Fun Stuff
Mrs Hudson wants to give YOU an ARC!
The “Mrs Hudson’s Case” Illustrations Contest closes on May 5. This story about Sherlock Holmes’ landlady-turned-housekeeper needs pictures—and to encourage you, I have 15 shiny new ARCs of Riviera Gold that I’ll give in a random drawing to those who entered the contest—and, the winners whose pictures end up in the Illustrated Edition will also…
Read MoreGiveaways–You ALL Get…Me.
Prizes–you ALL get prizes! Well, not keys to a new car-type prizes, but me on your screen. And honestly, isn’t that every bit as exciting as a new car? As a reminder, we’re raising funds for the Bookshop Santa Cruz Keep Kids Reading program, to hand books to low-income kids at their school lunch program drive-by…
Read MoreCarroll, Lear, King—Kids Reading!
My beloved local Bookshop Santa Cruz has a program to keep kids reading during the pandemic: giving away books to kids K-12 at the school lunch program drive-by pickups. Help a great bookshop, help kids—and help their parents, to keep kids reading. So I’m running a fundraiser for them. By way of reward, I’ll keep…
Read MoreVideo meetup
Well, it’s been an… interesting month, hasn’t it? Two weeks ago, I was in San Diego for a conference. Today, I’m not sure any of us will ever travel again… So, in that spirit, we’re embracing the virtual reach-out. Yesterday I spent a very brisk hour of keyboarding with a chat with the Beekeeper’s Apprentices FB…
Read MoreMerry Mary
This is the last few days to download the free illustrated pdf version of “Mary’s Christmas”, here. Print it off, e-mail it around, send it to friends—but do it in the next few days, because it comes off the site on January 1. I hope you enjoy it!
Read MoreLast Chance for Merry Mary
The free short story, “Mary’s Christmas”, is only available until January 1! The story itself is in the collection Russell’s War, although unlike that plain print version, this freebie is illustrated,which is fun. Plus, it’s a pdf download, which means you can print it off, or save it, or send it to a friend. The…
Read MoreMerry Mary
Say, would you like a little something to help nudge you into that old holiday spirit? What about a copy of Mary’s Christmas? This is a pdf to download, so you can print it off, use it to create an illuminated manuscript, send it to a friend, you name it. Plus, this is an all-new…
Read MoreLockdown’s Hallowe’en
The other day I did a Halloween reading for a fund-raiser lunch, which reminded me of this, from Lockdown. Happy all hallow’s week… 107 DAYS AGO OCTOBER 31 Olivia When the call came in, Olivia thought it was just another Halloween prank. Olivia hated Halloween—and had long before she become a cop. Maybe it wouldn’t…
Read MoreThe fun side of the job
Not a lot of people can count play as part of the job. I’m very lucky this way, since doing fun things goes under the header of “building community” and that’s what authors do, right? So when I buy some sparkly flapper dresses and drag the family into climbing into them for photos, that’s the…
Read MoreJigsaw Venice
To mark the three-month countdown to Island of the Mad, and to give away a few of the bound galleys my publisher sent me– –we’re running a contest admirably suited to a book set in Venice: a jigsaw puzzle. Venice is a tightly-fitted set of pieces literally built up in the marshy lagoon over many…
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