February
By
gum, January was an okay month! Well, until the end, when I got sick and
received edits for SPIRITS UNEARTHED at the same time and suffered a minor
meltdown. Having people tell you your book sucks hurts even when you’re
healthy, y’know? And actually, nobody said that. That’s just how I took the
comments. Not that I lack self-esteem or anything.
Anyway,
probably the best thing that happened in January was that Peter Brandvold,
western writer extraordinaire, came to see me! He lives in Minnesota, where
there’s snow and ice everywhere. Therefore, he rented a cabin in Arizona (he
went to college and taught in Arizona) for January and most of February. He and
his dog, Bad Buddy, drove there and, on the way, stopped to see me! I edit Mean
Pete’s books (he calls himself Mean Pete, and I’d never do anything to jeopardize his reputation as a bad guy, even
though he isn’t one), and they’re so much
fun to edit! I never knew there were so many ways for the good guys to kill
the bad guys in the wild and woolly Old West until I began editing Mean Pete’s
books for Five Star’s Frontier Fiction line. Anyway, it was great to meet him.
Bad Buddy didn’t like me, but I guess he’s skittish around most people, so I
wasn’t offended. I’m skittish around most people, too. Here’s a picture of Mean
Pete and me:
Then
my very first friend in the whole world (because until I was four, we lived on
a farm in Maine without anyone else around), Dena Mossar, whom I met when my
family moved to El Monte, California, sent me some absolutely adorable pictures
of when Dena and I were young, which was an incredibly long time ago. Thank
you, Dena!
I
also found out my next Daisy book, SPIRITS UNEARTHED (the one I got the edits
for) will be published in April of this year! I wish I had the cover art to
show you, but I don’t yet. Will post on my Facebook page as soon as I get it.
This book starts in December of 1924, when Daisy and Sam are at the Mountain
View Cemetery in Altadena to visit their respective spouses’ graves, and Spike
finds a shoe and brings it to them. Unfortunately for all concerned, the shoe
has a foot in it. Thus begins a new bout of sleuthing. In this book, Sam
doesn’t actually mind Daisy being involved, since she … well, is. From the
beginning, you know? Anyway, he’s becoming reconciled to the fact that people
are more inclined to bare their souls to Daisy than they are to the Pasadena
Police Department. He doesn’t like
it, but he’s becoming reconciled. Sort of. In a way. Anyway, here’s the Amazon
link, in case you have a mad urge to pre-order it: KINDLE LINK
Anyhow…
The winners of January’s contest are:
THANKSGIVING
ANGELS: Aloha Burnard and Polly O’Brien
GENTEEL
SPIRITS: Margaret Cronk and Michelle Santana
As
for February’s contest… I dunno. I’ll think of something. I’m pretty sure I
won’t have copies of SPIRITS UNEARTHED yet, so I’ll have to give away something
else. What the heck. I’ll let the winners (up to four of you) choose whichever
book you want. If I have a hard copy, I’ll send that. If I don’t, I can send an
e-copy.
A word about my monthly contests. I love giving my work to people; however, I found out quite by accident a few months ago that sending books to Great Britain, Australia, and other countries outside the United States is beyond my monetary capability. If a resident of a nation other than the United States has an e-reader, I’ll happily supply that person with an e-book. If a person doesn’t have an e-reader and still likes to read book-books, he or she is on his or her own. I’m sorry, but what I laughingly call my writing career hasn’t made me wealthy yet. And it probably won’t, but let’s not get in to that because it always depresses me. So. That’s that.
If
you’d like to enter the contest, just send me an email (alice@aliceduncan.net) and give me
your name and home address. If you’d like to be added to my mailing list, you
may do so on my web site (http://aliceduncan.net/) or email me
(you won’t be smothered in e-mails, because I only write one blog a month, and
that’s an effort). If you’d like to be friends on Facebook, visit my page at https://www.facebook.com/alice.duncan.925.
Thank you!
