The Guild Codex world has a new series coming out and of course I am excited for it! I first fell into this world through The Guild Codex: Demonized but after reading the only book (at the time) published in that series I had to search for something else to fill my sudden hunger for Urban Fantasy and dove into The Guild Codex: Spellbound. Ever since then I’ve been bouncing back and forth reading both series in the official recommended timeline order as new books are released and I’m ready to add a third! Keep reading this post to find out more about The Guild Codex world especially the latest edition, The Guild Codex: Warped, which brings in a shiny new co-author PLUS enter a giveaway!
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The Book

WARPING MINDS & OTHER MISDEMEANORS
(The Guild Codex: Warped #1)
Annette Marie & Rob Jacobsen
Genres: New Adult, Urban Fantasy
Publication date: August 7th 2020
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My name is Kit Morris, and welcome to my warped life.

Picture the scene: Me, an average guy with psychic powers—not that my abilities are in any way average—just trying to scrape by in a harsh world. So maybe I’ve conned a few people, but did I really deserve to be thrown in MPD jail alongside magic-wielding serial killers?

According to Agent Lienna Shen, one-hundred-percent yes.

But her hardass attitude and “Arcana prodigy” status aren’t enough to bring down my former best friend, who slipped through the MPD’s fingers and is days away from unleashing untold horrors upon the city. Or he’s going to steal something. I don’t really know.

Whatever he’s up to, that’s why I’m sitting in an interrogation room with Lienna. And that’s why I just offered myself as her temporary new partner for the purposes of thwarting my ex-accomplice.

And that’s how I’m going to escape. I might even help with the case before I cut and run.

—
Warping Minds & Other Misdemeanors is the first book in a new series set in the world of The Guild Codex. It can be read on its own or as part of a larger adventure.

The Guest Post

Post Prompt: What was the idea/writing process for Warping Minds? Were there any scenes, characters, or moments you ended up having to cut? How was it collaborating?

Greetings, Pooled Inkians! (Inkites? Inklings?)

My name is Rob Jacobsen and I co-authored Warping Minds and Other Misdemeanors with Annette Marie. It’s my first published novel but Annette’s, like, thousandth book (Annette: It’s my twenty-third, Rob…) so it balances out. I have done lots of writing in past; I’ve spent the last several years writing and directing indie films and prior to that I had a handful of short stories published. But co-authoring with Annette was totally different than what I was used to.

Back in 2018, Annette and her husband, Jacob (an old high school friend of mine), asked me to work with her on a buddy cop-style book series inside her Guild Codex universe. I think I agreed before they even finished asking the question. They gave me a loose framework for the series and I began pitching them ideas soon after. Eventually, we landed on the characters of Kit, Lienna, Captain Blythe, and the first book’s villain, Quentin.

Over the next year and half, the book went through some massive edits and rewrites. I had never written in the Urban Fantasy genre before, so there were some hiccups (burps? convulsions? gastrointestinal distresses?) along the way because of that. We had to cut some of my favorite scenes (including one that I’m hoping to reuse in a future Warped book!), reorder plot points, and even combine a few characters. The one thing that never changed from beginning to end was Kit: his narrative voice, his quips, his penchant for pop-culture references, his relationship with Lienna, and even his magical abilities—that is the heart and soul of these books.

Despite how long the book took and the challenges we had with it, co-authoring was pretty much always awesome. I learned a veritable butt-ton about the UF genre and about writing in general from Annette. It is amazing having another creative brain to bounce ideas off and to collaborate with. Her and I think quite differently but that was one of the main strengths of our collaboration; it took the novel to places it wouldn’t go if either of us was flying solo and we’re both crazy proud of how it turned out!

The World

More series in the Guild Codex world:
The Guild Codex: Spellbound (Goodreads | Amazon)
The Guild Codex: Demonized (Goodreads | Amazon)

Pooled Ink Review (The Guild Codex: Spellbound #1: Three Mages and a Margarita)
“I love Tori, I love the three mages (I have a favorite of course), I love the world, the story, and pretty much everything. It’s written like a classic serial too where each book has its own contained plot arc that gets resolved even while certain threads develop with each book. Quick-paced, thought out, dark, and overall a load of fun to read, I’m already lunging for the next book in the series! I also love that it is a New Adult series without that meaning it’s super explicit or overrun with either violence or sex. You get all the adventure and fun we love from YA, but now it’s a bit more grown up as it steps into a world where you gotta pay rent and balance workplace relationships. Haha I thinks it’s fantastically fun and features characters my age.”
(author’s note: The is not a reverse harem series)
-pooled ink

Pooled Ink Review (The Guild Codex: Demonized #1: Taming Demons for Beginners)
“A cookie-loving demon? Please and thank you.
I’ve read Chase the Dark by Annette Marie and really enjoyed it but this is my first dive into The Guild Codex and I really enjoyed this one. Robin with her self-help books made me laugh a bit more than pity her (sorry, I’m mean) but I thought the chemistry between her and this cookie-loving demon was fantastic and is 100% of what sold me on the story and why I’m dancing for book 2! A quick read that was funny, dark, absurd, dangerous, and utterly addicting, Taming Demons for Beginners is a knockout that will leave you dying for more.”
-pooled ink

The Authors

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Annette Marie is the author of YA urban fantasy series Steel & Stone, its prequel trilogy Spell Weaver, romantic fantasy Red Winter, and sassy UF series The Guild Codex.

Her first love is fantasy, while fast-paced adventures and tantalizing forbidden romances are her guilty pleasures. She proudly admits she has a thing for dragons, and her editor has inquired as to whether she intends to include them in every single book.

Annette lives in the frozen winter wasteland of Alberta, Canada (okay, it’s not quite that bad). She shares her life with her husband and their furry minion of darkness—sorry, cat—Caesar. When not writing, she can be found elbow-deep in one art project or another while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Rob Jacobsen is a Canadian writer, actor, and director, who has been in a few TV shows you might watch, had a few films in festivals you might have attended, and authored some stories you might have come across. He’s hoping to accomplish plenty more by the time he inevitably dies surrounded by cats while watching reruns of Mr. Robot.

Currently, he is the Creative Director of Cave Puppet Films, as well as the co-author of the upcoming Guild Codex: Warped book series with Annette Marie.

The Giveaway