Whole Bunch of Stuff Relating to March

March roared in like the proverbial lion, a not-uncommon phenomenon in SE New Mexico. However, unlike more civilized parts of the country, we expect the weather to keep roaring up to and perhaps including summertime, more’s the pity. You see, spring is what we call our windy season, sort of like we laughingly call summertime our monsoon season. I’m sure folks in India and Pakistan would scoff. Heck, even we’re scoffing, since we don’t expect to get any more rain this year than we did last, which was approximately half our normal yearly boon of around thirteen inches. I know, I know, I live on a desert. But jeez Louise, we’re accustomed to SOME rain, even on our desert! Mayhem, indeed.

On a slightly less mayhemly note, I got some gorgeous covers for three of my e-books from Melissa Alvarez, who does masterful work and has a website at bookcoversgalore.com. These covers are for my three “Land of Enchantment” books (ENCHANTED CHRISTMAS, A GAMBLER’S MAGIC and A GAMBLER’S MAGIC) originally published by Dorchester (and am I ever glad they dumped me when they did! At least I got paid royalties for the books they published and got the rights back on my old Emma Craig books, which is more than many of authors can say since Dorchester went belly-up). Melissa gave them smashing covers, which you can see for yourselves. Here’s a handy link for all my e-books: http://aliceduncan.net/page5.html If I ever have any money again, I aim to get more covers from Melissa.

Speaking of which, the winners of February’s contest for SIERRA RANSOM (Penny Tuttle and Sandy Olubas) will receive copies of their book approximately when the winners of March’s contest for CACTUS FLOWER (Kimberly Maynard and Carole Price) will get theirs. You see, I couldn’t work for about two months because of the surgery I had to correct a detached retina. Then I worked like mad trying to catch up. Unfortunately, I work in publishing, writing and editing. I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you guys this, but publishing time and geological time are approximately equivalent, with publishing being the slightest bit slower than the latter. However, I finally got paid last week! Therefore, everybody’s books will be sent out next week. I’m so glad—both about being paid and about being able to fulfill my commitments. Finally.

As for the rest of the month, Heidi is holding her own! She’s finally eating consistently again and, while she’s still seems mighty skinny to me, she seems to be doing ever so much better than she was for a while there. Daisy is still blind and bumps into things, but she’s okay too. As for me, my left eye remains really blurry, but I see the local eye doc in May. Then he’ll tell me if I need to have the cataract removed (you always get a cataract after retinal surgery. Sort of a bonus, I guess) or merely need a new prescription. I’m hoping for the latter.

And then, in June, something truly magical will occur! My younger daughter Robin will marry her long-time beau Gilbert, and I get to house- and pet-sit while they honeymoon. This means I get to go to California and see all my friends and eat all the food that isn’t available in Roswell, which is . . . well . . . not exactly the center of the universe. Fortunately for me, my wonderful neighbors, Ann and Barry Lasky, will dog-sit for my pack while I’m pet-sitting for Robin’s and Gilbert’s much smaller pack.

So things are moving along. And a good thing, too! If you’d like to enter this month’s contest, during which I’ll be giving away two copies of PECOS VALLEY REVIVAL, a funny historical mystery set in Roswell (called Rosedale in the book), New Mexico, in 1923, please send your name and home address to me at alice@aliceduncan.net . This book was a finalist in the New Mexico Book of the Year Awards, although I’m not sure why.

You can see a photo of the lovely book cover for PVR and read the first chapter on my web site: www.aliceduncan.net  Thank you!