It’s finally officially nice here, after one last miserable stretch of cold and gloomy weather, and my husband and I spent the weekend landscaping our yard.
(That’s us with a Subaru filled with trees and flowers, above.)
As is the way of landscaping projects, what we thought would take three days actually took five — but we’re done! Sore and full of blisters, but done.
(Left: Optimistic Jessie on Day 1. Right: FINISHED!! Not pictured, exhausted Jessie and Robert.)
It was a nice change of pace, actually.
For the past few months, every spare moment has been spent in front of my laptop, trying to make a slurry of words, characters, plot twists, and themes fit together into a cohesive whole.
(Not unlike laying a bunch of flagstones, now that I think about it. Move one element, and the whole %#*$& thing has to be reworked.)
But last Wednesday, I finished up the next novel in the Durga System series! Unlike the novellas Starfall and Negative Return, this will be the first in a trilogy of serial full-length novels featuring Jaantzen and his crew — and some very thrilling happenings.
I’m excited to share it with you! The tentative release date is October, but if you want to read it sooner and leave a review, give me a shout and I’ll add you to the Advance Reader Crew.
Story Hour with Jessie and Friends
As I mentioned in my last blog post, I had a reading at a local Portland pub. I’m generally pretty hesitant to get up in front of crowds, but I managed to work through the butterflies and have a great time!
So much fun that I think I’ll even do it again some time. Stay tuned.
(Photo by author/filmmaker Kelley Baker.)
For your To-Be-Read list
I hope you’re in the mood for a good book, because I have several fantastic recommendations this week! Read on, friends, read on.
Refuge
by Gerhard Gehrke
“The more of this book I read, the harder it was to put down.”
Sometime during their thousand-year voyage, the invaders perished.
But their slaves, the minders, survived to finish the journey to Earth.
Deanne doesn’t believe any of the news about visiting aliens. She’s a felon serving time in a California youth detention center.
As the lights go out and the world falls down around Deanne and her fellow inmates, she discovers something that might hold the key to their survival. Saving Earth will mean risking not only her life, but what makes her human…
Find it on Amazon
Insurrection: The Complete Omnibus
by Anela Deen
“I raced through this story so fast my Kindle squealed.”
*On sale for $0.99 through May 5th!
For twenty years Inquisitor Gemson Agaton used torture and interrogation to root out subversives undermining the Establishment. Now he’s on the subject’s side of the interrogation table, duty to the regime he believes in pitted against loyalty to the one person he always protected.
And Gemson isn’t the only target on the Establishment’s radar. As Earth’s citizens rally to resist the regime’s dictatorial rule, many are listening, including one of the Establishment’s most talented operatives. To find and betray him is her directive. To fall in love with him is treason.
A Conspiracy of Rogues
by Jonathan Burgess
“The Blackscale gang is absolute hoot! I can hardly wait to read the next one.”
There’s never been a scam like the city of Abattra. People are drawn to it by the promise of riches and a chance to start over, but the only ones prospering are the Resplendent oligarchs.
The young dragon Greasetrap is looking to change that. Raised to be a thief in the Blackscale crew, he’s in town alongside his siblings to steal a fortune. With the help of a street-savvy fighter they intend to rob the oligarchs of the city for the first time in history. But Greasetrap isn’t the only one with a scheme, and soon he’ll find himself up against a sorcerer’s vicious criminal gang.
Because the vault everyone wants to break into hides more than just gold—it holds the key to an ancient secret held dear by the most powerful Resplendents in Abattra.
Both books released this week! Get them on Amazon.
