COMING SOON--THE COWBOY’S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN. And then a little bit later (like three to four months), TEA WITH A DEAD GAL.

Both these projects are either close to completely finished or well on their way (as in one-third written). Plans for afterwards include one to two collections of short stories (one will feature the main characters from The Cowboy’s Baby romantic comedy series and the Boo Radley mystery series interacting; and the other will be random and quirky short stories not tied into any novels).

I plan a romance novella (or novelette) or maybe even two in 2014, and then will probably start the third installment of my mystery series.

I had big plans for 2013, too, but it didn’t work out. Probably the best of 2013 (besides publishing THE COWBOY’S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN)  will be returning to regular meetings of the Austin Romance Writers of America and my inclusion in the new Lockhart Writers Group hosted by fellow writer Janet Christian of  THE CASE OF A COLD TRAIL AND A HOT MUSKET.

The other writers in this group are Tammy Francis (THE GIRL IN THE JITTERBUG DRESS), Philip McBride (WHITTLED AWAY), and Wayne Walther (VOLUNTEERS IN THE AFRICAN BUSH by David Read Barker).

TAMMY has got a kick-ass website. Give it a look.

http://girlinthejitterbugdress.com

And keep your eyes peeled for the launch of THE COWBOY’S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN sometime in November. Until then, here’s the link to the first book in the series, THE COWBOY’S BABY 

http://amzn.com/B003UYUVZC

Here’s fellow ARWA member Alexa Bourne’s new book cover, DANCE AWAY, DANGER. Looks pretty impressive large, doesn’t it? Coming soon from Fated Desires Publishing www.fateddesires.com. See more from Alexa at www.alexabourne.com.  

If you like weird westerns, here’s an excerpt from ARROYO continued…  Copyright by Gretchen Rix.

It took time, but Ramona gathered her courage and faced the woman. “If I can grant your favor, lady,” she said, “then I will.” Ramona trembled as she talked. “Sinjin thinks the world of you, so of course I will help as I can.

“What do you want?”

The knife flashed in Rose-Sandra’s delicate hands and she laughed as both Daniel and Ramona drew back from her in consternation. “I only want your hair, girl,” she said. “It will grow back,” she promised her, getting closer and closer. “Give me your hair and I’ll satisfy your friend.” She drew out the name so slowly it was almost unrecognizable. “Sinjin. McIntosh. Narendra.

“Right? The one who’s crossed this barbaric continent after me? Well, give me your hair and I’ll give him what he needs.”

When Rose-Sandra finished her promises she was holding the blade to Ramona’s throat. Daniel stepped between the two women and bodily threw Ramona sideways into the wall. Then with a brief glance to see that she was uninjured, he then pulled Rose-Sandra from where she’d fallen and held her in the air with her feet dangling. “What he needs or what he wants?” he asked, shaking her a little, making her look like a rag doll as Ramona watched in awe.

When he dropped her they heard her teeth snap together.

Rose-Sandra’s malevolent face stared at them from her black raiment as she talked back to them. “No woman on earth could give that man what he wants,” she said, grinning at Ramona as she said it. “I said I’d give him what he needs. And I will.

“For your hair, my dear,” she cooed, reaching for the young dark woman in the corner.

“But why?”

END OF EXCERPT. You can find ARROYO at

http://amzn.com/B0067NCEJ4.

Photos by Roxanne Rix

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.  Forged In Blood (I) by Lindsay Buroker.

RIX CAFE TEXICAN (and we’re not a restaurant) will have a presence at this year’s World Science Fiction Convention. Why? Mostly because it’s just an hour away in beautiful (but hot) San Antonio, Texas. And it starts tomorrow. Plus I have a book to sell.

We’re giving away aliens (while supplies last) and selling my books. We’re also selling Patrick Kampman’s books. And we’re selling Christmas cards for the Friends of the Dr. Eugene Clark Library.

ARROYO is the only “science fiction” book I’ve written (so far), and it’s more horror/fantasy/western/pulp/action-adventure than science fiction. But it does have that flying saucer on the cover.

Here’s a continuation of the excerpt (which is chapter 12) from last week. Copyright by Gretchen Rix.

“You’re damned right,” Daniel said flatly. “You won’t.”

Rose-Sandra ignored him. “Have you heard of Dracula yet?” she asked, addressing the both of them. “Out in the sticks, the boondocks, this wilderness of Texas.” She spit out the word “Texas” like a rotten pip.

“No,” Ramona admitted.

“Yes,” Daniel said. “Haggard told me of it.”

Rose-Sandra appeared to be surprised, but she continued her prepared speech with little to no hesitation. “I won’t drink your blood or turn you into a vampire, either,” she told them.

“You bet your booty you won’t,” Daniel countered.

Rose-Sandra huffed in irritation. “And Father Damien? ” she asked. “Have you also heard of the work of Father Damien?”

Daniel gave her a contemptuous glance, narrowing his eyes and focusing only on her. “Stop!” he demanded. “Just stop. You’ve told us from hell and gone what you won’t do,” he challenged. “Just what will you do? What do you want with this woman here?” he asked. “Enough of your childish games.”

Roes-Sandra made her own noise of contempt and pulled herself up from the stool. Her voluminous skirt swallowed Ramona instantly. Daniel yelled when she disappeared, but stopped at the sight of the sharp knife displayed in Rose-Sandra’s white, white hands.

“No need to panic,” she told him, again smiling that toothsome smile at them. “I only want a small favor of you, my dear,” she reassured Ramona while watching Daniel with stony eyes. “Surely you won’t begrudge this lost woman her one request. Not after Sinjin went to such pains to bring you to me.”

You can see more of ARROYO at

http://amzn.com/B0067NCEJ4.

Have fun at Lone Star Con 3 everybody.

Photo by Roxanne Rix.

I haven’t done an excerpt here in a long time. Next week we will be at LoneStarCon3 in San Antonio selling my books. ARROYO is a pulp-style action-adventure horror and science fiction mix we like to think of as Wild Wild West meets Rocky Horror Picture Show. Come down to the dealer’s room and say hello. We’re giving away aliens (while they last). Rix Cafe Texican.

Now for the excerpt from ARROYO, copyright 2011 by Gretchen Rix

“NO,” RAMONA REPLIED. SHE WAS mightily distracted by the intimacy of a beautiful woman breathing into her ear and was not paying full attention to her jeopardy. That this was not a normal woman came to her slowly as her breathing quickened into something like panic.

The-one-who-never-gets-old, she’s not young to begin with, she realized. The hair, the eyes, the skin; they all looked brittle, she saw, as if one good poke would pulverize Rose-Sandra into dust. Ramona studied Rose-Sandra with more interest, drawing even closer to the strange woman, until her unkempt companion abruptly broke the spell.

“I have,” Daniel answered. “I know the history of Elizabeth Bathory.” Ramona fell back from the temptress,

dazed and resentful.

Rose-Sandra turned her head to look at Daniel straight in the face, reluctantly taking her eyes off Ramona. “She was a noblewoman who bathed in the blood of  young girls,” Rose-Sandra informed Ramona in hushed tones. “I won’t do that,” she added. “Not anymore.”

You can find ARROYO here at

http://amzn.com/B0067NCEJ4.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris.  The Final Winter by Iain Rob Wright.

And while I’m thinking about it, here’s a blog worth following  http://www.girlinthejitterbugdress.com.

GYPSY DUKE by Felicia Mires is an out of the ordinary Regency romance featuring  gypsies and gypsy culture front and center as part of the action and promoting Christian prayer as a valid solution to its problems.

From affianced youngsters who are pretty uninteresting (until the evil uncle moves in), the author jumps forward in their story three years where they’ve become  polished and capable adults.  The adult Kitty, who is remarkably beautiful, is also smart and brave and heroic. The grown-up gypsy duke turns out to be an accomplished British spy. And the religious part of the novel only starts to interfere at the very end (for those of you who like their romances religion free).

It’s an enjoyable read, especially when the adult Kitty holds center stage. And the inclusion of gypsies in a Regency is a welcome addition.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:   A Mind To Murder by P.D. James.  Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz.  Gypsy Duke by Felicia Mires.

Photo by Roxanne Rix.

My novels can be found at

http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix

http://smashwords.com/books/view/79235

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  The Sea Hawk by Rafael Sabatini.

http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

While my newest novel is out there in the beta readers’ hands I’m taking this time to proofread it from back to front. I should finish this task today. So far I’ve found an instance where it should have said “if” and it said “it,” a missing quotation mark and period, my misuse of two words (beveled and venal) that have now been corrected, and a couple more errors I’ve already forgotten about. I had already proofread it from front to back before I ever turned it loose. I don’t remember what mistakes I found originally.

Beta reader number one found at least three errors. I expect that beta reader number two will find some as well.  A very long time ago Western writer John S. McCord (The Baynes Clan series) told me (and a room full of other writers) that one of the most important editing processes a writer could do was to read your work out loud to yourself. I do that first thing and my cat hates me. Someone else gave the advice to read and proof your work from back to front, thereby cutting yourself off from the plot. If I was capable of doing it word by word backwards, I would. But I can’t. So far I’ve only been able to proof page by page. Paragraph by paragraph would be better, and it may come to that before I let THE COWBOY’S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN publish.

My most difficult problem with proofreading has been taming my impulse to copy edit as I read. There has to come a time when it’s good enough. Let it go. Otherwise you will switch words, rework sentences, change plot and anything else you can do to avoid finishing and you’ll succeed. The novel will never be complete. Proofreading is looking for spelling errors, typos, grammar mistakes, spacing errors and the such; by the time you get to proofreading you should have a finished product. Don’t fiddle with it anymore.

THE COWBOY’S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN will have the input of two more beta readers before it’s done. Then Streetlight Graphics and Glendon Haddix will do their magic and create a wonderful cover and clean formatting for it, and then off we go. I can’t wait to see this one in print (and e-print). I think it’s better than THE COWBOY’S BABY, and I’m still really proud of that one.

Photos by Roxanne Rix.

My books can be found at

http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

as well as at Barnes & Noble online for Nook readers and Smashwords for every other device. And at BookPeople in Austin, Texas, Logos and Buffalo Clover in Lockhart, Texas.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.  Badwater by Toni Dwiggins.  Shroud for a Nightingale by P.D. James.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Journey Into Fear by Eric Ambler.  Haunted House by Jack Kilborn and J.A. Konrath.

Photos by Roxanne Rix. My books can be found at

http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix

http://smashwords.com/books/view/105559

This morning at 6:00 I officially finished my new romantic comedy THE COWBOY’S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN. It’s done! The next step is getting it to my primary beta reader. She will either give me the green light, suggest changes, or tell me it sucks.

If it is the green light, then it goes to the secondary beta readers for suggestions and light proofreading and then back to me for heavy proofreading. Then I’ll turn it over to the great cover artist and e-book format professional Glendon Haddix of Streetlight Graphics and the book will be published before October.

If she suggests changes I will consider her advice and probably make changes. Then it will follow the same path as above, but probably be up to a month behind. And if she says it sucks? Well, I’ll feel really bad. Then I’ll let the manuscript sit for about six months and then go back and read it with more detachment. From there I’ll either revise (if her comments had merit) or send it to the secondary beta readers.

I started THE COWBOY’S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN on April 16, 2012. I was supposed to finish it that year. When I broke my shoulder in October I couldn’t type very well, so all my plans to write three or four books that year went down the drain.  When I recovered in 2013 I tried writing two novels at once, HEAVEN and TEA WITH A DEAD GAL, one of them during the week and the other on weekends. Eventually I put DEAD GAL aside and concentrated on finishing HEAVEN. 2013 looks like it might be a one book year as well, though I have a fighting chance of getting DEAD GAL done before then.

I’ve already got plans for next year. One, a short story collection that ties the DEAD mystery characters (especially the Boo Radley dog) in with THE COWBOY’S BABY characters (especially Baby himself). Two, a shorter romance novel called THE SAFARI BRIDE that will be a departure from the light romance I’ve done so far. And then three, I’m going to see if I can salvage a story I started long, long ago that meant quite a bit to me at the time. That will be quite an interesting project.

But for now I am done! I think this one’s even better than THE COWBOY’S BABY.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:   Joyland by Stephen King.

Photos by Roxanne Rix

My books available at

http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix

http://smashwords.com/books/view/79235