Alex Gordon's Blog, page 5

Heads Up!

Code of Conduct is available for free through January 14th at Amazon, Kobo, and B&N.

It’s Snowing?

We had a little snow last week. Normally not an unusual situation in NE Illinois in early January. But it’s been quite the mild winter here so far, and it doesn’t take long to get used to salt-free roads and no shoveling.

Monday we were supposed to get several inches, but I live by the lake. Where it’s a little warmer. So I got rain instead. Friday, 6-8″ or more is supposed to drop, but. I live by the lake. So I may not get as much. That said, I’ve gassed up The Little Prince* and let him run for a few minutes, so he’s ready. I guess I am, too. I mean, what choice do I have?

Suffice it to say I’m just not feeling Winter this year. The days have been grey and wet for the most part, and Gaby is no longer around to bark at me until I take her for her walk. I mean, we walked in blizzards. I would be squinting through wet glasses as wind-whipped flakes stung my face and the Boss of Me would just pop along like it was no big. Gaby of the Yukon.

God, I miss that little dog.

Still trying to get back in gear after the months-long push to finish Echoes along with a short story for an upcoming edition of Boundary Shock Quarterly. I don’t want to list the work I want to complete this year, though Jani #7 is in the mix. Then there are the non-writing projects like organizing the basement and garage, overhauling parts of the yard, and refreshing the bedrooms and my office (paint, furniture, etc). Never a shortage of things to do.

 

*I called him that because he used to refuse to start in the cold. Yes, I know how that sounds. After I switched to higher grade gasoline, matters improved.

Boxing Day Sale…for a week!

If you received a new e-reader for Christmas that needs to be filled or are just looking for something new to read, check out Book View Café’s Boxing Day Sale. It runs through December 31st. All ebooks 50% off.

Holiday break with a request

…except not really because I have a story due year’s end. Deadlines during the holidays—I always do this to myself.

Still adjusting to Echoes of War being finished and out in the wild, but I do have a request. Please post a review or add a rating at a review site. If you loved it. If you had quibbles—that thing you didn’t like could be just the thing that draws a new reader. Reviews and ratings help books gain visibility.

Finally, many thanks to all you readers. May you all enjoy good health and happiness as this year winds down and the next one gets underway.

A slight misstep…

…on the road to publication. As in, Kris forgot that Amazon lead times are a bit longer than that of other ebook vendors. But while the Kindle edition of Echoes of War will not be available until December 6, you can preorder it now.

It will be available at Book View Café on December 5th.

Nook and Kobo are available for preorder with a release date of December 5.

Echoes of War

Yup. It’s coming.

December 5th!

 

When Colonel Niall Pierce is kidnapped, Jani Kilian is ordered to stay out of it. Niall may be her best friend, but he is also an officer in the Commonwealth Service and a full human while she is the half-idomeni head of the hybrid enclave of Thalassa—to attempt his rescue would not only call his loyalty into question and endanger his life but increase tensions between the Commonwealth and the alien idomeni.

Jani is also facing her own problems. Outside forces and inner turmoil are menacing Thalassa, and the behavioral changes wrought by her hybridization leave her shaken and concerned about what she is becoming. But when a threat from her own past compels her to join the search for Niall, she comes to believe that an adversary she thought vanquished has returned. As she and her enigmatic partner Lucien Pascal dodge pursuers and build shaky alliances, she realizes her past and present are one and the same, and dangers she once faced could return to claim her and everything—and everyone—she loves.

 

A few notes

I’ve updated my Other Work page with cover images and links to my most recent short stories.

I’ve also updated the Jani Kilian Books page with the most recent covers and a link to my Book View Café page. I know not everyone buys from there—though I will add that downloading is straightforward and I get more money per sale—so I will be adding other links as I reorganize this site and straighten out sales channels.

I’m going to be sending out a newsletter with SOME EXCITING NEWS in the next few days, so if you want to receive info before it goes wide, sign up using the form located to the right of this post. Note that my newsletter is double opt-in. You will receive a follow-up email asking you to confirm your subscription. If you don’t respond, you will not be added to my subscriber list.

 

 

Gaby

On October 7th, I let Gaby go.

She was about 16 1/2, give or take. She had been diagnosed with Canine Cognitive Dysfunction over a year ago, but what had been a slow-but-steady decline accelerated over that final week. It’s possible she suffered a stroke during that time—she became more and more unsteady on her feet, finally reaching the point that she struggled to maintain her balance and needed to lean against something to remain upright. I took her to see the vet on the 6th and the conclusion was that she wasn’t there anymore. The light had gone out. I bought her home for that last night, then took her to the vet’s office in the morning.

She was a very special dog. People smiled when they saw her—some asked if her name was “Benji.” She was stubborn, a willful, active little girl who loved being outside in all weather. She enforced the “daily walks” rules, barking at the door until I got my act in gear. Five miles was our usual distance; in summer, the walks became shorter and shorter as her heat tolerance lessened. In cooler weather, however, five miles was the norm until the last year or so. She loved to splash in the lake and dash along the shore, running to the end of her lead and back again. Sometimes she’d roll in the sand. At home, she’d chase the backyard squirrels (and occasionally catch one). On warm days, she would sack out behind the wild hydrangea or in the middle of the hosta bed. On cooler days, she slept in the sun.

I took this photo this past June. She’d just been groomed—you can see a corner of a neckerchief poking out from beneath her collar.

I’m still adjusting. It’s going to take a while.

 

Well…

…ber months approaching at speed. Fall catalogs showing up in the mail. Pumpkin spice-flavored and scented items showing up in the stores.

Not ready.

Latest news involves Law of Survival, which now has an updated cover. The old cover didn’t really work with the rest in the series—it was more like an illustration than a photograph. The new cover, also by Dave Smeds, has a noirish look that works with the story, all of which takes place in Chicago and the surrounding area.

As with Code and Rules, I did a light edit. Many !!!!! removed. A few words deleted or changed. Typos corrected. If you already have an older edition, there’s no need to get this one.

 

I should add that the Books page for the Jani books needs serious updating. In fact, the entire website could probably use a refresh—it’s been a while. But it will have to wait until I get a few things off my plate.

Oh, and as for short stories in anthologies, one of this year’s Zombies Need Brains anthologies has a story of mine.

 

The anthology, Solar Flare, is a collection of solarpunk stories; my story is entitled “The Repairer of Lost and Broken Things,” about a corporate investigator who is sent to Earth to track down a missing engineer and finds more than she ever imagined. Solarpunk was a new subgenre for me, and the writing of this story presented some challenges. But I like how it turned out. It’s in the same universe as a couple of stories I wrote for Boundary Shock Quarterly, “Breakaway” and “Pirate Ship,” but with a different main character who I expect will show up again.

Time flies while I stand still

No, I’m not really standing still. Stuff is getting done writing-wise, house-wise, life-wise. It just doesn’t feel that way sometimes when I look at the calendar and wonder where the summer is going. Days are getting shorter and we’ll be in the -ber months before you know it.

::sigh::

Keeping one eye on the milkweed patch and hoping that at least one of the caterpillars I’ve found over the last few weeks  made it to the chrysalis stage. I get excited when I spot one, but soon after I can’t find it and I wonder if a bird got it. I know the percent survival rate is in the low-mid single digits, but it still gets to me a little bit.

Milkweed flowers

Bee balm and spirea

Then this morning I spotted two monarchs flitting around the place and landing every so often, so. Hope raises its tattered banner once more.

As an aside, the common milkweed are blooming and the scent is lovely. Not floral, but soft and idk, deep for want of a better word. I wondered if anyone sold milkweed candles, and I’ve found a place online. I bought one. Milkweed has joined pussy willow on my “favorite flower scents” list.

In closing, some flower photos because if it isn’t food or Gaby around here, it’s flowers. The individual milkweed flowers are lovely, like enameled stars centered with tiny faceted gemstones. And I added the bee balm-sem ash leaf spirea photo because I liked the view of that red flower centered amid green and white.

All for now…