Hens Lay Eggs
food for thought
Daughter of the Dark Moon #MFRWhooks
Twin Moons Saga Book 3
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nWorlds fear the powerful, ruthless, and cold-hearted Unseelie king. Deposed and his kingdom conquered, Uberon answers the call of a young human woman’s soul and claims her as his mate. Corinne’s clever mind captivates him, her compassion intrigues him, her beauty enchants him, and her body stokes his libido like nothing else ever did or could. n |
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5 Star Review
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nThis story has it all….an immortal king with the most useful of magical powers, and a very modern and independent woman from America whom you will simply love. She’s smart, sassy and has a few tricks up her own sleeve.
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nDo yourself a favor and read it in any format you can get your hands on.n
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Excerpt
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nHe paused at the forest edge, observing the woman who sat on the old concrete boat ramp as she reeled in a fish with expert skill.
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n“Y’all can come out now,” she called over her shoulder without looking behind her.
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nHe obeyed her beckons and quietly took a seat beside her as she cast her line again. They sat in companionable silence, inches apart and never touching. He did not quite know her reason for the studious avoidance of physical connection and did not question it. He simply enjoyed the soft sounds of her breathing, the rustle of her clothes, the splash of water, the rustling of leaves, and the chirps of birds. It reminded him of his home in midsummer.
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nShe caught another fish, deemed it inadequate for her purposes, and released it back into the water after extracting the sharp hook from its mouth. She glanced at the horizon and noted the sun’s descent and the vivid flare of color across the western sky.
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n“I’ve got enough to feed both of us tonight if you’re hungry,” she invited him as she hauled up the day’s meager catch. She gathered her cooler and tackle and began the hike back to her tiny cabin. He fell into step behind her, feeling protective and watching for danger.
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n“Nothing but the occasional black bear or badger around here,” she said, her voice quiet in the rustling wilderness.
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nHe said nothing, but shadowed her nonetheless. He knew park visitors occasionally tramped through what she considered her territory and that some of them had less than benign intentions. He’d killed one of them not three days past.
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nThe elimination of a tainted soul did not disturb him. After hundreds of millennia, little actually disturbed him. He glanced at the slender hips swaying with each step, the lure to masculine interest unintentional. Desire surged, a heady sensation he hadn’t enjoyed since his mate died.
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nHad been killed.
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nMurdered. n
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Heading into the holidays
Thanksgiving is just around the corner, with Christmas and News Year’s not far behind. This year the holidays bring extra poignancy and stress.
November 18 is the 1-year anniversary of my father’s death. This far this month, I’ve been channeling Dad, wearing his Hallmark shirt and watching sappy-sweet Hallmark movies. I visited him in the Dayton National Cemetery on Veterans Day, talked at him, then had a bit of a cry.
I miss my dad.
I picked up two new clients. One I’d registered for before, but didn’t remember having doing so. Now that I’ve been getting gig alerts from them, I know why I let my account with them expire. Let’s just say that the rates offered hover somewhere between cheap and slavery. This is the same outfit that demanded I write and submit an 800-word article to them for free. I replied that I wouldn’t do that and they offered to bring me onboard anyway. Unless the gig offer improve substantially and soon, I’ll be deleting my account with them.
The second client is a marketing firm that uses Asana and Slack. I loathe such project management applications, but understand their utility and the necessity for them when managing many different small projects and contractors. I haven’t picked up any of the gigs offered yet because, thus far, none appeal to me. That’s the beauty of freelancing: I work on what appeals to me. I’m not forced to work on anything or for anyone I really dislike.
Neither is my preferred type of client. I really like working with indie authors and helping them improve their stories. Getting indie writers, especially authors producing their first manuscripts, to understand the importance of engaging a professional editor remains a challenge. I continue to work on educating them with regard to expectations:
- No, your rough draft is not ready for an editor; you should self-edit and revised until it’s as good as you can make it.
- No, I will not return a manuscript ready for publishing. You have to revise it. If a lot of revision and rewriting is necessary, it will need another round of editing. (You’ll get better value from your editor if she’s focused on making your story better instead of correcting typos and grammar errors.)
- Yes, competent editing is expensive. You get what you pay for.
With the turmoil this year has brought, I suspect many of the writers who used shelter-in-place restrictions to produce their stories also lost much of the disposable income they might have used to get their manuscripts edited.
I have one more art class scheduled before the holiday season begins in earnest. This year, I’ll be gifting some family members with framed artwork. I already gave my elder son, for his birthday, with two pour art paintings that turned out really well. He said he liked them and I said I appreciated the lie. Surely, other family members, too, will politely smile and thank me and discuss among themselves how much they wish I hadn’t–really hadn’t–inflicted my paintings on them.
I’m not nearly as good a painter as I’d like to be.
Other writing remains a hiatus. There have been a couple of small spurts when I added to a manuscript, but nothing sustained. Therefore, there will not be another book coming out this year. Continued dismal sales contributes to the discouragement. I’m starting to wonder if I ought not focus on in-person sales. Book- and author-oriented events don’t really generate much in the way of book sales, but other types of events show a lot of promise. On Saturday, December 12, I’ll be peddling my books at the 9th Annual Christmas Bazaar at St. Clements Hall in Toledo, Ohio. This, of course, assumes the governor doesn’t send us all into lockdown again.
I’m not the only person who will bid 2020 a glad good-bye.
You owe her #MFRWhooks
Daughter of the Deepwood
nBook 2 of the Twin Moons Saga
nFree This Weekend Only!
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nLifetime imprisonment for an immortal doesn’t bear consideration. As cold iron burns his skin and dampens his magic, fae captain Falco wrenches power and freedom from the broken body of another prisoner—a witchbreed female—tossed into his cell to make room for a new harvest of criminals. Honor and obligation mandate that he not abandon her. n |
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Excerpt
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n“You owe her a great deal more,” the king said. “How long has she been incarcerated by these humans?”
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n“As best I can estimate, about a year.”
n“And she lives?”
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nFalco nodded, feeling the drain of her weakening body and spirit upon his own life force. “It is my soul that keeps her alive now.”
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n“Then go, Lord Captain, and uphold Daimónio Refstófae honor and duty,” the king ordered. “You may take three warriors of your choosing with you.”
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nFalco bowed with genuine gratitude. “Thank you, your majesty.”
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n“Don’t thank me just yet, Lord Captain. When you return, you’ll complete the mating with this witchbreed. Don’t expect her to thank you when she might have preferred the mercy of death.”
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n“No, your majesty.”
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nFalco bowed and departed. Filled with a sense of increasing urgency and valiantly resisting the pull of xanani sleep, he marched to the garrison where the Daimónio Refstófaes’ elite warriors lived.
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n“Captain!” came the surprised acknowledgement as his warriors leaped to their feet and stood at attention. “We did not know you had returned.”
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n“At ease,” he commanded. “I returned only moments ago. And I will leave only moments hence. I need three volunteers to accompany me.”
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n“It if please you, Captain, we would appreciate more information,” his lieutenant said, speaking for them all.
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n“I was taken prisoner by the humans. They were aided by djinni,” he reported in clipped syllables. “They held a fae-blooded female there. I used her blood to break the iron with which they shackled me and now I must retrieve her.”
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nFalco’s ears pinned flat against his head as he growled a promise, “There will be blood.”
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Author
Hard boiled, scrambled, over easy, and sunny side up: eggs are the musings of Holly Bargo, the pseudonym for the author.
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Karen (Holly)
Blog Swaps
Looking for a place to swap blogs? Holly Bargo at Hen House Publishing is happy to reciprocate Blog Swaps in 2019.
For more information: