Big Book News!
Relics From A Traveling Show, aka “All my short stories gathered into one collection” is officially LIVE on the usual retail sites. If you do ebooks, please pre-order your copy now! Handy links here:
Release date November 12. If you don’t see your favored ebook supplier, it’s also supposedly everywhere Ingram Distribution serves.
Please don’t wait. You might forget. I might forget to do more promotion, since I’m a sea turtle mama when it comes to releasing my book babies into the world. (If you aren’t familiar with how sea turtles handle parenting, well…nature documentaries exist.)
Anyway. New book, awesome book. I made the thing.
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!
If you read paperbacks, you can buy one directly from me BEFORE OFFICIAL RELEASE at Windycon in Oakbrook IL. November 8-10.
I have copies on order that will be in my hands next week, Gods willing and the river don’t flood, as we used to say back in my youth. That’s a good week’s wiggle room for hurricanes, fires, and other production disasters. With luck there will be no disasters.
I can’t wait to show this one off to the world. I really, really love it. What’s that? You’d like a book description? Sure, I can provide one of those.
Step right up to this captivating collection of fantastical short stories!
Once you pick up this enchanting volume, the hardest part will be choosing a favorite souvenir from the wonders that await. Each tale is a vibrant artifact from the traveling show of the author's writing career, showcasing the magic, mystery, and complexity of human existence. Some stories traveled far and wide without finding a place to call home. Others are making encore performances. All of them are sure to dazzle and delight. Explore the thrill of the unexpected. Savor the bittersweet nature of love and loss. Discover truths about courage & identity, and visit worlds where a single step separates the extraordinary from the everyday.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS:
For Want of a Nail: A second son discovers the happily-ever-after career track has some significant drawbacks.
Grief's Reward: A salt widow finds new love in an unexpected place.
Housewarming: A tale of revenge against neighbors who really should've known better.
Knee High To A Grasshopper: A young mage with more talent than sense finds herself on the wrong end of a transformation spell.
Numbers Game: Insurance is a cutthroat business. When magic is involved, the game gets even more dangerous.
Solstice Dance: a young woman who doesn't believe in gods has to convince them all to save the world from endless winter.
Those Who Can: a reluctant teacher learns that her secret shame may be the only defense standing between her students and a monstrous predator
Up On The Roof: a brave, young gargoyle intercedes with Higher Powers to help a little girl who wishes with all her heart for magic to be real.
plus two bonus stories from the Rollover Files series:
Homecoming, which reveals the circumstances around Jack Coby's adoption. Previously available only to newsletter subscribers
Campfire, a brand-new piece about an isolated woman whose lethal superpower forces her into impossible choices and the new friend who refuses to leave her alone.
Below you will find the full-wrap cover painting for the paperback. It’s a delightful digital piece by Dex Greenbright, chock full o’ callouts to the stories inside the book. Yes, I could call them Easter eggs, but I hate that name because it’s inappropriately Christian for most use cases, & I am actively seeking a good alternative.)
(But I digress, and that’s how you know I am me and not a rogue chatbot or alien replacement.) Onward to more blog post.
And now, a bit more blathering.
I’ve been putting off that announcement post for days now. No idea why. I updated my website front page, mentioned it on my author FB page and in my wandering.Shop fediverse account and then…kinda left things there. Did I give people links? Nope. Did I show off the cover? Sorta? Did I tell anyone what the book’s about or share the description? Nope, nope, nope.
I suspect my avoidance is rejection related. If I don’t tell anyone about it, I can’t be disappointed if no one pre-orders the ebook or buys it online or anything.
Also, coming up with enthusiastic, confident, “putting myself out there” posts one after another is beyond fucking exhausting. Not because I think the stories suck—I think they’re damned good. I write some damfine fiction, and I know it.
No, it’s exhausting because all the same experts who advise posting confidence and enthusiasm and pride ( as in “If you can’t say good things about it, why would anyone else be interested?” is the general foundation for it all) expect writers to somehow do that promotional work without bragging, or being pushy, or sounding conceited.
That’s a juggling act, and I am a bad juggler. Like, “accidentally conk people with flying objects” bad. No one wants me to try juggling anything, especially not presentation nuances.
Anyway. I think there’s a whole ‘nother post in that last comment. I have made the post, I have pitches the pitch, and now I’ll sign off with some cat pics to keep the internet a fuzzy feline haven I still want it to be.
Add a sign off
You have reached the obligatory “And now a word from our sponsors” add-on section.
What’s on your bookshelf?
Make room in your life for some of my fabulous science fiction & fantasy books. Two series to choose from!
The Rollover Files is an ongoing series of hopepunk tales about an alternate world where moms with midlife-crisis superpowers keep saving the world whether it appreciates them or not.
You’ll want to pick The Stories Of The Restoration if you’d prefer a completed, complicated quirky slow-burn science fiction series with a romance chaser.
Ebooks, audio & paperbacks all available now on Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Hoopla, & Barnes & Noble.
Or support your favorite independent bookseller and order through Indiebound or Bookshop.org