BABY SAYS VOTE! The Cowboy’s Baby THE RAJPUT SAYS VOTE! Arroyo BARKIE-BARK SAYS VOTE THIS UPCOMING TUESDAY! Talking to the Dead Guys TRUEPENNY SAYS VOTE Twisted Rixter BOO RADLEY SAYS VOTE Tea With a Dead Gal MALLORY SAYS EARLY VOTING IS ALMOST OVER, VOTE TUESDAY Baby Sings the Boos BOB SAYS VOTE The Cowboy’s Baby Goes To Heaven THE MACADAMIA TREES SAY VOTE Ill Met By Moonlight JUNYUR WILDE SAYS VOTE, AND IT’S TOO LATE TO VOTE BY MAIL BY NOW The Cimarron Bride THE CHARACTERS IN The Safari Bride WHOSE NAMES I DON’T REMEMBER SAY VOTE The Safari Bride JOAN CHIKAGE SAYS VOTE The Goodall Mutiny TIBERIUS SAYS VOTE The Goodall Manifest CAPTAIN CARMADY SAYS VOTE The Goodall Marauders BROWN SAYS VOTE Brown: a mystery novel JACK TORRANCE SAYS VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE The Shining (NOT ONE OF MY BOOKS BUT YOU GET THE DRIFT)

Seriously, get out and vote this upcoming Tuesday.

This picture is how the beautiful carousel at the San Antonio Zoo got its start. We were invited (for some reason I don’t recall) to watch the building that was there get demolished.

Has nothing to do with anything I’m writing or reading. I have finished my latest book and sent it to the proofreader. I have started my next book and am on Chapter 6.

WHAT I READ RECENTLY: LADY BIRD: A BIOGRAPHY OF MRS. JOHNSON by Jan Jarboe Russelll. STARBASE HUMAN by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. MASTERMINDS by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

GO OUT AND VOTE. Early voting starts Tuesday.

My short story TRUEPENNY will be free on Amazon Wednesday.

This cover to THE GOODALL MUTINY is one of my all time favorites. Exactly what I wanted. Exactly what I asked for. Exactly what I got. Right now it’s a three-book series, but there will be a fourth novel, just not right now.

Right now I’m finishing BROWNER, another mystery novel by G. L. Rix, and really looking forward to starting my next (immediately after I send BROWNER to the proofreader), and excitedly thinking of the one I’m going to write next. I plan to go back and complete my ambitious horror novel about a train. I couldn’t finish it at the time, but I’m good enough now to write it the way it deserves.

In the meantime, below, see the new novel by one of my friends. He’s written and published before, but this is his first published novel. Looks pretty good, doesn’t it.

WHAT I’VE READ THIS WEEK: Search and Recovery by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. The Peyti Crisis by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

You can find my space opera Goodall books here https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1009758

THE GOODALL MANIFEST pictured above is the second in a three book story arc started with THE GOODALL MUTINY and finished (for the time being) with THE GOODALL MARAUDERS. I don’t expect anyone wants to start in the middle of the story, but you can. But for your convenience, I also put all three together in a set called simply THE GOODALL (books 1-3)

Personally, I like the covers, and you don’t get the full effect with the collected version.

These are space operas. I put my cat Tiberius into the stories. Joan Chikage (pronounced Shaw-Ka-Gay…I really get a kick when I hear someone say Chick Edge) is probably my space aged alter-ego. And Captain Carmady! I’m not sure where he came from, but I really had fun with that character.

There will be a fourth book. After all, I’ve got to get everyone out of the mess they’re in.

Or should I just dig them a little deeper into that hole?

You can find my books on Amazon.com under Kindle books (they are also paperbacks), on B&N Nook, and for all other reading devices go to Smashwords. I forgot to also mention that most of my books are on Audible, too.

Here’s one link https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: Anniversary Day by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Blowback by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and A Murder of Clones by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

I don’t usually look at spammer email names. But I sort of like Corset Trainer. Do you suppose it’s a job? Or something like a training bra (do those still exist, I wonder). Oops. I just Googled it. Training bra was pretty close. Who knew?

I guess, if nothing else, spam handles can serve as writing prompts.

I’m going to start making a list.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: Brave Girl, Quiet Girl by Catherine Ryan Hyde.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

I’d like to sell a few copies of BROWN, a mystery novel by G. L. Rix this week. Here’s one link if you’re interested: https://amzn.com/B07PLV725T

BABY SINGS THE BOOS is a short story collection that crosses two series. The miniature bull from THE COWBOY’S BABY and THE COWBOY’S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN mixes it up with the American mastiff dog Boo Radley from TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS and TEA WITH A DEAD GAL.

In some of the stories only one set of characters is involved, like when the bull wins the photography contest at the Texas State Fair and is invited to attend. And in some of the stories both series characters interact, like in the story where both animals are featured guests at a small local comic-con, and wreck the place.

Both series are meant to have a third book, but right now it is stalled at two. Neither series is for children, although they are suitable for ages 14 and up.

BABY SINGS THE BOOS is available on Audible, read by Steve Cook.

You can also get it here http://amzn.com/B00SBJNRKC and here http://smashwords.com/books/view/511674.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: An Inheritance to Die For by Bonnie Elizabeth.

A scene from Luling, Texas, just down the road from here.

This is the sequel to The Cowboy’s Baby. And it’s a better book. It really is, and can be enjoyed without first reading the previous book. Part of the plot follows the Puss In Boots fairy tale theme.

I think I made a mistake with the title and the cover, but I’m keeping them as is, which is probably another mistake. I’m stubborn like that.

Heaven is the name of a town, and the bull on the cover is leaping, not ascending to the afterlife. Nobody dies, but both the title and the cover imply that they do.

Why am I telling you this. Basically, to pass on some writer advice. Be careful with your titles, be careful with your covers.

I’ve been pleased with my titles. The Cowboy’s Baby, Arroyo, Talking to the Dead Guys, Twisted Rixter, The Cowboy’s Baby Goes to Heaven, Tea With a Dead Gal, The Safari Bride, The Cimarron Bride, Ill Met By Moonlight, Baby Sings the Boos, The Goodall Mutiny, The Goodall Manifest, The Goodall Marauders, and Brown, a mystery novel.

You can find my books at Nook, at Smashwords, at Audible, and at Amazon https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: The Coronation by Boris Akunun and Death Takes A Partner by Dean Wesley Smith.

This is a book by one of my friends.

This was the original cover for THE COWBOY’S BABY. My sister and I scoured the county for something suitable for a book about a reclusive ranch owner who finds love at her doorstep, the manager of a golf course in a gated community who finds he’s built half of the course on the adjoining ranch, and a very strange bull. All loosely re-imagined in the form of a contemporary Sleeping Beauty story.

I spent years writing this. When I moved from the Tyler area of Texas to Lockhart, Texas I packed the bits and pieces of my writing life and brought it with me. But only what I thought I could continue (plus my collection of rejection slips, going back to junior high school, if not earlier). THE COWBOY’S BABY was maybe a fourth finished. I took a year finishing it. It has been my best selling book, although it’s not my best book.

I also bought an unfinished fantasy manuscript. I love the idea. Hope to get to it someday.

Anyhow, this is about the cover. We replaced it with a professional cover about a year later. What was wrong with the original was that it made the book stand out, and not in a good way. Didn’t fit into any of the romance categories, and was even a bit too big.

Worst of all, it didn’t convey the playful tone of the book. I call this romantic comedy.

You can see the current version here http://amzn.com/B003UYUVZC. It is also available for the Nook and through Smashwords, and especially as an Audible file.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK. The Last Widow By Karin Slaughter.

This is a book by one of my friends.

This is the last remaining of my original covers. All the others were updated by Streetlight Graphics. A friend who was a graphic designer did this for us from a photo my sister took. This was from our behind- the- scenes encounter with rhinos at the San Antonio Zoo, which was appropriate, since The Taking of Rhinoceros 456 was inspired by one of our other visits to this zoo, and is set at this zoo (under a fictitious name, to protect the …).

This story was about half this length originally. It also didn’t have quite the theme I ended up with here, and has a lot more characters. The change came from comments from a friend who read the original.

While I am proud of the story as it stands now, as a writer I’m going to put out a bit of advice. Only change your story if your editor insists, and even then, do so carefully.

I’m not saying my original was better, but it was certainly not what you see here.

That said, you can find this story for Kindle reading in the collection Twisted Rixter http://amzn.com/B00HQ0PH1O and as a single story at http://amzn.com/B006P10KGM. And it’s narrated by Theo Holland in the Audible version of Twisted Rixter.

And guess what? Every time I type the title The Taking Rhinoceros 456 I have to look up the spelling of rhinoceros (or trust spellcheck).

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK; His At Night by Sherry Thomas. and The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold.

This is a book written by one of my friends.

This is my weird western (a sub-genre of the horror field) ARROYO. The cover is miles different from what I envisioned, but it fits. See the flying saucer? I no longer remember why I wanted to write a weird western. For most of my reading life I’ve disliked pulp fiction (except for the Tarzan books), but sometime in the past twenty years I learned to love them.

This is my take on pulp fiction writing in the weird western genre. Action, adventure, a couple of love stories, Texas history (mostly made up), late 1800’s setting, and all the relevant monsters I could think of thrown into the mix.

One really interesting thing about this book. It is one young man’s favorite book..

A couple of years back we sold books at a pecan festival along the banks of the San Marcos River. A woman approached to talk to us. She said her son had bought ARROYO from me the previous year. I remembered him. I wondered which way this was going. She certainly hadn’t brought the book into the park with her. She smiled and told us ARROYO was her son’s favorite book and he had read it again and again and again and again. He carried it around with him.

You see, he was autistic. I didn’t say this, but I wished he’d picked a better book to love than mine. There are so many to chose from. But what a compliment. Something in ARROYO really spoke to him. I have favorite movies like that. Where there’s a perfectly spoken line, or gorgeous backgrounds, or the loveliness of an actor or actress that takes your breath away. Probably every piece of art has something that speaks to somebody, even when it doesn’t affect everyone.

So. I’ve written someone’s favorite book.

I’m honored.

You can see it here http://amzn.com/B0067NCEJ4

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK; The Luckiest Lady in London by Sherry Thomas. His at Night by Sherry Thomas. Oh, Fudge by Nancy Coco.

Below is a book by one of my friends.