The More Things Change

I have been missing in action from this blog (and most everything else) for several months, though not exactly by choice.

A few days after my last post I got shoved into an ambulance—again!—and taken back to Oregon Health & Science University.  Again.  All the way there I kept telling myself this was just a research trip, a way to write more knowledgeably about ambulances.  It didn't change the fact that I was admitted to the hospital and stayed for another surgery.

 I didn't stay as long this time, and my recovery was textbook-perfect, but I have been focusing on my own health and well-being since.  I found the walking and yoga I'd been doing made a tremendous difference in how quickly and thoroughly I bounced back, physical therapy can do amazing things, and attitude is everything.  I may not be 25 any more, but I definitely feel better than I have in a long time.

There were other changes, too.  The one most significant for the readers of this blog is the future of the Christy Fifield books.  Unfortunately, Berkley Prime Crime has decided (after many months of wavering) that they will not publish another book in the Haunted Gift Shop series.  I am disappointed, but it appears that many series are ending as Penguin/Berkley adjusts to the merger with Random House.  Fortunately, in the modern publishing world it doesn't mean the series has to end, as writers can move to indie publishing and readers can follow them.  Now that I have an answer from Berkley, and am back on my feet, I am working on book #5.  The adventures of Glory, Karen, Jake, Riley, Felipe, Ernie, Sly, Bluebeard, and all the rest will continue!

In addition to the Haunted Gift Shop, I hope to launch a new series, The Spy Girls.  I have always been fascinated by the women of the Second World War.  They were the first generation to move into the workforce—in what were then non-traditional jobs—in large numbers, and they showed following generations that women didn't have to be relegated to "nurturing" roles (mothers, teachers, nurses).  They were, in my mind, the proto-feminists that laid the groundwork for all women to come.  I already have five short stories about my fictional spy girls, and they will be coming out over the next few weeks, and I plan to follow the release of the stories—singly and as a collection of all five with the possible addition of bonus material—with the first novel in what I hope will be a series.

The short stories explore the backstories of the two main characters, culminating with their meeting in the final short story, "Swamp of the Prehistoric Clan."  This story originally appeared in the anthology Fiction River:Recycled Pulp from WMG Publishing last September. Being me, I wrote a cozy mystery about two women who meet in a retirement community in the 1970s.  They both have their secrets, but eventually they will discover they have one in common: they both served in clandestine services during World War II.  Imagine Peggy Carter in retirement, trying to content herself with bridge tournaments and Tupperware™ parties.  Yeah, like that's gonna work!

There are more changes to come over the next few months, and I'll be talking about them here as time goes on.  Until then, thanks for your patience while I recovered!