Newsletter: Late October...2020 Was Many Things...

 

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2020 was many things... Some we expected, some took us utterly by surprise. Some quickly passed -- and others we are still grappling with. Now that I've had a chance to settle back home after being evacuated for a month due to the California CZULightning wildfires, I am filled with gratitude for the friends, readers, neighbors, family, and strangers who were so unfailingly kind and supportive.  As the season turns from summer's brutal heat toward winter's equally brutal (think mudslides!) but different weather, I am personally focusing on what has sustained my family and myself through the ordeal that has been this year. You, my fans and friends. My wonderful editor and publisher and agent. The beautiful (if a bit singed) place in which I love. And especially the stories that fill my mind and my life. Those I write. Those I treasure by other writers. Many thanks! Deborah First things first: Here is (Red) Sonja smooshed against Shakir. Considering that the first time they were introduced, she a mere wee kitten, she threw herself on her back and screamed, I'd say they have established trust, if not outright affection for one another.

What's new on Darkover?   My agent once told me that waiting on publishers was akin to watching the movement of glaciers. I suspect this has never been more true than now, when my publisher's offices are closed due to the pandemic, and everyone is overloaded. In the meanwhile, here is a snippet from The Laran Gambit, in which Bryn, our viewpoint character, crashes on Darkover with her father and mentor. The title is a working version and will probably be changed. And this is unedited text, so it, too, may undergo the alchemical transformation of editing.   ~~~~~~~ Bryn forced herself to lay back down and breathe slowly. It was harder than she expected. She imagined the inside of the tent — their pocket of air — turning stale. What were the symptoms of anoxia? She couldn’t remember — didn’t that mean her brain was deprived of oxygen? A part of her, that terrified monkey at the back of her brain, yammered at her to get out now. Panic will only use up the air faster. Think!

Here's my latest newsletter. Please subscribe here! Newsletter: April #StayHomeAndRead Goodies Stories Help Us Through Tough Times Whether you are an essential worker, coping with added stress but determined to play your part, a student taking classes remotely, a retired person whose income may be secure but who is at high risk, an unemployed or furloughed worker, or a small business owner forced to close up shop, the pandemic takes a toll on all of us. I wish from the bottom of my heart that I could wave a magic author's wand and keep you and your loved ones safe in all senses of the word. Alas, not even on Darkover is that possible. Nevertheless, I hope the items in this newsletter help to brighten your day. #StayHomeAndRead I've reduced the prices of my indie ebooks to make them more available to my readers. A Heat Wave in the Hellers, and Other Tales of Darkover and Other Worlds: Early Novels are $2.99, and everything else* is $0.99. You can find them at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other vendors. (This doesn't apply to my traditionally published books, as the publisher sets the price, but the anthologies I've edited for the Marion Zimmer Bradley Trust -- Lace and Blade, and the Darkover anthologies, for example, are reduced in price, too.) *Jaydium, Northlight, Azkhantian Tales, Transfusion and Other Tales of Hope, Pearls of Fire, Dreams of Steel, and Ink Dance: Essays on the Writing Life. Collaborators has a release date, October 1, 2020, in both ebook and print. It's now available for pre-order from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and other ebook vendors.  (The print edition from Amazon won't go live until then, but B & N allows pre-order for both editions.) Your local bookstore can also order print copies from Ingram. It will be available through Overdrive, so you may be able to borrow it from your public library, as well. If you enjoyed it, please post a review! Radio Interview! On April 21, 2020, I was interviewed on the British radio station, Chat and Spin. Here's the link to the program. My interview begins 1 hour 37 minutes into the program. I've been invited back for June, so stay tuned!