When I was a kid—I don’t even remember how old now but I’d guess nine or ten—my family went in with four other families and rented a manor house on Cape Cod. It was an old, rambling place, with hand-painted silk wallpaper, a narrow servants’ staircase leading to a cramped, eight or ten person servants’ quarters, a terrifying—at least to a young me—attic with a hidden door, and its own private beach right on the Atlantic.
It also had weird, cast iron doorknockers on every bedroom door. Some were spiders or webs, others were bats. I’m sure they were not original to the house, but they did add a certain something. A certain atmosphere.
I’ve thought about that place a lot over the years. It has influence my writing—one of the very first story I ever worked on (unpublished) was about a haunted manor completely based on that house—and out of curiosity, I did discover the house is still available to rent, though with a heart-attack-inducing weekly rate. So, no memory-lane family vacation for me! LOL
A few weeks back, I was invited to join the Read Around the Rainbow WebRing (Web-Ring? Webring?) which is, for those who don’t know—I didn’t—where a group of authors write on the same topic and share their posts together. The first topic was your perfect writing shack, but I knew right away that my perfect writing shack wouldn’t be a shack at all. If I could, I’d write in that old manor house, with its giant kitchen, and bedroom size butler’s pantry, clawfoot tubs, rolling lawn, and view of the sea.
That there wasn’t a television—heart-breaking to all the kids there at the time—would just make it all that much better. LOL
You can check out the other Read Around the Rainbow authors by clicking their names below!
I hadn’t planned to talk about my up coming release so soon, but the story just so happens to be very much influenced by that Cape Cod trip from my childhood.
Back in July—I can’t believe it was that long ago!—I was invited to join author Holly Day (Ofelia Gränd), Nell Iris, A.L. Lester and K.L. Noone in writing stories involving Naked Gardening Day. I had never heard of Naked Gardening Day, and other than forced labor as a child helping in my grandmother’s big-ass vegetable garden, and my own failed attempts to grow things as an adult, I know little about gardening. But I liked the idea of a group project. The key was to make the story my own.
And thus The Death of Digby Catch was born. LOL
COMING SOON
Blurb:
It’s more than eighteen years since August Catch’s Uncle Digby disappeared to the Cape to mourn the death of his sister. So when August arrives at Arachne’s Loom to collect his late uncle’s things, he isn’t expecting to find stories of a man larger than life. Or the very real possibility that Digby’s death may not have been from natural causes.
Theo Webb has had few people in his life he loved, and fewer still he can trust. But the estate groundskeeper, Digby Catch, was one of them. Returning home for Digby’s funeral, Theo is thrown together with Digby’s nephew, and the attraction is instant. But so is Theo’s certainty that things surrounding Digby’s death don’t add up, and at least one person isn’t telling the truth.
Discovering a killer is difficult when someone is desperate to keep more than just their identity a secret. And when all the clues point in one direction, even Theo isn’t sure what to think. He and August must work together if they’re going to solve a murder, and not let the thing growing between them be a distraction.
But then, maybe a distraction is exactly what they need.
This was a joy to write!
Make sure to keep an eye out in late April for my cover reveal, an ebook giveaway, and if I can figure out how to do it myself—Booksprout no longer handles distributing author ARCs for free and I don’t publish enough to justify paying for a subscription—or find another service, maybe even an ARC.
The Death of Digby Catch releases May 7th from JMS Books.
CLUB 669 IS TURNING ONE!
Last but not least, tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of Club 669! It is mind-blowing that it has already been a year.
Club 669 was my first truly self-published book. Meaning, I found myself a lovely editor, begged friends and strangers to beta and proofread, and made my dearest Al and Ofelia spill all their secrets about book formatting and such.
It was scary and exciting, and luckily, paid off in a big way! Which allowed me to release book two in the series, The Whiskey Den, six months later.
I have books three and four planned for this year—I took off a little time to write The Death of Digby Catch and I’m currently wrapping up a standalone supernatural story for release from JMS Books later this year—but I’m hoping summer release for book three.
Thanks so much to everyone who helped make Club 669 happen, including all those that took the time to read, review and recommend. Your part in the success of the House of Witches series cannot be overstated!
If you haven’t had a chance, and otherworldly dystopian paranormal gay romance is just your kind of thing, check out the blurb and buy links below.
Blurb:
Witch’s corpse. Witch’s ticket. Witch’s party.
As a counter-boy at a high-end men’s boutique, Charlie Jessup’s life consists of little more than work and sleep. That, and enough flirting to help guarantee his commission on sales will pay his rent. So when a twist of fate, and some behavior unbecoming that of a Ganymede employee, leaves him in possession of a dead man’s pass to a mysterious Club 669, Charlie has no desire to waste it.
Every seventeen years, the House of Witches throws a party like no other. It’s invitation-only, and for centuries it has helped ensure peace between the covens. It’s the last place Caspian wants to be, but with the death of Queen Avel, and his own imminent rise to the throne, it’s more important than ever that he attends. The stability of the House depends on it.
In four days a new king will be crowned, but when Charlie unintentionally crashes a gathering of the most secretive of all the Great Houses, he sets in motion a series of events that could disrupt the transition of power, and threaten the future of the House of Witches forever.
