Wednesday, March 29, 2023

A Message from Your Sponsor

I wanted to let readers know A Hint of Thief and Invasion! are now available on most retailers! I sincerely apologize for the lateness, but I am getting caught up on books that were supposed to be out last year. Thank you so much for your patience!

A HINT OF THIEF

The Mars Tranquilus finally arrives in Jing, but Chief Justice Anthea and High Brother Luc find their problems are only beginning.

A handful of Crown Prince Bao Quan Po’s cousins each make their own play for the dragon throne. The former imperial consort plots revenge on his stepson from prison. And then there’s the odd Skoloti woman who shows up every time there’s an attempt on Quan’s life. Is she an ally? Or does she plan to collect the Assassins Guild’s bounties on Anthea and Shi Hua?

And what’s her connection to Reverend Father Chen and his missing army?

Magic and mayhem have never been this suspicious. Or this lethal.

Amazon, all countries
Apple
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Smashwords

INVASION!

Demons trap three heroines from three different Earths in Otherwhere, a space between dimensions, and a newborn goddess of death acts as their mentor as she helps the ladies in their search for home.

Join four kickass ladies, Shan Wong-Washington (Seasons of Magick), Aisha Franklin-Garcia AKA the Ghost Owl (888-555-HERO), Chief Justice Anthea DiBalance (Justice), and Samantha “Sam” Ridgeway (Bloodlines), in a wild and crazy adventure across the multiverse where women are awesome and even the Fates are scared!


Amazon, all countries
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Google Play
Kobo
Smashwords

Monday, March 27, 2023

Super Surprise!

Those of you on my mailing list should have received my March 2023 newsletter late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. The promised link for a free copy of Invasion! on BookFunnel was included.

If you can't find the email/newsletter, please check your spam folder. The offer is good until Saturday, April 1st. Make sure you download Invasion! before Saturday!

For everyone else, Invasion! will be available on retail sites later this week.

Thanks for your patience while I catch up on last year's books!

Saturday, March 25, 2023

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

This song may have been used for the theme of Dawson's Creek, but it dealt with PTSD long before there meaningful public discussions. And this song always makes me cry.

Monday, March 20, 2023

Kicking Along and Feeling Groovy

Despite a lingering cough, I'm finally recovered enough to write close to my normal speed. Because of the isolation the world experienced during the pandemic, the regular old cold viruses are undergoing their own weird mutations. And this one has been a major pain, even without all my other health problems being taken into account.

On the plus side, I'm almost done with Death in Double Mocha. I don't normally take this long to write a single novel. After this book and Queer Eye for the Super Guy, I'm taking a publishing break.

It doesn't mean I won't be writing, but I need to finish unpacking. We've been in this house for over two years. It's time to put things away and hang posters and pictures. Or even get rid of some stuff we no longer need.

After dealing with our packrat parents and their crammed homes, I certainly don't want to leave a ton of belongings for our son to deal with when I pass.

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

This goes to show that the artist doesn't see their art the same way the audience sees it. Seal hates this song, but the rest of the world loves it.

Friday, March 17, 2023

Closer to Being Healthy

Yesterday was the first time in two weeks I've felt relatively human. I don't like losing so much time, especially when I was already behind on writing books.

But I can either complain about the unfairness of life, or I can continue writing my worlds. I choose the later.

Several folks I know have been been experimenting with various AI techniques lately. Now that the brain fog has lifted, I'll try to organize my impressions and toss in a few legal thoughts. But that will be next week.

For now, I'm going to relish the cheese dip I made last weekend for the Oscars watchfest with water crackers and have a little fun with queens.

Monday, March 13, 2023

Shows I Really Miss

I miss Craig Ferguson so much! He would have comforted me the last ten nights of illnes.

Saturday, March 11, 2023

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Way back when Destiny's Child was a quartet!

Friday, March 10, 2023

Suzan's Not-So-Sexy Phlegm Voice

I've finally hit the stage where coughing doesn't feel like I'm trying to hack out a lung. Or a rib. I even managed a small sprint session last night with some writer buddies.

However, my voice sounds horrible. I asked DH if I sounded as bad as I think I do. He said, "You have Phoebe's phlegm voice, but it's not sexy."

This is one of the reasons Friends - Season 4 is one of my all-time favorites, though it's Thanksgiving episode wasn't the greatest.

And now from Friends Season 4 episode "The One with Joey's New Girlfriend", here's Phoebe Buffay at Central Perk...


Wednesday, March 8, 2023

I'm Still Alive--Sort Of

On the plus side, the stuff in my chest and throat is starting to break up. On the minus side, I managed to injure a chest muscle during a massive coughing fit yesterday. This virus is taking no prisoners.

In the meantime, I'm sipping tea and slowly progressing on small tasks that need to be done. I'm not as productive on words as I planned for this week. But I am inching forward, and thankfully, I'm on the downhill slide as far as writing Death in Double Mocha. The Soccer Moms have figured out how to stop the Apocalypse, but there's enemies who relish the idea of the end of everything.

Such a feminist propaganda storyline! LOL

Monday, March 6, 2023

When Your Head Is about to Explode

No tidbits on the publishing industry today, though I keep meaning to address the current brouhaha over AI. My cold is aggressively trying to turn into a sinus infection. That lovely pressure that wants to shove my eyeballs out of their sockets.

In the meantime, I'm working on something that doesn't take much thought--fixing all the Amazon links for my books on my websites. It's slow. It's boring. But it's about all I can manage at the moment.

First of the season asparagus will definitely help in the vitamin department!

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Sorry about not posting last night. I've come down with DH's cold.

But before I did, I'd been listenting quite a bit to 90s on 9 through SiriusXM radio. Lots of songs I'd forgotten over the years and some old favorites.

Friday, March 3, 2023

UGH! It's Friday!

I had a lot of plans for today. I was going to get my haircut, get some groceries, and work on fixing the stupid Amazon links for my books. That last one is incredibly time consuming. In fact, my formatter has been waiting for a month for me to fix the back matter file for the Amazon ebooks.

But as I was writing about two a.m., I started to get the weird tickle at the back of my throat. You know the one. The weird feeling that signals viral warfare has begun.

Yep, DH gave me his cold.

So, I'm working, but it's at a quarter impulse speed, not maximum warp like I've been doing for the last two months.

And to top it off, the attack tribble bit my ring finger last night. I don't blame her. She hates getting her hair trimmed, and she doubly hates anyone touching her head. But since she's a Morkie, her hair grows continuously.

Seriously, she's gone from looking like Chewbacca to resembling Cousin Itt. I let her hair grow during the winter months to help keep her warm. However, this winter has been so warm, she didn't need the extra hair. But she also doesn't need a hairball blocking her digestive track either.

I started by trimming the hair around her eyes so could see. Then I worked on her moustache and beard so she's not eating her hair with her kibble. And Bella lost her patience. She bared her teeth a few times and nipped at me twice without connecting. A warning she's had enough.

And I stupidly ignored her signs of distress because I wanted to get the task done before we went to bed.

So she bit. Hard. Hard enough her canine tooth broke through my nail and drew blood. I had to walk off the pain and the anger at myself for pushing the matter while DH consoled her.

When DH put Bella down on the floor, she slunk over to me in the kitchen where I was washing the wound with antibacterial soap, absolutely sure she was in trouble. She wasn't, and I spent a good chunk of the rest of the night reassuring my poor attack tribble that I wasn't mad at her.

All this while I'm still recovering from some very minor surgery. My doc removed a suspicious skin growth. My dad had skin cancer, and I grew up on a farm where we never used appropriate sun block. Needless to say, I don't take chances with that shit.

So I'm in my recliner with a headache, a sore throat, and bandages covering various spots.

At least, the taxes are done and sent in before everything hit the fan.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Troll I.Q. and Cancer Awareness

Last Saturday, some troll decided to report a couple of my blog posts for violating the Blogger Content Policy.

Like I don't have enough shit going on right now.

The first one was when I mentioned F**Life in comparing complaining writers with masochists. It's not like I put a link to that particular website. And if you have any inkling of the BDMS lifestyle, you already know which adult site I'm referring to.

The second one I'm still trying to figure out. It talked about the Kickstarter campaign for the documentary about sff writer Jay Lake (may he rest in peace) and his battle with colon cancer. The only bad thing was the f-bomb.

Guess what? I will always refer to that disease as "fucking cancer" forever more. On more than one post. Because I've had it. So has my husband, both of my parents, one of my grandmothers, and more friends than I wish to count.

By the way, I've got this year's mammogram appointment, but I still self-check.

Check those boobies, ladies! The earlier your cancer is discovered, the more likely you won't have to have a mastectomy like me