As some of you know, my mother died on January fifth of this year. I've been working to get the estate settled and I've discovered that nothing is ever as easy as you'd like it to be. It sounds easy until you get involved in it then you discover that it's a maze of odd twists and turns all designed to bankrupt you, or drive you crazy. (In my case possibly both. Actually, forget the possibly, it'll definitely bankrupt me and drive me crazy! I'm not a big fan of lawyers and bureaucrats right now.)
The sales of my first book, "The Campaign" have been about as expected. Sales within the circles of people who know me have been good, but the book hasn't broken out of those circles just yet. The reviews, both those posted on Amazon and those posted on other sites, have been very positive. Starting Monday (February 1, 2016) the Kindle version will be available for free for five days in advance of the Super Bowl. Since the book is a comedic novel on the making of a Super Bowl commercial, I'm hoping that will get it moving a bit. We'll see what happens.
The sales of my second book, "To Rise or Fall" are about as anticipated also. "To Rise or Fall" looks at what might happen if a drug came along that allowed one to visit their afterlife while under the effects of the drug. I have a delightfully sleazy televangelist in the novel whose plans to exploit the drug backfires rather dramatically when he's given a dose of the real drug and discovers he falls. So, if there was a safe drug that would let you explore your afterlife, would you take it? I think I would. It would be great to be reunited with those who've passed. Granted, at this stage of my life nearly everyone I truly know and love are already on the other side, so it would be more like a family reunion than a trip into the unknown.
My third novel "Sara X" is nearly ready for publishing. "Sara X" tells the story of a woman who earlier in life had been an assassin, killing people in such a manner so that their deaths appeared natural. Her services are used by those with the wealth to afford her and who don't want the expense or uncertainty of a divorce, or more conventional solution. One of her earlier clients is now in line to become President and fear that word of his hiring Sara X to eliminate his first wife might leak out, he recruits his current father-in-law, Roger Bentley, the founder of Bentley Security, to help him solve the problem. Their initial attempt to silence her fails to kill Sara, but kills her husband and young son instead and now Sara X is out for vengeance. A game of cat and mouse then takes place between Sara X and the forces of Bentley Security. A beta reader commented that: "Making the reader root for a contract killer is a great accomplishment." Mind you, when the other guys are politicians, it's easy to root for a contract killer.
On to some gardening news! My seeds for the spring have now arrived and the first ones will be getting started this weekend . There's no guarantee I'll still have the house by the time the seeds are ready to go (stupid bureaucrats!) but I'm hoping for the best and blindly going forward. The first seeds to get started this week will be my Calibrachoa seeds, my Purple Wave Petunia seeds, and some some odds and ends. I've never grown Calibrachoa from seed before, so this will be a new experience.
I'm afraid work on my self-cleaning filter has gone no where since the last post. I've been dealing with all kinds of chaos though and when/if things calm down a bit I should be able to get back to work on that.
In Big Brother news we now know that the new season will kick off on June 22, 2016. We're getting close to time for CBS to announce the dates/places for the casting calls. They usually start in February/March. Once those start the season seems to roll around pretty quickly.
That's about it for today. Expect more frequent posts coming soon. I'm going to try and post a new blog every couple of days as events warrant. Thanks for reading this!
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