Frequently Asked Questions

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Not like it looks :) Sadly for most everyone I meet, my name is not Carissa haha. It's pronounced Shareesa. Like Teresa but with an Sh sound at the beginning.

Indie. I am published through City Owl Press, a small press.

It's definitely possible that I will self-publish more romantic fantasy after The Witch Walker series. We shall see! As for my historical fantasy, I will most likely try the trad route. I’m planning on querying a project in 2023 or early 2024.

There are five planned. Four novels and one novella.

This is a tentative schedule, but for now: 

Book #1, The Witch Collector, released on November 2, 2021

Book #2, City of Ruin, released September 27th, 2022

Book #3, The Wolf and the Witch,  scheduled for March 28th, 2023

Book #4, Kingdom of the Forgotten, scheduled for November 28th, 2023

Book #5, A Gods' War: Tentative release, Summer 2024

Yes. All the books will have hardcover editions as well as paperback and ebook.

Yes! Non-exclusive only. Just reach out to me via my contact form or email my assistant.

For eARC opportunities, become a member of my Facebook reading group, Charissa's Rebel Readers, where beta and arc opportunities are announced. I also have a Patreon and those members on all tiers automatically receive eARC’s after 3 months of membership. 

I offer signed books in my Etsy store along with other merch. My Etsy store will re-open in February of 2023 for The Wolf and the Witch release. For details on store opening and closing dates, be sure to follow me on Insta and subscribe to my newsletter. 

Very possibly. If they're not, you can always request that your library order them. Library staff are usually very accommodating to reader requests.

You are welcome to reach out with a request, but blurbs are not guaranteed due to current time constraints with my publishing schedule. I do ask that your book be in my genre before you consider requesting.

YES! The Witch Collector is coming to audio on March 7, 2023! Stay tuned for news on City of Ruin and the rest.

Absolutely. Join my Facebook reader group for opportunities or watch my Instagram for announcements.

I can't say for sure, but it's doubtful. KU limits readership, and I have readers across many platforms and in many countries.

Yes! For now I can tell you that Brazil has purchased rights for Portuguese editions, Spain for Spanish editions, and France for French editions. 

At this time, no. If you'd like to find out where you can meet me and which book events/signings I'll be attending, check my Events page and watch my Instagram for updates.

Yes! I will be attending Apollycon in April 2023 in Washington, DC as well as RARE Melbourne (Australia) and the Imaginarium Book Festival in DC. See my events page for more info. 

Yes! Click here to subscribe.

Yes! Visit my For Writers page for more info.

The Witch Collector is my debut novel. It was originally a novella, but the anthology it was printed in is no longer available. I write bonus scenes for my Patreon members every month. I also have a novella titled Silver Heart that I am still considering re-releasing. Published, I have a YA short story, Yeva and the Green Garden, that was picked up for an audio anthology by Remastered Words, a UK publisher. 

Available now from: Audible / Audiobooks / Hoopla  / Downpour / Libro

My mother was a special education teacher for 25 years and also a piano teacher. She started learning ASL when I was about 10 years old, and she also translated the lyrics of songs via sign. I didn't realize until after she died, when I found her sign language books, how much that part of her life impacted me and my writing. I remember very little, but I'm hoping to re-learn ASL once this series is done.

As for the music... Both of my parents played instruments and sang, as did my entire family (including me!), even much of my extended family, so the musical part of the magick system was natural to me. 

Calling someone 'a mute' or 'mute' has been used in derogatory ways toward non-speaking people and especially members of the Deaf community as a label meant to other or as a slur. It also isn’t correct in a medical sense for those with hearing loss, yet they often get labeled as deaf-mute or deaf-dumb.

Raina can hear, yes, but because of the negative connotation attached to the word and because of the derogatory crossover with the Deaf community and because I have a responsibility to a general audience, I avoid using it as a descriptor.

For more info, read here.

Signed languages are languages that use a visual-manual approach to communication. There is no universal signed language. For instance, BSL (British Sign Language) is a different language from ASL (American Sign Language). Sign languages have their own grammar and use hand movements, sign order, and body and facial cues to create that grammar, as well as gaze direction, blinks, and rests.

For ease of reading, the fictional sign language in this novel reads as if it were SEE (Signing Exact English).

Years ago, while researching for a time travel novel, I came across information on the delineation between magic and magick, and I prefer magick. An explanation from the Llewellyn website, an article by Donald Michael Kraig: Most people reading this will know that adding the “k” to “magic” is not merely an affectation. Rather, it is a way to discriminate between the entertainment known for pulling rabbits out of hats (magic) and techniques for harnessing internal and external energies that will help us change ourselves and our environment (magick). I like to define the difference simply as “Magic is an attempt to imitate magick, by artificial means, as part of entertainment.” Although the spelling with the “k” has a long history (there was a time when manuscript copyists were paid by the letter, resulting in the many words with needless double and multiple letters), it was Aleister Crowley who is credited with using the spelling to mark this difference.