A Writer's Life

You’d think that the main occupation of a writer would be, well, writing, wouldn’t you? The activity that takes up the majority of my time, the thing I think about the most?

Turns out, writing a book is a small part of it. You can write a hundred books, but eventually, you’ll want other people to read them. To do that, they have to be published. Aye, there’s the rub. (I’ll add that writing a book IS hard. You have to learn how to do it—read books, take classes, seek feedback wherever you can, and keep reading and writing, over and over and over, until something clicks.)    

So, you want someone to read it. Someone besides your close family and friends. Today, there are several ways you can get a book published. You can learn how to DIY, as I’ve done with one series and my short story collection. There it is—all published, with a professional cover (that I paid for), sitting out there on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, and other places too, for all the world to see. Um, why isn’t anyone seeing it? Because thousands of other writers have done the same thing and the field is crowded. I gave that series a leg up by having one of my actual publishers distribute it. Almost all my sales of that series come through them (Untreed Reads). 

Another way is to submit it dozens (or, in my case, hundreds) of times to small presses. After you learn to write an appealing cover letter, summarizing your book in one succinct paragraph. For that, you’ll probably have to take a class, or at least read books and articles on it. Then, when you do get a small press to say they’ll publish it, it’s sitting out there with your self-published series and a few people are noticing, but not many unless you learn to promote it. Another class or two, or ten. I’ve had the great good fortune to be associated with several excellent small presses, but I have to help them out with marketing and selling.

The old fashioned way is to attract an agent to do all that work. Ha! Getting an agent is harder than any of the above. If you’re sending a proposal, you’ll have to have the cover letter, a one or two page synopsis (take another class to learn to do that), and at least the first three chapters of a proposed book. Or, you can take 6-12 months to write a whole book and submit that—with the completely professional cover letter. Then you hope the agent gets you work published with a big enough press to get it onto an actual bookstore bookshelf. That’s the way to sell lots of books. The only way I’ve found, personally. Other writers can sell books in other ways, but, so far, that’s worked best for me, quantity-wise.

So, reading books about how to write, how to market, taking classes in all those things, writing blogs, writing guest blogs, putting out newsletters (first building a newsletter recipient list), joining writers’ organizations, getting my name in front of people by doing columns and reviews, giving away review copies in hopes of getting actual reviews, attending conferences so more readers will have heard about me, and doing tons and tons of networking—because priceless connections and advice come from my fellow mystery writers: every bit of that is valuable. And it’s not writing!

So now, that I’ve done a blog on all the other activities, I’ll submit this and…WRITE.

REPEAT FROM PREVIOUS BLOG—THIS IS STILL GOING ON UNTIL THE END OF THE MONTH!

An important announcement! All month long, my two Neanderthal mysteries will be on sale, in both paperback and hardcover! 15% off PLUS free shipping. If you haven’t yet picked up DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE or DEATH ON THE TREK, this is the perfect time.

Untreed Reads, the publisher, makes an unusual offer, too. They can customize any print book you purchase to include a special message inside...at no extra charge! Just put in your notes what you'd like it to say. See all of the titles at http://store.untreedreads.com

photos from morguefile.com by, in order,

kconnors

dhester

mockingbird

lauramusikanski

click

Malice Conference and a Nice Sale

I’m back from a fully packed weekend in Bethesda for Malice Domestic and thoroughly exhausted and energized—at the same time. I know, it’s weird. It’s a wonderful thing to be breathing the same air as all those mystery writers and readers, sharing thoughts and laughs, and a few tears sometimes. Oh, and drinks. OK, not sharing drinks, but, you know.

As usual, I came home without any pix of my own. Several people posted some with me in them, so I’ll “borrow” some of those. 

Janet Bolin, Linda Wiken, Vicki Delaney, me, Daryl Wood Gerber (Avery Aames) and Sheila Connolly--by Daryl (Canadians to the left, Americans and one Irish American to the right)

Elisa A. Varey, me, and Laura Oles, by Elisa

Me, Grace Topping, and Kristin Kisska at Malice Go Round

Me, Julie Hennrikus, and Sheila again by Carol Pouliot

This Malice was the most fun ever so far! I was kind of dreading my panel, since I left town before the info went out, so I had no files with me. The story the moderator wanted to discuss was “Dream Girl” in the BOULD anthology. Darned if I could remember the names of the characters! Since I had bought copies for my family, I found I could download a free digital version onto my little Amazon Fire that I took with me. (First time I’ve ever traveled without a laptop! I always bring one and NEVER use it.) The panel turned out to be hilarious, entertaining, and a whole lot of fun.

Ed Aymer, moderator, and Robin Templeton, Alan Orloff, me, Eleanor Cawood Jones, and Josh Pachter--SO honored to be sitting with such talent! Photo by Art Taylor, husband of the Agatha winner, Tara Laskowski.

Stylized photo by Elisa of me and Mary Lee Ashford (with Steve Carter in the foreground), lamenting the flooding back where we're both from in Iowa and Illinois.

No picture of my and my daughter at the banquet SITTING NEXT TO ANN HILLERMAN! Darn!

And now for an important announcement! All month long, my two Neanderthal mysteries will be on sale, in both paperback and hardcover! 15% off PLUS free shipping. If you haven’t yet picked up DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE or DEATH ON THE TREK, this is the perfect time.

Untreed Reads, the publisher, makes an unusual offer, too. They can customize any print book you purchase to include a special message inside...at no extra charge! Just put in your notes what you'd like it to say. See all of the titles at http://store.untreedreads.com

Passion and Prehistory Research

I thought I’d take this week to talk about some of the most fun stuff I do—research! Sounds dry, right? I guess it depends on your POV (Point of View), to use a writerly term.

In a roundabout way, I’ll get to that. But first, a discussion came up in a group yesterday about whether to journal or not. Then, later the same day, a somewhat similar discussion took place between me and my cousin.

The jist of the first one arose from talking about journaling, recommended in the group. One woman said she didn’t like to journal. My thoughts are, if you don’t like it, don’t do it. But, my further thoughts are, everyone who manages to stay sane has an outlet, a steam vent, something you do to keep you from boiling over and blowing up when you’re under pressure.

For me, it’s writing. For most writers I know, that’s true. Writing is not only our passion, it’s what we do to stay mentally healthy. That doesn’t work for everyone, of course. For some people, it’s exercise. For some, it’s music. For some, it’s sewing. But I still contend that everyone has a steam vent. 

The other discussion was about passion versus addiction. Are all passions addictions? Aren’t they just socially acceptable addiction? You could say that you’re lucky if your passion is legal and socially acceptable. If it’s not, you’re very unlucky and might end up with fines, jail time, or being shunned.

Here’s a passion of mine that doesn’t get me into trouble: Neanderthal research. Don’t ask me how I got passionate about this topic. I have no idea. I just know that delving into textbooks and reams of research to glean a nugget I can use for a plot point is exciting to me. Some people skydive and race cars. I do anthropology research. If it doesn’t bore you to tears, you can find some of my early research for my Neanderthal mysteries on this blog at: http://travelswithkaye.blogspot.com/p/more-info.html.

all photos from morguefile.com

Some Research for People of the Wind

 My most research-intensive series is the People of the Wind mystery series. Those are the books featuring a Neanderthal tribe and set 30,000 years ago. I took the artistic license of putting the tribe in North America. Aside from that, I try to make everything about them and the surroundings as true to life as possible. We don’t know everything about them, of course, but we’re learning more all the time.

I had to research every single step of the way, beginning with the climate and the appearance of the land at that time. I learned that much of the present day Midwest was an open spruce parkland with balsam poplar and quaking aspen, also mires, lakes, and ponds. The landscape looked much as Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Michigan and parts of Canada look today. The trees growing then are those that grow now in the Rocky Mountains.  The summers were cooler then and the winters a bit colder. I was astounded to learn that the Mississippi River didn’t exist yet! This was the time before the advance of the last glacier to cover much of the Midwest. The Mississippi was created on its retreat. (1)

The animals that were around were very different. What are called mega-fauna, very large animals, mostly became extinct on this continent at around 10,000 years ago. Some of these were giant sloths, mammoths, mastodons, muskox (which are not extinct), stag-moose, dire wolves, short-faced bears, giant beavers, peccaries, sabertooth and scimitar cats, American cave lion, tapirs, and camelops (ancestor to modern camels), eve an giant version of bison, just to name a few. There were also very tiny horses that migrated to Asia and disappeared here until modern horses were brought here by the Spaniards.  (2)

Then there was the task of creating the characters. I had to know what they might have looked like, what they ate, what they wore. I learned that they largely ate meat and only ate other things when it was unavailable. They would have had to have foot coverings and more than an animal skin draped across a shoulder to survive the climates they lived through. (They existed from 250,000 years ago to about 28,000 years ago—a long, long time.) It is likely they dried meat from one hunt until they got more. It takes more than a bit of ingenuity to bring down a mammoth when you’re about 5 1/2 feet tall.

(3)

I researched if they could speak or not and, from there, what their language might have sounded like. That involved studying how babies learn to speak, how people with impediments speak, what early languages were like, and great stuff like that.

That’s not the extent of my research, just a bit of it, to give you an idea. Hope you enjoyed the post!

(1) http://www.esd.ornl.gov/projects/gen/nerc.html

(2) Ice Age Mammals of North America: A Guide to the Big, the Hairy, and the Bizarre Ian M. Lange

(3) Journal of Archeological Science 6/3/2009 “Energy Use by Eem Neanderthals” by Bent Sørensen.

A Book by Any Other Name?

People sometimes ask me how I pick my book titles. (They never ask how I pick short story titles, but those are just as hard.) The answer, for the books, is that sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. For the short stories, I’m guilty in all cases. All those titles are mine.

For instance, EINE KLEINE MURDER started out life as SONG OF DEATH. After it was picked up by Barking Rain Press, the title was changed to suit the publishing house. If you look at their mystery/crime publications, you’ll see that there are no titles that contain the word “death.” Several do contain “murder,” so that was more acceptable to them. REQUIEM IN RED started out as REQUIEM FOR RED. I wanted the reader to have to guess which redhead would get murdered as they started into the book, but the publisher didn’t think it worked, so it was changed. I have picked out the third title, SWAN SONG, so we’ll see if that flied—after I finish the book.

My Imogene Duckworthy series has one word titles, CHOKE, SMOKE, and BROKE. I chose these titles myself and was working under the theory that long works should have short titles and short works should have long titles. This is also the reason I named my Agatha-nominated short story HANDBASKETS, DRAWERS, AND A KILLER COLD. I wish I could remember where I read that, about long and short titles, but I remember I liked the idea and try to use it, although I don’t always succeed. (Fourth one will be STROKE.)

My People of the Wind Neanderthal titles are also mine and were liked by Untreed Reads, the publisher: DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE and DEATH ON THE TREK. (Third one will be DEATH IN THE NEW LAND.)

The Fat Cat books were titled by the publisher. I suggested many titles for the first one, all of which were rejected in favor of FAT CAT AT LARGE. I had a title I loved for the second one, but they had to have a shorter one because of the fat, puffy font they’d gone with. For book two, I liked FAT CAT GETS HIS LICKS, but it is now FAT CAT SPREADS OUT. The title of the third book FAT CAT TAKES THE CAKE (changed from FAT CAT IN A PINCH), gave me pause. The cover was given to me and there was cake on it! However, there was no cake in the novel. I asked them if that was a problem and they didn’t think so. I did, though, so I stuck in some cake and (spoiler alert) managed to make it part of a vital clue.

One thing that I try very hard to do for a series is to have titles that go together, ones that reader can tell are part of the series. One series has titles that rhyme (--OKE). In another, they all begin with the word DEATH; another, they all start out FAT CAT; the classical music series titles all invoke music. None of mine are as clever and Sue Grafton’s alphabet books or Janet Evanovitch’s number titles. But they’re mine and I like them all!

Word Search for DEATH ON THE TREK

This book will be released June 13th, so I'd like to get you into the mood. Here's where it can be preordered if you're impatient:

Untreed Reads

Amazon Kindle

Apple ibookstore

(Let me know if you see it for preorder in other places, please.)

H T U N A K E R T S S S Z M S D R U O G G P W A X L E Z W M O R O M W K L H N A T O D M G R L L A R F N A O L E E A V V I O K T A D T H O S R U A H C N Y T S W E N D A I E R R I A H C A M E T O E N G A E G A R E T D E N B M A P R R S N D E T E O A D I J A H Z W N F R Q F K E Z Y I T A G A S S N U V NEANDERTHAL GLACIER MAMMOTH DENISOVAN FIRE TREK STORYTELLER HAMAPA PRONOUNCEMENT DAKADAGA FIRETENDER SAGA ENGA TOG GOURDS

HARDCOVER EDITION!

DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE is being published in hardcover by Untreed Reads. I’m so excited about this! It’s a one-time thing, limited edition of 250 copies, and all copies will be signed by me. The order period is through August, unless the 250 sell out before then.

This book was nominated for an Agatha Award for best historical novel.

They will ship in September, or earlier if they sell out before August 31st.  

You ARE allowed to order multiple copies if you think these would make good gifts (in case you’re thinking ahead to the holidays). Shoot me an email if you want multiple copies and I’ll let the publisher know. I think the page lets you order just one.

I’m VERY excited that my publisher is doing this! Oh, I already said that. It’s true, doubly true, I guess. Here’s the link: 

http://bit.do/signedDITTOI

Another Branch in My Road

 No, I haven’t been traveling. That isn’t why I haven’t posted in forever. I’ve been busy working on the sequel to DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE.

Just to tease you, I’ll tell you I’ve also spent a lot of time in research: giant ground sloths, Denisovans, Homo floresiensis, Ice Age jaguars, and mugwort, to name some of my subjects. 

This week there was an exciting development! (Aside from someone getting murdered and Hamapa tribe having a hard time on their trek, and Enga Dancing Flower having her own troubles, that is.)

The contract with Untreed Reads was completed—signed and counter-signed! Publication date is June of 2016. I’m thrilled to have this official, although it’s been an unofficial agreement for some time.

Now I’ll need to give them ideas for the cover. Any suggestions?

restoration picture from Wikipedia

My Third Agatha Nom!

I’m beyond thrilled to announce that DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE has been nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel of 2013!!! Thanks so much to my faithful readers for making this happen.

The announcement by Malice Domestic is here.

This vindication is especially sweet because I had a very difficult time getting this book published at all. Agent after agent told me they loved the book, some even said they liked what I had done with Neanderthals better than what Jane Auel had done. BUT, each and every one said they had no idea how to sell it.

I had worked VERY hard on this book and it was breaking my heart that, maybe, it would never find a publisher. I could always self-publish, of course, but that would doom it to relative obscurity.

Then, one night I was lamenting its fate on Facebook and Jay Hartman of Untreed Reads contacted me saying he’d like to see it. They had already published a few of my short stories, so he knew my writing. I had worked my way through every possible agent, but hadn’t started on small presses yet. Untreed accepted it!

Then, the unbelievable happened. It won a nomination, my third for the Agathas. (My first was for Best Short Story and my second was Best First Novel, so three different categories.)

I’m not even sure this IS historical since it takes place before there was history. Prehistory is what it really is, but this category is just fine with me!

Again, if you’re reading this and you had a hand in this nomination, thanks from the bottom of my heart--I love you!

I love my publisher, too! Here is some of what my publisher is doing for me:

http://www.untreedreads.com/untreed-reads-author-kaye-george-earns-agatha-nomination/4764/

How cool is that?

Some research notes for my prehistory novel

At one point, I thought I might include Endnotes in DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE. I think they would have gotten in the way of the story, though, since it's fiction. I DID do a ton of research, though, and would like to let you in on a little of it, if you're interested.

Please click on the tab above that says Neanderthal. It says that because the title is too long for the tab. There's a lot to be said for short titles! Below the cover will be the notes. They're rather long and include the texts or websites I took the material from. If you decide to look at them, I hope you get something out of it!

My new stuff from Untreed Reads!

In addition to DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE, Untreed Reads published a brand new short story of mine this last week. For promotion, they’ll give you “The Bavarian Krisp Caper” if you buy it this month. The new short story is “A Fine Kettle of Fish” and is featured, along with the Neanderthal mystery novel, on Coffee Time this Thursday!

A nice review for my first Neanderthal mystery

DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE doesn't have many reviews so far, but the ones it has are a boost to me as a writer. Here's an excerpt from this one:

"Death in the Time of Ice is a gripping mystery, and it’s the best example of prehistoric fiction I’ve ever read. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves either genre."

Could I ask for more? Definitely not!

I hadn't heard of this site before this review appeared, but they're very organized and on top of things, posting the review on Amazon as well. They've even given me a nifty little widget, below. I'll see if I can post it elsewhere, too.

If you're curious about a Neanderthal mystery, I'd love for you to check it out at the publisher's site (all e-formats available there), or the other places, Kindle, Nook, and others.

Neanderthal Mystery Out!

It’s kind of difficult having two different series debut from two different publishers within two months, but it’s also two--I mean too exciting!

EINE KLEINE MURDER came out in April from Barking Rain Press and I’m thrilled with the reception it’s getting. (Details are at the “Eine Kleine” tab above, as well as on my Novel webpage.) This book incorporates my love of music with amateur sleuthing, and uses the area where I grew up as setting.

Now, as of yesterday, DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE is published by Untreed Reads as an e-book! Since this is a Neanderthal murder mystery (and since the title doesn’t fit on the tab), the details for this project are at the “Neanderthal” tab above.

This isn’t the one and only Neanderthal mystery, but I can only find one other, HYAENAS by Sandy Dengler. It’s out of print, but I found a used copy and have read it. It takes more of a comic approach than I’ve taken with my novel.

I tried VERY hard to stick to the latest scientific findings. Believe me, that’s not easy, because new findings are being made constantly about these people who haven’t been here in 28,000 years.

However, to make the story I wanted, I did take some liberties. Some of these aren’t even liberties, since pros and cons are debated about almost every aspect of their lives. That’s great for me. I just choose the scenario that fits best for my purposes.

The points below might be considered departures, but then again, they might not.

This tribe is matriarchal. The leader is a wise woman, as is the healer of the tribe. My reasoning on this is thus: at that time in history, people didn’t know the details of conception and eggs and sperm and genes. My thought is that you would always know who your mother was, but might not know who your father was, if couples weren’t mated for life or weren’t always together. It’s possible that people wouldn’t even know a male had to be involved, but I let them know this.

They throw their spears. Most researchers do think that Neanderthals did not throw spears, but thrust them instead at the large prey when they were close enough to do so. The evidence is the many injuries to the bones that have been found. Hey, I figure you can get injured by those beasts even throwing spears. They were so much more muscular than we are, that I gave them that ability.

The woman throw the spears. The men were probably stronger--they always have been. So I saved them for butchering and cutting the meat to haul back to the living quarters. The females, lighter and quicker, and maybe more stealthy, were the ones to sneak up on the animals and spear them.

They speak. This was debated for a long time, but it’s now believed very possible that they had at least limited speaking abilities. There is some genetic and physical evidence for this. The social evidence is, to me, less compelling. The argument for that says that they had to communicate with each other with some sophistication in order to successfully hunt the animals they did. However, wolves do pretty well without spoken words. Besides, since the brains of the Neanderthal were larger than ours, I gave them a bit of heightened sensory ability--plus telepathy. They use speech for formal occasions, such as announcements by the leader of decisions that affect the whole tribe.

They are in North America. Wait, don’t laugh. The theory that humans came from Asia over the land bridge 10,000 years ago is eroding. For one thing, it would be unprecedented for humans to spread all the way to what is now Patagonia in the time period required, given the age of human remains there. So maybe they came over much earlier. For another thing, some South Americans seem closely related to Africans, meaning they probably came across the Atlantic. Neanderthals are still being discovered in areas no one has found them in before. Anyway, just because we haven’t found their remains on this continent, doesn’t mean they weren’t here. Is anyone looking for them? Just to take care of this detail, I gave them a death/burial ritual that would explain the absence of remains.

I’ll tell you the real reason I put them in North America. I wanted to write about the mega-fauna that existed here until 10,000 years ago. I love those dire wolves, flat-faced bears, mammoths, camelops, giant sloths and giant beavers. It’s VERY fun to include them.

This is the research page created by my web designer a few years ago. I haven’t gone over it for updates lately, but I’ll tell you this. I recently read a book called CRO-MAGNON by Brian Fagan, published in 2011, a mere two years ago. He positively states that all experts agree that Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals did not mate. Today, it’s a known fact that they did! A relative of mine has had her DNA analyzed and has found that she is 2.5% Neanderthal. My own results should be ready soon!

I think a lot of artistic leeway can be taken in writing about these fascinating people, and I took it. If you’d like a small sample of my book, take a look at http://store.untreedreads.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6_158&products_id=969. The book is on an introductory sale, and my short story, THE BAVARIAN KRISP CAPER, will be thrown in free.

Another new book!

Every book I write is dear to me in some way. They’re my children and I love them all. DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE is no exception. I’ve just learned that it will be released in June, but don’t have an exact date yet.

If you haven’t seen the cover on Facebook yet, here it is! It’s also on my Neanderthal page at the tab above. 

If you’re wondering what this book is about, I’ll first give you the teaser: Enga Dancing Flower knows her tribe is in trouble. The dark seasons are becoming longer and the mammoth herds are fleeing south. When the tribal leader is found stabbed to death, the new leader thinks Enga did it. Expulsion and certain death looms. Enga must find the murderer to save her tribe -- and herself.

The book opens in the fall (which, of course, is not what Enga’s tribe calls it). The cold season approaches and the leader, Hama, a wise old woman, beseeches Dakadaga, the Spirit of Mother Sky, to give the tribe her blessing. The wind blows cold and stirs sparks from the fire. Hungry bellies growl audibly. Something must change, and these are a people who do not change rapidly or without great cause. Their way of life has continued, mostly unchanged, for 200,000 years.

Here’s a bit about the background and a tiny smidgen of my research: http://kayegeorge.com/research.html

I’m so excited about the birth of this book! I hope it’s not too awfully long before I get the sequel done!

A Three Way

I have way too much news for one writer in one week. But I’ll try!

I got a new account open for my Kaye George writing business, with a minimum of fuss. Love the Y12 Federal Credit Union. It’s named for the Y-12 National Security Complex, also known as Oak Ridge, the place where the nuclear bomb was developed. There’s no nuclear activity at the site today, but there’s a great historical tour you can take if you ever visit in the area.

Now, to the writing stuff!

First, the galley proofs for EINE KLEINE MURDER are finished and turned in, ahead of deadline! Barking Rain Press is working on my cover and the preliminary one is gorgeous! The publisher is also creating an ad for the Malice Domestic program for the three BRP writers who will attend this year, me, Tace Baker, and James M. Jackson. We’re going to have so much fun there this year! (Have I mentioned that you can read the first four chapters, free, here?)

 Second, big news! Untreed Reads will publish my Neanderthal mystery! (My other UR works are here, some published by UR, some distributed there.) I’ve turned in cover ideas and now need to gather together the names I need to put in the acknowledgements. This project has taken many turns and had a lot of help for a lot of people. I need to thank all of them!

I have some cool Pinterest pages with themes from my research:

http://pinterest.com/kayegeorge/anthropology-mega-fauna/

http://pinterest.com/kayegeorge/neanderthals/

http://pinterest.com/kayegeorge/ice-ages/

Third, Untreed Reads will also publish a short story I submitted called “A Fine Kettle of Fish”! This is a story I worked on for the second Guppy anthology. After a rewrite to take out a part that the UR people weren’t fond of, it has found a home.

Non-writing news:  We were going along so well in the new house, until we decided to have a heating and air company do a 

sort of what our yard looked like

routine inspection/maintenance on our furnace last Friday. The technician found the heat exchanger full of large holes! They’re clearly visible, I’ll have to admit. He was obligated to turn off the unit until the heat exchanger is replaced. Sooo, we called the home warranty people. After an additional phone call, they agreed to send someone on Saturday, since our weather is dipping below freezing at night. The guy came and said a part would be ordered on Monday--AND would take 2-4 days to arrive. A week without heat, in freezing weather! In fact, it has snowed here every day since then. We had, luckily, unpacked our space heaters. We had 4 of them. One overheated and quit working, so we tossed it.

I called Tuesday to check on the status of my work order. Nothing had been done! The guy who came out Saturday didn’t turn a report in to anyone! Yikes! I got a responsive (I hope) person from the home warranty company on the phone. She’s supposed to try to expedite the shipment of the part. We’ll see.

I can get my office toasty warm if I crank the little heater up high enough. I’m kind of scared to, though. We’re eating out and shopping a lot.

Please send warm thoughts our way. We went and bought new space heaters today, ones that we hope won’t short out and quit.

(snow photo and dice from http://www.morguefile.com/)

(atom from http://www.dreamstime.com/)

A Fork in the Road

I'm headed in a new direction this month! I'm very excited about the future. Mainly Murder Press published my first mystery, and I'll always be grateful for that. They enabled me to get a book of my own into print, and also to receive an Agatha nomination for Best First Novel.

But I decided to part ways with that publisher and head out in a new direction this month, the one-year anniversary of my publication. The paperback will probably become unavailable from MMP around June 1st. I hope to be able to get it available through Createspace by then. I've had some success with publishing there, having done my short story collection and a children's book. So I hope it won't be too difficult to get CHOKE done in the next couple of weeks.

The publisher did only the paperback and I've been selling the ebook all along. That won't change, except that I've signed a distribution contract with Untreed Reads!

The people at Untreed Reads are marketing dervishes and are able to make ebooks available in places I never would think of. This can only be good for this author!

The other good thing about signing with Untreed Reads is that the second Imogene Duckworthy book, SMOKE, will be out very soon! There's a Fourth of July theme, so I want to get it out by then at the latest. Karen Phillips, who did the cover for CHOKE, is working on the cover of this book at this very moment.

Here's a bit about SMOKE: Imogene Duckworthy, who yearns to be a PI, has landed a job assisting a real PI in Wymee Falls, Texas. During a sidetrip while bringing home a pot-bellied pig as a birthday gift for her daughter, Nancy Drew Duckworthy, Immy discovers the owner of the local jerky shop dead, hanging from a meathook in his own smokehouse. The pig breeder, Amy JoBeth, is implicated, so Immy feels compelled to try to find the real killer. That gentle, somewhat depressed swineherd couldn't have killed Rusty Bucket. Could she?

 

I hope to follow up with BROKE in the fall. I'm almost finished with the first draft. Then it will need polishing, editing, and a cover. This one happens around Halloween time, so October is my goal for it.

Wish me luck as I forge a new path, turn a new page, boldly go where I haven't gone before.

Two Excerpts

I'm down to the wire to get my Agatha-eligible stories presented here in December, since one just got published last week--a good problem to have!

So I'll give you a bit of the new one, HENRY, GINA, AND THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE, which appears in its entirety in GRIMM TALES from Untreed Reads. It's an e-book of stories based on fairy tales, a fun project!

At the end of this excerpt, I'll give you the whole story, DRIVING OUT OF DUMAS, since it's very short and is available free at Apollo's Lyre.

Be sure and come back here Friday when the editor of GRIMM TALES, John Kenyon, will be my guest.

Here's the excerpt first (it won't be hard to tell what fairy tale this is based on):

"Get in there and fess up, you little hoodlums." Vanessa shoved Henry and Gina toward the door of the Gingerbread House. "And quit sniveling, Gina. I know you're faking."

Gina leveled a cold laser stare at her stepmother. And quit sniveling. It hadn't taken the bitch long to figure her out, Gina reflected. The fake crying had only worked for about a month or so. Henry had had the same luck with his stomach aches. Except Gina knew those were real. That red-headed she-devil could give anyone a stomach ache.

A bell, shaped like a heart, tinkled innocently as Vanessa flung the door open and pushed the children inside the candy shop.

The blowsy bleached blond owner, Brenda Pritchard, ambled through the beaded curtains from the kitchen and squinted at them.

"Can I help you?"

Her voice was light and thin. Gina thought it was a nice contrast to the heavy, thick goodies in the glass cases, Brenda's heavy, thick body, and her heavy, thick glasses.

Vanessa put on her sweetness-and-light face, but it almost cracked under the thick makeup from the effort. "Yes, you can. The children would like to tell you something."

Both women waited and stared at the kids. Gina considered trying the snivel again. Henry bent over slightly with a pained look on his face.

Gina grimaced and stepped forward. "We shoplifted some crap. The old lady wants us to tell you that."

Brenda's eyes grew large in her smooth, bland face. "Such language from such a young child," she said.

Not all that young, thought Gina. She and Henry were ten, after all. Not babies.

"Yeah, well...." Gina jerked her head toward Vanessa. "She made me say it."

Gina could almost detect the steam rising from the top of Vanessa's red hair.

"I did not tell you to--never mind. The children stole from your store and need to make restitution."

"What did you take?"

Gina thought Brenda gave Henry a look of pity. He was bent over even further, pressing his small fist into his belly.

"Just some chocolate shit, a couple truffles," said Gina.

"And?" prompted Vanessa.

"Some turtles," Henry said through clenched teeth.

"You had half a dozen truffles left when I found you with them," sneered Vanessa. "And at least that many turtles."

"Yeah, well, you enjoyed ‘em, didn't you?" said Gina. She ducked, expecting a slap, but Vanessa apparently didn’t want to abuse them in public. It was the first standard Gina had discovered in the woman. What had her father been thinking, bringing that bitch into their home?

All of DRIVING OUT OF DUMAS:

I'd been thinking of breaking up with Aldon, but I didn't know how to do it. Given his temper, I didn't think it would be easy.

That afternoon he picked me up from my job at the convenience store.

"Go for a ride?"

"Sure," I said. "Sittin in the car beats standin on my feet for eight hours." It wasn't too hot out yet, only getting up to the mid-80s during the day. Our Texas panhandle gets a lot hotter.

Aldon shifted through the gears on his ancient pickup, mashing in second like he always did, and we blew past the grain silos and hit the open road. The wind from the open windows felt good,

better than the AC in the store, which was always cranked down to a freeze-your-ass-off temperature. I took off the sweater I always wore to work and threw it behind my seat. Then I reclined the seat and let the air flow over me as I closed my eyes and relaxed.

After awhile I woke up. I watched the cloud-dotted sky skim past the window, then glanced at Aldon. He looked sorta grim.

"What's the matter, Al?"

"Nothing's the matter," he snapped. He was in a mood.

I sat my seat up. "Hey, where are we?" We usually drove out through the fields, dotted with irrigation circles, to Dalhart at the farthest, then turned around and headed back home to Dumas. I knew the local land pretty well, and this rough open rangeland wasn't it.

Aldon didn't answer.

"Where we goin?"

"I gotta do somethin. You sit tight. Don't worry about it."

Well, that wasn't gonna happen. I got a bad feeling that worsened with each mile. I snuck a peek at the gas gauge--we weren't due for a refill.

Then I spotted a gas station in the distance. "I gotta pee," I said. "Real bad."

Aldon looked at me for the first time since we'd started the drive. "Okay. I'll pull in. Make it quick."

I had second thoughts when I saw how run-down the place was. The bathroom wasn't likely to be too clean. But I needed to break up what was happening, somehow. Even if I didn't know what it was. I spent as long as I could inside. When I got back Aldon was scowling.

He took off before I got my door shut.

"Hey, you tryin to kill me?"

He didn't answer.

We eventually crossed the border into New Mexico. I wondered if Aldon was ever planning on returning home. Were we running away? From what? He was never an easy person to talk to. Today I was afraid of him. That grim look, this stupid car trip--I thought maybe I'd get out and stay out the next time we pulled over.

We slowed down, finally, for a little town a few miles across the border. I'd been dozing and missed the name of it. The sun was setting in front of us, shooting a blinding glare through the windshield off the blacktop.

"Can we get something to eat?" I asked.

"Later," he said. "I want you to do somethin for me. Just take a few minutes."

He headed down a curbless side street, turned around and pulled over. He left the engine on and climbed out.

"You get in the driver's seat," he said. "I want you to keep the truck runnin. When I get back, take off. Don't say anything, just take off, back the way we came from."

There was a convenience store around the block from where we were parked. Was Aldon going to rob it? Geez, I lived in fear of that every time I pulled night shift. I didn't want to help him rob a store, but what could I do?

I sat and fretted, trying to figure out how I could get out of this awful mess, but I was still there when Aldon came running back. He jumped in, threw a sack behind the seat and yelled, "Go!"

All I could do was react. I floored it and took off.

"What the hell did you just do?" I yelled while I ground through second gear. I got it to third and fishtailed a little. The truck didn't handle too well for me at high speeds.

Aldon had a big grin on his face. "I just raised us a little capital." He spit out the window. "Slow down to the speed limit. No one knows what vehicle to look for. If we don't get pulled over, we won't get caught."

"You mean *you* won't get caught. *I* didn't rob nobody."

"Sure you did. You're aiding and abetting, don't think you're not."

Damn, he was right. I was driving the getaway vehicle. "I think we better switch places pretty soon. I don't drive your truck all that good."

"You're doin fine. I need a nap." He put the seat back down, folded his arms on his chest, and was snoring inside of three minutes.

I kept driving--he'd wake up if I stopped--but I reached back to pull that sack into my lap. The sun had just set and dusk was falling, bringing a moist smell with it. It was a beautiful night.

My fingers fumbled inside the sack. I felt bills, but at the very bottom I struck something hard. And warm. A gun. That he'd fired. Shit.

Maybe he'd sleep till we got back to Dalhart and I could pull into the police station. I didn't know where the damn station was, though.

We were twenty miles out when he stirred.

"You never got me anything to eat," I said, wracking my brain for a solution.

"You can have steak when we get home."

"OK, but I gotta pee again."

"Hey, me too. Stop here. It's dark out. The truck can shield us."

Breaking up turned out to be that easy. He got out. I drove off.

END

Hope you enjoyed the stories!