C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 23

Adventures in glasses-wearing

So a little bit ago my dad, who is notorious for leaving his glasses lying around, was looking for them. We looked in the kitchen. We looked in the library, and I checked the bathroom while he went up to check his room.

Then I went into the living room and called, “I found your glasses, Dad!”

And I HAD found them.

On MY FACE.

*MY* glasses were lying on the coffee table, because I, too, have developed a terrible habit of leaving my glasses lying around (only since my eyes got to be about 45...

Recent Reads: The Chronicles of Elantra

Last year I decided I want to re-read Michelle Sagara’s Chronicles of Elantra (more widely known as “the Cast books”) because I’d fallen a couple of books behind and while they’re not quite Big Fat Epic Fantasy, they’re big enough books that I kinda wanted a refresher before reading what I’d missed.

Now, I’d enjoyed them the first time through, obviously, or I wouldn’t have been re-reading them to begin with, but OMG I LOVED THEM EVEN MORE the second time through.
I think a huge reason I...

Patreon Boost / Teaser Fic

Among many other things available at my Patreon, I’ve been writing a fic for the past several months. Someone there asked for a REDEEMER/Golden-Age-superhero crossover, and since Captain America is mentioned twice in REDEEMER, it seemed like the obvious choice.

Here’s a teaser chunk of what’s available on Patreon! Enjoy, and if you want more, you know where to find it. :)

***

Two years on, Rosie knew what a Redeemed soul looked like, how all the darkness separated and spilled way until only...

Picoreview: Cats

Picoreview: Cats: I have seen it twice and have no regrets.

Simultaneously, there are an awful lot of things I’d have done differently. I’d have started by not casting Rebel Wilson, or doing *that* with her song. Especially the latter. A great deal could have been forgiven if they’d stuck with the stage show’s method of creating the cockroaches and mice (which is “have the cats dress up as the cockroaches and mice”, which was funny rather than horrifying and mind-bleeding, and as I use those...

Release Day: Keys

I have a small, and I hope consistently growing, collection of short stories set in a post-climate-change future that I’ve taken to calling The Rising. “Keys”, written years ago for an anthology, belongs in that world, as does last year’s “Siryn” (Amazon || Apple || Barnes & Noble (Nook) || Kobo). So far they’re all retold fairy tales; “Keys” is a take on Bluebeard that I’m rather fond of. :)

“Keys”
a fairy tale of The Rising
Not so very long ago came the Rising, and the death of the world as...

Picoreview: Spinning Out

Picoreview: Spinning Out: ugh.

Ted suggested the new Netflix Spinning Out, which looked like a reverse Cutting Edge, with a young woman skater coming back after an injury to join a playboy pairs skater.

Readers, it is *not* like Cutting Edge. It’s a drama with no humor to alleviate the bitchy unhappy characters.

I watched all the way through the first episode for the express purpose of trying to make Netflix not suggest I finish watching it. It didn’t work, which is too bad, because if I’d...

Release Day: DEAD IN DUBLIN

OMG MES AMIS, LOOK! LOOOOOOOOOK! Today is the official release day for the first book in my new cozy mystery series!

In Dublin’s fair city, where the girls are so pretty, murder occurs at the feet of sweet Molly Malone . . .

Ferrying tourists around Dublin for the Leprechaun Limo Service makes quite a change after years in the military. Still, Megan Malone is enjoying her life in Ireland. She likes the scenery, the easy pace, the quirky, quick-witted locals. Everything—except having one of...

Dublin Driver Photography

I promised that I’d post pictures of Dublin to go along with the Dublin Driver books, so here are a few!

DEAD IN DUBLIN

In Dublin’s fair city, where the girls are so pretty, murder occurs at the feet of sweet Molly Malone . . .

Ferrying tourists around Dublin for the Leprechaun Limo Service makes quite a change after years in the military. Still, Megan Malone is enjoying her life in Ireland. She likes the scenery, the easy pace, the quirky, quick-witted locals. Everything—except having one of...

moving into the future with Kindle Unlimited

Next year I’m going to start experimenting with Kindle Unlimited. I’ve been reluctant to do this, because some of my readers don’t use Kindle, but they’re about…15% of my monthly self-publishing sales. In theory, KU would make up for that loss of revenue by a *considerable* margin. Because, see, to be enrolled in KU, you can’t have your books available on any other platform. Amazon will crawl the web to make sure you don’t. It’s a bitch. But Amazon is already 85% of my sales. KU could...

Thinks To Done: 2019

It’s coming up hard on the end of the year & naturally I’m freaking out about everything I haven’t gotten done, WHICH IS WHY I’VE BEEN KEEPING A LIST OF WHAT I *HAVE* GOTTEN DONE

I wrote most of DEATH ON THE GREEN and all of DEATH OF AN IRISH MUMMY, the second two books of the Dublin Driver series (launching in January)!

DEAD IN DUBLIN
Book One of The Dublin Driver Mysteries
American-in-Ireland Megan Malone has always enjoyed her job driving limousines…until one of her clients ends up DEAD...