TEN NINE EIGHT…

Almost ready for launch on Friday! It’s set up for a long run, 9 to 9 Eastern time, but we’ll love it if you pop in even for a few minutes to chat.

What am I talking about? Vicki Turner Goodwin (w.a. Sojourner McConnell, children’s author) offered to hold a live launch for DAY OF THE DARK on the Mystery Thriller Week facebook site. There are 24 authors included in the short story anthology. We won’t all be there, but many of us will.

The stories are all inspired by the August 21st total solar eclipse. Most of them deal with that specific eclipse, but some include partials, some lunar. The stories are as varied as they can be considering each contains a kernel of mystery. They trace the path of totality from Oregon to the South Carolina coast, with other locales, time periods, and even another continent inserted. Likewise, they vary in genre and tone—something for everyone.

Please check out the launch site and click if you’ll be able to attend.

https://www.facebook.com/events/199463997250907/

We’ve been getting some good publicity on blogs. Writers WhoKill carried part one of an interview with all the authors last week. 

One of our authors, Debra Goldstein, posted on The StilettoGang the 14th, and on the 17th on her own blog and another, KB Inglee, posted on her blog the 18th.

photo from morguefile

Getting the Word out on the Eclipse

I notice lots of publicity, more and more, as the date of the total solar eclipse approaches. Not to be left out, here are some promotional/publicity activities we’re planning for our anthology, DAY OF THE DARK: Stories of Eclipse, coming this month from Wildside Press to celebrate the August 21st total solar eclipse in the US.

Some of our dates are indefinite, but I wanted to get these out there.

Look for our ad in Kings River Life with a preorder link!

http://kingsriverlife.com/

I was interviewed for Criminal Element by Katherine Tomlinson. The interview will appear soon.

https://www.criminalelement.com/

An interview of all 24 of us, short ones, will appear on Writers Who Kill. Questions from E. B. Davis.

http://writerswhokill.blogspot.com/

B. K. Stevens is featuring a few of the authors on her wonderful First Two Pages blog in July, so check in there a few times on Tuesdays.

http://www.bkstevensmysteries.com/category/the-first-two-pages/

A number of the authors are approaching local observatories to see if they’re interested in a partnership.

I need to mention my previous blog posts with tidbits about each story:

GUESS WHAT’S COMING

MORE ECLIPSE GLIMPSES

MORE ECLIPSE GLIMPSES (I didn’t notice I’d already used this one)

THIRD ELCIPSE GLIMPSE (really the 4th, that duplicate title confused me)

MORE ECLIPSE GLIMPSES (at least it’s a different title)

MY LAST ECLIPSE TEASERS (try typing the words “eclipse” and “glimpse” this many times!)

And last, but definitely not least, Vickie Turner Goodwin is giving us a live launch on Mystery Thriller Week.

https://www.facebook.com/mysterythrillerweek/

One of the story authors, Laura Oles, put together a press release that I’ll share here, too, soon.

(I’m so pumped that we’ll have totality in my own town! http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/communities/states/TN/Farragut_1728.htm)

More Eclipse Glimpses

I’ve been revealing the stories of Day of the Dark, bit by bit, in much the same way that the moon will reveal the sun after it has devoured it. It will take about 45 minutes from start to total eclipse on August 21st. Then 45 more minutes for the moon to move out of the way and let the sun shine again. If you’re in the path of the total eclipse, you’re very lucky! Or maybe you plan to go where it’s total. You’ll see a partial eclipse from many other places.

Here’s something else that will happen. This sky map shows you what will appear during the eclipse—4 planets that are usually only seen at night.

Today, I’m giving you another illustration of how varied the 24 stories are. As I’ve noted before, Wildside Press will release the book July 21st, a month before the coming total solar eclipse in North America. We should have a cover sometime in May, which I’ll definitely post here.

“I’ll Be a Sunbeam” by M. K. Waller features a gentle, gentile killer, if you can imagine such a thing, and takes place in Killburn TX.

“Ocean’s Fifty” by Laura Oles, lets us see a unique swindle in Port Aransas on the Texas coast.

“The Devil’s Standtable” by Melissa Blaine thrills us with the supernatural in southern Illinois, near where I grew up.

“Date Night” by Cari Dubiel, takes us on an unusual journey, involving more than traveling through space.

All of these involve solar eclipses, some total, some partial. If you’ve been following these reveals, you might be seeing a pattern by now. I’m laying the stories out in roughly the path the eclipse will take across the US. I’m very excited to see what kind of cover Wildside will give us! I’m not sure I’ll post next Wednesday, since I’ll be busy with Malice Domestic, but will be back with more previews for sure in May.

photo by blondieb38 from Morguefile

More Eclipse Glimpses

As the moon starts its journey, the journey that will eventually completely cover the face of the sun, you can watch the light dim around you, so very gradually. If you’re watching the sun and the moon, be SURE to wear eclipse glasses. ($5 at Earth and Sky) 

Also be sure to visit here every Wednesday so you’ll catch the cover reveal for Day of the Dark, 24 short stories centered around eclipses, mostly solar, but some lunar. There’s sure to be something for everyone here with some of the stories as different as night and day.

Wildside Press will release the book July 21st, a month before the coming total solar eclipse in North America. I gave you a bit about 4 of the stories last week. Here are some samplings of 4 more:

  

“Torgnyr the Bastard, Speaker of Law” by Suzanne Berube Rorhus takes place in ancient Norse times, a political Norse historical using a solar eclipse

“An Eclipse of Hearts” by Dee McKinney, a dark supernatural tale taking place in Canada with a penumbral lunar eclipse

“The Baker's Boy” by Nupur Tustin, a murder in Vienna, long ago, featuring Joseph Haydn

“Black Monday” by Chéri Vausé, another dark one, psychological suspense in Terlingua TX where the eclipse is partial

The four above are medium to dark, traditional to supernatural, and modern to ancient, spanning the globe. Total solar eclipses occur anywhere on our earth, of course, but this one will be special for me because it will be total where I live. I think the air will be cooler for the couple of minutes the sun is completely gone, but this should begin about 45 minutes before that as the sun begins to dim. Some have reported that it’s very quiet, too, as all of nature senses something extraordinary going on.

lunar eclipse photo from Morguefile

Mystery Thriller Week and My Sad Valentine

This is my first post of 2017. We’ve been having a rough time over here. Hubby, who has Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, two conditions that no one on earth deserves, had a major setback in January. He grew so weak from malnutrition, due to his swallowing difficulties, that he had to have a feeding tube put in. On Friday the 13th of January, of all days. The 13th has always been our lucky day as we were both engaged and later married on the 13th. Our luck isn’t holding lately. The hospital stay did a lot of damage and he’s now having to learn to walk again. He had home rehab for awhile, my choice, so he could collect his mind, bring it back to wherever it had gone in the hospital. That happened and he’s now in a rehab facility. I’m not liking any of this.

There are a couple of bright spots keeping me going—and distracted from all this.

Mystery Thriller Week

I’m not doing as good a job promoting this as I could if I weren’t spread thin right now, but consider this an attempt! I’m doing 3 Power Hours, beginning today. Each one is 10-11 am Eastern Time and each one involves a giveaway from a different series. Today is CHOKE, the 16th is EINE KLEINE MURDER, and the 17th is DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE. I would love you to come chat!

Here's a great place to sign up to win prizes!
https://mysterythrillerweek.com/fans-readers-sign-up-here-for-contests-mystery-thriller-week-updates/

I’ve also been lucky enough to net a ton of reviews and interviews. Here are most of them:

DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE review #1

DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE review #2

Spotlight!

Interview and DEATH ON THE TREK

Review for CHOKE

EINE KLEINE MURDER interview

  

DAY OF THE DARK anthology: Eclipse Stories

I got a ton of excellent submissions for this. Too many, in fact. I had to turn down some very good stories so that the paperback will be printable. Wildside Press will get this out before the August 21st total solar eclipse. I’ll keep you up to date on this.