Writers. Do you ever wonder what happens to the bookmarks we distribute to other writers, and readers? Sure, some of them make it home with them and are used as bookmarks. But probably not in your book. Most probably end up in the trash.

I made a promise to myself at Bouchercon 2019 to do something for you. I looked up every author who gave me a bookmark or other swag, and made a list. I have the original list saved for later. On it I’ve made comments based on the first paragraph of every book. I’ve already bought three of the books on this list. Bet I buy a few more over the next few years.

My private list contains notes about whether I might like the book or not. Don’t want to influence anyone away from a book they might enjoy, so I edited my comments out.

So here we go:

Hank Phillippi Ryan, Trust Me. Tori Eldridge, The Ninja Daughter. Lauri Broadbent, Images. Barbara Schlichting, The Broken Circle. Patricia Shanae Smith, Remember. Carl Vonderau, Murderabilia. Grace Topping, Staging Is Murder. Kaye George, Choke.

Kathy Waller, Stabbed. Anna Gerard, Peach Clobbered. Catherine Bruns, Penne Dreadful. Tina Kashian, On The Lamb. Paula Munier, Blind Search. Sherry Knowlton, Dead of Spring. Mark Bergin, Apprension.Connie Berry, A Dream of Death.

Christin Brecher, Murder’s No Votive Confidence. Johnathan Brown, The Big Crescendo. Kelsey Rae Dimberg, Girl in the Rearview Mirror. Heather Harper Ellett, Ain’t Nobody Nobody. James O’Keefe, Unto Madness. Layne Fargo, Temper. Shaun Hamill, A Cosmology of Monsters.

John A. Hoda, Odessa on the Delaware. R.J. Jacobs, And Then You Were Gone.Sara E. Johnson, Molten Mud Murder. Angel Kim, Miracle Creek.Vanessa Lillie, Little Voices. Dolores Marone, Status Missing. John McMahon, The Good Detective.

Rachel Neuburger Reynolds, Drowning Lessons. August Norman, Come and Get Me. Stephanie Perkins, Murder Once Removed. Tracey S. Phillips, Best Kept Secrets. Dea Poirier, Next Girl to Die. Joseph Schneider, One Day You’ll Burn. Rick Treon, Deep Background. Scott Von Duviak, Charlesgate Confidential. John Vercher, Three-Fifths.

Margaret Mizushima, The Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. Lexann Beornet, Three Second Escape. Connie Berry, A Legacy of Murder. Leigh Perry, The Skeleton Makes a Friend.Susan D. Peters, The Iron Collar. Debra Goldstein, One Taste Too Many. Mary Lawrence, The Alchemist of Lost Souls.

Travis Richardson, Bloodshot and Bruised. Matt Coyle, Wrong Light. Margaret Dumas, Murder in the Balcony. Debbie Herbert, Unmasking the Shadow Man. Michael Stanley, A Carrion Death. Pricilla Paton, Where Privacy Dies.Jane Suen, Murder Creek.

James L’Etoile, Bury the Past. Frank Zafiro, Waist Deep. Kathleen Barber, Truth Be Told. Triss Stein, Brooklyn Legacies. Wendall Thomas, Drowned Under. Tosca Lee, The Line Between. Vivian Barz, Forgotten Bones. Jo Perry, Dead Is Better. D.R. Ransdell, Mariachi Meddler.

Andy Hayes, Fourth Down and Out. Dian S. S. Stuckhart, Fool’s Moon. Amy Gentry, Good As Gone. Amy Stewart, Girl Waits With Gun. Kathleen Barber, Follow Me. John Copenhaver, Dodging and Burning. Suzanne Trauth, Show Time.

Kelly Brakenhoff, Death by Dissertation. Jennifer Lewis Williams, A Murder Among Friends. Roberta Rogow, Lorr and Disorder. David M. Salkin, The Team. Maggie Foster, The Arms of Death. Carole Nelson Douglas, Cat in an Alphabet Soup. 

My book is Brown, a mystery novel by G. L. Rix.

WHAT I’VE READ SINCE LAST POST:  The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas.

WHAT I READ SINCE LAST TIME: Nemesis Game by James S.A. Corey. Timeline by Michael Crichton.

Thank you, Karalina!

Hope you and your family enjoyed the Galveston Book Festival this Saturday. And hope you like my books.

Best wishes,

Gretchen Lee Rix 

AQUASAURUS came first, and it was a doozy of a Michael Crichton-like monster movie of a novel. Now we have SEARCH FOR AQUASAURUS, which (spoiler alert) means the prehistoric crocodilian menace from the first book got away somehow.

I’m glad, because now we have a second rip-roaring action adventure about some Texans going all out to kill the thing (or capture it for study, as one group aims to do).

These two books by author Ernie Lee are great fun to read. He is also author of HIM (about the servant girl murders in Austin that pre-dated Jack the Ripper), and a book of poetry WHERE THE WILD RICE GROWS. You can find him at book festivals around the state, and comic coms in central Texas.

You can find his books at Amazon.com and other outlets.

WHAT I’VE READ SINCE LAST POST: Albatross by R. A. MacAvoy and Nancy Palmer. Search for Aquasaurus by Ernie Lee. The Island Thief by Patrick Kelly. Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey. Ask Him Why by Catherine Ryan Hyde.

Meet Rebecca Ballard. One of the many good writers making Lockhart, Texas their home. I asked her a few questions.

Tell us a little about your novel TINY ALICE:

Tiny Alice is a multi-generational story of women struggling to meet the challenges of today—whether or not to become a parent, how to be the kind of parent you hope to be, miscommunication, disappointed expectations, and trying to keep a sense of humor in the face of it all. Alice says that an expectation is a disappointment waiting to happen. The characters are intense, colorful, funny and determined. In a way it’s a family saga that spans the time of the Great Depression to today, and examines the machinations of families to find each other and to stay together in spite of innate differences.

How do you write and what do you like and dislike about the process?

I write in the early mornings, probably two to three hours a day. When writing the first draft I try to get the story on paper. It’s a very thin, stream of consciousness process. Then I address each chapter to flesh out the story, develop the characters, and delineate and add detail to the  plot, create backstory and subplot. The third time I go through the book I look at language and the quality of my writing style. Then…I EDIT—my least favorite phase of writing a book. Then it’s off to my professional editor for final tweaks.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I enjoyed a double career for thirty plus years as an administrator in the financial industry and as an actress. Health concerns made it necessary of me to “retire” several years ago. I’d always been a writer as well—poetry, short stories, periodical articles, stage plays. Missing the theater terribly, I needed to find a creative outlet that would nurture me through the coming years. I began to write books. My psychological thriller, Wild Game, was published in 2012. Tiny Alice is my second novel, and I’m at work on a third, Saint Sal.  

You can get Tiny Alice at https://amzn.com/B07TRTNK7D

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https://amzn.com/B07PLV725T

I’ve just put THE CIMARRON BRIDE https://amzn.com/B07GTSD421 and THE SAFARI BRIDE http://amzn.com/B00PUVCBGK on sale for a week. Amazon ebook only.

These are moderately sexy action/adventure romance novels for women that feature strong-willed female characters. THE CIMARRON BRIDE is set against the Oklahoma Land Races, and THE SAFARI BRIDE takes place on a late 19th century safari in Africa.

One day these two books will be joined by a third in my BRIDE series.

Please take advantage of the 99 cent sale.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  The Son by Philipp Meyer.

TRUE STORY—I was absently perusing Twitter while composing a highly complementary post about the Court Street Coffee Shop in Seguin and how it’s maybe just as good as BIRD Bakery in San Antonio, and a Tweet from Armie Hammer popped up. He’s an actor. Recently nominated for an Academy Award.

Armie Hammer’s wife owns BIRD Bakery. I think he does, too.

I follow Armie Hammer on Twitter, he does not follow me back. I was surprised by the coincidence of me thinking about his business and having his Tweet pop up at the same time and tempted to send him a Tweet saying so.

Didn’t.

Should have.

He probably doesn’t read them.

But back to my original idea—the scones I ate at Court Street Coffee Shop in Seguin and the muffins (ditto) and the cucumber sandwich and the hummus and fruit and cucumber and bread tray…all just as good as BIRD Bakery. Court Street just doesn’t have the scrumptious cupcakes and cakes that BIRD does. Or the décor.

We often stop and eat at BIRD Bakery when we are in San Antonio. It is always a pleasant and tasty experience. Everyone’s nice. I guess the only drawback is sometimes there aren’t enough parking spots. But we’re going to make an effort to eat at Court Street too from now on. Some of the time. Maybe every other trip. Check it out. And while you’re at it, check out BIRD Bakery. There’s also one in Dallas.

Photo is from my recent book signing in Sequin at said Court Street Coffee Shop. Wonder if we could ever talk BIRD Bakery into hosting one. They’ve already got a special room set aside.

Totally will never happen.

Thank you, Court Street Coffee Shop. The book signing was actually fun. We made new friends and sold some copies of BROWN, a mystery novel by G.L. Rix (that’s my pseudonym for this sort of mystery). We will be back.

You can get my new mystery novel BROWN at Book People in Austin, or you can come down to Seguin next Thursday evening and meet us at the Court Street Coffee Shop (great menu) from 6 to 8 where we will be signing BROWN, a mystery novel for those who are interested. Answering questions. Posing for pictures (I sort of hope not), and making new friends. If you prefer children’s books, Judy Ann Lowe will be there too.

I’ve been on a reading jag for several months now. Often reading two books at once. Usually one on my Kindle and one physical book out of my personal library down a couple of rooms from my bedroom. Decided this week to get back on a TV series watching jag as well. Usually don’t do the two together, books and movies both. I’m starting back with the middle of season three of 24 which is where I stopped about a month or two ago. Today I watched Jaws and North By Northwest.

There are so many books to read and re-read, and so many fantastic series and movies to re-watch, I may not live long enough to experience them all again. But I’m going to do my best (And here I’m going to use a famous cliché–Or die trying, she says.)

Then there is plain old living to do. Washing the car, cleaning house, taking out the trash, eating, sleeping, taking care of the pets. All that.

But what about the writing? Why hasn’t she talked about the writing?

Well, we’ve been to two fantastic comic cons this month. The Greater Austin Comic Con in Cedar Park, and the Corpus Christi Comic Con in , you guessed it, Corpus Christi. While my books didn’t sell like hotcakes (and if we’d been selling hotcakes we’d have made a bundle), we sold enough to make us happy. But this still isn’t writing, it’s marketing.

I’m taking a short hiatus. To think about my books. I know what I’m going to do, but I’m pretending otherwise.

I have several series going that need a third book (and in one case a fourth), but only two of them have readers. If I was really smart I’d abandon the rest of them and concentrate on those two, but I’m not going to. I’m going to proceed as I originally planned and write book three in all the series (and book four in the one). The only one I’ll be leaving alone is Arroyo, and who knows, maybe I’ll continue that story by and by.

So, Browner is up first. I’ll get seriously to work on it next week. 

After I’ve watched a few more movies.

You can find my books here https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

And for the month of July, ARROYO is on sale at LOGOS off the square in Lockhart. Book People in Austin has BROWN, a mystery novel by G. L. Rix (that’s me!)