A Thank You To My Readers

My darling Sinners,

Today it happened. I wrote the final sentence of the final Original Sinners novel, THE QUEEN. As soon as I wrote the words "The End" I put my head down on my arms and sobbed. The scene was, as you can imagine, quite pathetic as I trudged downstairs into my husband Andrew Shaffer's office, told him I was crying because I finished the book and then cried in his arms as he held his weird, weird wife who wept over fictional characters like they were her own best friends. Now that the storm of emotion has passed and I'm in a quieter calmer place, I felt compelled to write a quick thank you note to all my readers who have bought, read, reviewed, tweeted and/or Facebooked about my Original Sinners series over the past three years. It's wild to think that back in 2004 when I wrote the very first sentence of THE SIREN while still a student at Asbury Theological Seminary that eleven years later I would be writing "The End" on a series of stories that includes eight full-length novels, seven novellas and dozens of short stories. Over a MILLION words of Original Sinner naughtiness. These books were my dream. Not the money they've made me or the friends they've made me or the lifestyle they've afforded me or even that they got me out of almost $60,000 in crushing student loan debt. The books themselves were the dream and because of you all, my readers, my Sinners, I got to write them. You see, if a writer wants to eat, he or she has to write books people will buy. If you all hadn't supported the books with all the love and devotion and money (yay money!) you had, I wouldn't have been able to write this huge sweeping series I'd dreamed of writing all those years ago when I was making $5.15 an hour working at Books-A-Million in Owensboro, Kentucky and scribbling scenes of THE SIREN on the back of flyers while standing at the registers surrounded by books other people had written and dreaming of the day my own books would be on those shelves. And now they are. Yes, I absolutely have to thank my agent Sara Megibow and my Mira editor Susan Swinwood. They are responsible for getting THE SIREN on those shelves. But it's you, my readers, who made it possible for me to write the seven books that came after THE SIREN. You all came with open hearts and open minds for a very odd series of dark and dirty books about the forbidden love between a queen and her priest, a priest and his king, and your support has meant the world to me. All I ever wanted was to write these books and see them published. I didn't care if they made me rich or made me famous or even got me out of debt. I just wanted them, the books. My books. My stories in print to hold in my hands and to offer to readers who wanted the sort of stories I wanted to write. My dream came true today when I wrote the last lines of the last book of the series. I cannot thank you all enough for sticking with me through the whole series, even as I messed with your minds, toyed with your hearts, and twisted your expectations for the books every kinky way I could. No writer has better readers than I do and if you disagree then we can go outside. I'll show you the business end of MY little red riding crop. 

I know it's hard when a book series you love comes to an end. I'm a huge fan of the Factory Series by Derek Raymond and he's been dead since 1994 so I have to content myself with the books I have and know there will be no more. Will there be more Original Sinners books? I hope so. I'd love to write them. I am looking forward to taking a couple years off to write some new stuff. The final book, THE QUEEN, was the most difficult of the series to write. I need a brain break and my publisher and I both want to explore the other worlds and characters I have knocking around my head. But fear not! I will continue to write my Sinners' Bedtime Stories that pop up on my website occasionally. Of course every year I'll give you a free Original Sinner Christmas story for as long as I have Christmas stories in me to write. I'm pretty sure that'll be a long damn time. And if in four or five years if I have the motive, means, and opportunity (i.e. the perfect idea for a book) maybe I'll jump back into the world of the Sinners with a fresh brain and new enthusiasm with a story that'll knock your cocks off. Nora, Kingsley, and Søren are as much a part of me as my hands and my feet and the white rabbit tattoo on my back. They're only gone for awhile. Never gone forever. Not as long as I can hold a pen or type a word.  

THE VIRGIN (book 7) comes out March 31st. THE QUEEN (book 8) will be out October 27th. Who knows? Maybe in a few years I'll write THE PRIEST or THE HEIR or THE PRINCESS or THE DEMON? It could happen. Until then, you'll have plenty of other Tiffany Reisz books to enjoy. I've already written a standalone book that should come out in 2016, and if you like twisty southern Gothic stories of forbidden love, this book will be right up your dark and devious alley. 

Now Andrew and I are off to dinner to celebrate me finishing THE QUEEN. I will drink at toast to my UnHoly Trinity who taught me everything I know about love including when all else fails, get drunk with your best friend and talk about sex.

Sinfully Yours and With All My Heart,

Tiffany Reisz 

PS I really wasn't kidding about writing THE SIREN on the back of Books-A-Million flyers while I was supposed to be working.