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Hey, amazing person!

I'm going to share a recent story that's what passes for high drama in my hermetic life. If you don't know, I live on a very small acreage outside of a small city. It's just enough space for a small menagerie of two dogs, two horses, and the occasional bucket calf (our cow herd lives on the family farm, many miles away).

My kids were very excited about the prospect of playing in the snow when we finally got some accumulation last week. So, we did the classic things, including building a snow man. This was trickier than I remember; getting the snow to pack (especially since we didn't have a lot and it was trying to melt) and assembling all of the snowman accessories (suitable sticks for limbs; random food for the face; who keeps lumps of coal on hand these days?!) were particular struggles.

We had fun! Though I did have to put the dogs in the house. I didn't do it when the big dog assumed that the sticks were for playing tug of war, or maybe fetch, but once we brought out a carrot for a nose and a couple slices of bread to mold into eyes and a mouth, I knew I couldn't trust them. The kids finished construction and we went inside eventually, proud of our lumpy, nontraditional little snowman. Then, later that evening I let the dogs out, hoping they would have forgotten about the snowman and his edible face.

They had not forgotten.

And, in their excitement over eating the snow man's face, they got into a fight wherein the big dog dealt a pretty serious bite to the scruff of the little dog's neck. The little dog made the same noise I imagine he'd make if he was carried off by an owl, causing a lot of panic in the household until he reappeared from the darkness like a tiny, fluffy rocket, largely unharmed.

He's felt very sorry for himself ever since. Mostly he seeks solace by snuggling with the big dog, which is either a sad irony or a profound lesson in forgiveness, depending on your personality type.

tl;dr my little dog has a bad scratch on his neck and the snowman we built stood for a day, faceless, before he melted into oblivion

What I'm reading

I read The Same End by Gregory Ashe. In an earlier email I gushed over the first installment in the trilogy, The Same Breath. All three books are beautiful and dark and dreamy and excellent. They made me laugh, they made me cry. Go read them.

Hearts on Fire

I am part of a charity anthology that will only be available for a short time. It represents an enormous collection of paranormal romance and fantasy tales, as well as my own spacey novella with some m/m romance and m/m/f romance foreshadowing, Breath of Roses.

You can learn more about the important cause that's benefitted by this anthology and purchase links here. All the proceeds will be donated to the Wildlife Disaster Network, which has been providing support and veterinary care to wildlife harmed by the devastating recent wildfires in California.

Undertow

Chapter fourteen of Undertow is up! For pirate adventures, magic, and kinky power dynamics, check it out! You can read all the available chapters on my website.

pre-order Long Winter | pre-order Signs of Spring