Update with Sales Links.

As of Friday, February 9, 2024. Links open in a new window.

Rebecca Jamse Thrillers releases.

For the revised Nursing Girls:
 Amazon (Kindle, etc.)      Books2Read       Paperback (Amazon)

For the pre-order of Blood Moon (2/14/24):

Amazon (Kindle, etc.)      Books2Read       Paperback (Amazon)

For the pre-order of Father’s Day (2/11/24). Note: This was previously published as Low Places. While the cover and title have changed and the front and back matter revised, the story has had inconsequential changes.

 Amazon (Kindle, etc.)      Books2Read       Paperback (Amazon)

The Dragons Run My Life releases.

For the revised Father Maman:

 Amazon (Kindle, etc.)      Books2Read       Paperback (Amazon)

For the pre-order of The Prophecy (2/19/24):

Amazon (Kindle, etc.)      Books2Read       Paperback (Amazon)

For the pre-order of Lovers Reunited (2/19/24):

 Amazon (Kindle, etc.)      Books2Read       Paperback (Amazon)

Don’t hesitate to click through any or all of them for descriptions or (of course) to purchase one or more.

The two missing paperback links are coming soon.

Brief update and Plans

It has been a long while since I visited here.
Added: even longer now!
 

With everything going on, I spent more time writing than communicating as directly as I do here To the good, I have three Rebecca Jamse stories (two long and one novella) ready to put up at various retailers. The Dragons Run My Life series has five books in the continuing series.
 

I came to a stopping point with Dragons, and I still am unsure where the story needs to go from this point.
 

I’ve been working on my web site; that has been a learning experience!

My wonderful first reader has moved along in her life, which has left me trying to follow Dean Wesley Smith’s advice to not have anyone read your work except to proofread. And I use ProWriting Aid for that, mostly. If there are any volunteers to be a first reader, send an email, please.     Over the next week, beginning Feb 12, ’24, I plan to release  the following books:
 

On Monday, a new edition of Father’s Day (formerly Low Places), wide. A new cover and reworked front and back matter, the story has had only a few inconsequential edits.
 

Also on Monday, a similar new edition of the novella, Nursing Girls will appear, Amazon willing. As with Father’s Day, the new Nursing Girls sports a fresh cover, revised front and back matter, and inconsequential edits to the story.

Father’s Day

Beckie and Ian accept a standard “cost plus half-spoils” contract to prevent a Mexican prosecutor from receiving a Father’s Day present he doesn’t want: his daughter’s head, gift-wrapped.
 

Both the girl and the drug cartel - the one the prosecutor’s working to eliminate - provide lots of opportunities to save her life. One of those ‘opportunities’ may allow the “half-spoils” clause to go into effect while exposing a blackmail operation that has few qualms about under-age prostitutes.
 

Sonora state in Mexico provides a beautiful setting for action that hardly stops for the life of this contract.

Father’s Day, the seventh book in the Rebecca Jamse Thriller series, is a thriller set in an approximation to the real world. While it stands alone, readers unfamiliar with previous books may find the history preceding Father’s Day of interest. Real language is used; it is recommended for 15+.

Nursing Girls

Consensual sex: fun, but comes with consequences.  Hardly unexpected but infelicitous none the less.
 

Angel, unmarried, and her friend Tammy, married, both pregnant, faced poverty even without the babies.

Rebecca Jamse, widowed, must travel to Pakistan to support her team. Not a suitable environment for two month-old Ralf, her son.
 

Shalin deVeel knows the Imam of Tammy’s mosque strives to assist girls like these; she mentions Beckie’s need for a wet nurse. Since he has just assisted Angel and Tammy finding a Women’s Shelter, their availability is clear.

Nursing Girls solves Beckie’s problem and introduces Angel and Tammy and their families. The key action runs parallel to Discoveries.

Back to plans

Next following those two are two more, one from Rebecca Jamse Thrillers and the second from Dragons Run My Life, the epic fantasy following three red-haired sisters as they attempt to save the world as they know it. Or keep the rate of change acceptable.

The plan, then, is for the long-delayed Book Six of the Rebecca Jamse Thrillers, Blood Moon, to appear on Tuesday, when Friday the thirteenth comes this February, followed by The Prophecy. You knew the prophecy from Forbidden Islands wouldn’t just fade away, didn’t you?

Blood Moon

South of Maidstone, England, Wendel Tate’s mum dies. Wendell’s reaction is disbelief; she wasn’t sick! Months railing against the Establishment has little effect, so he plans a more direct protest. The upcoming lunar eclipse suits him perfectly.
 

Before she disappears, Cecilia Stone’s friends interfere with Wendel’s plans.

Amy Rose Ardan wants a tractable assignment from Beckie and Ian to help her decide her future with Dylan. Beckie believes looking for Cissy Stone suits.
 

But Cissy unintentionally leads Amy to strange events that send her on a day trip to Pakistan and enlighten her about her past. A little, at least.
 

A kidnapping followed by finding, then losing, what she didn’t know she had galvanize her search for an answer to Dylan’s question… and hers.

Blood Moon is a romantic political thriller dealing with lies, self-delusion and growing up in an approximation to the real world. It is intended for 15 up; it includes real language.

The Prophecy

End of the world prophecies: so prosaic. Unless it’s your prophecy.

Three red-headed sisters worry it’s theirs.

    ◦    Princess Tanial returns from the Forbidden Islands with a dire prophecy: unless she and her sisters prevent it, war will bring the death of all the residents of their lands.
    ◦    Queen Miriajona wrestles with her doom: to rule until her mate rejoins her.
    ◦    King Jenoele cannot abide the thought that her continued rule may require giving up control.

They believe a threat to Miri and Jenoele from the religious cult calling itself Ny Regole has been quashed. Tanial then makes her first foray toward Maman’s home in Slot Minear, the largest city in the Lindebalgh on the western slopes of the mountains dividing Jenoele’s kingdom.
Maman awaits there with her own mysteries. So, too, do the Ny Regole.

The prophecy reminds Tanial that she misses Maman and her wisdom. Her advice, not so much; she is young.
 

Even in a land where travel and communications are limited to the speed of walking or at best, horseback, calamities rise with fearsome speed.
The Prophecy is Book Six of the Dragons Run My Life series.

Going on

I plan to post weekly. We’ll see how that goes.
 

Hello and yeah, been a while. How about a political rant?

This is close to the text of an open letter I sent to President Joe Biden, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey and Representative Stephen Lynch, relating my opinions of Louis DeJoy. There are some minor differences between this and the ones sent through the various contact forms, mainly for the President, since that one has (apparently) a 1500 character limit on its messages. At least they don't (yet) use the abysmal captcha asking you to pick photos of dog crap to post.
 

Dear ;

I am aware of many of the problems facing the country and the government as well as the Government. However, when I read this headline and the article on cnn.com the other day,
Postmaster General announces 10-year plan including longer mail delivery times and cuts to post office hours
By Kristen Holmes, Liz Stark and Devan Cole, CNN
Updated: Tue, 23 Mar 2021 18:50:32 GMT
Source: CNN

my first thought was how stupid is Louis DeJoy? He doesn’t need ten years to do that; he’s been doing a brill job since he was installed to do just exactly that.

Then, I realized that it’s the death of a thousand cuts. He figures, over ten years, we won't notice. He’s planning the demise of the Postal Service as a useful organization; one that can therefore be wiped off the face of America, replaced by DeJoy’s Message Service™ (Only a 50% increase in rates [today] over that useless entity that can’t even buy gas powered vehicles to keep our economy strong!”

I have a personal issue with DeJoy’s improved service from the end of 2020, though based on news reports I am one of a great number, and my issue is petty in the grand scheme of things. And it’s a first world problem; the package was finally delivered. Attached below is the image of the USPS Tracking Results which show this package required two plus weeks and visits to Brockton,MA; White Plains, NY; Jersey City, NJ (five times); Kearney, NJ, and Springfield MA to make the trip from Mountainside, NJ to our home in Stoughton, MA. I’d have to say Mr. DeJoy is doing a bang-up job!

If your desire is to have the postal service vanish and all its equipment, etc., trashed the way DeJoy had sorting machines sold for scrap (I don’t think he actually had them sold, just disassembled them and discarded the pieces in parking lots.) during the run-up to the elections last year; and a substantial fraction of the employees trashed along with the equipment (’cause so many are gurls, you know, and not only that, they’re not pure-blooded European descendants, and what does a good ’Murrican company need with those?), then keep Louis DeJoy in his position, where he can continue to follow trump’s orders to get rid of that blight on good American Capitalism.

In other words, do the right thing:
One: Eliminate the need for the Postal Service to self-fund its future pension needs til beyond the date when the climate has destroyed even the most ardent nay-sayer.
Two: Get rid of the person who wants to kill you. In case you’re keeping score, that would be Louis DeJoy.

Thanks for your attention and concern.

 

Your thoughts and opinions are welcome.

Now Ready For Purchase

Available Now!

The first two books in my Dragons Run My Life fantasy series, plus the short story that reads best between them.

Book One. Click Here for Amazon; click Here for other e-tailers (epub version)

The Intermediate Story: Click Here for Amazon; Click Here for epub versions.

Book Two. Click Here for Amazon; Click Here for epub versions.

The Dragons Run My Life series is set on the planet Toile. Follow the trials, heartache and joys of red-headed three princesses urged by beings they call ‘dragons’ to avoid continent-wide war, something they don’t even understand.

The desire to understand their world and the taboos they live with drives them. Of course, they have responsibilities, too, their families, their friends and compatriots.They are princesses, after all. Conflicts, assassins, ordinary day-to-day tasks all must be managed; none can be set aside for the quest.

The dragons speak to a few, without revealing their plans, or especially their nature. Their guidance, to use the term loosely, seems to lack any rationale; the few must make their own choices whether to accept the advice or not. Predictably, they follow when the direction given matches their instincts and hopes. How the dragons will react when their words are not heeded remains to be seen. Perhaps they know well enough how to couch their counsel so it will always be palatable.

Family, friends, country and joy of discovery drive the actions of those we see; others are equally driven, perhaps to seek the same goals.

The first two books, The Faux Princess and The True Princess, along with The Warden's Tale, are available now at your favorite e-bookseller. If you don't find them, please let me know so I can extend my reach.

Book Three: The Journeys Home will be available at the end of February. Pre-orders will be up soon.

Thanks for reading. Comments, as always, are welcome.

Personal Feelings About MailChimp

This is my experience. I hope yours is different.

A the end of November, I signed up for a free account with MailChimp, to have something to do with the email addresses I got from participating in a BookFunnel promotion.

The sign-up was not particularly difficult, though a bit arcane for me, never having tried that sort of service before. I added my mail list, worked for a while on my first message, and sent a couple of test messages to myself.

Instantly (in internet time), I received a notification that my account had violated the TOS, and was suspended until… Never was clear until when. Or how to cure. So far, the answer is 'until forever'.

I responded to the notice the way it pointed to, saying I apologize and what exactly did I do and how do I get reinstated?
The message: Read the Terms of Service.

I did, several times. I still couldn’t figure out what I did. But there’s no way to contact them to ask that question and all the FAQs I found don’t address it either.

I had no response for two weeks, either to what I did wrong or what I had to do to be reinstated, so I closed the account and went to MailerLite. Even now, a month and a half later, nothing from them.

The warning I have is that, in my experience, MailChimp either has no customer service to speak of, or too much business. I can accept that a free account might well not raise any interest, but to ignore a request for help still seems to me a bit egregious.

Your experience may well be different. I hope it’s better.

Congratulations! Also, After a Missed Update, Here We Are

First, congratulations to all who participated in National Novel Writing Month, AKA NaNo. Even bigger congrats if you made your goal, no matter how big or small. You Rock!

The election is over, and had good and bad outcomes, as well as Republican sore losers who won’t give up no matter how the vote goes.



So the writing didn’t do as badly as I feared. Conversely, much time I could have been writing was filled with things like editing and you know, the other things that are needed to make a book come into being.

Over the past two months, True Princess questions have been satisfactorily resolved, as have similar questions with The Journeys Home, the third book, which is pretty much ready for the final read-through and collecting of the front and back matter.

Also, Father Maman, the novella that fits between Journeys and the next book, is off to my reader, for her opinions and assistance.

And the book which follows Journeys and Father Maman has had The End typed where it belongs. Those of you who follow this may recall The Lovers and First Indications. As I read them through, it became obvious that, unlike Father Maman, those two were in fact a single story, dealing with the Queen’s life during the trip home and in the palace. So Queen Immured (which may not end up being the title) came to be, now at not quite ninety-one thousand words.




Latest updates on top. Older ones are below.

Updated  December 3, data from 30 November.



As of (10/1), the WIPs, along with my plans for them, are:


•  The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 111 109 words. No major change.
 
•  The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 99 278 words. A few additional changes.
 
•  The Journeys Home (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three): 128 479 words. The back and forth with my reader is done. I don’t expect more than minor changes.
 
•   Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 107 506 words. Unchanged.
 
•   Queen Immured (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four): 90 767 words.
 
•   Father Maman (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four addendum) 19 757 words. Finished except for things.
 
•   Forbidden Islands (Dragons Run My Life, Book Five) zero words. The file is named.


From two months ago, here’s September’s update:



As of (10/1), the WIPs, along with my plans for them, are:


•  The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 111 114 words. No major change.
 
•  The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 99 286 words. My reader returned it the 10th of September, and I made most of the changes she pointed out.

•  The Journeys Home (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three): 127 860 words. It went to my reader on September 23rd.

•  Blood Moon (A Beckie and Ian story) formerly Princess: 59 686 words. No changes. Obviously not complete.

•  Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 107 506 words. Unchanged.

•  First Indications (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four): 10 709 words.

•  The Lovers (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three addendum): 44 281 words. Following Miri and Rhion, and Sanne and Gareth as they travel from Rendekebing  to Traenthe. Both this and Father Maman are complete except for things I or my reader find wrong.
  (First Indications and The Lovers have been combined in Queen Immured.)
 
•  Father Maman (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four addendum) 20 539 words. A trip to seek out Tanial’s maman in Slot Minear.
 


Here’s October’s work. Added 11 537 words, bringing the Y-T-D total to 177 515 words.  



























Here’s November’s work. Added 30 667 words, bringing the Y-T-D total to 207 849 words. 






















What happened, then?



Overall, I wrote 42 100 words, about 700 words per day. For days I did write, about 1000 words each of those days.



In addition to the editing and other tasks, I opted to put Faux Princess into a giveaway, mentioned here earlier in November. I was pleased with the response, but now I have to follow through. I thought to use MailChimp for my bright shiny new mailing list, and did something that they feel violated their TOS. It’s been five days now, and they still haven’t responded to my request asking what I did wrong and can I be reinstated. If they don’t answer in the next day or two, I’ll find another provider.



I’ve received comments and suggestions on True Princess and Voyages Home.  Father Maman is with my reader now. Recall (if you can) I had one big question last time: would the three stories, Father Maman, The Lovers and First Indications, work better as a single book? I put them together into a single volume, and then read it through to the end (as far as it was then) and decided while Father Maman didn’t fit, the other two did, and make a better story than the two individually did. In my opinion at least. We’ll see what others think as time goes on.

I made the time to move my books to Kindle Direct Publishing (It didn't take long!), but I have to do other things, like new covers and so forth. 

I decided to drop Blood Moon and publish Low Places in December.



 In addition to the routine complaints (trying to figure out where images will appear in the blog, and the annoying having the point of view skip to the bottom of the file whenever a new line is added), now Blogger has forgotten how to import bullet lists, making it necessary to find each one of them, clean up the bullets and spaces that the original had, and then put them all on individual lines (see above about adding new line frustrations) and then use Blogger's bulleted list command. I have too many to spend my life doing that. For now, I've dropped the history section, and I'm looking for a new platform.

As always, comments and opinions welcome.



The spreadsheet: Created by Svenja. See svenjaliv.com for more info and resources, including a free online word meter. All images are © 2011-2016 SvenjaLiv (http://svenjaliv.com).



A Great Group of Books, Free

For a limited time, free for the signing up, and you can unsubscribe if you don't enjoy the book.

Click here for the Giveaway.