NOT EVEN BONES and ONLY ASHES REMAIN by Rebecca Schaeffer

Ever since I snagged an ARC of NOT EVEN BONES, the first in Rebecca Schaeffer’s Market of Monsters series, I’ve been excited to spread word about it. I’ve even more ecstatic to announce that the sequel, ONLY ASHES REMAIN, is set to debut on September 3, 2019. Check it out:

Nita doesn’t murder supernatural beings and sell their body parts on the internet—her mother does that. Nita just dissects the bodies after they’ve been “acquired.” But when her mom brings home a live specimen, Nita decides she wants out — dissecting living people is a step too far.

But when she tries to save her mother’s victim, she ends up sold on the black market in his place — because Nita herself is a supernatural being. Now Nita is on the other side of the bars, and there is no line she won’t cross to escape and make sure no one can ever capture her again.

Nita did a good deed, and it cost her everything. Now she’s going to do a lot of bad deeds to get it all back.

After escaping her kidnappers and destroying the black market where she was held captive, all Nita wants is to find a way to live her life without looking over her shoulder. But with a video of her ability to self-heal all over the dark web, Nita knows she’s still a prime target on the black market.

There’s only one way to keep herself safe.

Nita must make herself so feared that no one would ever dare come after her again. And the best way to start building her reputation? Take her revenge on Fabricio, the boy who sold Nita to her kidnappers. But killing Fabricio is harder than Nita thought it would be, even with Kovit by her side. Now caught in a game of kill or be killed, Nita will do whatever it takes to win.

What is your favorite place to travel to in the world and why?

Probably Tokyo. I did part of my university degree there, and it holds a special place in my heart, not just because it’s a vibrant, wonderful city full of things to do, but because of how formative the time I spent living there was for me.

Formative experiences can influence writing, too. I love how NOT EVEN BONES deals with the complexities of morality. How did you know this would be a part of Nita’s story?

I’ve always deeply disliked book characters that are altruistic and ‘heroic’ because often times their motives feel unrealistic and unrelatable. Nita was my reaction to some of those ‘too good to believe’ heroines. She was the antithesis of them–I wanted to write a flawed, real character who was the opposite of altruistic, but who voiced all the thoughts people don’t like to admit they have.

Those are my favorite kinds of characters to read. And I love your website! What advice, if any, do you have for authors wanting to build (or expand) their online presence?

Thank you! The website is just me playing with squarespace a bit. I think the advice I’d give authors is don’t dive in the deep end immediately. Sit back, absorb the various types of social media until you have a solid understanding of them before you go posting. You’ll be better able to figure out what kinds of social media you like and want to do, as well as build your followers faster when you start posting because you’ll understand what content people on that platform are looking for.

Great advice! The second in the Market of Monsters series, ONLY ASHES REMAIN, is due out in September 2019. Is there anything you can tell us about it yet?

Oooooh, I can’t say much, but I can promise we learn a lot more about Kovit in the second book, and we get to see Nita take her first steps into power, with… interesting…. consequences.