Virtual Tourist 02/24/23

Table of Contents

News/Musings StoryOrigin Swap 1
Virtual Tourist – Red Dead Redemption 2 StoryOrigin Swap 2
February Fantasies Group Promo Worlds of Magic and Mystery Group Promo
Discover Free Sci-Fi Group Promo Strong Women Strange Worlds QuickReads
Reviewers Corner!

Greetings!

I hope you and yours had a fun Valentine’s Day! 💖💝💕
Hubby actually remembered this year and got me some flowers. 🤯
Now we’ll see if he can remember my birthday. 😋 Bwahahaha!

I did not get to put the newsletter for 2/10/23 on the blog, so if you’re interested, you can find a web copy here.

News/Musings

2023 still wants to be the Year of Chaos! Boo!

Just when I thought I was getting my schedule for the year under wraps and patting myself on the back for finishing The Secret Humankind and eager to get started on Book 3 of the Daiyu Wu Mysteries, I hit a speed bump.

It seems that expectations for new urban fantasy titles have changed. My manuscript doesn’t check off all the now-expected buckets. People want fresh content even as they also want the same-old-same-old. Currently, kick-bun sassy heroines with novels in first person for urban fantasy are the thing. My poor main character has no combat training, is a loner fighting against her loner nature, and has no sass. So now I need to decide if I want to rework the whole thing to fit market trends or keep it as is. 😣
Do you have a preference in the type of urban fantasy you read, if you read the genre at all? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

One lucky thing is that whichever way I go, it won’t affect the prequel short! Yay! It’s already on the queue for the crit group, and then it will be off to the editor. So one thing is on track. Woohoo!

 

Extra content today:

1) StoryOrigin Swap 1 (Freebie)

2) StoryOrigin Swap 2 (Review Copy)

3) February Fantasies Group Promo

4) Worlds of Magic and Mystery Group Promo

5) Discover Free Sci-Fi Group Promo

6) Strong Women Strange Worlds QuickReads

Scroll on down to get all the deets. 😉

Once Upon a Dark Knight

Once Upon a Dark Knight

StoryOrigin Swap 1 (Freebie)

Journey with me into the realm of the Alamir.

It wasn’t Etain’s best day. Told to leave the only home she’d known since coming to the Alamir with no reason other than ‘you will understand one day’, she had nowhere to go and no one to turn to.

In her attempt to find the answers she deserved, she ended up on the wrong end of a sword, unconscious and her back broken, pinned to the outer wall of the home she’d just been forced out of.

Was the fairy tale over or just beginning?

Red Dead Redemption 2

Haven’t played this one in a while, but I want to get back to it! So darn gorgeous! Though I will say some of the impromptu side missions (hearing noises nearby or being ambushed) I seem to always do the wrong thing. DOH!

You can see all the currently uploaded pics here.

20230223115423 1c8f80ba me

Speaking of unexpected side missions – this was one of them. Luckily, I chose wisely. Phew. Look at that backdrop. Breathtaking.

20230223115425 138695ca me

Having escaped past the mountains and survived the harsh winter, the grifters are heading to the town of Valentine for their first look at their possible new targets.

20230223115427 81fbbb1d me

Walking the streets of Valentine. There’s a church, a general store, a hotel, and more.

20230223115434 8a44e218 me

You can get bounty work at the sheriff’s office. This little lady has a bad tendency to kill her husbands for their cash—a black widow.

20230223115437 b2c5321d me

I am so in love with these breathtaking views!

20230223115438 5d8c9edc me

Tons of zany characters to encounter. This lady is an archeologist looking for bones. She engages you to keep your eyes peeled as you traverse the country side. 😛

20230223115439 00eb8504 me

The nights are dark, but the skies are alight! Makes you want to put down a blanket and just stare up at the cosmos. 🙂

20230223115446 97cc31cd me

A darn fool drank too much and now he’d gotten himself stuck out on the railroad bridge. And yes, a train is a coming! (Had to do this one several times. I kept getting run over. LOL.)

Sanguineum Harenae

Sanguineum Harenae

StoryOrigin Swap 2 (Review Copy)

Love comes from the most unexpected places and so does trouble…
After losing her job, Molly Padia struggles to find a new path forward. She seeks a fresh start in Albany, New York and finds herself living in a drab apartment, sidled with regrets. Luckily, the neighbors seem nice and offer some respite from her woes.

What none of them know, however, is that Molly isn’t her real name. Her birth name is Molpadia, and she’s an Amazon who’s walked the earth for over a thousand years.

For lifetimes, she’d policed the supernatural and kept the mundane world in the dark. Now her days are filled with TV, beer, and pizza — sad obscurity — because she made the crucial mistake of backing an enigmatic wizard.

Meanwhile, an innocent fling becomes a full-blown “thing.” Problem is, this breath of fresh air comes with a legal edge Molpadia would rather avoid. When a body turns up — along with a familiar face from Molpadia’s past — she’ll need to make some hard decisions and do so fast…before the body count rises.

Devilishly fun, this Realm Killer spinoff packs the perfect punch.

February Fantasies Group Promo Banner

Have an adventure this February and check out the February Fantasies Group Promo before it’s gone!

Worlds of Magic and Mystery Group Promo Banner

All manner of Worlds of Magic and Mystery can be yours in this Feb 2023 Promo. Unimagined wonders await!

Discover Free SciFi Group Promo Banner

Valentine’s day addition! Discover the Free Sci-Fi Group Promo!

Strong Women Strange Worlds 03.03.23 Banner

The next Strong Women Strange Worlds QuickReads will be on 3/3/23. Preregister for the free event!

🌟 Shout out to Reviewers Corner! 🌟

Thanks this month go to:

Alien Redemption – Melissa and Ash Holmquist

Black Jade – The Arizona Bookstaggramer, Linda Kimura, Shelly Pagkalinawan, and Shelly Joyce.

Cross-eyed Dragon Troubles – Kuzlin and Linda

Jacques –  The Arizona Bookstaggramer, Shelly Pagkalinawan, and Shelly Joyce.

Romeo’s Revenge – Shelly Pagkalinawan and Shelly Joyce.

The Joy of Murder – Shelly Pagkalinawan, Shelly Joyce, and JArens16.

Willing Sacrifice – Kuzlin and Linda.

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!)

The weather is doing weird stuff again, so stay safe out there! See you next time!

 

Gloria