“Hi,” the male says to Princess the Understudy, who is trying to meld with her preferred human. I’m chilling on the kitty hammock watching the shenanigans. Princess is very desperate this morning.
She’s probably afraid the male will have to return to work.
The female loves the male dearly, but right now, they all wish for more space. Moving isn’t an option. The female’s doctor is like you stay home, you don’t get plague, stay healthy. The plague would not be good for you, little female.
It is now 8:47. In the morning, for those of you overseas. The female is having coffee, which she shouldn’t have, but she’ll start behaving (and feeling better off coffee) when her general stress levels are heavily reduced.
The self-isolation part of this is great. Worrying about her older friends? Not so great.
Us felines have been working overtime soothing the female. It’s a hard job, but we get petted as part of our duties, which makes it worth our while.
Onto business, humans!
Chapter Seven of The House Lost at Sea is now up in the facebook group. Please enjoy! It looks like Owl Be Yours will probably be the next read after The House Lost at Sea. There are thirty-four chapters. Yes, all of them will be made available in the group.
No strings attached. Please enjoy.
The female loves smokey quartz crystals. The dark one in the front is polished and partially carved, as are the two darker but mid-sized spears near it. (One hiding behind the fluoride spear, the other right behind the big dark one in the front.) Because they are polished and carved, they have little actual value, but the female loves them.
The super tall one is a low-grade smokey quartz, natural spear.
The angled one in the center is the ugliest, but it’s also the prize of the collection. All natural, broken spear, good size, beautiful mid-spectrum gray.
It was a gift from her mother. More accurately, a bribe. You see, the female’s mother likes long car rides with offspring. The male does not. The female doesn’t mind them, but prefers them only with the male.
The mother of the female bribed the female with a purchase from a rock shop to tolerate the venture to a mine.
The male and the female got revenge. They found the precious stones they were seeking at the mine. The female’s mother did not.
This is morganite, it is a PINK!!! stone a little harder than quartz. You check if it’s morganite by scratching it against quartz. That day, they got the mine all to themselves, as the female’s mother has contacts who work gemstone mines and she paid the right amount after doing the right handshake and the mine operators were on a day off.
Side-note: Totally recommended to do the right handshake and issue the appropriate bribes. There’s nothing quite as fun as a private tour of a mine, and if you find anything shiny, you get to keep it.
This is the female’s shiny. It was just lying on top of the ground.
The female’s mother wailed at the unfairness of it all.
The female kept the pink shiny and her smokey quartz. The words “over my dead body” were used.
The female is highly possessive of rocks she has marked as hers. Don’t touch her rocks. She has a sword, and she might be bothered to use it if you touch her shinies.
I don’t think anyone has told the female this yet, but she might be a dragon.
Cover Reveal Time!
This is not the first book in this set, but the female needed something positive, so she has added to her cover hoard. (Have I mentioned she might be a literal dragon yet?)
An Otterly Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) will be a six book series featuring the same main character over all six books. The titles will generally not indicate anything more than the female’s fucking love of otters and puns involving otters.
Otterly ridiculous, that’s what she is. She’s otterly ridiculous.
The female has ordered a bunch of office supplies to aid in her quest to write these six books. No ETA on them, as the female did her schedule for 2020, and she’s not sure how she’s going to survive.
In good news, she’s 43,000 words further into License to Kill than she was yesterday, when she dug out the last draft and decided to give it a serious look to see if it can be salvaged.
It can be salvaged.
It is not a happy book. It will have a happily ever after. But it’s really not a happy book. The female thinks it will be a good book, however.
Onto the Book Review!
This part is hard, humans. The female has shared many of her favorites, and she could go on and on and on about them forever. Which one should she pick first? Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Decisions, decisions.
After some consideration, she is picking A Thousand Words for Stranger by Julie E Czerneda. It is currently $3.99 on Amazon, which is a serious bargain for this book. It’s pretty long. It’s totally worth it.
It delves into what it means to be human in a science fiction setting–and what it means to be both more and less than human. It deals with the mysteries of the mind, and the lengths people will go for ambition, prosperity, and even philanthropy. It blends many things.
The title is what got the female to first read this book. The title’s use within the book is simply stunning.
There must be a thousand words for stranger in the explored galaxy. Let one of them be sister.
A Thousand Words for Stranger by Julie E. Czerneda
This book should make you think. This book has stayed with the female a long time. We hope you enjoy it as much as she has.
News from the Blain Household
Self-isolation is a dream come true for the female. Everything is quiet. There’s no construction. The male is underfoot, which is bothersome at times, but she rather enjoys keeping a close eye on her male. (She also does not understand why people are so upset they have to spend time with their spouses right now… isn’t the point to shack up with people you like?)
She has a huge to-do list and little time to do everything in. She’s entered the final editing phases for The Run Around, which is great. She’s hard at work on Grave Humor. (She’s having a great time. Satin stumbled into the book. Stumbled is not the right word, as he dove in head first and took over a chapter. The female is absolutely not sorry about this.)
Satin is fun to write. Satin creates gleeful mayhem. One day, Satin will come along, unleash hell, and everyone will be shocked. I look forward to this day. Judging from the female’s maniacal giggling, she does, too.
The male keeps talking to Princess.
The female twitches when he does this, as she’s trying to work.
The female loves the male, but she is not impressed right now.
Stay safe, and stay home if you can.
~The Furred & Frond Management
I loved seeing your rocks! I *knew* there was a reason I love your books so much!
Yay for Satin.
I definitely get it – ambient noise can be quite distracting no matter the source. Do you have headphones that can block it? if available (and there aren’t any other drawbacks) the female could then enjoy the company of her male AND work in blessed quiet 🙂
Your female’s crystal collection reminds me of the book The Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey.
Looking forward to reading The Fun Around.
Yea for all the news of upcoming books. Woohoo!
Politely remind the male as he is lead servant to their furry magesties head should serve all their needs which means their talking time is done away from the female servant as what she does helps provide for all the lovely toys their royal furry highnesses want.
Be safe & stay healthy!
[Please forgive the spelling typos; been at work restructuring face to face classes to operate in live-on line format for remainder of semester since 0700 local time (I’m a few time zones east of your locale). Too freaking tired to do spell check]
Gotta love the sparklies.
not only do I love your books but i have many of the same crystals and Oliver our cat. He thinks he owns the place and I am here to clean his box and feed him in that order. Stay well. May the ideas keep coming. WE will read you as one person not 3 or 4. What ever makes you happy. WE shall be here your readers.
sherry
Ooh yer shinies are so pretty!!!
I collect stones too tho mine are more ooh that ones round! Ooh sparkly! Or I just like it for some reason ( my ma thinks I’m nuts on those ones) and I usually find mine in rock beds heh.
I hope your kitties are spoiling you, and that all ya’ll are staying safe!!
In the 1980’s we lived on a gravel road (it’s been paved over since) and when new gravel was added once or twice a year, we’d go out walking and looking for quartz and such. Pa made a point of NOT cleaning it up much. That way we’d have an idea of what, exactly, to be looking for.