Tag Archives: writing.

A Holiday gift for fans of Whisperings Paranormal Mystery

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-holiday-lights-fog-image1627372My holiday gift for Whisperings fans, The Midnight Choir, a Whisperings short story, is free on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Scribd and Inktera. Hopefully, it will soon also be free on International Amazon sites. This little story was first published here on my web site, but the new version includes additional material. I hope you enjoy it.

(Disclaimer: Although I have set the price as zero, Amazon can and often does charge for “free” books on some of their international sites. I have no control over this.)

Time has rushed by so quickly. The end of another year, when people look back and reflect on what the year brought into their lives. As  for me, the body is getting old and has forced me to acknowledge it has limitations, but the brain still works. I have family. I have friends who have stuck by me for years and new friends I’ve met online and in person. I can picture events which still make me smile when I remember them. As for the writing – as always it’s been fun, exasperating, stressful, tiring, and exhilarating.

On the writing side, Baelfleur, the sequel to Downside Rain was published in November. Tiff Takes on Halloween, a Whisperings short story, was published in October. I tried it on Amazon’s Kindle Select/Kindle Unlimited as an experiment. All the KU borrows were nice but at the end of the day, being exclusive to one publishing platform doesn’t sit well with me, so the little story will also appear on Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Scribd and Inktera when the Kindle Select period expires in January. And while I’m thinking of it, a shout out to Kindle Select staff who have always responded to my questions/problems promptly. Believe me, if you had to work with support staff at some of the other publishing platforms, you’d appreciate the guys and gals who staff Kindle Select.

I almost forgot to say – last week I reached a personal milestone with the sale of my 75,000 e-book.

In January I found out my Scottie dog Duncan has cancer. The discovery resulted in me rushing to England in April and deciding to write a seventh Whisperings Paranormal Mystery.

Why did my dog having cancer make me rush to England? And why did it prompt me to write another Whisperings book?

Well, I wanted to go to England to see my 91 year-old mum. Husband and I planned to go later in the year, but I didn’t know how long Duncan had with us. His excellent vet estimated six months to a year. I decided on chemotherapy treatment for him, but chemo destroys the immune system which meant he couldn’t be put at risk for infection by having him in a kennel while husband and I took a trip. In fact, he can’t be with other dogs at all, or have his annual immunizations and rabies shots, and we watch him carefully during walks to make sure he doesn’t get into anything he shouldn’t.

I didn’t want husband to have to deal with Duncan getting sick, and of course I wanted to be with Duncan when the time came,  so I whipped off to England earlier than planned and husband cared for Duncan while I was gone.

As for Whisperings. I said in my post To Be Or Not To Be that I didn’t know whether or not I’d write another Whisperings after A Conspiracy of Demons, and I didn’t have any plans to. But an odd thing happened when I learned Duncan has incurable cancer. I love my little dog and the news devastated me. I sat down at my computer and piled the whole thing on Tiff’s shoulders. I wrote about her discovering her Scottie Mac had cancer, her grief, and how she imagined the time to come when she would have to help him on his way.

At the end of the little piece, a bullet came out of nowhere.

I was pretty surprised. That wasn’t supposed to happen! I thought about it and before I knew it, I had an outline for Whisperings Paranormal Mystery book seven: Dark Demon Rising. I put it aside while I finished writing Baelfleur and the short stories but I’ll jump back on it after Christmas.

If you’re wondering about Duncan, he’s still with us and still going strong almost a year after the diagnosis.

So although 2014 began unhappily, it turned out to be a pretty good year. I hope 2015 brings good things, to me and to you. Happy Christmas, may the day be merry and bright, filled with love and good cheer.

 

 

Giving it Away

Free is good!

Click to continue reading “Giving it Away”

Coming September 2013

http://www.dreamstime.com/-image11771300RAIN

“Don’t imagine they’re fantasy come to life. Upside tales made them pretty and ennobled some. Fairies control the black market for jewelry and amulets carved from human bones. Elves are pimps, thieves, assassins. Werekin are animals trapped in human skin. And a damsel in distress had better know how to slay the dragon ’cause no knight in shining armor’s going to do it for her.”

 

CastleCASTLE

With his height and bulk, Castle can be mistaken for a young thug.

“I’ll be here.”

“Will you?”

“Always.”

 

 

RiverRIVER

 

 

“When we touch, you make me whole.”

 

 

 

 

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-beautiful-man-having-martini-image15609092ALAIN

“There is a difference between lust and desire. I desire you more than any woman I’ve known.”

 

“He’s ruthless in his business dealings and those who cross him have a habit of disappearing.”

 

 

Another place lies palm to palm with the world we know. Downside, Earth’s backdoor, where magic, madness and monstrosities abide; where rain falls from a cloudless red sky and neon pulses day and night.

A fallen angel in a derelict tower weeps crystal tears.

A powerful man hides a dark secret.

Wraiths skim through the streets.

Rain and Castle dispose of monsters, be they mischievous but relatively benign
sprites, or ghouls which don’t limit their feasting to the already dead. When the
hunters become the hunted, they must survive attacks by demons and Gettaholt
citizens compelled by powerful magic. Who is trying to kill them, and why? Can
a wraith die twice?

FlattenedFinal

DOWNSIDE RAIN

An urban fantasy novel.

Coming soon to Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook AND Sony iTunes .

To Be Or Not To Be

Will there be another Whisperings novel?

Click to continue reading “To Be Or Not To Be”

Meet Jillian Dodd

Author and organizer extraordinaire

Click to continue reading “Meet Jillian Dodd”

UPDATE UPDATE READ ALL ABOUT IT!

I thought it was time. . . .

The first draft of Whisperings book six, A Conspiracy of Demons, is done. Bear in mind this is the first draft. I have to let it simmer for a few weeks so I can look at it again with fresh eyes. This one has taken me twice as long to complete as any other, I thought I’d be closer to publishing by now, but sometimes life gets in the way. After I have reread and edited it at least a couple of times, it will go to my editors and beta readers.

What happens in book six? I haven’t worked on the blurb yet, but I can tell you that a new friend pays Tiff a very brief visit, just long enough to really irk Jack and Mel, and provide Tiff with a clue to the death of an old friend. Two decades-old murders are reinvestigated. Tiff and Royal are targeted for assassination. And when the Otherworldy are involved, nothing is quite as it seems.

 

 

 

 

 

I am also working on an urban fantasy novel, Downside Rain. All I’m going to say about it, is it’s a little on the dark side and involves all kinds of monsters.

Here’s a little clue to the theme:

 WRAITH

Definition: Merriam Webster

1.       The exact likeness of a living person seen usually just before death as an apparition

2.       An insubstantial form or semblance: shadow

3.       A barely visible gaseous or vaporous column

Definition: Downside

A being who can partially or wholly shed its physical form

OFF WE GO, INTO THE WILD BLUE YONDER!

Husband and I are off to the Caribbean in November. We are so excited! I think we’re the only couple in our circle of friends (and many acquaintances) who have not yet been on a cruise. We rarely go anywhere apart from England every other year and we’re probably the only people in the USA who have never been to Disneyland, so this is a big deal for us. Tours are planned, to-take and to-do list are made. Our adult son, who lives with us, will take care of the animals, mail, newspapers etc. I’m taking my laptop and may get a little writing done, but hope I’ll be too busy having fun to open it up.

TARGETED.

Reviews for Along Came a Demon on Amazon.com have and still are the focus of some malicious action. I won’t go into details as I don’t want to start a flame war. Unless you are intimately familiar with every review for the book as they appeared perhaps four weeks ago – which I seriously doubt – looking at the remaining reviews as they are now will tell you nothing, but believe me, what someone or some persons did and are still doing is upsetting.

THE SEASONS CHANGE.

It’s that time of year again. The garden has been tidied, deck furniture covered or stored in the shed, hoses wound and put away, lawn mower put away and snow blower prepped, window canopies rolled up, and the central heating doing its thing. Most of the leaves are off the trees and the grass is dead or dying. Winter is coming, snow and bitter cold. Expect to hear me complaining. A lot. And it looks like we may have snow for Halloween.

Halloween is just another day for us. The first year we lived here, we bought candy and waited at the door with a bowl. At the end of the evening, with nary a trick-or-treater, we ate the candy ourselves. We were still hopeful the next year. We bought candy, although not as much, and it was our favorite candy, just in case. We ate that too. We don’t expect kiddies anymore and we don’t buy candy. We should have realized parents don’t bring their children to an area that has no street lights and most homes are reached by walking up a long, dark driveway.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner after Halloween. Thanksgiving is fun, a big celebration with husband’s family. I also enjoy Thanksgiving because it’s easy! For me, anyway. I rarely have to cook, and when I do my contribution to the meal is something simple. Or we take the wine and potato chips.

And then Christmas. A little more pressure, because I have to actually clean the house, and purchase the gifts, and hang the decorations, and provide food. But I’ve made it easier on myself the past few years. Food is buffet style, most of it bought ready-made. Fewer decorations are hung every year. Gifts are harder, now most of the grandchildren are teens – what do you get a teen who already has everything, or wants something which costs gadzillion dollars? And – bummer – I still have to clean the house.

And then – God no, I don’t want to think about it! 2013. Another year and another year older.

You know what, maybe instead of all the above, I’ll go into hibernation. Want to join me?

Angry Authors. Tar and Feathers.

Authors behaving badly.

Click to continue reading “Angry Authors. Tar and Feathers.”

Pirates of (the) Amazon

Hey, Amazon, how about a little help here!

Click to continue reading “Pirates of (the) Amazon”

I Heart You.

Some people rock!

Click to continue reading “I Heart You.”

Announcing . . . . .

OPEN TODAY,  the Indie Chicks Cafe where authors talk about everything except writing. Look into their lives, thoughts, ideas, dreams and motivations. The Café is now open for business.

 

AND

 

On Amazon.com. The IWU Cookbook, Dine With Us,  a collection of fantastic, mouthwatering recipes from the authors of Indie Writers Unite. Check out my recipe for Pasta a Fagioli, and many more. Delicious! I have my copy – get yours!