New covers, and a new name! Formerly the Fierce Mates: Corona Pride series, this is now the Fierce Mates: Cougar Pride series. Because 2020, y’all. I named the series originally because “corona” means “crown” in Spanish, and I thought it would be the perfect name for a majestic, fictional mountain range where this group of fierce mountain lion shifters resides. Well, 2020 changed the flavor of “corona” for almost everyone. So, I set out to rename it with the input of the fantastic folks who subscribe to my newsletter, and Keira Blackwood made me new covers for the whole series, as well! However, the name of the actual pride within the books is still “Corona Pride,” because that’s who they originally were, and I don’t want to let some virus dictate everything about our fierce mates!
To celebrate, I’ve made the first book, Savage Yearning, free! Tap the cover to go!
I’ve been writing shifter romance since 2016—a little earlier if you count some terrible books which shall never see the light of day. However, I started reading shifter romance much earlier than that, probably in the early 2000s.
Early into my reading, I found that I loved the different paranormal “worlds” almost as much as the characters themselves. They each had their own set of rules, and I was eager to figure them out with each new series I picked up.
My Fierce Mates universe has a few rules that I wanted to follow from the start.
I wanted my shifters to be apex predators,
clothes don’t shift with my shifters,
there is no shifter virus—you’re either born a shifter or you don’t shift,
shifters can sense lies and other emotions along with having heightened senses, and
the “mundane” world is unaware of shifters and supernatural beings in general.
None of these rules is original in and of itself—I’m not treading new ground or anything like that.
Why have the rules to begin with? Isn’t it limiting? What if I want a hamster shifter? What if a story is just begging for a hapless heroine to be bitten by a wolf so she can become one, herself? Some might think that having the rules in place, and continuing them through several series, would be limiting. For me, however, it has been freeing. When I know the boundaries, I can play through them, stretching my universe where allowed. At times, I can subvert those rules. Shifters can sense lies…but what happens if they meet someone who can successfully lie to them? I tried that in my book Ruthless Misfitand I loved how it turned out. The hero, also a shifter, had been forced to hone dishonesty by a terrible childhood.
When I first started writing shifter romance, in my Sierra Pride series, the only paranormal beings present were shifters. But I never specifically said that vampires didn’t exist, so when I wanted to expand the universe in the Corona Pride series, I was able to do that. Recently, witches were added to the mix, and beings with different abilities, too.
Why not have these other supernatural characters from the start? To be honest, when I started in 2016, I didn’t know how far I was going to take my Fierce Mates world. I’d never published a book on my own, and if this whole independent author thing didn’t work out, I was fully prepared to walk away. But the Fierce Mates books started gathering a small, devoted audience. I needed to write more books. But I wasn’t going to be happy repeating the same stories over and over again, so I made the world bigger by introducing new groups and new supernatural creatures. Some shifters got new abilities—Matt in Ruthless Misfit can tell lies. Doug in Savage Penance can complete his shift from human to animal in half a second. Bryce in Ruthless Outlaw can walk through dreams.
This process has shown me the beauty of creativity, especially within the playground of the paranormal. As I develop a new series, Junkyard Shifters, I’m once again starting with the basics—shifters. And as the world expands, so do the possibilities.
So, what book babies did I push out this year? Let’s take a look! (Seriously, as I type this, I have no freakin’ clue, so this is as much for me as it is for anyone reading, haha.)
A peek through my 2019 calendar reveals these beauties!
It’s not quite as much as I’d set out to do when 2019 began, but I’m still proud of these books. I fell in love with the characters and their stories, and I’m so lucky to have had this year to write them.
Besides, one thing I learned about myself this year is that I will always plan way more than I’m capable of. The trick is learning not to beat myself up when I don’t achieve the loftier-than-lofty goals I concocted.
More important than any writing goals are the readers. Thank you so much for being a part of this year in publishing. ❤
liza street 