Choose Ghosts or Valkyries for less than a dollar!

July 1st we'll celebrate Indie Pride Day. Last year #IndiePrideDay was a trending topic on Twitter. Who knows what we can do this year?

Indie Pride!

To add to the festivities I'm offering my newest book, The Falstaff Vampire Ghosts for 99 cents.

Also 99 cents, the first book in the Sybil of Valkyrie series Gravitas Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone

On Sunshine Somerville's Blog & 99-cent Sale of Gravitas

Sunshine Somerville, author of the amazing, apocalyptic Kota Series also generously features authors on her blog. I was the fortunate author who was featured today!

Today I’d like to welcome Lynne Murray, sci-fi & fantasy author of Gravitas and The Falstaff Vampire Files. Can you give us your quickest description of your books?

Right now, I’m juggling two series. The Gravitas series featuring Sybil of Planet Valkyrie and the Falstaff Vampire series featuring Sir John Falstaff, Vampire, undead and misbehaving in San Francisco.

I’ve seen your cover of Gravitas all over the place and love it – keep meaning to read it, will soon! From just the descriptions of each series, I’m guessing the two storylines are completely different, correct? Do you write them at the same time, or how do you keep yourself in the right genre/mindset for each?

I guess I’m a serial storyteller, I can only live in one alternate world at a time. The idea of Sir John Falstaff as a vampire living in San Francisco was so strong that the character immediately stood up and told me where he wanted to go—the Big and Tall Men’s Clothing Store, and what he wanted to do there, have me pay for a new wardrobe, followed by a nice dinner feasting on the diners who ate at a restaurant that served pork loin and sack sherry.

Naturally. :) What are you working on currently?

I’m in the middle of writing The Falstaff Vampire Ghosts. San Francisco is plagued by hordes of Hungry Ghosts. In The Falstaff Vampire Files, The Ghosts helped Sir John and his friends, but once unleashed, they wander out of their graves and into the streets, scaring humans and threatening San Francisco’s undead community with exposure to the humans whose ignorance the vampires depend upon for survival. There’s also a ghost-haunted famous movie actress who has made a deal with the devil and a pulled pork food truck operator whose brother-in-law has become a zombie.

Well, THAT sounds interesting! I can’t not laugh when thinking about pulled pork and zombies… Anyway, where did you come up with those ideas?

The Hungry Ghosts played an important part in the first Falstaff book, but they seemed like the kind of critters who might get out of control if they could get out of their graves whenever they scented some of their favorite aromas. In some Asian traditions Hungry Ghosts live on scents, and they particularly like roast pork. The pulled pork food truck drove into the story when the owner, who was besieged by Hungry Ghosts had to deal with his brother-in-law Lenny who had come back from a New Orleans vacation in a zombified state, and with the power of communicating with Hungry Ghosts. That would be particularly awkward if the health department came around the food truck when Lenny was hanging around.

I love that mix of ideas. What is your favorite scene you’ve written? Can you give us a peek?

I have to go with one from Valkyrie on Planet Fury. Sybil is about to renew her wedding vows to her true love, Josu, with the three husbands she married in his absence standing by. Sybil may lose her estate because she has chosen to have only Josu and no others in the past, a practice frowned upon on by the Clan Mothers of Valkyrie. In a desperate ploy to keep their estate, they have invited Kyr-Brelkin, an infamous seducer to attend the wedding:

Marcus, Delan and Enfer had lined up next to the Chief Priestess. Josu and I stood next to them, holding hands. The guests stood waiting and the Chief Priestess was setting up the ritual instruments to begin the ceremony when Kyr-Brelkin walked in.

There wasn’t the smallest risk that anyone would miss his entrance. A murmur of surprise followed him through the door. Everyone turned to look at him. He was worth looking at. I’d forgotten how compelling he was in person. He was not a conventionally handsome man. He was tall, though not as tall as Josu. He must have been about fifty years old, with pleasantly abundant flesh. He was well past his first youth with short cut, curly brown hair laced with gray. The most compelling thing about him was the constant play of amusement in his dark eyes. He was clean-shaven with a sensuous mouth framed by laugh lines, I stared along with everyone. Then I flinched when I realized I had work to do here. I let go of Josu’s hand, took a deep breath and walked up to the most famous seducer on Planet Valkyrie. “You must be Kyr-Brelkin. I have heard of you.” I reached out and grasped his hand.

Every guest in the room gasped.

Because of the Gravitas, Valkyrian women touch a man in public only to openly acknowledge lovers. I felt the rush as my Gravitas surrounded him. This close, he loomed over me. I stood on tiptoe to say loud enough that everyone could hear, “We haven’t met before, but now that we have, I have the most alarming desire to get to know you better.

Kyr-Brelkin leaned down and inhaled my Gravitas as if savoring a fine wine. “Give me a chance to exercise my seductive charms on you, my dear, before you drag me off,” he whispered softly in my ear. “At my age, instant attraction has been replaced by infinite skill and irresistible charm.”

He was right about that. With my Gravitas pulsing around us like a hot cloud, I wondered if I was in real trouble here. I held his hand and looked up into his eyes and couldn’t think of a thing to say.

I rose up on tiptoe again, putting my hand on his arm for balance as I whispered in his ear, “Help me out here, you’ve done this before and I haven’t a clue how.” Everyone else in the room seemed to be holding their breath as much as I was. I finally managed to say almost too loudly, “May I speak to you in private?”

“So bold, I think I’m in love already,” Kyr-Brelkin declared with a devastating smile. “You are as beautiful and your Gravitas as intoxicating as every man who has seen you testifies.” Then he leaned forward and captured my arm to keep me from stepping back. His face lit up with pleasure. His smile somehow made everyone else in the room disappear. I saw why women would make fools of themselves in front of everyone they knew and loved for a few minutes of this man’s total attention.

If ever a man was made for mischief, Kyr-Brelkin was that man.

Your whole world-building setup for your story is really creative. Do you enjoy making up this culture for your characters? What’s your favorite aspect?

I really enjoy turning cultural ideas upside down. Sybil of Valkyrie came about because I wondered what if monogamy was considered disgraceful? What if my heroine wanted only one husband, but her culture demanded that she marry as many mates as she could support.

I had so much fun exploring the woman-ruled planet Valkyrie, where an aphrodisiac pheromone, Gravitas, is the main export. So for the sequel, I created a sister planet, Fury, where the women rulers secrete Wroth, a pheromone that produces anger, revenge, merciless destruction.

Yep, I’m definitely getting this book. What is one question about your books that you wish more people would ask?

“Where can I find these books, I want to read them all?”

Every author loves hearing that one! So where CAN we find them – do you have a favorite retailer? This year I’m experimenting with putting the Gravitas/Valkyrie series on Amazon Select so those who have Kindle Unlimited can read them for free.

Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone –

Kindle

Paperback

Valkyrie on Planet Fury –

Kindle

Paperback

The Falstaff Vampire books are available in all ebook formats and paperback too. Pearlsong Press lists them all HERE.

(PSST! Quick promo for anyone who wants a discount copy — Gravitas is on sale for $0.99 starting Friday, February 19th, through Monday, February 22nd.)

Do you use your personal experiences in your writing?

I confess, I don’t like books that are “too much like real life.” I want to be swept away on the wings of stories. My heroines do the things I wish I could do in the way I wish I could do them. In terms of my personal experiences, I often get a “do-over” of a situation where I didn’t handle it the way I wanted, or it didn’t turn out the way I wished. My characters (and the readers) get a victory. I consider that as snatching fictional victory from the jaws of reality.

That is a great approach – having your heroines do what you wish you could do. By extension, of course the readers get that same sense of “Yes!” Even in your fantastical stories, how else do you think your characters are relatable?

I try to write about unapologetic and unconventional heroines. My motto is “Everybody can be heroic!” That is one part of real life is one I want to bring into my stories. I crave humor in the books I read as well as what I write, but I never use, or tolerate put-downs or ridicule of characters. One of my author heroes is Joseph Hanson, who wrote the detective novels featuring David Branstetter, a gay sleuth. Hanson put it eloquently: “Rarely in life can we know a real human being as completely as we come to know good fictional characters. When a writer scrupulously models his characters on the way men and women really are, he opens to his readers the opportunity to widen and deepen their understanding of others and themselves, and this can only make the world a gentler place for us all.”

Thanks, Lynne, for sharing!

Book Launch Follies – the 12 Step approach

This morning, I read Derek Murphy’s post on his book marketing woes, partly because the headline indicated that preordering had been a mistake for Derek.

I hear you, brother. I just completed the preorder process on Valkyrie on Planet Fury this past week, bless the handful of people who preordered, but it was basically a disaster. It even got in the way of getting the book as perfect as it could have been by imposing a deadline for Amazon's convenience rather than my book's polishing. (I still did polish the best I could but the deadline got in the way).

Alas for me, the numbers Derek so candidly reports as pitiful for his launch would have caused me to break out champagne and celebrate. Well, I don’t do alcohol anymore, but I would have brewed myself a very strong cup of Ceylon cut black tea and felt quite encouraged.

That said, Derek does have some useful ideas about what exactly didn’t work for him and why using the preorder feature didn't contribute much. Unfortunately, most of the suggestions he has to improve the book launch process seem to involve strenuous people-seeking skills more appropriate to raving extroverts. If I were raving extrovert, I wouldn't spend so much time in front of my computer commuting to other fictional planets.

I'm not even going to get into the world-class Olympic gymnastic Google keywording activities. Maybe after a cup of tea, I'll revisit them!

I had to stand back and in the words of that old 12 Step motto: “Take what you need and leave the rest.” I share the link because I found some things worth taking in Derek's post.

Once Upon a Cover

Here it is, and I love it--the cover Julie Nicholls designed for Valkyrie on Planet Fury. The book is in the editing stages and will be available soon.

Valkyrie on Planet Fury, coming soon... What a long, strange trip it’s been. While we were discussing possible images, typefaces, etc., Julie reminded me that a cover has only a few seconds to tell the browsing reader what the book is about and lure them to look closer.

Book covers can even change the book for the author. Halfway through writing the first book about Sybil--Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone, I encountered a pre-made cover from James at GoOnWrite.com. It was so evocative that it even changed the character while I was writing. Once I fell in love with that cover, Sybil had to have red hair.

Fast forward a year. When I came to Julie to do the cover for Valkyrie on Planet Fury, I explained that Sybil would be going to the House of Darkness, where the rulers are the Furies, professional hit women who wear snakes in their hair.

Julie nailed it with lightning speed—also with actual lightning, as you can see from the cover. She’s a genius!

I'll let you know more soon.

49 Shades of Light and Dark, Two FREE Collections of Stories

Early this year I met a group of highly talented, but not widely known, indie authors known as the Awethors. They were planning to put together a sort of literary tasting menu in the form of a collection of very diverse short stories. Forty-nine authors joined forces, and the collection became two volumes.

I am honored to announce that I contributed The Falstaff Vampire Werewolves which takes the reader on a hunting trip to the San Francisco Airport with a Vampire 101 survival course on a collision course with a werewolf on a desperate mission. My story found a place in the Awethology Light, now available and suitable for readers of all ages.

The other flavor is Awethology Dark, for adults and also available Free!

Available October 18, New Free Short Stories from the Awesome Authors

My short story, The Falstaff Vampire Werewolves available FREE October 18 in the Awethology Light collection!

This group of stories is suitable for any age readers.

Here's a snippet from The Falstaff Vampire Werewolves:

We met the werewolf at the San Francisco International Airport as I stalked along behind Mrs. Battle and her latest Vampire Survival 101 class. There is no Vampire 201. The rules are simple, set in stone, and those who fail go from undead to true dead in a hurry.

When you disintegrate in open sunlight, your travel options are limited, but after dark the airport is a vast buffet of distracted humanity. When I became undead a few months earlier, I survived Mrs. Battle’s class. She lets me tag along when she takes the newbies to the airport.

The casual observer of our teacher would see an African American woman of middle years with a serious face and a medium dark complexion. Her stout form was clad in a dark-blue trench coat with a matching fedora anchoring her braids. She wore sensible tan shoes and carried a matching huge tan purse.

I followed the three new vampires who scurried along after Mrs. Battle through the airport terminal like a family of baby ducks. I was the most informal in my long wool sweater over a tee-shirt and jeans, running shoes, no hat. I’m short and wiry with curly dark hair shot with gray and green eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses. Vampire vision means I don’t need the glasses but they make me look even more harmless. I dragged along a wheeled suitcase-style cat carrier. Brutus, my vampire cat, is a great conversation starter. After a little kitty talk and hypnotic eye contact on my part, we adjourn to a more secluded corner of the airport. Then I open the carrier. Brutus needs to feed too.

Some of the Awesome Awethors have darker visions and their stories are available in the

Awethology Dark volume--also FREE!

More information Sunday, Oct 18th!

A great week so far, Survived Facebook Event, Happiness from Julie's Book Review & an Awesome Gang Interview

Well, I survived Saturday's Facebook event and here's my new author photo:

Okay, I'm an introvert, so sue me.

Then on Sunday I found that Clabe Polk gave Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone five Stars at Julie's Book Review:

Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone is a quick reading science fiction/fantasy novelette that is terrifically entertaining. Lynne Murray has managed to weave a fine story line that includes sex, and pheromone-based sex appeal, female-v-male dominance, male disrespect/abuse of women, and the social pressure on modern women to adhere to an unrealistic physical image prescribed by modern culture. Read the whole review at Positive thinking leads to positive outcomes!!! Julies Book Review: Review of Gravitas by Lynne Murray Then a fun interview with the Awesome Gang showed up.

One cool question:

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?

Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone came from two ideas and my own, as usual, contrarian reaction to them. One was a book by Carl Jung,, Flying Saucers : A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies. He suggested that we are witnessing the formation of a religion in the shape of the UFO craze. The other was reading paranormal romances where the heroine has many lovers (just can’t help herself). I thought, what if that was the rule, and women who only wanted one husband were mistrusted. Then it was a matter of turning the world upside down in the book, which is one of my favorite parts of writing! You can read the whole interview here!

Three-Day 99-Cent Sale of Gravitas to go with Saturday Online Event

Jessica Wren and fellow Indie Author Promo authors on Facebook are hosting an event to celebrate Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone and maybe some other stuff I've written. I'd love to hear from anyone who feels like clicking over. Everyone's welcome and we can discuss whatever strikes your fancy. We may get wild, we may go deep or we might even get radical!

I won't be able to attend till around noon Eastern time (aka 9:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time here at House of Happy Cats where I live. So I'll provide a couple of special treats for anyone who shows up earlier. I'm putting Gravitas on sale for 99 cents on Amazon from Friday through Sunday.

The other treat is a snippet from my next "novel with Gravitas" -- Valkyrie on Planet Fury! It's not here. But I'll post it late Friday night at this link! Saturday Sept. 5th Event, click to attend!

Review of Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone by Cy Wyss

Cy Wyss is a mystery and thriller writer and reviewer who writes a mystery series set in San Francisco, though she lives in Indianapolis! She reviewed Gravitas today, yay!

Cy also writes on her webpage and facebook page on the subject of indie writing--check out the funny (and oh, so true) cartoons!

I feel fortunate to be reviewed by such a creative author!

On August 15th #Awethors Are Poised to Attack...Their Keyboards

You know we're (mostly) harmless. Some of us, like myself are reputed to be incapable of making a fist--carpal tunnel is a cruel mistress. But when we all get together in a group we can get unexpectedly rowdy. Previous celebrations have resulted in awethors getting briefly incarcerated in F***b**k "jail" for outrageous behavior of the linguistic kind. Not to mention the "unsafe for work" photos. The event takes place over the weekend, so that will lessen the need for most attendees to practice Safe Workplace Computing.

There's no predicting What Will Happen or (given the international time zone locations of the group) exactly When. Any time from midnight August 15th to midnight August 16th #Awethor Awareness may strike.

A Cool Week so far! Reviews of Gravitas, Basking in the Spotlight!

This has been quite a week. And it's only Wednesday, Jessica Wren cast a spotlight on Gravitas and on Facebook she also mentioned the free short story! Happily basking in the light! Jessica her review began by saying:

Have you ever traveled to a foreign country? If so, do you remember how different it felt, and some of the local customs felt strange? Imagine visiting a foreign planet. In Lynne’s Murray’s novel Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone, which is a science-fiction comedy with just the right amount of erotica, Val-Sybilla (better known as Sybil) finds herself in that very situation.

While making a trip to transport a shipment of “Gravitas,” a powerful aphrodisiac within the Ritual Jewelry that the powerful women of the planet Valkyries wear, she and her companions stop at a market, where, to her horror, she finds her first (and favorite) husband Josu, chained and being offered for sale. Determined to find out the truth about what happened to Josu, she enters a ritualistic meditation state to conjure up the three (very interesting and diverse) “demons” who live in her head. When her meditation is interrupted by Gelbraves, a loutish delegate from a rival planet, they both, along with Josu, fall into a portal that makes them crash-land in the Forbidden Zone (known to us as “Earth.”

The whole review is at Spotlight: Lynne Murray

Monday, a great review of Gravitas from The Reading Bud made me feel validated. We all endure the bad reviews but when someone says, "I loved the cover, I beginning/the end," it is massively encouraging, and courage is essential to live the writing life!

But enough about me. Yesterday, I was able to cast some light from a Body Impolitic blog post on Joseph P. Eckhardt's Living Large, the story of little-known silent film star, Wilna Hervey, and her life partner of 59 years Nan Mason.

I explain in the blog post how I went on a quest to find Wilna Hervey, and found the just-published biography of the woman who made many silent films as The Powerful Katrinka. The book is charming, as witness this "discovered by the moviemaker" scene--take that Lana Turner, famously "discovered" sipping a soda in a Hollywood ice cream parlor. Could she lift a trolley car?

Wilna Hervey would long remember the interview in New York that changed her life. She arrived at her agent’s office to find him engaged in conversation with another man, who was impatiently pacing up and down. As Wilna entered the room, the pacing stopped and the man looked up. “My God!” he exclaimed. “She is the original Katrinka!”Expressing his astonishment—and delight—was the noted cartoonist Fontaine Fox, creator of the Toonerville Trolley cartoons, which were then syndicated in several hundred newspapers around the country. One of the most popular of Fox’s inventions was the character of Powerful Katrinka, a massive young woman of superhuman strength, and limited mental range, who was capable of lifting the trolley off the tracks. … Properly casting this role was essential to the success of the proposed Toonerville films. The actress needed to be enormous and very strong, as not all of the feats of strength would be sight gags.

A great review of Gravitas from The Reading Bud!

This wonderful review from Heena Rathore made my day--well, okay, my week. It looks a lot more elegant on The Reading Bud site.

Rating

Story/Plot:

I loved the plot of this amazing novella. It has a really, really unique concept of having a planet where women dominate men and they undertake several husbands to look after the estate and home affairs. Lynne Murray successfully created a unique world that is both believable and marvellous. It’s uniqueness really stood out and I was longing to be able to visit this wondrous place (but only if they’ll allow a human from earth to visit their planet!)

I loved the attention she paid to all the small details. Everything sounded so beautiful and real. The concept of humans worshiping the alien visitors was hilarious and interesting, I mean what if the world in the book is really ‘real’! God, that will be amazing!

The over all structure of the book is great and it keeps you glued to the book from staring to end.

Characters:

I absolutely loved Val-Sybilla (a Valkyrian.) She is the strongest and the most independent female leads I’ve ever read. She is beautiful in her own way and I love this about her. The second character I loved in this book is Gelbrave. Initially I hated him but the author worked up her magic in showing his growth in the story. By the end I found him to be extremely humble and adorable.

Rest of the characters were also amazing and I was able to feel a connection with each one of them.

Romance:

There was a lot of romance, or should I say, Gravitas propelled lust. Sybil carried around huge amount of Gravitas with her in a ritual jewellery and it made people get attracted to her sexually. So everyone kind of wanted to take her. But, the relationship between Josu and Sybil was beautiful. It was a true-love relationship and I loved the fact that he always supported her.

Writing:

Lynne Murray’s writing is beautiful. It’s subtle and had an easy flow to it. I was lost in the story as soon as I started reading it. No complicated sentence-structures and no unnecessary tongue twisting words – just perfect.

At some points her subtle sense of humour made me laugh. It was a great experiences and for a novella, this book is amazing. Not too long, not too short, just the right length.

Beginning:

I loved the beginning, the first chapter started right in between a complex situation (as you can guess from the first line, see below) and then the author explains how they got there and then later picks up from there and tells what happens after that first scene. The structure of this books is so amazing that it’ll grip you right from the first page.

Ending:

The ending is perfect. It had the right amount of drama, action, emotions and logic. I enjoyed it and it made me smile broadly after finishing the book.

Cover Art:

I love the cover art. It’s stylish and beautiful. And the red hair girl goes well with the description on Sybil. The colors on the cover really stand out. It’s one of the two reasons I read this book.

Blurb:

The blurb is intriguing and is the second reason for me to accept this book for review.

A Book Trailer & Preview of My Review About a Lost Powerful Film Heroine

I'm getting ready to review a biography of Living Large: Wilna Hervey and Nan Mason by Joseph P. Eckhardt. Earlier I sought out fat women in film and they are disappointingly few and far between, as I discussed on a Body Impolitic post. Nobody Loves a Fat Woman on Film.

This was so unlike the rich group of fat male character actors in film. at least there were enough big guys in film history that film critic, Dana Gioia invited them to a mythical banquet

I like to imagine these hefty heroes gathering in the afterlife. The feasting hall of their B-budget Valhalla is the original Wilshire Boulevard Brown Derby secretly rescued by Valkeries from the wrecking-ball. As they file in (to the accompaniment of Miklos Rozsa's "Bread and Circus March" from Ben Hur) for porterhouse steaks and lobsters thermador, cherries jubilee and baked Alaska...

No such banquet for the women.

And yet, and yet... By a wildly unpredictable path (which I'll describe in the review) I found out about Wilna Hervey. Seriously how could I have missed her? In a coincidence worthy of Carl Jung's synchronicity, I discovered that Wilna Hervey and her life partner Nan Mason are the subjects of a loving biography.

check out the trailer for Living Large, it got me a bit misty-eyed. More to come in my review on Body Impolitic soon!

Lovely trailer for Living Large

Happily interviewed at Little Birdy Blog!

Snippet from Little Birdy Blog interview--

LBBB: How do you come up with ideas for your stories?

L.M.: I like to turn situations upside down when I write. For example, Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone stemmed partly from a Carl Jung book called Flying Saucers, where he suggests that the UFO craze is an example of a religion being formed in front of our eyes. That led me to think, "What if the people of Earth have been doing this for thousands of years, creating a new religion every time they run into alien tourists?" I also liked the idea of a heroine who comes from a planet where women are expected, indeed required, to have several husbands.

More at Little Birdy Book Blog

A Book by Any Other Name (or Cover)...or Price

Bride of the Living Dead is that book for me. I keep trying to explain it, like those mothers of troubled kids who plead, "He's a good kid, just misunderstood." I vented about What to do when your book is "complicated"? Peggy Elam, at Pearlsong Press is helping me out by letting me change the cover--See below--the new cover and price are on the Pearlsong page Bride at 99 Cents in June New Cover for Kindle edition

It's not really FREE until you know it's available! And it is...

Peggy Elam at Pearlsong Press kindly let her readers know about, Valkyrie in the Demon Realm my new short story FREE for the clicking on Amazon and in all other formats. Thanks, Peggy!

At long last, a short story...FREE for your reading pleasure!

Once upon a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I dedicated my life to writing fiction. I started by trying to write science fiction short stories. I followed Heinlein's 5 Rules for Success in Writing.

Rule 1. You must write. Got it. I could do that.

I got hung up on Rule 2. You must finish what you write.

I could not finish writing a short story to save my life. I was pretty messed up in my personal life in those days--trying to get out of a religious cult without losing my religion, drinking too much, alternating dieting and bingeing, doing temp work and walking around talking to the wall a lot. My best friend told me, "You say you want to write, why don't you write down what you say when you talk to the walls."

I did. Three years later I finished my first novel, a sensitive story of disillusioned youth. Totally unreadable. I would blush to even tell you the title--even that was beyond bad. But I finished writing a novel and I liked writing novels. I had found what I was meant to do for better or worse. I've since written nearly a dozen novels, many of which have been published.

I've also written lots of short nonfiction. (Even ghost wrote a nonfiction book, although I signed a contract not to talk about it.)

But I would have sworn that it was beyond me to finish a short story. It seemed like in the time I wrestled with a short story I could have gone ahead and finished a novel.

Until last week.

Somehow I wrote and finished, and published a short story Valkyrie in the Demon Realm! It's free on Amazon and in other formats. Check it out if you feel like it. What the heck, the price is right! It's based on the short novel Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone.

I'm writing another short story (vampires this time) very close to finished.

It took a few decades, but I feel pretty good about that.

I to prove that sometimes less really is more.