Music I've Been Listening to Lately

You haven't succeeded in the music business until Weird Al paradies you!

A Sad Time

Per an e-mail I received from the trustee, the Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust is officially shutting down on December 31, 2025. By shutting down, I mean the trustee is pulling every single copy, both electronic and paper from all retailers.

The Trust lasted for twenty-six years, but the folks working for the Trust have reached their own twilight years. I don't blame them one bit for wanting to spend their last years working on their own projects.

What does this means in regards to me? My first trad publishing contract was with the Trust for a short story called "Justice" in Sword and Sorceress 28. I sold three more stories to editor Elisabeth Waters that appeared in Volumes 30, 31, and 32. I'm proud of those stories. Back in 2013, I wasn't prepared for the popularity of the main characters of "Justice". Life's funny though, and I just released the tenth novel in the Justice series, A Cup of Conflict.

If you'd like paperback copies of Sword and Sorceress Volumes 27 through 34, or e-books of the currently available volumes, please get your copies before 2026 rolls around.

Life and Death

Last week, DH had the week off. We did a lot of work around the house. We also did a few fun things. As a result, I wasn't doing much writing.

This week, between writing sessions, I'm prepping for next month's Kickstarter, or Witchstarter since it's  in October. I jokingly said that this one should go more smoothly that my first one since all of mine and DH's parents are dead now.

So, Murphy laughed hysterically and decided to do something about that.

Three people I'm close to who have long-term health issues got suddenly worse.

I'm so angry right now. Angry at the health system because doctors, PAs, nurse practitioner, etc., aren't given the time they need to deal with patients. Angry that people at insurance companies think they have the medical knowledge and experience to make healthcare calls. Angry that health care is for profit. Angry that the president is trying to make sure no one has any insurance.

I could go on, but you get the drift. Here's the thing. You can do everything the health care professional tells you to do, and things still don't get better. But the patient will get the blame.

For example, I get a lot of crap from docs about my diabetes. First off, I'm on more expensive medications because I can't tolerate Metformin, one of the cheapest medicines on the market. I swear, if there's a VERY RARE side effect to the med, that's what will happen to me. In the case of Metformin, I end up with explosive vomiting and diarrhea within three days, to the point I start suffering from severe dehydration. Others that I can tolerate were taken off the market for their side effects, in other people even though I never exhibited those particular side effects.

So, yeah, I'm venting right now. Because in all three cases, things were misdiagnosed. And they probably wouldn't have been if medical professionals weren't turned into money making machines.

Shit can happen, but this is shit that could have been avoided.

Monday Movie Mania - Spinal Tap II: The End Continues

If you haven't seen This Is Spinal Tap, you need to watch it first. Otherwise, the climax of the sequel will make no sense to you. I was a little shocked two years ago when I discovered Darling Husband had never seen the original. That movie was so up his alley. So I made him watch it. Of course, he desperately wanted to see Spinal Tap II while he was on vacation for the week of his birthday.


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SPOILERS!


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PROS
1) Nigel, David, and Derek are forty years older, but none the wiser. A rift occurred between Nigel and David years ago, but no one knows why. Including Nigel. Nor will David tell anyone. The actors pick up their characters like it was yesterday.

2) Marty, the documentary director, learns that Hope, the daughter of Tap's old manager Ian, has inherited her dad's interest in Tap, and the band is required to perform one more concert. Rob Reiner or Marty haven't changed in forty years either. He still plays the straight man to perfection.

3) Valerie Franco is adorable as Tap's latest drummer.

4) The guest stars are awesome! From Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood reigniting interest in Tap by doing a cover of one of their songs to Elton John agreeing to play at Tap's last concert.


CONS
1) We won't discuss the atrocious wigs. It would have been funnier if the guys had gone bald (like so many other hair bands of the 80's).


If you loved the original, you'll love this one! Spinal Tap II: The End Continues earned 9 stars out of 10 simply for the long setup of who actually slept with David's wife.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Whenever Don McLean comes on the radio, I sing these lyrics instead. And the hubby joins in!

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Funny how this parody make me happy!

Garage Sale!

Nope not here!

Our neighborhood is having a multiple-house garage sale today, including Casa Harden. I admit I'm on an unpacking and cleaning binge now that A Cup of Conflict is out in the world.

(For those of you waiting on the paperback edition, I literally just received the cover wrap. I'll uploaded the files to the printer later tonight. Depending on how fast they review the book, retailer sites should start poplulately in a week.)

Anyway,  I'm sitting in the shade of our Japanese maple and getting words done on Death Goddess Fighting in between customers.

I'm still planning on a Kickstarter for The Books of Apep series in October, which Death Goddess Fighting is Book 2. It's jamming along and I'm feeling pretty good about getting close to done over the next two weeks. The only change might be moving the Kickstarter to the middle or later part of October rather than the beginning. The monster doorstop that A Cup of Conflict became took longer than I'd planned.

Indian summer is upon us after the last three weeks of cooler temperatures, and the trees are changing their outfits before dropping their dresses entirely. Time to put up the Halloween decorations!

P.S. If you want to be notified when the Kickstarter goes live, sign up for my mailing list. (Your informationis never, sold, bartered, or traded!)

If you want to read the sample chapters of the first book of The Books of Apep, Death Goddess Walking, start with Chapter 1 on my website!

Total Adorability!

You can't get more adorable or cuddly with Tom Ellis and kittens!

Release Day!

[Edit to Add: The Google Play link is now live!]

Finally! A Cup of Conflict is live on every ebook retailer except Google Play! (It shouldn't take too much longer if you prefer that store.) It took nearly two years to write this tome, but I guess it needed to cook a little longer in the back of my mind.

And no, I haven't forgotten those of you who prefer print. The trade paperback should be available in two-three weeks.

But it's done, it's here, and I hope you enjoy it as much as my alpha reader!

BLURB
Chief Justice Anthea chose her party carefully when Queen Teodora charged her with escorting Crown Prince Quan Po home. However, more betrayals await her in the ancient capital of Jing as she dances between diplomatic niceties and saving the human race from extinction.

But her most dangerous opponent plots from within the city to destroy the last scion of the imperial family. An enemy who blames both her and the prince for everything he’s lost. Someone who would feed the entire World to the demons in order to win.

Magic and mayhem have never been devious. Or this shocking.

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Music I've Been Listening to Lately

While the U.S. crumbles into raw fascism, I need a little something to keep the fight against oppression going. Thank the deities for Weird Al Yankovic!

AI Theft Settlement

[NOTE: Everything below is opinion, NOT LEGAL ADVICE. I am not licensed to practice law.]

I don't know how many of you have been following the Bartz V. Anthropic case, but last week a tentative settlement had been reached.

Anthropic is an AI modeling firm. The problem is they've downloaded tons of pirated books to train their AI models. (The biggest irony in all this? Amazon is one of Anthropic's investors.)

William Alsup, the judge in the case recently declared that Anthropic's use of copyrighted works were a fair use, but he deemed their use of pirated copies to be illegal.

[DISCLOSURE: Five of my own pirated books were used by Anthropic.]

So what does this all mean?

First of all, find out if your books are listed in LibGen, one of the pirate sites used. The Atlantic put together a search engine to use. The other known pirate site is Pirate Library Mirror.

If any of your books are on the LibGen list, contact the law firm representing the plaintiffs here and fill out the contact form.

Your books MUST BE registered with the  U.S. Copyright Office to be accepted in the planitiffs' class action suit!

And here's where most writers get confused. There's a HUGE difference in damages from a copyright infringement and a REGISTERED copyright infringement. If you don't understand the difference, I strongly recommend The Copyright Handbook by Stephen Fishman. Or talk to an IP attorney who specializes in copyright. Yes, the IP attorney will charge you for a consultation, but if you understand your rights and responsibilities as a creator, it will be totally worth the money!

Things a getting uglier as the billionaires steal our sweat. We little people need to look out for ourselves and each other.

How Embarrassing!

Since I left corporate world, I've been able to make my own schedule. If one of the dogs needs a trip to the vet's, I don't have bosses or clients getting bitchy about me taking an hour or two to make sure the pup is treated for whatever needs to be dealt with.

On the other hand, I don't really pay enough attention to the calendar since I'm not counting days until a break in my schedule.

This is my long-winded way of saying, I forget yesterday was Labor Day until DH said something about sleeping in.

WHOOPS!

It also meant my support contractors had plans for the holiday.

DOUBLE WHOOPS!

So, I needed to  to move the release date for the ebook back three days to September 8th.

*FACEPALM*

The paperback may be a couple of days later. I want to make sure my cover artist has fully covered from another round of COVID-19 before I harass her.

And yes, folks. No matter what the government is trying to pretend, COVID-19 is still an issue. Infection rates from two new variants, Stratus and Nimbus, are climbing.

Stay safe out there! And next Monday, you can curl up with a hot beverage, a furry pet on your lap, and plow through A Cup of Conflict.