Announcing THE CHILLING KILLING WIND

Crossposting from ForgottenStars.net: it’s the back cover blurb for my next novel, and my first released book not in the Forgotten Stars sequence! It’s a supernatural thriller titled The Chilling Killing Wind, and I can’t wait for it to be out there in the world. I will have a date nailed down soon, but for now, I’m planning for mid to late September.

So what’s the story about? Well:

Tonight, former detective John Lazarus will finally put his old life behind him. He has a new job as a teacher, a new home, and a new love. All he has to do is get through tonight’s execution of Roy Edgar Chalmers, the last of the three men who killed John’s wife in a botched robbery. Once Chalmers is dead, John Lazarus will be done with his old life at last.

But tomorrow the murders will start: strange, violent crimes whose only connection is the pair of voices exhorting the perpetrators to kill. As an occasional police consultant, John Lazarus will increasingly suspect that something abnormal is at the heart of these killings. And when Roy Edgar Chalmers, not nearly so dead as he should be, approaches him for help, John Lazarus will realize that maybe his old life isn’t quite done with him….

Stay tuned for more!

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An EVENT of MOMENTOUS IMPORTANCE.

This Saturday, at Off the Beaten Path Books in Lakewood, NY, a certain author will be doing his first-ever book signing.

If you’re in the neck of the woods and you want a signed copy of Stardancer, The Wisdomfold Path, or Amongst the Stars–or all three!–drop on in!

Sooo... is it kosher to wear overalls to one's own book signing? (Oh yeah, I'm doing a book signing! Off the Beaten Path Bookstore in Lakewood, NY! If you're within a six hour drive, come over!) #amwriting #writersofinstagram #writerinoveralls #indiebooks

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AHHHHHHH

AHHHHHHHH!!! #amwriting #writersofinstagram #writerinoveralls #NaNoWriMo

Late last night, I dragged myself, weary and bloodied, across the NaNoWriMo finish line.

Well, not bloodied, but I was quite tired when I got there…especially since at one point Scrivener had my word count at 50,200 but when I plugged my text into NaNo’s validator, it came back with a result of 49,850. So I had to stay up a bit and do a little extra work to get myself over that line. I could have just done it today, but when I’m that close, I just want to kick it into gear and get it done.

So after three consecutive years of falling short during NaNoWriMo, I’ve resumed winning. Huzzah!!!

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NaNoWriMo begins!!!

Here we go, people!!! #amwriting #NaNoWriMo #writersofinstagram

Time for my sixth attempt at writing 50,000 words in thirty days! Can I do it? Stick with me and we’ll find out! The project this year is The Savior Worlds, which will be Book Four of The Song of Forgotten Stars. I succeeded at hitting the 50K mark both of my first two years of NaNoWriMo, but the last three years all ended in failure: 2014 had some plot struggles with what ended up being Amongst the Stars, and then 2015 was a truncated month in which we traveled to New York City, so I wasn’t able to cross the finish line despite a valiant effort. The less said about last year the better, but basically the results of the 2016 election sent me into a creative tailspin that had me unable to write anything at all for several weeks.

This year, we’ll see. I’m optimistic, but you never know. At least we’re not on the cusp of doing something so wildly bizarre as electing Donald Trump to the Presidency this year, right? Right?

America?

Hello?

Anyway, hopefully onward and upward! Zap! Pow!!

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Box of Dreams

Last week while my sister was visiting from out of town she and I went antiquing. I enjoy antiquing, but she absolutely loves it, and she did some research and found a huge antiques mall located in Canandaigua, NY, which is an easy hour-and-a-half drive from Casa Jaquandor. Among a few other things, I bought this lovely box:

Adventures in Antiquing 7: New jewelry box! Not sure what I'll use it for as of yet. #antiquing #jewelrybox

At the time I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but it’s really nice! Well-put-together, with that lovely soft lining. Obviously it’s meant for jewelry (or so I think), and I don’t own much jewelry of my own, but I couldn’t pass it up.

And then, a few days later, the obvious thing to keep in the box–at least the top part–occurred to me.

Behold my entire collection of fountain pens!

The wood box I bought last week is perfect storage for my fountain pens! #fountainpen #antiquebox

That makes me happy. I’ve been rekindling my love of fountain pens of late, and this is a much better way of holding them than standing them all up in a mug, which is what I had been doing.

However, looking at this set-up, it appears that I have no more space for any more fountain pens. Hmmmmm…maybe next time we go to that antiques mall, I’ll look for another box!

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