Brand New (Oddio) Audiobooks to Enjoy! Y una nueva edición muy guay

I've always known my books are mostly odd, so it only makes sense that they should be available in oddio audio. I'm so excited that this dream is now finally coming true! I've decided to reach readers through their ears instead of their eyes! 

The first book is a medieval classic prepared for you with modern technology, my translation, The Abencerraje.

Listen here.

This short story (it will take you less than an hour to listen to) was written in Spanish in the 1560s, and it will surprise you with its depth of feeling and its powerful message about the value of human life and especially of friendship. 

The Abencerraje is a popular text in Spanish literature survey courses at the university level, and I've also completed this project in the spirit of helping out a few students. 

More amazing audiobooks are on their way! Feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you never miss another one.

These texts are read by yours truly. What I lack in professional locution skills, I hope to make up for in enthusiasm and drama.

Grab your copy of the extraordinarily entertaining historical novella, Empress of Misfortune: 

- available at select outlets

- FREE only to my email subscribers

It's coming out in paperback and audiobook read by the author very soon!

The audiobook magic continues in my other genre! The second book, releasing today, is the sweet, fun science fantasy novella The Atwells Avenue Anomaly. I'm so excited to bring this original story to readers in this new format! 

Watch/listen here.

If you're in a massive heat wave like I am, The Atwells Avenue Anomaly can help you cool off. It takes place in Providence, Rhode Island, in the autumn, and also in another universe that never has unpleasant weather! 

Next up in audiobook is the always controversial women's novella, Tree/House. This one is read by a professional! Look for it very soon on my channel! 

And again, I would be grateful if you subscribed to my channel so you can always have access to surprising, memorable stories.

Y por último, quizás lo más importante: Mundos impredecibles, mi colección de relatos que consistentemente alcanza cinco estrellas de sus lectores satisfechos, ya aparece en una nueva edición. ¡Ahora ya se puede adquirir en rústica! Ver toda la información aquí.

Thank you for letting me share my hard work and excitement with you! 

Grand Finale to the Rhino Audio Series

The grand finale of the rhino audio series, a reading of my Five Species Forever flash fiction series, is about the least "grand" rhino species: the smaller Sumatran. The Sumatran is the only hairy rhino, having descended directly from the now extinct wooly rhinoceros of millennia past. Now that Harapan has left the Cincinnati Zoo, all Sumatran rhinos live in their homeland.

This story is called "Old Paintings." A whole world of fascination in less than five minutes!

Thanks for listening! I hope you enjoyed this series, which is close to my heart. More amazing 2016 news next week!

"Old Paintings" is available, with other great stories, a few with more rhinos, in the "delightfully off the beaten track" Unpredictable Worlds: Stories. Kindle • iBooks • Nook • Kobo • Smashwords• Inktera • Blio • Softcover • Softcover Indiebound • Softcover Amazon • Softcover Barnes and Noble  • Request it your local library or book store!

Best Books of the Year and What's to Come in 2016

It's been a great year. I won a prize for flash fiction, got seriously started on my editing business, released Unpredictable Worlds and received some recognition for it, released Tree/House in audiobook, spent ten gorgeous and hard-earned days in Spain, took part in Launch Lab, made it safely to my new home, and had Seven Noble Knights accepted for publication, to name just a few of the best events.

I also read quite a few good books. Which were the best?

That's really not a fair question in the year when the grand finale of a trilogy I have passionately, unreasonably adored came out.

The Map of Chaos by Félix J. Palma

Which book is best is hardly fair in light of another fact: this one is the manifestation of a historical novel I hoped would materialize some day to dramatize the life of Queen Emma for this Anglo-Saxon enthusiast.

The Price of Blood by Patricia Bracewell

So there you have it, the best novels (in my humble opinion) of 2015. The best nonfiction book was undoubtedly La nación inventada by Arsenio and Ignacio Escolar. I enjoyed this book more than I expected to (which is saying a lot) and will probably tell you more about it in future posts.

The year 2016 will see the debut of my darling Seven Noble Knights, so many of my resolutions have something to do with getting it into the limelight as much as possible. I also plan to draft the sequel this year. You didn't know Seven Noble Knights was going to have a sequel? It's a pleasant surprise for all of us! For those of you waiting patiently for more of my unusual contemporary work, I've resolved to get Awash in Talent published this year. More on that soon, for sure. In my personal life and "day job," I've got a lot to do to make this latest move make sense. In the meantime, if you need an editor for your awesome novel, call on me.

Vague as they seem, these are my professional resolutions, leaving room for the surprises that always seem to crop up.

What are your plans for 2016? Happy new year!

A selection of some of the other best books of 2015:

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Along the Far Shores by Kristin Gleeson

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Mermaids in Paradise  by Lydia Millet

Raven Brought the Light by Kristin Gleeson

Lucky Us by Amy Bloom

The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan

Love in Infant Monkeys by Lydia Millet

Like to Listen?

It's here! Every audiophile's dream. Tree/House, the strange little novella that inspires everyone who reads it, now comes to you via the lively professional talent of Melissa Moran.

It's available on iTunes, Audible, and Amazon. Click on the links to find compelling audio samples.

If I may say, it's priced very reasonably for this much imagination and creative talent (the voice artist's). And yet, there are a couple of ways you can get it for no money at all.

1. Contact me (in a comment here or at Facebook or Twitter) for a free download code from Audible! I would, of course, love it if you enjoyed Tree/House in audio and left a review after using one of the limited number of codes I have available. The important thing is to enjoy it.

2. Join Audible's first month free and make sure Tree/House is the first book you download. If you love audiobooks, you'll want to keep your subscription for only $14.95 a month. That charge includes one audiobook per month and 30% off additional ones. If you remain a member in good standing for 61 days (three months) after you get Tree/House as your first download, I get a special bounty payment. This is the option for you if you love to listen to books and want to give yourself (and me) an amazing gift.

Having Tree/House brought to life in this way has been a dream come true. I've personally listened to it all and am amazed at how well it's turned out. But it has cost me a significant amount of money to produce. Like everyone I know, I work very hard for the small amount of money I earn, so this was a big decision. I hope I have some avid reader supporters to help me get back my investment. Every download helps! Really. Thank you.

If you prefer to read it and interpret it for yourself, a new edition of Tree/House is also available in many electronic and print venues.
Kindle • iBooks • Nook • Kobo • Smashwords • Inktera • Blio • Many other ebook retailers • Softcover • Softcover Indiebound • Softcover Amazon •  Softcover Barnes and Noble • Request it at your local library or bookstore

White Rhinos Used to Appear in the Colosseum!

It's true. White rhinos, the largest of all the extant species, used to live north of the equator in Africa.

These were the forebears of the northern white rhinos, who have become famous recently because there are only three left. (Their demise and one man's desperate efforts to save them are chronicled in The Last Rhinos. There are more southern white rhinos in the world.)

The ancient Romans were always on the lookout for fierce beasts for the gladiatorial arena, and the look of a rhinoceros is plenty fierce if you have no idea what you're looking at. "After the Arena" is my imagination of what it might have been like to witness a "fight" between a rhinoceros and and elephant, with a nod to The Story of Ferdinand. Strange, mysterious, and based in fact, in under four minutes. Please enjoy this narration while you await the release of Tree/House in audio.

I hope everyone had a beautiful Thanksgiving. Here's to a great December.

Five-star rated Unpredictable Worlds is now in wide release. Read this and many other rhino stories at the following venues and more:
Kindle • iBooks • Nook • Kobo • Smashwords • Inktera • Blio • Softcover • Softcover Indiebound • Softcover Amazon • Softcover Barnes and Noble

Listen to Another Flash Fiction from Unpredictable Worlds

"Clara" celebrates the Greater One-Horned or Indian rhinoceros in the Five Species Forever flash fiction series. It was inspired by a curious historical incident, described in detail by Glynis Ridley in Clara's Grand Tour, when a Dutch sea captain took a rhinoceros on tour throughout Europe (and appeared to develop a mutually affectionate relationship!).

Listen to this historically evocative tale in less than three minutes.

Five-Star rated Unpredictable Worlds is now in wide release! Read this and many other rhino stories at the following venues and more:
Kindle • Apple iBooks • Nook • Kobo • Smashwords • Inktera • Blio • Softcover • Softcover Indiebound • Softcover Amazon • Softcover Barnes and Noble




I would also like to commemorate this day as Alfonso X's birthday in Toledo, Spain, in 1221. He's still young at 794!

New audiobook coming soon!

Music to Your Literary Ears

As you know, this week (Friday) will see the release you've been waiting for of the new edition of Tree/House and Unpredictable Worlds in all formats.

But the most wonderful news has been years in the making. In 2011, a reader on Goodreads asked me if Tree/House was available in audiobook. I knew it was a great idea, but it just wasn't the right time. Now, it's the right time! Through the magic of the internet, I've been able to find the perfect narrator for Tree/House. Her name is Melissa Moran and she's hard at work finalizing the audio files now! I've heard the proofs, and I can't describe how exciting it is to hear this crazy, heartfelt story out loud. Melissa really makes the characters come to life.

The audiobook will be available very soon. It will make a great holiday gift...

Tree/House is now available in Kindle and Nook and in Softcover, Softcover at Indiebound, Softcover at Amazon,  Softcover at Barnes and Noble, and you can request it at your local library or bookstore. Many other ebook sites will have it on November 20. Preorders are available at Apple iBooks and Kobo. Buy it now and on November 20, it will magically appear!

At first, Unpredictable Worlds was in Softcover, Softcover at Indiebound,  Softcover at Amazon, and Softcover at Barnes and Noble, but only in Kindle for ebooks. Now, it's ready for you on Nook! Those amazing preorders are being taken at Apple iBooks and Kobo, so you have something downloading to your device while you're waiting for the next showing of the final Hunger Games movie on November 20. Many other retailers will have it on November 20. If you feel like shopping at your favorite ebook retailer, it will be waiting for you!

A Two-Minute Story for Your Story-Hungry Ears and New Releases

Here's another video that's meant mostly to be listened to. It's the shortest of the flash fictions in the series Five Species Forever, each of which celebrates on of the surviving species of rhinoceros.

The little rhino in this video is the cutest stuffed animal on the planet, I believe. My husband named him creatively: Rhiny. He's lived with us since before we were married and he's our favorite pet.

The black rhinoceros is the smaller of the African types and there are also fewer of them. Some 4,500 are left on the planet.

This story isn't really very fictional, unfortunately.

Enjoy! And look for the other four species soon.

As you know, I'm proud of the new edition of Tree/House. I want to disseminate it as widely as possible. On November 20, when you're not watching the final Hunger Games movies, you can have Tree House from just about any venue you like!

It's already available in Kindle and Nook and in Softcover, Softcover at Indiebound, Softcover at Amazon,  Softcover at Barnes and Noble, and you can already request it at your local library or bookstore. Many other ebook sites will have it on November 20. Preorders are available at Apple iBooks and Kobo. Buy it now and on November 20, it will magically appear! (I love preorders!)

I love preorders so much that I have a few of them going for the much-anticipated wide release of Unpredictable Worlds. As you know, at first it was in Softcover, Softcover at Indiebound,  Softcover at Amazon,  and Softcover at Barnes and Noble, but only in Kindle for ebooks. Now, it's ready for you on Nook! Those amazing preorders are being taken at Apple iBooks and Kobo, so you have something downloading to your device while you're waiting for the next showing of the final Hunger Games movie on November 20. Many other retailers will have it on November 20. If you feel like shopping at your favorite ebook retailer, it will be waiting for you!

Unpredictable Worlds contains "Safari" and many other rhinoceros stories. As you think about the holiday season and what gifts would be best for the readers in your life, please consider authors you've never tried before. At the very least, you'll be supporting a labor of love, and in the best case, you'll help your reader friend discover a new author he or she loves to read!

Stairs to the Beach from UNPREDICTABLE WORLDS

By way of a sort of podcast or vlog, just in time for Halloween, I'm sharing with you my reading of "Stairs to the Beach," the award-winning flash fiction from Unpredictable Worlds.

This is probably the most atmospheric and creepy of the flash fictions in the whole book. People with children may find it horrifying, while others may take a secret delight in it... Immerse yourself in a whole unexpected world in less than five minutes.

Enjoy! Happy Halloween!

A New Edition in Honor of the Passing of Time

I've learned a lot since I first published Tree/House. It's no longer my magnum opus—I've written two novels and participated in lots of critique groups and workshops—so I've learned a lot about writing and what it is I'm trying to say. It stands the test of time pretty well in that regard. There's not much I would change.

I've learned a lot about book formatting and merchandising. I've already made changes, the last and most important being the spiffy cover that so well captures the content for me.

I've learned a lot about editing, copyediting, and proofreading. Almost too much! When I first uploaded Tree/House, I had basic grammar and punctuation covered, but was years away from figuring out how to get an editorial job with a publishing company and even longer from purchasing my own copy of the Chicago Manual of Style. And now I'm close to having it memorized.

So I've gone back over my dear little book and excised a lot of the types of gaffes I now take out of other authors' manuscripts for a living. I've given it a new five-act structure, in a nod to Shakespeare, and I'm thrilled with how it's come out.

The new edition is available now in Kindle and in Nook, with other digital formats and a new softcover to come soon. I'll be sure to let you know.

Watch this space for an even more exciting Tree/House announcement!