HUBRIS–excessive pride, arrogance, self-importance, pomposity, and more.

Well, I’ll tell you a story about my recent, sort-of-warranted put-down.

My sister and I vacationed a couple of months ago in West Texas. Our hotel had a flyer lying around on the check-in desk for a local author reading and book-signing. Why not! we said. Let’s support the local author.

Turned out the local author didn’t need our support, he had what looked like the support of the whole tiny town we were in. He gave a great reading, we were welcomed very graciously by the other attendees, and we bought his thirty-dollar book.

The event was held in their tiny, tiny library. On the way out, while everyone else was still in with the writer and quaffing wine, eating snacks and buying books, I had the neat, self-serving (see hubris definition) idea of offering paperback copies of all my twelve novels to the library. Free. No postage charges or anything.

They hedged pretty nicely about it, but then declined. No books get added to their stock without going through a rigid gatekeeper process that requires at least one review by some publication like The New York Times. Well, that alone disqualifies me from this library, and all others, from here to eternity. Reviews are near to impossible to get for self-published, just-for-fun books like mine.

Came back home to find a review from famous science fiction writer Cat Rambo of my walking, talking, murdering macadamia tree short story collection. My sister wanted me to send it to the aforesaid library. Nah. But here it is for you.

From The Green Man Review:

Along with the furry fiction, I wanted to point to an indie humorous horror collection that is one of the most specifically themed I have yet encountered, Ill Met by Moonlight by Gretchen Rix (Rix Cafe Texican, 2016), which features evil macadamia nut trees, including “Macadamias on the Move,” “Ill Met by Moonlight,” and “The Santa Tree” in a lovely sample of how idiosyncratic a sub-sub-niche can get. The production values of this slim little book show what a nice job an indie can do with a book and include a black and white illustration for each story.

So there!

You can find my books at https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix and at Smashwords, Nook, and Bookpeople. Plus downtown in beautiful Lockhart, Texas.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Obscura by Joe Hart. Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson. The Chronological Man: The Monster in the Mist by Andrew Mayne. Banker by Dick Francis. Jack Daniels Stories by J. A. Konrath.

I meant to do another post this week (see the headline), but a lot of questions came up while I was on vacation. You might be interested in what they were. (Probably not).

Is Jimmy Dean dead? I said no, because I’d just seen a commercial where he expressed a current opinion. My sister said uh uh to the commercial content. Died a long time ago. She was right. 2010. I’m used to seeing Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kellly hawk items on TV. I guess Jimmy Dean has joined their club.

Are shingles contagious? I didn’t think so. I was half right. Turns out shingles are not contagious, but someone suffering from shingles can pass on the virus to someone else and they will get chicken pox which in turn can give them shingles later in life.

How old was Gertrude Bell when she first met T.E. Lawrence? I decided it didn’t matter. I think I have her mixed up with someone else. My question arose while watching the last three-fourths of Queen of the Desert on TV. Nicole Kidman played the title role. The film was all gloriously free of any desert travel realities (no one got dysentery, no one got sunburned, no one starved, etc), just one lovely trek from one Bedouin camp to the next while WWI was getting started. Nicole Kidman was beautiful, the camels were beautiful, and Robert Pattinson as T.E. Lawrence was about a foot too tall for the role.  

Interested in my books? You can find them here https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

They are also on Audible.com.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Leaving Blythe River by Catherine Ryan Hyde, The Naturalist by Andrew Mayne, Looking Glass by Andrew Mayne, Bound By Your Touch by Meredith Duran.

Hopefully at at different venue and a different month, but see you next year, Galveston Island Book Festival!

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

I’m getting close to writing the end of a book I should have finished already. I’m working on Chapter 27 of what probably is a 33-chapter novel.

I read too much. Watch too much TV. (The adaptation of Dan Simmons’ The Terror will be on TV real soon. I’m going to give up the end of The Alienist and the rest of The Good Doctor to watch it in “real time,” even though I’ve read it.)

Like everything I write, my most recent book is my best book. I’m thinking of trying this out in the Kindle Scout program. I’ve certainly read a lot of good books coming out of it. Got to finish it first, though.

In the meantime, go to Audible.com and listen to the sample from ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT. 

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  One Hundred Reasons by Kelly Collins, A Beautiful Poison by Lydia Kang, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. Chanur’s Venture by C.J. Cherryh, Shadow Soldiers by Jim Heskett.

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

New blurb for THE GOODALL MUTINY.  

Wary of her youngish captain. Afraid of edges, of conflict, of having to take charge. Lieutenant Joan Chikage is soon thrust into the leadership role she has so far avoided. As the highest ranking officer left on the doomed lower decks of the deep space cargo ship Goodall, it’s up to Chikage to save her crew. Including the captain’s cat. Their portion of the ship has been jettisoned away from the rest.  And time is running out.

Murder, mutiny, action and adventure. First in a new space opera series.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Say Goodbye For Now by Catherine Ryan Hyde, Familiarity: A Winston & Ruby Collection by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Watched Too Long by Ann Voss Peterson and J. A. Konrath. Whisper of the Moon Moth by Lindsay Jayne Ashford, The Cat, the Crow, and the Grimmoire by Marilyn Rucker Norrod.

http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix  http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/The-Goodall-Mutiny-Audiobook/B01N4GFCQ6

http://amzn.com/B01CIQD61S https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/620213

What have you read this week?

Since my last posting (which wasn’t last week, alas) I’ve read THE PRIDE OF CHANUR by C.J. Cherryh, WHITE RUSSIAN by J. A. Konrath, DRAGON STORM by Lindsay Buroker, THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner, THE PERFECT MAN by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, HARVEST HOME by Thomas Tryon, and REVELATIONS by Lindsay Buroker.

I’ve also written up to Chapter 23 in my next novel.

Here’s a link to my e-books https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS is going to be on sale for 99 cents until March 1. Get it here http://amzn.com/B0094FBA8S 

I let the first week of January slide by me without writing. Which was a mistake. But as ever, procrastination let me come up with another idea for my book. Which I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

At the end of the second week, I was at Chapter 17. It will probably run 33 chapters, which means I’ve lots of chapters to go. Not looking good, unless I really get cooking. And stop reading so much. Look at that list below. With Sherry Thomas not writing oodles and oodles of books right now, I found Meredith Duran to take her place. Have gotten hooked on her romances now.

And now it’s February already. Good news is that I am at Chapter 19.5. But still reading too much (if there is such a thing.) 

Happy Groundhog day, ya’ll.

WHAT I READ SINCE LAST POST: Luck Be A Lady by Meredith Duran, Lady Be Good by Meredith Duran, Fool Me Twice by Meredith Duran, Endurance by Scott Kelly, Gwendy’s Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar. Him by Ernie Lee. The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran. The Case of the Purloined Pyramid by Sean McLachlan. California Bound by Frank Kelso and John O’Melveny Woods. A Second Helping by Beverly Jenkins. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. The Language of Hoofbeats by Catherine Ryan Hyde. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Catch up with the books I’ve already written at https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

I’ve got very ambitious writing goals (by my reckoning) for myself in 2018.

January, February, and March are set aside to write THE CIMARRON BRIDE.

April, May, and June are set aside to write BROWN.

July, August, and September I will write CHECKING OUT THE DEAD DUDE.

And October, November, and December will bring me THE COWBOY’S BABY TAKES A BRIDE.

That’s a historical romance, a quirky detective novel, a small-town murder mystery that will either end or continue my Boo-Done-It series, and a contemporary fairy tale-based romance that will end my Cowboy’s Baby series.

Four books. One year.

I expect I’ll fail. But I’ll probably get two of them whipped into shape.

Along with writing goals, let’s add “play more with the cats” to my list. And “listen to music.”

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

WHAT I READ SINCE LAST TIME:  Comeback by Dick Francis. Second Wind by Dick Francis. Wild Horses by Dick Francis. Littlest Death by Eric Witchey. That Scandalous Summer by Meredith Duran.

Last year at the San Antonio Book Festival, scores of visitors stopped by my table where  my sister and I were  selling my books to ask if I was the author of the giant crocodile (which wasn’t as extinct as expected) story. Alas, it wasn’t me, but I’d met Ernie Lee earlier, knew where he was sitting, and directed all of them past me to AQUASAURUS.

Wish I had written it. Ever since the movie Lake Placid (starring the wonderfully handsome Bill Pullman) I’d wanted to make up some sort of quirky, giant menace horror tale. So far, the closest I’ve gotten to that goal has been my walking, murdering, macadamia nut tree stories (ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT). 

Anyhow, Ernie and I met again this fall at the Texas Book Festival and he invited me to submit a story to his literary magazine The True-badour. I sent him one of the walking, murdering, macadamia nut tree stories. And he published it  in the Winter 2018 issue (available  right now) of his literary  magazine THE TRUE-BADOUR https://www.aim-hibooks.com/true-badour-issues   NO-MAN’S-LAND. Give it a look. And while you’re at it, subscribe to his newsletter where you’ll meet lots of new Texas writers.

(Ernie’s got another new book out, HIM, which I have bought but not yet read. I bet it’s as good as AQUASAURUS.)

WHAT I READ SINCE LAST TIME:  The Button Man by Mark Pryor.  Republic by Lindsay Buroker. Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill. Protectors by Kris Nelscott.

Disclaimer: The blue sky photo at the top is Austin, not San Antonio, and it’s the Food Festival, not the Book Festival. Looks nice though.

See my books at https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix