Alice Duncan's Newsletter

It's Audiobook Month!

Well, technically, it isn’t, but two narrators finished their renditions of two of my novels in January, so I’m calling it my personal audiobook month. Even better, both narrators, Denice Stradling and Heather Thompson, did a great job with the books. Check ‘em out:

 Buy it!

Buy it!

I’ve probably mentioned before that I love audiobooks, primarily because they can go with you anywhere, if you have an iPod (which I do, thanks to my daughter Robin) or an MP3 player. I listen to audiobooks as I walk my dogs, as I grocery shop, as I go to the bank (not often), and as I head pretty much anywhere else.

These two books also have a very personal connection for me. In March, when my next Daisy Gumm Majesty book, SPIRITS REVIVED, comes out, I aim to tell everyone about Pasadena, California, and why I love it. STRONG SPIRITS is the very first Daisy Gumm Majesty book, and I’m so happy that these books are being recorded.

Roswell, New Mexico (Rosedale in PECOS VALLEY REVIVAL) is a whole ‘nother story, mainly because I have a love-hate relationship with Roswell. I moved here in 1997, primarily because it’s cheaper to live here than it is to live in Pasadena. But Roswell has no good restaurants. Roswell is isolated. In fact, Roswell is the largest city in the USA to be as isolated as it is, being 200 miles away from any other city larger than it is. It’s true. You can drive for 200 miles in almost any direction and find El Paso, Amarillo, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces or Lubbock. But then you’d be El Paso, Amarillo, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces of Lubbock, you know? I’m from Los Angeles. Gimme a break! However, I do love Albuquerque. Wish I lived there, in fact, although it, too, is more expensive than Roswell.

Anyhow, my mother was born in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1913. Her father died two days after she was born, leaving his widow to support their five children as well as six (I think) children from his first marriage. By herself. As a seamstress. In a three-room house. In Roswell, New Mexico. Gah

My maternal grandmother (who died before I was born, and I don’t blame her) was originally from Switzerland. She moved to the US with her family in 1884. Believe it or not, her ship hit an iceberg. She was so seasick, she hoped the boat would sink, but it didn’t. Anyhow, my grandmother, Emma Craig, not only supplied me with one of my pen names (actually, her last name was Krieg), but she also supplied me with the Mrs. Wilson who shows up along with several of my uncles and my aunt, in PECOS VALLEY REVIVAL. By the way, my grandmother didn’t know her last name was Krieg until she grew up. She thought Christian Ischy, her stepfather, was her father until her mother told her the truth. She never did know who her father was (the only thing her mother ever told her about him was that he was a brilliant musician), but the family settled in Georgetown, Texas. To this day, there are Ischys running around all over Georgetown, Texas. Go figure.

At any rate, I’ll be giving away copies of both STRONG SPIRITS and PECOS VALLEY REVIVAL in audiobook form in February’s contest, so if you’re interest in either book, send me your name and home address at alice@aliceduncan.net

Also, please visit my web site: www.aliceduncan.net where you can read first chapters of about fifty of my books. Sheesh. You’d think I’d be rich by now, huh? Oh, well . . .