The last polish on Fairyland Murders is underway before sending it to beta readers. Beta readers are like beta testers in software. They give the author feedback on their manuscript before the last pass for publication.

Mentally and emotionally, it was the hardest creative project I’ve ever undertaken. I scrapped the 1st version almost entirely, changing the story to be more thriller than straight mystery. It was to be a change that would electrify my productivity. I went back to outline then dictated 85,000 words in two months while on my daily walks.

Work and life being the incessant bastards they are, it took me nearly a year to wrap my head around the intricacies of the mystery. No less that seven times had I declared to The Rabbit and my friend Mike, “I finally got the ending.” It was a tough balance deciding what was the more satisfying reveal: Who the killer was or why the killer did it? Which won? I’ll let the readers decide. Then I spent another couple months making sure all the clues were there so no one would look back and say I cheated. I added chapters, deleted chapters, brought them back, and deleted still more. I rewrote the opening chapter at least once a month. I redid the ending a couple more times, including one more in the past week.

I coined a new term: a Pickled Herring. It’s a Red Herring that leads to an actual crime, just not the one the protagonist is trying to solve.

If you’re looking for dark urban fantasy that isn’t just feeding the trope service pile:

FAIRYLAND MURDERS combines the snappy dialogue and atmospheric tension of Raymond Chandler with the imaginative world-building of Jim Butcher, creating a truly original fantasy noir that asks: What happens when "happily ever after" is just another lie the powerful tell?

I’m sketching up a new version of the cover. I still like this one so it might become the back cover or maybe the inside on a hardcover.