How big are those bathrooms, anyway?

WorldCon 76 is just about a month away, and we plan to have a large presence there. There will be not only my books–Grimaulkin Redeemed is now available and it’s a really nice contrast to the dark colors of the first two, a great eye-catcher.  There will also be books by J Dark in her Glass Bottles series, Building Baby Brother by Steven Radecki, and Children of the Wrong Time by Flavia Ada.  And dragons. And card readings.

I had an event yesterday and sold one book, which I was happy about. These small fairs, though, are a real crapshoot. Most of the people who come to them are older folk looking for stuff for them or their grandchildren. I happened to get lucky and get a 15 year old who was so excited to read his first “New Adult” book that he kept saying, “I can’t wait to read this!” He probably started reading it in the car.

After the event, I decided to sit down and start War Mage again. I’m following my own advice and making up stuff based on research. The history is all wrong, there is no Firebase Jackson, there is no Colonel Parlance, but there is a 10th Mountain Division. I just put them there because from what I’ve read, those guys kick ass. I have the sinking feeling, though, I’m not going to get 50K words out of it. We’ll see what happens.

A new podcast is up at Dark Mystic Quill. It’s about magic and writing. Together.

Fire is on hold until after WorldCon while the publisher gets things ready for that. All I care about is fitting in the bathroom on the plane. If I don’t, you’ll see me on youtube and CNN as the idiot lady who got stuck in a JetBlue bathroom. I’ll be famous! And sell lots of books!

 

Out in the World (Or: The Baby)

First draft.

 

For five years I have worked,
Slaved, bled, and cried;
Now, I send my baby,
Out into the world.

The world will see what beautiful prose
I have wrought. And Spielburg himself will call
To direct the motion picture,
And Brad Pitt will be the leading man.

I have visions of best selling books.
I am number one on Amazon.
Everywhere.
I need to pick out a dress for the interviews.

Until…
I get my first one-star review.

The world has rejected
My baby, my most precious one,
That I paid to edit, and design, and lay out,
Shelling out half my paycheck.

No, this cannot be true!
It must be some mistake,
As I tell the reviewer.
And then I start a war.

My name is dragged through the mud
Of Twitter, and Facebook,
And so much social media
I am a failure.

Or maybe, only this book
Was not what I had dreamed.
It’s time to practice
Having another baby.

Anything but War Mage

Finished Fire, and sent it off to the publisher. It’s a first draft, and I did a cursory glance over it.

I don’t want to work on Air just yet. I feel like I need a break from the erotica. Or more akin to male-male romance stories with spice.

What do I work on now?

War Mage is a monkey on my back. I promised to deliver that over two years ago, and I just can’t do it. I was talking to someone at a poetry open-mic and I told her I wrote m/m erotica. She said she did too, and wanted me to read her stuff. She told me the backdrop, and she said she can’t seem to complete it because it takes place in the Civil War and “I want to get the history right.”

I told her, “It’s an alternate universe. Make it up.”

That’s when a light went on. I can be close to history but not exact. I can make up the villages, the outposts, the FOB’s, the men and their units…I don’t have to be on target. As long as I make it believable, people will come along for the ride and suspend belief long enough to follow. I will, of course, get some people who say, “The 1st Indiana was in Kabul, not in Aslamabad”, but I’m not writing this for military fanatics. If I get the weaponry and typical standard operating procedure right (thank God for Sebastian Junger), I should do fine.

Now comes time to write it. For the tenth time.

Grimaulkin Redeemed soon!

Hey there,

Grimaulkin Redeemed, the last (maybe) of the Grimaulkin series, is coming out very soon. VERY soon. We’re waiting on finalization of some things, but it’s coming out soon. In conjunction with that, Grimaulkin is on sale for .99 for the Kindle edition for a couple of weeks only. After  you’ve read that, Grimaulkin Tempted will be on sale for .99 for the Kindle version as well.  Then you’ll be all caught up and ready for Grimaulkin Redeemed! 

And if you feel like listening to Grimaulkin, it’s on audiobook right now! Really worth that single Audible credit.

I’ve put a request for Water to be reviewed by Boy Meets Boy, so hopefully that will come out soon.

Fire is slated to be out in October. I’m working on “Leo” right now and even though my friend thinks it’s a stupid idea (She’s a Leo), I’m having a blast with it. Once I finish “Leo”, I’ll send everything out to the publisher and we’ll go from there.

I’m trying to think of what series I should do next. The planets? Greek gods? Rickk Riordan and his fanbase has done that to death. Norse gods? Neil Gaiman and Marvel have a lock on that. Celtic gods? Iron Druid series. I’m open to any ideas. More of the zodiac signs, as “Fixed, Mutable, Cardinal?” Planetary aspects such as “Neptune in Fall” or “Pluto Rising”? Full novels?

Decisions, decisions.

Rained out

I had an event scheduled for yesterday, but it got rained out. Even though it didn’t rain. (They decided to cancel because of threat of thunder showers–but this is New England, and the weatherman is 88% wrong.)

Grimaulkin Redeemed is still slated for July 1, but we’re having technical difficulties, so the print version may not be available at that time. I had hoped to have it for my Shastea appearance next Thursday, but such is life. I doubt I’ll sell anything there anyway.

Hm, let’s see. I’ve been working on Fire and am finding myself with a writer’s block on “Leo”. I’m adding some light BDSM to it, and I have to research it. I was upset when I got a $2.99 book from Amazon, and it was a chapter of a book. A chapter! We sell whole books for $2.99. This is why my erotica is more story than sex now.

Anyway…I used Storymatic to generate a new idea, and it was “A long awaited invitation” and “poet”. I was going to do Walt Whitman as Gemini, but then I dropped that idea. I decided to check out Wattpad because that’s where all the cool kids go these days. Wattpad is fanfic, according to my son, so why can’t I just twist history around, and have Walt Whitman have a relationship with Henry David Thoreau?

Bingo!

So for giggles, I’m writing a really bad fanfic of those two getting together, even though they probably never did. I noticed that if I free myself from reality then the story happens. This is what the problem with War Mage is–I’m too stuck in its reality. in satisfying people who were there, that I can’t write it. Maybe I’ll try it in Wattpad to see how it goes.

Earth released–and I am a writer

Earth has been released as of Friday, June 15, and there have already been some downloads. Maxwell is slowly building up followers. It was noted that his bio seemed misogynistic so I changed that, and it seems I got more people that way. I have a newsletter for Maxwell that I’ll put out every quarter or so. I also had a newsletter that went out a couple of weeks ago for my appearances with Grimaulkin.

I’m presently writing “Leo” for Fire, having finished “Sagittarius”. It could go for another 3K words but it wouldn’t really drive the plot. It would be sex for sex’s sake, which is I guess what erotica is. Maybe I’m not writing erotica, but romance. “Taurus” was a romance.

Oh, I got a two-star rating on Pisces at Audible. Something didn’t agree with someone, I guess; though I wish I knew what it was so I can improve or change things. I can’t satisfy everyone, but I can try to satisfy some people.

I went to a cocktail party last night, and when people asked me what I did, I said, first off, “I’m a writer.” It felt so good saying that. My day job pays the bills, but that’s not who I am. I am a writer, first and foremost, a published writer. After describing one of the Earth stories, one woman said, “When you do that in heterosexual style, let me know.” There’s a market for that,  Maybe Max can do some of that, too?

But the point is, I am a writer. Not a cog in the corporate machine, but a writer.

Success!

Had a successful meet and greet yesterday. Sold a bundle of all three books I have published (other than Water), plus the shorts, all for $30. See, if you come visit me, you get free stuff AND cheap stuff too!

I didn’t have enough space to read cards, so I owe her (she’s an author in ARIA). She’s also in charge of the Lively Literati which I will be the featured author for on the 28th of this month. I’ll have stuff, but I don’t think I can read cards there. It’s a very busy place.

I had really good neighbors, and networking was a plus. We all traded how we do things, what events were successful, what to watch out for, things like that. My neighbor and I were the only fantasy authors there. He was more high fantasy while I’m contemporary fantasy, so we didn’t conflict.

I was over the moon with the sales. I’m so easy to satisfy.

In other news, Earth should be out next Friday, at least the e-books. We’re waiting on a few things, but the pre-order is up if you want to get in now. Maxwell Thomas is tweeting almost daily. We’re working on building up his followers. He’s on twitter @MaxwellTAuthor.

Grimaulkin Redeemed is almost ready to go for July 1. I hope to have copies for the Lively Literati on the 28th, but I should definitely have copies for Richmond’s Author Day on July 14. It will be bittersweet to see the last in the trilogy…however the publisher is thinking of me doing an anthology consisting of some of the characters in the Grimaulkin story, like Ritter and the Knight in the Atheneum. Maybe. But I’m working on Fire right now. My personal goal is to get that one done by October.

Oh yeah, and then there’s War Mage. Um…yeah. Still doing research on it. I’m listening to War by Sebastian Junger, which is all about soldiers in Afghanistan in 2008, three years after my book takes place. It’s still pertinent because they didn’t have glatis plates on the bottom of Hummers to stop IED’s from killing people in the armored personnel carriers. It’s a very interesting and insightful book, something I should have read before any others.

 

POUNCE!

UP! Goes the blanket.
The little lion sitting
On the dresser
Leaps through the air–
And flattens the fabric mountain.

HISS! Goes the lump
Underneath the blanket.
The little lion tracks
with his golden-slitted eyes
The hidden prey.

TWITCH! Goes the tail
Of the tiny golden lion.
He raises his rear and wiggles,
Ready…
Waiting…

OW! Yells the human
As the kitten’s claws
Dig into the captured prey—

My hand.

A new gig!

Hello there.

If you’re new, welcome! If you’re not, welcome anyway!

This site updates you on what’s going on with my writing life, books I’m writing, reading (that I can see because, I tell you, I’m going blind) and other important things going on in life that might make for interesting reading.

First off, Grimaulkin Redeemed is on its final proof! It’s almost in the hopper, ready for publication on July 1. i’m so sad, because this is the last of the trilogy, and I have just a few ideas of what to do next.

Earth will be out June 15 (we’re waiting on the final cover) with the audiobook to follow probably a couple of months later. Earth is going to be shorter (and cheaper) than Water. My favorite in Earth is “Taurus”, though “Capricorn” is pretty good, too. Read them and tell me what you think here or on twitter @warwriter or @darkmysticquill.

Now….drum roll please….

Maxwell Thomas will be guesting on the Zarra Knightley website. Zarra Knightley Publishing does my gay erotica series, but they don’t only do gay erotica. They do heterosexual erotica as well. It just so happens that the books they have available are under Maxwell Thomas, my alter-ego.

Appearances:

Come to beautiful downtown Woonsocket on Social Street to the Woonsocket Harris Public Library on june 9 from 10-2 and see ME! And buy my books! And get free stuff! And I’ll give you a card reading if you mention that you saw this on my blog. (You’ll also get a card reading if you buy a book, too.)

 

POUNCE!

POUNCE!

UP! Goes the blanket.
The little lion sitting
On the dresser
Leaps through the air–
And flattens the fabric mountain.

SWISH! Goes the lump
Underneath the blanket.
The little lion tracks
with his golden-slitted eyes
The hidden prey.

TWITCH! Goes the tail
Of the tiny golden lion.
He raises his rear and wiggles,
Ready…
Waiting…

OW! Yells the human
As the kitten’s claws
Dig into the captured prey—

My hand.

Poem read at the Schastea Lounge in Pawtuxet Village, 5/31/18