I guarantee you will like his dogs.

Demonspell

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Demonspell, or Curse of the Everlasting Relatives, is the first novel in the Sunspinners series. Along with a big house and income, Elaine inherits five immortal relatives who need constant attention. Try keeping a husband with that set of in-laws. Yes, she has tried. Twice. And failed. Now, just when she meets a new guy, a band of demons demands that Elaine and her family leave Seattle immediately, alive or dead.

Book Bubbles from Demonspell

Immortal relatives vs demons.

When this book was first published, a reviewer said she could relate to the heroine because "everybody has relatives who never seem to leave." Hmm. I do hope my many relatives don't think I had them in mind. Creating the sunspinners and the demons was new territory for me, and that always adds to the fun of writing a book. Then, of course, it grew into a series, because once I knew all the sunspinners, I didn't want to let them go. The demons, on the other hand, can get themselves out of my head right now.

Turning Vampire 3,4

Science Fiction & Fantasy

TURNING VAMPIRE 3,4 includes the third and fourth novels of the series. VAMPIRE ESCAPE Falling in love is supposed to be wonderful. But when the couple is a vampire and a human, there’s not much chance of an HEA. VAMPIRE LUST Who's been sleeping under the vampire's bed? A vampire in a tux, an ex girlfriend in a snit, and a secret in Georgia’s life complicate her undead status. Now a crossbow-carrying vampire hunter schemes to remove the ‘un’ from ‘undead.’

Book Bubbles from Turning Vampire 3,4

Urbanfantasylite

This BookClub boxed set contains the last two novels in the series. Turning Vampire began as a short story, grew into an idea for a 4 novel series, and was snappied up by the first publisher to whom it was submitted. He loved the idea and I am forever grateful to him for encouraging me to write a series in a category that was completely new to me. It fits my usual urbanfantasylite, which is my term for urban fantasy that includes humor and is lite like beer, meant to entertain. What is new for me is the vampire.

Steampunk Man and More

Science Fiction & Fantasy

In this book of short stories the mortician's funeral planner attempts to make friends outside the neighborhood by joining a steampunk club and meets a STEAMPUNK MAN. It takes a thief to help the wailing witch's son in BOOKSTORE GEEK. And long ago and far away the prince of CLOCKWORK PIGEONS finds a new skill. Looking for a TIME LINK can be a dangerous choice. It's a twisted road from spurned wife to LAST MOTHER. And as for TARVIK AND THE TREBUCHET, the hero of the Mudflat Magic series finds a whole new use for an old machine.

Book Bubbles from Steampunk Man and More

Costumes and gadgets...

Steampunk conventions are great fun, filled with people in marvelous costumes, laughing and partying. Mortuaries, on the other hand, are filled with conservatively dressed people with sad faces. As I have spent time both at steampunk conventions and at mortuaries, and knew that Mudflat's solemn funeral director needed to lighten up, sending her off to a steampunk club seemed a good idea. Odd how good ideas have a way of adding more problems.

Rudy, Looking for Love

Literature & Fiction

Marshall Field's motto was "Give the Lady what she wants!" and God knows, Rudy tried. When the Columbia Exposition brought famous Lillian Russell home to Chicago to sing, Rudy Schillmann and thousands of other small boys fell madly in love. The rest of them grew up to find more suitable loves. Rudy grew up but he missed the next step. This is the first novella of the three contained in the book Looking for Love.

Book Bubbles from Rudy, Looking for Love

Rudy

'Rudy' was originally a novella. It has since been expanded into the novel titled 'Looking for Love.' The novel is listed on Bublish along with links to order sites.

Handsome Harold (Turning Vampire)

Humor & Entertainment

Harold has it all, looks, personality, and money, making him the perfect catch. He also has fangs. This short story is about a character in the Turning Vampire series.

Book Bubbles from Handsome Harold (Turning Vampire)

Never fail to disappoint -

I wasn't going to explain this, but, oh well, here goes. The opening line of the story is one I heard a TV announcer say when thanking a guest. Honestly. She was smiling pleasantly and it was a serious national news show and she wasn't joking but I bet once the camera was off her and the stunned guest, the TV crew must have collapsed laughing. All I can guess is that she started to say, 'You never fail to enlighten,' but switched mid sentence, intending to say, 'You never disappoint.' The confused result stayed in my mind, waiting for a story, and then along came Harold. Harold is a character in the fourth novel of the Turning Vampire series, and after I completed the novel, a reader asked for more about Harold.

Tyrant Trouble: Mudflat Magic Novel 1 (Volume 1)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

First book of Mudflat Magic series. Claire flees from a Seattle conman into a world of barbarians. Not much improvement there. One aims a gun, the other swings a broadsword. Suspense. Contemporary fantasy. When a conman wants you as the patsy for a crime, you run, right? That’s what Claire decides. She makes it out of town and into an Otherworld situation that is filled with so much terror it makes the conman and his threats look easy.

Book Bubbles from Tyrant Trouble: Mudflat Magic Novel 1 (Volume 1)

A few reviews of the series...

"...Mudflat series is a supernatural comic romp full of non-stop action, fantastic characters and a hero you’ll love..." RT Book Reviews ------------------------ "Dare I say I think we should contract screenplays beginning with book one ... this set of stories doesn't just entertain, they involve you!" Nancy Eriksen for paranormalromance.org ------------------------- "Another excellent installment in the Mudflat series. I never get tired of new adventures, new magical issues and the humor Phoebe Matthews adds to her novels. Grab this one quick." macygma for librarything.com

Valentine Vampire (Turning Vampire)

Romance

Valentine Vampire takes place in Chicago on the night of the St. Valentine's Day massacre, mixing a little history with vampire romance. The second short story in this book is Retired Vampire, set in present day Seattle.

Book Bubbles from Valentine Vampire (Turning Vampire)

Right down the street -

I grew up with the story of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre because my grandparents lived one block away from the fatal garage and my grandmother and all the neighbors heard the shots. No one ran out in the street to see what was happening. Chicago residents were smarter than that.

Looking for Love, Chicago 1890s

Literature & Fiction

Chicago 1890s, was a time when the Columbia Exposition opened and all the little boys in the neighborhood first saw and fell madly in love with Lillian Russell. And then they grew up and found more suitable loves. Except Rudy. He grew up but he missed the next step. Looking for Love includes the stories of Rudy's cousins, Leona and Florrie, each searching for love in a different direction.

Book Bubbles from Looking for Love, Chicago 1890s

How I found the past -

The stories were passed down in my family, and then I added fiction. Some are true as they stand, some are exaggerated, and some are pure fiction and on pain of painful death at the hands of family members, I won't say which is which. But here is how I heard the stories in this novel: When I was very small, and the great-uncles smelled of whiskey and cigars, and the great-aunts gossiped about each other, I heard snippets of stories that were way too fascinating for the ears of children and so my sisters and cousins and I did a lot of pretending to be busy reading in a corner after Sunday dinner at my grandparents' house.

Rock's Dogs (Mudflat Magic, #10)

Humor & Entertainment

This volume includes three previously published collections: Guard Dog?, Watch Dog?, Vegan Dog?, and the new Kitchen Dog?, with a total of twelve stories involving characters in the Mudflat Magic series. The Mudflat neighborhood is made up of people with undependable magic, if any. The smash wizard’s dogs are all loveable but also undependable. And then there are the cats.

Book Bubbles from Rock's Dogs (Mudflat Magic, #10)

Friending dogs -

Mudflat is a neighborhood in Seattle made up of a group of families with dwindling magic, an inherited gene that often causes more problems than it solves. Mudflat's smash wizard, Rock Decko, claims that the way to a woman's heart is to friend her dog. As he likes dogs, his method works for him. It starts romances. What his method doesn't do is guarantee an HEA for him.

Turning Vampire 1,2

Science Fiction & Fantasy

This edition contains the first two novels in the Turning Vampire series. Vampire Career: A new vampire, a gnawing hunger, and a friendly guy equals disaster just a heartbeat away. Vampire Disaster: Add a couple of kidnappers, a card carrying slayer, and a creepy stalker and the life of a vampire is full of surprises. The bad kind.

Book Bubbles from Turning Vampire 1,2

Hunting for vampires -

I went on a vacation to Vampire country with some friends, well, okay, we weren't hunting real vamps. We were scouting out the location of some famous fictional vamps who were supposed to live in a small town on the Olympic peninsula. The town had a huge, neon lit store selling movie posters, books, tee shirts, licorice bats, all sorts of fun vampire stuff. And as my friends and I discussed the serious novels that had inspired all this, I had an idea for a short story about a very different sort of Vamp. I wrote it and somehow it expanded in my mind to an idea for a series that a publisher loved.Talk about great vacation inspirations! Usually all I do is come home sunburnt and exhausted.

Turning Vampire

In 2010 a trip to the Olympic peninsula included a visit to Forks and the glittery vampire gift shop. This inspired an idea for a short story about a girl who needs to either become a vampire or die, only somehow that story expanded into a novel which expanded into a series which I love writing. Although I was already writing two urban fantasy series dealing with paranormals, this was my first adventure with vampires and I wanted my heroine to be different. She is a frail girl with a weak heart. She has never so much as pinched anyone, much less bitten anyone. Okay, the kid has a lot to learn if she is to survive, enough to fill four novels and inspire three short stories about other vampires in the series.

Tales of Lovers and Liars

Romance

Life would be so much easier if love came with guarantees. Here are two short stories, one of loss and one of revenge.

Book Bubbles from Tales of Lovers and Liars

The gossip truth,

these two stories were inspired by real life situations told to me by friends and were so odd, I had to write a story around each of them. One was told by an ER nurse. The other came from a roommate a thousand years ago when I was very young and sharing an apartment with two other women. One had moved across country and changed her last name to remove herself from the chance of a bad memory catching up with her.

Unsuitable Suitors (Candlelight Regency)

Romance

Unsuitable Suitors was first published as a Dell Candlelight Regency and is a classic “Georgette Heyer style” comedy of manners Regency Romance. Amelia’s father had gambled away the very roof over their heads. Her mother was deceased. At two and twenty, Amelia Grant took charge, determined to make her sisters’ fortunes, establish them in the bosom of society, and keep her independence.

Book Bubbles from Unsuitable Suitors (Candlelight Regency)

Should I return in 100 years?

When I lived in Scotland I often turned off the main road west of Sterling and went down narrow roads sightseeing. Once I went to a charming village that had a tree in the middle of its main street. I spotted a coffee urn in an antique store, couldn't make up my mind, then decided yes, I wanted it and the next week returned to buy it. Trouble was, I could not remember the name of the town. And so each week I tried another side road, but I never again found that village. With two years to sightsee, I also was able to visit London and Bath and all the other places used as backgrounds in this book. And I went back several times to most sites. But alas, the village with the tree in the road remained my Brigadoon.

Lorna Doomed

Humor & Entertainment

Two short stories to read on a dark night when you are home alone are: Lorna Doomed, wakes in her coffin. The Mushroom Cloud, provides farmland in space.

Book Bubbles from Lorna Doomed

Zombie romance

Zombies fall apart. That's the deal. Things never get any better, so I had to wonder why zombie stories are so popular. In some, the zombie is a non-zombie's romantic interest, Hmm. And then I met Lorna and learned how dead wrong that idea is.

Rock's Bad Night

Humor & Entertainment

Rock Decko, Mudflat’s smash wizard, takes on a job that sounded easy. All he had to do was break the law. Yeah, well, that approach to employment can have its complications. This short story is about a character in the Mudflat Magic series, and the star of the Rock’s Dogs anthology.

Book Bubbles from Rock's Bad Night

Rock's Bad Night

A friend recently said, “This morning I heard the funniest thing on the news and right away I thought of Mudflat.” As soon as she told me the funny thing, I thought of Rock Decko. The result is Rock’s Bad Night (yeah, well, Bad Night at Black Rock has already been used).

Summer of the Cricket

Romance

Walking away is easy unless you love him. This is a short story. Summer of the Cricket has nothing to do with any of my series or other books and I have no idea if anyone will like it, but what is summer for if not to toss out a new idea? Once upon a time a job landed us far from home in Texas...

Book Bubbles from Summer of the Cricket

Once upon a time

when my husband and I were newlyweds, we moved to Texas. We were far from home but the pay at our new jobs was good. And then it wasn't. This story is about a couple we met in Texas and how meeting them affected the direction of our lives.

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