Publisher's Note
Publisher’s Note: An Abundance of Arts
My daughter has a busy week involving two different kinds of artistic endeavors.
First up is her school district’s centennial concert celebration. Nola plays several instruments: alto sax, tenor sax, euphonium and tuba. For this performance, she’ll be complementing the low brass section on the euphonium.
She loves playing her instruments, and she takes very good care of them. She’s even brought her euphonium and tuba home for baths (these are school instruments, but no one has maintained them; don’t even ask what we found inside the tuba once we got it apart…).
Publisher’s Note: Let Me Be Direct
I’ve long been told I’m direct. I consider that a compliment. I’m not one to waste people’s time trying to guess what I’m thinking or what I’m feeling. I’ll tell you. Especially if we know each other well, and I know you can handle it.
Some people can’t. I get it. Our society isn’t really built that way.
Take the way we shop, for example.
Publisher’s Note: The Choice is Easy
Kristine Kathryn Rusch has a lot of awards. But the ones that matter most to her are the Readers’ Choice Awards. Her readers, you see, are who matter most.
And now, she’s won another. “Serving Process” was chosen as one of the top ten mystery stories of the year by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.
If you missed reading it there, WMG published the story in February.
Publisher’s Note: The Whole Kitten Caboodle
As longtime readers of this blog know, I lost my three beloved cats within nine months of each other the past two years. They were all elderly, but it was still heartbreaking and brutal. I was NOT ready to love a cat again. Not yet.
But, as many cat-lovers know, you don’t choose the cat(s). They choose you. Or, in my case, they choose my husband.
In the middle of my year of goodbyes, a feral kitten (maybe three or four months old) showed up under our porch. We had no idea whether she was male or female until she became pregnant shortly after finding us. I had no capacity for kittens at that time, so even the one time we could have intervened, I couldn’t do it. I was broken.
But lo and behold, the kittens found us anyway.
Publisher’s Note: Kickstarting a Mystery
There’s something about cold cases that really pulls at you. We humans don’t like unsolved mysteries. And the longer they remain unsolved, the more frustrating they get.
I think that’s why we so love cold-case mystery novels. The cases get solved.
And one of the best writers at cold-case mysteries is Dean Wesley Smith. Just ask the many fans of his bestselling Cold Poker Gang Mystery series.
We haven’t had a new mystery from Dean in a bit, but that’s all about to change thanks to our latest Kickstarter featuring not only a new novel but also a new collection!
Publisher’s Note: Give Peeps a Chance
The Easter Bunny came to our house yesterday. Well, not the actual Easter Bunny, of course. Me, as Easter Bunny. But my daughter still likes to believe in the idea of the Easter Bunny, so who am I to argue?
I think she’s reluctant to admit there is no Easter Bunny for two reasons: one, that’s one more domino to fall before she has to face the Santa issue; and two, Easter baskets are fun. Hers is filled with small gifts as well as eggs filled with candy and chocolate bunnies, so I can see why she wouldn’t want to give it up.
Besides, I make a living promoting fiction, so why not?
And because I’m in an Easter Bunny-like giving mood, I thought you might enjoy a little Easter gift from me.
Publisher’s Note: Still Time for Learning
It feels like winter will never end this year.
First, there was the foot or so of snow that dumped on Lincoln County, Oregon, on Feb. 23, the biggest snowstorm to hit the area in decades. (It wasn’t the record, though; that was 34 years ago, on Feb 2, 1989, when the county received 15 inches of snow over 24 hours.)
Since then, we’ve had almost weekly winter storm warnings. Including last weekend.
I love snow, but it’s weird here. And we’re not built for it. Rain, yeah. We can handle inches of that in a day. But a little snow…no way.
Publisher’s Note: A Great Way to Get Started!
Dean Wesley Smith loves to write in series. That’s obvious if you follow his writing at all.
His series run the genre gamut. Mystery, thriller, romance, science fiction, urban fantasy, Twilight Zone, a combination of them—the man does it all.
And he’s prolific. In fact, he’s considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction.
So, how does one navigate this plethora of fiction?
Easy! With the Dean Wesley Smith Starter Kit. It features the first book in ten of Dean’s most popular series, all in one huge ebook bundle. And you can pick it up for a limited time (it ends Thursday) in our latest Kickstarter.
Publisher’s Note: Meet the Finalists!
Did you know that Kristine Kathryn Rusch had not one but two stories from 2022 chosen as Asimov’s Readers Choice Award finalists? [https://www.asimovs.com/about-asimovs/readers-award-finalists/] (Well, actually, it was technically three, but more on that in a minute.)
“Rocket Girls,” which was published in the May/June 2022 issue of Asimov’s, is a finalist for the Best Novelette category. And we can totally see why. It’s one of our favorites, as well. (And, truth be told, one of Kris’ favorites—shhh, don’t tell her other stories.)
Publisher’s Note: Hunting for Leprechauns
Growing up, I had a strong sense of my Irish heritage. I also knew I was Spanish, but didn’t have a strong sense of what that meant. Not then. So, the Irish side drove much of my connection to my family’s heritage as a child. My mother’s maiden name starts with the familiar O’, so it would have been hard to avoid, anyway.
Like many Irish Americans, my family emigrated out of Ireland during the potato famine.