Another year passes, and we can all agree that those pesky Mayans were just bad calendars makers.  I’m good with that.  Not that I had doubts.  Besides, I’m still finishing the sugar I bought in 1999.  Fool me once . . .

New Dog:

Maela, the toy-squeaking herder of people now has a less-than-trusty sidekick named Bayley.  We rescued her from a Sam’s Club where she was found wandering the aisles.  Probably looking for a place to nap.  She is the mellow-yellow Yin to Maela’s high-strung cattle-dog Yang.   But together they are forming a pack of substance where squirrels fear to scramble.

New Book:

Later this year, I’ll release Ocean of Fear, my latest novel.  I’m homing in on the ending now.  More news as it flows.  You heard it here, well, second.  This is the current version of my blurb:

Orphaned at eighteen, Baxter Cruise earns his college tuition by spewing spam into everybody’s inbox.  After he finds a murdered professor’s body on campus, a notorious drug cartel recruits the robotics student to program their delivery vehicles:  submarine robots.  Drug dealing rattles the needle on Baxter’s moral compass, but the cartel didn’t give him a choice.

A beautiful FBI agent tracks the professor’s brutal assassin. She knows Baxter is a linchpin in the death, but he’s not the killer.  So why won’t he tell her the truth?

Baxter wants to finish the job and go home, ignoring the cartel’s depravity until he watches an innocent woman die.  When he wakes up on a plane heading to South America, it’s too late for remorse.

Backed by dangerous allies, the cartel requires Baxter’s talent until the bots are complete.  After that, he and thousands of others face certain death.  Unless he can find a way to escape.

 Good stuff, eh?

New Venture:

As an Indie writer, it’s tough to make much noise on your own without being noisy.  While I like a loud party, I’m loathe to be like Baxter and spam the world with infomercials about my books.  Got to do some of it, but I try to keep it at a level that reserves a measureable amount of dignity.  Maybe that’s why I’m not selling as much as I’d like . . .  To that end, I’ve joined forces with a group of talented writers who go by the name of Best Selling Reads.  While I have technically dipped a toe in those celebrated waters, I’m solidly on the up-and-coming list.  Still a bridesmaid.  But it’s a cool group of people, and we plan to have high-end giveaways, books specials, and all the writerly-readerly pomp and circumstance book lovers have come to expect.  I’ll let you know when we plan to splash.   Meanwhile, you can check us out here:

https://twitter.com/bestsellingread

May 2013 be a year of peace for you and yourn.