The Start of Something New: Exile Blog Tour and Giveaway

In a lot of ways, 2015 was a hard year for me. There were some health scares with people close to me. I spent a large part of the year dealing with prolonged injury recovery for my horse and adjusting to live in the city after 14 years living in the country. I have also spent the last several months handling my own injury recovery thanks to my dog, Teagan (I love him, really I do) feeling it necessary to leave his bone on the top step in the middle of the night.

On the up side, I started 2015 with the lofty goal of getting another book published. I ended the year with three more books released into the wild. Dissident (Forbidden Things #1), The Girl and the Clockwork Conspiracy (Clockwork Enterprises #2), and Exile (Forbidden Things #2) have all joined my debut novel, The Girl and the Clockwork Cat, out in the world. In 2016, I'm planning the released of the next two books in both series along with the introduction of something new that I'm very excited about.

To kick off the new year, I'm taking Exile on a virtual tour coordinated by Masquerade Book Tours. The stops are listed below. Join me and get involved for the glorious fun of it and for chance to win one of two $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift cards.

May your 2016 be amazing (and full of books)!

Exile Tour Schedule

January 4th
Natural Bri @ Masquerade Crew (Review)
Charline's Blog and More... (Guest Post)
Hope. Dreams. Life... Love (Pick a Playlist)

January 5th
Foofy * Not Foofy (Review)
Boom Baby Reviews (Author Interview)
Teatime and Books (Spotlight)

January 6th
The Plotting Field (Review)
Girl of 1000 Wonders (Spotlight)
The Book Bag (Spotlight)

January 7th
DJ's Book Corner (Guest Post)
Celticlady's Reviews (Spotlight)
Paranormaly Yours (Author Interview)

January 8th
Moonwalker @ Masquerade Crew (Review)
Ogitchida Kwe's Book Blog (Pick a Playlist)
Indy Book Fairy (Spotlight)

Another Halloween Medley

Because everyone needs a medley now and then and Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love the costumes and the creativity. This year, I’ve been too busy to invest a lot of time into it, but I wanted to share a little seasonal fun with you all, so here is my Halloween medley. Last minute pumpkins.

Dressing up the kids.

A bit of Halloween fun from Eldritch Black including Pumpkins, skeletons and a cat in a tutu.

No Halloween is complete without a little Manson. Here is Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare before Christmas' re-cut with Marilyn Manson's version of 'This Is Halloween' for the re-release of the film in Disney Digital 3-D and 2-Disc Special Edition Soundtrack.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU6iP0WLsU8]

If you’d like a little steampunk in your Halloween, you can visit my interview over at YA Interrobang.

For a little extra boost of steampunk Halloween, here’s Abney Park performing Evil Man in their studio.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLWe_2wV7cg]

Happy Halloween!

In the Interim

The last week has been a little crazy with adjusting to the idea of having a book out, trying to keep track of social media and writing up guest blog posts and interviews. Outside of that, I've been trying to edit the next book,

get Teagan established with a vet in our new town,

get my horses in to a vet for their dental appointment,

prepare for a book release party,

and manage all the other little details of life (like going to urgent care for a cat bite). I hope to have something more fun up on my blog soon, but in the interim, if you're curious about my book, The Girl and the Clockwork Cat, you can follow some of the reviews and guest posts on my blog tour here managed by the fabulous YA Bound Book Tours.

Happy adventuring!

Not a Clockwork Dog

The release of my debut novel, The Girl and the Clockwork Cat, rushed in on the heels of a whirlwind move from a house we’d lived in for fourteen years. Fourteen years is exactly long enough to forget how dreadful moving is and to accumulate a ton of stuff.

With the move and all the prep work for the book release, I barely had a free minute for anything else. This made it the perfect time to adopt a dog. (There may be something wrong with me).

Meet eight-month-old Teagan.

In a mere couple of weeks, he’s become an integral part of the family. Even the cats are reluctantly accepting him into their domain (possibly in the hopes of dispatching him when we aren’t looking).

Teagan puts out a lot of effort to fit in. He’s learned not to be too forward with the cats and picked up the idea of Frisbee like a champ (though he’s still having a little trouble with the idea of giving the Frisbee back).

He’s gone on several adventures around the new neighborhood with us and even showed off his excellent manners at brunch on the patio of a local restaurant.

Last night, we decided to have a nice dinner in to celebrate the book release. Overwhelmed with the excitement in the house, Teagan helped himself to a lovely cut of uncooked steak off the counter…

He did make amends by helping cook in a rather unexpected torrential downpour, possibly in hopes of getting another go at the steak.

He may not be a cat and he may not always get things right, but he’s a fantastic addition to the family.

Welcome home Teags. I'm hoping you'll have many more chances to snatch a celebratory steak off the counter.

Memory of a Dog

I'm going to go off topic for a short post in memory of Akila. I feel he deserves at least that much.

Akila: Died 9/27/2011

Akila was never a good dog. He was always a little too clever and spirited to be good. I remember sitting at the Humane Society in the visiting room with him. He wasn’t the dog we came to see. That dog had already been adopted.

We were strangely hesitant to commit to Akila. There was some whispered warning there that we probably should have heeded, but what fun would that have been?

We eventually decided that if he ate the annoying fly buzzing around us we would take him home. Yes, really. That was our deciding point. As if on cue, he did exactly that. I do believe it was the first and last insect he ever ate.

Shortly thereafter, I put him through obedience classes, which generally went something like this:

“Akila, come!”

Hmm. Mom wants me. I suppose I should… Did you smell that! I have to go check that out! Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll be right back!

He never really learned to come when called, but the instructor graduated us. I still suspect it was out of pity.

Akila’s independent streak continued, leading us on many wild chases through the woods and down the street and even into neighbor’s houses. He would behave for several months, coming when called and lulling us into complacency, then he’d catch wind of something and sprint off while we called frantically after him. Now and then he would even pause and give me that ‘Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll be right back’ look before loping off into the trees with his goofy long-legged lope. Of course, right back with Akila could mean anything from half an hour to four hours later.

Interestingly, this behavior led to the development of a super power. Specifically, my hag voice, which has been known freeze people in their tracks. It is the only thing that could ever drag him back early from one of these adventures. I am sure my neighbors will have nightmares about it for years to come.

Akila and his favorite cat with my nephew.

Like the cat’s he always got on with so well, Akila never felt the need to please us. He liked us, he thought a nice round of Frisbee catching followed by a milk bone was the best, and he slept by the bed every night in silent appreciation of our care.

Over the last few years, some of that changed. He started losing nerve function in his back end and losing his mind a bit, but even when he was reduced to wobbling around the house and falling a lot, he would occasionally sprint off into the trees, using his hind legs together more like a pogo stick to propel him forward.

Then the bone cancer came. It was clear that his spirit would never give in, but his body had. It was time to help him go. To the last minute, he still wanted his milk bones and he loved the gourmet hamburger we made him for lunch. Then the vet came and he reluctantly moved on. Living with him was never easy. Losing him was harder still.

His body rests on the hill behind the house. Wherever his indomitable spirit is now, I hope he can eat all the popcorn he wants, steal hamburger from the counters, and have many adventures. He will be missed.