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.

It's definitely possible that I will self-publish after The Witch Walker series. We shall see!

There are five planned. Four novels and one novella.

This is a tentative schedule, but for now: 

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

Book #3, Novella: February 2023

Book #4, Novel: July 2023

Book #5, Novel: February 2024

Sometime after City of Ruin is released. It will be announced on my Instagram account and in my newsletter and reader group.

Yes.

For consideration, you can sign up here. You can also become a member of my Facebook reading group, Charissa's Rebel Readers, where beta and arc opportunities are announced.

For now, I offer signed books in my Etsy store along with other merch. 

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!

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! I can't say which ones until foreign rights deals are completed, but for now I can tell you that Brazil has purchased rights for Portuguese editions. There is another foreign rights deal in the works that I'll announce when I can.

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.

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 do have a novella titled Silver Heart that I am still considering re-releasing. I also have a YA short story, Yeva and the Green Garden, that is published in 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.