Happy Holidays!

 

Whew! I seem to always be apologizing for not keeping up with my Social Media - and I apologize yet again. Since Thanksgiving I have been working down to the wire on the deadline for the third Hollywood mystery, Saving Susie Sweetchild - a bit darker than the first two, since it deals with the kidnapping of a child. But the manuscript is done, I really enjoyed both working on it and researching it (except researching the parts about actual kidnappings in the 'teens and '20s of the 20th Century. That was pretty awful). The stuff about how child stars were treated in the silent films was pretty scary as well. I HIGHLY recommend Diana Serra Carey's Whatever Happened to Baby Peggy? and Hollywood's Children.

Benjamin January # 20 (20?!?), The Nubian's Curse, will be out in January - in time for at least part of the holiday season, since the frame-story is Christmas-to-Twelfth-Night.

And I hope to get at least a little down-time, to work (finally!) on more Further Adventures, which got pushed aside by two sizeable gig-jobs and the complications and clean-up after my Mom's passing, two years ago. Lately I've also been dealing with a couple of minor medical issues - nothing serious, but time lost to doctor visits. In the midst of all that I retired from part-time teaching at the local community college, after 17 years. Time sure flies when you're grading papers.

So, a quiet holiday all around, with some interesting things on the horizon for the New Year. These will include a trip to Japan with my aikido dojo - to which I'm seriously looking forward! - and being a guest at the Celsius 232 literary festival in Aviles, Spain. (The last time I was in Spain Francisco Franco was still the head of the government!) I haven't been on an airplane in YEARS, and it's a long damn way to either of those places. 

Closer to home, I'll be at the Los Angeles Vintage Paperback Collectors Show, at the Glendale Civic Auditorium (a VERY nice venue!) Sunday, March 17.

In the meantime, a quiet Christmas with family and dear friends, watching movies and sleeping late under a pile of cats.

Thank you all for your loyalty and your patience! Have a wonderful holiday.

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