Hey awesome,

This year has been two seconds and eleventy billion years long, somehow at the same time. It’s the end of December, 2024 is coming up fast, and while I’ve gotten a lot done, there’s a lot more I meant to do.

Alas. Still, this year has been… a lot, and I’m going to focus on the wins. I finished two novels, wrote six short stories made progress on two more novels, and traveled to some beautiful places across the United States. Wins!

How about you? How are you feeling as we enter that liminal space between calendar years? I hope you’re getting time to rest and recover ahead of the new year.

I might be taking my resting time in late January, because for the end of the year my husband and I are moving. And not the usual RV-moving-to-a-new-location, but into a house, off the road, and back to a permanent location.

Well, semi-permanent, as we’re doing a short-term lease from a playwright who’s going abroad to put on a play, and at some point during that time we’ll try and figure out our lives. So off to New England in the winter we go!

I’ll be surrounded by people I love, and allllso winter will leave me plenty of hours to hunker down and finish those lingering novels.

Do you have any keep warm tips? I’m out of practice, to say the least!

In non-lingering novel news – 13 Stories of Horror is now available in audio!

Have you read or listened to it? Any of the creeping tales that have stuck with you?

Speaking of sticking with you, how about a new 4HU novel?

Michael Morton's debut 4HU tale, Thicker Than Water, is available now, aaaand it is awesome! You don't have to take my word for it - from the back of the book:

College graduate Danny Prescott is looking forward to rejoining the family’s mercenary unit, Prescott Defense Services, as a full-fledged member. He’s ready to prove himself and follow in the footsteps of his parents.

When he gets home, though, things don’t seem right. His father, Jack, is less involved in the unit’s affairs, and nobody wants to talk about what’s wrong. A strike contract for the Merchant Guild seems like just the ticket to get PDS fired up, but Jack Prescott won’t bid on it. Danny decides that action is needed to save his family’s legacy, so he takes the contract and leads a ragtag team out to fulfill it.

But when an old enemy enters the fray and kidnaps Jack, can Danny and his team complete the contract and rescue his father?

You can't go wrong with a fabulous entry into the Four Horsemen Universe!

And of course, for these long (but getting shorter!) winter nights, how about loading up with free reads?

https://books.bookfunnel.com/sci-fi-fantasy-free-mid-dec/r2llv9o306

https://books.bookfunnel.com/cozyfantasy2/5y5nh0h9k9

I’m off for one last southern beach adventure before we migrate north, and then finding a few hours to write in the midst of moving prep. I’ll share pictures next month!

Til next time,

Marisa