I've written this email before. You didn't get it. Because it vanished into thin air.

I wrote the draft, saved the draft, came back to the draft to find it was completely gone. Which I'm pretty sure just means that I'm getting old and don't know how things work anymore. And yet here we are. (I remember that about ten years ago, my dad would send me short emails and say, "I wrote a really long one and it got deleted." And I was like, "How are you losing your emails?" But it looks like I've arrived at that point.)

Anyway, this is the month that Every Thirteen Years comes out! It's up for pre-sale. And it's perfect for spooky season!

The forest doesn't need a curse. It has a killer.

Every thirteen years in the month of May, a child disappears in the woods.

And this is the year.

Which means there’s a strict rule against any children or teens going into the woods. Which means the parties start almost immediately. Which means that when Hans sneaks out to attend the final one on May 31st, his little sister follows him.

Which means that things are going to get bad.

A paranormal twist on Hansel and Gretel, where the real danger isn't just getting lost.

For my women's fiction folks:

Every Friday I'm dropping a chapter of my book From Ashes.

It's basically a free audiobook. So have a listen! You can find the first chapter/prologue HERE!

And for a fun October candy recipe, here you go! It's good for using leftover candy (though it is going to make that candy LESS healthy, not more, so...

1 C corn light corn syrup

1 C sugar

1 1/3 C peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

4 C cereal (I used rice crispies, but any bland cereal would work--Cheerios, Special K, cornflakes, whatever)

1 C chocolate chips

assorted candies, optional

Heat corn syrup and sugar over medium heat. Let sugar dissolve and bring to boiling. Boil gently (so turn that heat down if it starts to get really bubbly) for two minutes (you might want to time it; cook it too long and it will get weird).

Take off the heat and stir in peanut butter. Add vanilla. Then stir in the cereal.

At this point you can also stir in some chunks of leftover Halloween candies. Just chop up some leftovers and mix them in. I think almost any chocolate would be good.

If you don't want to sacrifice your chocolate Halloween candy, that's fine. Just make it plain.

While it's still warm, put the chocolate chips on and let them melt. Then spread them around. If they don't melt put them in an oven on the middle rack, and set the oven to broil. Leave them in for only a minute or two and then take them out (seriously--don't forget they're there or everything will burn). Then your chocolate should be melty enough to spread.

If you wish, add Halloween candy to the top. We used candy corn and it was great. But almost anything chocolate-y or nutty will work.

Cut and eat warm or cooled.