Dead Cows Washing Up on Beaches in Sweden and Denmark

There are so many things wrong with that headline that I don't even know where to start, but the story is one that starts my creative juices flowing. There's a short, speculative fiction story brewing here. Something apocalyptic, I think. (And this is why I will never stop checking Drudge Report every day. CNN just does NOT cover news like this.) You can read the story here. Talk about your Nordic Noir.

Kodiak Island Space Port--the Future is Now!

They don't use it very often, but doesn't it look really cool? You can find out more about it here.

Feminist Friday Fiction returns!

And speaking of women writers--do you know Betty Webb's Lena Jones mysteries? A woman writing crime about a woman who solves crime--my favorite kind of mystery. Check it out here; and look for it when it's published early next month.

In the Deomain of the Winter King

Isn't this a fantastic picture?
It's a lighthouse on Lake Michigan that's been encased in ice as a polar vortex causes temperatures of -50 below.
But it is one of those pictures that's worth a thousand words.

Friday Fiction Feed from Twitter--Blood Street

I enjoy social media. As someone who works at home, it helps me feel connected to a wider world. One f the things I really like is when a tweet points me in the direction of a book I might like to read. (Even though my TBR pile now has its second bookcase, my motto is "no book left behind."

Today I ran across Carl Alves' novel Blood Street, which is currently on sale at Amazon.com for 99 cents.  You can sample Alves' fiction for free on his website, which I did, and now I'm about to click over to Amazon and spend a whopping dollar sampling his book. (It actually doesn't look like he updates his website very often but all the links still work.)  Ah--did some digging around and he has a new site here.

The book combines vampires and Mafiosi and I can't wait to read it.

Cath Staincliffe's Blog

I review for Criminal Element and one of the real pleasures of the gig is discovering writers who are new to me. I just finished reading Cath Staincliffe's new book Dead to Me and enjoyed it so much that I tracked down her website to learn more about her.

Her blog is a lot of fun. In addition to interesting posts about topics such as point of view and how to write tense scens, she lists books that she's recently read and enjoyed. All of her recommendations sound interesting. Check her site out here. And watch for my "Fresh Meat" about Dead to Me on Tuesday.

Christine Pope's Sympathy for the Devil

Romance writer Christine Pope is a friend of mine and I really enjoyed her latest book, which is an update of a book she originally published through Pink Petal Press. She updated it, gave it a slick new cover and has now sent it out into the world. It's a paranormal romance that's devoid of vampires, but it does have a hilarious set of supporting characters who disrupt the romance for their own devilish ends. Check it out here.