E.G. Manetti's Blog, page 28
February 17, 2019
Even the valiant die.
As a writer, I seek to entertain. Today, I weep.
My mother has passed and I am an orphan. A fully grown adult and I feel lost. So much of my life has been defined by my mother. She believed I could do anything, so I believed it, too.
She loved my father with a passion that gives truth to every romance novel I've ever read. She loved her six children equally, but gave to each of us as we needed.
She chose a challenging life. She was in the third Harvard Law class that accepted women - one of twenty women in a class of five hundred. At work, she battled the glass ceiling. At home, she endured the hostility of those who questioned her working outside the home.
It was also a life filled with love, laughter, and appreciation of the arts.
My mother has passed and I am an orphan. A fully grown adult and I feel lost. So much of my life has been defined by my mother. She believed I could do anything, so I believed it, too.
She loved my father with a passion that gives truth to every romance novel I've ever read. She loved her six children equally, but gave to each of us as we needed.
She chose a challenging life. She was in the third Harvard Law class that accepted women - one of twenty women in a class of five hundred. At work, she battled the glass ceiling. At home, she endured the hostility of those who questioned her working outside the home.
It was also a life filled with love, laughter, and appreciation of the arts.
Mary Eunice Gorman Manetti.
1932-2019.
She loved her husband, family, God, her country, justice, and beauty in all its forms.
A woman of conviction and brilliance, she took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
February 1, 2019
Nightingale Correction Fail: Life Hack
I am so upset. After promising me a fix, for 1/29-30 corrected download, Amazon downloaded Bond Proof! Again.
Rather than wait for Amazon to attempt to correct this, with the aid of a reader, I have found a workaround.
1. Delete the bad Nightingale from your Kindle.
2. Repurchase (I’ve returned Nightingale to the pre-order price of $3.99).
3. Apply to Amazon for a credit for the double-purchase.
4. If Amazon refuses the credit, let me know. When it releases, I will send a gift copy of Bond Proof to even it out.
Thank you for reading the Twelve Systems Chronicles.
January 31, 2019
Indie Spotlight on Romance: Cold Love
Love in on alien planets caught in a polar vortex is an intermittent theme in Science Fiction Romance. Cara Bristol adds an interesting twist by blending Aliens Need Brides and romantic suspense into her Alien Mate series. Intrepid earth women journey to planet thrown into an ice age by a natural disaster. In return for an essential power source, the alien hunks get brides and advanced technology. To keep it interesting, villains keep interrupting the path of true love.
But I'm no barbarian’s 'mail order bride,' even if he is super tall, muscular, and the chief of his tribe. He doesn’t want a BBW blonde, either--it's written all over his chiseled face. He'll be truly angry if he ever learns what my 'crime' was.
I am Torg. I have waited 34 rotations for a mate of my own. With this shipment, I was sure to get a fine, sturdy mate who'll bear me many daughters. Instead, I receive a small, curvy, pale-haired female who looks at me with anger and fear.
It is only when we 'kiss' that I believe things may work out between us. But I'm hearing rumors that Starr and her shipmates are law-breakers. To survive, Dakonians must obey all laws … or be exiled into the frozen wasteland. Just when I have found her, will I have to send my mate to die?
3.99 purchase links
AMAZON * NOOK * KOBO * APPLE
I'm Starr Elizabeth Connor. Earth's government falsely convicted me of a crime, packed me on a ship with other female felons, and sent us to Dakon, a primitive, frozen wasteland of a planet. Why? Earth needs minerals, and Dakon is desperate for females.
But I'm no barbarian’s 'mail order bride,' even if he is super tall, muscular, and the chief of his tribe. He doesn’t want a BBW blonde, either--it's written all over his chiseled face. He'll be truly angry if he ever learns what my 'crime' was.
I am Torg. I have waited 34 rotations for a mate of my own. With this shipment, I was sure to get a fine, sturdy mate who'll bear me many daughters. Instead, I receive a small, curvy, pale-haired female who looks at me with anger and fear.
It is only when we 'kiss' that I believe things may work out between us. But I'm hearing rumors that Starr and her shipmates are law-breakers. To survive, Dakonians must obey all laws … or be exiled into the frozen wasteland. Just when I have found her, will I have to send my mate to die?
3.99 purchase links
AMAZON * NOOK * KOBO * APPLE
January 25, 2019
Bond Proof Sneak Peek!
Bond Proof is coming 2/19.
Pre-order now! Amazon * Nook * Kobo * Apple
Until then -- a sneak peek.
***
This once, it is well he sees so much. “It was on the day of my birth festival that I discovered what they had done. A package arrived from Gariten with what were to be my cotillion pearls. They were awful. Overlarge and mixed with emeralds, they were a gift for a woman grown, or a doxy.”
Milord’s free hand strokes her shoulder. When did she being to tremble? She had not thought this would be so difficult. “Maman went pale and then began to rant about trading children for emeralds. I was to flee from the darkness. The cousin became enraged, accusing Maman of being selfish and lacking honor, that the wedlock with Gariten was for Maman’s benefit. I knew it for a lie when I heard it.”
Anger floods with the recall of the cousin’s calumny. Milord’s thumb strokes her collarbone, encouraging her to continue. “The history of the contract was in Sinead’s Shrine, and as I was sixteen, they provided me access. Once I understood what the northern cousins had done, I could not understand why Maman permitted the woman to arrange my cotillion. With Keeper Waiman’s assistance we were able to discover that Gariten had arranged it all, including that the cotillion would be held at the home of one of his commerce partners and that he planned to attend. He may have planned to compel me to return with him to Socraide Prime. I know not.”
“Socraide’s sword.” Milord’s hands tighten. “Did the keeper not suspect?”
“It was Keeper Waiman’s first season.” She cannot resist turning her fingers within milord’s and clinging. “The former keeper, who is the current Lord Prelate, had been elevated to Sinead’s Canon Master and relocated to Sinead’s World. When he learned what went forward, he aided us in having the cousin evicted from Katleen’s house and banning the cousins from ever entering.”
“That was why your mother was deteriorating. She knew the cousin was in league with Gariten but could not halt her.”
“I believe so. With Gariten involved, I dared not remain in Crevasse City and there was naught in the universe that could have compelled me to attend a cotillion of his devising.”
“So you left the next day.” Milord’s hand cups her face, turning to meet her with dark eyes filled with compassion. “What of Dean Joseph?”
“He was enraged on my behalf and offered to arrange a cotillion for me on Mulan, but I could not tolerate the notion.”
“You never had a cotillion?” Milord’s thumb strokes her chin.
As much as his compassion warms her, it is not necessary. What little interest in cotillions remained after she discovered the cousins’ perfidy was lost with Ronan’s death and her anger at the Universalists for making outcasts of those who went to save the settlements. “I do not regret it. It would not have been the same without Maman, and mine was so late in the season, there were but two others I would have attended.”
“The pearls were sold with all else?”
Honor is my blade and shield. She could say naught more, but there is no purpose in withholding. “Sold, yes, but long before the ruin. I used them to fund my entrance into the commodities exchanges.”
Milord’s eyes narrow. “I thought those funds came from your stipend.”
Honor knows not fear. “When I refused to return to Crevasse City for a proper cotillion, Gariten slashed my stipend in half. It was enough for clothes, transit to visit Maman and Katleen, but not much more. Had I an interest in cotillions, I could not fund the wardrobe or other aspects.”
Milord frowns. “You took private quarters at twenty. Your accounts showed income that was meager for a cartouche heir, but substantial nonetheless.”
“Milord did not have full access to my funds from the commodities exchanges,” Lilian says.
“Although much was reinvested, steady flows were moved to a secondary account that I augmented with wagers. Those funds appeared in my account as if the Grey Gyre stipend.”
Before milord can reach the next conclusion, she adds, “At nineteen, I refused to join Gariten on Socraide Prime to be tutored in his enterprises. I wished to be nowhere near what, by then, I knew was black and gray commerce. He threatened to sever my stipend at twenty when I became an adult. I began to work the indulgences. I took my winnings in commerce tokens. The day of my twentieth birth festival, I opened the secondary account in Crevasse City. Unless one knew to search, it appeared as if funds flowed in from Grey Gyre and out to my primary account.”
Lucius is stunned. It is no wonder the woman thinks it liberty to spend the day abed tinkering with algorithms. At nineteen she created a shell enterprise and funded it with legitimate but untraceable funds to maintain the appearance that she received an heir’s stipend.
January 24, 2019
Bond Proof Preorder!
Release date: February 19, 2019
Special pre-order price: $3.99
Post release: $4.99
Amazon * Nook * Kobo * Apple
Lilian is within a month of proving her bond, driving desperate Odds Managers to ever increasing bounties on her life—every step beyond the security of the cartel is perilous. Within the cartel, she must put aside her fear, giving all her attention to her duty and the decorum demanded of an apprentice.
The success of the Nightingale launch has brought Lucius and Serengeti into the center of Twelve Systems commerce. As the Nightingale Command Crew is gathers on Metricelli Prime to prepare for the dangerous voyage to the Thirteenth System, whispers of pirates emerge from the Eleventh and Twelfth Systems. A decade before, pirates almost to toppled Serengeti, their reemergence so close to the Nightingale launch endangers all Lucius has achieved. When a group of free-traders arrive from those distant systems, they threaten to resurrect an ancient Mercio scandal that could undermine the honor of Blooded Dagger and Serengeti, and imperil all Lucius' values.
In the final days of Lilian’s apprenticeship, danger lurks in every shadow. It will require all Lucius’ power and Lilian’s courage to achieve her bond proof.
Amazon Bad Nightingale Download CORRECTED.
Amazon's wheels grind slowly, but they do move. This morning, customer support responded to my trouble ticket:
Normally it takes 7 business days to send the updated content, but in this case, we will send the updated content to customers within 3 business days. We'll notify you about this by the end of the day on "Tuesday, January 29".
Amazon.com kdp-customersupport1@amazon.com
Their math is a bit off. 3 business days from Thursday would be Monday, January 28, but I'm not going to argue the point. In a matter of days, the correct book will be on kindles!
January 22, 2019
Bad Nightingale Download from Amazon
I am so sorry. Anyone who pre-ordered Nightingale received Bond Proof. Somehow the draft of Bond Proof was loaded into Amazon record for the Nightingale. I've loaded a correct copy and opened at ticket with Amazon, but I don't know how soon I will have a response.
This was a truly bizarre event. The version of Bond Proof loaded into the Nightingale record was a mobi file formatted in 3rd party software. The same mobi file that failed more than 6 times when I attempted to load it into the Bond Proof record -- forcing me to reformat the entire book in Amazon's Kindle Create product. Why it did not bomb in the Nightingale load is beyond me. As is how I could have picked up the wrong file when I made a few last minutes tweaks.
I am so sorry.
This was a truly bizarre event. The version of Bond Proof loaded into the Nightingale record was a mobi file formatted in 3rd party software. The same mobi file that failed more than 6 times when I attempted to load it into the Bond Proof record -- forcing me to reformat the entire book in Amazon's Kindle Create product. Why it did not bomb in the Nightingale load is beyond me. As is how I could have picked up the wrong file when I made a few last minutes tweaks.
I am so sorry.
January 13, 2019
Twelve Systems Chronicles: Series Sale
January 10, 2019
Indie Spotlight on Romance: Love over 30
First love, one true love, soul mates -- romance tends to favor the twenty somethings. In a refreshing contrast, indie author Jennifer Theriot features heroes and heroines over thirty -- often taking second chance on love.
Unwrapping Noel was my favorite holiday read of the past season --a witty, enjoyable, and steamy romance featuring love the second time around.
Her contemporary Out of the Box trilogy follows the same recipe with an over forty hero and heroine thrown together by fate.
A good woman, mother, and wife, she's got it made. She didn't expect anything to change, but of course it does...
Swept from her perfect paper-doll life in Houston, Olivia finds herself in Chicago, alone, betrayed, and far from home. Soon everything she thought she knew about herself and her life will be challenged.
Ash Harper is the man who has everything--everything except healing from the losses of a lifetime and a dark family secret.
What happens when the married woman and the sexy handsome widower are thrown together by fate?
99c or KU
AMAZON
Unwrapping Noel was my favorite holiday read of the past season --a witty, enjoyable, and steamy romance featuring love the second time around.Her contemporary Out of the Box trilogy follows the same recipe with an over forty hero and heroine thrown together by fate.
Olivia Petersen thought her life ended the day her husband walked out. Little did she know, it had only just begun.
A good woman, mother, and wife, she's got it made. She didn't expect anything to change, but of course it does...
Swept from her perfect paper-doll life in Houston, Olivia finds herself in Chicago, alone, betrayed, and far from home. Soon everything she thought she knew about herself and her life will be challenged.
Ash Harper is the man who has everything--everything except healing from the losses of a lifetime and a dark family secret.
What happens when the married woman and the sexy handsome widower are thrown together by fate?
99c or KU
AMAZON
December 30, 2018
Bond Proof Cover Reveal!
Coming in February 2019!
Available for soon for pre-order.
Read more: https://egmanetti.com/2018/12/30/bond...
Available for soon for pre-order.
Read more: https://egmanetti.com/2018/12/30/bond...
