The Joys of January

Oh, my, January was such a confuzzled month. My daughter Anni and her husband Razmik were here for Christmas and then to fix up my house, which needs it badly.

They started out with a bang. Unfortunately for me, both of my children are neat freaks. Since I was born without an organizational gene in my own personal DNA, I don’t know where this characteristic came from. I don’t think their father was particularly well organized. Nuts, maybe, but not well organized. However it came to pass, both Anni and Robin are tidy. Anni even made me clean up a bunch of stuff. Overall, this was a Very Good Thing, because I found some things I’d even forgotten I had, including two wiener-dog pictures by Tom Stoner, late husband of Monica Stoner, my very first critique partner, who now lives, writes, breeds and shows Salukis in Edgewood, New Mexico. We met in Southern California, and then everybody moved to New Mexico. Go figure. Anyway, I’m pleased to have found Tom’s wiener dogs pictures, and aim to have them framed as soon as I can afford to do so.

But that’s not all. Razmik put in new floors, painted the whole inside of the house, and I bought a new sofa and chair for the living room. He also re-hung pictures, so that they’re all now evenly spaced and stuff like that. I’ve never had evenly spaced pictures before. This is nice. Love the new floors. And I’ve taken precautions so the dogs can’t ruin my new furniture. I don’t mind a little dog hair, but a couple of my hounds actually pee on furniture. Not anymore. Heh, heh, heh.

 

                       

There are still dead stuffies all over the place, but I don't mind those. 

And then it snowed. It didn’t just snow. It snowzillaed. Mind you, we generally get a little bit of snow here in Roswell, but this snow pretty much brought the city to its knees. The newspaper lady couldn’t get through the snow to deliver the newspaper (no big loss there) and even the mail couldn’t get through. Roswell’s mail is sorted in Lubbock, Texas, and all the roads were blocked into and out of Roswell, which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. There was no food on grocery shelves, and lots of streets remained impassible for a couple of weeks. We’re more or less back to normal now, but Razmik’s work on the house sort of had to grind to a stop. He’d intended to paint the outside, too, and put new outdoor carpeting on the front porch because the old stuff was coming apart and posed quite a falling risk. He took up the old stuff, but it was too wet to put the new stuff on. Oh, well. Maybe they’ll be able to come back again someday and finish making my house worth living in. He did find a huge problem regarding a leak between the bathroom and kitchen walls, which will have to be addressed at a later time, too, but not much later because the whole stupid house is apt to collapse if it’s not taken care of soon. Which, of course, requires money. Details, details.

 

Anyway, enough of that. I’ll get in touch with the winners of the audio edition of THANKSGIVING ANGELS. And at the end of February… I’ll be gone. Hmm. Just recalled that I’ll be in Phoenix at the Left Coast Crime conference, and then in Southern California to visit friends and family. I’ll mainly be staying at Robin and Gilbert’s home in the San Fernando Valley, because they need someone to dog-sit while they take a vacation. Hmm. Anni and Razmik seem to have usurped my few savings (although it was worth it) and now Robin and Gilbert are usurping my vacation time. But what the heck! I love visiting my friends and family in Southern California, and I can drive from West Hills to Pasadena, can’t I? The answer to that question is a resounding YES.

So no contest this month. I’ll figure out another one for March.

Please visit my web page at www.aliceduncan.net, and if you’d like to be Facebook friends, here’s my Facebook page info: https://www.facebook.com/alice.duncan.925

Thanks!

 

Boy, Am I Glad This Year is Over!

 

2015 wasn’t the best year I’ve ever lived through. For one thing, I was sick during most of it. For another, I lost a beloved dachshund, Bella, who was murdered by Jazzy and Cookie, two of my other hounds—or part-hounds, anyway. And lots of expensive house problems erupted during the year. Gah.

The wieners of UNSETTLED SPIRITS (paper copy) are Holly Huff, Flo Kojima, and Peggy Baker! I’ll send your copies as soon as the snow melts. Right now I’m snowed in. Besides, if I could drive anywhere, I might possibly be able to get to the post office, but none of the grocery stores have food in them. Roswell is 200 miles away from another, larger city. We haven’t had newspaper or mail deliveries since Saturday, December 26. It’s now the 31^st, and the FedEx guy (who did manage to get through this morning) says even he’s going to pack it in because the streets are so treacherous. Roswell doesn’t have snowplows. Sigh.

Anyway, all is not horribly bad. In fact, I’m really happy that my daughter and son-in-law, Anni and Razmik Avanesian, are here, and they’re fixing up my house! Well, they will continue to do so if the snow melts enough for them to get to Home Depot. And if Home Depot has anything in it. They went to a grocery store yesterday, and there were no potatoes of any kind, no meat, and no green onions, which I wanted for a chicken dish I’m making today.

Piddle on the snow. My dogs have been piddling on the snow, for sure. At the moment, it’s kind of a block of ice out there. It’ll probably melt a bit and then freeze again. According to the weather gurus, the air is too cold for the snow to melt, and the air is cold because there’s so much snow on the ground. And there you have it!

Interesting story about Razmik (I don’t think he’ll mind my telling it). He’s an Armenian from Iran. Armenians are culturally Christian, and when Iran because a Muslim theocracy, it ceased being a good place for Christians to live. Therefore, Raz and his family had to learn how to do everything, from building buildings and repairing stuff to cooking over open flames. Eventually they all got out except for one of his sisters, who still lives there.

Personally, I don’t want to live in a Christian theocracy any more than I want to live in a Muslim theocracy. Our Founding Fathers knew what they were doing when they chose to separate the church from the state.

For the month of January, 2016, I’ll be giving away audio copies of THANKSGIVING ANGELS! Whee! If you’d like to win an audio copy of THANKSGIVING ANGELS, please send me an email at alice@aliceduncan.net.

And here, for your visual pleasure, are pictures of our snow! This is more snow than Roswell’s ever had in its life. Go figure.

This was taken from my front door. You can't see the walkway, the porch steps, the street, or the cross street. Still looks like that today.

 

And this was taken from my back porch. The doggies have trampled a piddle patch for themselves.

Please visit my web page at www.aliceduncan.net, and if you’d like to be Facebook friends, here’s my Facebook page info: https://www.facebook.com/alice.duncan.925

Thanks!

 

Mayhem and Magic, For Real

November was not a month of unmixed blessings. In fact, something truly horrible happened during November, so I’ll get to that first.

 No secret I rescue dachshunds. About four years ago I received a bonded pair from a puppy mill in Big Spring, Texas. Bella and Bam-Bam had spent their first couple of years in concrete crates and never learned how to interact with people or, really, be dogs. To this day Bam-Bam is terrified of men, and Bella was uber-shy around strangers. I realized after I’d fostered them for a while that they weren’t suitable candidates for adoption, so I kept them, and we loved each other. They both were fine with me, even though they were still unable to relate to strangers.

Well, on Friday the 13^th, Jazzy and Cookie, who grew up on the streets and have absolutely no self-esteem issues, ganged up on Bella. I rushed her to the vet, where she was stitched up. When I picked her up on Saturday, she seemed to be doing well, but on Sunday evening Bella had a stroke or a seizure, and she died early Monday morning. My heart is still broken. My neighbor and fellow writer, Ann Wilmer-Lasky, wrote a Haiku for Bella, and here’s a picture of Bella taken by her husband Barry:

 

Treasured Friend: A Haiku

Innocence, truly,

Has no protection against

Pack mentality.

Okay, that’s the ugly stuff. My heart will probably never get over aching for Bella. I feel kind of like a murderer, in fact. Gah.

On to nicer things. Several people won copies of the audio edition of HUNGRY SPIRITS, narrated by Denice Stradling (who is now working away on GENTEEL SPIRITS, bless her). I’ll be getting in touch with each of the winners individually.

I also got the cover art for Daisy Gumm Majesty’s next adventure, BRUISED SPIRITS. I love it:

 

Also, Darlene Allen has finished narrating THANKSGIVING ANGELS for audio, so it will be available in December (I think). I’ll be giving away audio copies at the end of the month in my contest. If it’s somehow or other not available in December, I’ll give away copies in January.

 

And December is the month UNSETTLED SPIRITS, Daisy Gumm Majesty’s latest adventure, will be released! I’ll be giving away either e-copies or paper copies of UNSETTLED SPIRITS in my December contest.

Therefore, if you’d like to enter my December contest, for which Bam-Bam (who is coping much better with the loss of Bella than I am) will choose wieners at the end of the month, please send me your name and home address (if you want a paper copy of UNSETTLED SPIRITS) to alice@aliceduncan.net

 

 Kindle link

 Nook link

 

If you’d like to visit my woefully out-of-date web site, the URL is http://aliceduncan.net/ and if you’re interested in being Facebook friends, please visit https://www.facebook.com/alice.duncan.925

Thanks!

 

Good Grief!

Another year’s almost over! How’d that happen? I don’t approve. Which makes as much difference as it ever has. Oh, well.

At the end of November, I’ll be giving away audio copies of HUNGRY SPIRITS, read by the lovely and talented Denice Stradling. Bam-Bam, my winner-picking wiener dog, will select winners at the end of the month. The wieners of October’s contest for audio copies of A PERFECT ROMANCE and SWEET CHARITY are too numerous to list here, so I’ll get in touch with each winner individually.

The narrator of THANKSGIVING ANGELS (Darlene Allen, who's also lovely and talented) says she’ll have the book ready by Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Melissa Alvarez (http://bookcoversgalore.com ) couldn’t do this cover for me. After I panicked and asked for suggestions for alternate cover artists, Bonnie Vanak, a dear friend and fellow author, suggested Kim Killion (http://thekilliongroupinc.com/) So I got in touch with Kim, and she created this smashing audiobook cover for THANKSGIVING ANGELS. What’s even better is that this cover goes really well with the other audiobook covers for the Mercy Allcutt series:

 

And, of course, last month was Halloween, and my adorable great-grandchildren got all dressed up for the occasion. Here they are. Andrew is a Special Operations soldier (his daddy’s been an Army Medic for yonks), and Kasumi is a witch-fairy. Are these children darling, or what? And I’m not the least little bit biased, either:

 

Um… That’s about it. I’m madly writing another Daisy book, BRUISED SPIRITS, but I’m nowhere near finished with it. With luck and continued health, I might even be able to write another Mercy Allcutt book this year! Not promising anything because you never know what mayhem life will throw at you, but I hope I can.

If you’d like to enter my November contest, please send me an email. I don’t need your home address for this one, ‘cause I’ll use your email address in order to send audio copies.

If you’d like to visit my woefully out-of-date web site, the URL is http://aliceduncan.net/ and if you’re interested in being Facebook friends, please visit https://www.facebook.com/alice.duncan.925

Thanks!

 

Okey-Dokey

I don’t know how many of you have seen the TV series “Deadwood,” but in it a guy gets sick, and the baddies who run the town of Deadwood carry him out of town to prevent the panic of an epidemic. When Calamity Jane finds him out in the woods, he’s delirious and keeps saying, “I apologize. I apologize. I apologize,” over and over. That’s how I feel about this entire year. I’ve been sick with one thing or another all year long. In September I finally got bronchitis, gave up, spent about four days in bed, took antibiotics, Prednisone and cough suppressants, and now I feel better than I have in months! So I apologize about flaking off with my blogs several times this year. Guess I should have come down with bronchitis earlier.

However, now that I’m almost human again, I actually have something to write about! The nicest thing that happened in September was that my older daughter, Anni, and her long-time Significant Other, Razmik Avanesian, got married! Here’s a picture of the wedding party. I was unable to attend the wedding (because of the aforementioned various illnesses), but I did get to see the pictures. Here’s one with both of my daughters, both of my sons-in-law, and my younger grandson, Riki, who’s grinning up a storm in the back row toward the right.

 

And then I began a new Daisy book, which is (so far) called BRUISED SPIRITS. Don’t know when I’ll finish it, but I don’t think it’ll take me a whole year to write this one as it did for me to write UNSETTLED SPIRITS. That’s a Very Good Thing, except that the premise is based on reality, which isn’t good at all (it features an extremely battered woman).

Also, the narrators of two of my early historical romances (A PERFECT ROMANCE and SWEET CHARITY) finished reading the books in September, and they’re now available on Audible.com. Here are the covers and the links:

Buy it!

 

Buy it!

Audible claims A PERFECT ROMANCE was written by Anne Robins, but that’s only because it was. Anne Robins (a combination of my daughters’ names) was one of my several thousand pseudonyms.

Because I didn’t tell anyone who won copies of SPIRITS ONSTAGE at the end of August, I shall do so now: Kathleen Lauri-Lewis, Wendy Lee, and Susan Moody. I’ll send the books ASAP. Promise.

 At the end of October, I’ll be giving away copies of my two newest audiobooks. They’re both historical romances, so don’t enter if you don’t want to listen to an historical romance. I must say, however, that they’re kind of more funny than they are romantic. If you DO want to enter the contest, just send me your name and email address at: alice@aliceduncan.net

If you’d like to visit my web site, the URL is http://aliceduncan.net/ and if you’re interested in being Facebook friends, please visit https://www.facebook.com/alice.duncan.925

Thanks!

 

Ow

About covers August from my perspective and September started with bronchitis; however, all is not totally awful. I actually finished UNSETTLED SPIRITS! I’ve only been working on it for … well, the entire year, I guess.

Here’s the cover! I think, although I’m not certain, that it will be available in December (it’s so late, I don’t honestly know. Sigh).

 

Winners of August’s contest (SPIRITS ONSTAGE) are: Kathleen Lauri-Lewis, Wendy Lee, and Susan Moody. I’ll send your books ASAP, ladies. I have no idea what book/s I’ll give away at the end of September, but I’ll figure it out before then. If you’d like to enter this month’s contest, send me an email at alice@aliceduncan.net . Be sure to include your home address, so I’ll know where to send the book.

I’ll do a better blog for October. Promise. Unless my body decides to do something else ghastly to me. I’m beginning to wonder what it has against me, dang it.

If you’d like to visit my web site, the URL is http://aliceduncan.net/ and if you’re interested in being Facebook friends, please visit https://www.facebook.com/alice.duncan.925

Thanks!

 

Cautiously Optimistic

 

Very cautiously. Seems as though I’ve been sick with one thing or another all year long, and the various things have taken a toll on this elderly body. Probably the gastric bleeds did it. I expect there’s not much blood left in me so I’m anemic and, therefore, tired all the time. Whine.

And that’s enough of that disgusting subject. Blech. July was nominally better than June, although it wasn’t great. But the narrators of two audio renditions of my books finished their jobs, and the following two books will be available soon (I hope):

 

 

 

Not sure when they’ll be ready to purchase at Audible.com, but I’ll let everyone know.

Also in July, a box set of the first three Daisy Gumm Majesty books (STRONG SPIRITS, FINE SPIRITS, and HIGH SPIRITS) was produced. For a while it was only $0.99, but it’s up to $2.99 now–but for three Kindle or Nook books, that’s still a darned good price!

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XJ5T2DE/?tag=entbrgnbkpst-20

The winners of June/July’s ARC contest are Peggy Matsuya, Prentiss Garner, Tim Younger, and B.J. Simon. I also owe two winners of May’s contest copies of THANKSGIVING ANGELS, which I promise I’ll mail soon. I’m not kidding when I say I’ve been under the weather (is anyone ever over the weather?) Well, never mind.

If you’re interested in entering August’s contest, during which I’ll be giving away three copies of SPIRITS ONSTAGE, send me your name and home address to alice@aliceduncan.net, and I’ll toss your name into Bam-Bam’s special contest doggie dish.

If you’d like to visit my web site, the URL is http://aliceduncan.net/ and if you’re interested in being Facebook friends, please visit https://www.facebook.com/alice.duncan.925

Thanks!