Prepare to Launch!

 

Many moons ago, I wrote a handful of silly short stories about Fae living among Humans, falling in love and dealing with malfunctioning magic, curses, interfering relatives,  and other assorted problems.

The original collection has been out of print for years, and the e-publisher that took it over has closed their doors too.

HOWEVER ....

I've revised the stories, expanded them, and added maybe 30K mor words. The stories are sillier than ever, plus I've got some pseud-academic writings giving the inside scoop on Fae life, culture, history, and biology.

What's it about?

The Fae are back! Out and about in the modern world.

Addicted to love -- and chocolate!

Who are they?

Glori, a daycare teacher with malfunctioning magic meets Lance, an exterminator, cursed to turn into a cute little mouse at the dark of the moon, and searching for a Faerie princess's kiss to break the spell.

Alexi, a Fae with fading magic, hiding in Las Vegas, needs a job to survive, and meets Megan, a half-blood Fae working as a magician.

Kevyn, an actor who refuses to follow the family tradition and become a lawyer, gets kidnapped by Sophie, an academic with pointed ears and weird relatives, who is doing her doctoral thesis on magic.

When the Fae queen dies of poisoned chocolate, Epsi, an agoraphobic Fae, is one of the many suspects. Guber, with a claim to a throne he doesn't want, works to prove her innocent. But can they protect each other from the lunatic fringe and the real murderer?

With the Fae, chocolate is a universal cure, but can it cure their woes and help them find true love?

Find out, when All's Fae in Love and Chocolate.

Now in pre-launched at Kickstarter, ALL'S FAE IN LOVE AND CHOCOLATE is available for some serious eyeballing. Please check it out, and maybe drool a little over the possibilities waiting for you to claim.

Launch day is planned for June 1, with lots of extra goodies if pledges pass the line for stretch goals!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mll04def/alls-fae-in-love-and-chocolate

Ready for More Fairytales ... twisted inside out and upside down?

 

Releasing May 1, TALES FROM THE FOREST is the 4th Fairytale Anthology from Ye Olde Dragon Books.

This time around, we're taking Red Riding Hood and really pushing the envelope. There's some silliness, some humor, some heartache, a lot of danger, some sibling rivalry, some magic, some sacrifice and risk.

We have a number of returning authors, and return visits to fictional places that are starting to become very familiar.

Here's our lineup of authors and their titles:

THE CASE OF THE MISSING LEGS: Rosemarie DiCristo and Pam Halter

FACE THE WOLF: Kathleen Bird

THE WAYS OF A WOLF: Lindsi McIntyre

A CACTUS AMONG WOLVES: Yvonne McArthur

KELLI AND KIRMIZI: Michelle Houston 

WOLVES AMONG THE LAMBS: Deborah Cullins Smith 

THE CURSE: Angela R. Watts

DRESS REHEARSAL: Jim Doran

THE NIGHT OF THE MINDBENDER: Stoney M. Setzer

WOODLAND CRAVINGS: Rachel A. Greco

CRIMSON SPY: Jessica Noelle

RED WOLF: Michelle L. Levigne

Available at your favorite online book seller, and Ye Olde Dragon Books.

Off the Bookshelf: GOING ROGUE, by Janet Evanovich

 

Stephanie Plum is back, and things are even more grim than they've been getting.

Connie, office manager for the bail bonds office where Stephanie works, has vanished. Soon, Stephanie and Lula learn Connie has been kidnapped.

These guys have got to be hard core, desperate, and nastily stupid, to dare to kidnap Connie. And they don't know what they've taken on, when they get Stephanie angry with them and determined to get Connie back unharmed. Without telling the police (via Joe Morelli) what's going on. Because then things could get ... tricky.

The kidnappers want something that they think Vinnie, the bail bonds office owner, was given. Stephanie and Lula go on a wild goose chase, meeting more bizarre characters in Trenton, as they follow the trail of the maguffin ... and realize someone was lying to them.

You don't want to get Stephanie Plum angry with you, because she's finally willing to not just pick up a gun, but learn to shoot it.

Fun! The bizarreness that is normal life for Stephanie Plum just keeps coming.

Off the Bookshelf: RIVALS! FRENEMIES WHO CHANGED THE WORLD, by Scott McCormick

 

Audible exclusive, Audible original

Narrated by Prentice Onayemi, Samantha Turret, Khristine Hvam, Gabriel Vaughan, Josh Hurley

This is the side of history you don't get in school. The rivalries between political leaders, academics, and royals -- basically people who were smart and should have known better -- but let their pride and hurt feelings and childish natures get in the way. Or they didn't stand up to political and other types of pressures, and did what was expedient, and nobody had the intelligence or tact or maturity to apologize! Dinosaur bone collectors and scientists, Founding Fathers, British Royal Family drama.

This reminds me of Fractured Flickers, a show my brother loves, produced by the same creative insane geniuses who gave us Rocky and Bullwinkle, taking silent movies, adding sound effects, dubbing in dialog that was most definitely not part of the original script, and then creating a new story entirely. Totally silly and fractured.

This is basically fractured history -- showing the cracks and the crackpots and the stupidity of real people, and bringing the larger-than-life characters down to size. Bravo! I hope there are more like this out there. Fun!

Off the Bookshelf: AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT and THE GREAT ST. MARY'S DAY OUT, by Jodi Taylor

 

Audible, Audiobooks

The Chronicles of St. Mary's series

Narrated by Zara Ramm

Two more "short" stories about the time-traveling historians of St. Mary's.

First is a totally new take on time travel -- when it involves a trip to Mars. The Time Police are on the verge of a coronary, as they get a verbal report and try to give a dressing-down to the director in their timeline, who includes our friends from the more familiar "first" St. Mary's group, including Dr. Maxwell, in a jaunt to Mars to witness the first Mars landing. And of course get involved and almost mess up -- or perhaps save the day -- when history doesn't seem to be going the way it should.

'Nuff said! (meaning you need to listen, not just let me tell you about it)

Then, the gang from St. Mary's is granted a holiday, when they get a chance to witness the very first performance of Hamlet, with Shakespeare playing the ghost of the murdered king. It's supposed to be just a fun day out, but of course, anything that can go wrong will and does .... and Mr. Markham, our unlikely Shakespearean fanatic, jumps in to save the day. Maybe ... Well, what are you going to do when the Bard is set on fire and then gets knocked loopy so he can't deliver his lines?

Listen to this one and find out!

Major fun. As usual.

Off the Bookshelf: ALWAYS BE MY BANSHEE, by Molly Harper

 

Audible Original, Audiobook

Mystic Bayou

Narrated by Amanda Ronconi and Jonathan Davis

Return to Mystic Bayou for more guilty pleasure. This time we have two newcomers as our heroine and hero, both dealing with lots of baggage before they're even hit with the wonderful weirdness that is Mystic Bayou. Cordelia and Brendan have come to town to deal with the "artifact" found in the bayou in the last adventure. It's a black box that seems to be the source of all the growing magical disturbances and problems coming out of the Rift.

Several problems to get over: Cordelia is a touch psychic, which makes it hard to be around people, much less deal with everyday living because everything she touches fills her mind with their stories. Brendan is a rare male banshee, so technically he's dead. And when he gets visions, they're always about people's deaths. Then there are the occasional sightings of Cordelia's psycho, entitlement attitude, con-woman mother, whom she fled when she was a teen. And the pressure from some pretty high up people in the League, to get the artifact to not just communicate, but cooperate and toe the line with the League's goals and ideals. That's just the tip of the problem-loaded iceberg.

Some answers, some changes, some danger. Lots of laughs. And more strong performances from all our favorite characters living in Mystic Bayou. I really hope Harper keeps writing more stories, because I want to keep coming back and seeing my old friends. Hmm, there is that phoenix/dragon baby on the way. A new generation to watch and cheer for? Please?

Off the Bookshelf: STUCK, by Chris Grabenstein

 

Audible Original

Reminiscent of old-time radio drama. A fun performance by a full cast.

Life is rough for Jackson, who anticipates with dread moving up to middle school. Until his grandfather makes a wish for him ... and suddenly he's living fifth grade over and over again. Which is fine for a while,  since he knows all the answers in school, and he's able to improve in baseball and trumpet playing.

But there's the problem of all his friends leaving him behind, as they grow up and move on in life ... and forgetting him. Every new school year, everybody else's reality and their memories of him get re-set. What's a kid to do to get unstuck, and move on with his life again? Every time Jackson figures out how to re-wish and fix the problem, it doesn't work.

Jackson has to learn some important lessons about life in general, and himself in particular, before his answer comes and he gets his own re-set.

Clever!

Off the Bookshelf: A BOY CALLED CHRISTMAS, by Matt Haig

 

Fantasy, Holiday Fiction

I want to start by thanking the lovely ladies on the Bookmarked podcast for Realm Makers, Lauren Brandenburg and Gillian Bronte Adams, for recommending this book.

Lovely, fun, quick read. Humor and suspense and danger, nasties to boo and heroes to cheer -- and special effects!

Nikolas is a poor boy who has only had two presents in his entire life. His woodcutter father doesn't make much money and they barely get by. When Dad gets a chance to go on an expedition that will pay him a lot of money, he takes it. Poor Nikolas is left in the dubious care of his nasty Aunt Carlotta, and immediately his life gets much worse. Until he finally runs away, in search of his father.

He runs into elves who are going through some pretty severe oppression of their own, and barely escapes with his life. When he finds his father, it isn't the happy reunion he hoped for, and Nikolas ends up making some pretty painful choices, and grows up way too quickly. How exactly does a boy go from being nicknamed Christmas to being Father Christmas, and learn magic, and find flying reindeer, and decide to give away toys every year? Read and find out -- I ain't telling you and spoiling the fun!

The world-building and rules for elves and the adventure -- just lovely. Great fun to read. This might just be one of those books you need to read every year. Especially when you need help getting into the holiday spirit.

Off the Bookshelf: FORTUNATELY THE MILK, by Neil Gaiman

I learned about this book while taking Neil Gaiman's writing course in Masterclass.

Fun!

Basic premise: A father goes to get milk for his children's breakfast, comes back late, and spins a fantastical, ridiculous tale to explain why.

And quite often, he is saved from disaster and certain death because, "fortunately, the milk" was in the way, or was conveniently there in his hand to use in some odd way.

Major silliness abounds, with pirates and a balloon and a dinosaur and other oddities. And all the while, the father says no thank you to adventure, because his children are waiting for milk so they can eat their cereal. The "voice" in which the story is told is so matter-of-fact even when time travel and a talking dinosaur are involved. Great fun.

I know I'm not quoting accurately, but C.S. Lewis once said something about good books being the ones you can enjoy equally as a child and later when you're an adult. This certainly belongs on that list. Get it, Gaiman fans.

Off the Bookshelf: WALLY ROUX, QUANTUM MECHANIC, by Nick Carr

Audible Original
Narrated by William Jackson Harper

Short and fun, at the end I wanted more stories about Wally and his adventures "fixing" what's wrong with the fabric of space and time.

Wally is an awkward genius teen who notices when reality doesn't work quite right, and finds a way to fix it, usually with gizmos of his own making. When he least expects it, he encounters people who understand what he's doing -- and in sweet, humorous and sad vignettes, one after another, he finds what he dreams of and tries too hard, and loses it. You gotta feel sorry for the poor guy, even as you laugh and shake your head, because even though he's a genius, there's something in him everyone can relate to.

Things just get more complicated when Wally steps through a rip in space-time and finds a world where another Wally is living the life he wants. Will he get to stay in this world? And what happened to the Wally who belongs to that world?

Listen and find out. And be prepared to say, "Hey, is that ALL?" when you get to the end.

More, please?

Off the Bookshelf: THE ADVENTURES OF TOM STRANGER, by Larry Correia

An Audible Original

Subtitle: Interdimensional Insurance Agent.

I guess this could be considered science fiction. Definitely snark, comedy, political and social satire, and a few other labels. Apply as you see fit.

Giggle fest time.

Consider: the narrator is Adam Baldwin -- from Firefly. So when there are references to the part Baldwin played, and a comment that "in this universe, Firefly played for five seasons" plus several movie spinoffs, and in another dimension the president is named Baldwin and happens to be an ex-actor who played a space cowboy .... yeah, I think the narrator had a lot of fun doing it.

When there are multiple universes, and someone powerful (an inventor and arms dealer) takes out an interdimensional insurance policy on ALL the permutations of himself, you have to call in the best insurance agent out there to make sure things are handled and bills are paid and ... whew! There are problems with a rival insurance agent, and a visit to a call center from worse-than-hell, and dealing with aliens who trashed the wrong planet. Can you see where I'm going with this?

Plus the author himself shows up in the book, multiple permutations of himself, where he's a SF writer who skipped the wrong classes in school and ended up messing up every part of his life. Hmm, regrets or just a tongue so firmly planted in his cheek it went out the other side of his face?

Fun. Silly. Some language. And the many and various accents and voices employed for the many characters just upped the ante. Makes me want to borrow my brother's copy of Firefly -- and maybe binge watch a few seasons of Chuck, too.

Off the Bookshelf: REDSHIRTS, by John Scalzi

I confess, I'm a Trekker from the early days. I can remember seeing episodes when it was on network TV. Not going to tell you how young I was, and how rare it was to stay up past my bedtime to see it ...

So hearing this audiobook (my FIRST audiobook) was a Star Trek salute/parody AND is narrated by Will Wheaton (ST:NG) kind of nudged me closer to taking the plunge and getting my Audible membership. Besides, I'm hooked on listening to writing and marketing podcasts for long road trips, so switching over to audiobooks and having FUN while I make long drives (my business partner in Mt. Zion Ridge Press is 9-1/2 hours of driving away) wasn't that hard of a decision.

Audible is extremely talented at temptation. If you're careful with your credit that comes with your membership fee every month, and you wait and watch for specials, and the Audible Originals ... you can build up a huge library pretty fast, without spending a lot of money.

REDSHIRTS is ... for those not in the know ... a reference to the hapless crewmembers who are marked for death for the simple reason that 1) they're wearing a red uniform shirt and 2) someone has to die or come close to it to ratchet up the tension in that week's episode.

But what happens when this is happening to "real" people on a "real" starship in the far distant future, and they figure out that their lives (and deaths) are being controlled by ... ?

I'm not going to give away that much of the plot, because it takes a while for our heroes to figure it out. And a number of people we've come to like ... die! Let me just say that they figure it out, and hopefully live happily ever after. Maybe. With some ripples in the time-space continuum that make you wonder what version of reality is the real one.

Lots of snark. Lots of griping. Lots of fun. Lots of groaners and inside jokes. Hmmm, some profanity. Kind of understandable, under the circumstances.

If you love Trek, if you love parodies. If you're a writer who feels like your characters are coming to life and arguing with you about what you're doing to them ... Fun.

Off the Bookshelf: CINDERELLA SCREWED ME OVER, by Cindi Madsen

Haven't we all, at one time or another, felt that the faerie tales totally ruined us for romance? Don't we all wish for a prince -- and without even realizing it, looked past or stepped over the decent guy who would certainly consider us his princess -- and who might just turn into a prince if we gave him a chance?

Yeah, Cinderella and other faerie tales that promise happily-ever-after without considering all the problems that arise when you actually have to LIVE with the guy ... mess us up.

Then, as Darby, the heroine of CINDERELLA SCREWED ME OVER, discovered ... all those princes turned out to be problems in the making. She's been hurt, betrayed, abandoned by so many guys who started out as a faerie tale prince, that she's somewhat cynical. So when Jake comes into her life and rescues her shoe and then her ... she's hesitant to take the chance that this time, he's the real deal.

Throughout the book, as Darby runs into situations that remind her of the un-princely princes in her life, she offers readers a case study, referring to the faerie tale and just what prince un-charming did. The entire book is clever and fun. Well worth curling up on the couch on a rainy day or taking to the beach, or in my case, sitting under the ceiling fan indoors in the shade on a hot summer day.