July 2016
Most readers have seen the listing for
'When the Spirit Moves You' on my website's 'Novels' page even
if they haven't read the book. That story was written way back
in 2001, and self-published 2007 when I was still trying to get
started as an author. I was so broke back then I couldn't afford
to hire an editor so I published it as written, warts and all. I
had begun writing a sequel before publishing the first book, but
when I became discouraged with my inability to attract any
attention from publishers I stopped work with just a third of
the new book written. In 2010 I began to develop a following and
fans of 'When the Spirit Moves You' began to ask me to publish
the sequel. I promised to do that but my sci-fi books had been
'discovered' and I spent all my time trying to satisfy the
demands from that much larger audience. I never forgot my
promise; I just sort of delayed it a little as I relearned the
delights of eating things other than Ramen noodles three times
a day.
The first book in the series was
finally edited and republished in March of this year after a
major rewrite to enhance the drama and charm a bit. A mobi
formatted version for the Kindle was uploaded to Amazon so
everyone who had purchased the eBook version prior to the
rewrite could download the newer version at no charge. It uses
the same Amazon ASIN designation. You can immediately identify
which version you have because the cover image has changed.
The
first book has also been available on Barnes & Noble since
March 2016 in ePub format, and is available on my website in
ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats. I hope to get an ePub version
uploaded to Kobo and Apple soon.
I was so busy working on the sequel
that I never sent out a newsletter announcement, so I'm very
pleased to announce now that the sequel, When the Spirit Calls,
is currently being published. It will be available through my
website by July 31st in Mobi (Kindle) and ePub formats. I expect
to have the ePub versions uploaded to Apple and Kobo by Aug.
8th.
And I'm hoping to upload it to B&N in ePub format very soon,
but their publisher interface on their website has been down
since the morning of July 28th. I've notified them, and they've
said they're investigating why I can't access the Nook store,
but I suspect the problem is far more widespread than just my
access attempts. Whatever the reason, I can't upload the book
until they get their problems resolved and then it will probably
take a couple of days after uploading the book before it's
available. And for anyone interested in a PDF version, I expect
to have that available through my website website by Aug.
8th.
About the
two Books
When the Spirit Moves
You
Arlene Watson and her girlfriends
intended to spend most of their summer vacation at the beach
among friends, and naturally boys, before returning to high
school for their senior year. But on one particularly hot and
lazy afternoon in late June, Arlene consents to perform tarot
readings for her closest friends. Her minor talent for
'fortune-telling' had seemed to mature dramatically since
receiving an unusual hand-painted tarot deck as a gift from her
sister. Since then, whenever she gathered socially with
friends, someone would beg for a reading.
Repeated attempts at finding answers in
the cards on this occasion only produced more questions. In
frustration, Arlene gives up. Hoping that contact with a real
spirit from the 'great beyond' might help clarify ambiguous
responses from the cards, she convinces the others to join her
in an experimental séance at a deserted mansion where a ghost
is reputed to roam the grounds each evening.
Waiting until security patrols end for
the day, the four young women sneak onto the estate and manage
to enter the house. Their efforts at contact appear to fail,
but as they prepare to leave, the spirit arrives and shows them
how foolhardy they were to tamper with metaphysical forces
beyond their ken.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the Spirit
Calls
Arlene's paranormal powers have matured
as she progressed through her late teens. Now in college, she
has fully accepted her special abilities to interact with those
who have passed on. When her dreams turn to repeated nightmares
that appear to show her violent death, she and her best friends
begin a new journey into the unknown. All will grow with the
experience, but Arlene's journey takes her far beyond where
even she could have anticipated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I
seem to have been a little too optimistic in 2015 when I
established my 2016 production schedule. I'm
currently a full month behind. Of the four books I announced
for this year, I've basically completed two. As noted
above, Book 1 has been published and Book 2 is being published
this week. I've also made good progress writing
Clidepp Deja Vu, but I believe it won't be published
before September 30th, the last day of the third
quarter. I'm doing my best to stay as close to that date
as possible, but it may slip a bit. But the book
is definitely coming along. Although I've written
some of AGU Book 11, I haven't established a title yet.
Hopefully I'll have settled on a title by the time I
publish Clidepp Deja Vu. Perhaps a title like Better
Late Than Never would be appropriate. What do you
think?