The Sheltie Gazette: Brought to you by the letter I
Oct 16, 2025 8:34 pm
, do you want to hear about Inish?
Thank you for hanging out with me for the book launch for The Knight & His Magical Armlet! We were in Amazon's Top 10 "New Releases for Fairy Tales" all week, and I loved getting your emails and comments about Rian's stories. ❤️📚
But—I know you've missed your puppy stories, and today Inish is in the spotlight! There's a sad story and a funny story, so make sure you read to the end of the newsletter to end on a high note.
Fun facts about Inish:
- All our dogs are named after places in Ireland. "Inish" just means "island" so it's not much of a name. His whole name was supposed to be Inishmore, because our family spent a wonderful day there. However, it just didn't stick, so we named him for the island next door—Inishowen. My kids say he kind of is like an Owen, so it works.
- His marking pattern is officially called a "tri-color," with the brown marks on his face. Unofficially, I think he looks like a St Bernard who got shrunk in the wash.
- Inish is the youngest of our three dogs, and he just had his first birthday.
Yes, he had a birthday party.
Yes, he wore a crown.
Yes, my first-grader planned this entire thing.
The adventure we didn't want
I try to keep this newsletter upbeat, but something very sad happened in August, which led us to fear that Inish might have congenital health problems. On Tuesday, we finally had our appointment to find some answers...
Click to read the story on Instagram
Inish is also an excellent, albeit bossy, writing buddy
When he sees me getting my writing chair ready, Inish shoves through the (bemused) competition to leap into the chair. Now, when the dogs were puppies, we could fit me and the tiny dog and the computer all in the chair at once. At this age, I'm really not so sure.
"Do not dare type words on that thing without my help!"
So what are Inish and I working on? After multiple deadlines in September (not to mention, the school collapsing and the Inish-medical-stress), I'm giving myself October to noodle around with some ideas. However, me being me, that has turned into "I only have fourteen more days to get this Fun Thing done before I have to put it away and get serious!" If I get far enough with the Fun Thing, I'll tell you about it next time. 😂 Meanwhile, here is a sneak peek of my inspiration graphic...
Canva absolutely refuses to cooperate with those white peel-back sections.
And Inish tells me to get back to writing and stop messing with it.
Either that, or give him a cookie.
It's also Witchtober
(and I have a witchy book)
So The Horned Women is on sale through the end of the month!
Now the problem is..... this is really, really NOT the kind of witchy book that is popular right now, which are modern witches who are: baking something with crystals in their pockets/solving cozy murders/running from danger in an apocalyptic New York City. Now don't get me wrong—I like this kind of book just fine, and I've got some fun recommendations for you. (Except I personally don't need any extra apocalypse in my life, thankyouverymuch.)
I just didn't happen to write one.
I wrote traditional-fairy-tale witches, who aren't very nice, and don't keep crystals in their pockets, either. That said.... these are Irish fairy tales, where the Morrigan represents both war and fertility. I think there's room in my retelling to see the witches as something that lives within all of us, and only by good luck can remain teetering on the side of "good mother" rather than "evil crone." (Or is it luck at all...?)
As a reader explains in her 5-star review....
"If you are looking for a “Just divorced, moved to a castle and—What?! I have magic? Wow!” story…this isn’t it. It is better than that. Folklore and Fae aren’t just window dressing, but they are the fabric of the story. The magic isn’t ’point your finger and poof’. It is the magic of heart and home and blood, and the making of the hard choice of loving."
You probably already have your copy, but you could get a gift copy for any of your reader friends who are looking for a totally different sort of October read.
AND, now Maura's story is available in paperback, for even easier gifting! It's all three stories in one volume..... it comes out so much cheaper for you this way. As a price-conscious reader myself, I just couldn't bear to list them separately.
You want more witches?
Me too!! So let's try...
I read K. A. Excell's "Soulstone Sanctuary" while waiting for Inish's ECG, and it was excellent. Quick, clever, and vivid. I've also read "The Veils Thin" (it mentions Morrigan too, although has some questionable Fionn mac Cumhaill mentions) and Amanda Gale's "The Magic You Bring," which is much more character-driven.
Do you like your witches more cozy-adjacent? In my Instagram this month, I have a blurb-a-day for different fun witchy books, or you can find them all here:
There's tea witches, how to get a girlfriend when you're a monster (you never know when that comes in handy!), musical and knitting and midlife witches. I just happened to read the prequel to this one (from the Cozy the Day Away Sale I shared with you), and it was super sweet, and yet kept me turning the pages in a way that slice-of-life doesn't usually. So for a magical bookstore, try...
Not into witches just now?
Whatever kind of fantasy and sci-fi you ARE into, you'll be sure to find it in this collection of free books! Lots of romance (especially paranormal) but also some Celtic-inspired, middle grade, and more.
And now..... back to Inish.
Remember those cookies? Cookies are important. So is puppy breakfast, and also puppy dinner.
But sometimes, your human might get out your bowl, put puppy food into it, add some carrots or pumpkin and something else that might be wonderful, pour water on top, have you go in your box where you always eat your food, walk back to the kitchen and......
ENTIRELY FORGET YOU EVER EXISTED.
Don't you worry about this? I mean, she might be gone for entire seconds at a time, and you can only see her for 90% of her journey. Who knows what might happen? It might involve not getting your food.
Luckily, Inish has a solution for you.
Our dog crates are set up like this. The dogs have to go in them and wait (Inish gets a boost, because he's on top of the double decker).
Fortunately, Inish and Adare are next to a doorway, otherwise known as a "drum." For some reason, Adare just lays in his crate and waits, but Inish is not about to take the risk that his person gets distracted and vanishes into a black hole or something.
So he grabs the door of his crate...
See that little puppy paw?
...and bangs it repeatedly and enthusiastically against the door frame. Not only does it make a satisfying "thuddity-thud" against the wall, but the metal gate also clatters and rattles. Sometimes he can shake the entire box! As Inish refines his techniques, he develops ever more noises that can be produced using one plastic crate, one metal crate door, a water dish, and the wall of the house.
Inish is proud to report that as of this writing, the 16th of October, his strategies have a 100% success rate. So far, his human has never fallen into a black hole, and never forgotten his dinner in between making it and going back into the kitchen to retrieve it.
However, the world is a suspicious and dangerous place, so Inish promises to continue to his research, and report back to you..... if he is ever allowed a return feature in the Sheltie Gazette.
