Virtual Tourist 07/14/23
Table of Contents
News/Musings 2. Story Origin Swap 1 3. Virtual Tourist — Coral Island 4. Story Origin Swap 2 5. The Secret Humankind Release Celebration Giveaway 6. Cruel, Cruel Summer Group Promo 7. Strong Women — Strange Worlds 8. Reviewer’s Corner
Greetings!
Texas is living up to its reputation for 🔥 summers with a vengeance. Luckily, we’re also the land of air conditioning! The new window unit that’s supporting our central A/C unit is doing its job well. Huzzah!
News/Musings
It’s less than a week before The Secret Humankind goes LIVE in all formats!
After going down a rabbit hole trying to fix/figure out what was wrong with something that should have been easy, I think everything is now in order.
The paperback and hardback editions are now active and should trickle down to other paperback book outlets. For those of you who’ve been kind enough to grab a copy in exchange for a review, this means you should be able to post a review at Amazon if it’s one of the places you use. Yay!
The ebook will be in Kindle/KindleUnlimited and should go live on 7/20/23.
If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to sign up to try to win the two-lamp of out-of-this-world set (US Only) and check out the freebies from other authors. More details in the promo spot at the bottom of the email. (Or click here!)
Missed out on the sample chapters? You can get those here.
Yes, I am about to go into madness mode. Wheee!
I was doing some research for the Music of Death Blues and ran across Jacques Casanova. Everyone’s heard the name, but I didn’t know much about the man. So I stumbled upon the fact that he wrote a 12-volume set of memoirs! I found volume 1 at Forgotten Books and have been thoroughly enjoying it. Aside from his raging libido (though no graphic descriptions are given — yay!), the man is extremely intelligent and brutally honest! Just today, there’s a passage where he says he can tell the Adriatic sea is moving away toward the east and that in 3 to 4 hundred years, he expects to see Venice connected to dry land. They’ve been saying Venice has been drying up for several years now! The attitudes and expectations of people of the time have also been fascinating. The clergy regularly had chocolate for breakfast! And they drank coffee! (For some reason, though I knew they drank coffee here in the States in the late 1700s, my brain never connected with it being drunk overseas during the same time. DOH!)
Writing News
I worked up some more character pics for The Secret Humankind to share! (See below!)
I wasn’t going to do it initially, but since readers do not all signup for newsletters… I’ve decided to put Pay It Forward — The Discoveries of Julia Xero prequel short — up at Amazon as well. (One funny thing is that it showed up almost immediately at BookBub, but Goodreads, which Amazon owns, does not show it yet! DOH!)
A few weeks ago, I got an idea for a short story concept when watching episodes of Young Indiana Jones (Some are so good, and others so so very bad! Though they do a great job in explaining a lot of the prevalent thoughts and actions of different countries at the time). It was going to be a historical short, but now it’s turned into a science fiction story! I love the concept, but I’m not totally sure where I want it to go. I’m having to sneak it in to work on it here and there outside my main writing time. So much juggling! 🤹♀️Lol.
Cillian Doyle
Ladies man and a general, incorrigible scamp. Works the stock shift at night at Bloom’s Candy. He gets visions regarding future events. Dum Dum DUM
Penny Baxter
Julia’s supermodel roommate. They wouldn’t pull each other out of a fire, but they make it work.
Detective Rafael Ruiz
Detective in the ‘know’ about the Secret Humankind.
Supernatural Assassin
(Yeah not exactly what I was aiming for, but close enough!)
This thing out of one’s nightmares takes a liking to Julia. Bwahahahaha!
Extra content today:
1) StoryOrigin Swap 1 (UBL)
2) StoryOrigin Swap 2 (UBL)
3) The Secret Humankind Release Celebration Giveaway
4) Cruel, Cruel Summer Group Promo
5) Strong Women — Strange Worlds Rapid Fire Readings
Scroll on down to get all the deets. 😉
Aria SF and F Firsts Boxed Set Vol 1
StoryOrigin Swap 1 (UBL)
A boxed set of firsts!
The Association of Rhode Island Authors proudly presents their first boxed set!
Each author has contributed one book of an ongoing series. From the sandy wastelands of far-off world filled with magic, machines, and men to war torn edge of space to aliens invading Earth.
There’s a little something for everyone. We hope you enjoy sit back and enjoy the ride.
This boxed set includes:
K. Bentley — Where Weavers DaireKeith Carreiro — The Penitent, Part One
Tabitha Lord — Horizon
Paul Magnan — Kyu, The Coming of Dis
Christopher Paniccia — Heaven’s Gate
Debra Zannelli — Sisterworld
Coral Island
Three out of four family members are playing this one now. 😁 The game is still in progress, but there’s enough there to keep you busy for some time. Anyone who loved Stardew Valley will love Coral Island.
You can see all the currently uploaded pics here.
There are multiple festivals during the year. Each comes with several mini-games. (Not all are active.) This is the spot for a pumpkin-smashing game during the Fall Festival.
The Pufferfish Oil Company has a stand and we also have a Moon Cake shop. All the festivals tend to have a shop with either discounted goodies or rare items. They’re also the best way to talk to everyone and get some rapport going.
There are four mining tunnels — earth, water, wind, and fire. This is the breaking seal for earth as you try to set free the spirit giants.
The main/lobby area of the mine. The big guy is the leader of the giants. You can see the opened earth mine shaft on the right. The tiny statues behind them are the other trapped giants.
The secret village of the giants! (Yes, that’s how they refer to themselves! We’re hoomans.😋 ) The structure in the center can be used to magic your tools.
I’ve spotted a merman! And yeah, there’s trash all over the ocean we get to clean. But you can find goodies, too! (The mer people should be in the next update. This little sequence is all we see of them at the moment.)
All the festivals have the cutest moving banners. This one is for a big dinner to celebrate the coming new year!
You can’t get here anymore. They locked us out on the last major update. This will be the gate area into the mer people zone. Impressive, no? 😁
Death Comes Up Short
StoryOrigin Swap 2 (UBL)
A missing boy. A deadly contract. A new target.
Having recently caught a killer, EMT Abbie Grimshaw thinks things might settle down.
She’s mistaken.
A boy goes missing, and the clues point to powerful traffickers targeting magical children.
Worse, a child in her care, Jimi, might be the true target, and he’ll do anything to find his friend.
If Abbie doesn’t find the missing child and stop the traffickers, she could lose Jimi forever.
If you enjoy magical mysteries with a fairy tale flavor, you’ll love this new face on the Grimm scene.
Pick up this magical adventurous mystery today!
The Secret Humankind Release Celebration Giveaway! Loads of urban fantasy freebies for all!
Cruel, Cruel Summer Group Promo — let your blood be chilled this sweltering summer with some creepy reads!
Strong Women Strange Worlds Quick Reads for 07/20/23!
🌟 Shout out to Reviewers Corner! 🌟
Thanks this month go to:
Black Jade — Laura Emerson and AmberKitty15608
The Secret Humankind — Wolfkin, Kuzlin, Margaret Both, Anne Kavcic, and Shellie
A great big THANK YOU to all the reviewers!
(Do you want your name in here, too? All you need is to post a one or two-sentence review at Bookbub, Goodreads, Amazon, or send me a link if it’s posted elsewhere and I will add you here next round!)
May sweet winds cool your brow and great books your mind. 📚
Until next time!
Gloria
