Crystal Series Upcoming Book , , , , , , ,

Update/Crystal 8.5 Book

Dayo Benson

jail break2Hi Guys,

I’m really sorry I’ve been so silent since releasing Powerful Enemies. I have a good excuse though: I’ve been working hard on making Legacy (Crystal 9) as good as I can 🙂

When I released Powerful Enemies, I suddenly felt this pressure to make Legacy, the final book of the Crystal series, even more awesome than Powerful Enemies. I started getting feedback about Powerful Enemies the day I released it (some of you guys read so fast!), and the feedback was so good that I did a typical writer thing: I got worried that none of my subsequent books will ever measure up. Ha! We writers are so weird. I absolutely loved the feedback, in fact I was moved by a lot of the emails I received, and I am really happy at the positive reception the book received. In fact, I ended up on my knees thanking God about it all. But, I started thinking that Legacy wasn’t good enough. So I tore it apart and rewrote the whole thing. It was only about 40,000 words, but now it’s about 97,000 words. It’s more than doubled in length.

To be honest the book was seriously lacking. And the crazy thing is, what I added was so obvious, but I didn’t think of it until I started praying about how to take the book to the next level. I hate it when fiction writers say God speaks to them and they write what He says word for word. That might happen to some people, but I’d feel really presumptuous to say that. So, I ain’t saying that at all. But I am saying I get totally awesome ideas when I pray. I love that that happens to me 🙂

(Random info: my 2-year-old daughter, Esther, is singing ‘mummy finger, mummy finger where are you?’ at the top of her voice right now. I think she deliberately picks moments when I’m trying to concentrate on something, lol. My own fault for trying to write a blog post at 8pm. She’s so adorable).

Anyway, I’m so excited for you guys to read Legacy. I’ve had it back from my beta readers so it’s going to my editor next week. I still can’t give a date for when it’ll be out because it just depends on how long my editor takes. Sometimes she has a lot going on and it takes her a little longer than usual.

So, how about I give you a little adventure to read while you wait for Legacy?

I’ve had a few readers email me about whether there’ll be an 8.5 book and I said no. But I’ve changed my mind now. I cut out a whole chunk of stuff from the beginning of Legacy because I thought it made the opening too long. So, guess what? I jazzed up the bits I cut out and I’m going to release it as an 8.5 book. In fact, I’ve already published it but it’s not live anywhere yet (apart from Smashwords.com who are super-efficient). I’ll email my mailing list once it goes live (that will probably be tomorrow morning – UK time).

Crystal 8.5 is called Jailbreak. Here’s the synopsis:

Crystal never imagined that marrying Juda would make her a target for practitioners who want him to return to the occult, or that she would be given an ultimatum to leave him or die. Kidnapped from an airport, she must come up with a plan to escape.

Jailed for crimes his father forced him to commit, Juda Lincoln is not in a good place. The last thing he needs, the weekend before his trial begins, is practitioners attempting to break him out of jail. Will anybody believe he had nothing to do with it? And will Crystal stand by him now that the whole world knows who he is and hates him?

I’ve had such a blast writing about the Crystal series, but at the moment I’m cleansing my palate with some sweet romance. I’ve been editing Pressure–remember Pressure? The Pure Passion Series book that I never released? Anyway, I’m actually enjoying it. No practitioners, no supernatural stuff, just a guy and a girl falling in love and learning to trust God with their baggage. Not that I don’t love Crystal & Juda, and Alejandro & Max etc. But it’s nice to work on something less ‘serious’ and ‘intense’. More about Pressure another time 🙂

Click Here to sign up for my mailing list so that you’ll get an email once Jailbreak, Legacy, and any book I release, goes live.

God bless.

Crystal Series , , , , , , ,

Out Now: Powerful Enemies (Crystal 8)

Dayo Benson

Powerful EnemiesIt’s finally out folks. I’m so excited. Having read the book one last time myself last week, I realized there’s a lot of fire in it, ha ha. Just thought you’d like that random fact. So expect fire, angels, a kidnap and even Jesus (yay!) Plus, you finally get an answer to the will they/won’t they relationship between Crystal and Juda.

From the back cover:

Love shouldn’t be so hard…

Juda’s secret has the potential to change everything. Crystal knows that whichever choice she makes, it won’t be easy. She must decide whether the pain of his secret is greater than the pain of letting him go. Either way there will be pain.

Freedom should be a right…

But Luke doesn’t think so. As violence, destruction, and death take over the nation, the powers-that-be turn to Crystal and her team for help. But is this battle too big for them?

The past two years have presented challenge after challenge for Crystal. However, she is determined to see things through to the bitter end. Luke is powerful, but there is One more powerful than he. Right now, He is their only hope.

Buy Now @ Amazon UK, Amazon US, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes.

Apologies to all my Nook readers. I published to Barnes and Noble the same time as all the other stores, but it’s still not up yet. Should be there soon though.

There’s one book left in this series (phew!). It’s tentatively titled ‘Legacy’. I’m off to start editing it now because I’ve already had an email asking when it’s going to be out, and I know that more of such emails will be coming over the next few days.

Happy reading guys, God bless, and remember: we serve an awesome God 🙂

Dayo xx

Crystal Series Upcoming Book , , , , , , ,

Cover Reveal: Powerful Enemies (Crystal 8)

Dayo Benson

Powerful Enemies

Hi Guys,

Here’s the cover for Powerful Enemies. Powerful Enemies is still in pre-flight checks, but it’ll be out on Monday (22nd Feb). I can’t wait to hit publish. If it’s ready before then I will definitely publish it sooner. Make sure you’re signed up for my mailing list HERE so that you get a notification as soon as it’s out xx

Crystal Series Personal Upcoming Book , , , , , , ,

Coming VERY Soon – Powerful Enemies (Crystal 8)

Dayo Benson

 

Hi Everyone,

I’m so excited, Powerful Enemies is almost here. I am literally going to read through it one last time and then hit publish. But before you get too excited and start doing a happy dance, you should know that I am a very slower reader when I am reading one of my own books. I really want to catch any final issues, and I am quite obsessive about my final read through. I’m starting the read-through tonight. It’ll probably take me a few days, judging by how long it took me with Sleeper, but then Powerful Enemies is a longer book, so we’ll see how it goes.

I can’t wait for you to read this book. Here’s why:

1. Juda confesses to Crystal’s parents

I don’t want to say too much about this just in case people read this and haven’t read books 6 and 7 and don’t know Juda’s secret. But, Juda confesses, and I actually had some tears in my eyes while I wrote that scene. Thankfully, I was alone–nobody to give me strange looks.

2. Jesus is finally an on-screen character

Quite frankly, I’m sick of even typing about the devil and typing his names. It’s necessary when writing from a ‘practitioner’s’ viewpoint, but it quickly began to annoy me. I got to write about Jesus and angels quite a lot in this book and it was truly humbling and awesome for me, ha ha.

3. There’s a Wedding!!!

I’m not telling you who. There are lots of couples in the Crystal series. I know everyone wants to see it happen for Crystal and Juda, but there’s Alejandro and Anabelle, Jamie and Carsten, and even Kyran and Trixie. Trixie could have a miraculous conversion in this book…you never know…

Here’s two random pictures of gorgeous wedding dresses.

      

And a picture of me when I got married six years ago this April, ahhh.

I felt like a total queen, lol. And it was a big wedding. I think we had like 700 people. No way was my church letting me show any ‘back’ or ‘cleavage’, hence the shrug. I love my church. And I love my dad (he’s the pastor; yes, I’m a preacher’s kid 🙂 ).

Anyway…

4. Shola Cardoso is a POV character

In Powerful Enemies you get four viewpoints, Crystal’s, Juda’s, Shola’s and Luke’s. Shola’s POV was fun to write. A new female villain is introduced and it was fun to write about her twisted ‘feminist’ philosophies and how she tries to get Shola to buy into them.

The whole point of the Crystal Series is to remind people that we’re in a battle, and we’re not fighting against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6). It’s easy to forget that life is a journey, a probation, and a battle (as well as a gift and a privilege from God). I just want to get people to think.

By the way, you guys wanted a longer book, and you’ve got one in Powerful Enemies. It’s the longest book of the series, almost double the length of Insurrection and Secrets.

 

From the Back Cover

Love shouldn’t be so hard…

Juda’s secret has the potential to change everything. Crystal knows that whichever choice she makes, it won’t be easy. She must decide whether the pain of his secret is greater than the pain of letting him go. Either way there will be pain.

Freedom should be a right…

But Luke doesn’t think so. As violence, destruction, and death take over the nation, the powers-that-be turn to Crystal and her team for help. But is this battle too big for them?

The past two years have presented challenge after challenge for Crystal. However, she is determined to see things through to the bitter end. Luke is powerful, but there is One more powerful than he. Right now, He is their only hope.

**If you’re not on my mailing list already, sign up HERE so that you’ll get an email alert as soon as Powerful Enemies comes out.**

***On another note, I’m thinking of doing character interviews. Who would you like me to interview first? Alejandro, obviously, wants to be interviewed first, but I told him it would depend on what the audience wants 🙂 Leave a comment or email me (dayo@dayobenson.com) with who should be interviewed first and what questions you like to ask them.***

God bless.

Crystal Series , , , , , ,

Out Now: Sleeper (Crystal 7)

Dayo Benson

First of all, I have to mention what happened in Paris on Friday. It’s devastating, and I pray that God comforts all who are bereaved 🙁

On to some happier news, Sleeper (Crystal 7) is out! Get your copy at: Amazon UK, Amazon US & Smashwords (Coming soon to B&N, ITunes & Kobo).

sleeperBefore You Read Sleeper – You need to read Exposé. There was a link to it inside Secrets. If you didn’t download it you can do so here. Sleeper talks about an important list of names, but you won’t know anything about that unless you read Exposé.

Here’s the back cover blurb for Sleeper:

Have you ever loved a man who was bad for you?

Crystal knew all along that loving Juda was foolish. Something has to give. Either Juda changes or there is no hope.

The more Juda fights his father’s organization alongside Crystal, the more he’s drawn to her and the faith that he has seen defeat his father’s occultism. But he cannot change. He has done too much and gone too far.

When Crystal is in danger of being killed by an assassin that Luke has sent after all the notable Christians in the country, Juda is desperate to keep her safe. But he sinks into oblivion each night when the assassin strikes.

It soon becomes clear that Luke is pulling out all the stops to get Juda back. Juda’s options are limited. Either he goes deeper into the occult to save both himself and Crystal from Luke’s plans, or he loses everything.

Crystal thinks there is a third option, but becoming a Christian is not an option for Juda. God doesn’t want people like Juda. And when Crystal finds out his secret, she won’t either.

Juda has to make a choice.

The biggest choice of his life.

What will he do?

I have literally been getting bombarded for the release of Sleeper 🙂 It started almost as soon as I published Secrets (Crystal 6). I think I got the first few messages asking about Sleeper the day after Secrets was released. A few people had stayed up all night and read Secrets & Exposé and immediately wanted more. I’m loving how much people are enjoying this series. And it’s all kinds of people that are enjoying it, older people, young people, men, people from all over the world. The best thing about it is talking to readers from other countries e.g. South Africa, the Caribbean, America, India, and many more places. I’ve even had a Costa Rican lady get in touch to put me straight about some of the things Alejandro (our beloved womanizing Costa Rican fashion designer) says. The Crystal series is 9 books long, so I’m really glad we’ve gotten to book 7 and so many people are still invested in the story.

Sleeper is a make-or-break book for Juda. In Secrets, Luke and Abha did something to him, but he didn’t know what. He finds out in this book. But is it too late when he finds out? Also, he didn’t tell Crystal his secret in the last book. Will he have the courage to tell her in Sleeper? And then President Hounslow sent them that message at the end of Secrets, asking the team to do something shocking. Will they pull it off?

Get your copy today and find out: Amazon UK, Amazon US & Smashwords .

Crystal Series Upcoming Book , , , , ,

Cover Reveal: Secrets (Crystal 6)

Dayo Benson

secrets5The cover for Secrets (Crystal 5) is finally ready!!

I’m so excited about this book because you get into Juda’s dark mind for the first time, and it was a challenge to write from his POV. He’s tortured, troubled and constantly second-guessing himself because he doesn’t know if he’s acting/thinking in a ‘normal’ acceptable way or not. Since meeting Crystal, he is desperately away of his abnormality and it’s a struggle for him.

It shouldn’t be too long now before the book is ready. Here’s the description:

Two unlikely people. An undeniable passion. A devastating secret.

Two passions consume Crystal: vengeance over the SOT, and love for Juda. Nothing may ever come of either.

Juda feels connected to Crystal in a way he has never felt with anyone before. But a devastating secret holds him back. Crystal may be the most forgiving person he’s ever known, but even she would never forgive him if she finds out what he did.

Some things are best kept secret.

But can he live with himself if he doesn’t tell her?

Crystal Series , , , , ,

3 things I have learned from writing the Crystal Series

Dayo Benson

Crystal Box Set JPEGSo, all 9 books in the Crystal series are complete, and I’ve just finished doing my own edit of Delirium (book 5) in preparation for sending it to my editor, and I’ve realized that I have learned a lot of things from writing this series. I thought I’ll share with you 3 of the things I have learned.

1. Women (even Christian women) love bad boys

I envisioned Juda’s character before I started writing the series and I knew how weird I wanted him to be, but I wasn’t sure if readers would be able to handle him. In fact, I almost made him just some ‘normal’ guy; still Luke’s son but not a practitioner and not a killer. More like a son that Luke is disappointed in. But I thought there would be much more scope for conflict and moral dilemmas if I wrote him exactly as he looked in my imagination. I’m so glad I went with my gut. I thought everyone would hate him, but even at the end of Surrender (Crystal 2), before Juda had shown many redeeming qualities, readers were rooting for him. I knew I’d gotten the portrayal of his character right when my best friend who is a voracious reader, very serious about her walk with God and hates reading anything that isn’t ‘sound’ scripturally told me she likes Juda after reading Surrender. My jaw almost literally dropped. I thought she’d hate him and just not give any comment about the book so as not to hurt me. Her name is Sade, by the way. I usually write with her in mind as she represents my target audience. I thought she would either love or hate this series and that she might just about tolerate Juda. I’m so glad she, and most of you, get what I’m doing with Juda’s character.

2. Spanish words and phrases

As I edited Delirium, the next installment of the series, I realized that Alejandro wasn’t speaking enough Spanish, so I added some phrases and exclamations as I went, and for most of them I didn’t even have to use the online translation tool that I usually use. I just know so many Spanish words now as a result of writing his character. I love Alejandro. His silly, obnoxious, flirtatious and vain–but lovable. I enjoyed writing from his POV in Delirium.

3. Christians truly have nothing to fear

I recently tweeted this quote because it really resonated with me:

‘The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe’ – Gustave Flaubert.

This has been so true of me in writing this series. I come from a Christian background where I have seen a lot of things happen with regards to ‘deliverance’ and things like that. I have heard things that freaked me out but simultaneously gave me an awe for God. And I am a total wuss who was terrified when I watched Scary Movie 2 (lol, okay I’m actually not that bad), so I’ve always thought I need to deal with my borderline fear of the supernatural.

I believe in the power of God, I believe in His supremacy, I believe that at His Name every knee bows, and these beliefs guided this series. The whole series has taken me just under a year to write, which is a long time to spend thinking about how God is greater than anything/anyone else and how the occult is all just counterfeit. My mind has been immersed in thoughts about God’s nature, His power, His love and His supreme authority over everything, and I have found that the more focused I am on God and His attributes, the less afraid I am of anything else and the stronger my faith is.

There is a scene in Secrets (Crystal 6) that made me stop and think about just how matchless God’s power is. There is another scene in Powerful Enemies (Crystal 8) that moved me to tears because I tried to imagine myself in the situation I’d put my characters in and asked myself if I would have faith and trust God to deliver me. Lol, if people watched me as I wrote this series they’d think I’m nuts, ha ha.

Anyway, writing this series has made me a stronger and more confident Christian. Writing about Crystal’s defiance and refusal to submit to pressures that would estrange her from God has made me more resilient myself. I hope the series has this impact on everyone who reads it.

Christian Living Desiring God On Writing Personal , , , , , ,

Putting God First

Dayo Benson

number_1_godBecause writing is such a time consuming thing to do, I do it every spare moment I get. I have tight (self-inflicted) deadlines this year. I wasn’t going to share what I’m trying to do, but I’ve decided to just say. A book a month. That’s what 2015 is about. Whether I publish a book a month or not is another matter, but I just want to write a book a month.

Anyway, with that kind of schedule I have to push a lot of other things out of my life, but I have to be careful not to push out important things. Something that helped me is not writing on Sundays. I didn’t think this would help, but it was just an idea I had a few weeks ago. I decided that having a day to recuperate each week would be helpful. I figured I’d give it a try and see how it goes, so for a few weeks I’ve not written on Sunday. Instead I’ve spent the time that I would have spent writing praying.

You won’t believe how much this has helped me. I’m the kind of person that finds it hard to get back on track if I take a break, but I’ve been totally fine. In fact, after spending Sunday in prayer, including praying about my word count goals for the week, I’ve surpassed my goals.

I don’t want to be a spoiled Christian, so I didn’t go into it saying, ‘God if I give Sundays to You, then You have to do this or do that.’ I guess it would have been fine to do that, but I didn’t want to ask for anything in return. I don’t feel like the time I spend with Him on weekdays is really *quality* time, so I wanted to give Him Sundays out of love, out of wanting to be with Him because He’s awesome. So I went into it saying, “God I want to just spend quality time with You whether it helps or harms my word count.” I didn’t even want to care about my word count. But, guess what? I wrote a book in two weeks when I started setting Sunday aside for God.

I’m sure I will write on some Sundays in future, but I’m in the process of letting God change my plans if He wills. If I write a book a month and stray away from God because I’m not spending time with Him, that will be no good. I’d rather spend time with God and not meet my goal. As a Christian author it’s so important to me that I stay connected to God so that I please Him with my writing, and so that we’re just tight.

Life is so busy these days. When I was in my late teens and early twenties I was busy but my time was mine to spend as I pleased so I could plan my day without having anyone else to consider. I could pray, write, study, and sleep when I wanted. Now, time for morning prayers has to be balanced with the time it takes to get kids dressed and fed. Evening prayers have to be balanced with a husband that wants to tell me about his day. Writing used to come after God. Now it comes after God, the husband, and the kids.

But that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

Have you ever struggled with putting God first?

Crystal Series , , , , , , ,

Out Now: Insurrection (Crystal 3)

Dayo Benson

Insurrection_Amazon etcHappy Saturday!

Insurrection (Crystal 3) is out now. I hope you’ll check it out. If you haven’t started Crystal’s series yet, book 1, Searchlight, is currently free at all online retailers.

You can view my Pinterest board for this series here. It’s ‘in progress’ so if you see any pictures that you think I should pin to the board let me know. I’m looking for a picture that would suit Luke’s character. He’s probably the hardest to ‘cast’.

As always, if you’re reading this series, get in touch to let me know what you think. I’d appreciate your feedback.

**Get your copy of Insurrection (Crystal 3) at Amazon UK, Amazon US, iTunes & Smashwords

Crystal Series , , , , , ,

Pinterest – Check out the Crystal Series Cast

Dayo Benson

CrystalSocial Media really isn’t one of my strong points. I have Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest accounts, but post only once in a blue moon. Ya’ll probably didn’t know I was on Pinterest, did you? I’m most active on Twitter, but I post book covers on Facebook, and I have started adding more pins on Pinterest. The picture on the right is the pin i chose for Crystal. I’m finding that I quite like Pinterest. The pictures of food…mmm. They make me salivate. It’s torture.

Anyway, I have 3 boards on Pinterest. Actually I have lots of boards, but only three of them are public. One of them is for my Crystal Series. It only has nine pins on it so far, but I’m going to try and add two pins a week. Let’s hope I do that, because I know I’m no good with social media. If you’ve already read Searchlight, feel free to check it out HERE. If you haven’t read the series, don’t look. Honestly, you need to form your own mental picture for each of the characters so please don’t look 🙂

***If anyone wants to add pins, let me know (dayo.benson@ymail.com) and I’ll give you access.***

I’m planning to do boards for all my other books too. The Beauty for Ashes Series will be hard as some people are in love with Jace Washington so I probably won’t be able to get someone that makes everyone happy, lol. Oh, and just to let you know, my boards are ‘safe.’ I cropped out washboard abs and the like. Faces only, ha ha.

Writing update

I finished writing Allies (Crystal 4) on Saturday morning. I was happy, but I didn’t get the rush I’ve gotten each time I’ve finished a book in the past. I was just like ‘next’ and created the file for the next book, which I started writing this morning. I want the rush back 🙁

Publishing update

I’m going to try and get Insurrection (Crystal 3) published sometime this week. Sorry for the delay.

Dayo xx