Journal of the Plague Month

Wait. I mean Newsletter for April, 2020!

 

Well, isn’t this a whole bunch of fun? I hope everyone who receives this newsletter (and everyone who doesn’t) is well and healthy and stays that way. We’re living in strange times, with Covid-19 knocking us all for a loop.

Hope all the folks to whom I sent books got them. Now that the plague is upon us and most of us are quarantined, who knows when April’s books will be sent to those who win them. Which reminds me . . . Bam-Bam has chosen!

Slight detour first: I’ll send whatever book you want (I can send e-copies easily. The post office will probably take some serious time to reopen to people my age, so I hope you all have a Kindle, NOOK, or whatever other e-device exists if you win a book.

 Okay. Back to Bam-Bam. The winners of March’s books are:

            Vstark! I don’t have a first name or an address, but I do have your email address, so please just tell me which book you want.

            Crystal Toller (I have your email address, but no home address, so I hope you want an ebook), and

            Rebecca Wahr! Rebecca told me she has a NOOK, so if you’ll tell me which book you’d like to have, I’ll zip it to you for your NOOK!

 Thanks, everyone!

On the book front, not a whole lot is new here. I’m still doing my best to finish writing Exercised Spirits. Because I can no longer pull an all-dayer (much less an all-nighter), but have to rest, it’s taking more time than I wish it was but oh, well.

Denice Stradling, who has and will continue to narrate my Daisy books, has offered to read A Perfect Wedding, which is the third in my Titanic series. Another narrator read the first two and then pooped out on the third. I appreciate Denice so much!

Okay, so what exciting things happened at the House of Howling Hounds in March? Um . . . not a whole lot, actually. I got a huge surprise one windy day, when the back gate blew open. Jazzy, Cookie and Bam-Bam all decided to go on an excellent adventure! The first two didn’t surprise me, but Bammers????? The dog who fears every human being in the world who isn’t me????? Fortunately, my neighbors and I rounded them up safely and got them home before anything less than excellent happened. We live a block away from the busiest east-west street in town, so I’m glad none of them ended up squashed on the pavement.

Oh, and Jazzy finally received a token that will announce her royalty to the world. While it’s true most of us already acknowledge her as the Beautiful Blue Wiener and Queen of All She Surveys, until recently she had no crown or tiara announcing the fact. Then my neighbors (Ann and Barry Lasky, who helped me find the runaways) discovered a tiara for her. So here she is in her new royal regalia:

 

Because I have no idea how long everyone will be quarantined, and don’t want to mail paper books to anyone unless they want to wait six months or so until this little old lady can get to the post office, I’ll be sending ebooks to the people whose names Bam-Bam picks out of his special contest doggie dish. Any old book you want (that I’ve written, natch). Just lemme know either now or if you win. As ever, please send me an email to alice@aliceduncan.net, and I’ll toss your name into Bammy’s dish.

Oh, and there’s actually one thing might be important, to a degree. I’ve decided to give up my post office box. People seldom, if ever, use it since most folks use email these days. Therefore, if you need to get in touch with me, please do so by email (alice@aliceduncan.net) or my Facebook page (link below). If you absolutely need my home address, just ask. Thanks.

Okay, what now? I know! Daisy Daze! If you enjoy the Daisy and Mercy books, or if you’re just fascinated by the 1920s (as I am), please feel free to join Daisy Daze. I adore Daisy Daze. Iris Evans and Leon Fundenberger founded the DAISY DAZE Facebook page on which people post all sorts of historical stuff about Pasadena, sewing machines, automobiles, buildings, fashions from the 1920s, houses in which the people in the books might live, stars of the silent screen, and lots and lots of other historical (1920s-era) stuff. It’s fun, and if you’d like to be a member, check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/905100189878318/ .

If you’d like to visit my web page, here’s the link: http://aliceduncan.net/ . If you’d like to be Facebook friends, please go here: https://www.facebook.com/alice.duncan.925

Thank you!

March 2020

How come February has two Rs in it? Never mind.

It galls me to admit this, but I have to begin this newsletter with a profound and abject apology. Not only did I fail to write a newsletter for February, but I also haven’t sent books to people to whom I owe them. Picture me groveling. Or maybe you’d better not. It’s not a pretty sight.

Anyway, I’ll send Scarlet Spirits to everyone to whom a copy is owed as soon as I possibly can. People whose names Bam-Bam slurped up from the special give-away doggie dish at the end of January are:

Rita Wray, who gets a copy of Genteel Spirits,

Kat Sadi, who gets a copy of Scarlet Spirits, and

Margaret Cronk, who gets a copy of Fallen Angels!

At least, perhaps, I am at last getting better after my final surgery of 2019, which I had in December. It’s been a rough ride. Recovering from a doctor carving a huge chunk out of one’s guts is no darned fun. Trust me on this.

However, there are one or two good things to be perceived (dimly) on the horizon. One of them is the re-publication Thanksgiving Angels, Mercy Allcutt’s fifth adventure, which is being published this very month! Here’s the cover and the Amazon Kindle link:

Buy it!
 

As for the next Daisy Gumm Majesty book, Exercised Spirits, I’m writing it as fast as I can, but that’s not very fast. I’m trying, okay??? Which reminds me of when I was a kid. Every time I told my mother I was trying, she’d say, “You sure are.”

The completion date of the next Mercy book, Angels Adrift, is anyone’s guess. But please don’t guess too soon. I’m sorry. Truly.

Um . . . I have absolutely no idea what book to give away at the end of March. If you have a preference, please let me know. Just send me an email at alice@aliceduncan.net. If you want an ebook, tell me which device you use (Kindle, Nook, etc.). If you want a paper book, you’ll need to send me your address, and it will depend upon if I have a copy. I think I have copies of most of the Daisy and Mercy books. E-copies of most of my books (all 65 or thereabouts) are always available, even to me, and even though I’m not awfully swift with technology. However, if you want an e-copy of one of my books (if you win one, I mean), I can get it to you. Somehow. I’m pretty sure.

Another good thing is that ePW aims to publish my old “Meet Me at the Fair” series, which might get a new title. These books will be by me writing as Rachel Wilson and will get spiffy new covers and so forth. These historical romance novels are set during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (in other words, the 1893 World’s Fair) and feature a variety of people, including a trick rider in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West (he didn’t like to call it a “show”), an up-tight belle from the South and a hootchy-kootchy dancer. I think they’re fun, although I may be biased.

Wolfpack intends to publish three box sets that will include many of my western historical romance novels (One Bright Morning, Phoebe’s Valentine, Wild Dream, Sweet Charity, Cactus Flower, Rosamunda’s Revenge (which contains my favorite opening paragraphs and a Yorkshire terrier), Texas Lonesome (which contains dachshunds), Secret Hearts, Spirit of Love, Cooking Up Trouble, Gabriel’s Fate and Sierra Ransom), but I don’t know much about them yet. More new about the box sets and the World’s Fair books will be announced in future newsletters (I hope).

So far nobody is lining up to re-publish my post-Titanic-disaster series. I consider this a darned shame, since the books contain my second-favorite heroine of all those I’ve created: Loretta Linden (Daisy’s my first-favorite). Loretta’s rich, feisty, naïve, and wants to save the world from itself. I had to write these books after the first two Daisy books tanked. Kensington made me take a new pseudonym (I chose Anne Robins, as those are my daughters’ names) and write three historical romance novels. I didn’t want to. I was grieving for Daisy, and I hated writing the first book in this series. After that, they became less onerous. In fact, the last two were actually fun to write.

If you’re interested, the books are, in order: A Perfect Stranger, A Perfect Romance, and A Perfect Wedding. My fave is the middle book, which is Loretta’s story. Loretta absolutely cracks me up! Haven’t any idea why nobody wants the books. Oh, well. Thanks to the marvels of self-publication, they’re all for sale on-line, and two of them are available in audio format. Denice Stradling, who makes a spectacular Daisy, will be narrating A Perfect Wedding soon, bless her. I appreciate Denice so much!

Anyway, enough of that. If you enjoy the Daisy and Mercy books, or if you’re just fascinated by the 1920s (as I am), please feel free to join Daisy Daze. I adore Daisy Daze. Iris Evans and Leon Fundenberger founded the DAISY DAZE Facebook page on which people post all sorts of historical stuff about Pasadena, sewing machines, automobiles, buildings, fashions from the 1920s, houses in which the people in the books might live, stars of the silent screen, and lots and lots of other historical (1920s-era) stuff. It’s fun, and if you’d like to be a member, check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/905100189878318/ .

If you’d like to visit my web page, here’s the link: http://aliceduncan.net/ . If you’d like to be Facebook friends, please go here: https://www.facebook.com/alice.duncan.925

Thank you!