State of the TAM - 25th October
I’m baaaaaack!
First off the bat…Check this out!
Despite what his co-workers say Belling, Montana paramedic Dylan Holly does not hate Christmas.
It’s just that as an ex-foster kid he learned early on that Christmas just didn’t have much relevance to his life. He’s seen no evidence since then that he’s wrong.
That said, if Santa ever delivered a six-foot plus wall of hot muscle under his tree he’d be willing to reconsider. He’s even sourced an available one locally in the taciturn Somerset North and his impossibly blue eyes.
So really, at this point the ball is in Santa’s court.
There’s just one problem. Well, just one to start with anyhow. The battered, dying man someone dumped from a height onto Dylan’s car outside the Just-as-High, Somerset’s bar. He gave Dylan an old, well-worn watch and begged him to keep it safe.
Now Christmas is relevant to Dylan’s life in the worst way. The Winter Court has loosed their Wolves on the world and Dylan is on the run with Somerset North. A man who seems to know a lot more about what is going on than a Montana bar owner with exceptional shoulders should.
It turns out that Santa is missing, presumed dead. And the key to the hotly disputed succession crisis is a foster kid who never celebrated the season.
Look, I think I’m funny and that’s what matters! :D So yes, Christmas Urban Fantasy novella coming from your’s truly. I aimed for somewhere between Sting in the Tail and Miracle on 34th Street.
Anyhow!
Wow! GRL 2023 was a success, I think? It’s hard to say yet. There is just so much going on at your standard GRL, from you get up until you drag yourself to bed, that it’s hard to come to a conclusion about the success and or lack thereof until you’ve had a while to let it settle! End of the day, though, I got to hang out with some good friends and made some new friends.
So who could complain about that?
I also had the most AMAZING SUSHI! If you in the area then Oh Yummy Sushi in Portsmouth-Norfolk is the best place to go. It’s this dinky little place with the best menu and I ate until I thought they were going to have to roll me out of there.
(Picture from their facebook! I was too hungry to take photos :D)
Check out Oh Yummy Sushi on facebookMind you, the flights were exhausting. I had only started to recover and it was back on the plane to head home. Look, mad scientist types, I would FULLY ACCEPT the technical death of my flesh carapace and my intelligence downloaded into a cloned skin shape in return for not having to sit on a plane breathing recycled farts for six hours.
Call me!
Pupdates of the WeekI think they missed me :D
They were certainly ready to wow this morning in their fancy Halloween jumpers! (That’s my mum in the side!)
Shout-Out of the Week
Welcome, Traveler, to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries!
What you see before you is no mere vagabond circus. Indeed, our show is full of wonders and delights that will leave you breathless, but whether that is with amazement or dread depends entirely upon you. We are unlike any other band of creatures you have ever encountered -- and you few brave souls who choose to step beyond your mundane expectations and join us may witness sights beyond your wildest imaginings.
So sit back, relax, and let us entertain you. For time and worlds are fleeting, but each soul has a tale to tell.
For centuries beyond count, Errante Ame has taken his Carnival of Mysteries from world to world and across times, never staying in one place too long lest his great enemy discover his location. Along the way he has accumulated friends and built a family of sorts among his ragtag band of performers, yet he doesn’t dare let anyone get too close to protect them from becoming a target as well. He stands apart, an outsider even among those closest to him, concealing his true nature.
Even from the man who has somehow come to mean more to him than his own life.
The Carnival is all Rafe Harper has ever known. Plucked as a toddler from the remains of a destroyed village on a world he doesn’t remember, he was adopted by Calliope, the Tattooed Lady, and raised among the performers. As an adult, he was given the position of Ringmaster by Errante -- though he secretly longed for far more from the enigmatic leader of the Carnival. Despite all the wonders he has seen, Rafe stayed with the Carnival to remain close to Errante, wondering if someday he could break through Errante’s walls and finally reveal how he truly feels.
But unbeknownst to either of them, a traitor lurks among their friends, and unless Rafe can discover the secret of his past, he stands to lose Errante, the Carnival, and perhaps his very soul.
Gods and Monsters is part of the multi-author Carnival of Mysteries Series. Each book stands alone, but each one includes at least one visit to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, a magical, multiverse traveling show full of unusual acts, games, and rides. The Carnival changes to suit the world it’s on, so each visit is unique and special. This book contains a mysterious hero, a lonely wanderer, a vengeful god, and a guaranteed HEA.
@tamoorewrites#stitch with @FrancescoGatto [image error]Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
People saying they could fight a wolf. I once lost a fight to a hamster.
Cover of the WeekHow cool are these! I love the graphic element of the design and the strong colors, which all stand out well against the clean yellow of the title. My favorite is Shoot the Moon, it is a really compelling cover, I think.
@sugarcoatedsistersAre you Maiden, Mother or Crone? 🖤✨ #witch #witchtok #threewitches #paintthetownred #halloween2023 [image error]Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
I read these religiously ever year. One year I was on holiday and I spent the night before Halloween tucked up in a single bed reading ghost stories in a massive old, isolated apartment block that had been an insane asylum and before that a military hospital during World War II. There were about fifteen apartments and exactly two of them were inhabited.
Scared the beejeezus out of myself, I tell you!
It's Finally Spooky Season, Which Means It's Also Time for Our Annual Scary Story ContestNothing is scarier than real life. Share your creepiest stories to help us prove it.
When I had just turned 6 years old, my family moved from our home town to a larger suburb in a state several hours away. I was still 5 when my parents took me with them to look at the house they would end up buying, and while we were walking through, the little girl whose parents were selling the house invited me to walk with her.
She was about my age or maybe a little older, and she seemed bossy in that big sister way. She showed me the room that would end up being my bedroom, and I remember her being very keen to show me the closet. She said a ghost lived in it, and I had to be very nice to the ghost or it would get me. I did not believe in ghosts (I was afraid of vampires, sharks, and cannibals) so I shrugged her off. She kept trying to make me go into the closet for a closer look, but I said no and went back to my mother’s side…
