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I just finished "Space Oddity", the follow up to "Space Opera" from @Catvalente, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Her wonderful prose is amusingly delightful to read and proves once again, the need to find an alternative phrase for a sentence that doesn't just lead you down the garden path, but by the rose bushes, beyond the end of the lawn, past the compost heap, through the local neighbourhood, over the hill, and leaves you exhausted and jet-lagged somewhere in the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm. She freely acknowledges the influence Douglas Adams has on her writing and it shows on every page. She absolutely nails the Britishisms and I wonder what American audiences make of references to things like Debenhams shoppers. In a world with a little less DNA than there should be, it's a joy to spend time with a book like this. Looking forward to …

A tortoiseshell cat looks at the book "Space Oddity" by Catherynne M. Valente, whilst lying on a dark blue velvet bedspread. The cover of the book shows the title in large spaceship-metal letters, behind a stylized double lightning bolt in pink and green neon.

Relentless pursuit and a grisly murder. ‘Hide and Seek’ is a fast-paced thriller set in Stirling Castle and more widely across Scotland during World War Two. It uses many real settings, transported eight decades back in time.

This modern image shows the site of a grisly murder in 1943. Its investigation forms a central strand of the story and uncovers links to the murder here of an earl by a king nearly five centuries earlier.

Find out more:
https://www.arachnid.scot/book-has/index.html

This modern image shows the end of a passage which leads out into the Douglas Gardens in Stirling Castle. Part of the grass of the gardens can be seen on the right, though the image is dominated by stone buildings on a misty day. There is a paved area in the foreground. The front cover of ‘Hide and Seek’ is shown in the top right corner.

You can’t ask a dead man who pulled the trigger. ‘A Tangled Web’ is a fast-paced contemporary thriller set in northern Scotland.

This is the remote Croick Church in Sutherland, which has reminders of the tragic story of the Highland Clearances. The two central characters visit the church for a clandestine meeting with an informant, though after many of the trees seen in this photo were cut down.

Find out more on my website:
http://www.kenlussey.com/atw/index.html

The image shows a view over two green fields with stone walls to the end of a white-painted church that has a sagging grey slate roof and a bellcote at the far end. There are tall trees in leaf to both sides of the church and in the background the land rises to a skyline near the top of the frame. The front cover of ‘A Tangled Web’ is shown in the bottom right corner.

Alright friends! We're one month away from publishing, and I'm pleased to reveal the cover of my second novel, Mysteries of the Material!

Spotlight: Jack!

Isn't it stunning!? 😍 🔥

I'm absolutely in love with this cover, and hope my readers will be, too.

For an overview of what's on the cover, as well as the blurb, check out today's blog post: https://sarahjhoodlet.com/blog/cover-reveal-and-blurb/

The cover of my novel, Mysteries of the Material (the second book in The Way of the Wielder series). The title of the book is in the center of the cover in white, capitalized, somewhat flowing text. The author's name is along the bottom edge. Centered on the cover is a young man wearing all black. He's looking to the right, staring at a fox mask in his left hand. His other arm is down, and he's holding a dagger. Between the title and the author's name is a vignette of a woman standing before a glowing stone building. In the background is a foggy landscape of sea and land. There's a small ship (on the right) and a volcano (on the left), for perspectives. The edging has decorative floral accents, and the overall atmosphere of the cover is fiery and magical.

My book isn't about one thing. It's about a messy, complicated life, and although it's called 'Drystone', drystone is but a part of it.

I really loved the responses I got yesterday about the excerpt I shared, so I thought I'd share something else that's likely highly relatable to many women.

Here's a snippet from an interview about my book (link below to read more)

https://www.kristiedegaris.com/interview-continued

Screenshot that reads Vikander: Do you think there is something inherently performative about female sexuality? De Garis: It is inherent in the way that female sexuality is understood in society. Women are expected to perform. I don’t know what makes men’s dicks harder than thinking they’re...well, sometimes men prefer a performance over an actual, authentic experience. For example, the way real orgasms happen—it’s not really about the other person at all, is it? It’s a really intense, overwhelming, personal experience. So I think that often men prefer the performance. Because it makes it more about them.

A city at peace in a world at war. ‘The Stockholm Run’ is a fast-paced thriller set in Scotland and Sweden during World War Two. It uses many real settings, transported eight decades back in time.

RAF Grangemouth, once the Central Scotland Airport but now long gone, is amongst the Scottish locations used. This modern photograph shows the replica Spitfire at the RAF Grangemouth memorial.

Find out more on our website:
https://www.arachnid.scot/book-tsr/index.html

The image shows the Spitfire at the RAF Grangemouth memorial in bright sunlight. The Spitfire is displayed on a stand as if in flight from right to left and is surrounded by a circle of low railings. It is slightly banked to its right, away from us. The front cover of 'The Stockholm Run' is shown in the bottom left corner.

In difficult times, it is often good to do something for the soul. I have renewed my mini . Please don't collect in the wild + don't tear off any large pieces. These were growing in my car parking space. You find moss even on concrete. Collected in respect, they teach me a lot about and human hubris ( are more complex than we think). And the ! 😍 My favourite : https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jun/19/robin-wall-kimmerer-gathering-moss-climate-crisis-interview

Detail of a moss. With a magnifying glass tiniest reddish-brown fungi and even soil life become visible.
A stick from an old lavender bush, along with bark and pebbles, is used to build some more diversity. You can't transplant a moss species growing on bark to soil. Mosses growing on stone need stones to survive. Even this is no guarantee for your moss garden because you can never build a whole ecosystem in a glass bowl. But with some care, it can last for years and teach you about the sensibility of ecosystems that need much more than stones, bark and a bit of soil.
A glass bowl with a moss garden containing also some stones and wood, photographed from above in a meadow.
A piece of lime tree bark with a quite common but beautiful moss. In France, you can find this moss in parking places, beton, and big cities.

When the past comes back to haunt you. ‘The Danger of Life’ is a fast-paced thriller set in Scotland during World War Two. It uses many real settings, transported eight decades back in time.

This modern image gives a glimpse of Achnacarry Castle in Lochaber. The castle was the focal point of the Commando Basic Training Centre during the war and much of the story is set here.

Find out more on my website:
http://www.kenlussey.com/dol/index.html

The image shows a view across a pasture that has two trees in it that are just starting to leaf. The nearest, on the right, has a fence surrounding it. In the background, through the trees and beyond hedges, are glimpses of a grey stone mansion which is two storeys in height. The ground rises behind it to a skyline at the top left of the frame. The scene is in sunlight. The front cover of ‘The Danger of Life’ is shown in the top right corner.

When I was putting together my "Forgotten Greek and Roman Myths" manuscript, I was constantly told that it is not a sellable concept for a book - because "people want to read their favorite myths", and not unkown ones.

Now the reviews are trickling in, and every reviewer highlights how exciting it is to find unknown myths about the well-known gods and heroes.

🤷‍♀️

(Still looking for an English language publisher, btw.)