Gaily bedight,

         A gallant knight,

       In sunshine and in shadow,

         Had journeyed long,

         Singing a song,

       In search of Eldorado.

--From "Eldorado" by Edgar Allan Poe

I've always enjoyed that poem, and "bedight" is a word we just don't use enough these days. In fact, the spell checker on this newsletter doesn't even recognize bedight as a correctly spelled word. Anyway, if you're interested in the shadow and the mountains of the moon, you're probably on the road to Eldorado.

Whether you're interested in Eldorado, Colorado, or simply picturesque bravado, you'll want to get this:

Featuring my story, "Moonlight Fandango," a tale of love, magic, and a dash of terror in the Old West with my Whip and Truth characters. Unfortunately, the book hasn't gone live yet, but it will soon, so don't miss it.

That's back-to-back Raconteur Press anthologies carrying my stories--you may remember the previous edition had my story, "Calypso's Count." There are some real gems in that one, including a brilliant story by Ted Begley--the title of which I forget, but I remember it as Jack Webb as a cat. I've just submitted another story for consideration in the Goblin Souk edition, and I'm working on yet another for the 80s Vice edition.

All my books and published stories can be found here.

I'm currently reading Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun, C.I.A. Manual of Trickery and Deception, Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon, and finishing a couple others I've been slowly devouring.

Fun Fact:

When Hernando de Soto was only 17, he formed a partnership with Ponce de Leon and Francisco Companon whereby the three of them would hold all of their property in common. After Companon died, de Soto and de Leon remained in the partnership and accumulated a fortune in the conquest of Panama and Nicaragua. Francisco Pizarro invited them both on his expedition in the conquest of Peru and the Inca empire, which was in the midst of a civil war between two brothers fighting for the throne. Pizarro had a smaller force but the divided empire and Pizarro's military superiority allowed him to conquer. De Soto received the next largest portion of the treasure after Pizarro and his brother.

De Soto wanted to be a Marques of a New World territory, so he went to Spain, with much of the fortune and de Leon's blessing, to gain permission from Charles V to conquer Florida. De Leon maintained control of the rest of the fortune. When de Leon and de Soto next met in Cuba, when the latter had obtained a commission to explore the expansive area called Florida, they would be less friendly and more deceptive with regard to the fortune(s) they controlled.

--Condensed from chapter two of Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun.

If Cozy Mysteries are your thing, check out Murder in Willowbrook: Detective Whiskers Cozy Mystery.

Epic Women in Fantasy and Sci-fi has a plethora of offerings to be had for only a click.

Speaking of exciting giveaways, here's a treasure trove of exciting fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal, and supernatural tales.

Let me leave you with another meme of days gone by:

Nothing like the five-point safety harness system in use today, but perhaps still safer than lying prone in the rear window.