Madder than a Wet Hen

They rounded the corner of the garage and saw utter chaos. Some chickens had escaped their coop and were clucking, squawking, flopping and fluttering about outside their pen. The hens still in the enclosure were even more hysterical.

Wang Huck and Jack, entering the coop, waded into the melee, trying to corner two smallish dogs within the enclosure. With men and dogs now inside their fence, those chickens still in the pen were doing a frantic dance-and-screeching squawk.

Each time a dog was cornered, the men made a lunge for it but several chickens would get in the way. The dog would escape and run to the other side of the pen, stirring up more chickens. Jack was yelling and waving his arms. Wang Huck’s howling, punctuated by his singsong words, wove in and out of the discordant noise and made a most unusual accompaniment to the cackles, barks and yells.

The panorama was so unexpected and bizarre the girls started to giggle. The harder the men tried, the less successful they were. The funnier the situation became, the harder the girls giggled. The men were getting tired. Rebecca, still laughing, thought of a possible solution. (From Sirens in her Heart by Natalie Peck) http://tinyurl.com/qxxvmz4

Sorry, I Thought You Were Somebody Else.

As she pulled into her driveway, a car was waiting there. Fear knotted her stomach; she didn’t recognize the car. Rebecca tried to remember what kind of car Gil drove, but drew a blank.

It must be him. I told him I didn’t want to see him this morning. He’s got a lot of nerve.

Shaking with fury, she got out of her beat up Mustang, stomping over to the car. Rebecca yanked the door open and began her tirade.

“Just what do you think you’re doing here, Mister…” when she realized there was a woman sitting in the driver’s seat, not Gil. She stopped, confused and a bit disappointed and looked again. It was Harriet, her old school chum and very best friend. Shock held her still a moment before she could gather her wits. (From Sirens in her Heart by Natalie Peck) More about the book

Weekly Update - 11/30/15

This week I spent two days in the kitchen with my daughter, baking pies and a turkey, whipping cream, and mashing potatoes. Time well spent, we had a lot of fun and also washed a mountain of dishes.


We published Natalie Peck's Sirens in her Heart on November 27th. Sirens isn't the first book Natalie's had published, but it is the first she wrote, and the only one of her works that her author mother got to read before her passing. The book was published on Natalie's mother's birthday. Sirens is available here, or at the usual retail outlets.


The office renovations continue: I sewed the panels for my screen, and also the curtain that will hang above it to block the rest of my closet from view of my office. The curtain still needs to be hung up. I promise there will be before and after photos when we're finished.


My daughter's birthday present this year is fabric to sew her own set of Jedi robes. I got it for her early, since her birthday is rather close to the movie's release date, and she wouldn't have time to finish it beforehand. We've been doing a lot of sewing. I use a rolling computer desk for my sewing table, and both of our machines will fit on the table back-to-back so we can both sew at the same time. I told her the other sewing that's been sitting around forever has to be done before the Jedi robes, because otherwise it will never get done. I've hemmed ten "wedding" tablecloths (don't ask, not an imminent event, but needed to be done), discovered that my sewing machine is violently allergic to the magenta thread that matches the curtain, sewed the aforementioned screen panels and curtain, and discovered that a long-awaited blouse that's been cut out for two years was cut wrong...I had two left halves of the back, and no right half...and I cut it out two years ago from old fabric that was lying around, so I can't just re-cut another back panel. I nearly cried. I really wanted that blouse. My daughter's been working on a Christmas present for my Dad and doing an excellent job of it. All that's left is to finish the Christmas present, assemble two nightgowns that have been cut out for a couple of years, and then we can start on the Jedi robes.


I've also done a bunch of editing:

• Misty was sent from one of my editors back to the author for more work. It's just finishing the first round of editing and we expect to publish by April's end. It's the second book in Marie Evergreen's Travelers series. The first book, Quinn, is available here, or at all the usual retail outlets.
• I did initial rewrites on Encounter at Kiral - it's the second book in Scott Ashby's Cavaliers series. It should be out in October. The first book, Assignment to Earth, is available here or at your favorite retail outlet.
• C R Simper's Rift Watcher has been sent to the final copyeditor. It's the first in the Rift Watcher series, and should be out by the end of December.
• I started edits on The Blogger, a novella that should be out in June. I'm not mentioning the author's name here yet, because I haven't asked him if he wants to use his own or a pen name.
• We're also deep in edits on Bolts from the Blue (A M Jenner), An Independent Love Affair (Natalie Peck), and an as-yet unnamed thriller by A M Jenner.
• Also, A M Jenner is in the midst of two more novels; Corpse on the Porch, which is this year's NaNoWriMo winner and Pushing up Roses.

No, I haven't done much sleeping.

Exciting things happening!

Scott Ashby's book Crown of Tears was published October 31st. It's another great fantasy. What's it about? Only the magical coronation band can name the true heir - and next ruler - of Notia. However, the band has been stolen. King Kaddick is dying, and his three daughters, Calla Lily, Gladiola, and Marigold, must find the coronation band before it's too late.


Natalie Peck wrote her first romance novel over a quarter century ago. It was the only one of Natalie's novels her author/mother got to read before her death, and although she rarely read fiction, she told Natalie it was an excellent book. Last year, Natalie was cleaning out her storage room, rediscovered the original manuscript, dusted it off, updated the technology, and submitted it.
The Electric Scroll editors agreed with Natalie's mother - it's an excellent book. Sirens in her Heart will be published on November 27th, Natalie's mother's birthday.


We're pleased to welcome C R Simper as an Electric Scroll author. She has two short steampunk stories published in anthologies, and her first novel, Rift Watcher, will be coming out in December.