We’ve made it to the end of August. In my neck of the woods, it has been hot hot hot. The only time its rained has been when I go grocery shopping. I know, I should shop more!
Last week, I got to teach the STEM bootcamp at work. As always, its one of my favorite programs I’m involved with. The students this year were a pleasure. It’s a lesson and office hours. During the hour of office hours, the group and I had a great talk about school, books, and who each of the students were.
This week is filled with back to school meetings and figuring out how this semester can combine teaching with writing.
One of the facebook pages I’m on does a critique swap. I want to add Cliste Falls to that event. I haven’t read through the book since I finished it. I’m hoping to read through it in the next couple of days. I DID come up with an outline for book two … I think I want it to be a duology.
Starting today, there is a free book blast that Aura of the Chameleon is part of. So, if you’ve been wanting to read the book but wanting hoping it may pop up free, now is your back to school chance!
My dad came to visit. I haven’t seen him in a few years and it was lovely having him in town. Anyone who knows my dad asked if I though I would survive. My dad is the type who doesn’t believe in being indoors if the sun is out. He runs, bikes, swims, plays pickleball, and so much more.
One of my favorite nights, I invited my mom and niece over for dinner. I have told y’all that my family believes I’m one of the first, if not the first, of the gay men donating to lesbians … Anyway, it isn’t often anymore that my dad and mom are together. My mom hasn’t returned to the bay area since we moved when I was four and a half years old.
If you’re curious, no, this isn’t my bio-mom, she passed ten years ago, but this is the mom who asked my mom, why not try for a second daughter. If it wasn’t for Kathy, I wouldn’t be here today.
Truth Exposed is out! The full series is ready for you to read. As always, you can order the books from me, or come see me at one of the many venues where I sell books in person. I’m so happy with this dystopian series and hope all of you are, too!
Upcoming venue!
I’ll be in Kenosha this weekend! Come out and see me, as well as a bunch of other amazing authors. I am so excited about all the people I’ll be seeing on Sunday!!
I was very excited about July. At the end of June, I took a vacation to Hawaii and returned at the start of July. Even with the red eye, getting barely an hour of sleep, the trip was amazing. I’d never been to that island state, but I’d happily visit again.
As the month continued, I attended one book event. I have one in August as well! I’ll be returning to Kenosha! I’m super excited. August 16th. Come say hi to me at the Kenosha Book Festival! And yes, I’ll have ALL my book, including the full dystopian series available!
Speaking of that dystopian series: Hidden Magick. Book 3: Truth Exposed, comes out on August 7th! You can order it from me, pre-order on amazon, or request it from any bookstore. For once, I have all my ducks in a row! And if you’re missing any of the other books in the series, they, too, are available everywhere as well. (but they’re only available signed from me!)
As for the remainder of July, my family had to say goodbye to one of our four cats, Tigger. She’d lived a long life, sixteen years, but cancer took her. At this point I think we’ll stick to being a three cat family. Here is the last photo I have of my sweety.
My youngest, who was the reason I started writing, turned 21 on the 21st. I KNOW!!!! For his birthday he wanted shirts. I began looking for shirts for everyone, because it’s what I do. I found this one for me … tell me, what do you think? Is it as funny as I think it is, or does it just make your eyes roll?
Unless more comes up, after the Kenosha event, my next venues will be in November and December. During those months I’ll be busier than I want to think about. For now, I continue to edit and clean up books … lots and lots of books.
The dystopian werewolf book is done. As is another book. I decided to write a 40k book under my penname for a group I’m in. You know, I had a week…
I went on a 9 day trip to Hawaii, it’s why I wasn’t sure I’d get everything done. That’s until I kept waking up at 2am, 3am, and realizing the spouse was sleeping in to normal time. This isn’t different from what we do at home, but this time, I used that time to write.
Back to the dystopian werewolves: Cliste Falls, though it’s just written, it is far from being done. I’ll need to get it critiqued and edited. My alpha reader finished reading it and asked when and where book 2 is. I believe it will be a duology.
As for Truth Exposed, I just got it back from the editor. I’m hoping to move the publish date to some time in August. If you’re interested in being an ARC reader, let me know. I’ll be sending emails to the current list … soon.
Truth Exposed
I know that this is short notice, but tomorrow I’ll be in Cottage Grove, WI for a makers Market. The event, Oakstone market, is from 3pm – 8pm at 304 Commerce Pkwy. AND, in this big heat, it’s indoors and air conditioned. Both facts are very exciting to me!
OMG. So the spouse had a procedure during finals week on May 12th. Ever since we’ve been doing projects around the house. It’s SO MUCH.
Let me tell you about this week, not all of them, but just the last few days.
Of Friday I went to help my mom. She called and asked if i could take her to an appointment. No other details, because why would I need them? As I was hanging up, she slipped in, maybe afterwards we could run errands.
Yep, that tracts.
Well, the appointment at 11am last Friday, was her realtor. She’s been trying to sell the farm and it was supposed to finalize at the end of April. The people who bought the farm were having issues selling their place in Georgia. Well, last Friday they were selling and buying. My mom was signing the final papers with the title company. (Not as quick of a process as I’d thought!)
BUT, the buyers were selling their place at 3:30, a few hours later, so we had time.
COSTCO RUN, and I needed to pick up my son. We also had lunch, and the spouse joined us. Apparently the water heater had a malfunction … a new project!
(other projects were fixing the sink, the toilet, the living room light, which involved taking that one down and doing rewiring, the window blind which is automatic, more rewiring, … I feel like I missing a few…)
Well, back to my mom, we got to the bank an hour plus before close. The first woman told Mom to sign the check … but then there was an issue. She got someone higher up. The check was signed to a trust. (No! 😱)
It took about an hour to realize there was nothing we could do. WHY? Memorial day weekend. No one was still in their offices. Oh, and my mom proudly didn’t bring her phone along.
We rescheduled to Tuesday.
My mom didn’t bring her phone again. I know, I should’ve asked her. Why didn’t I? I don’t know.
She’d printed out the papers for the trust … but not all of them. The banker, who was very nice, offered to extend our appointment so we could drive back to my mom’s new place to get her phone. (It was good that he though she and I were hilarious. We are, by the way!)
At her house, she went in and I waited in the care. 2 minutes. 4 minutes. 5 minutes. I went in. She was looking at her phone with a magnified glass. FFS. She wanted to know if the correct form was in the email she had. It was. We got BACK to the bank, and 55 minutes later everything was done.
The banker had scheduled a 30 minute meeting originally and it only took an hour and 45 minutes to finally get the damn check deposited! PHEW!
And so (almost) ends, adventures with Mom.
No, this isn’t much different than my life growing up.
During one of my drives I told her about a friend having issues with their husband who wasn’t supporting their transition. Mom said, “What’s to agree with? If a person is trans, it’s who they are.”
This is also how I was brought up.
Anyway, I’ve started a YouTube channel where I’m documenting writing the new dystopian werewolf book. If you want to follow along, here are two videos that give you an idea about what I’m doing.
My channel is very very small, and I’d love for it to grow. Please follow and share!
I’m selling it and a BUNCH of books on super DUPER discount right now. If you want to get any of my books on super duper discount, check that out HERE.
I’ll be at Harbor Market in Kenosha this weekend with A.R. Grimes. May 30th, 9am – 2pm. 2nd Avenue midway between 54th and 56th, Kenosha, WI I’d love to see any and all of you there!
I could hope for a shower of sales, but alas, the only showers I got were the literal ones. Wisconsin had some fun weather: hail, thunderstorms, rain, freezing cold back to back to summer warm.
I’ve spent a lot of time working on three projects:
my paid job. I know, silly of me. Finals are soon, so that will take the back burner come May 15th. (Maybe the 14th if I’m really on top of grading finals)
Editing the second of the Hidden Magick Series. Yep, it is all edited and I’m about to format. That means I need ARC readers. Send me a note if you want to be part of the team!
brainstorming a new series … dystopian werewolves. Thoughts? Anyone want their name in the series? I really don’t love coming up with names.
I would love for The Chameleon’s Duplicity to come out at the end of May. If you’d like to be part of the ARC team, I’ll probably have the eBooks out in the next 1 – 2 days.
The Chameleon’s Duplicity
May is just around the corner. I haven’t written any short stories, but maybe I’ll include one in May. If I start that new dystopian, maybe I’ll drop some of my beginning musing on that one here. I am debating creating either TikTok or YouTube videos on my beginning to end process of the first book. Thoughts?
Christmas morning I sat amongst my gifts and copious amounts of sugars watching celebrity family feud. It was Olympic gymnasts battling against each other and the question was, give a word to replace a swear word.
Steve Harvey looked utterly baffled. He said that his family would get three strikes in three answers! Every answer seemed to confuse him more. His reactions amused me.
When it got to the last answer, the team who were answering, had no idea. I had an answer, but wasn’t convinced (sugar). Both teams couldn’t get the last one. It was sugar. I had a student years ago who used sugar ALL the time!
I’m not sure why this amused me as much as it did! I don’t think I use many of these in my book, but if you ever feel like you need a swear replacement, here you go!
I believe in my NEXT newsletter I’ll have a call for ARC readers for Aura of the Chameleon. I may have said that last time, but we all know that December is a bit of a hard month. So far, everyone who’s read the book, loves it … which brings me much joy.
As we enter, as Jade would call, the blursdays of the year … when the lucky among us can get lost in the featureless days between Christmas and New years, I offer you a few places to grab free books. These are not books with newsletter sign ups, these are free books, available on sites like Amazon.
As it goes, I didn’t put any of my books on these pages, well, none of my books under my real name, but I do have friends who have books available in these book blasts. You can find many great books by amazing authors. Do note the days the books are available.
Check them both out and find your next book bestie!
And for the love that is all I can ask, be gentle with the end of 2025. So much has happened, we don’t need anything big happening for the next week. We don’t need a big huzzah to bring in 2026. Let’s all be quiet and calm.
I am so excited about this week. Well, no, I’m not, but I am! I just survived a week of spring break. Survived because lifting a box of early release copies of Xenagogue, I lost my balance and then my back hurt. Though, my back hurting isn’t really out of the ordinary.
So, if spring break was last week, why am I excited about next week? Well, there’s a birthday in the house, so I have an excuse to bake. Please don’t ask about my diet, it isn’t great. While out getting groceries today, I ran into someone with rainbow hair!!! I know, it was trippy. Now, I dyed my hair black back in January to get me to summer, so that will be a shock to some of you, but as Laura, the lovely lady with rainbow hair mentioned, I’m still full of rainbows in the inside!
me and Laura of the rainbow hair! She took a bookmark. She had the cutest family with her!!
What I’ve baked! The first is African Malva Pudding Cake. A family favorite. That second one is a s’mores blondie. It looks weird but it was tasty. The last picture is the mid-step in making fudge… it’s a dangerous process!
Next weekend I’ll make a sandwich cookie chocolate layered cake. Who knows what else will pop up… macaron cookies, pound cake (because we all need to put on more pounds!), and probably hot chocolate… he likes to drink it early and often!
Now, as you saw above, I have physical copies of Xenagogue. You are welcome to go ahead and order signed copies of any of my books from the website, INCLUDING Xenagogue! I know, super duper exciting. If you’d rather use paypal or venmo, just send a message and we can figure something out.
So, what’s new in the world of writing?
Obviously, Xenagogue is ready to be out in the world! It even has a few reviews on goodreads!
Veiled Phoenix will be at a sale price because of C.L. Cannon’s Fantasy & Sci-Fi Book Fair. Not only are there Free & Discounted books, there are prizes! Check it out!!
On April 11th, when Xenagogue releases, there will be an online release party on The Reading Lounge a facebook reader and author page. There will be a slew of authors playing games and giving away prizes. Come join in on the fun and see what you can win!
I’ve been going through the Yugen critiques and soon I’ll be calling for an ARC team. Pebble’s story is so fun! All of this brings me joy!
It took me way too long to think of a third word that had that hard ‘c’ sound for the subject of this newsletter! Last year we got a new kitten. We have too many cats, but, what can you do when the spouse is addicted?
Well, the new old kitten (full blown cat, age 4, almost 5) doesn’t not like that we have a new kitten, and attacks the new one. So the new one is a bundle of furry fear. The new kitten, one and a half years old, is coddled. She gets to be in our bedroom at night, hidden from the other cats. She’s very protected. Despite that, every now and again, she pees indiscriminately.
Next week is spring break. Last week there were quizzes. This week exams. Lots of grading. Lots of things to do. But next week, nothing.
I had two students blatantly cheat. I’ve been teaching log enough that it wasn’t even a question. I hate doing the paperwork for this type of situation. Can’t they think of me and what they’re putting me through?? 🤣🤣😱
I think I’ve acclimated to the time change. I haven’t gotten used to driving into the sun. It had just passed the point of beaming into my eyes and BAM, it’s back!
On April 11th, when Xenagogue comes out, there will be a release part on The Reading Lounge, a facebook page. A bunch of authors are coming together, offering free books and prizes. Join the page, and have a fun day of it!
All of the Ember Savita books are out on audio. I have free audio codes, I’m just trying to figure out the best way to generate readers or engagement with them. I tried on my author facebook page, it didn’t work. If anyone has an idea, let me know!
I finished Aura Of The Chameleon, a new dystopian book I wanted to write. I released half of the first chapter on facebook. Should I put the first chapter in my next newsletter?
Well, we did it, it’s March! As the date says in a few days, March forth and buy books!
At the university where I work, students are, mostly, in the swing of things. Exams, homework, excuses, the works. I have my pattern of getting things done as well. I’m trying to stay on top of my work so I can write my new series. No one said any of this was easy, but it is fun!
Anyway, I sent the ARCs out for Xenagogue. If you signed up, please check your email. It will have come from bookfunnel, not me. That’s the site I can send eBooks out from. So far, the few people who’ve read it have given the story good reviews!
Veiled Phoenix is part of an online book fair. This event goes on for over a month, and you can win prizes. You should go and check it out! Get discount and free books! What a deal.
Huckleberry Rahr - Author 