Hey awesome,

I'm back from DragonCon and I both want to immediately return to DragonCon and also sleep for about twenty hours straight.

Unfortunately, neither of those are in my near future. But there is plenty ahead. If you want to catch up on my DragonCon adventures, you can pop right over to my blog, and see the deliriousness unfold in near-real time.

Ok, it won't take you five days to read the post, but it is a...bit longer than my usual. In my defense, it was a lot of fun. Like, an inflatable-Trex-conga-line-level fun time. HUGE shoutout to every con volunteer who takes time out of their lives to make cons happen - they work their behinds off, and the result is awesomeness for us.

As for the other things ahead - including, ahem, my old friend deadlines:

The Valkyries Initiative is going to be out next week!!!! Friday September 16th, to be precise, and with the latest author interview, all the authors have been revealed. So, one - check out the delightful Charity Ayres on the CKP YouTube page, and then two, shall we oooh and aaah over the table of contents for the anthology itself?

Dear Cynthia by Marisa Wolf

A Sure Bet by JD Blackrose

Glass Houses by Matt Novotny

Angel Wings and Demon Bones by Melissa Olthoff

Noah by Charity Ayres

The Troll Ate My Homework by Joelle Presby

Surprise by Becca Lee Gardner

Collateral by Mel Todd

Sacrifice by Kayla Krantz

The Target’s Blues by Kristi Bradley

A Void in the Noise by Jordan Comeaux

Valkyrie Rising by April Jones

Owl Job by Mary McKenna

Chooser of the Slain by Rob Howell

A Sense of Purpose by Kacey Ezell

After each story is also a tiny bonus - notes from the Director about each potential Valkyrie. Let me know if you agree with her assessments?

Early reviews have been so strong, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what you think of these Valkyries. We can meet back here and talk about it in a few weeks time, or of course you can email me after you have a chance to dig in...

Next! One of those very-soon deadlines is for a noir short story for the third of Kacey Ezell's and Larry Correia's SFF Noir anthologies for Baen. But if you would like a noir fix right now (and whomst amongst us would not?!), well is it your lucky day!

No Game for Knights is out right now, right here and it is definitely worth your while:

“Knights had no meaning in this game. It wasn’t a game for knights.” —Raymond Chandler

In a world of criminals, thugs, con artists, cheats, and swindlers, there must be a man to stand against the powers of darkness and corruption. A man not afraid to walk the mean streets—whether they be those of 1930s Los Angeles, an ancient fantasy realm, or some far-flung planet of a future star empire. He is a man who knows that a “good man” is not always a “nice guy.” But when the chips are down, he understands that a hero does the right thing, even if it means losing everything.

He is Sam Spade. He is Philip Marlowe. He is Rick Deckard. He is Harry Dresden.

He is all these men and more.

Now, join Larry Correia and Kacey Ezell as they present all-new stories of fantasy and science fiction with a hardboiled detective bent by today’s top authors.

Grab the bottle of Scotch from your bottom desk drawer. Light a cigarette. Tilt your fedora back on your head. But don’t forget to watch your back. This is No Game for Knights.

Stories by: Laurell K. Hamilton, Larry Correia, Christopher Ruocchio, Michael Haspil, D.J. Butler, Kacey Ezell, Griffin Barber, Robert Buettner, Sharon Shinn, Craig Martelle, Chris Kennedy, S.A. Bailey, G. Scott Huggins, Nicole Givens Kurtz, and Rob Howell.

I mean, you really can't go wrong with a read like that! And if you need even more awesome reading materials for your e-reader/eyeballs, may I suggest the following free ones?

https://books.bookfunnel.com/freefantasyseptember/t1nb4p8h3e

https://books.bookfunnel.com/thydr12345/r9gh1cqlyw

https://books.bookfunnel.com/bookspry-freescifi/8yavx4sapk

https://books.bookfunnel.com/free-fantasy-sciencefiction-ebooks/njgxtmv831

I feel those deadlines inching closer, so that's it for now.

Til next time,

Marisa