It's Bastille Day

I've been going through a French stage--reading French crime novels in translation, checking out travel books, enjoying books about French culture. (My favorite so far, WTF (What the French?), which is written in bite-size chapters that describe everything from the French fascination with Nutella to explaining oddball idioms. Check it out here. You can get a used hardback copy for less than $2 on Amazon.

Magically Delicious is here!

The third entry in my Ostrander Witches series is now live everywhere! You can get it on Amazon here. It's also available on Nook and Kobo and through Draft2Digital at a number of smaller sales platforms.

Where's number two, you ask? (Mother Nature, about Rosalind Ostrander). It'll be out soon. (I already have the cover.) It's just I ended up writing this novelette for a boxed set first because  it's a Valentine's Day story.

The stories don't have to be read in order, but the "origin story" is  Deus Ex Magical. That one has a five star rating on Amazon and a 4.5 rating on Goodreads (and you KNOW how picky they can be).

Merry Month of May Book Fair

Five different genres--so something for everyone, unless you like Grimdark or Anime or...well, maybe there's just something for readers who mostly like romance, mystery/thriller, paranormal, and horror. (I'm all in.) Find out more here. And while you're checking out the books, enter the give-away. Books and giveaways!

FREE!Something different in the zombie apocalypse genre

Free for the next five days.

Bloodsport: Z Sisters #1

I had a blast writing this novella. It's set in L.A. and all of the locations--the sisters' apartments, the house that Rose bought with her ex, their father's house--are real places. I'm currently writing the sequel (Bloodtrail) and getting back into the world has been like visiting old frends after being on lockdown for weeks. (In my case, it's been almost two months. Washington state's governor acted early and decisively after corona virus cases killed some nursing home residents in King County, where Seattle is located.

Writing a zombie story in the time of Covid-19 has been kind of surreal, because some of the things I'd outlined months ago-field hospitals being built in Central Park and sports stadiums--have come to pass.But so too have other things I imagined--like the resilience of the human spirit, the bravery of the frontline health care workers and those who have kept a semblance of normality going--postal workers and delivery workers, ordinary citizens doing extraordinary things. There's a William Faulkner quote that always resonated with me:  I believe that man will not merely endure, he will prevail. I believe that.

Stay home if you can.
Wear a mask if you can't.
Wash your hands.
Don't drink Lysol.
Listen to the doctors.
When you can't be with the ones you love, phone or text or Zoom or Skype or Facetime. They miss you too.

Freebie anthology of dark romance

Poison Love, a freebie anthology of stories of toxic love is just about to disappear. It was always a limited edition and time has run out. I have a story in the set--"Midnight's Daughter," based on the Nathaniel Hawthorne story "Rappaccini's Daughter." It's actually a terrific story so if you were scarred by having to read House of Seven Gables (my sympathies), you might check it out.

You can find the book at your favorite digital bookstore.

Happy Birthday William Shakespeare

The Folger Library wants you to celebrat with them--virtually of course. The party is here.

Get writing!

Editing Death in the Drowned Lands reawakened my love for writing short stories. Even though I'm trying to concentrate on my longer work, I keep getting distracted by ideas that aren't novel or even novella length. So I'm thrilled to see how many places are looking for short stories.

For example, Dragon Soul Press has a whole slew of anthologies that are open for submission from now into 2021.

Abra Staffen-Wiebe has just updated her monthly market list of PAYING markets. I appreciate her list because it's heavily fantasy/science fiction, horror, speculative--genres I love writing.

Angie's Desk always has an updated list of anthology markets. She only posts once a month, so ost of the markets listed right now are closed.

Duotrope costs $5 a month for its listings, and it can be a tremendous resource for information on magazines and publishers.

If you've been looking for something to do in lockdown besides back cookies and watch Tiger King, why not do some writing?