This tale is set in the Solar System Services, Inc., universe a few centuries after Alone is Not Lonely on the planet Onizuka. Because the planet's tilt is greater than that of Earth and has a slower rotation, it experiences longer days and nights depending on the season. Most colonists live in the equatorial band, but some hardier souls live north or south. Travel during Onizuka's winters are next to impossible.
As a result, the colonists have found some of Earth's historical stories and culture provides them with the means to survive an Onizukan night. Some whimsy remains though. The colonists won't waste edible pumpkins and turnips as Jack O' Lanterns, so they carve native pink-fleshed tubers for their Halloween tradition.
And if the name is familiar, I wrote a college paper about the cultural contributions of Japanese-Americans, including NASA Mission Specialist Ellison Onizuka prior to the Challenger disaster. He'll always have a place at my table.
In the meantime, the Millersburg Magick Mysteries Kickstater camapaign successfully funded. Tomorrow, I'll send out the surveys. All rewards, both digital and physical, will be sent before Thanksgiving. If you missed the campaign, contact me through the tab at the top of the website, and I'll accommodate you.
Halloween Harvest, in which my story "A Place at the Table" appeared, is part of the 2023 Halloween Storybundle. We're supporting Maui Strong, an aid organization that is helping the residents of Lahaina, who lost everything in wildfires earlier this year.
The second and third books of the Millersburg Magick Mysteries series will be released over all retailers the next three and a half weeks.
Also, the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse series will be released on all retailers on November 8th.
That's all the news for now. Next week, I'll be posting more samples of Death Goddess Walking.
Have a most excellent weekend, everyone!
I'm working on Death in Double Mocha. This one is more than a relief. January is only a little over half over, and I've written nearly 30K words. For a slow writer like me, this is marvelous.
If you haven't read "A Place at the Table" under the Free Short Story tab, you have until January 31st to do so. I will be putting up a new free story on February 1st.
When I'm caught up on the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse campaign rewards, I'll finish the re-writes of the first three books of the Millersburg Magick Mysteries and re-release them.
In between all of this, I'll be working on Queer Eye for the Super Guy.
It feels good getting back to normal around Casa Harden!
The rest of the stories are pretty awesome, too. *grin*
You can purchase it at the following places:
Amazon, all countries
A Very Hero Wedding (888-555-HERO #8) dropped last Friday on Amazon. It should be live on other retailers soon-ish.
"A Place at the Table" will be released somewhere between October 25th and November 2nd under the WMG Holiday Spectacular. On November 4th, the anthology Halloween Harvest will be released by WMG with "A Place at the Table" among the many great stories that were selected.
On November 15th, another holiday story "The Yule Switch" will drop. It's currently on pre-order across all online stores.
On December 1st, my last New Hallowthanksmas story A Very Hero New Year (888-555-HERO #9) will hit stores.
I'm still playing catch-up with my Angry Sheep Publishing paperbacks. Hero Amicus Curiae (888-555-HERO #7) will be out in a couple of weeks if I can get a breather next week to review the print interior. That leaves the latest two Justice and latest two HERO books to put together for paperbacks.
Once A Very Hero New Year is finished (hopefully, this weekend *fingers crossed*), I'll be going full bore on the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse series. I plan on doing something a little different with this series. I'm going to do my first Kickstarter and release the series all at once to my backers before the books go on sale in stores.
Why am I doing this? Because outside deadlines make a bigger impact on my production focus than internal deadlines do. Second, I've been supporting Kickstarter projects for the last ten years, and now, I want to try one. Third, I've already been ordering some nifty rewards to make sure I have them in time for my Kickstarter. So stay tuned for the official Kickstarter announcement!
Oh, the picture above? That's the magnet currently on my refrigerator. I'm so excited about this project!
Next week, we'll go back to our regularly scheduled sample chapters. 😎
The month of October offers you a double-feature from me (and in one case, a few other writers)!
WMG Publishing, Inc., has been doing an advent-type calendar of short stories for the Winter Holidays for the last three years. This year, they've added Valentine and Halloween short stories in addition to the Winter Holidays.
Given the books I write, it isn't too hard to figure out I have a story in the Halloween collection.
For $15, here's what you'll get:
1) Starting October 25th and ending November 2nd, you will receive one story per day. An email will be sent to you with a link to download the short story in the e-book reading form you prefer.
2) "Wait a minute, Suzan," you say. "$15 for only nine stories?" Nope, you will also get the e-book anthology including the nine original stories plus two additional short stories on November 4th!
3) Not into Halloween, but you know someone who would love this collection as a gift? Just give WMG the e-mail address of the gift recipient. Easy-peasy!
4) What about a paperback version of Halloween Harvest? Yes, there will be, but I don't have a date yet. The cost for a paperback will be separate from the cost for the newsletters and e-book.
To order Halloween Harvest, go to the Halloween Spectacular Calendar 2021.
My story is "A Place at the Table," a sci-fi tale where the exoplanet Onizuka's axial tilt is so sharp that the night lasts for three months. And when Dark falls, creatures come out of hibernation. Creatures that modern weapons cannot kill.
All the stories in the collection are marvelous. I hope you'll check it out!
