Summer Attitude
Jun 15, 2025 5:56 pm
Not just tomatoes.
It seems to have rained almost daily since this late spring and early summer, which means my tomatoes look like jungle vines. I'm already getting ripe ones and they taste so good. My peppers are not quite as excited about all the rain, but I still have a decent amount. Needless to say I'm making salsa this summer.
I've also got book 2 in the Cori at Large series moving. But I'm trying very hard to not get distracted by this new series I want to write. It is calling to me so very much, but I need another 40k on CaL2, then another 95k on CaL3 before I can jump to it. So I'm hoping I can get the way cleared to dive into that.
I'm waiting for the edit's back on Exile's Refrain but the reader magnet should be out by August (I hope.) I'm going to be pushing to have this book available to sell at Dragoncon, but I just want to gush so much about this book. I'm planning on even going a dust jacket with this one, because it is so stunning.
SQUEE.
The other news is, Commander is available in audio!!! It took a while, but I know Incoming is also being edited, AND Allies is almost done being recorded. If you want to get your copy of Commander now, you can buy it directly from me before it gets to the stores.
Book Recommendations!
Check out this scifi story, where a serial killer settles into a colony of pacificts. Can anyone stop this rampage? In The Dead Sciences: A Comets of Omen Story you'll see if the killer can be stopped.
Dive into a world of gods, teenagers, and the guilt that drives you when you screw up. Check out the Daughter of Orpheus and see if Isme can set right what she did, or will the world pay?
Weekly Micro Story
Future
"Welcome to Madame Oriya's," I said pitching my voice from my diaphragm, and gesturing to the table for my guest to sit. "Here the future will be presented to you. Do you have the courage to see it? To change it?" My voice was rough from talking, as it had been a busy week in Salem. Halloween was in a few days and tourists flocked to the city. Where so many women had been killed. It disturbed me on a visceral level, but mortgages and utilities companies had no morals and only accepted money in payment.
"Sure," an amused voice said, laying down a twenty on the table. "Tell me my future."
I glanced up, oddly surprised at the male voice. Usually it was women or couples, not a single man. Much less one in jeans, a button down shirt, and the look of someone who'd seen hard things in his life. But twenty bucks was twenty bucks.
He settled down across from me and I shuffled the cards with practiced hands. "What question do you have for the cards?"
His smile was lazy and I new this would be an easy reading. "What do the next six months of my life hold?" He spoke like someone who knew the answer and I figured he was getting married, or a new job, or something. But I kept up my front and I shuffled with that question in mind.
"Cut the cards into three please," I said setting my well used deck down. He did so, and I drew the card from the first pile, talking before I even flipped it over. "This is your next week." I laid it down, blinking a bit at the ten of swords before me. Mechanically I kept moving to the next pile. "This is your next few months," I said laying down Five of Cups. My mouth went dry as I did the last card. "And this is the end of the six months." This time it was the Tower.
I looked up at him, still his smile and my heart caught. Did he know what these meant, was it what he wanted, or would me explaining them destroy him. Or did I lie?
"So, what does my future show?" he asked, the relaxed smile still there.
I licked my lips and spoke.
~*~
LIbertycon is next weekend, and I'm just hanging with friends. Hit me up if you need something before I leave and I'll throw it in my truck. Now, I'm headed back to writing.
Mel
Remember find me here:
Bookbub - follow me! You'll see books I recommend and alerts to releases.
Tiktok - @meltoddufbooks and @BAP_badashbooks
