SUMMER 2010

My dear Readers and Friends:

I hope that you have had as lovely a spring as we have had here on the North Fork of Eastern Long Island. Spring came early, and with it the hall marks of the season were early too. The flowering trees flowered lavishly. The lilacs which are always out on my late mother's birthday in mid-May were 3 weeks early. We had lovely warm weather, followed by what was normal weather, a day of rain here and there. What a difference from our cold and rainy spring of 2009. And now today, June 21st at 7:28 a.m. in the morning we celebrate the summer solstice! I hope you lit your fires last night at sunset in anticipation of this wonderful season.

My fantasy series, "The World of Hetar" has concluded with the final book, CROWN OF DESTINY. I hope that you enjoyed this last faerie tale with its beautiful and wise heroine, Lara. The video is on this site. I loved the music that was it's background. Very dramatic and new age-y.

Next up is PASSIONATE PLEASURES, Book 5 in "The Pleasures" series. You will meet Kathryn St. John, Egret Pointe's oh-so-proper librarian, a decendant of one of the town's founding families. But while librarians are suppose to be stuffy and prim, Miss Kathy, as she is known to one and all, is very up-to-date with all the latest hot trends, and has a large collection of romance novels for her readers. She also happens to look like a famous model of the 1950s and '60s. It was actually Kathy who brought The Channel to Egret Pointe's women, and her adventures with that interactive entity are very literary. LOL! However when Egret Pointe gets a new middle school principal, and he sets eyes on Kathy things begin to heat up. He's younger, he's charming, and even her stuffy brother likes him which is usually a deal breaker for our heroine. Besides Kathy is having too much fun in The Channel. Who needs reality? But then Mr. Nicholas himself takes a hand in the matter and things really begin to heat up. Enjoy PASSIONATE PLEASURES this August. Keep checking my Bulletin Board for a release date. Incidentally on July 1st the video will be up. I'd like to know what you think of it.

The last book of the year, THE BORDER VIXEN, will be out in October. There will be a video on this site in early September. I'll tell you more about this tale of Mad Maggie Kerr and Fingal Stewart in my Autumn newsletter. And there will be a mass market release of last October's book in December.

My wonderful agent, Ethan Ellenberg, is working hard to get all my back titles into e-book format. Many of my novels, especially those with contracts signed prior to 1994, had no provision for e-rights since there was no such thing then. At first the publishers wanted to pay only a 5% royalty. You do know because I've told you that publishers always get the lion's share of the profits (usually 88% to 92%). In this case the writers felt they deserved more which of course they do. On the advice of the Authors Guild these e-rights will only be for a few years because the Guild believes the royalty scale will eventually go to a 50/50 split between author and publisher. Frankly I wish that were so now not that any of us is going to retire on those profits. Like all talent businesses the "suits" somehow manage to always come out ahead of the game, but not necessarily the talent. Just keep watching the Bulletin Board for updates on stuff like this because that's where I'm going to post it.

The Bulletin Board is really my blog, but I don't like the word blog. I've been posting both my thoughts, impressions of world events etc. and updates that you should have. No one seems to miss the message board.

On the home front my oldest granddaughter, 11 and a half year old Cora, "graduated" sixth grade at her school. She will start 7th grade at our local Junior High in September. But come mid-July Cora is off to sleep-away camp in New England. She will be going to my old camp. This has been a "grandma project" all spring as we shopped for everything we needed on the camp list. I'll be ironing on nametapes shortly. At least I don't have to sew them like my own grandmother did when I was at camp. And then Cora and I will pack her footlocker, and her duffle which will go FedEx. Finally on July 17th we head for the Orient ferry which will take us off our island, and go north up I91. Megan and I will be taking her, and younger sister, Sophia, is going along for the ride, and to scope out the camp for the future. I know Cora's excitement is tinged with a bit of nervousness, but I also know she is going to do fine. And I have to admit I'm excited too. I haven't stood on Campfire Hill in 59 - yes ladies - 59 years! To keep her busy while her beloved older sister is away Sophia is going to the local day camp. Chandler being almost 15 is above it all, and little Evan may get some swimming lessons with Neighbor Emily.

George and I are fine. We finally closed on Tom and Megan's old house in April. Thank goodness! I had to keep it up, keep it heated, pay the mortgage and the taxes. It's a lovely house, and I wish the new owners well, but I'm glad to be rid of it! The hard winter seems to have encouraged the flower gardens to bloom prolifically. The vegetable garden is going like crazy except for the root crops which don't seem to be doing as well this year as last. I'll put in a second planting soon. Nicki, our cockatiel, still sings, and enjoys the fresh produce from the garden. Finnegan, our long haired black cat, has just had his summer lion cut and looks spectacular. Sylvester, our black and white tuxedo cat, is so smart. He's figured out how to drink from the bird bath without tipping it over. But he's obviously gained a reputation of sorts with the birds living in my garden. They yell and screech back and forth when he goes prowling across the lawn. And I don't think they're singing "Hail to the Chief". LOL!

Well that's it, my dears. Hope you will all have a marvelous summer. Be sure to check out the Bulletin Board on a regular basis for updates. Pray for peace, and pray for our men and women in the military no matter where they are stationed. And a special shout-out to the folks in the Gulf region. Hang in, and don't let BP get away with anything more. They are in my opinion despicable greedy bastards! The Celestial Actuary go with you, and let's all pray no hurricanes hit the Gulf this year.

Until the Autumnal Equinox I remain your most faithful author................................