Book One has a strong HFN ending, but it is not the end of Carter and Tan’s relationship arc. Book Two is now in final editing, and I am holding the public date until the finished file is ready.
There is also a free sample of Metastable available through BookFunnel.
Jern’s update
Carter and Tan in Metastable Book 1 have completely taken over my summer. Meanwhile, Black Fire sulks quietly from the corner of my iPad like a forgotten demi-god waiting for worshippers to remember his temple exists. I reassure him from time to time that he deserves my full and undivided attention. Perhaps in 2027.
Metastable Book 1 came to a conclusion in April, right in the middle of both peak Thai summer and a global oil shortage. I had every intention of staying home during Songkran and getting a respectable amount of work done. Unfortunately, it was unbearably hot, and Silom Road was out there tempting us with water guns and poor decisions.
So naturally, we ended up joining the festivities before later pretending to lament the collapse of civilisation into a giant public water fight while nursing sore knees by evening. If that sentiment makes immediate sense to you, then you, too, are probably over fifty and negotiating daily with your stamina.
Still, somehow, miraculously, I got it done.
Eddie has been going over the draft of Metastable. I did warn him beforehand that it was thoroughly NSFW. He edits in the narrow sliver of time available between work, sleep, and what I assume are increasingly serious existential crises brought on by my pacing choices.
With luck, he’ll approve the manuscript without too many structural edits. I abandoned all hope of gentle line edits years ago. Eddie approaches a manuscript the way an overworked surgeon approaches a complicated organ transplant: grimly, professionally, and with occasional bursts of restrained violence. I once watched him repeatedly circle the same paragraph until the paper nearly tore through from concentrated disappointment.
Meanwhile, Carter and Tan continue navigating their relationship, which in Metastable Book 2 becomes heavier, and far more psychologically complicated. It also requires a surprising amount of research into sex and human behaviour.
At least, that remains my official excuse for writing rather slowly.
– Jern
Eddie’s update
From my side, the last few weeks have been about getting the existing books tidied up: refreshed book matter, updated samples, and cleaner pages for readers who want to know where to start.
The big current news is still Metastable.
Book One is now listed on the retail sites ahead of its 2 July launch. I am keeping the launch price at $2.99, partly because this is the first half of a two-book romance arc and I want readers to feel clear about what they are buying into.
It is not a light campus romance, and it is not a closed-door romance. It is explicit, adult, psychologically intense M/M romance, with a strong HFN ending in Book One and the full hard-won HEA reserved for Book Two.
Book Two is now in final editing. The shape is real, but I am not going to put a public date on it until the final file is ready. I would rather be boring and accurate than exciting and wrong.
There is also now a Metastable page on the website with the reader-fit notes, content guidance, and sample link in one place.
– Eddie
July Smashwords sale
One small backlist note: a handful of Jern’s backlist books will be in the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale from 1 July.
For the first week, Murder in Treggan Bay will be free at Smashwords. The sale runs all month, but that free window is planned for the opening week. The rest of the Treggan Bay trilogy will also be discounted, along with The Boy with the Crow and Lanta: Another Life.
Metastable is separate from that sale and launches at its planned $2.99 price.
Latest and upcoming
Metastable
- Metastable: Book One of Two - launches 2 July 2026
- Book Two - in final editing
Treggan Bay Mysteries
- Murder in Treggan Bay
- The Watchman’s Secret
- Murder at Torre Manor
Memento Mori
- The Boy with the Crow
- Judas and the Ghost
- The Boy the Wolves Took
In closing
This is the satisfying part of the process: not quite finished, but close enough that the shape is visible.
Thank you for reading along with us. If you try the Metastable sample, I hope Carter and Tan behave themselves for at least three pages before becoming deeply uncooperative.
Thanks, Jern and Eddie Tonkoi