My daughter started school last week, and something struck me. She’s never brought home a textbook. Everything is on the computer now.
That is so strange to me. One of my favorite parts of the beginning of the school year was putting covers on my textbooks. There was an art to cutting and folding those paper grocery bags to get the perfect dust jacket (of course, I didn’t know that’s what I was making back then) and then decorating it so it was personalized.
Nola has never had the chance to make her own dust jacket. Times have changed. Technology has advanced. But it makes me a little sad.
Good thing I still have plenty of opportunities to make dust jackets (even if I’m not hand-folding them).
Take the latest novel and collection in Dean Wesley Smith’s bestselling Cold Poker Gang Mystery series, for example. I got to make a dust jacket for each of those.
Case Card, the latest novel, and Action, the new collection are both available in ebook, trade paperback and hardcover (with a dust jacket!).
Here’s the synopsis for Case Card:
International bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith returns to his bestselling Cold Poker Gang Mystery series with another twisted mystery in Case Card.
Retired detectives Debra Pickett and Sarge Carson return to the Cold Poker Gang Task Force after the pandemic to tackle the most famous of all Las Vegas cold cases: the disappearance of a college student fifty-one years before.
Becky Williams entered her apartment building on November 24, 1971, and vanished without a trace. Now, Pickett and Sarge have one last chance to solve the case before a building remodel destroys whatever clues remain.
But the twisted trail they follow in their investigation might prove the strangest and just downright Las Vegas-weirdest case they have ever solved.
International bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith offers up eight thrilling puzzle mystery stories in his bestselling Cold Poker Gang Mystery series.
If you love puzzle mysteries, complicated cold cases, and detectives tackling the most twisted crimes, take this opportunity to introduce yourself to this talented group of retired Las Vegas detectives playing poker and solving cold cases.
These eight stories each feature a new cold-case mystery and offer a look at the hard-to-solve crimes found in all the Cold Poker Gang novels.
So, go ahead and grab these great mysteries for your fall reading pile. And if you have some naked hardcovers at home and want to try your hand at making your own paper bag dust jacket, check out this video tutorial here!
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.
The Diving Universe is so vast that it spans not only multiple star systems but also millennia. Set far in the future, and 18 books in, we readers are still exploring new worlds and new times and new technology with each new installment in this amazing series!
And tomorrow, you can join us, too, on the next part of this adventure!
First, of course, is the new novel. In Ivory Trees: A Diving Universe Novel, Kris takes us back to Wyr (which savvy readers will remember from City of Ruins), where we learn a whole lot more about The Spires of Denon, the Amnthrans, the Empire, and an ancient tech.
There’s no Boss or Coop in this one, but avid readers will recognize some familiar faces if they pay attention.
And for the first time ever, we have Diving merchandise! Thanks to the amazing art created for us by the incredibly talented Philcold, as well as a new logo for the new book, you can now join the Diving Crew with mugs, coasters, a blanket, a pillow or a calendar.
Plus, of course, all the books in the series, including some that are only offered in Kickstarters.
And for writers, special workshops, of course.
Click here to go to the Kickstarter preview page, which will convert to the Kickstarter link once the project goes live about noon tomorrow and check it out.
We can’t wait for you to join us on this journey!
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.
At WMG, we have long celebrated women in science fiction. Not the least of which is because we publish one of the greatest science fiction writers of our time—Hugo Award-winning and international bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
It’s a sisterhood, really, women in science fiction. And Kris is a powerful voice in that sisterhood.
Kris not only writes amazing science fiction, but she also writes kick-ass female protagonists in that science fiction. Her Diving Universe is case in point.
Robert Jeschonek recognizes how many awesome women are writing science fiction, too. And he’s curated a whole StoryBundle featuring them, including one of Kris’ Diving books. It’s called The Space Opera Sisterhood Bundle. Here’s what Bob has to say about it:
What is it about space opera that makes us love it so much? The action, the exotic settings, the colorful characters, the alien species? The promise of countless adventures in the face of the great unknown?
Or is it mostly just the incredible wow factor of all the ships…the technology…the planets…the ray guns and laser swords? In many ways, it’s the ultimate escapist genre, transporting us to places and situations that dwarf our everyday troubles. And yet, at its heart, space opera is all about us—what it means to be human, and how we can triumph over our human limitations.
Whatever your reason for loving the genre, this bundle has what you’re looking for in abundance. The eleven books I’ve selected—each written by a true heroine of the genre—are packed with space opera goodness that will propel you to the furthest reaches of the known and unknown universe.
This fantastic StoryBundle offers four titles for $5 or all eleven titles for $20. And it includes Becalmed: A Diving Universe Novella. If you’ve never read the Diving series, or you missed this novella in particular, I highly recommend you pick up this bundle. Becalmed is a masterpiece of powerful writing.
You can buy the bundle or read more about it here.
So, c’mon. Join the sisterhood.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.
Despite all the news about the Pacific Northwest heat wave, it’s been beautiful on the Oregon Coast this week. The marine layer has stayed offshore, but the ocean winds have kept us in the upper 60s most of the week. The wildlife is enjoying it, too. I’ve seen more species of butterflies and dragonflies recently than I’ve ever seen here. It’s amazing.
I also noted, as my husband and I drove to our favorite French café for breakfast last week past one of the resorts in town, that it’s perfect weather for golf.
I don’t have a lot to say about golf. I’ve always been, um, directionally challenged when it comes to my golf swing, so I’ve never really committed to learning. But we do have a resident golf expert in the company.
And he has some really cool words of wisdom about golf in his book The First Tee Panic.
Former PGA Golf Professional and bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith walks you step-by-step, club-by-club from your car to the first tee and beyond in a laugh-out-loud style that not only teaches, but entertains.
Any golfer recognizes the fears, the patterns, the downright horrors of the first shot of a round. Ever topped that first shot just off the front edge of the tee box? Or worse yet, whiffed it completely?
Come on, admit it. It happened. Remember?
The problems with that first shot don’t start with the swing. Nope, the problems start in the parking lot. And this book will get you flawlessly from the parking lot, through the clubhouse, onto the driving range, over the putting green, and finally successfully off the first tee with a smile.
This summer stands a good chance of being declared the hottest summer on record (at least here in the Northern Hemisphere). Even if it doesn’t hit that mark, it’s certainly breaking a lot of records. [link to ]
That certainly comes as no surprise to me. I suffered from heat illness myself this summer while in Las Vegas during the July heat wave. That’s something I haven’t experienced since Madrid in ’92. Years of living on the Oregon Coast have made me more susceptible to heat because we don’t get much of it here.
For example, although we are under an excessive heat warning all of next week, the predicted high temperature where I live will range from 70 to 79 degrees. Supposedly. If the marine layer doesn’t get sucked in by triple-digit heat in the Valley. Then, we’ll be lucky to get out of the 50s.
High temps in the 70s doesn’t sound high, but it actually is for here. We usually don’t break out of the 60s in the summer. And no one here has air conditioning. So, 79 can get rather warm, especially when you don’t expect it.
I certainly didn’t expect to suffer from heat illness while I was in Las Vegas. I knew to be careful, since Vegas was having record-setting heat (it was 115 degrees the day I fell ill). But I never expected five minutes on a sidewalk to take me out.
Still, nothing like some parts of the world are dealing with—which pairs record-breaking temperatures with high humidity. That’s a brutal kind of heat.
Here at WMG, we prefer to heat things up on the page instead. No chance of heat stroke there!
If that kind of heat sparks your interest, look no further than Summer Sizzles.
In this fourth Fiction River Special Edition, bestselling romance author and editor Kristine Grayson takes readers into the world of romantic suspense. These nine breathtaking stories—from military romance to love in the criminal underworld, from a highly unusual shipboard romance to a modern gothic novella set on an idyllic island—make a perfect beginning to summer reading. The heat of attraction, the sparks of passion, and the frisson of suspense all thread their way through every story in this spectacular volume.
Includes
“Night Moves” by Katie Pressa
“Safe Like Cedar” by Lisa Silverthorne
“Flying Above the Hindu Kush” by M.L. Buchman
“Love on the Run” by Kelly Washington
“Need to Know” by Sabrina Chase
“Bribing Ghosts” by Leah Cutter
“Come Summer, Come Winter, I’ll Come for You” by Rei Rosenquist
“Totality” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“That Summer on Blue Heron Island” by Dayle A. Dermatis
Intrigued? Of course you are. Buy the ebook now here. It’s a great choice for any summer reading list.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.
