tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-326690462024-03-07T09:01:45.284+00:00De-blogDebbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.comBlogger346125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-44933327014108121702023-03-22T10:23:00.002+00:002023-03-22T10:23:35.341+00:00A big decision? #amwriting<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwy9IXWPI1mADGTBYWI0Gxhvw2ahEGzmNy-bVC_xLXhgfHf7QOUB1TyEfauxYIgF5_BMyUl6O89RUaFe27P5lKrmItG5y7z9-NVhffNnvLWPaV3TcZV5LN03hiqlBjgM3Pqjgs_AaIu4xT3vcN-1og7sngrWYmSlj3GLKHsH7H1el4LGCr2w/s422/fantasy-4378018_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Image of an open book within a fantasy landscape, a girl standing on a swing attached to a cherry blossom tree on the left page, a woodland on the right, with steps leading from the book down onto a grassy hill." border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="422" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwy9IXWPI1mADGTBYWI0Gxhvw2ahEGzmNy-bVC_xLXhgfHf7QOUB1TyEfauxYIgF5_BMyUl6O89RUaFe27P5lKrmItG5y7z9-NVhffNnvLWPaV3TcZV5LN03hiqlBjgM3Pqjgs_AaIu4xT3vcN-1og7sngrWYmSlj3GLKHsH7H1el4LGCr2w/w320-h320/fantasy-4378018_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/darkmoon_art-1664300/" target="_blank">Darkmoon Art</a></td></tr></tbody></table>There is a theory (I can’t recall whose) that our decisions are already made at the beginning of a deliberation process, and the weighing up of pros and cons is merely a form of delaying while we find the courage to take the leap.</p><p>After three months of prevaricating, I’ve taken that leap.</p><p>Well, more of a step-over, as what I’ve done is congruent with who I am and my values, but I’m wary of the kickback it might have and how others could feel under duress to follow my example or plead their case, neither of which are necessary.</p><p>To be clear: this decision has no bearing on anyone else, nor is it a judgement of how other creative people do their thing.</p><p>Cutting to the chase (finally)…</p><p>I’ve re-priced all of my ebooks to 99c/99p (depending on where you are in the world). That includes all novels, novellas and short stories written by Debbie McGowan or J.S. Morley. The only exceptions are my box sets/multiple-volume books, which are 2.99 USD, and my free ebooks, which will remain free.</p><p>My reasons, in brief:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I’m fortunate that I don’t rely on income from my writing. My income is my university salary.</li><li>I have wonderful friends who are accomplished editors and proofreaders and (I hope) are happy with the non-monetary exchange of favours, if that’s the word for it.</li><li>I don’t care about money. Yes, I know that’s a privileged statement. My salary pays the bills, and we’re comfortable.</li><li>While it was true five years ago that the price of an ebook was seen as a reliable measure of its value (i.e. how well it was written and edited), this is no longer the case, and deciding on what is a ‘worthy’ price tag for my books is nonsense to my socialist worldview.</li><li>Many readers have to ration their book purchases. Equally invalid as the previous point’s argument is ‘you pay that for a cup of coffee’. The world changed in 2020 and remains a harsh terrain. The last thing I want is for the cost of an ebook to be the reason someone can’t enjoy a few moments’ respite from reality.</li><li>Knowing that people are reading my books motivates me to write. Worrying about why they aren’t buying my books does not.</li></ul><p></p><p>I haven’t made all of my books free, as I want people to read them (see last point above), and it’s too easy to download a free book, simply because it’s free, only to delete it later.</p><p>To reiterate: this is NOT a judgement of any other author’s pricing practices. There are many costs associated with publishing a book, and most authors make a pittance if they make anything at all. I will continue to buy ebooks and respect every person’s right to fair pay for their work. I would be very dis-chuffed to find out a reader has used my decision as a criticism of another author.</p><p>Lastly, I’m working through my back catalogue, converting my ebooks to ePub 3 format and taking the opportunity to fix bits and pieces. I’ve only updated three books so far (<i><a href="https://books2read.com/Beginnings-DebbieMcGowan" target="_blank">Beginnings</a></i>, <i><a href="https://books2read.com/HidingBehindTheCouch" target="_blank">Hiding Behind The Couch</a></i> and <i><a href="https://books2read.com/NoTime-DebbieMcGowa" target="_blank">No Time Like The Present</a></i>), but if you want to check whether you’re reading the most up-to-date version, check the copyright page, which will provide a date range ending in 2023 (e.g. Copyright © 2012–2023 Debbie McGowan).</p><p>Thanks for reading. :)</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Find me on Books2Read:</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://books2read.com/DebbieMcGowan" target="_blank">books2read.com/DebbieMcGowan</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://books2read.com/JSMorley" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://books2read.com/JSMorley" target="_blank">books2read.com/JSMorley</a></div><p></p>Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-5123262776092397782023-03-06T12:32:00.003+00:002023-03-06T15:39:16.265+00:00Why writers should never read books (or watch TV)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9OZ5IL-bzsuVhEYxuexFrK-KcgtASv2hLiccH5xXEYT5FxiI7JREwaEX87hU9IfvhH-cENcQVlFbsYRQ3dV1_q0ZHnYaTHld4jGXvfC5oDED7BpJUCAR1TzQhe9NnBN3NFVaGC38koXG3-5pnpkqugF8lvpzm7rR7BwkCBLEikNoSflQ-hg/s1280/hacker-5151533_1280.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration of hooded figure - a thief - typing on a laptop." border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9OZ5IL-bzsuVhEYxuexFrK-KcgtASv2hLiccH5xXEYT5FxiI7JREwaEX87hU9IfvhH-cENcQVlFbsYRQ3dV1_q0ZHnYaTHld4jGXvfC5oDED7BpJUCAR1TzQhe9NnBN3NFVaGC38koXG3-5pnpkqugF8lvpzm7rR7BwkCBLEikNoSflQ-hg/w200-h200/hacker-5151533_1280.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Nige - my other half – is a singer/songwriter. He'd likely tell you otherwise, but I heard his songs (and learnt all the lyrics – it's an affliction) before I even set eyes on him, so whatever else he claims he is, he is <i>also</i> a singer/songwriter. I mention this to qualify something he said to me not long after we became friends: there are only so many ways to combine the musical elements; inevitably, people will write melodies that have been written before.<p></p><p>Or something like that. I'm paraphrasing to fit the theme of this blog post, which will be short. I'm trying to get back into the habit of posting more often than once a year.</p><p>That point about songs came back to me a couple of weeks ago when I was watching artists on YouTube demonstrate how to draw faces, and one of them said something about all art being derivative, stolen from others. The key is to learn to 'steal like an artist'.</p><p>So I don't sidetrack, I'll just add a link to a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oww7oB9rjgw" target="_blank">TED talk by Austin Kleon</a>, whose book entitled <i>Steal Like an Artist</i> is a bestseller. I haven't read much of it…or watched his TED talk yet. However, one of the points Kleon makes is that 'nothing is original', and if we keep trying to create something new, we will fail because it's not possible. Once you can embrace that, he says, you free yourself to create. Well, I've a way go yet, hence this blog post.</p><p>It helps that all creative people share these feelings. We bandy about the term 'imposter syndrome' as if we have no right to our creativity and are merely playing at it, faking it, which is nonsense, yet we believe it. Case in point: last week, an author friend of mine was horrified (might be too strong a word) when he discovered in a book he was reading a scene identical to the one he had written in his most recent novel. I assured him it happened to us all, our conversation ended, and I thought nothing more of it, until…</p><p>Until I, too, fell face first into the pit of self-doubt about the 'novelty' of my writing. By this point, I should probably bring slippers, I visit so often. Why on earth do we call them novels?</p><p>Here's what happened (short post, she said…):</p><p>Nige and I have a peculiar, semi-binge-style TV habit. We enjoy crime series but nothing too heavy, and once we latch onto a series, we watch every episode, one after the other, until it's exhausted. We're quite disiplined, though, and make it last by only watching one episode each night, alongside whichever other series currently take our fancy. At this point, we're up to date with <i>NCIS</i> and <i>Father Brown</i>, watching Season 3 of <i>Death in Paradise</i> and only a few episodes from the end of <i>NCIS New Orleans</i>. Before those, we watched <i>Bones</i>, <i>Lie To Me</i>, <i>Suits</i>, <i>Psych</i>…and so many other series in the same way. Then it's over, and we're sad, but eventually, we move on, find new things to watch.</p><p>In the search for those new things to watch, I discovered <i>Professor T</i>, starring Ben Miller, and I knew right away it would be our kind of series, but <i>why does it have to be about a quirky crime-busting professor of forensic criminology*?</i></p><p>Sound familiar? It should. It's the stuff of many a TV series, book series, no doubt radio play too. See? <i>Nothing</i> is original. And that's OK. Or so I keep telling myself. Maybe one day I'll believe me.</p><p>*(Side note: 'Forensic criminology' is not a real academic discipline; I can only assume the production company truncated, having decided <i>Forensic Psychology and Criminology</i> was too long-winded.)</p><p>To conclude, here's the opening to a novel (or series – that was my intent) I started writing in September 2021, although it's only one chapter long at this point. The series/book (whichever it turns out to be…if it turns out to be anything) is called <i>Mindbender</i>, and it's [sigh] about a quirky crime-busting professor – of social psychology rather than 'forensic criminology', admittedly, but still. Go figure.</p>
<div style="margin: 2em;"><p>I didn’t hate Mondays in general, but that particular Monday, I was making an exception. Only eight thirty and already it was turning into a day the devil himself could have dished up. Out of coffee at home, I stopped off at a petrol station, filled the car’s tank…couldn’t fill my own from the out-of-order machine. To top it off, the only space I could find was in the farthest corner of the university’s town-sized car park and—by that point it came as no surprise—the lift had gone kaput again, so I climbed the three flights of stairs to the social science faculty office on vapours.</p><p>“Morning, Jenna,” I called in greeting to the woman at the desk adjacent to the wall of mostly empty pigeonholes. With a large picture window looking out over the campus greenery, the office was as pleasant a workspace as any, providing one didn’t mind the constant interruptions.</p><p>“Morning, Mac,” Jenna replied stoically—her usual style. To be fair, in my caffeine-deprived state, my attention wasn’t on her but on the large, book-shaped parcel stuffed in the dark, nameless, bottom-shelf cubby I had been allocated five years ago by the dean, despite her continued refusal to make my position permanent, since I’d been there long enough for the postal service to find me.</p></div>Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-79496885123454749212023-02-21T14:07:00.000+00:002023-02-21T14:07:37.092+00:00Books2Read links and flippin' eck, I'm writing!<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ3e3xi1FkiT2cdBbt_Fk-6c1TFqVgyEewF5Inz-mo75A1KslNqDnH1hqf6NGiM0F3GkSNQzml0Zn3oPpx_k7QN3Eoh9sDjcc9XdsUQG4QdYrynGL2RIOSJoaP3B4NnJQZ5avOQSwH0vJVUc-sNngf3PM6B0kL9037xs8eAJB9H5mcHCas0w/s640/rich-2898999_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Illustration of men in suits and sunglasses, all pointing guns, with the title 'Club Rich' and various money/power words in the background." border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="494" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ3e3xi1FkiT2cdBbt_Fk-6c1TFqVgyEewF5Inz-mo75A1KslNqDnH1hqf6NGiM0F3GkSNQzml0Zn3oPpx_k7QN3Eoh9sDjcc9XdsUQG4QdYrynGL2RIOSJoaP3B4NnJQZ5avOQSwH0vJVUc-sNngf3PM6B0kL9037xs8eAJB9H5mcHCas0w/w247-h320/rich-2898999_640.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pixabay.com/users/johnhain-352999/" target="_blank">Illustration by John Hain</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Every time I open a text message or email at the moment, it's from one of my utilities providers telling me my bill's about to increase. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.ucu.org.uk/" target="_blank">my union</a> has paused strike action hoping it will contribute to a more positive negotiation climate. Seriously, the common people are on their knees and STILL we're sucking up to government and big capital, not that those two are separate entities.</p><p>All is not well in the Western world. Yes, for all of the above, I realise I'm very fortunate. I enjoy a comfortable standard of living but nothing more than that, and my private rants about the unfairness of a system that piles guilt onto us – the barely comfortable – while the bunch of w*nkers at the top don't give a single sh*t on a platinum toilet…are much longer <i>and</i> swearier.</p><p>But I didn't come here to rant; it escaped and expanded while I was considering the intended topic of this post, which is a couple of recent changes that have impacted on how I go about my daily business.</p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">The TL;DR version</span></b></p><p>I have set up Books2Read pages for my books, from where you can find links to buy/download them via the online store of your choosing. You can find me here:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://books2read.com/DebbieMcGowan" target="_blank">books2read.com/DebbieMcGowan</a></li><li><a href="http://books2read.com/JSMorley" target="_blank">books2read.com/JSMorley</a> (children's books)</li></ul><br /><p></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">What are these big changes?</span></b></p><p><b><i></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjDR_qSe8ZVCeVFBepSngVLEoG1CaUY65Pffz1Vk-pHeC8RsZEB7-hN9d2LArhL8KNY4i9FvmKl55XUAXl6IPwLb-NwDPIFHlHyK6JgeqOF6xCiNwFLuFUg3L_tjmQHgfGxVoUwU4XxF4mN4eVQssyeWzFuUOHKNeSSHAgau4NxKJRz3_0kA/s1671/Trig_Bilbo_Couch.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Photograph of two rescued, mixed-breed dogs lying on a couch." border="0" data-original-height="762" data-original-width="1671" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjDR_qSe8ZVCeVFBepSngVLEoG1CaUY65Pffz1Vk-pHeC8RsZEB7-hN9d2LArhL8KNY4i9FvmKl55XUAXl6IPwLb-NwDPIFHlHyK6JgeqOF6xCiNwFLuFUg3L_tjmQHgfGxVoUwU4XxF4mN4eVQssyeWzFuUOHKNeSSHAgau4NxKJRz3_0kA/w320-h146/Trig_Bilbo_Couch.jpeg" width="320" /></a></i></b></div><b><i>First of all</i>, Amazon</b> retired their Smile programme, which allowed customers to nominate a charity that received donations each time the customer made a purchase. I had nominated <a href="https://carlalaneanimalsinneed.co.uk/" target="_blank">Carla Lane Animals in Need Rescue</a> in Liverpool, from where we adopted our two puppers. It's a fantastic shelter with a no-destruction policy and huge overheads. My tiny contribution via the Smile programme wasn't ground-breaking, but every penny counts for animal rescues.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEvCRHABtsTEskb85ampoOxK-GYowbBjpcYjSaHHI2JNNwf9RSe94KOASQPp2tT_lIkuM0WvYI1Z4eYcGG3j4J4xLlU2288MryZMqdk5YVSxf5gFDqKXDj-c27pfDWFDoO9KzzE1efiY_aq11Wnm_7duz3kUr8TNLelMI8atK87kkVv2BR5A/s1000/Moo_Couch_LR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Photo of a red and white border collie lying on a couch." border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="1000" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEvCRHABtsTEskb85ampoOxK-GYowbBjpcYjSaHHI2JNNwf9RSe94KOASQPp2tT_lIkuM0WvYI1Z4eYcGG3j4J4xLlU2288MryZMqdk5YVSxf5gFDqKXDj-c27pfDWFDoO9KzzE1efiY_aq11Wnm_7duz3kUr8TNLelMI8atK87kkVv2BR5A/w320-h173/Moo_Couch_LR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />The <a href="https://www.bordercollietrustgb.org.uk/" target="_blank">Border Collie Trust GB</a> in the Midlands (whence came Moo, who is no longer with us) have reported that the end of the Smile programme means losing out on around £3,000 of donations per year for them. That's not small change.<p></p><p>From here on, I'll be using <a href="https://www.giveasyoulive.com/" target="_blank">Give As You Live</a> where possible, but shame on you (yet again), Amazon. Like you can't afford the admin costs…which can be offset against tax – ah, I see the problem now.</p><p>Moving on…</p><p><b><i>Secondly</i>, <a href="https://booklinker.com/" target="_blank">Booklinker</a></b> changed how their universal links work. Until last year (2022), you provided Booklinker with one of the Amazon purchase links for a book, and it created a universal link that ensured the customer clicking on it was directed to their 'local' Amazon. This was necessary because, for instance, a UK customer landing on the US page for a Kindle book will be greeted with a 'book currently unavailable' message.</p><p>Last year, Booklinker embarked on a partnership with Apple, so now the universal link opens a second page where the customer has to choose between Amazon and Apple and click again. That's only a minor inconvenience, but it's hard enough to get someone to click in the first place without adding further obstacles. What's more, now Booklinker and Apple are buddied up, Amazon affiliate links can no longer be associated with Booklinker accounts, so I've lost the small kickback I received by using Booklinker with my affiliate links, and I publish my books to Apple via <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/" target="_blank">Smashwords</a>, so I can't even benefit from Apple's affiliate link.</p><p>Agh, those big corporate b*stards! [Shakes tiny prole fist.]</p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">My solution: Books2Read</span></b></p><p>If you read all of that, thanks. You're too kind…or too bored. Either way, I appreciate you hanging around.</p><p>I'd been looking for a solution to the universal-links issue for a few months and for some inexplicable reason completely disregarded <a href="https://books2read.com/" target="_blank">Books2Read</a> the first time. Well, no, it is…explicable, as when I shared what I was doing on Facebook, my dear friend and fellow author <a href="https://www.hirschi.se/" target="_blank">Hans M Hirschi</a> asked what the catch was, and as far as I can tell there is none, but I must have thought the same when I dismissed it as an option. Perhaps I assumed it was only open to <a href="https://draft2digital.com/" target="_blank">Draft2Digital</a> authors; perhaps it was because the internet is full of promises for 'free' stuff – a literal web of lies.</p><p>But then <a href="https://www.kajeharper.com/" target="_blank">Kaje Harper</a>, another good author friend of mine, who also trusts me to format her books, asked me to add a Books2Read link to one of her ebooks, and it reminded me that I still hadn't resolved my universal-link problem.</p><p>Well, now I have! Hurrah!</p><p>In short, Books2Read is a free universal linking service, and I can once again use my affiliate links to Amazon as well as to Google Play and Smashwords. I don't really care about the money (I'm still weighing up whether to substantially reduce the price of my ebooks), but if I can squeeze a penny or two out of those glomping giants of technology, then I will.</p><p>Here are those Books2Read links again:</p><ul><li><a href="http://books2read.com/DebbieMcGowan" target="_blank">books2read.com/DebbieMcGowan</a></li><li><a href="http://books2read.com/JSMorley" target="_blank">books2read.com/JSMorley</a> (children's books)</li></ul><br /><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">And finally (writing stuff)…</span></b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN6u8MBWn3ARGjcT-9_oI5qtts-o3Dx6dOF5Enn3ssd6NS1H_Z93o4O42IH8tN9cj7sKP_cWzvbgnHYqh405zAwuhEffXQf7rQbYmDAbswp3Bhor_NWSqQ_Dca-4CJQr9HrmfoI9VfxGvRPOaAy6MNoCww4MJQEazN5DQQzq9HOoaINWgogQ/s640/woman-41201_640.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Black-and-white illustration of a Victorianesque lady sitting at a writing desk, quill in hand." border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="640" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN6u8MBWn3ARGjcT-9_oI5qtts-o3Dx6dOF5Enn3ssd6NS1H_Z93o4O42IH8tN9cj7sKP_cWzvbgnHYqh405zAwuhEffXQf7rQbYmDAbswp3Bhor_NWSqQ_Dca-4CJQr9HrmfoI9VfxGvRPOaAy6MNoCww4MJQEazN5DQQzq9HOoaINWgogQ/w200-h139/woman-41201_640.png" width="200" /></a></div>If you've read this far then your boredom will soon give way to sleep…or you like what I write and thus might be delighted – even as delighted as I am – to know that I'm writing actual words of fiction again.<p></p><p>Here's a wee snippet from this morning's scribbles of what is, potentially, <i>Elementary </i>(Hiding Behind The Couch Season 8):</p>
<div style="margin: 2em;">
<p>George checked his phone again and set to work, still mulling over [REDACTED BECAUSE SPOILERS] for a while but then caught a hint of a song in the vacuum cleaner’s tone as it shifted with the different surfaces. He whistled along, chuckling to himself at the memory of his mum yelling at him to <i>cut out that bloody racket</i>. He hadn’t realised he did it until Josh pointed it out, using almost the exact phrase George’s mum had, but there was nobody to yell at him today. The only protest he got was Jinja bolting out the cat flap and Blue shifting from the kitchen to the living room and back again once George was done in there.</p>
<p><i>She still finds plenty to moan about</i>, George mused, carting the cordless vacuum cleaner upstairs. He’d been quite happy shoving around the heavy old Hoover she’d bought off Jono for a tenner, which puffed out more dust than it picked up, and before that the rusty carpet sweeper with squeaky wheels that sounded like Farmer Jake’s guinea pig enclosure at feeding time. Then he’d moved in with Captain Gadget and his fancy cyclone-action cleaner, soon after replaced by a cordless version identical to the one in George’s hand. There’d been nothing wrong with it, but “Mam, do you want our old hoover?” was safer than “Mam, we bought you a new hoover.” She’d accepted with a reluctant, “Ta, lad,” and complained about it ever since.
</p>
</div>Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-54798101624679534312023-01-01T14:14:00.000+00:002023-01-01T14:14:12.974+00:00Dead To Me - A (very) Short Story<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz3fXZHT7tU2kso9oJuzgAaSOoJc4hdgi5vEvqFVerUKOq75HLqKwEg4NUTNzvWASjr3gTvEhiml7LCGDVJUVQ_MPw2vVtXzRW5RXHSWHya5JnX0uXhsiR-66FeHs4kXdli9jNCo91DzR6mrdfkLAk9JVQ1glJcNNYR0-eJlVvKLj33Dawyg/s1920/woman-7571108_1920.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1176" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz3fXZHT7tU2kso9oJuzgAaSOoJc4hdgi5vEvqFVerUKOq75HLqKwEg4NUTNzvWASjr3gTvEhiml7LCGDVJUVQ_MPw2vVtXzRW5RXHSWHya5JnX0uXhsiR-66FeHs4kXdli9jNCo91DzR6mrdfkLAk9JVQ1glJcNNYR0-eJlVvKLj33Dawyg/s320/woman-7571108_1920.jpg" width="196" /></a></div>I hear the front door close, the clang of your keys as you drop them into your pocket. My peaceful afternoon is about to end, just as soon as you’ve taken off your shoes, checked the mail, poked your head into the sitting room, slammed the kettle with your dismay and laid your disbelief upon the naked kitchen table. I can almost hear you tally your point score as you climb the stairs to my studio—THE attic, as you call it—and I should brace for your arrival, but I don’t give a damn.<p></p>
<p>That creaky top stair denies you your stealthy approach, yet I act as if you will still catch me unawares. The square of blue above my head holds my attention, patchy and ragged as if the skylight were a giant phone and the sky a wash painted by a clumsy finger.</p>
<p>“I bet you do that all day.”</p>
<p>I fake a start, as usual, and spin my chair so my back is fully to you. If you could manage as much as a civil ‘hi’, I’d respond in kind. But the kindness has all gone. We are embittered, estranged echoes of our past.</p>
<p>“Actually,” I say but find I no longer feel any requirement to justify my actions to you. No, I don’t sit staring at the sky all day. Not even five minutes of it. You have no idea that those few seconds I do spend, just before you come home, keep you alive.</p>
<p>You’re in my every story. I’ve plotted a thousand conclusions to us. Once upon a time, we held hands and danced through fields of buttercups. Twice upon a time, we overcame adversity, married, had kids. Nine hundred and ninety-seven times…I killed you. Poison, falling pianos, out-of-control articulated lorries, serial killers, cases of mistaken identity, guns fired or misfired, terrible diseases, some as yet unknown to medical science…</p>
<p>I’ve covered my tracks or I’ve served my time, or it wasn’t my fault. Sometimes I’ve grieved; sometimes I’ve tried to save you. Inevitably, I failed.</p>
<p>Still, you stand there waiting for an answer of some kind.</p>
<p>“Coffee?” I suggest, rising from my chair and passing you by.</p>
<p>“Sure,” you agree, adding, as I precede you down the stairs, “You know, I could push you, and everyone would think you’d fallen.”</p>
<p>“Original.” I pause at the bottom, let you precede me down the next flight.</p>
<p>“Or you could push me,” you say.</p>
<p>I smile at your back. Not today, my sweet. Today, your demise resides in a deliciously undetectable dash of arsenic in the coffee I will make for you because <i>I’m only an author</i> and you’ve been out at work all day.</p>
<p>Fear not. I have no intention of killing you off-page. Why would I kill my muse when your many deaths have paid for my studio, the skylight, this house and every stick of furniture it contains? An unwitting and, in all senses of the word, ignorant messiah, you must die so we might live until The End.</p>
<p align="center">Story ©2023 <a href="https://www.debbiemcgowan.co.uk/">Debbie McGowan</a><br />Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/freefunart-8472313/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=7571108">Free Fun Art from Pixabay</a></p>Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-60356720108397389202022-12-20T23:35:00.006+00:002022-12-20T23:35:46.299+00:00Reverberations - HBTC novel - is now available<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijjbpCOB0NEDDLZjeJMtVuexymeJqx3WyL4cY9tSCZYC1Qn1r7VE2vdfpnjR1jd90kCckwOGKwA6rYy83fXB2k5UXeSaIkZQEjTLO6s1j9N0s9qDt8_WTRLhKkTDRwmSIwYR8aO9oD47aJ9StwrFPTCuFINtPCHY-c5Vxh3y35hfpTMv96mg/s525/DebbieMcGowan_Reverberations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijjbpCOB0NEDDLZjeJMtVuexymeJqx3WyL4cY9tSCZYC1Qn1r7VE2vdfpnjR1jd90kCckwOGKwA6rYy83fXB2k5UXeSaIkZQEjTLO6s1j9N0s9qDt8_WTRLhKkTDRwmSIwYR8aO9oD47aJ9StwrFPTCuFINtPCHY-c5Vxh3y35hfpTMv96mg/s320/DebbieMcGowan_Reverberations.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />Phew! [wipes brow] I've finally done it! My new novel is out in the wild (admittedly, it's still sitting on Amazon's doorstep waiting to be let in).<p></p><p><i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/reverberations" target="_blank">Reverberations</a></i> is a stand-alone-ish novel in the <a href="http://www.hidingbehindthecouch.com" target="_blank">Hiding Behind The Couch</a> series – purchase links will appear on <a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/reverberations" target="_blank">Beaten Track</a> as soon as they're live. The ebook is already live on the Beaten Track store.</p><p><i>Mysterious happenings are mounting up for Josh, Sean and their estranged alumni.</i></p><p><i>Josh Sandison-Morley was born a sceptic. Why else would he insist there’s no such thing as ghosts when he’s eliminated every plausible explanation for the noises in his former therapy rooms?</i></p><p><i>Sean Tierney’s having some ‘performance issues’. His GP says there’s no physical reason: his blood pressure is under control, and he’s stayed off the booze, ergo it’s all in his head. In the circumstances, being a palliative clinical psychologist isn’t proving (self-)helpful.</i></p><p><i>Despite two decades of friendship and their grand plans to open a private psychotherapy centre, neither man confides in the other. That is, until news reaches them both, via different avenues, that their experiences are but part of a bizarre cluster of unexplained phenomena, for which there is only one common denominator.</i></p><p><i>Whether real or the product of overwrought imaginations, Josh, Sean and their alumni must lay to rest the spectre of a once-beloved friend…or admit defeat and crawl back under the safe, weighty stones of the jobs and relationships they’ve left behind.</i></p><p><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/reverberations" target="_blank">https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/reverberations</a></p><div><br /></div>Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-39444373340866602902022-10-17T10:51:00.004+01:002022-10-17T10:53:14.148+01:00Josh vs The Loft: an update (in other words, I've finished writing Alumni - Reverberations)<p><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b></b></i></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgen74otLKv7SvinXMmjC_Y9fsJd19uS5h_Lt5hHLZIex9FoIULbeV69B9PkPcWVDXqZ9Uu045rOGl214dseOp2PpLWHmo5xJ517m-KB8T9dd-FS_GEeCgm59VXcOfEDgbOem3pmpchR-1VvC05iv8frFjETN1au30hneHwI1qVI3UM-v0ZbQ/s462/Ghost_Mortarboard.png"><img border="0" data-original-height="462" data-original-width="392" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgen74otLKv7SvinXMmjC_Y9fsJd19uS5h_Lt5hHLZIex9FoIULbeV69B9PkPcWVDXqZ9Uu045rOGl214dseOp2PpLWHmo5xJ517m-KB8T9dd-FS_GEeCgm59VXcOfEDgbOem3pmpchR-1VvC05iv8frFjETN1au30hneHwI1qVI3UM-v0ZbQ/w170-h200/Ghost_Mortarboard.png" width="170" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b></b></i></span></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Alumni – Reverberations</b></i> is finished! Now I wonder what all the fuss was about. :D</span><p></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">To explain further/recap, here’s the <b>Author’s Note</b> I’ve added to the start of the book:</span></p>
<p></p>
<div style="border: 1px solid; margin: 1em; padding: 1em;">As a way of making light of how long it’s taken me to finish this novel, I’ve spent the past five(!) years saying, “Josh has been stuck in the loft for [x] years now.” That was where I left him at the end of <i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/reunions" target="_blank"><b>Reunions</b></a></i>, published in April 2017—dangling from the loft hatch in his former ‘surgery’, a space he previously rented but now owns.<br />It might, therefore, be somewhat confusing to find that Josh is not stuck in the loft at the beginning of this book. This isn’t because he cunningly escaped while the author was under siege from burnout. Rather, the five-chapter epilogue of <i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/reunions" target="_blank"><b>Reunions</b></a></i> and the first seven chapters of <i><b>Reverberations</b></i> overlap. This was always my intention—to add in the ‘how did we get here?’ background to events at the end of <i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/reunions" target="_blank"><b>Reunions</b></a></i>—but it should, I hope, also serve as something of a <i>Previously…in Hiding Behind The Couch</i>.<p style="text-align: left;">Either way, all you need to know is that at the start of this story, Josh isn’t stuck in the loft…<i>yet</i>.</p></div>
<p></p>
<p><i><b>Reverberations</b></i> ended up being a bit longer (149k) than I’d aimed for (80k). Partly, it’s because I switched from writing the next ‘season’ (#8, which would have been titled <i>Alumni</i>) to writing a follow-up to <i><a href="https://beatentrackpublishing.com/ruminations" target="_blank"><b>Ruminations</b></a></i>, and I’m still undecided which of those it is (hence <i><b>Alumni – Reverberations</b></i>).</p>
<p><i><a href="https://beatentrackpublishing.com/ruminations" target="_blank"><b>Ruminations</b></a></i> followed Josh and Sean to university at the start of their academic journey. <i><b>Reverberations</b></i>, set twenty-plus years later, likewise focuses on Josh and Sean, along with one of their alumni, Genie. The story is told from the points of view of those three characters with brief appearances from <a href="http://www.hidingbehindthecouch.com/?n1=series#characters" target="_blank">‘The Circle’ – the central cast of Hiding Behind The Couch</a> – and other alumni caught up in some ghostly goings-on…</p>
<div style="border: 1px solid; margin: 1em; padding: 1em;"><p><b>SNIPPET:</b></p>
<p></p>
<i>Genie was still smiling as she exited her room, ready to give her best efforts to seeing Xander’s ghosts, but the smile quickly turned to horror as she reached the top of the stairs. All four portraits had tipped sideways; the one immediately to her left—her great-great-great-grandmother’s—continued to sway until, before her eyes, it lifted free of its hook and slid down the wall. The frame broke apart on impact with the step, one half staying where it fell, the other still attached to the painting, which bounced, end over end, all the way to the bottom of the stairs. A further noise had Genie grabbing for the banister: the familiar tinkle of a small bunch of keys dropped onto the bureau.</i><p></p>
<p><i>“Hey, Mum. I’m home. Where are you?”</i><span></span></p></div>
<p></p>
<p>Nige is almost done with his alpha-read, after which comes beta-reading, editing, proofreading…and it still needs a cover. On that score, AI (<a href="https://beta.dreamstudio.ai/dream" target="_blank">DreamStudio</a>) came up with some interesting ideas for the prompt ‘A dream of a haunted attic, dark objects, Ouija, abstract, scales of justice, therapy’.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2DZBxjF6cYJcXjSwEWqyjshMy9yqni4deuMIoErm1tcCGPvbkr1xK2pa7HmM1u6v1sMpXZQK5MOhXiyHkuNBo4qwjHTh3oMv-hN3HPeWa3-b_vEICv22SdvMCNh6Gh_9NF4OLYHMMxd_uICCl2dnaZvZngMPIcEiNu1L-iM_xiIAhTvKGA/s512/1148442988_A_dream_of_a_haunted_attic__dark_objects__Ouija__abstract.png"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2DZBxjF6cYJcXjSwEWqyjshMy9yqni4deuMIoErm1tcCGPvbkr1xK2pa7HmM1u6v1sMpXZQK5MOhXiyHkuNBo4qwjHTh3oMv-hN3HPeWa3-b_vEICv22SdvMCNh6Gh_9NF4OLYHMMxd_uICCl2dnaZvZngMPIcEiNu1L-iM_xiIAhTvKGA/s320/1148442988_A_dream_of_a_haunted_attic__dark_objects__Ouija__abstract.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<p>I WILL release <i><b>Alumni – Reverberations</b></i> before the end of 2022.</p>
<div style="border: 1px solid; margin: 1em; padding: 1em;"><p><b>BLURB:</b></p>
<p>Mysterious happenings are mounting up for Josh, Sean and their estranged alumni.</p>
<p>Josh Sandison-Morley was born a sceptic. Why else would he insist there’s no such thing as ghosts when he’s eliminated every plausible explanation for the noises in his former therapy rooms?</p>
<p>Sean Tierney’s having some ‘performance issues’. His GP says there’s no physical reason: his blood pressure is under control, and he’s stayed off the booze, ergo it’s all in his head. In the circumstances, being a palliative clinical psychologist isn’t proving (self-)helpful.</p>
<p>Despite two decades of friendship and their grand plans to open a private psychotherapy centre, neither man confides in the other. That is, until news reaches them both, via different avenues, that their experiences are but part of a bizarre cluster of unexplained phenomena, for which there is only one common denominator.</p>
<p>Whether real or the product of overwrought imaginations, Josh, Sean and their alumni must lay to rest the spectre of a once-beloved friend…or admit defeat and crawl back under the safe, weighty stones of the jobs and relationships they’ve left behind.</p></div>
Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-8406107066684832212022-05-02T13:29:00.001+01:002022-05-02T13:29:11.758+01:00New Website
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP9J6uTl1MFIWRID6DV1B4eTjWjJphz_qvydk2TIkVdV9OJmCgJeiBz9PyEhKBtzMlW_vpkbdozO7HjuSJuvGE1yJ7cB8_MCF0eSgH9a9WkFFudoM-3CSRotuz3SNO9XbvcE1IO_ZcfA1xNbGSayFOWah7V2Zsf5qB99m6f0BHix0j82OEBw/s834/Screenshot%202022-05-02%20at%2013.23.39.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="834" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP9J6uTl1MFIWRID6DV1B4eTjWjJphz_qvydk2TIkVdV9OJmCgJeiBz9PyEhKBtzMlW_vpkbdozO7HjuSJuvGE1yJ7cB8_MCF0eSgH9a9WkFFudoM-3CSRotuz3SNO9XbvcE1IO_ZcfA1xNbGSayFOWah7V2Zsf5qB99m6f0BHix0j82OEBw/s320/Screenshot%202022-05-02%20at%2013.23.39.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />Three blog posts in one day…<p></p><p>There is a method to my seemingly sudden enthusiasm for posting, and it’s a one-off.</p><p>Along with starting and never finishing stories, over the past few years I’ve been trying to come up with a streamlined, stripped-down layout for my website, the former incarnations of which had lots of pages and lots of content, but mostly it was duplicating what was available elsewhere.</p><p>For instance, I had a page for the Hiding Behind The Couch series, but I also have <a href="http://www.hidingbehindthecouch.com" target="_blank">hidingbehindthecouch.com</a>, so that was pointless. All my books are listed – along with blurbs and purchase links – on Beaten Track, and then there are the pages and posts on this blog, and I thought…</p><p><b><i>Work smarter, Deb.</i></b></p><p>Which is why I’m posting about my forever-ongoing works in progress today. Twice.</p><p>I mean, I have published other stuff in the time that <b><i>Scene But Not Herd</i></b> and <i><b>Alumni – Reverberations</b></i> have been gathering virtual dust.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidUPgFmMXkfyXtiwV8vatQqVajJOyCHeJ4YC5CQzb9eUhKgjJHre6mqA6il-avC7HNU3vp48FOmyIfD8yD5R7877JgIQ2If8UG12a61E4eu6bd7CqFwDgWa3gN6UzdrdQh6g9A8QcaQ_VV4tSOZlpJt1lgHET2xjou7YwJYsypCMqwD9C_ZA/s2000/DebWriting5YearsInCovers_LR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="939" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidUPgFmMXkfyXtiwV8vatQqVajJOyCHeJ4YC5CQzb9eUhKgjJHre6mqA6il-avC7HNU3vp48FOmyIfD8yD5R7877JgIQ2If8UG12a61E4eu6bd7CqFwDgWa3gN6UzdrdQh6g9A8QcaQ_VV4tSOZlpJt1lgHET2xjou7YwJYsypCMqwD9C_ZA/w301-h640/DebWriting5YearsInCovers_LR.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><br /><p>See? Not as bad a writing drought as I thought! And I have a lot of titles out there (<b><i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/meredithsdagger" target="_blank">Meredith’s Dagger</a></i></b> was my 50th book, published on my 50th birthday), which is why I wanted a website that was a starting point – a pin in a map – from which all things Deb online could be found.</p><p>Simple, uncluttered, easy to maintain.</p><p>Unlike this blog post, so I’ll cut to the chase:</p><p><span style="font-size: large;">You can see my new website at <a href="https://www.debbiemcgowan.co.uk" target="_blank">https://www.debbiemcgowan.co.uk</a></span></p>Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-24138258019434895782022-05-02T13:28:00.000+01:002022-05-02T13:28:00.864+01:00Work in Progress: Scene But Not Herd<p><b><i></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkWKUZv2SRYlY9AU4Hgl_tPjQqydHfdbW1Vvd3WzNk0vxC2NL9E88fzJ25X9p5Z4zDfxQl3ZYMjWl-hmXHkT6GkZRrQgCDzQ2kSEAjbloErAzszfOY9M2TpJpA5Ve8Vr24P8wcomHnwM7qMPKzHnIGAB-hKpqya_Xm6Kbctl-LKdAyqOeYYQ/s800/DebbieMcGowan_SBNH_533x800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="533" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkWKUZv2SRYlY9AU4Hgl_tPjQqydHfdbW1Vvd3WzNk0vxC2NL9E88fzJ25X9p5Z4zDfxQl3ZYMjWl-hmXHkT6GkZRrQgCDzQ2kSEAjbloErAzszfOY9M2TpJpA5Ve8Vr24P8wcomHnwM7qMPKzHnIGAB-hKpqya_Xm6Kbctl-LKdAyqOeYYQ/s320/DebbieMcGowan_SBNH_533x800.jpg" width="213" /></a></i></b></div><b><i><br />Scene But Not Herd</i></b> is book 2 of <b>Front of House</b>, a <b>Hiding Behind The Couch </b><b style="font-style: italic;">The Next Generation </b>if you will.<p></p><p><b><i>Scene But Not Herd</i></b> follows on from <b><i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/gothofchristmaspast" target="_blank">Goth of Christmas Past</a></i></b> (Front of House #1).</p><p>Draft blurb for <b style="font-style: italic;">Scene But Not Herd</b>:</p><p></p><blockquote style="color: #333333; font-size: 1em; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;"><p>Amy is so done with people trying to organise her life. By people, she means her bossy older sister Fi, who insists she’s protecting Amy’s proprietary rights to her software, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying.</p><p>Meanwhile, Hadyn’s fallen into a black hole. Literally. Managing the studio is taking up all of his time, his hopes for pursuing a relationship with Amy are teetering on the event horizon, and his new songs suck.</p><p>Krissi and Jay’s prodigies aren’t the only ones who are fed up. Krissi’s ‘opportunity of a lifetime’ is driving her nuts, Jay’s stagnating behind a desk, and virtual ice cream and swings just doesn’t cut it.</p><p>Then there’s the not-small matter of what do about Stu…</p></blockquote>Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-15984791464909547162022-05-02T12:01:00.003+01:002022-05-02T12:01:51.240+01:00Work in Progess: Alumni - Reverberations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfPeaoWPxkYcesTd2g0h0BgJdpS16ZtjBCfQvItdUcTEQQ7Q5wAFDNicvdbA8ybREw_t932shSvxVQLjn5cPZRixboiKtuaTo7PWfX92RyIzTavWqY-ib2-t_Ni7xYZjc8v2hriJMogOVKkWP31NyK3ryEjRFyzx6zxwd7PEhpQylNw34w_g/s1000/AlumniReverberations-Square_LR.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfPeaoWPxkYcesTd2g0h0BgJdpS16ZtjBCfQvItdUcTEQQ7Q5wAFDNicvdbA8ybREw_t932shSvxVQLjn5cPZRixboiKtuaTo7PWfX92RyIzTavWqY-ib2-t_Ni7xYZjc8v2hriJMogOVKkWP31NyK3ryEjRFyzx6zxwd7PEhpQylNw34w_g/s320/AlumniReverberations-Square_LR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<p>Poor Josh has been stuck in the loft for five years.</p>
<p>That's how long I’ve been working on <i><b>Alumni – Reverberations</b></i>. It’s part of the <a href="http://www.hidingbehindthecouch.com" target="_blank"><b>Hiding Behind The Couch series</b></a> and started life as <i><b>Alumni</b></i> (Season 8). That was in 2017, after I published <i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/reunions" target="_blank"><b>Reunions</b></a></i> (Season 7 – which ended with Josh bravely climbing that ladder), but for various reasons, I had to set <i><b>Alumni</b></i> aside.</p><p>Even now, I can’t honestly say the end is in sight, but it’s a lot closer than it was, which is good news for Josh.</p><p>OK, minor spoiler: he does eventually find a way down from the loft. I know because I wrote that part about three years ago. The trouble was, the further I progressed with this instalment, the harder it became…until I realised I wasn’t writing Season 8. I was writing a renaissance of <i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/ruminations" target="_blank"><b>Ruminations</b></a></i>. At last, it all made sense.</p><p>So here we are, five years later, and <i><b>Alumni – Reverberations</b></i> is still a work in progress. I haven’t decided on the final cover other than it being Ouija-board inspired. However, I do, astonishingly, have a draft blurb! Note: if you’ve read <i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/ruminations" target="_blank"><b>Ruminations</b></a> </i>but nothing else from the series (or you’re reading the series and haven’t got as far as <i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/inthestars" target="_blank"><b>In The Stars</b></a></i> – Seasons 4 and 5), there is something of a spoiler in this blurb, so you might want to look away now.</p>
<p></p><blockquote style="color: #333333; font-size: 1em; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;"><p>Mysterious happenings are mounting up for Josh, Sean and their estranged alumni.</p>
<p>Josh Sandison-Morley was born a sceptic. Why else would he insist there’s no such thing as ghosts when he’s eliminated every probable and possible explanation for the noises in his former therapy rooms?</p>
<p>Sean Tierney’s having some ‘performance issues’. His GP says there’s no physical reason: his blood pressure is under control, and he’s stayed off the booze, ergo it’s all in his head. In the circumstances, being a palliative clinical psychologist isn’t proving (self-)helpful.</p>
<p>Despite two decades of friendship and their grand plans to open a private psychotherapy centre, neither man confides in the other. That is, until news reaches them both, via different avenues, that their experiences are but part of a bizarre cluster of unexplained phenomena, for which there is only one common denominator: Jess Lambert.</p>
<p>Whether real or the product of overwrought imaginations, Josh, Sean and their alumni must lay to rest the spectre of their once-belovèd friend…or admit defeat and crawl back under the safe, weighty stones of the jobs and relationships they’ve left behind.</p></blockquote><p></p><p>My goal is to publish <i><b>Alumni – Reverberations</b></i> in 2022. Seems doable.</p><p>I’ll keep you posted. :)</p><p>Deb<br />aka Mother Goose<br />(My younger daughter changed my name on the title page waaaay back and then sent me a frantic message some weeks later, worried I’d published the book with the wrong author name – the name she and her sister have given me (see also: Goose Face). It’s still in the document… :D)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qXEYPS5o_3WMNkFtk02ITKfqAWHzN65ZFCoWhU2UuMnZZjcYCklTgfpWvehPG_GL6WSIf-Y1TJ_LfbWUPLACKD8Vpz0Ihm-c8pQRdFmwmfDB8bQ8nr_GCJPlagznj3iI2vDsAAG3vUj6IeDbpWuIV2uh1ckZwZ21uwseXiulNKS8srqaHA/s1452/Screenshot%202022-05-02%20at%2011.40.12.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1452" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qXEYPS5o_3WMNkFtk02ITKfqAWHzN65ZFCoWhU2UuMnZZjcYCklTgfpWvehPG_GL6WSIf-Y1TJ_LfbWUPLACKD8Vpz0Ihm-c8pQRdFmwmfDB8bQ8nr_GCJPlagznj3iI2vDsAAG3vUj6IeDbpWuIV2uh1ckZwZ21uwseXiulNKS8srqaHA/s320/Screenshot%202022-05-02%20at%2011.40.12.png" width="212" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-68709232872934090832021-09-13T12:50:00.002+01:002021-09-13T13:13:49.753+01:00Friends, Romans, Influencers...why I'm done with you<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8XiSxl6oehsw3rbVjlHmtTLWDqETqVW3RNOEhV84Y0DtchuIzCIXBZ0TihbPwfRxWQ6P3FGr9t4AQI7lTjndSfi09_-lxqEOwccMUdit3uuRPbI_A-4uO2rs5xB73j7bF_gto/s1000/SocialMediaSux.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8XiSxl6oehsw3rbVjlHmtTLWDqETqVW3RNOEhV84Y0DtchuIzCIXBZ0TihbPwfRxWQ6P3FGr9t4AQI7lTjndSfi09_-lxqEOwccMUdit3uuRPbI_A-4uO2rs5xB73j7bF_gto/w400-h400/SocialMediaSux.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What modern social media looks like to me.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I am SO TIRED of social media.</p><p>That's possibly not a surprise to anyone who knows me, as in <i>actually</i> knows me as opposed to being my 'friend' so they can attempt to sell me stuff. I'm not good at peopling in the real world; it would be inconsistent at best if I were a virtual socialite.</p><p>I'm kind of an early adopter when it comes to technology. I was at uni in the early days of Web 1.0, and the possibilities it presented were endless and exciting. So much knowledge at our fingertips...just as soon as we found a way to catalogue, share and search for it (the latter enabling me to hone my research skills, for which I will be forever grateful).</p><p>Even the burgeoning of Web 2.0 - interactive content created by and for the people - I was fully in favour of, and I could just about stomach the early manifestations of social media. I may not have signed up to MySpace of my own volition, but it was fairly benign by modern standards. Similarly, YouTube was a pleasant way to waste a moment or two in between marking essays and supporting students via MSN Messenger.</p><p>The best part of all was we could <i>turn it off</i>. Now we wouldn't if we could.</p><p>In 2006, I was one of the presenters at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_podcasting#Expansion" target="_blank">the first ever educational conference on podcasting at the University of Cambridge</a> (yep, I'm Wikipedia famous - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28th_Lambda_Literary_Awards" target="_blank">Twice</a>! ;) Still don't have <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debbie_McGowan" target="_blank">my own entry</a> though…) and talked about the growing pervasiveness of technology. Already, we had reached the point of being constantly connected, and that was only the beginning.</p><p>Mobile phones <i>are</i> the manifest magic of old sci-fi, and there is much that is good about them. For instance, I get lost - a lot. I tell Google to 'take me home' and bazinga! I have an interactive map and directions that will do exactly that. The ability to send a message to let loved ones know you're going to be late/that you're safe, to capture on camera a spontaneous special moment, check bus/train times, write shopping lists, reminders, listen to music... oh, yeah, and make and receive telephone calls. Mobile phones, contrary to my initial opinion, are fantastic. Or they would be if social media would butt out.</p><p>Social media notifications (and email) are like lottery scratchcards or one-arm bandit machines. Sometimes we 'win', sometimes we don't, and this variable, unpredictable reward works better than if we 'won' every time. It's what behavioural psychologists call a variable ratio schedule, used in operant conditioning, whereby animals (including humans) learn through associating a behaviour with a rewarding outcome ('positive reinforcement'). In lab experiments, behaviourists found that animals were more likely to repeat a behaviour (pressing a lever) and at a higher/faster rate if the 'reward' (a food pellet) was delivered after they'd pressed the lever a random number of times rather than every time. Likewise with social media, we can't predict when we will receive our 'reward', so we hit that icon over and over and over again.</p><p>Partly for that reason, I don't have Facebook on my phone - nor Messenger, since that time it showed me an ad related to a very personal conversation - but I do have some of the other social networks installed, and I'm not so naïve as to believe the rest of what's on my phone isn't spying on me. I know it is, and bizarrely I'm OK with it.</p><p>What I'm not OK with is the myriad interruptions social media thrusts into my day to tell me it's whoever's birthday or so-and-so has posted a new video etc. etc. The apps I do have are all switched to 'no notifications', which results in my phone constantly asking if I want to turn on notifications.</p><p>Social media creates and feeds our addiction, and we all know why. It's about money - selling us stuff or harvesting our details to sell to other companies so they can sell us stuff - to the extent that the social interaction and entertainment elements are almost by-products.</p><p>Every social media platform inevitably flies too high and brings about its own demise, which, on the face of it, is no bad thing. Yet each iteration is more pervasive and addictive than the last, and it is increasingly difficult, even with a goodly amount of willpower and an asocial bent, to disconnect.</p><p>The upcoming release of <i>The Matrix: Resurrections</i> has revived conversations about whether machines could ever enslave humans. As far as artificial intelligence goes, it remains to be seen. However, in the hands of the greediest and wealthiest among us, they already do.</p>Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-59073988151903601782021-09-06T09:44:00.002+01:002021-09-06T09:44:50.322+01:00Gray Fisher Trilogy - one volume paperback and Kindle Unlimited<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiff9lhQTbAKDhukWu1GixDE7bayYcwTzGrgAR_DbxacGDIKaHPmBnOv7kjIJjbjsxI4epXTa4RP2-1_nzcxssCAf_Nls_488t2upPPl3AHN4503Eg04b2o0TrTr5m1jvflGOz7/s1201/GFTrilogy_banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="1201" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiff9lhQTbAKDhukWu1GixDE7bayYcwTzGrgAR_DbxacGDIKaHPmBnOv7kjIJjbjsxI4epXTa4RP2-1_nzcxssCAf_Nls_488t2upPPl3AHN4503Eg04b2o0TrTr5m1jvflGOz7/w400-h175/GFTrilogy_banner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Three years after his partner’s death, Detective Chief Inspector Gray Fisher has finally made the break from the police. With a new place to live, a new job and his PhD underway, Gray welcomes the friendship of Will Richards, an investment banker with hidden depths and a farmhouse menagerie of rescue animals. Gray’s not looking for love, and he’s certainly not interested in becoming involved in police work again…until former colleague Rob Simpson-Stone tracks him down to ask for his help with a case.</p><p>So begins Gray and Rob’s new business partnership.</p><p>For Rob Simpson-Stone, the career change may have come too late to rescue his marriage, but his relationship with his son is back on track. Rob’s grown-up nieces might be a taller order, but he’s prepared to do whatever it takes to prove they no longer need to worry that one day he won’t come home.</p><p>As events unfold, Gray’s past recklessness catches up with him and Rob both, putting those they hold close in danger and forcing them to forge reluctant alliances in a bid to take down one Anders Folden—a psychopathic hitman Rob put away while working undercover.</p><p>Folden won’t stop until he’s completed his mission—to fulfil a contract or end a personal vendetta? Either way, Gray and Rob need to find him before he finds them.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Paperback and ebook available from Amazon only:<br /><a href="https://mybook.to/GrayFisherTrilogy">https://mybook.to/GrayFisherTrilogy</a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk4AWCfAS1JBhu5KfC4Lh1WgkUyqYhfz5wBTsldlX3zCCzxrTgTaVd_K9PAILyYyLBdxwgBNzKDfraw0l0Lv71THNqUFNJt81vh-6b3ewonquG19W__Q2cdrRrO8EUINkEm_VD/s800/DebbieMcGowan_GFTrilogy_533x800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="533" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk4AWCfAS1JBhu5KfC4Lh1WgkUyqYhfz5wBTsldlX3zCCzxrTgTaVd_K9PAILyYyLBdxwgBNzKDfraw0l0Lv71THNqUFNJt81vh-6b3ewonquG19W__Q2cdrRrO8EUINkEm_VD/s320/DebbieMcGowan_GFTrilogy_533x800.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYLPAfbLMNLCkAGmveHEs0RE0DoQQ0MnHCtYR__FdiYFV4WKQd24mBK529CxjyEH6dgew7LmHiI4fIQZIhIn5pUVLO9QVP3kA7HU419RbF-XB-W5rlwKsAz559Ny4AVS_HEi_e/s1200/GrayFisher3D-02_LR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYLPAfbLMNLCkAGmveHEs0RE0DoQQ0MnHCtYR__FdiYFV4WKQd24mBK529CxjyEH6dgew7LmHiI4fIQZIhIn5pUVLO9QVP3kA7HU419RbF-XB-W5rlwKsAz559Ny4AVS_HEi_e/w400-h266/GrayFisher3D-02_LR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-11750365982604008772021-04-03T14:05:00.001+01:002021-04-03T14:05:20.535+01:00Review: Penumbra by Dan Ackerman<i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/penumbra" target="_blank"><b></b></a><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/penumbra" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCVURZXqT0cGg-QVmAIoUP_Sp_1lgTvlMhkiU1SJi9sV_SUildiAEZnAFONB_7ghCgEdOc1ZwMysAyjn6gHeEdFLP8alrbSO0lw_LT4mJQawp4h0CA2Qdj_0R0bSIzWgrNTZeF/s468/Penumbra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCVURZXqT0cGg-QVmAIoUP_Sp_1lgTvlMhkiU1SJi9sV_SUildiAEZnAFONB_7ghCgEdOc1ZwMysAyjn6gHeEdFLP8alrbSO0lw_LT4mJQawp4h0CA2Qdj_0R0bSIzWgrNTZeF/s320/Penumbra.jpg" /></a></div>Penumbra</b></i> is a clever novel and not what I was expecting based on the previous books by Dan Ackerman that I've read, which admittedly is not their full back catalogue, although I'm working on it. The world Ackerman narrates is so complex, so different yet familiar. For this reason, there is no need for blatant world-building up front, and I'm delighted Ackerman doesn't insult the reader by going down that route. We know how capitalism works, how inherited privilege persists unchallenged. So we're thrown into the thick of reality on Eden - a space station carrying potentially all that's left of humankind - ruled by Arden, a young, entitled, drug-dependent autarch, all of which are understandable given he inherited the responsibility and Eden is unsustainable.<br /><br />
What I've said so far doesn't reveal much more than is given in the blurb. Of course, there's all the technology that goes with the setting of a self-sufficient space station, most of which is within the realms of the existing sci-fi canon and very much not in need of further explanation. However, it's not the setting or the technology that is at the heart of this novel; it's the society.<br /><br />
The playing out of power dichotomies - the transitions and shifts between the personal, social, societal, governmental - between Arden, Rhys and other predominant characters made this one of the most engaging stories I've ever read. I'm a social scientist (day job) and a socialist who usually reads escapist fiction - lighthearted, romantic, comedic, maybe some unrealistic crime-solving, nothing too dark or thought-provoking - and in truth, I rarely pick up a book like <i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/penumbra" target="_blank"><b>Penumbra</b></a></i> because a) I don't do well with sci-fi in written form, and b) it's a bit of a busman's holiday reading about social structures and systems. There are few authors capable of engaging and keeping my interest for an entire novel of this kind, but Dan Ackerman can.<br /><br />I enjoyed seeing Arden grow and heal - there's an element of redemption to his story, although it's less about redeeming himself than his ancestors. I also enjoyed his casual disregard for social hierarchy, some of which is down to his naivety, but Arden's morality and sense of justice are there from the outset, or that was my impression. He merely needed a call to action.<div><br /></div><div>The relationships didn't pan out the way I wanted them to (really, really wanted them to), but by the end, I'd spent so much in-between-reading time trying to come up with ways of making it work without the power imbalance (which shifts so brilliantly from one player to another) that ultimately, <i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/penumbra" target="_blank"><b>Penumbra</b></a></i> concludes the best way it could, all considered. But I finished reading it about a month ago (I was lucky enough to receive an advance review copy), and I still can't stop thinking about it.<br /><br />
So that was a bit abstract, as it always is, trying to review without spoilers. I'd love to discuss the intricacies of this novel further - I may even set up a GR discussion! For now, I'll take my hat off to Dan Ackerman and recommend this book to...well, everyone.<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Buy <i style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/penumbra" target="_blank"><b>Penumbra</b></a></i>:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/penumbra" target="_blank">Publisher</a> • <a href="https://mybook.to/penumbra-danackerman" target="_blank">Amazon</a> • <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1064065" target="_blank">Smashwords</a> • <a href="https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/penumbra-31" target="_blank">Kobo</a> • <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/penumbra-dan-ackerman/1138618573?ean=2940164787585" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a></div></div>Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-23172397445040907372021-01-10T12:00:00.055+00:002021-01-10T12:00:03.706+00:00The Silk Thief (The Roshaven Series Book 2) Cover Reveal and Preorder Live
<h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Silk Thief (The Roshaven Series Book 2)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">**COVER REVEAL & PRE-ORDER LIVE**</span></div></h1>
<b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">A Humorous Urban Fantasy Novel</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">coming 4th June 2021</span></i></b></div></b><div><b><i><br /></i></b><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_e_PVqlMOAb6hAKC7XYGCip1mQ3XsMHTMfrOoIErAJmxeuuHDuudCYQrrv1ivxKpLzdyOQZI-jLBCGpHXidBHw1cDX3QDRWqyKkdygMl-qftwYTzSuQBg0xpxDIwraoE1q-Q/s2048/The+Silk+Thief+-+front+only.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1270" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_e_PVqlMOAb6hAKC7XYGCip1mQ3XsMHTMfrOoIErAJmxeuuHDuudCYQrrv1ivxKpLzdyOQZI-jLBCGpHXidBHw1cDX3QDRWqyKkdygMl-qftwYTzSuQBg0xpxDIwraoE1q-Q/w248-h400/The+Silk+Thief+-+front+only.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i></b>
<div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Blurb:</span></b></div>
<b><div><b><br /></b></div>Fourteen, heir to the Empire of Roshaven, must find a new name before Theo, Lord of neighbouring Fidelia, brings his schemes to fruition.</b><br /><br />
Not only has he stolen Roshaven’s trade, but he plans to make Fourteen his own and take her empire in the bargain.<br /><br />
Her protector, Ned Spinks, is plagued with supernatural nightmares whilst his assistant, Jenni the sprite, has lost her magick.<br /><br />
Can they figure out how to thwart Theo’s dastardly plan before it’s too late for his city and her empire?<br /><br />
PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY: <a href="http://www.mybook.to/SilkThief">mybook.to/SilkThief</a><br /><br />
<i>The Silk Thief is the second quirky magical mystery adventure set in the Roshaven series of humorous fantasy novels. If you like the wit and humour of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, then you’ll love The Silk Thief.</i></div><div><i><br /></i><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">More About the Roshaven Books:</span></b></div><br />
<i><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIu5EmGd92s2i2CTd7T_EEFwYlYCL-8jC_yzbw9mJKpNUVe3MTLwWOxdsJkbdwGpcQZCoQ5eB1d51-JrqCVBBOh_Meg5oJ72j8EDf43Gfvk2R7znNmsxuU6_z2b7yLMdCsVTLZ/s2048/The+Rose+Thief+5x8.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1278" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIu5EmGd92s2i2CTd7T_EEFwYlYCL-8jC_yzbw9mJKpNUVe3MTLwWOxdsJkbdwGpcQZCoQ5eB1d51-JrqCVBBOh_Meg5oJ72j8EDf43Gfvk2R7znNmsxuU6_z2b7yLMdCsVTLZ/w125-h200/The+Rose+Thief+5x8.png" width="125" /></a></div>The Rose Thief, The Roshaven Series book 1</b></i><br /><br /></div><div>
Someone is stealing the Emperor’s roses and if they take the magical red rose then love will be lost, to everyone, forever.<br /><br />
It’s up to Ned Spinks, Chief Thief Catcher, and his band of motely catchers to apprehend the thief and save the day.<br /><br />
But the thief isn’t exactly who they seem to be. Neither is the Emperor.<br /><br />
Ned and his team will have to go on a quest; defeating vampire mermaids, illusionists, estranged family members and an evil sorcerer in order to win the day. What could possibly go wrong?<br /><br />
Available in paperback and ebook everywhere: <a href="https://books2read.com/u/bQaxw6">https://books2read.com/u/bQaxw6</a></div><div><br /><br />
<i><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-riGHhgmF5-r5zuAhRXLBd4YGIg2N6OAuExey6zBUfOxufBi7P1RgqXQBd9WSDlbfnUKMMp_xWUb4uMaXI-CJxlzFsVIjB5-rSpbYBfoQenMaSQo-lw7dLSa_ISm2865cYOVl/s2048/The+IPT+cover.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1359" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-riGHhgmF5-r5zuAhRXLBd4YGIg2N6OAuExey6zBUfOxufBi7P1RgqXQBd9WSDlbfnUKMMp_xWUb4uMaXI-CJxlzFsVIjB5-rSpbYBfoQenMaSQo-lw7dLSa_ISm2865cYOVl/w133-h200/The+IPT+cover.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>The Interspecies Poker Tournament, Prequel Novella to The Rose Thief</b></i><br /><br /></div><div>
Ned Spinks, Chief Thief-Catcher, has a new case. A murderous moustache-wearing cult is killing off members of Roshaven's fae community. At least that's what he's been led to believe by his not-so-trusty sidekick, Jenni the sprite. She has information she's not sharing but plans to get her boss into the Interspecies Poker Tournament so he can catch the bad guy and save the day. If only Ned knew how to play!<br /><br />
Available in paperback and ebook everywhere: <a href="https://books2read.com/u/m2Vk0R">https://books2read.com/u/m2Vk0R</a></div><div><br /><br />
<i><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuafWMV6f6zpU9HhPptl6AzUA9bvkBQfGWrpCIgb_uAbJxKoYvSXbtAh2KZK91qAiZWcpz52PJZMf2bgjl7aaGIS7862fHUeN-bg01ZlmfM9trLscerPWgL_euz6naIjyPLvNM/s2048/Ye+Olde+Magick+Shoppe.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1340" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuafWMV6f6zpU9HhPptl6AzUA9bvkBQfGWrpCIgb_uAbJxKoYvSXbtAh2KZK91qAiZWcpz52PJZMf2bgjl7aaGIS7862fHUeN-bg01ZlmfM9trLscerPWgL_euz6naIjyPLvNM/w131-h200/Ye+Olde+Magick+Shoppe.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>Ye Olde Magick Shoppe, a Roshaven short story</b></i><br /><br /></div><div>
Join Ned Spinks, Chief Thief-Catcher, and his sidekick Jenni the sprite in this short story about an unwanted magick shoppe.<br /><br />
This free short story is available in ebook everywhere: <a href="https://books2read.com/u/4XXPw1">https://books2read.com/u/4XXPw1</a></div><div><br /><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">What Readers Say:</span></b></div><div><br /></div>
“Loved the quirky banter!”<br />“Entirely delightful and captivating.”<br />“A wonderful tribute to the Late Great Sir Terry.”<br />“If you are a fan of the discworld you will love this book.”<br />“A hilariously thrilling fantasy mystery.”</div><div><br /><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">About the Author:</span></b></div><div><br /></div>
Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet based in the UK. She wanted to be Lois Lane when she grew up but work experience at her local paper was eye-opening. Instead, Claire went on to work in a variety of admin roles for over a decade but never felt quite at home. An avid reader, baker and Pinterest addict Claire won second place in the Barking and Dagenham Pen to Print writing competition in 2015 with her debut novel, The Gaia Effect, setting her writing career in motion. She continues to write passionately and is hopelessly addicted to cake.</div><div><br /><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Social Media Links:</span></b></div><div><br /></div>
Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/busswriter">www.facebook.com/busswriter</a><br />
FB Group: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/BussBookStop">www.facebook.com/groups/BussBookStop</a><br />
Twitter: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/grasshopper2407">www.twitter.com/grasshopper2407</a><br />
Instagram: <a href="http://www.instagram.com/grasshopper2407">www.instagram.com/grasshopper2407</a><br />
Website: <a href="http://www.cbvisions.co.uk">www.cbvisions.co.uk</a><br />
Blog: <a href="https://www.butidontlikesalad.blogspot.co.uk">https://www.butidontlikesalad.blogspot.co.uk</a>
</div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">*~*~*</div>Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-49146551047839125642020-07-21T12:08:00.001+01:002020-07-21T12:08:32.071+01:00Review: Striking Balance by Jeanne G'Fellers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWNsSnJ6ogwmrMqwm6OitEp3s0ldxNnY3mO7BEPN8ftRb92KgNT20qPSdXNWXGqH_Wzdc7cr6h6vQ5WGdamN38O9AmIKhrd4joN7EeudRQF-uDMumv8AKgvxBRJ7FNGQbwDmND/s1600/StrikingBalance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWNsSnJ6ogwmrMqwm6OitEp3s0ldxNnY3mO7BEPN8ftRb92KgNT20qPSdXNWXGqH_Wzdc7cr6h6vQ5WGdamN38O9AmIKhrd4joN7EeudRQF-uDMumv8AKgvxBRJ7FNGQbwDmND/s200/StrikingBalance.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<b>Title:</b> <i>Striking Balance – The Peculiar Making of Beatrice Benjamin Sophia Scott Schnell Gow</i><br />
<b>Series:</b> Appalachian Elementals (#3)<br />
<b>Genre:</b> Appalachian Paranormal Fantasy<br />
<b>Author:</b> <a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/" target="_blank">Jeanne G'Fellers</a><br />
<b>Publisher:</b> <a href="https://mountain-gap-books.square.site/" target="_blank">Mountain Gap Books</a><br />
<b>Release Date:</b> 21st July 2020<br />
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You know when you've beta-read books <a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/cleaning-house-2/" target="_blank">one</a> and <a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/keeping-house/" target="_blank">two</a> in a series, and read the <a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/mama-me-and-the-holiday-tree/" target="_blank">novella</a> that came after (or, in fact, between) them, and then the author contacts you and says, "Hey, d'you fancy beta-reading book three?" Yep, that! Because, honestly, when someone writes as brilliantly as Jeanne G'Fellers does, beta-reading is a free book, and I kind of feel like I cheated the author out of a sale. Well, the least I can do is tell you what makes this novel (and series) so awesome.<br />
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So the first thing is the series itself: Appalachian Elementals is, as the title indicates, a series set in the Appalachians…featuring elemental beings, although not just elementals. The mixing and mingling of different kinds of folk, both magical and non-magical, is a major part of the charm of this series, which for the most part in books <a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/cleaning-house-2/" target="_blank">one</a> and <a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/keeping-house/" target="_blank">two</a> is contemporary fantasy fiction. I say 'for the most part' because the world Jeanne G'Fellers has created is as much about the characters' pasts as it is their present, and when we're dealing with elemental beings, they are as ancient as the Earth itself.<br />
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<i><b><a href="http://mybook.to/StrikingBalance" target="_blank">Striking Balance</a></b></i> is book three in the series, and while it is stand-alone and doesn't require prior reading of books <a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/cleaning-house-2/" target="_blank">one</a> and <a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/keeping-house/" target="_blank">two</a>, if you do happen to read them in order, like I did, you get the buzz of recognising characters you already know waaaay in the future, as <i><b><a href="http://mybook.to/StrikingBalance" target="_blank">Striking Balance</a></b></i> is historical fiction (late-1700s), in some respects lending insight to the events that take place in <i><a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/keeping-house/" target="_blank">Keeping House</a></i> (book two - <a href="https://deb248211.blogspot.com/2019/07/keeping-house-new-release-from-jeanne.html" target="_blank">read my review</a>). This is one of my absolute favourite literary devices, where I turn into Buddy from <i>Elf</i>, almost bouncing in my seat and yelling, "I know him! I know him [her/them]!" at the page - or screen. I'm the same with cameos in movies and TV series (you would not believe how excited I was when Spock turned up in <i>Discovery</i>).<br />
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Speaking of screens, this series is another one that needs the Netflix treatment - I could waste hours imagining the CGI complexity of it all. But I digress…<br />
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<i><b><a href="http://mybook.to/StrikingBalance" target="_blank">Striking Balance</a></b></i> centres on one Benjamin Schnell, who sparks into existence on page one and only grows brighter and more real as he leads us through his day-to-day life, relatively ordinary at first but becoming stranger after he is injured (damn, this is hard without giving spoilers). What I love most about Ben is that through each and every experience, new or old, terrifying or delightful, he remains deeply analytical and pragmatic. I don't mean he's emotionally cold; far from it. There were moments his narration had me sniffling back tears, still others where I couldn't help but giggle, or indeed rage at the injustice, or shriek in frustration. Ben is wry and quick-witted, soft-hearted and compassionate, but he's also a fighter, ever determined to find solutions; to succeed. But within all of that, he also has to learn to trust both himself and those around him - his close friend (soul mate) Conall in particular.<br />
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As mentioned, the cast of characters includes some I'd previously met in books <a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/cleaning-house-2/" target="_blank">one</a> and <a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/keeping-house/" target="_blank">two</a>, and once again I can only applaud the author's stealth capacity for weaving diversity into each and every story. If we're talking LGBTQIA+, the whole rainbow's in this series, and it's seamless, subtle, just there as part of the fabric of the universe. How it should be.<br />
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Finally, there's the world-building, which is, as ever, spectacular. I'm one of the small percentage of people who can't visualise, so I can't really tell you what it looks like, but there's magic and mountains and rivers and farms and trees, so…maybe like Middle Earth with more mountains and less colour saturation? What I can tell you is I was immersed from beginning to end, literally lost in the elements.<br />
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<i><b><a href="http://mybook.to/StrikingBalance" target="_blank">Striking Balance</a></b></i> is book three in the Appalachian Elementals series by Jeanne G'Fellers and is available in paperback and ebook editions.<br />
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<b>Purchase links:</b></div>
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<a href="http://mybook.to/StrikingBalance" target="_blank">Amazon</a> • <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/striking-balance-jeanne-gfellers/1137303371?ean=2940164131975" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a> • <a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/striking-balance" target="_blank">Kobo</a> • <a href="https://books.apple.com/us/book/striking-balance/id1522371469" target="_blank">Apple</a></div>
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<br />Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-41950212428948313052019-12-30T10:17:00.002+00:002019-12-30T10:17:31.377+00:00Review: Minuet by A.M. Leibowitz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Title: <b><i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/minuet-notes-from-boston-4" target="_blank">Minuet</a></i></b><br />
Series: <a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/search?q=notes+from+boston" target="_blank">Notes from Boston</a><br />
Author: <a href="https://www.amleibowitz.com/" target="_blank">A.M. Leibowitz</a><br />
Publisher: <a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/" target="_blank">Supposed Crimes</a><br />
Release Date: 1st September 2019<br />
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Full disclosure: I beta-read <b><i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/minuet-notes-from-boston-4" target="_blank">Minuet</a></i></b> (along with books 2 and 3 - <b><i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/collections/types/products/nightsong-notes-from-boston-2" target="_blank">Nightsong</a></i></b> and <b><i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/collections/types/products/drumbeat-notes-from-boston-3" target="_blank">Drumbeat</a></i></b>), which doesn't make any difference to what I will say - I'd love this series just as much had I read it in the usual way. But it has given me an insight beyond each novel, as I've kept in mind how the various arcs fit together and developed strong feelings towards certain characters. Those feelings don't always run in line with 'heroes' and 'villains', although...the one uber villain, well, let's say he gets his comeuppance quite satisfactorily in <b><i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/minuet-notes-from-boston-4" target="_blank">Minuet</a></i></b>.<br />
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Central to this instalment are the characters Mack, Amelia and Jomari, and I must admit that I still don't feel I know Jomari as well as the other two, purely because I've known him for a shorter period of time. In some ways, he's more closed off than Mack, although there's an interesting on-page dynamic that hints at Jomari's greater openness in the company of some more than others.<br />
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Amelia...is just wonderful. True, in <b><i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/minuet-notes-from-boston-4" target="_blank">Minuet</a></i></b> she has moments where she wobbles a bit (understandably) but in so doing reminds us that she is human after all, as she's usually so strong, wise and dependable. It was good to see that other aspect of her personality.<br />
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And then there's...Mack. Oh, Mack. I really didn't care much for him - for two whole novels! But the way he supported his friends in <b><i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/collections/types/products/drumbeat-notes-from-boston-3" target="_blank">Drumbeat</a></i></b> picked holes in my ambivalence, and by around the midpoint of <b><i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/minuet-notes-from-boston-4" target="_blank">Minuet</a></i></b> I could honestly have read an entire novel focused on him.<br />
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Along the way, we drop in on the characters from the previous novels, which is one of my favourite things to read - much like cameos of characters from one book appearing in another, although in <a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/search?q=notes+from+boston" target="_blank">Notes from Boston</a> they're all part of the same crowd, so they're always there in the background.<br />
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Best of all? The characters are queer - in all flavours - which is wonderful! <b><i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/minuet-notes-from-boston-4" target="_blank">Minuet</a></i></b>, like the rest of the <a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/search?q=notes+from+boston" target="_blank">Notes from Boston</a> series, showcases romance, love, friendship, family and everything else that goes into a substantial slice of life, through rainbow-tinted lenses. And music, of course.<br />
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<b><i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/minuet-notes-from-boston-4" target="_blank">Minuet</a></i></b> possibly works as a stand-alone read, but I recommend reading the series in order to get the full benefit of watching the characters and their relationships evolve and deepen.<br />
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I've linked the books/series titles to the publisher's pages, but here are some more links for where you can buy <b><i><a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/minuet-notes-from-boston-4" target="_blank">Minuet</a></i></b>:<br />
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<a href="http://mybook.to/Minuet" target="_blank">Amazon</a> • <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/minuet-a-m-leibowitz/1131981333?ean=9781944591618" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a> • <a href="https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/minuet-3" target="_blank">Kobo</a> • <a href="https://books.apple.com/gb/book/minuet/id1469709442" target="_blank">iBooks</a></div>
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<br />Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-80441496761690303232019-12-25T22:33:00.001+00:002019-12-26T14:51:06.337+00:00Not My Christmas - novella out today #HBTC #bisexual #women #romance #ownvoices<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><i>Not My Christmas</i></b> by Debbie McGowan<br />
Published: 25th December, 2019<br />
Length: 18,000 words (approx.)<br />
99c from <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/997322?ref=b10track" target="_blank">Smashwords</a> • <a href="http://mybook.to/notmychristmas" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br />
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<b>Blurb:</b><br />
Christmas at the Davenports has never been a relaxing affair, so when the opportunity for a little alone time with a beautiful, available woman comes Charlie Davenport’s way, she takes it, breaking several family traditions and risking the wrath of her siblings. But it’ll be worth it, right? And she can always make it up to them later…or next Christmas.<br />
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A stand-alone story from the world of Hiding Behind The Couch.<br />
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<b>Keywords:</b><br />
LGBTQ+, ownvoices, romance, family, bisexual women, Christmas, humourDebbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-48160723397486241172019-12-09T09:39:00.000+00:002019-12-09T09:39:07.265+00:00Rainbow Award for The Great Village Bun Fight<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Woot! My 2018 novella <b><i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/bunfight" target="_blank">The Great Village Bun Fight</a></i></b> won an award this weekend. :)<br />
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<a href="https://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/" target="_blank">The Rainbow Awards</a> are an annual/bi-annual event, run by Elisa Rolle, celebrating LGBTQ+ books across all genres.</div>
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Entrants make a donation to an LGBTQ+ charity of their choosing, and this year, the awards raised over $12,000.<br />
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A huge thank you to Elisa for all her hard work and dedication to the awards and the contributions they make, not just to writers and readers but to the LGBTQ+ community.<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/bunfight" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Great Village Bun Fight</span></a></b></div>
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<a href="https://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/5319953.html" target="_blank">(Winner of the Rainbow Award for </a><br />
<a href="https://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/5319953.html" target="_blank">Best Bisexual Contemporary Humorous Fiction)</a><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Paperback • eBook • Audiobook</span></b><br />
For purchase links, visit:<br />
<a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/bunfight" target="_blank">https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/bunfight</a></div>
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All’s fair in love and war. But not in baking.</div>
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A humorous story about baking and village life. Also includes a rockin' reverend, cakes and bunting.</div>
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<i>Do what you do best.</i><br />
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So said Henry’s grandad a year ago to the day as he handed Henry a small, red-foil-wrapped box that gave a metallic rattle when he shook it. Inside: a large bunch of mismatched keys held together by a ring the size of a bangle.<br />
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The keys to the bakery.<br />
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Henry’s bakery.<br />
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No going back. Definitely not after Margaret changed the sign on her shop so it read:<br />
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THE Village Bakery & Grocery</div>
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Home of the Banton Bun</div>
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Not THE Banton Bun, mind you—Margaret doesn’t have the Joneses’ secret family recipe—but a reasonable approximation.<br />
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As for Henry doing what he does best… Henry Jones the Ninth is no baker, that’s for sure. He wouldn’t even know how to assemble a Banton Bun, let alone bake one. But he does know his way around computers, accounts, managing staff and stock inventory. And he rides a mean tricycle.<br />
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You might wonder how that could be a good thing. Read on, and all will be revealed.</blockquote>
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Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-1378392617371463882019-08-21T00:34:00.000+01:002019-08-21T07:40:50.118+01:00Fifty at fifty! Meredith's Dagger<div style="text-align: center;">
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OK, so I missed it by a few minutes in BST as it's technically now the 21st August, but let's assume it's still the 20th for me as it still is for many of you.</div>
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Today I released <b><i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/meredithsdagger" target="_blank">Meredith's Dagger</a></i></b> - my fiftieth novel - on my fiftieth birthday! Both of those facts are quite hard to believe. I made it to fifty! Woot! And fifty books? Well, I wrote most of them in the last ten years, not sure how...</div>
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I'm going to keep this short and give a little background to <b><i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/meredithsdagger" target="_blank">Meredith's Dagger</a></i></b>, which I originally wrote in 2011 but then set it aside while I did further research into the relevant local history. Then I got caught up in all that research and it was a bit overwhelming, so I let it rest awhile to work on other books.</div>
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I've come back to it several times over the years since and made it through the first few chapters before I reached the point where I wanted to slap Julian - you'll reach that point too, but he's not so bad really once you get to know him. ;)</div>
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This year, I've essentially rewritten the entire novel - expanded the characters so they're deeper and more well-rounded. I've also fictionalised the setting, so whilst a lot of that historical research underpins the events, the entire work is fictional with a few 'inspired by reality' moments. Well, the bit about the cholera epidemic is true.</div>
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I hope you find <b><i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/meredithsdagger" target="_blank">Meredith's Dagger</a></i></b> entertaining first and foremost, but there are some important historical truths within the story too, relating to the treatment of women in general and specifically within psychiatry.<br />
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On that note, I'd like to acknowledge and thank a few people, not least <a href="https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/socialsciences/staff/vicki-coppock/" target="_blank">Vicki Coppock</a>, my lecturer for the Politics of Mental Health, whose teaching provided the empirical evidence for what I had long believed was wrong with psychiatry and taught me the real 'art' of feminist critical thinking. Thank you also to Andrea, Nige, Amy, David, Michael and Jor for polishing this novel into the shiny, lovely thing it is, and for your encouragement and support. You are wonderful!<br />
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I'll post again later in the week and share jewellery sketches by Emma Pickering, which I'd hoped to include in the book. Alas I couldn't clean up the images, and the originals have been lost to the passage of time.<br />
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I was keeping this short, so I'll leave you with the purchase links:<br />
<b>BTP eBook: </b><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/shop/proddetail.php?prod=md_format">https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/shop/proddetail.php?prod=md_format</a><br />
<b>BTP Paperback: </b><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/shop/proddetail.php?prod=md">https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/shop/proddetail.php?prod=md</a><br />
<b>Amazon:</b> <a href="http://mybook.to/meredithsdagger">http://mybook.to/meredithsdagger</a><br />
<b>Smashwords:</b> <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/945614?ref=b10track">https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/945614?ref=b10track</a><br />
<b>B&N: </b><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/merediths-dagger-debbie-mcgowan/1132189626?ean=2940163259724">https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/merediths-dagger-debbie-mcgowan/1132189626?ean=2940163259724</a><br />
<b>Kobo: </b><a href="https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/meredith-s-dagger">https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/meredith-s-dagger</a><br />
<b>Apple:</b> <a href="https://books.apple.com/gb/book/merediths-dagger/id1469904018">https://books.apple.com/gb/book/merediths-dagger/id1469904018</a><br />
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Thanks for reading!<br />
Deb x<br />
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<br />Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-2625152320788386722019-07-08T23:03:00.000+01:002019-07-08T23:03:01.937+01:00Keeping House - New Release from Jeanne G'Fellers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Title:</b> Keeping House<br />
<b>Author:</b> <a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/" target="_blank">Jeanne G'Fellers</a><br />
<b>Publisher:</b> <a href="https://mountaingapbooks.com/" target="_blank">Mountain Gap Books</a><br />
<b>Series:</b> Appalachian Elementals (#2)<br /><b>Genre: </b>Appalachian Paranormal Fantasy, LGBTQ+<br />
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<b>Purchase Links:</b></div>
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<a href="https://squareup.com/store/mountain-gap-books/item/keeping-house-1" target="_blank">Mountain Gap</a> • <a href="http://mybook.to/KeepingHouse" target="_blank">Amazon</a> • <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/936602" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/keeping-house-9" target="_blank">Kobo</a> • <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/keeping-house-jeanne-gfellers/1131427660?ean=9781732327764" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a></div>
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<b>Blurb:</b><br />
Centenary Rhodes is caught in a deal she didn’t make. Thanks to her eternal lover, Stowne’s, quick thinking, she’ll live forever, but there’s a hitch. Cent’s now fey, and three months out of the year she’ll live on the other side of Embreeville Mountain among the Hunter Fey, serving their king, Dane Gow.<br />
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As Cent begins wading through the anachronisms that come with being a Hunter, she learns that nothing is what it initially seems. Cent shares several past lives with Dane, who wants her back, and Stowne’s lied to Cent so many times that she’s having doubts about their marriage. To make matters worse, the past Hunter Kings are influencing Dane’s behavior, and the youngest Hunter, Brinn, might well be the most dangerous of them all.<br />
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It’s going to be a cold, dark spring, and Cent needs to unite both sides of Embreeville mountain before her eternal life, her relationship with Dane, and her marriage to Stowne come permanently undone.<br />
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Another rich Contemporary Appalachian tale about fantastic people and the magic they possess, including LGBTQIA+ characters Human and otherwise.<br />
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<b>My Review:</b><br />
What a brilliant second instalment in the <a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/fantasy/" target="_blank">Appalachian Elementals</a> series.<br />
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Without looking at my review of <b><i><a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/fantasy/the-appalachian-elementals-series__trashed/cleaning-house/" target="_blank">Cleaning House</a></i></b>, I don't know if I've said this before, but I really appreciate the glimpse into a culture that is at once distinct from my own and yet eerily familiar. My heritage is English with a hefty dose of Scots and Irish, and so much of the language, customs - right down to particular slang words - have carried over the centuries in both British English and Appalachian culture. The author's use of old Scots' dialect is both entertaining and used very effectively as a narrative device - a visible tracker for subtle changes in characters. At one point, I spotted the shift in language and found I was muttering oh god, oh god at my screen because the other characters were still in the dark. I do so love being in the know as a reader. :)<br />
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Aside from the wickedly biker-goth setting, there is, of course, Cent's life journey and the situation imposed on her at the end of the first book. While most readers could probably follow what's happening in <b><i><a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/keeping-house/" target="_blank">Keeping House</a></i></b> without reading <b><i><a href="https://jeannegfellersauthor.com/fantasy/the-appalachian-elementals-series__trashed/cleaning-house/" target="_blank">Cleaning House</a></i></b>, the connections and dynamics between the characters, human, elemental and otherwise, are all well established, so I wouldn't recommend jumping straight into book two. Why would you want to when this is such a grand story?<br />
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What I loved most of all about this book is how it took my stance on all of the different characters (i.e. I loved Stowne and Rayne, wasn't sure about Pyre and hated Dane with a passion) and kicked the feet out from under it. So, yes, Dane is much more than I credited her with, and Stowne and Rayne, well, it's complicated.<br />
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A great ensemble cast, atmospheric scenery and some quite terrifying moments all culminate in a great read (and a fair bit of thumb-twiddling while I await book three).<br />
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<b>About Jeanne G’Fellers:</b><br />
Born and raised in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, Science Fiction and Fantasy author Jeanne G’Fellers’ early memories include watching the original Star Trek series with their father and reading the books their librarian mother brought home. Jeanne’s influences include author Anne McCaffrey, Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler, Isaac Asimov, and Frank Herbert.<br />
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Jeanne lives in Northeast Tennessee with their spouse and five crazy felines. Their home is tucked against a small woodland where they regularly see deer, turkeys, raccoons, and experience the magic of the natural world.<br />
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<br />Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-65503324520187066882019-07-01T23:15:00.000+01:002019-07-01T23:16:12.078+01:00Smashwords sale, new novel soon, plus stepping away from the writing conveyor belt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Every now and then, I remember I'm supposed to let my readers old and new know what I've been up to, what's on the horizon and all that jazz.</div>
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Well, this is going to be a short (but hopefully informative) post. :D (OK, not <i>that</i> short. I don't really do short.)</div>
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We're midway through 2019 - the first year in many (since 2013) when I haven't already written at least one novel, and I'm OK with that. I realised a couple of years back that I'd somehow ended up on the book factory line, which isn't a bad thing, as it comes from readers actively asking for more.</div>
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For instance, I wrote <a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/checkinghimout" target="_blank"><b><i>Checking Him Out</i></b></a> in 2014, and enough people wanted Noah and Matty's story, so I published <b><i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/takinghimon" target="_blank">Taking Him On</a></i></b> in 2015 (and <b><i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/checkingin" target="_blank">Checking In</a></i></b> because people wanted more of Sol and Adam too), and then there was Jesse and Leigh's story, <b><i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/themakingofus" target="_blank">The Making of Us</a></i></b>, which I released in 2017. During those three years, I also co-wrote the <a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/?n1=publications&n7=19" target="_blank">Seeds of Tyrone</a> series with <a href="http://raineotierney.com/" target="_blank">Raine O'Tierney</a> (three novels), six short stories, seven novellas and seven novels. (I have no idea now how I did it.)</div>
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My plan is still to release one final novel for the <a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/?n1=publications&n7=6" target="_blank">Checking Him Out</a> series, plus a crossover novella. Also in the pipeline is the final novel in the <a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/?n1=publications&n7=12" target="_blank">Gray Fisher</a> trilogy, the next instalment in <a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/?n1=publications&n7=13" target="_blank">Hiding Behind The Couch</a> and a collaborative project with <a href="http://www.davidbridger.com/" target="_blank">David Bridger</a>.</div>
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It perhaps goes without saying that I really needed a break from the rapid write-edit-publish-repeat cycle, not so much due to burnout, although I've found it harder to write during the past couple of years. It's more about the way my brain works. I miss having a decent amount of time to rework stories before publication - a costly luxury in the current indie publishing climate. Readers have so many books to choose from, most writers fear losing vast swathes of readership if they leave it too long between books.</div>
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Don't stop asking for more, though!</div>
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For the time being, I've slowed down a bit, though I haven't been idle. I'm busy with my day jobs (publishing and university), and I've also been working on <i><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/meredithsdagger" target="_blank"><b>Meredith's Dagger</b></a></i>: the novel I originally wrote in 2011 for <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank">NaNoWriMo</a>, which means it was stuffed with redundancies. Note: <i>was</i> stuffed. I've essentially rewritten it, and I'm about to send it to my proofreaders, ready for release next month. I'll say more nearer/at release date time. However, you can preorder a copy from: <a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/meredithsdagger" target="_blank">https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/meredithsdagger</a></div>
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I've also written a couple of shorter pieces this year, both of which are available for free (either on this blog or via the external links below).</div>
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<b><i>Nina, Pretty Ballerina</i></b></div>
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Part of Play On... A FREE Valentine's Day collection of short stories, poetry and prose, inspired by the songs of ABBA.</div>
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<b>Link:</b> <a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/?n1=publications&id=366" target="_blank">https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/?n1=publications&id=366</a></div>
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<b><i>Highlights</i> (co-written with <a href="http://www.amleibowitz.com/" target="_blank">A.M. Leibowitz</a>)</b></div>
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The one where Notes from Boston’s Amelia Roberts takes a much-needed vacation to England and runs into Shaunna Hennessy from Hiding Behind The Couch—a fortuitous meeting for both.</div>
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<b>Link:</b> <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/920312" target="_blank">https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/920312</a></div>
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In conclusion, I haven't stopped writing, nor intentionally paused, and I could reach the end of this post and suddenly be struck by an irrepressible urge to stay up writing all night for the next month. But as it stands, the stories likely won't come as thick and fast in future as they did during the past seven years.</div>
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If you've only just discovered my writing, you can find the full list of all my stories on this page on my website: <a href="http://debbiemcgowan.co.uk/?n1=publications" target="_blank">http://debbiemcgowan.co.uk/?n1=publications</a></div>
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And throughout July, my stories are heavily discounted (some are free) in the Smashwords sale. Visit: <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/debbiemcgowan" target="_blank">https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/debbiemcgowan</a></div>
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Thanks for reading,</div>
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Deb x</div>
Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-25247581048782362722019-05-17T12:24:00.001+01:002019-05-17T12:24:56.006+01:00#FlashFriday The Sound of (Never) Silence #SparklyBadgers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Dear Tinnitus,<br />
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My constant companion: I love how you mix it up once in a while and change frequency, never content to be just an E that’s about <i>twelve</i> octaves above middle C, and when you added in that sub-bass, well! For a while you had me wondering what kind of lunatic learner pilot clocks up flying hours at four in the morning, but no. It was only you.<br />
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Remember the days of twenty bell lyres knocking out ‘Scotland the Brave’ in an enclosed space? Of course you don’t; that was your gestation, and you’ve been composing your own harmonies since.<br />
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Sometimes you almost drown out the birds, and on a late-spring late morning, that’s no bad thing. For this year, the days are done when the blackbird lures me from sleep with his sweet love song, which, incidentally, I only recently realised is reminiscent of Cinderella’s theme in <i>Into The Woods</i>. Clever chap, that Sondheim, seeing as blackbirds are not native to the USA. Perhaps he visited this fair isle and was inspired to capture the melodies of a British dawn chorus.<br />
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But I digress, for this morning, the blackbirds squawk, parent–child, child–parent, and in these days when I share my life with a cat, my only thought is <i>oh, god,</i> <i>what is he terrorising now? </i>He’s a mercifully poor hunter who, in three years, has gifted me several live butterflies, a hawk moth, half a dragonfly, a starling, a blue tit and two live toads.<br />
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The toads, he dropped outside the door…<br />
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Meow, meow! [I’m pretty sure it’s dead…it’s not? Oh—oy! Don’t let it go! I just spent ages catching that!]</blockquote>
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The blue tit he carried through the open window, set it down on the floor and lay next to it…<br />
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Meow, meow! [BEHOLD! I, the tiny tiger, have brought home dinner for all!]</blockquote>
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See, I always said I wanted to learn a second language. Who knew I’d become fluent in Felinese?<br />
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MEOW, MEOW, MEOW, MEOW! [Where are the people with warm beds? I am home and I need you! I’m here, I’m here, I’m here—ah, there you are.] Purrrrrrrr…<br />
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Meep, purrrrrr, meep, purrrr… [Focus, will you? I’m trying to boop you. Oh, look I can type! How do you spell tuna? Yes, now, please, then I’ll leave you alone, I promise.]</blockquote>
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All I can say is thank goodness the dogs can’t jump up onto the table. Well, they probably could if they weren’t so ‘busy’ alerting every other dog in town to the fact that somebody somewhere just knocked on a door.<br />
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I’d imagined working from home would be productive, QUIET, stress-free, heavily caffeinated… Alas, you, my squealing-buzzing friend, thrive on caffeine, and I simply cannot permit you to add any more lines to your three-part not-even-a-harmony.<br />
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So it’s just you and me, dear Tinnitus, give or take a bird or two, the cat, dogs and I do believe that is an actual plane flying over. Or is it?Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-84242430358436680792019-05-06T22:54:00.001+01:002019-05-06T22:54:02.990+01:00New Release - Resolve by Emily Alter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">BLURB:</span></b><br />
For a relationship to work, it is not just love which is demanded. Resolve is, too.<br />
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Cole has his senior year of college and a photography business to worry about, so he could really do without the multiple sessions with physiotherapists his parents force him to go to. It leaves little room to consider romance as a choice for him.<br />
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Pool instructor and avid swimmer Justin has always been his twin’s shadow. Where Aaron goes, he follows. He may not have much of a social life outside of his twin, but he loves his job and all the extra swim time he gets. He doesn’t think that he’s lacking anything.<br />
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Then Justin’s booked for a photo shoot with Cole. Being together, as right as it feels, also means they’ll have to come face to face with their belief systems. They must find the resolve to be their own person, or they could lose it all –themselves included.<br />
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Resolve is the 2nd book of the Demands series. Although they can be read as stand-alones, characters from previous books will make multiple appearances throughout the series.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">PURCHASE LINKS:</span></b><br />
Resolve (Demands, #2): <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RKLHKQS" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RKLHKQS</a><br />
Trust (Demands, #1): <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G5JGYCY" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G5JGYCY</a> (Trust is going on sale this week and will be available for 0.99 only. It’s your chance!)<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">CHARACTER PLAYLISTS:</span></b><br />
(I love these! They say so much about the characters. :))<br />
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/user/1121380389/playlist/4tDX9moVYMaoCnvbuYWJAH?si=fYSU6JrXTDm5dTPNceREJw" target="_blank">Justin’s Playlist</a><br />
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/user/1121380389/playlist/4koiiQKEMNHnPb30maHWqL?si=m7OXqVucREuH4jE0pLJ5Lg">Cole’s Playlist</a><br />
<br />
Justin is all about swimming, but he’s also very introspective. He wants songs that don’t make him lose focus, which he can chill with, so not even all of them have vocals.<br />
<br />
Cole’s music taste is… Edgy is not the word, but… He likes powerful lyrics and guitars and songs he can feel understood by, even though he’s not fully hardcore (there are a couple of songs which are “edgier” for the times he’s really mad at the world, but he doesn’t allow himself to be that mad for too long).<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</span></b><br />
Emily Alter is a pansexual author of LGBTQ+ romance. She lives in Spain, although most of her time is spent in an imaginary world with her characters.<br />
<br />
A hopeless romantic, and a psychology student, writing characters has always called to her. Writing romance, the kind she is represented in, seems the perfect combination of the three things she’s the most passionate about.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">LINKS:</span></b><br />
<b>Patreon: </b><a href="http://www.patreon.com/emilyalter" target="_blank">http://www.patreon.com/emilyalter</a> (become a patron and get four exclusive sketches by the end of the month, along with all the benefits Patreon offers)<br />
<b>Facebook: </b><a href="http://www.facebook.com/itsemilyalter" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/itsemilyalter</a><br />
<b>Twitter:</b> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/emiwhat" target="_blank">http://www.twitter.com/emiwhat</a><br />
<b>Instagram:</b> <a href="http://www.instagram.com/emiwhat_%C2%A0" target="_blank">http://www.instagram.com/emiwhat_ </a><br />
<b>Goodreads:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16993854.Emily_Alter" target="_blank">https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16993854.Emily_Alter</a><br />
<b>Amazon:</b> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/author/emilyalter" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/author/emilyalter</a><br />
<b>Newsletter:</b> <a href="http://eepurl.com/drYm8L" target="_blank">http://eepurl.com/drYm8L</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-82543739950843067752019-02-14T09:05:00.000+00:002019-02-14T09:05:52.394+00:00Nina, Pretty Ballerina - a short story<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://b10track.blogspot.com/2019/02/valentines-day-2019.html" target="_blank">Part of Play On... A FREE Valentine’s Day collection of short stories, poetry and prose, inspired by the songs of ABBA.</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Nina, Pretty Ballerina</b></span><br />
<b>© 2019 Debbie McGowan</b><br />
<br />
I didn’t like her. Not at first. She was too pretty. Too perfect.<br />
<br />
The box belonged to my sister, a pink, fluffy, glittery little thing—the description suited both—from a boy in her class. I remember her ripping off the paper, squealing in delight and then casting it aside, concerned only with the accumulation of Valentines, not sentiment.<br />
<br />
She wouldn’t let me see what was inside, but that had never stopped me before.<br />
<br />
Back then, though, all I knew was the box had two keys.<br />
<br />
One was for a tiny, pointless padlock that hung from the front like a little robot Scotsman’s sporran—<i>Kick me in the goolies, I dare ye.</i> Oh, dare accepted, my good wee McMan.<br />
<br />
The other key stuck out the back and would, inevitably, bring about the end of the world.<br />
<br />
I waited, biding my time for just one opportunity to get at that box. Then I would destroy it, tear out its tinkling innards before it triggered the apocalypse.<br />
<br />
Of course, I had not reckoned on falling in love.<br />
<br />
I boinged her once.<br />
<br />
Several times.<br />
<br />
Daily.<br />
<br />
But that was before. Mostly.<br />
<br />
Any time my sister was at Brownies, later Guides, invited to tea with a friend—high tea, no less, she thought she was hoity-toity, all that and a bag of Monster Munch—and then, finally, boyfriends, I’d be straight in her room to pick that pointless padlock, prepare a pillow and suffocate that stupid little box until it fell silent. Then I would lift it, quite reverently, and place it on top of the quilt, press my finger to the side of her head, push, push, push…and release.<br />
<br />
Boing.<br />
<br />
Boing.<br />
<br />
Boing.<br />
<br />
It was really rather cruel—not to my sister. She had new toys, new friends. And I…<br />
<br />
I had nothing but my mindless torture of this tiny, ridiculous creature and her perpetual pirouette.<br />
<br />
Until one day I didn’t.<br />
<br />
The day I watched her dance, and when her dance was done, I wound the Doomsday Key and watched her dance again. And again.<br />
<br />
And again.<br />
<br />
I couldn’t stop, willing her on through her cyclical decay, delighting in the enthusiasm with which she embarked upon every new dance as if it were her first.<br />
<br />
She had become my everything.<br />
<br />
It was, ultimately, my undoing and hers.<br />
<br />
One twist was, in the end, all it took. One twist and a click, and the key would turn no more.<br />
<br />
I shrank away, backed up against the wall as, in horror, I realised what I had done. I had overwound the mechanism, and this was it; her last dance.<br />
<br />
How could I go on without her? No, I would not think of it.<br />
<br />
I watched, more attentive than ever before, as she spun, and spun, and spun. All my boinging had left her slightly off-centre, giving the illusion of motion on two planes, a freedom of movement beyond her miniature plastic form.<br />
<br />
As we entered the decay, I drew close, my tears captured in her tiny dancer’s mirror.<br />
<br />
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, my breath misting our reflections. “I killed you.” The weight of my guilt, my loss, was too much, and my head fell forward, burying my face in the quilt. As the final notes of her melody twanged out, I cried, “I’ll miss you!”<br />
<br />
Inconsolable, hysterical, caught in my own cycle of <i>she’s gone forever</i> and <i>I need to get rid of the evidence</i>, I lost all sense of time and reason, or else I would, perhaps, have greeted what came next with greater incredulity.<br />
<br />
<i>Boing.</i> My neck cricked with the sudden push on the side of my head.<br />
<br />
<i>Boing.</i> And again.<br />
<br />
<i>Boing—</i><br />
<br />
“Hey! That hurts!” I whipped my hand out from under my face and made a grab for my assailant, but she was too quick.<br />
<br />
“Tell me about it.” She shimmied, rustling the nets of her pink tutu, and smiled. “Thank you.”<br />
<br />
“For killing you?”<br />
<br />
“For setting me free.”<br />
<br />
“Right.” I wasn’t going to ask.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
<br />
I still haven’t, yet here we are, three years later, in a nightclub on Valentine’s Day. Every so often, it rains glitter and confetti; in a net high above our heads, red heart-shaped balloons await release. But we’re not here for any of that. We’re celebrating Nina’s birthday.<br />
<br />
“Another drink, my love?” I offer, knowing she will refuse. She is frustrated by the dancing all around her. Strangers stare at the wheelchair and her blanket-covered legs, but no-one ever asks. <i>A head injury</i> is what we’ll tell them if they do.<br />
<br />
“Let’s go home,” she says with a wide, happy smile, which I endeavour to return. I’m as excited as Nina for what the rest of the night holds, but I’m nervous too. She’s a born performer, while I’m a heavy-handed klutz, but she’s promised she’ll be patient, so I’ll give it my best shot.<br />
<br />
We arrive back at our apartment, and I help her to her feet.<br />
<br />
“I’ll just get changed,” she says and whirls away to our bedroom.<br />
<br />
I’m still dithering in the doorway when she emerges some time later. She rolls her eyes. “Who’s the tightly wound one now?”<br />
<br />
My laughter trembles with first-night jitters. I take them with me to the corner of the room, where I’m all set up, and I tell myself I’m ready for this. After all, I’ve practised for three solid years to get to this night. But I feel sick, and my palms are so sweaty I’m ashamed when she takes my hand.<br />
<br />
“I know what you need,” she says. “What will help calm your nerves.”<br />
<br />
“You do?”<br />
<br />
“Yes.” She backs off a few feet and, making sure she’s facing me, positions her arms above and slightly forward of her head. “Boing me.”<br />
<br />
“I can’t.” Even though she’s come clean and told me she liked it.<br />
<br />
“Just once, for old times’ sake.”<br />
<br />
“Nina—”<br />
<br />
“Come on.” She’s not giving up on this.<br />
<br />
Reluctantly, I step towards her, and she nods, egging me on. I still don’t want to do it, but…<br />
<br />
<i>Boing.</i><br />
<br />
Down she goes, right down, her head mere inches from the floor. She’s rebounding before I can fully go into a panic about whether her spring is up to it.<br />
<br />
“Again!” she cries, still caught up in after-boings.<br />
<br />
“Just once, you said…”<br />
<br />
“Again!” she insists.<br />
<br />
<i>Boing.</i><br />
<br />
“Woohoo! Again!”<br />
<br />
<i>Boing.</i><br />
<br />
“Ag—”<br />
<br />
“No more!” I say, and I see the blur of her scowl as she gradually comes to a standstill. I point behind me to remind her how we got onto boinging in the first place.<br />
<br />
“Oh, yes!” She ruffles her tutu, straightens her tiara. She’s so pretty, my Nina. So perfect. And I love her.<br />
<br />
I return to my previous position, no nausea, no sweaty palms. They’ve been lost in the boing, and while a few jitters linger, they don’t incapacitate me.<br />
<br />
“Ready?” she asks.<br />
<br />
“Ready,” I say, and I pick up my glockenspiel mallets.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
The End</div>
Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-19257441621258598442019-01-27T20:02:00.002+00:002019-01-28T15:12:07.068+00:00Highlights - a short story<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<h1 style="text-align: center;">
Highlights</h1>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The one where Notes from Boston’s Amelia Roberts takes a much-needed vacation to England and runs into Shaunna Hennessy from Hiding Behind The Couch—a fortuitous meeting for both.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Co-written with A.M. Leibowitz</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Copyright © 2019 A.M. Leibowitz and Debbie McGowan</i><br />
<i>Cross-posted at: <a href="http://amleibowitz.com/2019/01/27/highlights-a-short-story/" target="_blank">http://amleibowitz.com/2019/01/27/highlights-a-short-story/</a></i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Prefer an ebook?</b><br />
<a class="button" download="Highlights-AML_DM.epub" href="http://www.hidingbehindthecouch.com/fdl/Highlights-AML_DM.epub">ePub</a> |
<a class="button" download="Highlights-AML_DM.mobi" href="http://www.hidingbehindthecouch.com/fdl/Highlights-AML_DM.mobi">Mobi</a> |
<a class="button" download="Highlights-AML_DM.pdf" href="http://www.hidingbehindthecouch.com/fdl/Highlights-AML_DM.pdf">PDF</a> |
<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/920312" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
A quiet afternoon at <i>Young at Heart</i> hairdressing salon. Hayley—Shaunna’s boss/salon owner—chats away to her client while Shaunna perches with phone in hand on the high stool next to the counter. Her attention flits between the murmured conversation, a text interchange with BFF Adele and watching for her “two o’clock” to arrive—a new client—<i>Amelia Roberts</i>, according to the diary; she’s the only other appointment this afternoon.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
The door opens, and a dark-haired woman, curvy but tiny in stature, steps in. She’s not alone, but one of her companions says something in a clearly American accent to the effect of “we’ll just be out shopping while you’re pampered.” The dark-haired woman looks around, maybe a little unsure about proper etiquette.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
<i>Gotta be her.</i> Shaunna smiles and slides down off her stool. “Hiya. Amelia?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Yes, that’s me. I have an appointment?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“You sure do! I’m Shaunna. I’ll be tending to you today. Come in, make yourself comfy and we can chat about what you want—get to know each other a bit.” Shaunna gestures Amelia toward the three chairs—two empty—in front of the mirrors that span the wall to their right.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Standing side by side confirms what Shaunna noticed when Amelia arrived; Shaunna’s a couple of inches taller but otherwise they’re the same build—“womanly,” her mum used to call it, or “hot as all get out,” according to Andy. She hears his words in her head, a sexy, low murmur that makes her smile then blush and laugh a little when she realises Amelia’s watching her in the mirror. “Sorry. I was miles away.” She gestures again to the chair—“Have a seat”—and pulls the other chair closer before sitting herself, catching a glimpse of her reflection. <i>Could I be any redder? Oh, the joys of being a ginger.</i> “So what can I do for you today? Actually, never mind that for now—would you like a cup of tea before we get started?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Ooh, you serve tea to your clients?” Amelia grins, but her smile slips sideways. “Um…I suppose my American is showing, huh?” She eyes the gorgeous woman up and down. Shaunna’s older than she is, but Amelia can’t tell by how much. Around her friend Izzy’s age, maybe mid-to-late thirties? Regardless, she’s gorgeous. Amelia’s not sure if she’s actually getting a hetero vibe or if it’s more a cultural difference, but she’s pretty sure flirting won’t lead anywhere other than a good cut-and-colour. Still, the view is awfully nice, and it’s definitely a pleasant change from being around the men all the time.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Only the ones we like,” Shaunna says with a cheeky wink. “We’re pretty informal here, aren’t we, Hayles?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Absoludely!” Hayley confirms, then to her client, “Is that all right for you?” From the shelf, she collects a black-handled mirror shaped like a paddle and holds it behind the woman’s head so she can see the shape of her new bob cut. The woman nods, all smiles, and clasps Hayley’s hand over her shoulder. She’s still gushing thanks as she leaves five minutes later.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“I’ll pud the keddle on,” Hayley says heading back through the salon to the storeroom.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Hayley’s the boss,” Shaunna explains once she and Amelia are alone.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“She seems nice,” Amelia remarks.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“She is. So…you’ve been here five minutes already, not that there’s any rush, hun, but…should we talk about your hair? Which is beautiful, by the way. Talk about making my job easy.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Well…my friends are getting married, and I thought while I was on vacation I’d get something new.” Amelia gestures to her long, wavy hair. “I need to keep it longer so I can put it up for work. But maybe more style, less just-got-out-of-bed? Maybe highlights?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Remember when bedhead was all the rage? I miss that trend.” Shaunna sighs nostalgically and blows at the one stray curl that’s escaped the clip securing the rest of her hair which, this morning, was less just-got-out-of-bed than just-been-dragged-backwards-through-a-hedge. “Okay. Mind if I take a look?” She waits for consent and then wheels her chair around to Amelia’s side, lifting a section of her hair. It’s healthy, midway down her back, with a natural curl that’s much looser than Shaunna’s, and the colour of dark chocolate. <i>Hershey’s Kisses…must be the accent.</i> She tried them once, way back, and couldn’t make up her mind if she liked them, although she’d eaten the entire bagful trying to figure it out so thought she probably did.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Yeah, highlights would be stunning on you. With the right level of lightness, they’ll really show off your complexion and make your eyes pop—oh!” She grimaces, no idea if that translates. “I mean, it’ll accentuate the blue.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Great. I figured that’s what you meant.” Amelia smiles, seeming more at ease now. “I’m completely in your hands.” <i>And was that flirting?</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“She’ll look after you, sweedie.” Hayley reappears with two mugs, which she deposits on the trolley next to Amelia, digging in her pocket and pulling out a handful of sugar sachets and a teaspoon. She drops those onto the trolley too. “I’ll be out back,” she says and rolls her eyes. “Paperwork, ack.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Shaunna smiles in sympathy. “Thanks, Hayles, and good luck!” Hayley gives her a withering glance and disappears through the storeroom door.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Help yourself,” Shaunna invites, giving Amelia first choice on the drinks before picking up the other, which, coincidentally, is the mug Shaunna usually chooses for herself anyway. “You said your friends are getting married?” She sips casually, never sure how questions like her next will be received, but years of living with a bi guy…well, she’s heard it all before. Amelia’s not giving off a homophobe vibe, though—quite the opposite—so Shaunna just asks. “The two women who were here earlier?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Amelia laughs. “Oh, no. Those two are straight as arrows. Uhm…” She flushes, though it delights her to think of Marlie and Nia as a couple. She wonders if she should explain the relationship between her friends—and their boyfriends. Clearly Shaunna doesn’t have a problem with same-gender couples, but polyamorous relationships? That’s always anyone’s guess. She decides to play it safe. “It’s my friend Nate and his boyfriend. They’ve always wanted one of those really fabulous events.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“And they’re getting married here?” Shaunna looks incredulous.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Back home in Boston. This was a girls’ week to visit my friend’s cousin.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Cool. It’s weird, isn’t it? When you live somewhere, you don’t really pay attention to the touristy type stuff, but there’s quite a lot to see and do around here. And you’re stuck in a stuffy salon for the afternoon…” Taking another quick mouthful of tea, Shaunna leaves her mug, reluctantly, and begins preparing what she’ll need for Amelia’s highlights. No pressure ever in this salon—a big part of why she’s always loved working here—they just subtly move clients along, more often than not without them consciously realising. Hairdressing by stealth, her friends call it; she can guess exactly which one came up with that description.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
But stealth mode’s not working today. Amelia is pensive, tracking Shaunna’s prep, yet not at the same time. It sounded like there was a lot more to Amelia’s hesitance in mentioning her friends who were getting married, like she wants to share but is worried what Shaunna will think. They’ll be spending a good chunk of the afternoon together; time to throw out another lifeline.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“My ex and his boyfriend are getting married…at some point. It’s a bit complicated.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Amelia is startled by this revelation, and yet somehow not. Relationships among her friends have always been complex too. She nods, thinking what to say next. “This was more or less my friend Marlie’s idea. She thought we could use a break from the men. They have been ridiculous while planning this wedding, bickering over the littlest nonsense.” She laughs and rolls her eyes. “Better them than me, I guess. Last I knew, we’d left Marlie’s boyfriend arguing about napkins with his…uh, his…” She falters.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Go on,” Shaunna says. “I’m listening.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Amelia bites her lip and peers at Shaunna. “No judgement?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“None at all.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Nodding, Amelia says, “Okay, well…” Deep breath. “Marlie and my other friend, Nia, their boyfriends are…boyfriends. And Marlie’s guy, Trevor, has an occasional partner too. That’s who he was snipping at about the napkins. Jamie’s got a bit of a stubborn streak on top of thinking Trevor has absolutely no sense of style. Which, to be fair, he really doesn’t. Just ask Jamie’s boyfriend. And…oh, dear god. This is like trying to explain a spider web. I like your word, complicated.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Wow, you can say that again.” Shaunna laughs, relieved to meet someone else with a whole mess of relationship stuff going on, because hadn’t she been there two years ago, when she and Ade… Well, if she’s honest, they ganged up on Kris “for his own good” and in the process spun their very own spider web. Tattered, weather-beaten, still hanging in there. But Amelia won’t want to hear about all that nonsense.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“That’s men for you.” Shaunna isn’t sure where to go from here, wishing to neither pry nor discourage Amelia from sharing or venting or whatever she needs—along with her highlights. “Tell you what. Let’s get you in foils—give us something else to think about for a while? How does that sound?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
While Shaunna applies the chemicals to her hair and wraps it in foil strips, Amelia finishes her tea. It’s cooled a bit, but it’s still good. She thinks the stereotype of the tea being better on this side of the ocean might really be true. Something Shaunna said tugs at the corner of her mind.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“You said your ex and his boyfriend? Is he— Oh, I probably shouldn’t be asking that. I’m sorry.” And she knows better anyway. A woman whose ex is now with a man isn’t that unusual in her group of friends and definitely doesn’t mean he’s gay. Izzy was married to a woman too, and now he only has eyes for Nate.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
She slightly changes the subject. “Do you miss being with him?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Yes,” Shaunna answers right away, no need to think; she’s done plenty of that already. “And yes, he’s bi if that’s what you were asking. Not confused—or not about that. We split up after he had an affair, but not because I kicked him out. Sure, I wish he hadn’t cheated on me. I wish he’d told me, like he did when he met Ade, but by then it was different. We weren’t a couple anymore. I think that’s where his confusion lies—he loves me, and he loves Ade, but he’s so fixed on the idea of monogamy he can’t see how he can have both. Or <i>could</i> have had both before…” Shaunna squeezes her eyes shut. “See the poster over there?” She points blindly to her left and loosens the tension on the section of hair she’s holding just enough she can feel Amelia’s head turn.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Amelia’s eyebrows shoot up. It’s not the sort of thing she would typically see while in a stylist’s chair. She’s not exactly sure what to say, although it really does nothing to mute her appreciation for Shaunna’s beauty. “It’s…nice?” she tries, knowing she’s blushing. She hopes Shaunna doesn’t think she’s being rude; she simply doesn’t have the right words, nor does she know what she’s expected to say. Everything in her head sounds like either oversharing or not enough.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Is that him?” She’s managed to unstick her tongue enough to get back to the conversation they were having. She still hasn’t taken her eyes off the poster, though, and something tells her she already knows the answer to her question is no.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Shaunna stifles a giggle at their matching pink faces. “For the record, I so didn’t want a picture of me all naked and massively pregnant in here. It was taken for a magazine feature. Kris—my ex—is an actor, as is Ade. Their PR woman thought the feature might stop the press hounding them…us. Would you believe Hayley emailed the photographer and paid God knows how much for that photo? Seriously, it’s like Athena porn caught in a time warp. So…anyway, that’s Andy—the guy I’m with now, who’s all free love and hippie surfer dude but also really competitive? He’s an oddment. A sexy one, though, or I think so.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Oh, and he does that guy thing, you know? Sees me talking to an attractive woman and gets one of those daft grins on his face, like I could just turn it on. He doesn’t get that we’re not all like him. He’s totally open to new experiences—he even says he’s okay with us having an open relationship, with one really, really major exception.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Your ex?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Bingo! I think it just makes me want it more. But that’s enough about me…unless you want me to keep talking?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Ugh, I feel you on that ‘guy thing.’ I have a friend, a woman, I sometimes hook up with. The men are one hundred percent not invited for that.” She sighs. It’s reminded her of the main reasons—both of them—why she needed this vacation. “I also very much feel you about wanting it more when it feels off-limits. Sounds a lot like what I’ve got going on.” She closes her eyes.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Have you ever gotten together with the same guy your…partner? person-thing? was also seeing?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Err…not knowingly?” Shaunna hedges. After all, lack of communication about teenage sex was how Charlie—wearing her PR hat—talked her into doing the magazine feature in the first place. Who knew what those boys were doing when they weren’t doing her? But Shaunna can get quite militant about it when she’s on a roll, and now is not the time. Or maybe it is <i>always</i> the time—for women and girls, at least. “Is that what’s going on with you right now?” she asks, then adds, in case Amelia is merely curious, “If I’m prying, tell me to shut up.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Amelia sighs for the thousandth time, this one more out of relief. Finally, someone entirely not invested in the outcome who she can talk to without worrying it will find its way back to anyone she knows.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“More or less,” she admits. She figures anyone with a naked picture on their salon wall isn’t likely to judge her or even comment on her various partners, so she forges ahead. “It didn’t start off on purpose. My friend Mack and I have this relationship where we tell each other everything, and then we have sex. He’s aromantic, so it’s not going anywhere else, and I’m good with that. But then we both started hooking up with a mutual friend— I think I’m getting ahead of myself.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“I spent the night with a casual friend. It was fun. Then Mack spent the night with him after meeting up in a bar. That would’ve been the end of it, but we both kind of…kept doing it. Meeting up with him, I mean. And, well, it’s become a problem, but not probably for the reasons you might think.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Hmm…” Shaunna’s second-guessing what Amelia expects her to think. “I’m not sure I think anything, but…from experience? I’d probably guess…” She shakes her head and laughs. “Sorry. I don’t know, honestly. I mean, when the three of us were living together, Kris was the only one who had a problem with it, and I’m pretty sure it had more to do with all the times he’d fended off people telling him he was just greedy. I tell you, if Ade was bi too, it would’ve saved… No, actually, that’s stupid. I love Ade to bits, but we’re way too much alike. All I’m getting at is if all three of us had two lovers each, it would have been more fair? D’you know what? I should shut up and let you talk. We’re about done with the lightener, by the way.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Okay.” Amelia thinks for a moment how to respond. “Well, really, it would’ve been fine. Mack and I have been best friends for years. He’s known all along he doesn’t want a romantic relationship, and I assumed I didn’t either, until I met Jomari. JoJo is everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner but didn’t realize. He’s warm and sweet and we have so much in common…” Amelia trails off, knowing her face must be crimson. She’s never said it out loud before, but here she is, about to reveal it all to a complete stranger in another country. “Uh…and there, as I’m sure you can see, is the problem. Mack might not be in love with JoJo—but I am.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
She sits up a little straighter. “I said it, and the world didn’t end. I’m in love.” Her shoulders slump. “But I have no idea what to do now.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Well…<i>right</i> now?” Shaunna swiftly secures the last piece of foil, intervening before Amelia’s mood nosedives through the floor. “I propose another cuppa while Mr. Schwarzkopf works his magic.” She thumbs at the storeroom door. “There’s a packet of chocolate digestives in there with our name on it. That is, if you eat biscuits—oh, they’re something else, aren’t they? Cookies. Chocolate digestives are delish, especially when you dip ’em in your tea, and…that’s all the advice I’m giving. Dunk your digestives. I could also tell you a story about a friend of mine who fell in love when he was seventeen and didn’t realise for twenty years. Imagine that! So you’re not doing so badly, and of course, we could all see he was in love, so maybe JoJo already knows?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Amelia smiles. “Chocolate anything sounds awesome right now. And someone who was in love for twenty years and didn’t know? That’s…wow. Well, I sure hope there’s time for that story.” She slides off her chair. “Honestly, JoJo knows. I think he’s been waiting for me to say it. How we’re going to make it work with Mack between us is anyone’s guess. But at least I know I can tell JoJo the truth, the thing I’ve been too chicken to say.” She wonders if being real with both of them will make it easier. Hiding didn’t seem to do anything other than make all of them miserable. If only she knew a way they could all have what they needed. Maybe in time.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Any further talk about their “unconventional” love lives is put on hold when Hayley re-joins them. “Oh! Tea and bic-bics? Don’t mind if I do!” She leaves Shaunna little choice, but perhaps it’s for the best. Hayley’s wonderful, but she has her limits, not to mention it’s virtually impossible to talk over the shower’s spray as Shaunna rinses the bleach from Amelia’s hair. As for the dryer—a pneumatic drill couldn’t be any more intrusive, but at last silence reigns once more. It’s the moment of truth, those few seconds when, even after all these years, Shaunna’s so nervous her hands shake. <i>God, I hope she likes it.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Amelia stares at her reflection so long she’s afraid Shaunna will think she hates it. It’s exactly the opposite. Her hair is shorter than it was, but not so much she can’t still throw it in a ponytail for work. Now, though, the soft chestnut waves frame her round face. The highlights accentuate the natural shades of her hair, and the strands almost glow as she turns her head back and forth in an effort to see it all. She lets out a tiny gasp and reaches up, but she doesn’t want to touch it and ruin anything, so she drops her hand.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Oh,” she says. “It’s amazing. Thank you.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“You’re very welcome.” <i>Phew!</i> Shaunna conceals her relief with a smile that’s genuine enough but a little beyond her control. Funny how some clients have this effect on her—not so much that they’re more important than the rest, but she feels a connection here, an affinity. Likeminded women brought together by chance.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
They’re finishing their second cup of tea and the biscuits when the door opens, and Amelia pauses mid-laugh to wave to her friends. She loves the way Marlie’s jaw drops, and Amelia shakes her head just a little to make her wavy hair sway.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Marlie turns to Nia. “I knew I should’ve made an appointment too! That right there is pure hair magic.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
Nia shrugs. “I think your cousin would understand if you wanted to come back here. Also, she freaking told you that already, but you didn’t listen.” Nia steps closer to Amelia. “Your friend know anyone with that skill who can take care of afro-texture hair?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Ask her yourself,” Amelia says. Turning to Shaunna, she says, “These are my friends, Marlie and Nia. Guys, this is Shaunna, worker of hair miracles.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Lovely to meet you.” Shaunna smiles at the newcomers, and Amelia is struck again by how beautiful she is. And by how it’s too bad she’s all the way on another continent usually.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
On the other hand, there is social media. Amelia notes that Marlie is, in fact, pulling out her phone, likely to schedule her own appointment. Which means another trip here, something for which Amelia isn’t sorry in the least. She feels a bit bad for Nia, though she knows her friend has a stylist back home practically on speed-dial.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“So,” Amelia says, trying to be casual. “Shaunna, maybe I can find you online? You know, stay in touch.” She allows one teeny, tiny almost-wink, even though she’s positive Shaunna’s not interested.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
“Fab!” Shaunna doesn’t need asking twice. She whips out her phone too. “Okay…” <i>Yay for social media.</i> Amelia is gorgeous and fun, and yes, Shaunna’s nosey; she’ll hold her hands up if pressed. But she also wants to hear all about the wedding. She wants to see how things pan out for Amelia and her guys. More than anything, she hopes she’s made a new friend.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
The End</div>
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">
About A.M. Leibowitz</span></b><br />
A.M. Leibowitz is a queer spouse, parent, feminist, and book-lover falling somewhere on the Geek-Nerd Spectrum. They keep warm through the long, cold western New York winters by writing about life, relationships, hope, and happy-for-now endings. Their published fiction includes several novels as well as a number of short works, and their stories have been included in anthologies from Supposed Crimes, Witty Bard, and Mischief Corner Books. In between noveling and editing, they blog coffee-fueled, quirky commentary on faith, culture, writing, books, and their family.<br />
<br />
<b>
Find A.M. Leibowitz online:</b><br />
<b>Facebook:</b> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/amymitchell29" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/amymitchell29</a><br />
<b>Facebook Author Page:</b> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/UnchainedFa" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/UnchainedFaith/</a><br />
<b>Twitter:</b> <a href="https://twitter.com/amyunchained" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/amyunchained</a><br />
<b>Pinterest:</b> <a href="https://pinterest.com/amyunchained" target="_blank">https://pinterest.com/amyunchained</a><br />
<b>Website:</b> <a href="http://amleibowitz.com/" target="_blank">http://amleibowitz.com</a><br />
<b>Goodreads:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8544236.A_M_Leibowitz" target="_blank">https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8544236.A_M_Leibowitz</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>
About Debbie McGowan</b></span><br />
Debbie McGowan is an author and publisher based in a semi-rural corner of Lancashire, England. She writes character-driven, realist fiction, celebrating life, love and relationships. A working class girl, she ‘ran away’ to London at seventeen, was homeless, unemployed and then homeless again, interspersed with animal rights activism (all legal, honest ;)) and volunteer work as a mental health advocate. At twenty-five, she went back to college to study social science—tough with two toddlers, but they had a ‘stay at home’ dad, so it worked itself out. These days, the toddlers are young women (much to their chagrin), and Debbie teaches undergraduate students, writes novels and runs an independent publishing company, occasionally grabbing an hour of sleep where she can.<br />
<br />
<b>
Find Debbie McGowan online:</b><br />
<b>Website:</b> <a href="http://www.debbiemcgowan.co.uk/" target="_blank">debbiemcgowan.co.uk</a><br />
<b>Newsletter Signup:</b> <a href="http://eepurl.com/b8emHL" target="_blank">eepurl.com/b8emHL</a><br />
<b>Blog:</b> <a href="http://deb248211.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">deb248211.blogspot.com</a><br />
<b>Facebook:</b> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DebbieMcGowanAuthor" target="_blank">facebook.com/DebbieMcGowanAuthor</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/beatentrackpublishing" target="_blank">facebook.com/beatentrackpublishing</a><br />
<b>Twitter:</b> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/writerdebmcg" target="_blank">@writerdebmcg</a><br />
<b>YouTube:</b> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/deb248211" target="_blank">youtube.com/deb248211</a><br />
<b>Instagram:</b> <a href="http://instagram/writerdebmcg" target="_blank">instagram/writerdebmcg</a><br />
<b>Google+:</b> <a href="http://plus.google.com/+DebbieMcGowan" target="_blank">plus.google.com/+DebbieMcGowan</a><br />
<b>Tumblr:</b> <a href="http://writerdebmcg.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">writerdebmcg.tumblr.com</a><br />
<b>LinkedIn:</b> <a href="http://uk.linkedin.com/in/writerdebmcg" target="_blank">uk.linkedin.com/in/writerdebmcg</a><br />
<b>Goodreads:</b> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/DebbieMcGowan" target="_blank">goodreads.com/DebbieMcGowan</a>Debbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32669046.post-8012309044336155412018-12-31T12:29:00.000+00:002018-12-31T12:54:04.234+00:00To all the books I wrote this year... (2018 roundup)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi97AFGhCGpFMiAvPUeK8-mVeFP5MmBQZrAXAN4OZpSWFPv85Rt91Ulyd36O9zgQQUxMuAjp8W0TfDRBz6LEGQ8CjZZwixrRIeJfnbsNfX3pG86Ef57e5CHe37jObkVleRh_FV/s1600/FB_Banner_Deb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="651" data-original-width="1400" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi97AFGhCGpFMiAvPUeK8-mVeFP5MmBQZrAXAN4OZpSWFPv85Rt91Ulyd36O9zgQQUxMuAjp8W0TfDRBz6LEGQ8CjZZwixrRIeJfnbsNfX3pG86Ef57e5CHe37jObkVleRh_FV/s400/FB_Banner_Deb.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
In 2018, I wrote 214,592 words. :)<br />
<br />
That's not a bad total word count for the year, but it's my lowest since 2012, and the six years since are in almost perfect negative correlation with the output of Beaten Track Publishing. That's an achievement, of course. I love my job. However, with that realisation comes the closest I'm getting to a New Year's resolution: in 2019, I'll spend less time on publishing and more on writing.<br />
<br />
That brings my writing career total to <b>3,214,424 words (!)</b>, consisting of:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>25 novels</li>
<li>12 novellas</li>
<li>12 short stories</li>
<li>several works in progress</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
In case you missed any…with links…<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Deb's books published in 2018</span></b><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFOq2H3TIsUzlbNlD-stnRgvYHH335fYsJgezeCW-mR9ZHjdxgK0GqCneDFsATPlt4NelSQM0adLgIXGn-Q15KO4Gn080PIrawZ3vUdS9CDP-R2RtZ3E4zdusOLjhOI6VkNhhK/s1600/DebbieMcGowan_TheGreatPretendo_533x800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="533" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFOq2H3TIsUzlbNlD-stnRgvYHH335fYsJgezeCW-mR9ZHjdxgK0GqCneDFsATPlt4NelSQM0adLgIXGn-Q15KO4Gn080PIrawZ3vUdS9CDP-R2RtZ3E4zdusOLjhOI6VkNhhK/s200/DebbieMcGowan_TheGreatPretendo_533x800.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Print/eBooks:</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><i><b>Oh No She Didn't!</b></i> (Slice of Life/Women's Fiction - in <a href="https://supposedcrimes.com/products/upstaged-an-anthology-of-queer-women-and-the-performing-arts" target="_blank">Upstaged</a>)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=32669046" https:="" scorcher="" target="_blank" www.beatentrackpublishing.com=""><i><b>What a Scorcher!</b></i></a> (Slice of Life/Women's Fiction - HBTC Free Flash Fiction)</li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=32669046" https:="" tabularasa="" target="_blank" www.beatentrackpublishing.com=""><i>Tabula Rasa</i></a> </b>(Crime/Romance/Slice of Life - Gray Fisher 2)</li>
<li><a bunfight="" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=32669046" https:="" target="_blank" www.beatentrackpublishing.com=""><i><b>The Great Village Bun Fight</b></i></a> (Slice of Life/Humour Novella)</li>
<li><b><a gothofchristmaspast="" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=32669046" https:="" target="_blank" www.beatentrackpublishing.com=""><i>Goth of Christmas Past</i></a> </b>(Contemporary New Adult Novel)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/pretendo" target="_blank"><i><b>The Great Pretendo</b></i></a> (SFF Free Flash Fiction)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=32669046" https:="" target="_blank" thelostmitten="" www.beatentrackpublishing.com=""><i><b>The Lost Mitten</b></i></a> (Children's book, illustrated by Sofia Oxelstrand)</li>
<li><a adventofreason="" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=32669046" https:="" target="_blank" www.beatentrackpublishing.com=""><i><b>The Advent of Reason</b></i></a> (Slice of Life/Cosy Mystery/Romance - HBTC Novella)</li>
</ul>
<div>
Edited to add: my favourites to write were <b style="font-style: italic;"><a bunfight="" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=32669046" https:="" target="_blank" www.beatentrackpublishing.com="">The Great Village Bun Fight</a> </b>because it was so much fun to write a bit of nonsense humour (even though I didn't manage to ditch the politics entirely) and <b style="font-style: italic;"><a adventofreason="" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=32669046" https:="" target="_blank" www.beatentrackpublishing.com="">The Advent of Reason</a> </b>because it's the first time in three years or more where the story just <i>flowed</i>. I had a lot of fun writing that too!</div>
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<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaHCJIjtrGAZ5gLCTwss03wpyEpWcNw9ld2xTFFjDd-U0vghqdPUptcr90dgswQAHBkw2K7APYD5wQLt-0LzbP4ObITa6y0GZvpDIBNeoCNEqJivCz8Z9fv7Go2p4pOY5e72WS/s1600/DebbieMcGowan_OTB_600x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaHCJIjtrGAZ5gLCTwss03wpyEpWcNw9ld2xTFFjDd-U0vghqdPUptcr90dgswQAHBkw2K7APYD5wQLt-0LzbP4ObITa6y0GZvpDIBNeoCNEqJivCz8Z9fv7Go2p4pOY5e72WS/s200/DebbieMcGowan_OTB_600x600.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Box Sets (Kindle/Kindle Unlimited):</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://mybook.to/HBTC_novellas_eb" target="_blank"><b><i>Hiding Behind The Couch - Novellas and Short Stories</i></b></a></li>
<li><a href="http://mybook.to/HBTCBoxSet2" target="_blank"><b><i>Hiding Behind The Couch - Box Set Two</i></b></a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Audiobooks:</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B07J1XYZ87/?source_code=AUKFrDlWS02231890H6-BK-ACX0-129643&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_129643_rh_uk" target="_blank"><b><i>Of The Bauble</i></b></a> (SFF/Romance Novella)</li>
<li><b><i><a href="https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B07H9HR8DJ/?source_code=AUKFrDlWS02231890H6-BK-ACX0-127730&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_127730_rh_uk" target="_blank">The Great Village Bun Fight</a> </i></b>(Slice of Life/Humour Novella)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B07JM1BWQD/?source_code=AUKFrDlWS02231890H6-BK-ACX0-131361&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_131361_rh_uk" target="_blank"><b><i>And The Walls Came Tumbling Down</i></b></a> (SFF Novel)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
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If you read my stories...thank you very much. You are lovely.<br />
If you don't...well, you're probably lovely too. ;)<br />
<br />
To 2019! Onwards...<br />
Deb xDebbie McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238044171968552477noreply@blogger.com2