Lisa Mason's Blog, page 9

About the Pioneering Architect Richard Neutra in The New Yorker—Lisa Mason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #architecture #filmcritic #screenplays #publishedbooks #publishedstories #sciencefiction #fantasy

“Vanishing Act” by Alex Ross is a concise history, with house photographs, of the Austrian-born architect Richard Neutra, the pioneer of the Southern California modern architecture in the 1930s. The article appears in the September 27, 2021 issue of The New Yorker.
Neutra’s benchmark was floor-to-ceiling windows and mirrored sliding doors to dissolve boundary between the abundant greenery of Los Angeles and the interior of the house. Like Frank Loyd Wright, he favored flat roofs and minimalist exteriors He sited most of his houses where the residents could enjoy a glorious view.
The architect, as a man, was far different than his calm architecture. He’s been described as pompous and overbearing, barging into his clients’ houses without warning to show his new clients and his entourage his finished work.
The article describes the friendship and then the bitter falling-out of Neutra and Schindler, five years Neutra’s senior. They were acquaintances in architecture school in Austria, but Schindler got out of Europe just before World War I. Neutra wasn’t so fortunate; serving four years in the Austro-Hungarian Army. Schindler welcomed Neutra when he finally arrived in California with his wife. From there, their relationship went downhill.
I leave you to read the rest of the article about their tragic falling-out.
Neutra worked on what are today considered luxury houses, but he also designed and built public buildings. He worked on, but failed to bring about, an affordable housing complex in Los Angeles for low-income people. “A slum,” he called the project.
The article relates the stories of people who have commissioned and/or lived in Neutra houses. One woman, who is now a hundred-and-two years old, attributes her longevity to the beauty and calmness of her Neutra house.
Recommended for all architecture buffs, anyone interested in the history of Los Angeles, and anyone interested in a creative person’s life.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is on Kindle worldwide, including in the US, in the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, in the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Japan.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is in Print as a beautiful trade paperback in the US, in the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan. New! Now in print at Australia
CHROME is in U.S. print as a beautiful trade paperback. Also in U.K. print, in German print, in French print, in Spanish print, in Italian print, and in Japanese print. New! Now in Print in Australia
The ebook is on US Kindle, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Apple, Kobo, and on UK Kindle, Canada Kindle, Australia Kindle, India Kindle, Germany Kindle, France Kindle, Spain Kindle, Italy Kindle, Netherlands Kindle, Japan Kindle, Brazil Kindle, and Mexico Kindle.
Visit me at http://www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, interviews, round tables, cute pet pictures, the bespoke artwork and studio jewelry of Tom Robinson, forthcoming works, and more!

Review of Shirley Jackson’s Letters in the TLS Lisa Mason #Lisa Mason #LisaMason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #speculativefiction #sciencefictionandfantasy #womenssciencefiction

“Mistress of the macabre” in the October 15, 2021 TLS https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/letters-of-shirley-jackson-book-review-lucy-scholes/
This is a review of the collected letters, all 640 pages of them, by Shirley Jackson, edited by one of her children, Laurence Jackson Hyman. But the review also delves in depth of Ruth Franklin’s 2016 biography, “Shirley Jackson: a rather haunted life.” The biography, apparently, is more illuminating of the writer’s life than her own letters.
In gothic fiction, Shirley Jackson is best known for her story, “The Lottery,” and her novels “The Haunting of Hill House” and “We Have Always Lived in the Castle.” But she had bestsellers of her two humorous memoirs of motherhood and domesticity in “Life Among the Savages” and “Raising Demons.” She earned $110,000-plus a year in the 1950s from the latter books.
“The Lottery” was first published in The New Yorker in 1948 and resulted in a deluge of letters to the magazine from outraged and offended readers. I’ll leave you to find the story for yourself, but it involves a small, picture-perfect New England town. No plot spoilers, here!
Jackson lived in a seventeen-room mansion in Bennington, Vermont with her four children, her husband Stanley Hyman, a literary critic and staff writer for The New Yorker, cats, and 25,000 books.
The collected letters don’t reveal, but Franklin’s biography does—what kind of life Jackson actually led.
Jackson’s mother constantly fat-shamed her and criticized her appearance (yes, Shirley was obese and had unruly hair). Her mother never mentioned her critically-acclaimed and successful writing.
Jackson’s husband constantly bullied her, was a serial womanizer (yes, Bennington is also the location of the all-women’s college at which Hyman apparently roamed), bragged about his exploits to his wife, and didn’t help at all with the household chores.
Leaving Jackson to raise the four children, go grocery shopping, cook all the meals and clean up, do the laundry, and clean the house. Hyman complained, between affairs, that Jackson didn’t do enough of her money-making writing. That was his only mention of her writing.
I wanted to pull Jackson aside and say, “Cut off your bitch of a mother, divorce your bastard of husband.” But she didn’t. She stayed loyal to those lifelong abusers, drinking bottle after bottle of whiskey, sometimes in one afternoon, “a lonely, belittled woman”.
Jackson died in 1965, at age 48, of “heart failure”.
At the end of the review, I was misty-eyed. Whispered a little prayer, “Shirley, we admire and honor your hard-won writing to this day. Rest in Peace.” I hope she heard me.
Do you read biographies? These days, I seldom do, but I used to. I DO read the reviews of biographies published in the TLS.
So there you have it, my friends.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is on Kindle worldwide, including in the US, in the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, in the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Japan.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is in Print as a beautiful trade paperback in the US, in the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan. New! Now in print at Australia
CHROME is in U.S. print as a beautiful trade paperback. Also in U.K. print, in German print, in French print, in Spanish print, in Italian print, and in Japanese print. New! Now in Print in Australia
The ebook is on US Kindle, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Apple, Kobo, and on UK Kindle, Canada Kindle, Australia Kindle, India Kindle, Germany Kindle, France Kindle, Spain Kindle, Italy Kindle, Netherlands Kindle, Japan Kindle, Brazil Kindle, and Mexico Kindle.
Summer of Love is back in the U.S., U.K.,  France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan. New! Now in Print in Australia
The ebook is on US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, BarnesandNoble, Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo. On Kindle worldwide in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands.
Visit me at http://www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, interviews, round tables, cute pet pictures, the bespoke artwork and studio jewelry of Tom Robinson, forthcoming works, and more!

“Arachne” My First Story To Appear in The Big Book of Cyberpunk 2023 Lisa Mason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #publishedbooks #publishedstories #sciencefiction #fantasy #filmcritic #screenplays

I’m honored and thrilled that “Arachne” will appear in The Big Book of Cyberpunk to be published in 2023 by Vintage, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
“Arachne” is my first story, which was published by Omni Magazine.
London-based editor, Jared Shurin, of The Big Book anthology said of “Arachne”, “The legal/corporate world it describes, the way you bring the ‘cyberspace’ to life, and, most importantly, the way it draws deep, mythic connections from our relationship with technology – it is truly phenomenal, and, 40 years on, still incredibly relevant.”
Vancouver-based critic, Steve Fahnestalk, said in his Amazing Stories.com review of ODDITIES: 22 Stories, ““Arachne,” Lisa’s first story, in Omni magazine (December 1987), is sort of more up-to-date today—what with telepresence and social distancing—than maybe it was in 1987. It’s kind of nice to find a 33-year-old techno story that hasn’t dated!”
Photo of me by Peggy Park. Black widow earrings and black-and-red necklace by Tom Robinson.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is on Kindle worldwide, including in the US, in the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, in the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Japan.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is in Print as a beautiful trade paperback in the US, in the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan. New! Now in print at Australia
CHROME is in U.S. print as a beautiful trade paperback. Also in U.K. print, in German print, in French print, in Spanish print, in Italian print, and in Japanese print. New! Now in Print in Australia
The ebook is on US Kindle, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Apple, Kobo, and on UK Kindle, Canada Kindle, Australia Kindle, India Kindle, Germany Kindle, France Kindle, Spain Kindle, Italy Kindle, Netherlands Kindle, Japan Kindle, Brazil Kindle, and Mexico Kindle.
Visit me at http://www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, interviews, round tables, cute pet pictures, the bespoke artwork and studio jewelry of Tom Robinson, forthcoming works, and more!

Slang—Lisa Mason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #filmcritic #screenplays #publishedbooks #publishedstories #sciencefiction #fantasy

Tom was working in his sculpture studio, listening to the radio. (I have to have silence when I write or draw.) The Simon and Garfunkle tune came on, “Feelin’ Groovy”.
Tom began mocking the lyrics, “Lookin’ for drugs and feelin’ groovy.” I objected, “That’s a sweet song.”
Simon and Garfunkle are, of course, from New York City.
Tom said, “When I first came up to San Francisco from Los Angeles in the late Sixties, I was in the Caffe Trieste (the name is spelled with two f’s), I said something was ‘groovy’.” Someone at the table corrected me. “Are you from L.A.?” she asked. I allowed that I was. “Up here, we don’t say ‘groovy’, which is slang from the music industry. Up here in San Francisco, we say, ‘Far out.’” She added, “And don’t call it ‘Frisco’.”
Tom told me surfer slang from L.A. was also “bitchin’” which meant groovy or far out. I’d never heard of ‘bitchin’ in Cleveland.
The same woman corrected Tom when he said, “Hip.” She said, “It’s pronounced ‘hep’.”
Which is just silly, I think.
Of course, “cool” has been around fifty years or more. Just don’t say ‘cool’ every other word, please (which I’ve overheard.).
So there you have it, my friends.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is on Kindle worldwide, including in the US, in the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, in the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Japan.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is in Print as a beautiful trade paperback in the US, in the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan. New! Now in print at Australia
CHROME is in U.S. print as a beautiful trade paperback. Also in U.K. print, in German print, in French print, in Spanish print, in Italian print, and in Japanese print. New! Now in Print in Australia
The ebook is on US Kindle, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Apple, Kobo, and on UK Kindle, Canada Kindle, Australia Kindle, India Kindle, Germany Kindle, France Kindle, Spain Kindle, Italy Kindle, Netherlands Kindle, Japan Kindle, Brazil Kindle, and Mexico Kindle.
Visit me at http://www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, interviews, round tables, cute pet pictures, the bespoke artwork and studio jewelry of Tom Robinson, forthcoming works, and more!

Reviews of September Movies—“Sabrina”, “The Asphalt Jungle”, “A Frightened City”, “Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame”, “A Harlot’s Progress”, and “Mr. Turner”—Lisa Mason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #filmcritic #screenplays #publishedbooks #publis

Tom and I like to have variety on our movie weekend. We only view movies once a month. We’re busy writing new material and creating sculpture and art on other days of the month. Tom found all of these films at our lovely local library (for free, due back in three weeks).
First off,
“Sabrina” with a very cute, smiley-face Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, William Holden. A 1954 romantic comedy we’d never seen (it’s before my time, but I never saw the film on late-night TV or on campus in film festivals), it’s a Cinderella tale (much like “Pretty Woman” with a wealthy industrialist falling in love with a prostitute). Hepburn plays the daughter of the chauffeur employed by a stupendously wealthy family on Long Island who attracts the interest of two brothers in the family, an accomplished workaholic who runs the family businesses, Linus (Bogart) and a rakish playboy, David (Holden).
I usually wouldn’t be interested in the story, but the film is written by Billy Wilder with Samuel Taylor and Ernest Lehman, from a play by Samuel Taylor, and directed and produced by Billy Wilder (he of the inspired, hilarious “Some Like It Hot”) Wilder keeps the humor, wit, and action going nonstop but also has trenchant observations about the rich and the poor. (Sabrina’s disapproving chauffeur father, who drives Linus to New York City in a classic Rolls Royce, likes to say, “There’s a front seat and a back seat and a window in between.”
There are some story gaps that bothered me but I won’t go into them–I don’t give away any plot spoilers. Overall, the film follows the classic romantic comedy plot, with twists and turns and a downturn will-they-won’t-they at the end resolved in the very last scene. Rom-com screenwriters might like to study this film. Recommended for all viewers but especially romance-comedy fans.
By the way, the rich family owns eight classic cars, including the Rolls, and rakish David has his own sleek convertible sports car. We couldn’t identify the car and Tom got out his classic car book. There it was, newly released by Chevrolet in 1953—a Corvette.
Next, two noir crime films:
“The Asphalt Jungle” (great title) directed by John Huston in 1950 and starring, among others, Sam Jaffe as Doc (he played the Einstein-like physicist in “The Day The Earth Stood Still”) and Marilyn Monroe in her first speaking part as the mistress of a wealthy criminal lawyer Emmerich who says, “Crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor.” Huston also co-wrote the screenplay, from a novel by W.R. Burnett. A newly released mastermind, Doc, plans a spectacular jewel heist, knowing that if he fails, he’ll go back to prison for life. Huston broke new ground by portraying the criminals involved in the heist sympathetically and the viewer roots for them to get away with it. A lot of smoking and drinking. Recommended for fans of noir crime films.
“A Frightened City” is a British film featuring Sean Connery’s first appearance that reputedly got him the part of James Bond. He’s very Bond-like in this film (womanizing, an expert in judo, he even climbs up a drain pipe as he did in (I believe) “Thunderball”) except that here he’s on the wrong side of the law. He’s a Mob enforcer in London, 1961 (who knew Sixties London had so many mobsters?). A ruthless accountant organizes the major racketeers in town into a syndicate. But the arrangement doesn’t work out (to say the least). Filmed in cooperation with Scotland Yard. A lot of smoking and drinking. Recommended for fans of noir crime films.
Next we come to the foreign fantasy crime film:
“Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame”, billed as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” meets “Sherlock Holmes.”  The film is in Chinese with subtitles but the subtitles are so clear, concise, and readable, the viewer can absorb them in a second and turn her eyes back to the action on the screen. (Chinese is a pretty-sounding language much like French and unlike Japanese and German which sound harsh and militaristic)
The action is colorful, imaginative, and action-packed (people fly through the air, undertaking martial arts), inspired by the true story of the one of the Tang Dynasty’s most celebrated officials. Empress-to-be Wu Zetian has commissioned a towering statue of the Buddha before the Imperial Palace to commemorate her coronation as the first female ruler of China. But architects and builders mysteriously spontaneously combust and burn to death.  Wu summons Dee from prison and appoints him in charge of the investigation.
The characters are nuanced and sympathetic. Even the Empress-to-be (whose favorite saying is, “When you get into power, everyone is expendable”) is a sympathetic character. Two dynamic characters have mixed motivations and intentions but we were sad when they got killed. Recommended for fans of an exotic, fantasy crime story who don’t mind subtitles.
And two films about British artists whom Tom was familiar with but I was not.
“A Harlot’s Progress” is a British film with the same title as William Hogarth’s famous series of narrative paintings (much like today’s graphic novels) featuring the seedy and brutal underworld of a young prostitute in 1730 London. The film states at the end that Hogarth never said whether the prostitute was a real person but the film suggests that he was intimately involved with her life.
The camera “enters” Hogarth’s paintings into real life, a technique I’ve seen before, but particularly effective here.
The film starts with a scene of a child lying dead in the street and the statement, “One out of 20 people died of starvation in 1730 London.”  Hogarth was deeply sympathetic toward the poor (two pedestrians step right over the dead child) and especially sympathetic toward poor girls who were forced into prostitution.
Hogarth was a talented painter and a skilled engraver. He made engravings of “A Harlot’s Progress,” which were financially successful due to the condemnation of brothels by government and church officials. But Hogarth was making a wry statement of society’s conditions that engendered brothels. He founded an orphanage for abandoned children of prostitutes.
Make no mistake, this is a brutal film with depictions of violence toward women but an astute depiction of one artist’s life and a moving tribute to William Hogarth’s work and aspirations. Recommended for those interested in artists and only those with a strong stomach.
“Mr. Turner” a British film by Mike Leigh, director of the excellent film, “Topsy Turvy”. The story is a little slow and not as compelling as “Harlot”, covering the last twenty-five years in Joseph Mallord William Turner’s life, but shows his evolution as one of the most beloved painters in Britain a little after Hogarth’s time. He worked in oils and watercolors and painted seascapes, ships at sea, locomotives, and historical subjects, finally experimenting with painting “light”. Queen Victoria hated his light paintings; he overhears at an exhibition her exclaiming over “that ugly yellow.” But his light paintings were a later inspiration for the Impressionists, especially Monet and Pissarro.
Once again, a fascinating look at an artist’s life in the late 1700s, from him shopping Winsor and Newton’s new shop for chrome yellow pigment to sailors tying him with rope to the high mast of a ship during a storm so he could get a good look at the sea.
Recommended for those viewers interested in artists.
So there you have it, my friends.
My second collection, ODDITIES: 22 Stories, is on Kindle worldwide including in the US, in the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, in the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Japan.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is in Print as a beautiful trade paperback in the US, in the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan. New! in Australia
CHROME is in U.S. print as a beautiful trade paperback. Also in U.K. print, in German print, in French print, in Spanish print, in Italian print, in Japanese print and NEW! in Australia.. The ebook is on US Kindle, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Apple, Kobo, and on UK Kindle, Canada Kindle, Australia Kindle, India Kindle, Germany Kindle, France Kindle, Spain Kindle, Italy Kindle, Netherlands Kindle, Japan Kindle, Brazil Kindle, and Mexico Kindle.
Find the Print book of SUMMER OF LOVE in the U.S., U.K.,  France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and New in Print in Australia The ebook is on US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo. On Kindle worldwide in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands.
Visit me at http://www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, interviews, round tables, cute pet pictures, the bespoke artwork and studio jewelry of Tom Robinson, forthcoming works, and more!

Strange Ladies: 7 Stories Lisa Mason “A Must-Read Collection” The San Francisco Review of Books Is in Print and an Ebook Worldwide New Reviews #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #storycollection #fantasyandsciencefiction #publishedfiction #shortstories #publishedstories

Updated for 2021! Published in print in eight countries and as an ebook on eighteen markets worldwide.
As I mulled over my published short fiction (now forty stories) for my first collection, I found seven wildly different stories with one thing in common–a heroine totally unlike me. I’m the girl next door. I have no idea where these strange ladies came from.
In The Oniomancer (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine), a Chinese-American punk bicycle messenger finds an artifact on the street. In Guardian (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine), an African-American gallerist resorts to voodoo to confront a criminal. In Felicitas (Desire Burn: Women Writing from the Dark Side of Passion [Carroll and Graf]), an immigrant faces life as a cat shapeshifter. In Stripper (Unique Magazine), an exotic dancer battles the Mob. In Triad (Universe 2 [Bantam]), Dana Anad lives half the time as a woman, half the time as a man, and falls in love with a very strange lady. In Destination (Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction), a driver takes three strangers from a ride board on a cross-country trip as the radio reports that a serial killer is on the loose. In Transformation and the Postmodern Identity Crisis (Fantastic Alice [Ace]), Alice considers life after Wonderland.
Five stars on Facebook and Amazon! “Great work, Lisa Mason!”
“Hilarious, provocative, profound.”
From Jeanne-Mary Allen, Author on Facebook and the Book Brothers Blog: “Kyle Wylde and I are thrilled to have found such a talented, dedicated, and brilliant collection of shorts in Strange Ladies: 7 Stories…Your style/craft is highly impressive.”
From the San Francisco Book Review: “Strange Ladies: 7 Stories offers everything you could possibly want, from more traditional science fiction and fantasy tropes to thought-provoking explorations of gender issues and pleasing postmodern humor…This is a must-read collection.” http://anotheruniverse.com/strange-ladies-7-stories/
From the Book Brothers Review Blog: “Lisa Mason might just be the female Philip K. Dick. Like Dick, Mason’s stories are far more than just sci-fi tales, they are brimming with insight into human consciousness and the social condition….Strange Ladies: 7 Storiesis a sci-fi collection of excellent quality. If you like deeply crafted worlds with strange, yet relatable characters, then you won’t want to miss it.” http://www.thebookbrothers.com/2013/09/the-book-brothers-review-strange.html#more
And on Amazon: 5.0 out of 5 stars This one falls in the must-read category, an appellation that I rarely use.
“I have been a fan of Lisa Mason from the beginning of her writing career, but I confess that I often overlook her short fiction. That turns out to have been a big mistake! I have just read Strange Ladies thinking I would revisit a few old friends and discover a few I had missed. Well, I had missed more than I had thought, and I regret that oversight. This collection was so much fun! I loved each and every story and enjoyed their unique twists, turns, and insights. I thank Ms Mason especially, though, for the high note ending with the big smiles in Transformation and the Postmodern Identity Crisis. Uh oh, I guess I still am a child of the summer of love. Well played. You made me laugh at the world and myself.”
“I’m quite impressed, not only by the writing, which gleams and sparkles, but also by [Lisa Mason’s] versatility . . . Mason is a wordsmith . . . her modern take on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is a hilarious gem! [This collection] sparkles, whirls, and fizzes. Mason is clearly a writer to follow!”—Amazing Stories
5.0 out of 5 stars Great collection that will make you think
Format: Kindle Edition
“My definition of a good short story is one that you keep thinking about for days, and this book had several of them.”
Strange Ladies: 7 Stories (“A must-read collection—The San Francisco Review of Books). On Nook, Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo.
On Kindle at US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands.
Strange Ladies: 7 Stories is in Print in the U.S., in the U.K., in Germany, in France, in Spain, in Italy, and in Japan. New! Now in Australia.New! My second collection ODDITIES: 22 Stories in print and an ebook.Visit me at www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, and screenplays, worldwide links, beautiful covers, reviews, interviews, blogs, round-tables, adorable cat pictures, forthcoming works, fine art and bespoke jewelry by my husband Tom Robinson, and more!

New Five-Star Review of The Garden of Abracadabra by Lisa Mason “A heady mixture, highly entertaining” #urbanfantasynovel #printnovel #ebooknovel #fantasyauthor #publishedworldwide

5.0 out of 5 stars fast-paced occult/ suspense/ mystery murder story well worth reading
“THE GARDEN OF ABRACADABRA from Lisa Mason, author of the wondrous scifi time travel book, Summer of Love, which, despite being fiction, may be one of the most accurate histories written about San Francisco, and the Haight/Asbury hippie scene.
Ms Mason does it again, weaving history into a fantasy/ occult yarn. Once upon a time in the 60’s, the late Issac Bonewits went to UC Berkeley, in Berkeley CA, just across the bay from San Francisco. He talked Berkeley into letting him major in Magick, not stage magic but ritual Magick! He got an independent study degree, the first and last BA in Magick. True story! (Since then Berkeley has tightened up topics for independent study) After his degree, Bonewits became a wizard of sorts and wrote many books including one entitled “Real Magic”, about his ideas, studies and adventures.
In the last century, English dark occultist Aleister Crowley also performed a great deal of ritual Magick, and destroyed the hierarchy of the Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn, the most famous English occult order, from which we get the most popular Coleman tarot deck, Eden Gray, and many occult books. Crowley wrote “Book of the Law”, “Book of Lies”, “Magick in Theory and Practice” etc. Crowley regularly sponsored sex and drug orgies among his followers and fancied himself a “Laird”, Scottish royalty, despite no evidence.
Ms Mason’s book contains fictionalized characters based on the real Bonewits and Crowley. The heroine is Abby Teller, another fledgling occultist with budding powers. Thrown into this mix of occultists is an FBI guy Jack Kovac, an agent assigned to hunt down occultist criminals. He investigates murders with occult overtones. Abby enrolls in college at a fictionalized UC Berkeley to study Magick. She also gets finagled into managing an apartment full of vampires, and other occultists, including the rich sinister Aleister Crowley character named “Prince Laster”. The top floor penthouse of her apartment, she discovers, is linked up with a portal to another dimension. Abby has a relationship with a bad-news seedy old boyfriend, Dan Stern, also a dark side occultist. She goes to UC Berkeley Magick Dept “Professor Bonwitch” to get advice how to deal with these various demonic weirdoes, including the vampires, (who come across to me like San Francisco’s hyper aggressive panhandlers.)
Ms Mason has written a heady mixture, highly entertaining. A fast-paced occult/ suspense/ mystery murder story well worth reading! Abby Teller wears high heels and pantyhose which not only make her legs look pretty but also will prevent an evil spell from getting “inside” her lower chakra. Who knew? Despite some poor decisions, Abby Teller seems more charmingly feminine than many of today’s fictional crop of macho tomboys.
And what is Abracadabra other than a place name? A spell repeated, leaving off a letter at a time. At the end, Abracadabra is supposed to make a demon diminish and ultimately vanish.
More Lisa Mason books with Abby Teller are promised I’m looking forward to the next.”
So there you have it, my friends.
Find The Garden of Abracadabra (“Fun and enjoyable urban fantasy . . . I want to read more!) On BarnesandNoble, US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords. On Kindle worldwide in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands. NOW IN PRINT! Find the beautiful trade paperback at in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Japan. New! Now in Print in Australia at Australia
Find the Print book of SUMMER OF LOVE (a Philip K. Dick Award Finalist) in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and New in Print inAustralia The ebook is on US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo. On Kindle worldwide in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands
The Gilded Age (a New York Times Notable Book and New York Public Library Recommended Book). On BarnesandNoble, US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords. On Kindle worldwide in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands. BACK IN PRINT! Find the beautiful trade paperback at in the U.S., the U.K., in France, in Germany, in Italy, in Spain, and in Japan. New! Now in print in Australia.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is on Kindle worldwide, including in the US, in theUK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, in theNetherlands, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Japan.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is in Print as a beautiful trade paperback in the US, inUK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan. New! Now in Print in Australia
Strange Ladies: 7 Stories (“A must-read collection—The San Francisco Review of Books). On Nook, Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo. On Kindle at US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands. Strange Ladies: 7 Stories is in Print in the U.S., in the U.K., in Germany, in France, in Spain, in Italy, and in Japan. New! Now in Print in Australia at Australia
Visit me at http://www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, interviews, round tables, cute cat pictures, the bespoke artwork and studio jewelry of Tom Robinson, forthcoming works, and more!

Reviews of July Movies: “Jumanji: The Next Level,” “French Exit,” and “Promising Young Woman” by Lisa Mason #filmcritic #writer #author #sciencefictionandfantasy #publishednovels #publishedstories #screenplays

We belong to the Netflix DVD service. Our entertainment center isn’t set up for streaming. We don’t want to stream. Period.
I don’t know what is wrong with Netflix these days, however. I have half a dozen films (most films very recent, one we missed two decades ago that we want to see) reserved in my queue and all marked by Netflix “Unavailable.”
Our lovely little local library has opened up from being locked down (we’re in the San Francisco Bay area) and the library has a decent selection of movie DVDs, which can checked out for (I think) three weeks for free. (I pay plenty of property taxes that go to support the libraries, so it’s not *really* free.) Sometimes, though, the disc is scratched or otherwise stops right in the middle of the movie. So there’s a downside to checking out library movies.
If Netflix doesn’t improve on acquiring and making available DVDs (and I intend to speak with their customer representative), I’ll have to look for another DVD rental service.
If you use one, can you recommend an alternative DVD service?
All right. So the July movies were not my first choices. Not even my second choices. The Hollywood Reporter had positive things about the films I chose but, in retrospect, the notices were paid for by the film’s producers. Therefore, somewhat suspect.
First up, “Jumanji: The Next Level.” We saw the first Jumanji years ago when it was released. This movie takes its time to set up the complicated plot with its multiple characters, but I didn’t mind. I didn’t really remember the first movie well, so appreciated the story setup. (A note to writers: I know the how-to-write rackets instruct you to start with a dynamic sentence, and that’s a good strategy, but don’t be in a hurry to rush your story out. Sometimes it’s good to take your time.)
Once we understand what Jumanji: The Next Level is and who the characters are, and they physically upload into the game (kind of like telespace, in my Arachne Trilogy), the action takes off. The film is endlessly inventive, funny, fun, and totally entertaining. There are references to “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Wizard of Oz,” “Clash of the Titans,” and “Lord of the Rings.” There’s even a tear-jerker emotional denouement, followed by a humorous epilogue.
Recommended, especially for fans of fantasy and gamers.
I wish I could the same of the other two movies, but I can’t.
I generally like the previous work of Michelle Pfeiffer. The Hollywood Reporter article commented that her acting was commendable in this film. She plays the lead in “French Exit.” Unpleasantly too-skinny (she smokes throughout the movie and drinks hard booze so I guess that’s the point), she is the thoroughly unpleasant Frances Price, a semi-crazy socialite woman long widowed from her wealthy husband. When she goes to see her lawyer-financial advisor, he tells her she is broke. “What would have me do?” she asks. He tells her to sell everything, including her fancy three-story Manhattan townhouse. She bounces checks so much that her maid asks her to pay her in cash, please.
It was hard for me to sympathize with her plight after she announces, “I’ve never worked a day in my life.”
That completely lost me. I’ve been working since I was a teenager, have a deep respect for work and a deeper respect for money, especially money earned and saved through your own efforts.
When the character goes to dinner with one of her wealthy friends, the friend suggests she stay for free in the empty Paris apartment the friend owns.
She takes ship to Paris with her son, an even more unpleasant character. A full-grown, able-bodied young man, he sponges off his mother like she sponged off the inheritance her husband left her.
The movie includes touches of magical realism—she holds seances twice to “speak” with her dead husband—but instead of interesting, the scenes are ridiculous. Likewise with the plot twist that her dead husband has been incarnated into a cat.
I can’t fathom why the half dozen little producers wanted to make this movie. As a producer, I would never have invested in the project. The story has no “redeeming value” for me.
Not recommended except for enthusiastic fans of Michelle Pfeiffer.
Last up, Promising Young Woman. Cassie lives with her parents, works as a barista at a tiny coffee shop, has dropped out of medical school. That’s the backstory, which gets established later.
The film opens with three young men in a swinging nightclub observing Cassie alone, a pretty blond woman and clearly falling-down drunk. One young man offers to escort her home, instead takes her to his apartment and begins to undress her when she lies, seemingly drunk, on his bed. But she’s not really drunk.
Cassie has a “secret life” at night, according to the film’s coy synopsis.
I don’t usually do this but the plot twist is revealed in the film’s first ten or fifteen minutes. PLOT SPOILER ALERT: She kills him. She’s a serial killer of men. She tabulates his murder in her little black book, which records many other murders.
I suppose this is a radical feminist statement about male violence against women but had I known this was the movie’s plot, I would never have rented it. And I LIKE The Silence of the Lambs and The Little Things.
After the first revelation about Cassie, the plot goes downhill from there. At the café she DOES meet a nice man who went to medical school with her and is now a doctor. He is a promising romantic partner. But there’s no redemption for Cassie.
Not recommended except for fans of the weird, serial killers, and the violent.
So there you have it, my friends. You win some, you lose some.
In fairness to the latter two movies, Tom said he was entertained by them. So there’s that.
Enjoy your Movie Night!
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is on Kindle worldwide, including in the US, in the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, in the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Japan.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is in Print as a beautiful trade paperback in the US, in UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan. New! Now in Print in Australia Australia
Strange Ladies: 7 Stories (“A must-read collection—The San Francisco Review of Books). On Nook, Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo.
On Kindle at US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands.
Strange Ladies: 7 Stories is in Print in the U.S., in the U.K., in Germany, in France, in Spain, in Italy, and in Japan. New! Now in Print in Australia at https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1981104380
Find the Print book of SUMMER OF LOVE in the U.S., U.K.,  France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and New in Print in Australia The ebook is on US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo. On Kindle worldwide in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands
The Gilded Age is In Print in the U.S. at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1975853172

In Print in the U.K. at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1975853172

In Print in Germany at https://www.amazon.de/dp/1975853172

In Print in France at https://www.amazon.fr/dp/1975853172

In Print in Italy at https://www.amazon.it/dp/1975853172

In Print in Spain at https://www.amazon.es/dp/1975853172

In Print in Japan at https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/1975853172

New! Now in Print in Australia at https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1975853172

The Gilded Age is an ebook on U.S. Kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005QUIWDQ

On U.K. Kindle https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005QUIWDQ

On Canada Kindle https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B005QUIWDQ

On Australia Kindle https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B005QUIWDQ

On France Kindle https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B005QUIWDQ

On Germany Kindle https://www.amazon.de/dp/B005QUIWDQ

On Italy Kindle https://www.amazon.it/dp/B005QUIWDQ

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On India Kindle https://www.amazon.in/dp/B005QUIWDQ

On Japan Kindle https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B005QUIWDQ

ARACHNE is in print in the U.S. at https://www.amazon.com/dp/198435602X
In the U.K. at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/198435602X
In Germany at https://www.amazon.de/dp/198435602X
In France at https://www.amazon.fr/dp/198435602X
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In Italy at https://www.amazon.it/dp/198435602X
In Japan at https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/198435602X
New! Now in Print in Australia at Australia.
Arachne (a Locus Hardover Bestseller) is also an ebook on US Kindle, UK Kindle, Canada Kindle, Australia Kindle, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords.
On Kindle worldwide in France Kindle, Germany Kindle, Italy Kindle, Netherlands Kindle, Spain Kindle, Mexico Kindle, Brazil Kindle, India Kindle, and Japan Kindle
Visit me at http://www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, interviews, round tables, cute pet pictures, the bespoke artwork and studio jewelry of Tom Robinson, forthcoming works, and more!

Reviews of Chrome, the Latest SF Novel by Lisa Mason #LisaMason #SFWApro #SFWAauthor #CHROME #novel #speculativefiction #sciencefiction #womenssciencefiction #geneticengineering #CRISPRtechnology #offworld #planetoid #murdermystery

Does it feel to you like a year has already gone by, and it’s only July?  Me, too!
New Publishers Weekly Featured Review: “Mason entertains and elicits fascinating questions about human nature in this fast-paced, action-packed science fiction adventure.”
Yes! A Reader Review of Chrome:
“So Walter Mosley reread Animal Farm and The Island of Dr Moreau and says to himself, “Oh, yes indeed, I’ve got a terrific idea for my next best seller.” But! Lisa says, “Hold on, hot stuff. You’re too late. Chrome is already on the streets. Haha!”
Wow! I just tore through Chrome. So much fun. Oh, I guess I should take a time-out to say that it was very well-written too, but I was enjoying the characters and the story so much that the superb writing simply did its job and I had to consciously reflect to notice the excellent and clever construction and reveals. Uh, isn’t that the definition of good writing?
I’m not usually a fan of sequels, but could we please have at least one more romp with Ms Lightfoot and her sidekick Terralina?”
Yes, I’m working next on CHROME COBRA and a third book to round out a trilogy, plus a prequel novella. LIBERATION DAY, which will explore the mysteries of the events leading up to freeing of the Blends from their cages.
And another review from Amazing Stories.com
“For my last column of the 2010s (and 2019 in particular), I’ve chosen to review two very good genre works, one an excellent magazine, and the other an excellent semi-noir full-on SF work by a terrific author I’ve reviewed before, and (as the cover above says, a New York Times notable author). I’m talking about Lisa Mason’s new novel Chrome, first.
I hesitate to characterize it, because it’s so much more than a short description can convey, but in my mind it stands out as a science-fiction homage, in part, to the noir books and movies of the forties and fifties, only brought forth into a future time a quarter-millennium from now. There’s no world-weary Robert Mitchum-type ‘tec as a protagonist; rather, our hero is a beautiful half-human, half puma thief named Luna Lightfoot, who makes her main living as what we might call a video star. Millions of people back on Earth pay for the privilege of watching her at home while she eats, sleeps, and carries out her home life for their voyeuristic pleasure. She also hangs out with the rich and famous.
Luna lives on an artificial planetoid, called Chrome, at one of Earth’s LaGrange points, put there 250 years ago by one of Earth’s wealthiest and greediest corporations, the Emirk group. (If you want to know where Emirk came from, the name refers to a tributary of one of Earth’s big rivers, according to the author. When you get to that part, you’ll understand.) Back in our time (and this is true), a Chinese scientist claims to have gene-edited a couple of children using the CRISPR method, which is sort of like gene cut-and-pasting. Scientists around the world—and, finally, this own government—decried the use of CRISPR on humans. However, in this book, Emirk started experimenting (at first, openly, but then, thanks to public and governmental outcries, covertly) with “improving” the human genome by adding genes from practically every oxygen-breathing species of animal on the planet. Spending billions to build Chrome, Emirk’s experiments were moved there and continued. Human subjects were given or sold by outlaw governments and factions to Emirk’s scientists; and now there exists a whole society of human/animal interbreeds, called “blends,” on Chrome. Humans can not live there anymore, thanks to a plague that killed off (and continues to kill off) any unmodified humans, yet Emirk still owns Chrome, and figures it owns all the inhabitants too.
Luna attends a party given by Bunny Hedgway, one of Chrome’s glitterati in order to steal an artifact from Bunny’s treasure room, but while she was engaged in this theft, witnessed the murder of Chrome’s prima ballerina, an ostrich Blend named Zena Kinski, by an unidentified Blend who was wearing a wolf costume, but who may not have been a wolf. Because she was witnessed on the roof of Bunny’s place at the time of the murder, Luna needs to clear herself and find out who the Blend is who actually killed Zena. In the process, Luna finds herself becoming familiar with Chrome’s criminal underworld, and gains enemies as well as new friends and allies. One of those is the tortoise Blend Terralina Rustabrin, who is about to be bond-mated to a Prince of tortoise Blends. (Blends are not legally humans; therefore, cannot marry, according to Emirk Corporation. So “bond-mating” is their substitute.) Although Terralina’s eyesight is poor, she happens to be close to several significant happenings related to the murder, and actually saw Luna come down off Bunny’s roof.
In this book, Lisa has created a world and a society that mirrors our own in many respects; although we have no (to the best of my knowledge) actual Blends on Earth, corporations and governments on this planet are actively trying to (and in some cases have succeeded) treat humans as if they were Blends, or property. And you can just bet that these kinds of experiments will happen somewhere on Earth if they aren’t already happening. Like what happens to most enslaved people everywhere, many Blends are rich or getting rich by actively helping Emirk subjugate their fellow blends. There are Blend geniuses, one of whom created the “Tatts,” a type of tattoo that acts as a communications device, archival device, amanuensis (a blend of Alexa and Google in some ways) and other things. It’s a fully-realized society that takes some of the attributes of the animal parts of Blends and applies what those traits might mean to humans who have them.
And as for the noir mystery part; whether Luna solves her own problem (of being a suspect and a fugitive from the killer(s)), you’ll just have to read the book to find out. I really appreciate the fact that the ending is not a “pat ending.” I suspect Lisa may someday turn out a sequel to Chrome. Anyway, I liked this book and recommend it.
Steve Fahnestalk (with 19,000 subscribers):
Here’s the Amazing Stories link so you can see the beauteous photo of me holding an issue of The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy in which I’d published a story a little while ago. Not the F&SF issue in the Amazing Stories review, though Steve Fahnestalk compared a theme in one of the stories in the November-December issue to my theme in CHROME. https://www.amazingstories.com/2019/12/my-last-column-lisa-masons-chrome-and-fsf-nov-dec-2019/
The CHROME cover, by San Francisco artist Tom Robinson, is comprised of a dozen different elements which Tom carefully researched. We think the imagery looks kind of mid-century. I love the color scheme.
CHROME is in U.S. print as a beautiful trade paperback. Also in U.K. print, in German print, in French print, in Spanish print, in Italian print, and in Japanese print. New! Now in Print in Australia at in Australia
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CHROME a new SF novel | CHROME, by Lisa Mason | Lisa Mason Fantasy and Science Fiction Author

Reviews of June Movie Night Films: “Pinocchio,” “News of the World,” and “The Little Things”by Lisa Mason #filmcritic #writer #sciencefiction #novels #publishedstories #screenplays

We choose for the June Movie Night three very different movies in different genres. How did the viewing work out?

First up, “Pinocchio”

This is a classical telling of the Italian fairytale, based on the 1883 book The Adventures of Pinocchio by Italian author Carlo Collodi, with live actors playing humans, magical beings, and animal characters (the latter get very Chromian!) The film is so skillfully dubbed in English, you won’t notice the actors are speaking Italian. The film was a big hit in Italy over Christmas, 2020.

Impoverished and lonely old woodcarver Geppetto is given a magical piece of wood and carves a boy-puppet, Pinocchio, who magically comes to life with dreams of becoming a real boy. Innocent and inexperienced at first, Pinocchio embarks on one misadventure after another as he is tricked, kidnapped, and chased by bandits. The beautiful Fairy often intercedes and comes to his aid.

The magic is subtle but mind-boggling to this sympathetic viewer. The film takes its time with the plot, but I didn’t mind. Pinocchio’s adventures were engrossing.

The film is rated PG-13 for several disturbing scenes. And the scenes were disturbing. But there’s a Happily Ever After ending that was very satisfying.

Recommended especially for fans of fantasy and fairytales.

Next up, “News of the World”

Rated PG-13 for disturbing images.

Five years after the Civil War, when the Union military is still stationed around Texas, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a former Confederate officer (Tom Hanks, who is terrific), ekes out a living traveling from town to town with a bundle of newspapers from the East Coast. He assembles an audience for a dime per person, leans over a desk with a newspaper with magnifying glass, and reads “the news of the world.” He entertains the townspeople, sometimes riles them up, and makes moral points that sometimes get him in trouble. It’s a fascinating idea. I’m not surprised that the film was adapted from a novel, News of the World by Paulette Jiles.

He crosses path with a ten-year-old girl (Helena Zengel) with straw-blond hair and blue eyes. The Union soldiers liberated her from the Kiowa tribe where she has lived for years after her German settler family were all killed by the Kiowa (“She’s been orphaned twice,” Kidd says.). She speaks only Kiowa, eats a bowl of stew with her hands, and hates the Western dress in which a woman assisting in the rescue dresses her. She is “wild.”

The girl is identified but the Union Army can’t help place her with her remaining German family, so the Captain reluctantly agrees to deliver her to them. The two face many dangers, including a settlement that remains defiantly Confederate and three thugs who want to buy the girl and, when Kidd refuses, want to kill him and kidnap her. She shows ingenuity in helping him defeat the three thugs.

Like the first film, this film takes its time to let the plot unfold, sometimes getting slow at times. But I generally didn’t mind.

There’s a Happily Ever After ending that was very satisfying.

Recommended especially for fans of offbeat Westerns and Tom Hanks.

Finally, “The Little Things”

This film is rated R and is a film with cop-detectives after a psychotic serial killer like “The Silence of the Lambs”.

An African-American Kern County deputy sheriff, with tragedy in his past (an excellent Denzel Washington), is called to help solve multiple murders in L.A. that have the stylistic touches of a serial killer and an unsolved case of his. The deputy sheriff is almost visionary in his methods, sitting in the morgue “talking” to the victims’ corpses—“You knew him, didn’t you? How did you know him?” And finding an apartment across the street where the killer could look at his victim propped on a door—the killer came back twice to reposition her.

At first, the white L.A. cop-detective (Rami Malek) has a prickly relationship with the deputy sheriff, but he invites him over to his beautiful home for dinner with his wife and teenage daughters (who scarily resemble the killer’s favorite type of victims) and they fairly quickly learn to work together. I found it a touching depiction of people of different races collaborating.

The L.A. cops are puzzled about what the multiple victims have in common and the sheriff deputy examines the quotidian details of their lives prior to their murders. And he finds it—a prosaic detail in common. He tells the L.A. detective, “It’s the little things.”

Sure enough, he focuses on that detail and zeros on the creepily psychotic killer (Jared Leto in a convincingly evil portrayal) and the chase is on.

No plot spoilers, but Justice is done. Very satisfying ending.

Recommended especially for fans of hard-hitting detective mysteries.

So there you have it, my friends. Three different movies, in different genres, very well done. Very satisfying. I haven’t a Movie Night like that in a while!

Enjoy your Movie Night!

ODDITIES: 22 Stories is on Kindle worldwide, including in the US, in the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, in the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Japan.
ODDITIES: 22 Stories is in Print as a beautiful trade paperback in the US, in UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan. New! Now in Print in Australia
Strange Ladies: 7 Stories (“A must-read collection—The San Francisco Review of Books). On Nook, Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo.
On Kindle at US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands.
Strange Ladies: 7 Stories is in Print in the U.S., in the U.K., in Germany, in France, in Spain, in Italy, and in Japan. New! Now in Print in Australia at https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1981104380
And the Summer Solstice is the first day of Summer of Love! Find the Print book of SUMMER OF LOVE in the U.S., U.K.,  France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and New in Print in Australia The ebook is on US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo. On Kindle worldwide in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, Mexico, and Netherlands
Visit me at http://www.lisamason.com for all my books, ebooks, stories, interviews, round tables, cute pet pictures, the bespoke artwork and studio jewelry of Tom Robinson, forthcoming works, and more!