Lots of book news at my end of the world! In my own writing CV, I've finished 3 more books, and contracted one of them, plus I've contracted a second, The Hollowing (excerpt) to Cerridwen Press. It joins Gilded Folly there, which, BTW, will be out in paperback very soon!

Gilded Folly is one of my all-time favourite "writes". It's so convoluted I had trouble making sure all the ends were tied up, but I tossed in some of those themes I love writing about: mystery, suspense, confused identities, lost royalty, plus a tense, save-people-from-assassinating-each-other brainwashing background rush. Wild and crazy, but with a bunch of comedy and humour, too. I've been anxiously anticipating this release for over a year. I'm soooo excited!

I just did the first rewrite on ErRatic (excerpt), for Five Star, and will be getting those of In Flames soon. That's the sequel to In Trysts that I finished this year, and Linden Bay Romance picked up. Oh, BTW, In Trysts is now on Amazon!

Other things: friends are getting published all over the place! Jane Beckenham has been signed by Linden Bay Romance for her books Hiring Cupid and He's the One. Yvonne Walus' award-winning story, Small Price to Pay, has been published. I hear Yvonne's present working on an edgy novel that will rock a few preconceptions. If any person can do this with finesse, it's Yvonne. Jean Drew's Eternal Hearts has just been picked up by Highland Press. This is the book of Jean's heart, which means she's poured herself into it, so we can expect great reviews and sales. We all have books like that, which mean more to us than others, because to us, we've written exactly what we'd like to read, and there's a warm, fuzzy feeling of satisfaction.

Cheers, ND/Melody

I'll leave you with a few excerpts from Light Play.

            But, it wasn’t the Denaro he remembered who faced the camera now—who drifted forward to glare into the camera’s eye. This creature was frayed and skeletal—its skulllike visage and gaping mouth patchily dressed in shreds of flesh—almost as though Denaro had momentarily forgotten what it was like to look human.

            There was nothing questionable in her anger, however. She glared into the camera, and as he watched, the malevolent look in her eyes was replaced by the no-less-daunting spectre of gaping eyeholes. Sy was certain, in that moment, that Denaro hated him. Not for what he was, but for what he did. And the fact that she’d used up all her strength, in removing that file from the drawer—that she no longer had the power to cut the camera’s umbilicus to Genetechnic—only added to her rancour. Sy felt he was looking death in the face.

            At that moment, Caroline Denaro faded from view. Sy scanned the lab desperately, in hopes of finding some sign of her drifting presence. “Let her be there,” he murmured. “Anywhere but here.”

            He heard a sound behind him. A soft rasp of movement; a barely heard whisper. Sy closed his eyes, and buried his face in his hands. “Don’t hurt me!” he pleaded. “I just work for them—”

            He never expected her to answer him; never expected her to reply to his words. “I just work here!” he yelled.

            “Yes,” came a rasping voice, so close to his ear that his heart skipped a beat. “So—did—I—”

 AND

           “What the hell is that smell?” Simon asked. He and Jason were riding with Cole.

            “That’s Stench—”

            “No kidding,” Jason said. “I met him on the way over here.”

            Cole explained. “Rick’s cat, you fool. He’s the reason I had to run home.”

            “You mean that’s going to be waiting for us at your house? If he smells this bad at a distance, I can’t wait till I’m close-up.” Simon moved away from a corner of the seat that Stench had obviously claimed as his own. “Maybe we should eat at my house.”

At Fictionwise