Sunday, January 20, 2013

Fruitless search?



I spent the day looking for my contracts from my publisher so I could possibly get back the rights to Glory Days.  Seeing as it is no longer in print (I have about 30 copies), according to what I read, I should be able to get back the rights.

I am not even really sure what that means, but Glory Days has a sequel, Dancin' in the Dark.  They're both for sale on Amazon and B&N in electronic form, so it might be nice for me to get the royalties for both of them from now on.

Maybe.
Who reads old books?
I mean, with all the new books coming out, you'd think, well, nobody would want to go back to 2006 and read the first of a series, even though when I wrote the sequel, I planned on it being six years ahead in time and, funny thing, that's how long it took to get Dancin' available.

But here's the thing:  Many more times than I can count, I bought a book that I thought was terrific only to realize that it was the second in a series!  Just about every fantasy book I ever read was that way, except for those by Anne McCaffrey.  I managed to keep on top of her books, though I saw on Amazon that there is a new Pern book out, probably by her son Todd.

Anyway, my two books are fun and so full of Jersey they make grown men smile.  I once sold a book to a guy who wanted a Valentine's Day present for his wife.  I asked him if he was a Jersey guy and he proudly stuck out his chest and said "yes", so I told him to buy her Glory Days.

John Preshin is a PI, a lackadaisical type of guy. Originally, he was a drinker, but the editor made me take that out.  If you read the story, you can see that drunk makes more sense, but I was willing to do anything to get him published, so I had him recovering, though lots of readers didn't get that.

He meets up with a 16 year old girl who is looking for her father.  She has a list of six names of possibles and John's is first on the list.
He has no idea, but he does go looking for the other guys.  The girl has nowhere to stay, so he allows her to stay with him under the watchful eye of his neighbor ladies.
That was the original best part of the book, but I had to romance it up so I made one of the ladies a love interest.

Go forward in time, John is married to the lady downstairs who has her own trial.  He leaves his daughter in charge of his PI agency and somebody realizes who she is and sets out to kill her, but nobody knows what's really happening.  It is not because John is her father, shall we say?  Six years have passed.  The daughter is a knockout and John is overly protective of her.  He has to go away so he hires someone to protect her...nobody knows that!

And, to make matters even more complicated, there are two men paying way too much attention to her...not that she minds.

Dancin' in the Dark, sequel to Glory Days.  Buy 'em on Amazon or B&N for your reading devices!
Direct links on my Books page.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Dang cold

Can you believe it?
I've got a cold.
I've got a whopper of a cold and have had it for about three weeks now.
Supposedly, according to my NP, my lungs are clear.

My head, however, is full of gross stuff that occasionally decides to come out.  All wastebaskets in the house are full of snotty tissues. I've gone through two boxes of Kleenex, not the little ones but the giant ones you get from Costco.

And I'm not the only one.  Husband and one daughter are also afflicted, so the tissues add up and the health gets no better.

Hack, hack, hack.  Snort, snort, snort.  Gag.  Choke.  Blow.  Sneeze. Blow.  Repeat often.

According to Facebook, I am in good company.  Lots of people share this affliction and it is NOT the flu.  Oh, no, I have my shots, no flu, whooping cough or pertussis, whatever the hell that is.
It is a cold. 
Grrr!