Hey awesome,

How is 2023 starting off for you? I spent the first week with two of my brothers, my sister-in-law, and my niece, so there were plenty of adventures and amazingness to be had and it was an incredible kickoff for the year. Have I told you before I am an enormous nerd about rocks, fossils, shells - the sorts of things you can find in abundance in South Carolina?

I am. Thankfully, so are one of my brothers and my sister-in-law, so above are scenes from not one but two shark tooth searching adventures (there are more teeth, this is just a close up...let me know if you want to see more?), plus a third trip to the beach, a joint base C-17 flyover, the immensely moody fog after one of our three escape rooms, a walk in a swamp, an enormously impractical milkshake... It was a lot of fun, is what I'm saying, and I'd love to do it all again immediately (more shark teeth please. Maybe sliiightly less stuffing my face. Slightly). I wish I lived closer to all of them all the time.

Thankfully I can't get too sad with that part of the year being over, because I'm on my way to see even more of my favorite people at MarsCon this weekend. If you're in the Virginia Beach, VA area, come by and say hello? We're going to have a lot of fun. There are fantastic panels, I'm crashing the ever-fabulous Kacey Ezell's table in Author's Alley, and the con staff have planned such a great time for us. I hope I'll get to see you there!

And even after that I can't get overly sulky, because I have a boatload of writing to keep me busy. Bill Webb and I are rounding toward the end of The Spider, I'm about to dive into edits on my novel for Baen, and also for no reason whatsoever the other day I outlined a super fun fantasy novel that I have to find room for...

Wild times, friends. Here's to keeping busy in 2023 by spending as much of it as possible with people we love, doing things we want to do. Would be pretty sweet, right?

Also pretty sweet - excellent books! Have you been keeping up with D.T. Read's Seventh Shaman Books? Book three, Crucible of the Gods, just came out last week, book 4 will be out February 10th, and allll of it is excellent reading. Look at that cover!

As for the story:

Akuleh—Ku to his friends—thought his life would get easier after he learned his destiny wasn’t inescapably bound to his people’s death demon, Machitew.

Then the enemy Supremacy gained a new ally that pushed the Resistance Pact forces into a two-front war across the galaxy. To halt the enemy’s advance and liberate a captured world, Ku’s unit, the 15th Aerospace Combat Wing, deploys to a planet aptly named for the destination of condemned souls. The terrain is rugged; the fighting worse.

Combat losses and personal commitments lead to new responsibilities on and off duty, but it doesn’t take Ku long to learn that the greatest burden of leadership will come with his true destiny, the one revealed months earlier on a stormy mountain.

Will Ku be able to rise to the challenges of his new life and destiny, or will he be crushed under the burden?

You can't go wrong. D.T Read is a fantastic person and an amazing storyteller, and these books are so, so good.

As are these free reads, in case you're in the mood for some additional reading during these still-short days:

https://books.bookfunnel.com/jansff001a/b9f62r4b6b

https://books.bookfunnel.com/fantasyscifireadingchallenge/jttuwnjv1f

I'm off to start some shenanigans at MarsCon (only of the fun variety, I solemnly swear), and I'll hope to see you there - if not, hope your 2023 is giving you some of your favorite things!

Til next time,

Marisa