UPDATE: What Has REALLY Been Going On! and SALE

THROUGH 7/31, DARK DEALINGS IS ON SALE FOR THE KINDLE AND NOOK FOR $1.49. LET'S PUT UP SOME NUMBERS FOR KICK CANCER OVERBOARD!

Have been MIA for two weeks.  My apologies.  But it has been a crazy time, mostly good. I have been on interviewed on the radio and in the newspaper, scheduled another radio interview, held one major and two minor book signings.  On July 17^th I was interviewed by Bert Baron of WCTC.AM radio 1450 which covers central New Jersey. It was a lot of fun and Bert was terrific.  What was even more exciting was when I found out that my interview followed Bert’s interview with Joe Piscopo, of SNL and other fame.

The following day was my first major book signing courtesy of the Draft House in Long Branch New Jersey. If you have never done or attended a book signing in a pub, you are missing out.  It is fun to have readers and supporters stay and hang out to talk to you and each other.  In the case of this event, I was hosting it as a benefit for Kick Cancer Overboard (KCO), a local charity that sends cancer survivors and their families on cruise to help restore the soul and celebrate life.

During the month of July, I am donating 50% of my royalties from ALL sales, print or eBook, to KCO.  

SO THERE IS STILL TIME TO HELP KICK CANCER OVERBOARD. On the 18^th, I also had a wonderful array of donated gifts and gift baskets to raffle off for KCO. And it was a great success despite the thunderstorms that blew through just as we were getting started.  Some thought that the storms were appropriate for a Dark Dealings event.  Many of those who did not come because of power failures or downed trees have reached out to me since to purchase signed books.

I now have at least two other book signings in the works, not including the local Barnes and Noble that has asked me to get the book warehoused by B&N, so he can have a signing for me.  For the writers among my readers, I publish my print edition through Createspace, a division of Amazon.  As a result, Dark Dealings is listed in the Ingram catalog. But because the initial listing shows it as POD (Print On Demand) the store manager cannot stock it or sponsor a signing.  He pointed me to place on the B&N website where I could find the paperwork to get the book warehoused.  It is a 2-4 month process. I hope to have it ready for Halloween (crosses fingers).  I have also been asked to appear closer to Halloween on another radio program that covers the western New Jersey area.

Then there is the deferred graduation party I am having this coming Saturday for my son.  His godfather is an attorney in California and could not make the actual ceremony because of his trial schedule. So we pushed the party put so he could make it. Will be prepping for 50+ people. Hope it doesn’t rain.

On the less than fun side, I have been running back and forth to doctors with my father. In less than two months he developed an egg sized growth on the outside of his ear.  The biopsy did come back for cancer.  Complicating the removal is that he has emphysema (oxygen tanks and all).  So he needed clearance from four different doctors to even have a combination of local and twilight anesthesia.  But it is localized and external, so we are optimistic.

So I move forward on all fronts. I am trying to catch up on reviews that I have promised. Sitting in doctor waiting rooms gives you more time to read.  I also have asked my good friend and guest blogger, John Bermingham to prepare an overview of the fair use/copyright issues of using Pinterest.

Edits are under way of Ogham Court, a novel that takes a closer look at Nora of the Singing Stone and Devlin of the Salmon Run Inn from Dark Dealings and the unusual events on a cobble-stoned street in the Tribeca section of New York City. Expect this before year end.

I also have an outline ready for a prequel that covers some of the events in Micaela’s life around the time of her parents’ deaths.

Just some things to keep you entertained while I work on the next Micaela book. Who shall be by her side? Liam? Ethan? Maybe Parker?

A time to buckle down and get to work.

Welcome to Ogham Court: Threads and Theme

                So I was sitting having lunch at the day job, trying to send a message about my current WIP.  The title of the short story that started it was “The Shop on Ogham Court.”  Being from the East coast where we are always in a hurry, I started talking about it in shorthand as just “Ogham Court”.  That triggered a whole word association/stream of consciousness thing.  I thought about Ogham as history, hidden language, cryptic, multiple meanings and foreign.  Court became a string of justice, judging, rules and laws.  Suddenly my WIP began to take on a theme and subtheme.  Parts that I had written took on a new direction.  I think I have found the deeper meaning I need to get the momentum going.

                I had already poked and prodded Nora, the main character, about her past and present circumstances.  She told me a lot about growing up with a moderately successful father and stay-at-home mother.  Living in an affluent town in North Jersey and summering at their beachfront house on Long Beach Island.  She described as moderate, although we would consider it rich.  That’s because her father, she never calls him “Dad” went from moderate success to blockbuster and moved his movie production career and himself to the West Coast and a whole new life.   Mom moved back to the Miami area, where she grew up, and is now a hostess at a South Beach restaurant.

                Nora was “displaced” from her first job out of college and went to help out her elderly Aunt Aine.  Aine owns a little Irish Shop on a fictional street in Tribeca (Ogham Court).  The front of the shop if filled with standard stuff: sweaters, china, crystal and linens.  But as you venture deeper into the store, you find music instruments then ancient statues and the like.  Another part at the rear contains herbs, oils and other medicinals.  All the way in the rear of the shop are rooms, one of which is usually locked.  Aine calls it her tea room.  She goes in there with certain regulars for tea and conversation.

                So Nora has been judged by her employer, she judges her parents.  She has entered Aine’s world  on Ogham Court where the rules and laws are strange and foreign.   It is about to get stranger.

                In the weeks and months to come, I will be sharing some of what develops on Ogham Court and my discoveries about Nora and what the future holds. Perhaps I should pour a cuppa and read her cards?

                Just a side note, Nora, Aine and Devlin (we'll talk about him later) make their first brief appearance in Dark Dealings, my upcoming urban fantasy novel.