Stories of Plague in the Time of COVID: A Live Event (You Can Now See a Replay)

The New York City chapter of the Historical Novel Society cordially invites you to a live internet event you can attend for free on Tuesday, October 6, at noon Eastern Time. Please adjust for your time zone--I'll be joining from Spain, so 6 p.m. for me.

UPDATE: This event took place as planned, and it turned out great! See the replay on YouTube. 

Stories of Plague in the Time of COVID will unite eight of the nine international bestselling authors from the We All Fall Down anthology for the first time ever! Although the title might sound like a bit of a downer, the overwhelming takeaway from these stories is that the human spirit has survived even the darkest times... and it will survive these dark times. 

The authors attending will be: 

* David Blixt

* Kristin Gleeson

* Jean Gill

* Yours truly, Jessica Knauss writing as J. K. Knauss

* Laura Morelli

* Deborah Swift

* Melodie Winawer 

* Lisa J. Yarde 

You're sure to find a new favorite in historical fiction. 

Sign up here to join via Zoom, where you will be able to ask the authors your own questions during the session! 

Register here to watch on Facebook live and submit your questions ahead of time. 

You'll receive a link to the event the day of. Our NYC chapter of the HNS has lots of experience with these events and things are all set to go smoothly. 

At the end of the meeting, three attendees will be chosen to receive a free copy of We All Fall Down in Kindle or epub. 

So join us for a chat about hope and resilience! See you there!  

Quarantine Photo Essay

The Lenten fairground for kids, seen from the castle 3/6. 

The Lenten fairground is still there, just completely shut down, 3/14.

Life has changed drastically over the last few days. We're not supposed to leave the house except for essential food and hygiene reasons. I'm still okay, and in fact, being a writer, if my roommate weren't so antsy, things might seem pretty much normal. Creepy empty streets, shows of support, and the first thing to crop up among the Spanish is humor.

Horrible toilet paper from the 70s becomes an object of desire. 

Crowded fairground, 3/8. 

A famous comic put to timely use in a meme. 

"Recommendations" in the teacher's lavatory, 3/10.

"A meteorite!" "Run! We need toilet paper!" 

Toilet paper mystery solved:
For every one who coughs,
one hundred sh*t themselves. 

New protocols for the people who clean
the hallways in our apartment building, 3/10. 

They asked our grandparents to go to war;
they'e only asking us to stay home.
Solidarity with the voluntary isolation which was
quickly becoming mandatory.  

Holy Week cancelled. Only
Pontius Pilate will go out in procession
because he's the only one
who washes his hands. 

People are allowed to walk their dogs during quarantine.
I can't say this kind of humor amuses me. 

Day 2 of quarantine with the kids at home...
We don't pay teachers enough.
(Truth.) 

Confusion over some of the quarantine
rules: Why are the hair salons
still open? Maybe it was this guy's idea.
(He's one of the Vice Presidents
of Spain and has always had
luxurious hair.) The idea is really to help
people who can't take care of
their own hygiene, and most hair salons
that don't serve anyone like that have closed.
I was the last customer at mine on Friday,
early afternoon. 

"Let's see if I understand: To avoid contagion,
I can go to work, to the bank, then go buy
bread, walk the dog, get some smokes, wait
in line at the butcher's, the fruit store,
fish store, and supermarket.
Then I can go to the optometrist,
pick up my comforter from the dry cleaner,
and get a haircut after I full up the car.
But I can't leave the house. Is that right?"

The President of Spain responds, 

"Well, I have no f*cking idea, but if 

that's what I said, that's what I said."

"In order to have a group of more than 1000 people,
in Zamora we have to bring people in from elsewhere."
I don't love humor that pokes fun at Empty Spain. 

"Man quarantined with his mother-in-law
requests euthanasia."
Hardy har har. 

 A playground cordoned off with police tape.
The first thing that really creeped me out. 3/13.

Another cordoned-off playground, 3/14,
the day I panic-bought chocolate.

 The Plaza Mayor empty on a Saturday night, 3/14.

People practice social distancing, a hard concept in Spain. 3/14. 

The most popular pub-crawl street, totally
deserted on Saturday evening. Gave me chills. 

"Sorry for the trouble," one of the bars on
the pub-crawl street. 

 Younglings, impervious to world crises, hanging
out at the castle as if everything's normal.

Zamora's doughty defenses can't stop a virus. 

The theatre where my roommate and I
were going to have a spectacular choir
concert this coming weekend, eerily quiet. 

"Thank you to Public Health. You are our true heroes and heroines."
Not sure any health professionals will see this,
but their heart is in the right place.

Part of the view from my quarantined apartment.
It kind of reminds me Morocco.
Ah! Remember when we used to be able to travel?

The cat seeks to avoid contamination.
3/16

Zamora with Santiago de los Caballeros, the castle, and the cathedral under
a supermoon, 3/8. It's waiting for us. It will be there, beautiful, when this is over. 

If you are isolating, and are a Kindle Unlimited member, I remind you that unique Rhode Island fantasy Awash in Talent is yours to read for free! And check out the free reading listed here. (Not all, but most of the readings on that page are free.) As this situation goes on, I plan to offer more fun reading material. If people let me concentrate with all their emotional support via text message!

Springing Along with a New Publication and Events

I know many of you are finishing up your taxes, that springtime blight. I've done mine for the first time as a widow, and it was about as fun as I expected.

Lest you think the piles of W2s and 1099s swallowed me up, it's time to let you know about the other amazing projects I've been working on.

The first is ready for you now! My historical short story, "The Lake," has come out in the award-winning Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine. The April issue is chock full of spine-tingling delights. My contribution makes use of Jungian imagery to pay tribute to one of my favorite poems ("The Lake"). The poet, Edgar Allan Poe himself, shows up as a young man in this story to have a transformative effect on an impressionable girl. It doesn't get much more gothic.

I never thought of my self as a horror writer, but more and more, I'm attracted to the psychological aspects of scary stories. If it has something creepy or uncanny, I'm there! There's something for all your horrifying needs in this issue of Dark Gothic Resurrected. It's also available from Amazon.

I'm proud to say the folks at Kindle Press have included Awash in Talent in a big sale: 150 Kindle Books for $1.50. Time to make my zany Rhode Island book the bestseller it should be! This unique piece of art and labor of love won't cost you more than a cup of coffee until April 30.

I'm also busy assembling superauthor outfits for not one, but two events this spring:

April 29: Spring into Art at the Saint Helens Public Library will see me reading briefly from Seven Noble Knights with many other talented authors. I'll also be at a table where you can purchase Seven Noble Knights, Awash in Talent, Unpredictable Worlds, or Tree/House and get them signed right before your eyes! I look forward to talking with you on April 29.

May 3: I return to the place where I first lived with my true love and fulfill a life dream: A reading at the Harvard Book Store with Q&A about Seven Noble Knights! If you're near Cambridge, I encourage you to show up for this free event, which will also feature wonderful memoirist Nadine Kenney. It's sure to be standing room only, so come early! The bookstore has signed copies available for preorder, too!

Photos and videos to follow.

Springtime Renewal with a Free Book and Big Sale

It' been a long winter. Luckily, the Vernal Equinox anthology is here, just in time to celebrate spring. This free anthology takes renewal as its theme. If you've ever wondered whether Emily from Awash in Talent is trapped forever in her bizarre forced-therapy prison, the story I contribute will show you the way she finds renewal. It's the first chapter of Awash in Talent's anticipated sequel, Call It What You Will (which is still being written). This entertaining story and nine others in the fantasy, horror, romance, and literary fiction genres are yours for free!

Author and anthology-maker Lincoln Cole's page gives you a link to Vernal Equinox and showcases all the featured novels in one convenient place.

The release of Vernal Equinox coincides with the Kindle Scout Anniversary Sale. In honor of two years of reader-powered publishing, all Kindle Press titles are only 99 cents each, today through April 3. A panoply of wonderful writing awaits, including Awash in Talent and all the books from Vernal Equinox! Check them all out at Amazon or get the deal conveniently on Awash in Talent's page.

Be sure to check out A Book A Month's appealing and well organized page for the event. Don't mess around with genres you don't care about—find your favorites with an easy click!

Also in celebration of renewal, in April my deep psychology story "The Lake," based on an Edgar Allan Poe poem, will appear in award-winning Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine.

Lest you think I haven't been busy, I'll let you in on a secret: I've been writing a fantasy story, set in Providence, Rhode Island, and another special place, with all new characters. I'm letting my imagination run wild. My writers group has called it magical, unique, vividly rendered, entertaining, and just great. It's good to have my honest efforts rewarded, and I have high hopes I'll be able to share a complete version of this story with you soon.

And last but not least, check out the popularity ranking of the Seven Noble Knights All Classical interview, also available here.

Get Ready for Seven Noble Knights: A Giveaway!

Seven Noble Knights is still faceless,
but not the in same way a lot of
historical novel covers are.  

Although it looks, to my dismay, as though Seven Noble Knights is still faceless to the world because the cover is not yet finished (it's being perfected as of this moment), today us still the start of something wonderful. The first Goodreads giveaway of Seven Noble Knights is open today!

Because the cover is not yet finalized, these ten prepublication copies have a cover that will not see print beyond this contest. That's right, it's an edition of ten, count 'em, ten copies only. That's what you call a bibliographic rarity. Go ahead, put your name in the hat for the book that's been 1000 years in the making—and still doesn't have a cover! Just click on "Enter Giveaway!" below.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Seven Noble Knights

by Jessica Knauss

Giveaway ends November 13, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Enter for your preview copy now! If you subscribe to my newsletter, you got a nice little present today with much more instant gratification. More such goodies to come in November, so it's not too late to sign up here or type in your email address at the top of the page!

UPDATE 10/13/16: The cover has been finalized. All will be revealed near the beginning of November.

My newsletter subscribers will be the first to see it! Become a part of this exclusive group here.

Awash in Talent is Available for Preorder Now

The book at the top of every wish list 

Confirmation: The link we've all been waiting for has arrived! Awash in Talent is available for preorder here. Everyone who nominated it should have received a notification to download their free copy! I know I did!

Queen of the castle because I'm a published author!

If you didn't nominate it during its Kindle Scout campaign, now is your chance to get in on the Gilmore Girls-with-a-paranormal-twist action. Help it reach its potential and I will be grateful to you forever.

Even better, it already has a five-star review from someone I'm not related to.

The official release is June 7, and the softcover is coming right around then, too.

This great news means the blog tour has begun! Check back here for links to interviews, excerpts, and all kinds of Awash in Talent fun.

Cover Reveal and the Beginnings of My YA Paranormal Adventure Set in Providence

It's the book with telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and psychic powers. Just as importantly, it's the novel with a field study in Ethiopia, a snowy trip to Boston, and the wonders of Waterfire in inimitable Providence, Rhode Island. It's Awash in Talent, and it's nearly ready to knock your literary socks off!

The amazing cover was created by Jasmine Green. It captures the female focus of the book and the way their Talents can make the characters feel, at the same time, invincible and about to drown.

I'm sharing the cover with you on the auspicious occasion of the beginning of Awash in Talent's Kindle Scout campaign. This is your opportunity to select Awash in Talent for publication by Kindle Press!

The link takes you a rather attractive page with the cover, the tag line (So much Talent can kill you.), an excerpt from the beginning through most of Chapter 2, a short bio, and three questions and answers about the book. It also shows a "Nominate" button. If you think Awash in Talent is worthy, all you have to do is click the "Nominate" button before February 29 (Leap Year Day!).

This simple act will get you three major benefits:

1. If Awash in Talent is chosen for publication (because you nominated it!), you will receive an exclusive edition of the novel for free before anyone can buy it! You'll be under no obligation to read it or to leave a review, although that's what Amazon (and I) will be hoping for.

2. You will have helped an author's dreams come true. How great will that feel?

3. You will be the proud owner of my gratitude. I will remember you when my writing career takes off. The value of this benefit is incalculable.

Here's a little more about the novel. At the link, you can also read an excerpt that introduces Emily's world. More beautiful graphics and descriptions are to come in the following weeks.

Emily can’t escape her annoyingly Talented telekinetic healer sister by going to a university 3000 miles away, in Providence, or even by doing a field study in Ethiopia. Why don’t people give credit where credit is due?

Kelly is forced to attend a pyrokinesis school/lockdown facility, but she must escape and bring Emily’s healer sister to Boston—her mother’s life depends on it.

Appointments with Emily might drive psychic therapist Patricia insane. Meanwhile, Patricia falls ever deeper into her husband’s selfish, cruel trap. In Providence, Friendship is a one-way street.

Awash in Talent is a novel in three interrelated novellas, all set in Providence, Rhode Island, where telekinetics, firestarters, and psychics attempt to function in a largely un-Talented society unappreciative of what they have to offer. Love/hate between sisters, mother and daughter, scared teenagers, a mismatched married couple, adult female friends, and an obsessive and the object of her affection are all put to the test.

The Kindle Scout campaign runs from now until midnight EST February 29. It's easy—just one click brings so much joy! Thank you so much for your consideration.

A Fleeting Flirtation with Fame

July 18 through 20, I did a giveaway of Unpredictable Worlds on Kindle as part of my publicity experimentation. Apparently, because I haven't set up a newsletter (yet), the best I could hope for with this is a few downloads, fewer reads, and vastly fewer new reviews.

During the free days, Unpredictable Worlds hovered around 113 in the Short Stories category most of the time. The number felt meant to be, containing as it does my husband's and my most romantic number, and I was happy with it, but if pressed, I would admit that I'd hoped to make it into the top 100 in at least one category.

After I made a Facebook plea (though I can't be sure that caused it), Unpredictable Worlds attained its highest rank on Monday at 9:44 pm: #67 in Short Stories!

And not only that, but I also happened to look at the section of the page that indicates "Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed," and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. I'm beyond honored to have the slightest association with these fine books!

Although this giveaway didn't bring me much closer to literary stardom, I'm happy it resulted in a few more readers gaining awareness of Unpredictable Worlds. I hope they enjoy it!

Any other giveaways will be with different books, rest assured. They will be less last-minute and will involve a newsletter of some kind, because that's what the gurus are now preaching.

The big takeaway here is: thank you for your support from the bottom of my heart.