Category: Ask Me Anything

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shades and shadows

I spent a lot of hours in the world of Shades and Shadows as I was writing and editing it.  It isn’t a comfortable world, and over the years, the story moved and changed, things got edited out that I once loved because they just didn’t fit the story any more, and everything morphed as the ending became clearer.

It isn’t hard right now to see an America divided against itself, two extremes set against one another.  Meanwhile, the middle gets trampled.  It’s easy to prey on fear.  It’s easy to rile up anger.  And truth gets lost in the rhetoric and vitriol.

Conflict builds, momentum grows and the conclusion comes crashing down in Where Shadows Fall, which is available for FREE right now for your Kindle! Just click here.

You can also enter to win a copy of all three books for your Kindle by clicking here.

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the rebellion will be free

For four days, starting tomorrow (1/10/19), the kindle version of Where Shadows Fall will be free, so if you need to get your hands on this series conclusion, this may be your time!

Recently, Where Shadows Fall received a five star review from Reader’s Favorite reviewer, Liz Konkel.  She had this to say in her review:  “Case crafts an epic and satisfying installment that carries on the darker tone of the series with a lighter feeling and an end that finds hope for a better future. Where Shadows Fall has plenty of darker moments which include war, death, and torture with an honest portrayal of trauma and grief blended into a blunt commentary on social issues and the state of society through the guise of supernatural beings.”

If you pick up a copy while it’s free, I’d love it if you could drop a rating and/or review on Amazon or Goodreads after you’ve read it.

And while we’re at it, I’m running a giveaway of the entire series on Kindle:

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the last stand

I haven’t really talked enough about Where Shadows Fall. I struggled a bit with getting this book done, maybe in part because I knew it would be the end of my living in that world, at least for a while.

The grand finale takes place in Washington D.C., which I think was rather inevitable, given what we know about the man pulling the strings.  I didn’t set out to have a meglomanical bad guy.  In the beginning he was just a guy who believed that Others were evil.  Clearly, I maintained some of that in the overall story however.

To me there is nothing as frightening as a person who believes without doubt, someone who fears that other for no concrete reason but because they have been told to believe. They can’t be reasoned with. No argument will penetrate the protective barrier of that belief mixed with fear and hate.

I always thought that it came from religion, from man’s need to control mankind’s access to gods and the power that came with that.  However, as we can see in America today, it doesn’t have to come from within religion.  It need only wrap itself in the cloth that resembles religion to draw people in.

I find that terrifying.  Maybe that’s why the 8th Battalion became one of the big bads in these books.  It certainly drives the character of Colonel Shallon.  Blind belief is a dangerous weapon.

That is where my thoughts are today, Readers.  I hope yours are more pleasant on this cold, January Saturday.

 

Photo by Ji Pak on Unsplash

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welcome to the future

It’s an odd thing, really.  By which I mean time and our visions of the future.  We’ve arrived at the year 2019, which past us predicted would be in varying degrees of dystopian decay, with technology that we haven’t quite realized.

We may be well on our way to dystopian entropy, given our current political, social and economical situation, but our cars don’t fly yet, at least not at the common man level (I’ve seen the prototype, but it’s a far cry from being affordable or even legal)…which I suppose is good, considering the terror it could cause.

I’ve been feeling pretty ho-hum about things since Christmas.  My idea of New Year’s eve, was a Star Trek:Voyager marathon that ended around eleven.  I’ve never been a big resolution maker, because I realized young that most of us just make some big proclamation about big changes that we’re are never actually going to follow through on without any plan for how to accomplish them.

That said, however, I am resolving to work on two specific goals this year, and I already have plans in place for how to accomplish them.  I probably won’t really be discussing them, but they are health and finances.

Today is my first day back in the office, like many other Americans, I assume.  I like first days, they feel like a fresh start.  My goal for the next three days is to finish up a few unfinished projects from last year so that next week I can begin new things.  I also hope to get at least three hundred words written every day, whether on the current project or something else.  My daily writing has been slacking lately.

I guess I should get myself busy with that.  I have a mile long list of emails to respond to this morning, so I’m off to the day job.

Happy New Year, Readers!  Welcome to the future!

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taking a sick day

I had writing plans for this weekend, but I seem to have caught the cold that’s been going around, so I am going to call it a sick day and not beat myself up over it.

I think it might be a good day for my couch, my blankets and pillows and whatever movies I can find to entertain me on Netflix.

Sometimes a sick day is good for the writer’s brain.  We can step back and hopefully when we return, we are ready for action again.  At least that’s what I’m hoping.  I have a full religious liturgy to create!

Whatever you’re up to today, I hope you make room for some rest as well.  And, if you’re in the area, some chicken soup would be nice.

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the day after

When the chaos and uproar of opening presents is done, and the floor looks like a tornado came through and dropped colorful debris over everything, there’s a kind of quiet that settles in.  Everyone is caught up in playing with new toys and trying on new clothes, setting up new tech and even the animals have worn themselves out.

And my family is all grown adults (for some valued of adult anyway)!

Still, I think that’s some of my favorite time on Christmas day.  Before we’ve gotten up to start the clean up, while we’re still sharing our presents with family…it’s a kind of happiness that only comes there, in the family time, where we can be geeks and dorks and excited about things that make us happy.

Of course, then comes the clean up and the shift to getting Christmas dinner on the table.  Sure, we keep playing as the day goes on, maybe even break out the board games, which leads to a whole different kind of family time.  You haven’t lived until you’ve played Cards Against Humanity with your 70 year old mother and internet-raised nieces!

But, like all other good things, the time comes when the day must end and family scatters…though at this point, I’m the only one not living under that roof, and then comes the long drive home.  And the day after…

It’s a bit of a let down, I guess, for the day after.  All the waiting and anticipating and chaos is done and somehow, you’re expected to re-enter the working world as if none of it happened at all.

 

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books and writing and selling

It’s an #amwriting Saturday.  I need to cut some time out of my writing time to do some tasks for my publisher to help with promo opportunities.  I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m not very good at promo myself.  I find myself easily frustrated with the whole marketing aspect of being an author.

I write because I enjoy writing, and because if I don’t write, all of these characters and plots still live in my head and may one day drive me mad.  I write because I love to tell stories, not because I enjoy selling books.

Buying books is another story.  I love to buy books.  I love holding a book in my hand.  I love immersing myself in a story almost as much as I enjoy telling a story.

But, I have to accept that the publishing industry has changed and with the glut of books available to readers, promo is a necessity if I ever want anyone other than my friends to read my books.  *sigh*

So, some of today’s writing time will be spent picking out excerpts from my books suitable for social networks, and re-writing blurbs in order to aid my publisher in the promo work they do.  Maybe I’ll find some time tomorrow to do some of my own promo work.  I haven’t really done much since Where Shadows Fall was released.

But the new project is coming along well, and I think it’s going to be good.

I hope your weekend treats you well, Readers!

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shining lights and quiet nights

We’re less than a week out from Christmas, which hardly seems possible.  I think I maybe finally found the knack of not going overboard on spending for my family this year.  I’m a gifter.  I like to give gifts.

For a lot of people, this time of year can be difficult.  The days are short. The nights are long.  We try to compensate with lights.  We put them on our trees, we put them on our house.  For me, it’s candles.  I love to fill my living room with candles during the holiday season.

It’s a form of what we call “sympathetic magic,” the act of calling something to you by imitation.  What we’re longing for is the sun, so we light our lives up with artificial light to tempt it to return.

The only thing I like better than candles lit against the cold dark of winter, is the cold dark of winter itself.  The winter solstice is Friday, the day of the longest night.  Every day after that the days will grow slowly longer and the wheel will turn, spring will come.  There will be candles in the early evening, but before I go to bed, I will put them all out and spend some time alone in that quiet that only comes in the dark.

It’s a good time to do a self-inventory, to judge your progress against goals, to adjust your attitude toward yourself and others.  Preparation, for you to return with the sun and ready yourself for the growth to come.

At least, that’s my solstice tradition.  Followed on Christmas with family time, food and gift giving.  I hope that however you celebrate, and whatever you celebrate, that this season of good will finds you happy, healthy and hopeful, Readers.

I am more grateful for all of you than you will ever know.

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the neverending journey

I have recently made the decision to undergo weight loss surgery.  I have been some level of overweight for most of my adult life.  At my largest, I weighed in at 320 pounds.  The smallest I’ve been as an adult was 153 pounds.  Currently I’m circling 280, and fighting to get down another five before I see the surgeon again.

Like most women who have struggled with their weight, I’ve tried every fad diet, every supplement, every new-fangled idea that came along.  Some of them worked, some of them didn’t.  Most recently I tried a very restricted eating regimen, which resulted in a loss of sixty something pounds, but I was only consuming 800 calories per day, which simply isn’t sustainable.

All of that dieting and sporadic bursts of exercise has my metabolic system so screwed up that when I upped my calorie count to 1000, I stopped losing weight.  When I upped it to 1200 on my doctor’s advice, I started gaining it back.

I’ve gained almost 30 pounds since then. Admittedly, I lost my will for it when I started gaining it back while still restricting calories, and I’ve struggled to get back to eating healthy after my vacation in September.

Ultimately, what made the decision for me was the levels of pain I am in on a daily basis.  My back, my feet, and most of my arms and shoulders are in chronic pain every day.  If I manage to walk my 10K steps on one day, the next day I can barely walk.  It’s nuts.  If I can’t walk, I can’t do much.

So, here we are.  I see the doctor on Wednesday, and that is when she will decide if we can schedule the surgery for before the end of the year. My hope is that this will set me up for a 2019 that is healthier and stronger, and less pain-filled than 2018 was.

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in the morning fog

Winter in San Francisco generally means temperatures in the mid 40s to mid 50s and fog.  Sometimes really thick fog.  That does seem to be the case this year.  Even though I live a good 45 minute BART ride outside of the city, my little city can get pretty socked in too.

Fog means dangerous driving conditions, particularly when you don’t know the roads you’re driving on.  For me, I find fog mysterious and beautiful, especially when it hangs low over the mountains or the bridges.  I never do seem to get out into it with my camera however.  One of these days I’m going to get up to the Marin Headlands when the fog rolls in.

Just imagine what the world of horror movies would be like without fog!  It sets a mood, for sure.

where-shadows-fall

If you have been waiting for the paperback to get your copy of Where Shadows Fall, your wait is over.  As of this morning, the paperback is available.  Click HERE to get it.

We’re headed into the busiest time of year, with holiday parties and get togethers, shopping and cooking and chaos of all kinds.  My life is no exception.  I’ll be trying a new-to-me cookie recipe this coming weekend for a company pot luck, and I have my first holiday party tomorrow evening.

Then it’s all a landslide into Christmas for me.

What about you, Readers?  Do you have a special holiday tradition, no matter what holiday you celebrate?