Michelle L. Levigne's Blog, page 21
February 27, 2024
Upcoming release: INQUEST
Releasing March 1
These are the adventures of the E&Dship, AFV Defender. While they aren't quite as death-defying as acertain other notorious ship in the Fleet, they're developing a legend of theirown. Some good. Some bad. But most important, they're a family, with all thebenefits and drawbacks.
Every day is a new adventure. If their misfitluck doesn't finally run out on them.
INQUEST: AFV Defender Book 4
Signals are coming from beyond the edges ofcharted space. All indications are that they are being generated by the brokenpieces of a Gate, used by the ancient Gatekeepers to scatter all the Humanraces across the universe.
Except that as far as anyone knew, nothing coulddent a Gate, forget break it. Yet the legendary warrior, Etrusca, scatteredpieces of broken Gate across known and unknown space. Now, a response is comingin. As one of the top E&D (Exploration and Diplomacy) ships in the AllianceFleet, the Defender heads across the galaxy to find out just who or what issending the signal.
Except this time, they've been partnered with theInquest. The only ship in the Fleet with a stranger reputation and record thanthe Defender. The notorious Captain Illean Shryne and her crew of rule-breakersand miracle-workers always manage to escape from the jaws of death and returncovered in glory. Unfortunately, the ships sent on missions with them don'tfare so well …
February 25, 2024
New release sample: BRIGHTEN YOUR CORNER
Listen to the Books on the Ridge podcast for a discount code to get $1 off ebook, audiobook or print from Mt. Zion Ridge Press!
“He claims I broke his heart,” Cilla said, punctuatedby the snap of the measuring tape as it retracted back into its case. She snickeredas she wrote down the measurements of the display window.
“Grandpa should have broken his head.” Melba chuckled.“Our grandparents had that big old house the Gallery took over. We used to havesleepovers, all the cousins, maybe once a month. Ernie decided he would play Romeoand tossed rocks at the dormer windows to get Cilla’s attention. The problem is,he used really big rocks and broke Grandpa and Granny’s bedroom window. The bigbuffoon actually refused to pay to replace the window, because he claimed Grannyinsulted his family, getting her landscaping rocks from someone else. Can you believethat?”
“Ernie’s father and uncles had a landscaping business,”Cilla explained.
“Well, that’s a chunk of Cadburn history I neverheard,” Tracy said, punctuated with a chuckle. “So Miss Cilla, you’re a heartbreaker,are you?”
“There’s gotta be a heart to break,” she muttered,and stepped over to the built-in counter that divided the front room in half, lengthwise.She extended the measuring tape down the long side and paused to run her fingersover the dings and gouges and dents and what certainly looked to Melba like burnmarks in the wood.
“Some common sense would have been nice, too,”Melba added. “Remember the time he showed up to take you on a date, and he wouldn’ttake no for an answer because he had paid Boyd for the right to take you out? Hewanted exclusive access to you for the entire week.”
“Wait,” Tracy said. “Who’s Boyd?”
“Our money-grubbing cousin.”
“Makes those stereotyped ambulance-chasing lawyerson TV look like Boy Scouts,” Cilla added. Then she giggled. “Remember the time hetried to convince Aunt Myrna to join some pyramid scheme, and when she didn’t givein fast enough, he stole the old glass piggy bank where she put her egg money? Shewent chasing after him with her rolling pin and he fell going down the steps and…” Her laughter faded into a sigh and she shook her head. “Oh, my, listen to me.Gossiping.”
“It’s not gossip if you’d take Ginny’s adviceand put all those family memories into a book and sell it as humor,” Melba said.
“And get sued by three-quarters of the familyfor embarrassing them.”
“They did it to themselves!” She snickered. “Wereally should. Even if it’s just as a joke. Let’s talk to Charli Hall, since sheknows writing. Or Saundra Bailey. What do you say?”
“It might be fun,” Cilla admitted and chuckled.
February 21, 2024
New release sample: WHITE ROSES
Listen to the Books on the Ridge podcast for a discount code to get $1 off ebook, audiobook or print from Mt. Zion Ridge Press!
"TheWhite Rose?" Ted Gruber, the senior advertising rep, sauntered into theroom. "Bet you anything he got rejected by e-Harmony. Maybe we should getthe cops to subpoena them to open up their records."
Curt andMax exchanged glances. She muttered about a queue full of stories that neededto be edited and hurried out of the lunchroom. Ted sidled up next to Curt andwent up on his toes to see through the gap into Angela's office. He whistled.
"Who'sthe cutie? Looks kind of familiar... Hey, is she victim two? What's her name,Karen? Kate?"
"Katrina,"Curt muttered. "That's not her."
Hisstomach twisted and he stared at the young woman, standing now and shakinghands with Angela. Make her hair longer, exchange that brown blazer for a fuzzypink sweater, and make her twelve years old… she could be Angelique Napolitano.
ButAngelique was dead. Nearly twenty years now.
Curtshook his head. He was seeing Angelique everywhere, lately. He had nearlyknocked himself out on the basketball court two weeks ago, when he looked up inthe stands and thought he saw her sitting there, cheering for Tabor Christian'steam in the inter-church basketball tournament. The look-alike was SheilaMcGuire, Officer Frank McGuire's niece. Her parents were Army doctors, both onduty overseas.
Tedstomped over to the coffeemaker and tossed a quarter into the donation jar.Everyone was supposed to put in fifty cents for the coffee. "Some loonythinks he's in love and plays Cyrano DeBergerac, spouting love poetry from thebushes. When the girls get scared, he gets nasty." He spilled coffee onthe counter, then scattered as much sugar as he put in his coffee. He picked upthe sponge from the tiny sink, made a half-hearted swipe at the mess, left itsitting there, and headed out of the lunchroom. "What happened to the goodold days when a guy saw a girl he wanted, clobbered her over the head anddragged her back to his cave?" He disappeared down the hall to the frontof the long, narrow office space.
"Ibet you got rejected by e-Harmony, too," Curt muttered.
He heardthe doorknob click and pretended to read the six-month-old copy of Writer's Digest. He sauntered to thedoorway of the lunchroom, watching from the corner of his eye as Angela walkedthe stranger to the front of the office. The long hallway down the far side ofthe office unit went from front to back, giving Curt a clear view of the trafficat the front door. He watched Angela and the Angelique look-alike shake hands.Several knots of tension in his gut and shoulders loosened when the young womanwalked out the door.
February 20, 2024
Upcoming release sample: INQUEST
Releasing March 1
“We need you to find them.”
“Two elderly Nisandrians in a galaxy with nearly four dozenHuman-habitable worlds, three times as many orbital stations and platforms, andthat’s just what belongs to the Alliance. Knowing Great-grandfather, he’ll decidethe smart move is to hide on a planet unfriendly to the Alliance, because noone would expect him to go to a place that would gladly sell him out toNisandros.”
“Well, not exactly …” Jeyn glanced at Ashrock. He nodded.
“You know where they went?”
“Not where, but to who. At least, we hope so.” She shrugged again.Yes, M’kar was getting irritated by that gesture. “Your brothers.”
“My brothers?”
“Ashar, Bannar—” Ashrock began.
“I know their names. Why would Great-grandfather and … No.” M’kar’shead hurt with the new load of possibilities and theories cramming into her brain.“Oh, yes, that will make them so much easier to find. Just look for afree-trader ship broadcasting Nisandrian registration, with severalpirate-for-hire ships chasing them across the universe. Just how do you expectme to talk my captain into putting the Defender in the middle of thatfight? We have families on board. Most of those children consider you theiradopted grandparents.”
“Yes, and that reminds me, we want to have a festival, now that—”
“Po’pa!” Her fists ached slightly from the single, hard slam that madethe bowls and serving platters and mugs bounce a good five centimeters.
“It isn’t that bad.” Jeyn reached to pat M’kar’s arm. “Your brothers arethe logical choice, because they’ve been in constant contact with Aquid foryears now. In fact, we found out they’ve been in contact since the day theyfled Nisandros, going on missions for Etrusca.”
“How?” M’kar shook her head. “No, don’t tell me. I can guess. Allthree of them are just rebels and idiots enough to think Great-grandfather’scrazy notions are good ideas. I wondered how Etrusca managed to send pieces ofthe Gate off planet all these years. Now I know. It makes too much crazy,twisted sense.”
“If it’s any comfort, they also left because of the pressure to killyou,” Ashrock offered. “Most of our clan didn’t have any problem obeying theprophets who demanded your death, but your brothers did. They were tired ofgetting into battles with their cousins.” He chuckled. “Mostly because it gotso boring, winning all the time.”
A strained bubble of laughter escaped M’kar. Maybe in a few days shewould find some comfort in knowing that yes, her brothers did like her, enoughto not want her dead. And yes, it was some comfort to know a thirst foradventure had sent them away from their homeworld. They hadn’t left becausethey didn’t want to be around their half-blood sister.
“All right. I’ll ask Genys what we can do. Treinna will have to pull acouple dozen strings to get people watching to catch the gossip. But that’sabout all I can do without taking leave and hiring a courier ship and goinghunting on my own.”
Ashrock accepted that just a little too easily. M’kar had the awfulfeeling there was still much he hadn’t told her.
All in all, she was glad to watch Le’anka and Anwesta vanish behindthe Defender as the ship headed out on its next assignment. It was ablessedly boring one for a change, making a wide circle of stations, droppingoff and picking up equipment and personnel and dealing with various technicalproblems that required the miracle-working skills of Jasper Lore and his Engineeringdepartment.
February 18, 2024
New release sample: BRIGHTEN YOUR CORNER
Listen to the Books on the Ridge podcast for a discount code to get $1 off ebook, audiobook or print from Mt. Zion Ridge Press!
“Okay.” Cilla took a deep breath and put downthe last page of the leasing agreement. “I think we’re ready.”
“I’m glad to welcome you to the Creekside Family.”Tracy picked up the pen with deep green ink that matched the letterhead for CreeksideShops, and the paint on the trim around the shop windows.
Fifteen minutes later, after leaving a generoustip, because after all, they had taken up a table at the café far longer than anormal breakfast hour, the three of them stepped out the door and walked two doorsdown, to the shop that was now officially the future home of Brighten Your Corner.
Tracy held her breath as she unlocked the frontdoor, pushed it open, and leaned in. She sniffed cautiously. Winced. Turned backand handed Melba the keys. Three sets of five keys. For the front door, the backdoor, the utility box that served all the shops on that side of Creekview, and twofor the gates on the concrete deck that ran behind the stores and extended out overthe rocky drop down to Cadburn Creek. One set of keys for Melba, one for Cilla,and one set of spares, to be safely hidden somewhere at home, and hopefully notforgotten.
“These look new,” Melba said, turning the ringof keys over in her hands. They made a nice, solid jangle.
“They are.” Tracy stepped into the shop and spreadher arms, welcoming them in. “Sorry about the smell. It’s actually better than itwas. I don’t know what that man was doing in the back room …”
“We never did understand what he did here.” Cillapulled out the tape measure from her tote bag and headed for the left-hand displaywindow.
“I’m pretty sure he didn’t understand, either.”Tracy shook her head. “He definitely wasn’t dealing in collectibles, which is whathe stated as his business when he signed the lease. I could have evicted him juston that detail alone. There were more deliveries to this place, at all hours, inall weather, than the entire street combined. A couple people complained about yellingscreaming arguments, and the smells that seeped into the shops on either side weren’t…” She shrugged. “They just weren’t natural.”
“He wasn’t cooking meth or anything like that,was he?” Melba asked. Cilla muttered, “Meth” and sighed. Melba wrinkled up her noseat her, and they both chuckled.
“I almost wish he was.” Tracy shook her head.“He still owes me five months’ rent, and replacing the glass on the front door,twice, and the lock on the back door three times. I could legally charge him forreplacing the locks on this shop and the back deck gates and copying keys for everyone.”
“It’s a crying shame,” Cilla said. “Ernie usedto be such a nice guy, back in high school. What happened to him?”
“Besides going anti-establishment and runningoff to some commune and then advocating burning down the White House every timea new president got into office, no matter which party?” Melba shook her head. “Haven’tthe foggiest.”
February 16, 2024
CELEBRATE! New release and get-it-before-it's-officially-out SALE!
WHITE ROSES, book 4 of the Tabor Heights series, is NOW available.To celebrate the release, you can get the EBOOK and the AUDIOBOOK and save $$$ on the downloads.
How?
Go to Ye Olde Dragon Books and visit the storefront.
That easy.
Normally the ebook is $4.99 and the audiobook is $9.99, but you can save $2 on each if you buy THIS WEEKEND.
The sale price is only good THIS WEEKEND. That means come Monday morning, it's back to regular price.
PLUS!!!!!!
COMING MARCH 1:
INQUEST
AFV Defender series, Book 4.
You can get the ebook and audiobook NOW, before everyone else, by again, going to Ye Olde Dragon Books and visiting the storefront. Same price -- same savings. How can you miss out? Find out what the crew of the Defender is up to before everyone else AND save $$$.
By the way .... if you haven't heard, the Defender books are kinda-sorta based on stories and friends and personnas from when I belonged to the USS Defiance of Sacramento, a Star Trek club .... and in INQUEST, the Defender is sent on a mission with the most notorious ship in the Fleet. The Inquest has a reputation like a certain other notorious ship and rule-breaking captain .... not naming any names. But the rumors are that if you're sent on a mission with the Inquest, it's kind of like going to serve Vader .... your chances of survival are pretty slim .....
So, will the crew of the Defender survive this mission? Get the book and find out!!!
Don't leave yet!
There's MORE to the celebration -- and your savings.
THE BEASTLY BEAUTY, Book 2 of the Enchanted Castle Archives, is due out April 1 (nope, not joking!).
You can listen to chapters on the Ye Olde Dragon's Library storytelling podcast right now. We're up to Chapter 12 as of yesterday.
BUT, you can get the ebook at Ye Olde Dragon Books, going to the storefront, and .... here's that word again .... SAVE through this weekend. Regularly $4.99, but you can get it for $2.99.
So, celebrate the release of WHITE ROSES with me, and go get those savings!!!
February 14, 2024
New release sample: WHITE ROSES
RELEASE DAY!!!!
Listen to the Books on the Ridge podcast for a discount code to get $1 off ebook, audiobook or print from Mt. Zion Ridge Press!
"Who'sthat?" Curt Mehdlang moved back from the table in the lunchroom at the Tabor Picayune, until his shoulderstouched the top of the hatch window looking out over the river behind thebuilding. It gave him the perfect angle to see through the gap in the curtainover the porthole window into Angela Coffelt's office.
Adark-haired young woman sat opposite Angela's desk while the editor lookedthrough a sheaf of papers. As assistant editor for the twice-weekly newspaper,Curt would have known about any interviews. So what was she doing there?
"Hmm?"Max Randolph, one of the copyeditors, pulled her mug of hot water out of themicrowave and stepped over next to Curt. "Oh. She's here for a jobinterview. I heard her tell Myrna she was a reporter at a newspaper out in Iowasomewhere."
"Jobinterview?" Curt shook his head. “When did we advertise?”
"Wedidn't." Max raked her fingers through her mop of dark hair and twistedher combs back into place to hold it out of her eyes. "I heard her say shejust moved back to town. Takes a lot of guts, moving without a job to go to, inthis economy."
"Alot of confidence," he muttered, still watching the composed,familiar-looking woman. "Not much going on to warrant new staff."
Somethingabout her oval face, those big, dark eyes and the way she tipped her head toone side. He knew he should recognize her.
"Hmm?"He jerked, startled when Max touched his arm. "Sorry. A lot on mymind."
"Isaid, how can you say there's nothing going on, when the White Rose is still onthe loose? That's kind of exciting. Sick, but exciting."
"Youand Tony aren't going to use it for your next book, are you?"
"Spareme." Max rolled her eyes and ripped open two packets of raspberry hotchocolate mix for punctuation. "We write romances. Sickos preying oninnocent girls, demanding love, sight unseen—that’s not romantic."
"Maybewe should check the personal ads at the PD and any other papers, to findsomeone who's been advertising for months and can't find his true love."Curt's stomach twisted and his mouth tasted like he had bitten into moldybread. How could he make a joke about the White Rose Killer? Gretchen McKenziewas dead, and now Katrina Harper alternated between terror and frustration.
"Idon't think someone like the White Rose would waste time and money onadvertising. He's the kind of guy who sees what he wants and punishes anyonewho won't give it to him."
February 13, 2024
Upcoming release sample: INQUEST
Releasing March 1
Later, M’kar realized she had been planning her days of laziness alittle too loudly, and the universe heard.
Ashrock dropped the bomb over dinner.
“What do you mean, Etrusca and Great-grandfather are missing?” M’karput down her mug of seooli tea, grateful he told her before she took a mouthful.
“They’ve vanished altogether from Le’anka,” Jeyn said, punctuated witha little shrug. “And no, they weren’t assassinated. We’ve been receivingmessages from both sides of the growing battle, asking where they are,demanding we hand them over, and threatening all sorts of dire punishments.”
“Battle?” M’kar’s brain latched onto that word, among all the otherbad ones.
“Someone tied Etrusca’s emergence from the surbda crater to thedisappearance of the Ancestors’ voices,” Ashrock said, with a shrug thatmirrored his wife’s. M’kar wondered how soon that little gesture would growirritating. Her parents weren’t the kind of people to shrug and signalsomething was of little importance. Unless …
“What do you know? What haven’t you admitted to those indiferps andhow could … Oh.” She sat back and wished they were eating indoors instead of inthe pavilion by the firefish pond. She needed to shove back a chair and stompaway from the table and work off the shivers of apprehension as all sorts ofimages raced through her mind. It was hard to rise dramatically when she wassitting on a thick cushion on the tile pavement. “So Etrusca was right, and theAncestors’ voices are actual voices, pulled in through the dimensional warpingof the broken Gate. Once we moved most of the pieces off Nisandros, thedimensional warping stopped, and the voices stopped and …” A chuckle escapedher. “And all the lunatic prophets have no excuse to do crazy things.”
“Etrusca is uniting most of the worst of the clans by their hatred forher. Our clan is getting blamed for silencing the Ancestors and disrupting thetotally idiotic traditions and structure of government. Your uncle Rokas sentyou an enormous chest full of family treasures to thank you, by the way.” Hesnorted, grinning so half the tattoos on his face twisted or disappeared intofolds in his skin. “All my brothers and cousins and uncles are delighted,preparing for war, strengthening the clan house defenses, answering honorchallenges. You wouldn’t believe all the apologies I’ve been receiving on yourbehalf, expressing regret for trying to kill you when you were a child.”
“Nisandrians are insane.”
“Yes,” her mother said, “but life is never boring when you’re marriedto a Nisandrian.”
“I warned you, na’nooshki.” Ashrock reached across the tableand intertwined his fingers with hers.
If her parents started making smoochie noises or even got up andstarted kissing, M’kar might throw herself into the pond.
“So what’s the other boot you’re about to drop on me?” she asked, tohead that off. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy evidence that her parents werestill silly, sloppy in love, but she suspected that dropping sensation she gotwas something like envy.
February 11, 2024
New release sample: BRIGHTEN YOUR CORNER
Listen to the Books on the Ridge podcast for a discount code to get $1 off ebook, audiobook or print from Mt. Zion Ridge Press!
“Investigator?” David blinked a few times. Hismouth moved like he was going to say something else, but didn’t.
“Yes, you remember our friend Eden, from whenCharlotte tried to move in with Cilla?” Melba said.
“Oh, yeah, right. I remember. You threw me offtrack. I’m talking about security for your house, keep someone from breaking in,or at least send for the cops if something happens, and you talk about that lunatic.”He chuckled, but the sound didn’t entirely convince Melba.
“Never to worry.” Cilla gestured at the back door.“Ted keeps an eye on things, and if he thinks the situation is dire enough we needa burglar alarm, he’ll help us with it. Not that we don’t appreciate your help,but he is a police officer, he lives here, and he knows how things are done.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said with a grin that didn’tquite reach his eyes. “I’m big city and you’re little township, with nothing incommon.”
“I wouldn’t put it that way.” She chuckled. “Now,would you like to join us for dinner? I’ve got a lovely batch of chicken and potatowedges I put in the slow cooker this morning, and we’ve got the last of the cornon the cob from Dalrymple’s. Their corn is always so good.”
“Thanks, but …” David shrugged. “Got a businessmeeting on this side of town. Just thought I’d check on you before I headed overthere. You didn’t get back to me, so I figured maybe you were out of the house allday, or out of town or …” Another shrug. “Glad you’re okay and on top of things.”
He turned like he would head down the windingpath of paving stones through the middle of the garden, and out the back of theyard, then stopped after two steps and headed up the driveway to the street.
“Give our greetings to your folks,” Melba called.“How are they doing, by the way?”
“Fine, fine. You know how it is with them. Alwaysrunning around.” David walked backward a dozen steps as they made their farewells.He turned left at the end of the driveway and in a few steps vanished behind thehouse next door.
“Huh, that doesn’t make sense.”
“What doesn’t?” Cilla was already on the backporch and fumbling with her key. “How about dinner outside tonight? It’s cooleddown enough.”
“Fine.” Melba couldn’t recall seeing any carsparked on the street between Overview and their house, so where was David going?A sigh escaped her as she turned and headed down the path through the flowerbeds.She stopped halfway there, so she was partially hidden by the line of skinny evergreensthat stood as a threadbare sort of barrier between their back yard and the parkinglot of the apartment building behind them. Sure enough, she saw David jogging downthe sidewalk and turning left into the parking lot to a car parked next to the driveway.
He had come up through the backof the house, like he had done dozens of times before when he came over for picnicsor brought his parents for a family get-together, whenever relatives dropped infrom out of town. That explained why Heinrich went after him, coming through thetrees like that. The old curmudgeon certainly wouldn’t have believed David whenhe claimed he was there on a legitimate visit, if he didn’t come to the front door“like an honest man with nothing to hide,” as he often finished so many of his complaintsnowadays. But why didn’t David want them to know where he had parked?
February 7, 2024
Upcoming release sample: WHITE ROSES
Listen to the Books on the Ridge podcast for a discount code to get $1 off ebook, audiobook or print from Mt. Zion Ridge Press!
Snowfrosted the stiff grass over Angel's grave. Toni shivered, seeing in herimagination the white roses that had been there every time she came to thecemetery, until her parents couldn't take the pain, the cruel, silent tauntingfrom the unidentified killer, and moved them to Indiana. Shaking, she crouchedand leaned against the simple cross that held Angel's name, and her dates ofbirth and death. She had a hole in the index finger of her driving glove, butshe ignored the wet and cold to clear out the engraved letters in the gray andpink granite.
Therewere no roses on Angel's grave. She supposed she should be grateful. How longhad the roses continued? Until he found a new true love to haunt with notes androses and demands for eternal loyalty?
"He'sdoing it again," she whispered, and her throat tried to close up.
Toniblinked away tears that felt as if they had been building up for years, justwaiting to burst out. Her head ached from the pressure. She rubbed the tearsaway with the back of her fist. Now wasn't the time for crying. Not yet. Whenthe White Rose was caught, exposed, and punished, then she could cry. Then shecould finally ask her parents to forgive her for keeping Angel's secrets fromthem. Why hadn't she tattled on her sister? Their parents wouldn't haveapproved if they found out Angel had a boyfriend. They would have made herbreak up with him. She wouldn't have gone to the park to meet her boyfriend.She wouldn't have died, strangled by fencing wire and left lying in the dirt.
TaborHeights still felt small, quiet, and safe. Just like it had when Toni, Angeland their parents had moved here. She had liked her small classes in school andthe quiet, tree-shaded streets. She had felt safe going anywhere she wanted.
Tonihadn't felt safe since Curt Mehdlang went to the park to look for Angel andcame back with the police, pale-faced and red-eyed from crying.
She hadto get that job at the Picayune. Sheneeded a job, and working for the local newspaper would give her all theinformation she needed, immediately. People expected reporters to askquestions.
"Please,God, if You're listening to me anymore, I have to have that job. I have to doit for Angel."
Standing,feeling a little wobbly in her knees, Toni stepped backward from the grave. Shewondered where the other murdered girl was buried. She wondered what thecurrent target of the White Rose Killer was doing right that moment. Did shefeel curious about the man who wrote her those demanding, frightening lovenotes? Did she feel angry?
Tonithought about contacting the police, to ask to talk to the girl. Would theybelieve her, if she told them about Angel and her theories about the White Rose?Would they think she was a crackpot, capitalizing on someone's terror? Would itdo any good to tell anyone?
Bottom line: she had to dosomething. Even if she had to do it alone.
