I’m slow with the newsletter as I was down and out for about a week with a stomach virus. The first I’ve had in many years. It was not fun, but I’m finally getting back to normal. During that time I was not able to do any writing on my latest book. But fortunately this past week I got into the groove and I’ve finished the first draft. Now I’ll go through the story several times and make corrections and fixes. I’ve contacted my beta readers and will soon get their feedback. I still hope to get this book out by the end of the year. However much will need to go right before this can happen. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
I’ve often been asked how long I’ve been writing. If I go back to my teenage years, I wrote a lot of poetry and song lyrics. I still have many of them on the original paper I wrote them on. While others were typed out on a manual typewriter, much like the Smith-Corona one above. One of those with the white correction section on the ribbon. I learned touch typing in high school on an electric typewriter. At the time I thought the skill would come in handy one day. And boy was I correct. I spend most days typing away on my wireless keyboard connected to my laptop. Here is a picture of my current desk as I work on this newsletter and my latest book. Quite a change from the days of typing away on that manual machine and from my first 8-bit Coleco Adam Computer with a word processor.
More wonderful reviews for my newest book, Murder by a Hundred Cuts.
Jarvis Mann has mainly retired from his Private Eye business and is running his bar. He’s doing the countdown to the trial of the Front Range Butcher that he’ll be giving testimony in as one of his victims. During the interim he takes on what seems to be an easy family matter private eye case. You know what they say, nothing is ever as easy as it seems. This case takes him down a rabbit hole all by itself and then as the court date gets closer killings are happening that are eerily similar to Front Range Butcher. So close in fact it makes you do some heavy duty thinking. Jarvis is doing his best to stay uninvolved with the case of these new killings, but he starts receiving gruesome pictures with messages and knows that those close to him and himself are not safe until this killer is caught. The book is amazing and extremely well written. It is full of twists and turns, suspense, intrigue, angst and some sorrow. In this book it’s like we’re getting two books in one. Can’t get much better than that. I have one word for the ending=Wow. Well done, Mr. Weir, Well done – Tina
You can preview two chapters from Murder by a Hundred Cuts, here and here. And you can find previews for many of my other books on my website under the Book Preview drop-down menu.
I have several new episodes of my video podcast, Bringing Life to Characters for you to view. I’ve interviewed my audiobook producer Phillip Polite, authors S. Lee Manning and J.B. Manning, and Margaret Mizushima. I have scheduled interviews with author Jim Nesbitt on Oct 14th and Mary Yungeberg on Oct 29th. Plan on more exciting authors in November, including at least one big name. You can always find all the interviews on my YouTube Page.
The busy season for me is in full swing. This weekend I have 2 events covering 3 days. From there I get a week off before 7 more straight weeks of events here in Colorado. If you live in the area I hope you’ll stop on by and say hello. And if you have any friends who love to read, send them my way. Books make great Christmas and Holiday gifts. Even more so when they are signed by an author.
With each event, I have a drawing for a $10 Amazon Gift Card. For chances to win all you need to do is sign-up for my newsletter and/or buy books at my table. The more you buy the more tickets you get for a chance to win. Winners over the last few events have been Monica, Brittany, Vicki and Rhonda.
Speaking of winners, my featured author last month was Amy Rivers. She offered up three signed paperback books, the winner to be drawn from anyone who had entered. The winner was Kim J. who has been contacted and thrilled to be getting the books. Congratulations to her. I’m sure she’ll love reading Amy’s excellent work.
This month’s featured author is Angela K. Crandall. Angela is an author and activist for human rights and has written several young adult urban fantasy LGBTQ-friendly novels, dabbles in poetry, and often works with other creative writers. Her books aim to cultivate empathy, understanding, and acknowledgment of the diversity among people and society, fostering inclusion. She began writing in first grade but never imagined she’d be able to publish; she attended NMC community college, receiving an associate in liberal arts in 2002, then took classes towards teaching but left with a Certificate of Achievement in early childhood with plans to work at Head Start which didn’t occur. However, she published her first short story, “The Dream Inside the Darkness,” in 2014. One of her best-known works is the Myth series, a mystery coming-of-age story where the main character, Starla, discovers she is half fox, and the world she inhabits differs from what she initially believed. There are many novels available by Angela for readers 14 and up. Her newest series, Awakening the Path, follows Lora, a high school girl preparing for college, left with her father and the tools her mother gave her as a Wiccan to survive. When he suggests colleges, she asks to go to Evermoire, where her family had studied, but he refuses. So, she does her own investigative work. Find Angela’s books locally at Horizon Books in Traverse City, MI, or Cadillac, Michigan. Connect with her online via Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and eBooks. Click here for access.
This month there are two Prolific Works giveaways. First is Sleuths and Suspense: Mystery Group Giveaway with 26 free eBooks available through Oct 15th via this link.
Next is Hidden Truths: Mystery Group Giveaway which starts Oct 15th and ends Nov 15th with 16 free ebooks you can checkout via this link.
Thanks for reading. Be sure to share this newsletter with anyone interested. Those who sign up are offered a free eBook of the Jarvis Mann PI novel, Tracking A Shadow. If you signed up and didn’t get the offer, let me know and I’ll send over a copy immediately.
All the best!!
R Weir
