The big news is that my giveaway for two autographed paperbacks is live now.The lucky winner gets two books! I may throw in a third book for second place.

Today, I read to my wife and daughter an article entitled "How to Know If a Woman Likes You." Apparently, women have a secret language. Let me give you the highlights. There are 52 signals that women give (according to a study of women in bars, restaurants, hotels, and probably other places that I don't remember), to indicate interest in a man. Of these 52, there are 12 used frequently. Of those 12, there are three that are most common: "smiles, direct eye contact, and/or repeated glances towards and away from you." There's a warning that these signals have to be taken in context, because they don't always mean what you think. A second caution is that these signals have an expiration period; getting the signal once does not indicate everlasting interest. Perhaps the more useful portion of the article deals with how to tell that she is not interested, what with that being the more common scenario.

My daughter agreed with the article's main points, as did my wife. However, I had to point out to my wife that I was not in fact seeing the 12 signals from her. I got the impression that I'm not likely to see them in the near future. Apparently being coy and flirty does not carry on into marriage -- and that's a good thing.

I've started writing two new books. Both will be novella length. One I work on only one day a week; it's a special project. The other I hope to have ready by the end of March. My current working title for it is: Bugs in The System. I'm three chapters in.

I'm reading the classic Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, a book of short stories by Robert Silverberg, and another book of short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. I also just picked up From Sawdust to Stardust: The Biography of DeForest Kelley. If you have recommendations for something more recently published for me to check out, let me know.

I should report on the Samuel Delany book About Writing. Honestly, it was a tremendous waste of my time. The first half of the introduction and the appendix are the only useful portions of the book, in my opinion. Most of it consists of interview questions and Delany's answers. Almost without exception, I had no interest in either the questions or the answers.Naturally, your mileage may vary if you wish to check it out for yourself.

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I'm looking for more paragraphs for the collaborative story. Here's the progress so far. Send me at least two, and preferably three short paragraphs to get the action started.

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Max Moyer's Throne Borne is available for free download.

Here are fabled lands and portals books to check out.

Look at these marvelous mythology themed books.

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Honor Roll with special thanks to these subscribers:

Lois for her stunning review and heroic defense of The Shrinking Zone.

JBudd for reviews of Threading the Rude Eye, In Death Bedrenched, Power to Hurt, The Shrinking Zone, Clamorous Harbingers, Promise of Carnage and Flame, Truth in Flames, and Crisis in Fire and Snow.

Colleen for leaving ratings for several of my books on Amazon.

Rob for leaving a review of Threading the Rude Eye.

Michael for leaving reviews of Threading the Rude Eye, and The Shrinking Zone.

Mayra for a review of Threading the Rude Eye.

Gloria for a review of Threading the Rude Eye.

ShannonC for a review of In Death Bedrenched

Jan for reviews of Threading the Rude Eye, Power to Hurt, Clamorous Harbingers, Promise of Carnage and Flame, In Death Bedrenched, The Shrinking Zone, Truth in Flames, Justice in Season, and Justice Resurgent.

Bonnie for a review of In Death Bedrenched, and Crisis in Fire and Snow.

PAR for a review of Threading the Rude Eye

-There are many other reviews of my books, of course, but I don't know whether those reviewers are also subscribers to this newsletter.