June Update

Hi Everyone,

I know I have a handful of new subscribers and I’d like to give you all an official welcome! I hope you enjoyed AfterWorld and it is great to have you here.

In Writing News

I am stepping away from novel writing for now. I’ve gone deeper in another post here if you would like to hear about my shift to shorter works and serials. I also provide a sneak peek at my next project (Sorry, not the final installment of the Daughter of Isis Series, yet. I haven’t forgotten about it, I promise!) I’ve been spending less time writing this month and more time reading and learning. It’s been interesting and fun, but I’m ready to dive back into writing.

In Publishing News

The line edit for Son of Horus is back. I’ve had it for about a week now, but have only taken a quick look at it. The school year is finishing up in the next week and a half, and that is taking up a lot of my mind space (end of the year activities, packing my classroom, gathering books and supplies to prep for teaching middle school next year!! I’m hanging in there, but, man, it’s a lot). Reviewing those edits is first on my to do list once I’m on summer break.

You should be expecting a few more emails over the next couple of months as an anthology I’ve been working on is launching. I might have mentioned it before, but this is a four-volume anthology of a fictional island off the New York coast called New Albion, a mix of human and fae. It has been so much fun working on this project and getting to know the other authors and editors. I had actually been invited as a guest editor, so I get credited as writer and editor for this project. Super exciting :)

Indie Highlight

I am revising my bookshelf segment of this newsletter and adding some indie authors to the mix. I have been searching for great indie authors while I’ve been on my own indie journey and find it difficult. That’s not bad in some ways because that means that indie work is mixed with small and big press work. At the same time, though, it is difficult to seek out and support indies. I’ve recently joined a community of indie authors which has allowed me to read their work. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for!

In these monthly updates, I’m going to shout out one or two indie authors so you can support them too (if you want, of course). Full disclaimer, I haven’t finished reading these two recommendations today. I haven’t had time to get through these two stories (there’s never enough time to read…), but I’ve enjoyed what I started.

The Ghost and the Librarian by S.H. Steele

Kiyo "Kiki" Mori has been offered a job as a library manager in Custer, Washington. James "Micky" Michael Lyndell sells his grandfather's house to Kiki. When they meet, Micky instantly becomes smitten with her. Unbeknownst to either of them, James Harrison Lyndell, still occupies the 1950s style home. After a week of settling into her new place, Kiki is thrown into life with a ghost when James appears in an upstairs bedroom. The two quickly become unlikely friends as they learn more about each other. Will Micky be able to crack through Kiki's introverted walls? How will James help these two figure out they belong together? And what regret is tying James to this world?

Keepers of the Gate by E. Denise Billups

In 1779 Kanadasaga, Sullivan's Expedition torches a Seneca village and many others, destroying the Iroquois Confederacy. Awakened from sleep, Pilan and Teka flee their blazing longhouse into the woodlands. After a soldier’s bullet thwarts their escape, Pilan vows to meet his beloved Teka again in another life. Two hundred years later in present-day Geneva, New York, historical relics rise. Twilight Ends, a grand Victorian bed-and-breakfast run by the Newhouse family, sits on the property the Iroquois village used to thrive on. After Twilight Ends’ long-standing matriarch Tessa Newhouse dies, her daughter and granddaughter, Skylar and Twyla, discover two artifacts under the maple tree in the backyard, and an ancient mystery as old as time begins to unravel. But will they have the courage to follow the path their ancestors did?

If you’re really in the indie mood, you can check out a group sale of indie authors too. The sale ends June 15th. There are a lot of cool books in the Mythical Beasts and Beings sale.

On my bookshelf

So I just started this one. A friend lent it to me and I was fascinated by the premise. Sue Monk Kidd’s The Book of Longings tells the story of Jesus’s fictional wife Ana. She’s a woman beyond her time that has a passion from writing and learning. I’ve only read about fifty pages, but I’m sucked in.

That is all I have for now. You’ll hear from me again in a couple weeks with a piece of flash fiction about a Toko’s curse. Don’t miss “Self-Care for the Cursed”!