June prances in like a wild colt. The young horse stops and stutters in its uncertain exuberance, scattering sunshine and showers alike.

I'm neither wholly gruntled nor disgruntled. Perhaps I'm merely insufficiently gruntled. My fortunes have varied of late. First, I've had terrific participation, feedback, and criticism in the beta reading of In Death Bedrenched. Most of the comments have been extremely helpful. The end of the beta access is only a couple days away, so I'm hoping everyone involved will continue to the finish. I read and consider all of the comments, and implement most of them one way or another. I also look at the comments and corrections and think, "I must be the worst author ever." Of course, then I think, "Ever is an awfully long time. There's probably been a worse writer at some point, and besides, I knew I had a lot of editing to do on the prequel."

Back to the gruntled/disgruntled question. I spent a great deal of time and effort replacing the battery, changing the oil, and changing the coolant in the motorcycle. I rode it a few times last week. This Tuesday, I rode it to work and was having difficulty with the clutch. When I examined it closely in my attempt to make an adjustment, I discovered that the cable was broken. I should say that it was nearly broken and my fiddling brought that status to completion. Fortunately, a friend had a low trailer available and we got the bike home. I've already ordered the replacement cable. I was fortunate even in my misfortune. Hence I should be more gruntled than not.

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I've finished Last of the Breed, and must admit that I was disappointed with the ending. I have moved on to The Walking Drum, also by L'Amour. The book's early chapters bear some striking similarities to Sabatini's The Seahawk.

Let me remind you that a free review copy of Threading the Rude Eye, the first book in the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire series is available here. Mayra, JBudd, and Gloria have also posted new reviews of the book on Amazon-- my thanks to them for their great reviews. I'm adding them to the Honor Roll

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My writing time is split between editing In Death Bedrenched, the prequel to the series, and in writing book 5 of the series. I'm mulling over a couple options for the title. At some point a new title will either leap out at me, or one of the two I'm considering will begin to feel right.

I was so busy with repairs (not just the motorbike, but pipes, the dryer (twice)), editing/writing, and the job that pays the bills that I wasn't able to include a link to some other authors with books on sale this time, or to feature another author. Maybe next time.

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Honor Roll with special thanks to these subscribers:

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

Budd for reviews for a couple of my books, as well as his expression of how much he is enjoying reading the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire series.

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

Rob for leaving a review of Threading the Rude Eye

Michael for leaving a review of Threading the Rude Eye, and The Shrinking Zone

Mayra for a review of Threading the Rude Eye

JBudd for a review of Threading the Rude Eye

Gloria for a review of Threading the Rude Eye

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

If you have posted a review anywhere of any of my books, let me know so that I can include you in the Honor Roll.