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!

Family Values

Okay. Yesterday I promised to write something about family values. Berkley Homespun novels were supposed to extol family values. The books had to contain at least one child. They had to be sweet (as opposed to erotic) romances. They had to leave the reader feeling good about American culture and, well, values.

So I wrote a couple of proposals. Y'know which one Berkley chose? The one in which the heroine steals a baby and a bunch of money and runs to the New Mexico Territory to her foster brother, an alcoholic who preaches to a town of ex or current criminals who are always getting drunk and shooting each other. His church is the saloon, and his congregation is about as mixed a bag of exiles, drunkards, runaways and/or weak links as you can find anywhere (except maybe downtown L.A.). Diabolito Lindo, the town, is in Lincoln County, in the Sacramento Mountains, where Billy the Kid did his thing a year or so prior to when the book (SWEET CHARITY) starts.

I don't know about you, but those aren't the types of family values I think of when I think of  family values.

First Blog of My Own

Hokey-pokey, so I finally entered the blogosphere. Don't ask me why, 'cause I don't know, unless it's because some perverse side of me needs to be ignored by another bunch of people. Not that I'm bitter or anything :-)

However, I do have something to say today. I managed to get my next-to-last book in my backlist uploaded to Kindle and Smashwords! Yuppers. SWEET CHARITY, first published as a Berkley Homespun book in 1997, and such a sweet historical romance, you'll probably need insulin after you read it, is now available as an e-book for the paltry fee of $2.99! Wow, whatta deal, huh?

That means I only have probably my least favorite book (of those I've written), MY WILD IRISH ROSE, to be formatted and uploaded. Well, there are three novellas and a couple of westerns, but those will just have to wait. More about them later, I guess.

Honestly, if you've ever thought an author has any control over his/her career, read this blog. Or don't, but it really will explain some things. I originally started writing historical romance novels set in the western United States. Mind you, as a city kid, I didn't have a single clue how a ranch or a farm operated; therefore, I set my books in places other than ranches or farms. SWEET CHARITY, for instance, takes place in a tiny territorial town called Diabolito Lindo and features Jake Molloy, a rather rough-and-tumble preacher, and Gracie Molloy, his sort-of foster sister. I figured I'd write Berkley Homespuns for years and years. Hmm. I just thought of another blog topic: family values, which were what Homespuns were supposed to exalt. More later on that.

Shows how much I knew. As soon as I'd finished my second book for the Homespun line, I was told by my editor that they were canceling the Homespun line, and wouldn't I like to write paranormals for their Jove Haunted Hearts line. Well . . . as a matter of fact, no, I wouldn't like to write paranormals. For anybody. However, needs must, so I began writing paranormals for Jove's Haunted Hearts line.

And then the Haunted Hearts line was canceled. Would I write a book set in Ireland for their Irish Eyes line? WHAT?????? Okay, my heritage is Scots. I don't have a clue about how life is carried on in Ireland. Or Scotland, for that matter, although I have a slightly better handle on Scotland than Ireland. The first things that pop into my head when I think Ireland are leprechauns, religious wars, famine and alcoholism. Unfortunately, Berkley didn't want any of those things to appear in their Irish Eyes books. So I went to the library, checked out every book I could find on Ireland, and wrote the blasted book with an American female as the heroine. Hey, you do what you have to do.