New release sample: ANGELA'S KNIGHT

 

"Why?"

"Do you care what damage you do to a bar of chocolate when you eat it?" Asmondius nodded slowly when Maurice swallowed down a surge of nausea at the mental image that provided. "At least with a magical despot, he wants to keep his new territory as much in one piece as possible, because he will need to use it in the future. Or in more mercenary terms, he wants to preserve as much profit as possible."

He sighed and put down the empty hot fudge jar. "Well, lad, I can't say I'm glad to have this to think about, but I am glad you were worried enough to consult me on this. We will put our heads together back home and see what we can do from our side of reality. You'll contact your friends and get to work on this?"

"You betcha."

A moment later, Asmondius vanished in a soft shower of green and blue sparks, taking everything with him except the plate of uneaten cookies and the fifth jar of untouched hot fudge sauce. Maurice smiled crookedly at that. Things had to be pretty serious for Asmondius to leave that for him. As in, provisions for a siege.

Off the Bookshelf: VICTORIA'S WAR, by Deborah Cullins Smith

 

Book 3 in The Last of the Long-Haired Hippies series

Okay, wow, I was starting to get my suspicions about different people and how things were tying together, but the ending still hit me a lot faster and harder than I anticipated. And I shuddered a few times. Because come on, Deborah is a grandmother, for pete's sake. Grandmas shouldn't be thinking about these dark, gruesome, cringe-worthy things!

(Partly sarcasm here, partly amazement and admiration!)

Book 2 was Victoria's memories of Woodstock and life as a hippie in San Francisco in the late 60s, and if you haven't read that book yet, you definitely need to, because first of all, why would you be so dumb as to skip that incredible story? And second, you gotta read it to understand what's going on in Book 3, taking place in the "present" of Victoria's life. 

Victoria is under siege, spiritually and physically, and she barely realizes in time what's going on and the danger hitting her town. When the body count starts rising, it's hard to know who to fear for next. Evil is out there, a dark cloud, creating illusions to feed the arrogance and pride and greed and fears within us, and trap everyone it possibly can. It's our own choice whether we will be victims or victors. No one can make that choice for us, but oh the heartbreak and pain when people choose wrongly, despite all the warnings. Victoria and Gary and their families and allies do their best to warn the people of their quiet little town, but not all will emerge unscathed or even alive.

Are you ready for the battle that awaits all of us? Take a clue from the book and prepare ....

Bravo, Deborah. 

New release sample: ANGELA'S KNIGHT

  

"Think that's enough to protect Angela from whatever's going on?" Maurice asked, as Asmondius finished taking notes on everything he had told him.

"We won't know until the time comes, will we?" he murmured, glancing over the tops of his thick horn-rimmed glasses. They had settled on the tip of his nose when the big notepad and quill pen appeared.

"Considering you know a whole lot more about what's threatening her than I do--"

"No, lad. That's the problem. It could be Angela's curse and her ancient enemies have awakened. It could be, as you said, dimensional invaders. They know Divine's Emporium holds together all the fraying strings of the... Well, let's call it the drawstring bag that keeps Otherness from popping through into the Human realm. There are many such spots throughout this world, and many Humans who have been recruited through the centuries to work with us and guard and hold everything together.

"The problem is that Earth is a nexus point. Many different dimensions and worlds converge here. Realities that even the Fae don't know about. It could be something even we can't see or touch or hear or smell, trying to come through here. Something is targeting Angela--or perhaps not Angela, but this house, this entire town, the gates physically anchored to this spot for stability.

"Neighborlee drips with magic and alternative-magical energy. That makes it a tempting target. It could be something or someone very nasty, who merely wants to absorb all the power and potential that has soaked into the very fiber and foundation of this place. These enemies couldn't care less about actually invading and dominating this world. That makes them even more dangerous than an enemy trying to take over, trying to use Neighborlee as a gatehouse to other dimensions."

CELEBRATE LUCKY 13 -- THE 13TH AND FINAL NEIGHBORLEE BOOK

 

Here's the address: https://yeoldedragonbooks.com/countdown-to-lucky-13/

PLEASE JOIN US!

It's going to be fun. Print books, ebooks, audiobooks -- how do YOU like to read?

And remember to check this blog every few days for excerpts from Angela's Knight, the current release, and NEW releases as we head through April.

New release sample: ANGELA'S KNIGHT

 

 

Then there was Jane, Kurt's fiancée, who had been called the Ghost in the last town she lived in. Her gift let her phase out so she was invisible and could walk through walls and fly. She had been sent to Neighborlee by Hoax, Inc., the organization that had raised and trained her in her talents. They specialized in investigating and debunking paranormal, metaphysical, and simply unexplainable phenomena around the world. Usually, they covered up those odd events to protect the people at the core of them. Hoax was now an ally of the guardians of Neighborlee. Different members of Hoax came regularly to consult with Angela and meet with another group of allies who had come to town in the last year. The founders of Hoax were former Lost Kids from Neighborlee. They had spent the last few decades identifying Lost Kids before their particular talents manifested, to keep them safe from the Rivals and their willing minions, the Grandstone family, who wanted to enslave them and use their powers for evil.

A second group of allies to join the guardians were led by Arthur Sheridan, a Lost Kid who had built a communications empire. He had sent his grandson, Daniel, to Neighborlee to re-establish their family's roots and investigate the hints of odd and mysterious events over the years. Arthur still expressed some chagrin at having worked for so long in competition with Hoax's leaders and the guardians, to protect Lost Kids from the Rivals.

Then there were John Stanzer and Dawn Dover. They came from another dimension, and were looking for other refugees, whom they called the Hunt. Their interdimensional guardians, the Hounds of Hamin, manifested as big black dogs with silver eyes.

Off the Bookshelf: ABANDONED IN DEATH, by JD Robb

 

Guilty pleasure time. Thank goodness for libraries, which remove some of the guilt -- I was able to borrow this to read, rather than spending money on another book when I have probably a 10-foot stack of books waiting to be read, plus the uncounted number of ebooks on my tablet that I haven't read yet. Crazy, huh?

Crazy murderers is the name of the game. Psychopaths. Which, in this case, are hard to tell apart from spoiled brat kids who grew up, but didn't grow up, didn't learn that the world didn't revolve around them.

Dallas is up against a man who is stalking and capturing and imprisoning women who resemble his mother who abandoned him decades ago. When they don't play along and prove they're the perfect Mommy, he kills them, dresses them up like he remembers Mommy, and leaves them near playgrounds with a sign proclaiming them Bad Mommy.

To help find the murderer, they need to identify Mommy. Is she dead or alive? Why and when and where did she abandon him? And most important: where is his current Mommy candidate, and how much time does she have before the spoiled brat decides she's a Bad Mommy, and he gets rid of her?

Another nail-biter with wonderful character interaction.  I devoured this in two days, when I should have been editing and doing some promotion for my own books. Yeah, guilty pleasure -- but worth it!

New release sample: ANGELA'S KNIGHT

  

"What's so natural about being a target for interdimensional invaders every year?" Maurice grumbled.

"True." Asmondius sighed. "Refresh my memory? I'm aware their numbers are increasing, and I'm sure I didn't interact with all of them when I was last here. We were rather busy unraveling those mysteries."

Quickly, Maurice ran through the list of the not-quite-Human allies in Neighborlee, and their gifts. Lanie, who retained her telekinesis after she broke her back and landed in a wheelchair. She also sometimes had flashes of future events and could tell if people lied to her if she touched them while they talked. Asmondius wasn't aware of those particular aspects of her talents. Mostly just her wry attitude toward life. Kurt had a gift for mechanical and electronic things, and the ability to "borrow" the talents of others. Felicity gave off EM bursts and had a talent for befriending and calling, at need, every dog within an eighty-mile radius. These three had grown up together, beginning life in the Neighborlee Children's Home.

The Longfellows were keeping guardian talents in the family. Ford was the patriarch, and the assumption for years was that his three children, Jinx, Lenore, and Portia, hadn't inherited any talents to become guardians. That was proven a false assumption when Portia's sensitivity to energy became a liability, with a strong chance of attracting a group of people who tried to steal Lost Kids just as their talents awoke. She had chosen to have a child and let everyone assume she had simply gone to a fertility clinic. The assumption was half-right: she had teamed up with Colonel Hayward, another Lost Kid, to have her daughter, Athena. Then when they realized that Portia's presence combined with Athena's was generating a resonance that would indeed alert and attract the Rivals, Portia had chosen to become a world traveler, seeking more Lost Kids, and left Athena for her parents to raise. In safety and anonymity.

Doni Longfellow was Lenore's daughter, orphaned at age nine. She didn't have any visible talents, but she was clever and part of the support team, along with her computer-genius boyfriend, Cosmo, Athena's fiancé, Wallace, and Jinx. Several other friends of the core group of guardians had grown in sensitivity over the years, after long exposure to the magic of Divine's Emporium. These included Gordon Priebe, a police officer, and his wife, Mandy; Troy and Diane Richards; and Gina Sinclair, the director of Eden, the community center.

New release sample: ANGELA'S KNIGHT

 

 

"Ah." Asmondius nodded. "That Guber and Epsi. Interesting that the whole mess with the throne and the anti-royalty extremists and the death of our Queen threw them together the way it has. I assume the magic of Neighborlee is working on them, as well?"

"Big-time, from what Lori says. Epsi's a total agoraphobe when it comes to the Human realm, but she's happy to be here."

"Love does wonderful things, lad." He winked. "Dare I assume you agree?" A chuckle escaped him when Maurice just grinned. "Anyone else to add to the list of considerations and variables?"

"Well, once we've got all the Fae listed, we need to look at the super-friends."

"The who?"

"No, they're on tour in..." Maurice grinned, not at all repentant at confusing Asmondius with his Human-cultural references. He had to be feeling better, to start making wisecracks again. "That's what I call all the kids in this town with powers. Not magic, actually. Of course, a lot of them aren't kids anymore, even though Lanie refers to them as the Lost Kids. They've been defending Neighborlee for generations. Angela calls them the guardians. You've met some of them when we were dealing with the problems with the lookalikes and the rebel Fae trying to break through."

"Ah, yes. I try to keep my visits to Neighborlee and my interactions with Angela's protégés as unofficial as possible. Otherwise, I'm compelled to write reports upon reports. I'm quite tired of all the discussions that resume whenever Neighborlee faces a challenge large enough to gain our attention. I have to be on the alert to discourage another proposal for a scientific expedition to camp here for a decade or two, to examine the impact of all the dimensional gates and slits and the non-Fae magic that seems to be as common here as spring water. Everyone with any sense knows that the simple act of observation has an effect on unusual phenomena. There's no control over whether that effect is negative or positive. We want Neighborlee to develop as naturally as it can."

Off the Bookshelf: BIRTH OF THE STORM, by Deborah Cullins Smith

 

Book 2 of the Last of the Long-Haired Hippies series

Most of this book is filled with Victoria's memories of her time with the hippies in San Francisco, the trip to Woodstock, the heartbreaking aftermath, and the descent into darkness that will be faced and resolved, hopefully, in book 3.

One thing I have to say about Deb's writing style and voice -- and I'm not saying this as her friend and publishing partner -- I'm saying this as an editor first, and then a reader.

DANG, this book is easy to read! Once I picked it up, I just wanted to keep reading. Everything flows, the scenes make sense, everything keeps building. I got really frustrated when life kept getting in the way and I couldn't pick up the book and continue reading!

Love makes people do crazy things, self-destructive things, and sometimes in the name of love they have to let go and let the people they love destroy themselves. No matter how much it hurts. At least, that's the painful, bitter lesson Victoria learns during her time trying so hard to fit into Robbie's lifestyle. She made good friends and earned their love during her time in San Francisco, and it was a sacrifice to leave them all behind -- but she had to save her own soul.

The research, the accuracy of detail is tangible. I don't know much about Woodstock, but the little incidents and references to real people and events, the timetable of concerts, the weather ... yeah, Deb did her homework. Those who were there, who were involved, can attest to how real that portion of the story feels. Those crazy hippie kids meant well, they wanted to fix the world, they thought love would heal everything, but they learned the sad lesson that so many generations before them learned -- it takes more than love. People are broken.

And the broken, diseased, dark parts that came out of that period of Victoria's life are about to fall on her and the town of Compton in a thick, brutal tidal wave.  Take a deep breath and brace yourselves, and prepare to dive into book 3!

New release sample: ANGELA'S KNIGHT

  

Now the Wishing Ball cooperated again, and the images of the night Angela was pushed through the painting flashed across its surface. Maurice nearly whistled his appreciation when the image split into four, showing different angles and vantage points in the shop, from late in the afternoon of the incident, up until he pulled Angela out of the painting and the intruders left the shop, using Holly to get through the magical protective net that tried to keep them inside. Obviously, the net and the Wishing Ball had been conferring, and they had picked up some tricks from Guber's monitoring gizmo.

Even with the advantages of fast-forward and judicious editing--also borrowed from Guber's gizmo--it took nearly two hours to show everything to Asmondius. All the hot chocolate was gone, and he hadn't hesitated to snap his fingers and bring in the really strong stuff: jars of hot fudge sauce, and spoons to eat directly out of the warmed jars. Maurice appreciated that, but this sign of how seriously Asmondius took all of this put off his appetite.

"There are a number of Fae living in this town now, are there not?" Asmondius said, after the images faded from the Wishing Ball, and he had continued to sit staring at the darkened surface for another ten, fifteen minutes. He didn't even look into the jar of hot fudge as he scraped the sides and thoughtfully sucked the spoon clean.

"Yeah. Angeloria--she's planning on marrying a Changeling, Brick. He's still learning the tricks. One of the descendants of the founder of the town. Then there's Harry, who's planning to set up shop doing investigations and inventing. He's settling down with Bethany, a local. She's got both guardian blood and Fae blood making things really crazy for her. She's been going back and forth between here and Hollywood, shutting down her career and dealing with crazies, but they're in town right now. Then there's Guber and Epsi. They're working on solving the whole poisoned chocolate riddle."

New release sample: ANGELA'S KNIGHT

 

 

"Hmm, yes, there has been some upheaval lately. Can't say I mind, actually. Helps us pinpoint the troublemakers, cut out the rotten elements before they infect the whole, generate a new generation of rebels, that sort of thing. But I don't countenance our housecleaning spilling over and hurting our friends outside the Fae Realms." He snapped his fingers and two easy chairs appeared, with an oval table between them, loaded with chocolate cookies and pitchers of hot chocolate.

Maurice whistled, impressed. This was obviously going to be a long conversation, and Asmondius' knowledge about matters back in the Fae Realms made him ready to take Maurice's concerns seriously.

"Tell me what happened with Angela, first," Asmondius said, as they settled down in the chairs and poured their first cups. "She's been through more than enough trouble and sorrow down through the centuries, for our sake as well as her own sad history."

"She has a sad history? Like what?" Maurice sat up, nearly bobbling his cup before he took his first sip.

"Later, lad."

Maurice knew that frown meant business. Asmondius had been a family friend, and he had learned early to gauge the seriousness of the situation by the wrinkles on the elder statesman's forehead. Right now, he wagered he could scrub an entire football team's worth of socks on those ridges. Taking a deep breath, he gathered up his magic and shot it at the Wishing Ball.

Normally by this late in the evening, especially after all the work he had been doing, trying to help solve the mystery of the intruders and stolen books, he wouldn't have more than enough magic to turn on the protective net around the shop before he went to bed. However, the Wishing Ball was as aware as a centuries-old magical object could be, without having a trapped soul inside it, needing the kiss of a prince or princess to break the spell. The Wishing Ball cared about Angela as much as Maurice did, evidenced by its eager cooperation when he wanted to contact Asmondius for a serious conversation.

Off the Bookshelf: WRITE NAKED, by Jennifer Probst

 

I joined (rejoined, actually) a local writing group, and when I found out they had a book club for reading and discussing craft books, that fit in very well with my goal to read at least one book each week this year.

So here's our first book, subtitle: A bestseller's secrets to writing romance and navigating the path to success.

This book tells it like it is from the beginning, tearing away the illusion that a writer's life is all glamour and lying around scratching at scented paper with a pink feathery pen for maybe ten minutes a day, raking in the $$, and eating bonbons. Umm, no. Writers need a healthy lifestyle, for one thing, to keep the little gray cells popping -- meaning exercise and a balanced diet. And for another thing, you still gotta get the story from the paper into the computer, so you can send the finished book to your editor! Waste of time, writing on silly, expensive scented paper. And what if you're allergic?

We had the privilege of having a Zoom chat with Jennifer after we finished the book and discussed it for a while. What a fun, generous, encouraging person. She has paid her dues and she knows what she's talking about, in the struggle to create stories that work, and characters that live and breathe. She covers so many topics, so many aspects to being a writer, because yeah, there's a LOT of work involved. A lot of preparation and revising and angsting, and the work doesn't stop once you get an editor to agree to read your book -- selling to the publisher is just the start of the uphill battle to sell to the readers, and connect with them, make fans, and keep the creative fires stoked.

Everyone who wants to be a writer (and everyone who needs a boost and encouragement and some laughter and confirmation that yes, others face the same battles and while we might look crazy, we really aren't, this is perfectly normal for writers) should read this book. No matter what genre they write. Maybe on a regular basis, as a refresher.

Thanks, Jennifer!

New release sample: ANGELA'S KNIGHT

 

"Maurice." Asmondius Pickle, head of the Fae Disciplinary Council that had exiled him to Earth a year-and-a-half ago, faded into view inside the Wishing Ball. "How are you, lad? Not getting itchy at this late date, are you?"

"Forget about me." Maurice snarled under his breath as his wings snapped into chop-and-liquefy speed. He clenched his fists and put all his control into calming them and folding them back out of the way. This was just another sign of how the pressure lately had messed him over. "It's Angela. I gotta know what's happening back home, and if it's coming after her."

"Coming after her?"

The Wishing Ball turned opaque, and then divided into two solid rainbow-swirled balls. One floated across the counter and over the edge, to drop to the floor and expand, while the other rainbow ball stayed in place and returned to normal Wishing Ball condition. The first expanded until Asmondius could step through it. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the counter.

"What has been going on back home?" He leaned over Maurice for three seconds, then sighed and snapped his fingers, and vanished in a shower of sparks, to reappear standing on the counter, shrunken so he was eye-to-eye with Maurice. "That's better. What's this about something coming after Angela? I thought everything was settled once that doppelganger immolated on the town's shield. Don't tell me the rebel Fae have snuck back under our watch?"

"Who knows? The guardians and everybody slapped them down good enough, they should be licking their wounds and sulking for a couple years. The thing is, I figure with all the fuss over Mellisande dying and the anti-hereditary royalty loonies running around, and a bunch of different ministries hunting for who poisoned the chocolate, and figuring it came from Earth and carob-tainted chocolate, and taking so long to let Epsi out of the holding tank to help hunt and... Well, maybe some of the real extreme morons want to cut off all ties with the Human world." Maurice shrugged. "Can't stand Fae politics. It's even worse than what the Humans are going through, and that's saying a lot."

New release: ANGELA'S KNIGHT, Neighborlee Book 12

 

New release TODAY

In paper, ebook, and audiobook.

Equinox: Maurice has a day of full-size freedom to spend with his true love, Holly. Their day of fun ends in panic, when Angela is attacked and the defenses of Divine's Emporium are breached. In the search to find out who hired thieves to steal books full of inimical magic from the shop and provided them with magic charms to do it, Angela's memories are stirred. Strange dreams disturb her sleep and she asks questions she hasn't thought of in decades.

 

Ethan Jarrod, a particularly gifted P.I. with some mysteries of his own, joins forces with local P.I. John Stanzer to identify Angela's enemies. Is Jarrod the knight from her dreams, or the final weapon of her enemies, to destroy all the magic of Divine's Emporium and Angela herself?

One More Neighborlee Book To Be Published: THE LIVING PROOF GETS THE BLUES, to release May 1, 2022!