Sheltie Gazette: Paws on a map and dogs on my shoulder
Dec 11, 2024 3:01 pm
How is your December going, ? Over here…
Outside, it is chilly and misty. Inside, we have a lot of wiggling, bouncing, puppy energy. Inside my head, I am juggling a lot of details about releasing these fairy tale retellings, which involves a great deal of sitting on my couch drinking tea. The Shelties think that is very boring, but if you like reading books then the results are exciting.
- Excitement from Kobo Editors
- Introducing…..The White Deer of Kildare
- A little bit about love
- History…3rd-century Ireland and Rivers of Peril
- Puppy puppy puppy puppy!!!
New to Kobo Editor’s Pick: The Horned Women
The most exciting news of the week…. my novelette, The Horned Women, was chosen for the “Editor’s Pick—New to Kobo” for this week. I am so honored to be selected! Furthermore, “The Horned Women” is free on Kobo from Dec 9-16th.
Kobo is one of the top e-book retailers worldwide. It’s only the second day, and here are my book’s travels so far, represented in puppy paws:
I think most of you already have your copy of The Horned Women, but your friends can get their free Kobo copies here, or you can admire the Editors Pick page here.
Since there will be so many eyes on the book this week, it would be a really useful time to get reviews, so the Shelties are offering three million leaping puppy kisses to anyone who leaves a review. (If you prefer a more moderate number of puppy kisses, that can be arranged as well.)
Kiss kiss hop jump kiss kiss kiss
Introducing….The White Deer of Kildare
The second story in Maura’s world will be released just in time for Winter Solstice! It’s available for pre-order now.
A few days ago, I stayed up until midnight writing the climax of this story. I was sitting up in bed—I used to have rules about keeping the bed for peaceful activities, but my little boys are afraid of being alone, so I manage to simultaneously work and keep monsters at bay. My 7-year-old always takes a long time to fall asleep, and for a while he was reading while I typed. He loves fairy tales, and was my first reader (listener) for The Horned Women.
Once he fell asleep, I was able to sink fully into writing. The lights were out, the dogs and children were all asleep, and we live deep in the woods where nighttime is truly dark and quiet. There is something thrilling about writing the big ending scenes; it’s like when you’re making a dress, and there’s days of fussy pinning and sewing for collars and button plackets and waistbands, and then in the last few sweeping seams the whole dress takes shape. Or a thread painting, adding a little bit of this blue and a little bit of this shadow tone.
In this novella, I have a strand of fairy tale structure, a thread of ex-husband guilt, a sparkling thread of new friendship, an undercurrent of hidden identity. I am weaving and pulling them taut, so you can feel the story build and thrill. I hope it surprises you, but then you realize you expected it all along. I love that feeling!
Right now, The White Deer is available for pre-order. Here’s the first chapter, just for fun. It should be easy to get this sample, and you’re welcome to share it with your friends.
A Little Bit About Love
This was going to be my theme for this newsletter, but then the Editor’s Pick happened and I wanted to get up the pre-order, and now I don’t want to go on for too long. So I will keep this a little bit about love, and more in the next newsletter.
As for myself, I adore romance. I especially adore history with romance, women’s fiction with romance, cozy mystery with romance…you get the picture. Like the thrill of writing a scene when the action all comes together, there is a thrill when characters come together, and you can imagine their whole life coming together.
But Inish would like to remind us there are many kinds of love, including the kind where you climb onto your loved one’s shoulder like a parrot and nibble their earrings. Much loving. Very loved.
So I was really excited to find this group of authors sharing stories about all kinds of love.
Nurturing a Passion features a woman’s love for her art—something close to many of our own lives. Waiting for Her is the stumbling, frustrated love between brothers. Seeing Sadie takes a look at love after it is crumbling. In several stories, women wrestle with their love for their careers, and several more feature later-in-life love.
I hope you will browse through these stories and find something that appeals to you. They are all free, and many are short stories that fit easily into your life this busy holiday season. Enjoy reading with a cup of tea.
And Now for Some History
I know many of you are here because you are interested in history, so here’s a couple puppy treats for you:
The White Deer has much more of a historical setting than the first fairy tale. More than half the story takes place in approximately 3rd-century Ireland. I did a lot of research about the clothing, road systems (oh my goodness! I had no idea they had such excellent roads!), what dishes would be served at a feast, etc. As always, only a fraction makes it into the story, but I’m going to be sharing lots of 3rd-century Ireland tidbits on my Instagram in the next few weeks.
If you’re looking for a more recent historical (okay, virtually anything is more recent than the Iron Age), I have this for you this month. Down the Rivers of Peril has adventure, betrayal, and lots of historical detail about the steamboat era in America.
Puppy puppy puppy puppy!!
That was so many words. Thank you for reading, I appreciate you so much. And now you deserve some puppy!
Plus a cup of hot chocolate, because I’m nice that way. Besides, the puppies aren’t allowed to drink it.
Best wishes,
Christy
(Idaho winter wind-blown version)
P.S. Also, The Horned Women might be free on Amazon right now. I don't know, I didn't do it, but they might have decided to price match Kobo. Tell your Kindle-reading friends to hurry and grab it, because I have no idea when Amazon will put the regular price back up.
Terri
