Thursday, June 01, 2017

News for June, 2017



News for June, 2017

Here’s an overview of what I’ve been doing:
At the end of March, I went with my husband to Dublin for a short break. Afterwards, he went home, and I flew on to the USA, Los Angeles to be precise. I had a wonderful time there, and then we drove to San Diego, and I went to the zoo. After that, we flew to Boston, where Megan Bamford and I stayed with the wonderful Dalton Diaz, and Samantha Cayto came over to see us. Then we drove to New York, met with the RT people, went to a Broadway play, and then flew to Atlanta. That was where the RT Convention was this year. After that, I flew back to LA for a few days, and then came home.
Phew!
So I’m not going to get all that in one newsletter, much less talk to you about writing and my books. Of course it all feeds in, since I use my experiences in the US to help me write the books, especially the contemporaries. Bit by bit, or I’ll exhaust you with traveller’s tales!
Maybe I should start at the beginning, with Dublin!
I’ve never been there before. Can I say it was wonderful? Mostly, anyway, but when we went Dublin was one big building site. They’re extending the tram network, which entails digging up all the roads. So there was that. If you’re visiting Dublin, don’t plan to drive!

The city is full of wonderful buildings, mostly from the eighteenth century, gracious and beautiful. We went to the museum and saw the bog people. Astonishing to see the level of preservation of those bodies, and not a little creepy, too. But I loved the treasures that have been unearthed, the huge torcs and the jewellery belonging to the proud warrior nation.
My favourite place was, not surprisingly, Trinity College Library. Ranks and ranks of books. My husband wanted to take a picture of me reading, but I only had my tablet with me. Still, it makes an interesting comment on the way people read, and for me at least, it’s the message and not the medium that matters. The story is the most important thing, how you read it comes a distant second.
Trinity Library, Dublin
We visited pubs. Oh my, did we visit pubs! My favourite was The Brazen Head, close to the river. It was first built in 1195, but it’s holding its age well. It was packed, always, but you never had to wait for a drink, and the Guinness was wonderful. We did go to the Guinness Storehouse, that was fun, and the price of admission includes a free pint of Guinness.
Of course Dublin is touristy, but if you accept it and go with the flow, it’s a wonderful place to visit.
Then came America!

Book News

I have a new publisher! Entangled offered me a contract for the six books in the Even Gods Fall In Love series. I so loved writing these, and with a new publisher, I could continue to write more in the series. The first phase finished with Her Quicksilver Lover, but I would dearly like to write the next story, starting a new cycle! I had planned to self-publish them, as I have with the Secrets trilogy and The Triple Countess. I also plan to reissue Richard and Rose myself, and I have a wonderful artist working on an image for the covers.
Self-publishing isn’t my thing, I much prefer to write, but since those books went off the market when Samhain closed, I’ve had a lot of letters asking me to republish. It’s been, if not total pleasure, certainly an interesting experience!
And in case you’re wondering, I did all the covers myself.
I’m still writing contemporaries and paranormals as L.M. Connolly, and I’d love to find a home for a brand new series about an antique house and the shape-shifting secret agents who work there! Having spent some time away from the first book in the series, I can see the problems a lot clearer. I plan to rewrite it completely, and change some aspects of the plot.
And Fearless, the first book in The Shaws trilogy is out soon! More about that later, but if any of you are reviewers I have ARCs for you!