Coronavirus Pandemic Day 692 (I Think) - Snow, Omicron, and Mondays

Number of known cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. - 74,328,530
Number of known deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. - 883,370

Welp, we're rolling into the third year of the pandemic scourge. I started counting because I wanted to compare COVID-19 to the Spanish Influenza epidemic a century ago. People resisted the use of masks and ignored health officials' requests for social distancing back then, too. But with today's high speed traveling, COVID-19 is mutating and spreading even faster than the flu.

Despite what others think, I may continue wearing a mask and social distance while in public for the rest of my life. With my screwed-up immune system, those have kept me from getting colds, etc., for the last two years.

Our area of Ohio was still dealing with a Delta outbreak when Omicron came charging in. Being vaxxed and boosted doesn't stop the latest variant, but it does reduce the severity of the symptoms for my friends who caught it.

Ironically, it's a beautiful, sunny Monday. The squirrels are playing in the melting snow. Snow that will either be replenished by another foot of the stuff this week or totally melted by rain. The weather people aren't sure yet. Our area sits at the cusp, and it depends on which was the jet stream shifts over the next two days.

In the meantime, I have writing and taxes to work on. Stay warm and stay safe, folks!

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 328 - Soft White Blanket of Winter

People in the U.S. are taking COVID-19 a little more seriously. I see more masks being worn in our town when I go out. Most people with the opportunity to obtain the vaccine are doing so. The numbers in Ohio and our country are trending downward.

However, the numbers aren't dipping as fast nationwide. Total known COVID-19 infections in the U.S. reached 26,440,519 today. Total known deaths have reached 446,267.

So far, my immediate family has not been hit by the virus, and I knock on wood that it stays that way. But people around us are starting to get a little stir crazy. I understand the feeling. A week from today will mark a year since the last time I was at a movie theater, which is why there hasn't been any Monday Movie Mania posts.

Nor am I going anywhere anytime soon thanks to Winter Storm Orlena. She made up for our lack of snowfall this year by dumping five inches on us between 10 p.m. Saturday night and all day Sunday. Now that we're on the backside of the storm, we're getting lake effect snow off of Erie.

So, I'm sitting on my recliner with a puppy nestled on my lap. She sleeps while I watch snow fall in the backyard. The squirrels are nestled in their nests, and both sound and motion are muffled in a blanket of white.

It finally feels like winter has arrived.

Sales! I've Got Sales!

I've been rotating through each series and putting the first volume's ebook on sale. Hero De Facto is currently $0.99 and will be through Friday, July 24th.

A Question of Balance will go on sale for $0.99 on Friday.

In the meantime, I'm working on A Twist of Love which will be out August 14th. Some of you will love it. Some of you will hate it. And me. But I hope you'll trust me on Anthea's journey.

Also, I want to say a big thank you to everyone who picked up a copy of Snowfall and have already preordered Murder Most Fowl and The Sweetest Poison. It's fun writing Grandma Thalia's adventures, too!

Release Day!

"Snowfall" started life as my 2018 submission to Sword & Sorceress. I'd just found out I had breast cancer, and I really couldn't think of anything . So I went back to the Justice universe and wrote a little story about Thalia, Anthea's maternal grandmother.

The editor Elisabeth Waters ultimately rejected it. There were a lot of good stories submitted that year. I highly recommend you read Sword & Sorceress 33.

So I planned to publish the story here on my website in November of 2018. Except Ms. Waters e-mailed me and asked if the story was still available. She wanted to reconsider it for Sword & Sorceress 34, which would be the last volume in the long running series. Ultimately, she rejected it again.

I'm finally to the place where I can officially publish this story. It's live on Amazon, and I'll post additional links on The Justice Thalia Stories tab when they're active.

It'll remain at $0.99 until August 15th.

I hope you all like this little look at a character who has influenced quite a bit of the plot of the Justice series. The next Justice book A Twist of Love will be coming to you next month.

Amazon, all countries