Meg Perry's Blog, page 21
January 1, 2016
Looking back, looking forward
“Janus-Vatican” by Fubar Obfusco – Foto taken himself, upload to English wikipedia by Fubar Obfusco. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Janus-Vatican.JPG#/media/File:Janus-Vatican.JPG
Happy New Year to all of you! I hope this year brings you health and peace.
I am so grateful for all of you, my loyal readers! Thank you for all of your kind words over the past year.
Speaking of which – this was quite a year! I spent two weeks in Scotland, prepared and submitted my documentation for promotion from associate professor to professor (the actual promotion will be granted next spring, if all goes well), and I presented at two national conferences and began writing a paper for publication. And that’s just in real life!
In terms of Jamie Brodie…
I published Stoned to Death, Talked to Death, Avenged to Death and Played to Death for Kindle.
I published Psyched to Death, Stacked to Death and Stoned to Death at Smashwords, so they’re now available for all other types of e-readers and in PDF.
We had Christmas in July, with a serialized short story here on the blog over the first ten days of the month ( Best Men ).
I won another Nano, pounding out the first draft of L andscaped to Death (JBM #15) and the outline for Toured to Death (JBM #17).
What’s ahead for 2016? If all goes as planned, another trip to Scotland. (I do love that country.) Here’s what you can look forward to from Jamie:
I’m venturing into print! Cited to Death, Hoarded to Death, Burdened to Death and Researched to Death, JBM #1-4, are available in paperback format from CreateSpace as of about 15 hours ago (www.createspace.com). I’ve done some light editing as well, correcting a couple of continuity problems and taking out some unnecessary words. The Kindle and Smashwords versions have also been updated, so if you own the books in electronic format, the edits should have been pushed through to you. (If you weren’t notified of that, let me know.)
On Valentine’s Day, we’ll have a romantic short story called Just Right , to be published here on the blog. You’ll get to know a couple of Jamie’s family members better.
We’ll celebrate Christmas in March this year, with a short story on the blog called Staff Sgt. Ammo . Pete and Jamie make a big decision. :)
The first new book of the year will be published in May – Filmed to Death , JBM #12. Jamie takes on Hollywood.
This summer I’ll publish Talked to Death , JBM #9, to Smashwords.
Also in summer – June, to be precise – the second book of the year, Pictured to Death , JBM #13, will be published in serial format here on the blog, free. Jamie, Pete, and the rest of the family go to Washington, DC, for cousin Tyler’s wedding. It’s not long enough for a full novel, and there’s very little mystery, but there is a lot of family stuff that needed to be told. I didn’t want to disappoint readers who are mainly interested in the mysteries by charging for a short book that isn’t very mysterious. :D
The third book of the year will come out in the fall – probably late October. Landscaped to Death , JBM #14, gets Pete and Jamie involved in two murders.
By the time November rolls around I’ll probably be ready to tackle Nano again.
If the print versions of the first four books are well-received (and my standards for “well-received” are pretty low), I’ll continue publishing the older books in print throughout the year.
The tentative schedule for the remaining books (at least the ones planned) looks like this:
Filmed to Death , JBM #12: takes place in March and April 2016, will be published in May 2016
Pictured to Death , JBM #13: takes place in June 2016, will be published June 2016
Landscaped to Death , JBM #14: takes place in September-October 2016, will be published in October 2016
Promoted to Death , JBM #15: takes place in spring 2017, will be published in late spring or early summer 2017
Toured to Death , JBM #16: takes place in summer 2017, will be published in fall 2017
Published to Death , JBM #17: takes place in spring 2018, will be published in late spring or early summer 2018
Defined to Death , JBM #18: takes place in fall 2018, will be published in late fall 2018
Drugged to Death , JBM #19: takes place in spring 2019, will be published in summer 2019
Resigned to Death , JBM #20: takes place in January-May 2020, will be published in summer 2020
I’m sure there will be other short stories scattered through there as well.
All this assumes that there are no major changes in my real life!
What comes after Resigned to Death? I have some ideas about that. Stay tuned. :D
December 14, 2015
It’s Release Day for Played to Death!
Woo hoo! Played to Death is now available for download. If you preordered it, you should have it by now. I hope you enjoy it!
“Having someone get murdered at your wedding has to be the worst.”
Scott Deering, cellist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, doesn’t usually play weddings. But a friend’s family emergency finds him reluctantly anchoring a college string quartet at the wedding of a couple with more money than taste. When his second violinist goes missing after the ceremony, Scott is determined that the show must go on – until the violinist turns up dead and Scott’s day goes to hell.
Jamie Brodie and Pete Ferguson are attending the lavishly over-the-top wedding of an acquaintance of Pete’s when Jamie spots a ghost from his past in the string quartet – Scott Deering, the last guy he dated before Pete. The murder at the wedding is shocking, but it’s not Jamie’s business – until a theft from the music library at UCLA sucks him into the investigation. All Jamie wants to do is finalize the plans for his own wedding to Pete, but first he has to join forces with Scott to track down a killer – and deal with another ghost that throws everyone’s lives into turmoil.
December 1, 2015
Played to Death available for pre-order!
Here it is! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018RJHFXA
I hope you enjoy it!!
“Having someone get murdered at your wedding has to be the worst.”
Scott Deering, cellist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, doesn’t usually play weddings. But a friend’s family emergency finds him reluctantly anchoring a college string quartet at the wedding of a couple with more money than taste. When his second violinist goes missing after the ceremony, Scott is determined that the show must go on – until the violinist turns up dead and Scott’s day goes to hell.
Jamie Brodie and Pete Ferguson are attending the lavishly over-the-top wedding of an acquaintance of Pete’s when Jamie spots a ghost from his past in the string quartet – Scott Deering, the last guy he dated before Pete. The murder at the wedding is shocking, but it’s not Jamie’s business – until a theft from the music library at UCLA sucks him into the investigation. All Jamie wants to do is finalize the plans for his own wedding to Pete, but first he has to join forces with Scott to track down a killer – and deal with another ghost that throws everyone’s lives into turmoil.
November 29, 2015
What I’m reading: The Medicus series by Ruth Downie
First, though, Happy Thanksgiving to all my USA readers! I hope you’re having a wonderful holiday. I spent the past week in rural North Carolina with my family and limited internet access. It was wonderful.
A couple of years ago, a book caught my eye at the public library: Terra Incognita by Ruth Downie. I read it, and realized it was the fifth of a series. I began reading the first one then lost track of it on my Kindle (you probably know how that happens!) and didn’t finish.
Over the holiday I had lots of time to read, and I finished the first book in the series, Medicus. Gaius Ruso is a medicus – a physician – in the days of Emperor Hadrian of the Roman Empire. He’s a Roman citizen, from southern Gaul, who joined the army to put distance between himself and his family while also trying to earn money to save the family farm. His unit is stationed in northern Britain, first in the town of Deva (present-day Chester), then up on the wall that Hadrian is building. His patients are mostly soldiers suffering from accidents or fight-related injuries.
This is great historical fiction. Every book has a mystery – in the first, someone is killing off barmaids; in the sixth, a young boy sees a body buried in the interior section of Hadrian’s Wall. Ruso rescues a female slave, Tilla, from an abusive owner, and she complicates his life in all sorts of ways. The mysteries are tightly plotted, the characters are fully formed, there’s humor – and since I’ve tramped across most of Hadrian’s Wall, I can clearly identify the locations in the books.
If you like historical mysteries, particularly ancient history, give the Medicus series a try.
November 20, 2015
NaNo winner!
Whew! Today I was able to validate my novel and claim winnership (is that a word?) in NaNoWriMo. You can see the word count in the icon to the right. I’m not quite done, so the word count may shift upwards a bit over the next week.
But – the first draft of Landscaped to Death, which will be JBM #14, is done! I’m finishing up a short story which will accompany it. I hurried to finish this year because I’m spending the next week in rural North Carolina with no wireless access. I write in Google Docs, which I can do offline, but I prefer not to. Plus, you know, when you’re writing all the time, your relatives ask what the heck you’re doing, and it’s rude. :D
Happy Thanksgiving to all my USA friends!
November 17, 2015
Here’s the blurb for Played to Death!
Coming in early December…
“Having someone get murdered at your wedding has to be the worst.”
Scott Deering, cellist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, doesn’t usually play weddings. But a friend’s family emergency finds him reluctantly anchoring a college string quartet at the wedding of a couple with more money 
than taste. When his second violinist goes missing after the ceremony, Scott is determined that the show must go on – until the violinist turns up dead and Scott’s day goes to hell.
Jamie Brodie and Pete Ferguson are attending the lavishly over-the-top wedding of an acquaintance of Pete’s when Jamie spots a ghost from his past in the string quartet – Scott Deering, the last guy he dated before Pete. The murder at the wedding is shocking, but it’s not Jamie’s business – until a theft from the music library at UCLA sucks him into the investigation. All Jamie wants to do is finalize the plans for his own wedding to Pete, but first he has to join forces with Scott to track down a killer – and deal with another ghost that throws everyone’s lives into turmoil.
November 15, 2015
Avenged to Death featured this week!
Gay mystery writer and reviewer Jon Michaelsen is featuring an excerpt from Avenged to Death on his blog this week: http://www.jonmichaelsen.net/?p=2344 Hop on over and check out Jon’s blog. If you like gay mystery, he has a ton of recommendations, not to mention his own publications.
Avenged is also the featured post this week on the Gay Mystery-Thriller-Suspense Facebook page, another site where you can find recommendations and news about new releases: https://www.facebook.com/groups/518503111562540/
Enjoy!!
November 3, 2015
While I’m off writing, Stoned to Death is out on Smashwords
As you can see from the word count to the right, NaNoWriMo is going well so far! Meanwhile, Stoned to Death, JBM #8, is being released at Smashwords and through its affiliates today. Here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/587224
Jamie Brodie Mystery #8
October 26, 2015
The cover for Played to Death!
Here it is! Still don’t have an exact date for the book yet, but should be early December.
October 24, 2015
Citizens Police Academy: The Firing Range
“Glock22inOliveDrab”. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glock22inOliveDrab.jpg#/media/File:Glock22inOliveDrab.jpg
This week’s academy consisted of a longish bus ride and a lot of standing around to accomplish one thing – to fire a typical police officer’s service weapon. My city police department uses the Glock 22, which fires .40 caliber rounds.
We went in pairs (there are 48 people in the class, so it took a while) to the target area, where the training officers showed us how to hold the gun, made sure we were in the correct position, then allowed us to fire five shots into the target. The gun itself was light but I was surprised how much kick it had.
And that was it. A couple of the criminal justice college students in the class got to fire semiautomatics (M-16) but I didn’t need to do that.
Next week is our last meeting – we get a certificate, have our group picture taken, and eat pizza. There will also be an active shooter simulation, which I’ve taken part in before.
This has been a fascinating experience. I’m so glad I did it. If you have a similar opportunity in your city or county, I’d definitely recommend taking it.
