Hey, Y’all!
I had all those releases (one compilation, one anthology, one novella) in March/April and they are finally out now! Tales in the Midst, Paranormal Payback, and Junkyard Riders. If you haven’t read, they are all out in eBook, all are (or soon will be) out in paperback, and all but Tales in the Midst are out in audio. The audio company turned down Tales in the Midst, and I refuse to use AI, so it will not be in audio. I am truly sorry about that, but it is what it is.
Have you seen the revamped (giggle) website? It is gorgeous! The AMAZING RJ Blain did it for me as a gift, though I did bribe her with Le Creuset treats. She has a lovely collection courtesy of www.faithhunter.net Check the website out!
My garden beds are FULL of WEEDS. They look horrible. I worked for close to two hours today, and managed to dig weeds out of half of the new bed, put cardboard over the ground, and a heavy layer of mulch on top. It looks great. I am exhausted. I am getting too old for the nonsense of weeds!
I am starting tai chi, and have taken my first online lesson. I am using YouTube, instead of in person classes, because I don’t like leaving the house. I feel the motions and moves already! I’ll keep you up on how it goes.
I have been cooking new dishes with about 50% successes and failures. A total failure today was the roasted red cabbage chunks. The recipe called for olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt, which I have used many times on other veggies to great success. The result was bitter, which does make me wonder if the cabbage itself was the problem. I have never had bitter cabbage! I think I’ll have to toss the entire thing. (Shudders at the taste.) I made up for that failure with an old standard: sliced and roasted carrots with half olive oil and half maple syrup as a marinade.
I’m drinking new tea – an Apple Chai which I recommend for autumn, and a luscious black tea Thai Chai, both from Adagio Tea. Soooo good! I also made my own herbal chai with a tiny chunk of dried turmeric root, 6 dried ginger root slices, one dried anise “flower,” one cinnamon stick, five whole black peppers, and two dried clove buds. It is wonderfully soothing, good for the digestion, and also is quite tasty, if I say so myself!
While sipping teas, I am reading. I have recommendations.
Jennifer Estep’s Only Bad Options and Only Good Enemies. Excellent! Available now. Book three coming soon.
The first three books of the Dungeon Crawler series, by Matt Dinniman. They are well crafted, but I lost interest on book three, and put it down. Come to think of it, I put it down to read the following book, and it was so fabulous, I could not come back poor Carl, so that might have been the problem.
Ilona Andrew’s, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me. I am in awe. It will take 2 reads to take it all in, but wonderful. Available now.
And I am just starting the third and final book in RJ Blain’s Lowrance Vampire trilogy DEATH DANCE! This series is fun, snarky, fast moving, and offers a different concept of vampires: their history, gifts, relation to shapeshifters, and how to view them in history and present. And did I say Fun? Fun! This novel opens with the beheading of bad-guy-vamp, which is a favorite opening for me. The cover is adorable too, see below. It’s out in Tuesday 4-21 everywhere. https://www.amazon.com/Death-Dance-Lowrance-Vampires-Book-ebook/dp/B0F2ZWKXH8/
I hope all are doing well. Life in 2026 is just as weird (though in a different way) as the rest of the 2020s. Breathe. Read! We will get through this too.