You may have noticed a change in email address and formatting. I recently made a change to the service delivering my newsletter; more on that in a minute.

In December, I had the honor of being the Santa Barbara Woman's Club Book Club guest speaker. This was my second time back. If you want to know about the first event, read the article "Tuesday was a first for me!" on my website.

Because the last visit focused on my path as a writer, with this visit, I spoke of the origins of my recently published novels - The Tunguska Deception and Genesis Renewed. The titles of each generated considerable curiosity. 

I focused largely on my first novel, starting with a brief summary of the historical event that spawned the name – The Tunguska Event of 1908, and then coupling it with my initial spark of an idea; the notion of coherent energy beings trapped on Earth and requiring replacement hosts to survive.

That kernel of an idea led to successive NaNoWriMo efforts, both achieving the goal of 50,000 words in 30 days. The first was the present-day timeline with a prologue of the inciting event. The timeline that started with the cataclysmic event in Siberia was encouraged by my writing group's insistence that the “throw-away” characters in a prologue deserved their own storyline. 

The result is a fast-paced story with multiple timelines that are part of alien possession, alternate history, internet/urban myth tweaking, a touch of political thriller, and action-adventure.

I read Chapters 4 and 6 for the audience, introducing our main characters, Finn Moffett (an NSA Analyst) and Echo Onsoillan (a 3rd-year resident), through their meet-cute and the attempt on Finn’s life by a Russian agent that sends them fleeing for their lives.

True confession moment. I’m one of those folks who never learned to sight-read well. Couple that little gotcha with the fact that once a story is done, it is out of my head. So, I had to spend a good part of the two weeks prior rehearsing and tweaking my written word to be read aloud.

The audience couldn’t have been more generous or engaged. Their questions were focused and led to further discussion. I had an absolute blast!

The day concluded with folks buying books, signing copies of both Tunguska and Genesis Renewed, and giving away bookmarks (below). And with a promise, I would return with my next novel. 

Thank you, Linda and Cevin, and to all who came for a delightful day.

Please forgive the brief commercial. If you're interested in either book, they're available on Amazon, in print, ebook, and in KU for Kindle Unlimited readers - click the links above. If you would like me to sign a copy, go to the front page of my website and click the shopping cart. And please, once you've read it, leave a review on the book's Amazon page. They really help other readers find the book.

As promised, above. For the past six months, I've used Substack as a host for my newsletter. It has a slick, easy-to-use interface, and it had been growing in popularity with my peers.

In late November and into December, details came to light of Substack's leadership being unwilling to drop right-wing extremists posting Neo-Nazi/Hate Speech being hosted and distributed via their services. Their position was one of wanting to remain neutral. It wasn't until January, pressured by several prominent writers and the flight of dozens of customers, that the ownership responded and removed the content.

Here's a link to the Washington Post's reporting. "Substack wanted to be neutral. Its tolerance of Nazis proved divisive."
January 10th, 2024.

I'll be the first to support their right to run their business any way they choose. As well as support others' First Amendment Rights. And in that same vein, I choose not to be associated with businesses and individuals that enable the circulation of such vitriol. A world war was fought, and millions died in combat and by atrocities committed by our foe. My father served in that fight to rid this world of such megalomania, hate, and forces that would denigrate and subjugate others.

One cannot remain neutral where hate and calls to violence are concerned. Neutrality is an endorsement or, at a minimum, acceptance. People who enable such fear and hate are people I choose not to do business with. If it costs me, readers, so be it.

Last week, after looking into the issue, I ported my subscriber list, purged my content, and canceled my Substack account. I've set up a newsletter service on my website and imported my current subscriber list.

There is a bit of a learning curve, so please let me know what you think of the new format. Hit reply to this email, and let me know if the content hits the tone and topics that interest you.

My goal is still to get out one issue a month that touches on events in my world, where I am in the next project, cool oddities I come across, an update on what I'm currently reading, and at least one picture of the Shaw Shack Hooligans (below).

Stepping down from my soapbox now.

As many of you know, I'm frequently reading multiple books on any given day/week. And the holidays were very generous with new reading material for my TBR stacks - both digital and physical.

I'm in the very early pages of Ken Follett's latest installment in the Kingsbridge Series - Book 5 - The Armor of Light. Follett is a master storyteller, and I've been a fan since the late '70s when I picked up Eye of the Needle. And I think that Pillars of the Earth is the greatest piece of historical fiction ever penned. I'll share more on The Armor of Light in my next installment.

For a couple of years, I've been on the ARC Team (Advanced Reader Copy) for Terry Mixon. I enjoyed his Empire of Bones Saga immensely, and I hear the final installment in that series is coming very soon.

Terry's current series, which he co-authors with JN Chaney - The Last Hunter - has been great fun to read. I'm about 45% of the way into - Book 11 - Under Siege, and if there is a way for Admiral Romanov and the crew of Delta Orionis to get into trouble, it will find them. Book 12 - Implacable Resolve is in my digital TBR stack. Sorry, Terry, I'm half a book behind - holidays and all that.

If you like quick page-turning Space Opera, you'll enjoy this.

Many of you know we lost our girl, Echo, back in June. Just before the holidays, we added a new member to the pack. Tess, in the foreground, spent almost sixteen months, about half her life, in a shelter. She's a shepherd mix, exceptionally affectionate, and very energetic. Being in a cage doesn't provide much of a chance to get the puppy worked out, and she has a bit of unlearning to do. She loves the big yard to run and get rowdy with Theo in.

And I'm not sure if Theo's sticking his tongue out is editorial or just cuz.

Until next month!