novels

December 15, 2016

New Nica, Nick-able* in the Near-term

Nica of the New Yorks (FRAMES book 2) is here! And, on Friday, December 16, you can download the e-version for free from Amazon.

FRAMES is a speculative detective fantasy series that will eventually comprise four books. Book 1, Nica of Los Angeles, will also be free on December 16.

* I suppose one is not actually nicking the book if the author makes it available for free. I suppose I might have said, instead, “FRAMES, free this Friday”.

Scroll on to learn a bit about book 2.

nola.v2

Now that Nica has a taste for life in the Frames – the endless multiple dimensions so bogglingly like yet unlike our own – she can’t wait to get back to work with the allies in the fight against Maelstrom. Being Nica, she applies her detective skills to solve problems she hasn’t been asked or permitted to tackle. Meanwhile, the universe prepares for war. In the New Yorks are Frames of such power that the land imparts strange partial sentience to all, and Nica’s roster of allies includes old pals and recent comrades plus local beings, landforms, and structures, notably a self-help book, a river, and a street musician with an unfathomably dark past.

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September 23, 2014

Book Sale: Nica of Los Angeles, Today for One Dollar

In fact, save an extra penny. The cost is actually $0.99.

(When did the cents symbol leave the keyboard?) (When did I last look for it?)

Today only! Get a copy of my new novel, Nica of Los Angeles, for ninety-nine cents, at all the usual places, including:

Amazon
(ratings avg 4.7 out of 5 stars)

Smashwords

Apple

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

 

nola coverYou’ve never read anything quite like this! When rookie private eye Nica takes on a mysterious case, she enters a world of multiple dimensions called Frames, where buildings and lawn chairs can be sentient, where a stray cat has great powers, where books can be killers, and clouds can be spies. At home, Nica tackles missing persons cases, while in the larger reality of the Frames she is swept into an escalating battle between good and evil.

September 4, 2014

Publication Celebration Deal: Nica of Los Angeles!

nola cover

THIS DEAL IS OVER BUT STAY TUNED, THERE WILL BE OTHERS.

Nica is here at last and for the next 3 days, just one thin dollar ($1)!

Nica of Los Angeles is a speculative fantasy with detective and dystopian elements. You’ve never read anything quite like it!

When rookie private eye Nica takes on a mysterious case, she enters a world of multiple dimensions called Frames, where buildings and lawn chairs can be sentient, where a stray cat has great powers, where books can be killers, and clouds can be spies. At home, Nica tackles missing persons cases, while in the larger reality of the Frames she is swept into an escalating battle between good and evil.

This is the first of four novels in the FRAMES series.

Cover art by Lars Huston.

P.S. Disgruntlement guarantee: if you already bought it at a higher price, let me know and I will make it up to you.

 

Read (rave!) reviews at Goodreads.

Read chapters on-line: Here on this blog  or at Wattpad

Download sample chapters from: Smashwords or Noisetrade.

or… take the plunge!

Here’s how to buy it for just $1 (through Sep 7, 2014):

Step 1: Go to Nica‘s page at Smashwords.

Step 2: Click the “Buy” button and follow checkout procedure.

Step 3: To get the discount, use coupon code DQ24S.

August 30, 2014

Twenty Free Chapters of Nica!

nolaNica of Los Angeles publishes as a e-book on Thursday, September 4, 2014. At last!

To celebrate publication, the first twenty chapters – about half of this fantasy detective novel – are available to read for free.
Get started reading!
or
Pre-order at the introductory price of $2.99!
or
Check out the reader reviews!
or
Simply exercise your click finger!

 

March 3, 2013

Spread the Word: Free eBooks! (thru March 9)

Until sometime on March 9, 2013, you can download a free digital version of either Scar Jewelry or C.R.I.M.E. Science. 

Here’s how:  click on the title, which will take you to each book’s download page at Smashwords, where you will find formats for every common ereader. Use the code RW100 to get your free copy of each.

If you are an especially cautious individual, you may first want to read free excerpts of either or both, available under the Novels menu on this blog.

This giveaway is part of the annual Read an EBook promotion at Smashwords.

Please help spread the word about this giveaway.

Brief descriptions of each book follow.

Cover for Scar Jewelry

Cover art by Lars Huston.

Scar Jewelry

What do we really know about our parents or the ways they shape us? For twins Deirdre and Langston, 20, the answer is: not enough. With their father long dead, and their mother now in a coma, they realize they don’t even know whom to notify. In fact, they understand almost nothing about their mother. They delve into her life and uncover secrets that revise the past and transform the future.

====================

CRIMESCIENCE_cover

Cover art by Lars Huston.

C.R.I.M.E. Science

A misfit group of scientists and tech whizzes form a detective agency in order to solve crimes and right wrongs. In this, the first book of a series, they investigate the death of a renowned volcano scientist. He dies in a volcanic eruption in what everyone considers a terrible accident. Everyone except his widow, who insists he was murdered.

 

February 21, 2013

Writer’s Block: The Freedom of Chains

I’ve been reading what a great variety of writers have said about how they approach writer’s block, everyone from Norman Mailer to Maya Angelou. The sentiment seems pretty evenly divided between chain your butt to the chair and get the damn job done and when I can’t write it is my subconscious sending me a message.

Many writers have a hybrid perspective and that is the one that resonates with me. I need discipline to get beyond rote results: chain your butt to the chair so that your subconscious can soar free.

February 14, 2013

Sequels and Missed Opportunities

Some of my readers have requested a sequel to my recent novel Scar Jewelry. While I am thrilled that they care enough about the characters to want a part two, I suspect the requests come from desire to witness certain conversations and interactions that, well, frankly, won’t ever occur, even if I were to write a sequel. Such additions would make the story more tidy, maybe – but no longer right.

Here’s the bottom line: at any moment, life stretches in all directions and sometimes the options feel endless. But most of those options are fleeting opportunities and it can really be too bad if we don’t say something or do something or change something when we have the chance.

If this is a spoiler it is an enigmatic one that shouldn’t harm the reading experience.

January 21, 2013

The Value of Shards of Writing Time

More progress with less time.  That seems to be the bottom line. Yesterday, the middle of three days off, I had all day to write. I frittered and chilled and squandered all those hours on doin’ nuthin’ (which has its own rewards but that’s another story).

This morning, crammed between the trip to the mechanic and the shuttling of kids – first items on a long must-do list – I knew it was now or never and I got a weekend’s worth of writing done in a couple hours.

These are recurring refrains. The tighter the time span, the more I get done, especially when preceded by a day of “nothing”, during which some part of my brain figures out what I need to write: when I sat down today I had it all figured out, but yesterday I had not a clue.

January 13, 2013

An Ode to Repetition

On one level, I hate routine. I’ve made important life decisions based on a futile attempt to avoid repetition. Changes of jobs, homes, cities – and probably relationships. I have to fight feeling trapped once I exhaust the options for fresh experience. But that time will always come. There are only so many ways you can drive to the store, if you are going to the same damn store from the same damn house.

Yet, concurrently, repetition and routine provide essential foundations to so much that matters to me. While it is always great to share a new experience with my kids, the comforting patterns of family life are constructed of routine. There is no question that I plan most of my writing during mundane tasks like toothbrushing or weeding. And one of the richest benefits of travel is how much I appreciate home when I return.

I have a friend who talks about Buddhist intent to stay fully present in each moment – aware of the give of the keyboard as I type, conscious of the flow of water and the scratch of the scrubpad as I wash a plate. She strives for this awareness to feel grounded and calm. I try it and discover subtle variations that make each repetition unique. Doing this seems to be as close as I can get to meditation -with all my Western impatience and resistance to organized faith.