Random Musings and Some Updates

Since last we spoke, I’ve finally come up with a title for the latest, my fairy tale horror mystery romance. Funny, I’ve never written a book without having at least some idea of the title halfway in. I'm not sure if it's connected, but this is also the longest book I've written. Or maybe, it's just because this one was so . . . weird, that I had already finished the thing and was halfway through the first edit before I settled on THE MOUND. Why THE MOUND you ask? Well, here’s the teaser blurb for it:

Levi Hogan, the new police chief in Bixbie, Massachusetts, is trying to stay off the booze and start a new life. Bixbie doesn't have much in the way of crime anyway, that is, until people start disappearing.

While investigating, Hogan learns Bixbie is also home to "New England's Stonehenge," a mysterious mound thousands of years old. Its purpose is unknown, but becomes clearer when Hogan's runaway daughter comes to town.

Because what Hogan doesn't know is Dani believes she is to become queen, and local teen Ian Sinclair is to become king, of a fairy kingdom populated by elves and pixies and helpful brownies. Before long, even Hogan starts to think that maybe, just maybe, the Scots-Irish founders of the town brought something along with them.

(If interested in a brief excerpt from it, see my previous post.)

Even I’m not sure what to make of it. But I think it might be the best thing I’ve written. Or the worst. I can never tell. I’m my own worst critic. Also, I’m doing something with this one I haven’t in a long time, that is sending it off to agents to see if there’s any interest. Part of me thinks if there’s none, I’ll just shelve it and move on. And part of me thinks I won’t. Time will tell.

On a parallel subject, a good friend who occasionally follows my scribblings on social media said that he detected sadness or frustration creeping into some of my recent ramblings. Hopefully, it’s only because he’s a good friend that he noticed. I don’t mean to be that way! But if I am sad or frustrated, I’m not surprised it sometimes bleeds through. I’ll work on it! Promise.

And don’t forget, I’ve made a couple of shorts permanently FREE! The first of my humorous hard-boiled P.I. series TELEGRAPH HILL and NEARLY DEAD, the St. Pete prequel to my New York zombie novel SINCERELY DEAD, are both FREE at Smashwords, BN, Kobo, and iTunes. Click the FIND MY BOOKS AT box on the right for the device of your choice.

I’m seeing more activity at Goodreads, which is awesome. Just today I saw a 4-star review for NEARLY DEAD, with the reader saying “I’d like to see more zombies of this type.” So grateful when people take the time. Makes all the difference. And if I’ve learned anything, it’s that books without reviews don’t sell. Trust me.

Oops! There’s that “sadness and frustration” again! So I’ll stop now.

As always, thanks for putting up with me. But mostly, thanks for reading my work!