Category: Administrative

Release Day!

Virago is available now on Kindle for 2.99, and will be available in print sometime later this weekend. I’ll post an update when it is!

Friends! Virago is available for purchase!

Book cover - Virago
A pawprint comprised of several smaller images of the four main characters and the city.

Having survived brutal beginnings in her village, Adelaide arrives in the city of Glendale, ready for a new start. Accompanying her is Neville the tinker, who hopes for a new beginning after a lifetime of traveling… but finds that old habits die hard. Winston Innborne, a dutiful Captain of the Watch, struggles live up to his mentor’s expectations and keep his city’s peace … but finds himself caught in the city’s shifting political climate and fighting a battle he’s not prepared for. Chamberlain Mayne Gordon, an unscrupulous civil servant who sits on the Lady’s Table, chases wealth and power… but finds more than he bargained for. What happens when all four encounter violence, riots, and the most important murder since the Empire fell? ~ from back cover.

I’m very pleased to announce the abridged edition of Virago is available for purchase HERE. A HUGE THANKS to my friend Suzanne for helping with the cover!

Virago is available now on Kindle for 2.99, and will be available in print sometime later this weekend. I’ll post an update when it is!

EDIT: The print version is available HERE.

Virago Status Update

The artwork is inches from done, and the print book too. But getting all the other matters – podcast files cleaned up, art added, files set to publish, etc. – added up and I just couldn’t get it done in time.
So! OCTOBER 15th is the new date.

Greetings friends and readers!

I have good news, and bad news.

Bad news – I will be pushing the Virago release date back 2 weeks. It turns out trying to do a bunch of book/podcast release stuff in the month I start a new job while my cat has health problems and family visits was less than ideal, and I ran out of spoons.

The artwork is inches from done, and the print book too. But getting all the other matters – podcast files cleaned up, art added, files set to publish, etc. – added up and I just couldn’t get it done in time.

So! OCTOBER 15th is the new date.

Good News – There will be more adventures on the horizon for these characters in the world of Eyam. There are two more books, in very late stages of completion. At least one will be available next year. Also I plan to start an Instagram/Twitter account of artwork of the world and characters, too.

So please bear with me. I’m trying to present the absolute best face of all this creative work and it’s taking more time and energy than I anticipated.

What’s Next After Virago?

There’s definitely more to come concerning this world, and more short stories will be posted as well.

Monday saw the posting of the last chapter of the Virago Podcast – so what’s next for readers and fans of Adelaide, Neville, Winston, and Gordon?

Hard Dates

October 1st

  • Virago will be available in print and E-Book format from Amazon.
  • Virago episodes will be uploaded to Spotify, where they will be more easily accessible. I’m going to clean up the files (remove those creepy ‘mouth noises’ I sometimes make from having a dry throat) and convert them to .mp3 format. Also, there will be artwork.

Soft Dates

  • The Secret Wilderness podcast will begin, eventually, and is Adelaide’s backstory, which she has been dithering about sharing with anyone and begins to share with Allan in the last chapter. I wrote TSW first, but as the world expanded it seemed better suited as a prequel since Virago appealed to a wider audience. It’s a much smaller story with more horror flavor. Fans of movies like The VVitch and books like The Company of Wolves will find a lot to like.

I don’t have a start date for The Secret Wilderness chosen yet, but I quite like the Spring/Autumn schedule of this year – I know common-held belief for creators is that I should keep posting content or risk losing the audience, that people demand constant content, content content content, but I’m not on that schedule. And these aren’t stories you blow through in a weekend and never read again. When I find something I really like, I spend time on it. I re-read, re-watch, explore fandom, discuss with friends, etc. Also, I have a full time job and a life outside of writing, so as much as I’d like to just write all day, I can’t.

Also, that will mean more time for revising Barghest, the third book in the series. It’s completed, but it needs some work.

So! There’s definitely more to come concerning this world, and more short stories will be posted as well.

In the meantime, I’m making a resolution to focus more on actual writing – the podcast has been fun but without the writing, there’s nothing to share. I’m resolved to spend less time On the Couch, the gravity well toward which I drift so I can watch movies/TV while knitting.

So for now – I want to hear from you! I’m open to observations and suggestions for improvement! Please like, share, subscribe, and let me know what you’re thinking about the story overall, or just say hello!

Until next time, be seeing you!

Big Announcement!

On OCTOBER 1st, you will be able to read the words I read to you in various bad accents and with mumbly pronunciation these past months yourself!

Friends!

Yes! You are correct, you didn’t see an episode of Escape Into Storytelling yesterday. That’s because:

  • It was a holiday weekend in the USA.
  • I was tired and needed a break.

But! I have big news!

Virago will be available in print and e-book format OCTOBER 1st.

That’s right! On OCTOBER 1st, you will be able to read the words I read to you in various bad accents and with mumbly pronunciation these past months! YES! You will be able to hold the book in your hands, either in print or downloaded to your tablet or Kindle. I already have a working relationship with Amazon, and am going to be looking into other opportunities for self-publishing.

To be clear – Virago was originally published in 2015. This version has been workshopped and revised, and anyone who owns an old copy can trade it to me for a new one, free of charge. Or if you want both, I will give you a copy of the new one, free of charge.

The 2021 revision will contain:

  • New scenes
  • A character index
  • A map of the city

The other news is I will be GOING BIG with the podcast on Spotify. THAT’S RIGHT! You will be able to stream the episodes from a REAL PODCAST SOURCE that is not just my dinky blog. BIG TIMES.

So! Mark your calendar! OCTOBER 1st.

It’s a Friday, it’s the first day of the best month of the year, which contains not only Halloween but also my birthday AND when temperatures in Orlando start to creep down into those autumnal 70s and 80s.

So! Mark your calendars, set an alert, do whatever y0u do to remind yourself of big important things. Because they are coming – Oh, yes.

As always, thank you for supporting independent and self-published authors like me. Until next time, be seeing you!

Horror of Houses Pt 2: The Surrendering

My price range was low – 150-200k. Nothing that Architectural Digest would deign acknowledge, but maybe I could make the cover of Working Peasant Monthly.

Last year I wrote an entry about looking for a house. It was optimistic and spunky and full of hope about the future. It is also hilarious to read now, over a year later, during the worst buyer’s market since the evil shop in Stephen King’s Needful Things opened.

This is the story of how I gave up on trying to buy a house.

Continue reading “Horror of Houses Pt 2: The Surrendering”