Book Promo

If you wish to send us books for next week’s promo, please email to bookpimping at outlook dot com. If you feel a need to re-promo the same book do so no more than once every six months (unless you’re me or my relative. Deal.) One book per author per week. Amazon links only. Oh, yeah, by clicking through and buying (anything, actually) through one of the links below, you will at no cost to you be giving a portion of your purchase to support ATH through our associates number. A COMMISSION IS EARNED FROM EACH PURCHASE.*Note that I haven’t read most of these books (my reading is eclectic and “craving led”,) and apply the usual cautions to buying. I reserve the right not to run any submission, if cover, blurb or anything else made me decide not to, at my sole discretion.– SAH

https://amzn.to/3KyLXllFROM JULIE FROST: Joy Shall Be in Heaven

A Guardian Angel to serial killers
His newest Charge
And a grimoire with a Free! Demon! Inside!

Nachumiel’s job is to be the Still Small Voice whispering into the ears of sociopaths, in a vain attempt to turn them from the path of destruction they’re merrily traipsing down. Fresh off yet another assignment up to his hips in blood and buried in corpses, he’s beginning to wonder if he garners assignments like this because he’s a massive screwup who can’t damage these people any more than they already are.

His new Charge is different—but not in a good way. Gerry finds a malevolent spellbook holding a demon bound within, whose power even other demons are afraid of. Now Nachi has to team up with his argumentative opposite number and endeavor to undermine both Gerry and his damnable new friend before a child is sacrificed and the grimoire demon unleashes Hell on Earth. All he can try is what has always failed in the past…

And hope he doesn’t end up bleeding out on the floor himself.

FROM CEDAR BEGLEY (CEDAR SANDERSON): Wonderland: Follow the White Rabbit to Murder

A white rabbit. A discarded gun. A detective who won’t stop digging.

When Detective Shelby Carroll follows a mysterious white rabbit to a suburban hit-and-run, she uncovers more than a simple crime. A mummified body in a red velvet room. Cryptic messages about a “Red Queen.” Neighborhood cameras watching every move. As cold cases collide with fresh murders, Shelby races through a twisted Wonderland of extortion, surveillance, and organized crime. Someone wants her silenced permanently. In this gripping police procedural, one detective must dethrone a ruthless crime boss before she becomes the next victim.

Perfect for fans of gritty female detectives, hard-boiled mysteries, and Alice in Wonderland thrillers.

FROM ROSS HATHAWAY: Rule 13

In Ashburn, the city doesn’t sleep—it twitches.
It grinds men down, chews through their souls, and spits out what’s left with a crooked grin.
Once, Robert Tucker wore a badge polished bright with idealism. Fresh out of the academy, he thought he could make a difference in a city built on vice, velvet lies, and rain-slick corruption. But a decade under the neon hum and coal-smoke skies of Ashburn turned that badge into a paperweight and that hope into bourbon.
Now he’s a private eye working out of a one-room office with a bottle in his drawer, a secretary who files extortion notices under “routine,” and a conscience held together by the rules his dead partner left behind—Fallon’s Rules. Twelve of them. Not one guarantees survival.
The syndicate boss Vincent Crowe owns the city’s shadows, but when Crowe gets in over his head the rot only deepens. Tucker’s caught between crooked judges, dying reporters, and a government experiment that makes the fog itself lethal. Everyone’s selling something in Ashburn—even redemption.
In a city that eats its own, Tucker knows you don’t fight to win. You fight because you’re still breathing.
Rule 13 — a hardboiled descent through smoke, blood, and brass where justice is a rumor, truth burns like cheap whiskey, and the only clean thing left in Ashburn is the rain that never stops falling.

FROM J. KENTON PIERCE: Back Alley Angels and Badlands Devils: A Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Double (Tales From the Long Night)

In a galaxy ravaged by fallen empires, endless wars, and a volcanic apocalypse, hope isn’t bestowed by fate—it’s forged by gritty survivors reclaiming their freedom and heritage. Welcome back to J. Kenton Pierce’s epic Tales from the Long Night universe, where ordinary heroes rise against the encroaching dark.

Back Alley Angels and Badland Devils delivers two pulse-pounding stories spotlighting the unsung warriors of Hesperides Colony, scarred by the Mutual Prosperity’s invasion. These raw tales of resilience pit flawed protagonists against hostile xenos, ancient horrors, and shadowy schemes.In “The Greenline Gambit,” set centuries into the Long Night, amiable brawler Kraitte thrives in the subterranean sprawl of Greenline Town—a former refugee sanctuary turned industrial hub. By day, he’s a heavy lifter; by night, a smuggler’s guardian. But when a mysterious brunette offers a high-stakes job, Kraitte plunges into a web of rival factions vying for underground power, testing his newfound sense of home and family.

“El Banquero del Diablo” rewinds to the invasion’s chaotic aftermath, amid ash-choked volcanic winter. Rugged cowboy Danny Bozeman, a former rider for Boss Rosenberry, joins the nascent Nuevo Tejas Rangers to rebuild society. Preferring simple brawls and bar tabs, Danny confronts capital-E Evil—an ancient darkness threatening innocents—armed only with unyielding grit and iron resolve.These standalone adventures weave into the saga’s larger arcs, proving heroes emerge from back alleys and badlands, not thrones. In a cosmos of implacable threats, the fight for dawn is eternal. Join Kraitte and Danny’s ruckus–and learn what it means to never quit.

FROM BLAKE SMITH: By the Light of the Moon

Aatu is eighteen years old, a respectable landowner, and about to marry the girl he loves. The south coast of Finland provides everything his little village requires.

It’s a peaceful life, until a band of ex-Crusaders land on the shore. With the harsh winter and lean times approaching, they cannot be allowed to stay for long. When their priests disturb things best left alone, Aatu fears a minor annoyance will become a disaster.

Aatu’s people turn to the old ways to fight the enemy, to teeth and claws instead of swords and spears. Though they are outnumbered and unused to fighting, Aatu is about to discover that wild wolves are not the most fearsome predators in this land, and even the most peaceful people can become ferocious in defense of the ones they love.

FROM S. T. GAFNEY: Simba’s Story

A loyal cat tries to defend his ailing Mistress from an unknown creature.

ANTHOLOGY WITH A STORY BY ROBERT MILLER: Wetwork Redacted.

Classified missions and forbidden desires collide in these steamy tales of special operators who break all the rules. When the uniform comes off, the real danger begins as elite warriors navigate passion in the shadows of black ops. These adults-only stories blend tactical precision with explosive chemistry. Some missions are too hot for official reports.

FROM TIM SEIBEL: Freedom Voyages Volume 4: Christmastime in Texas: Road Trips throughout the United States

Embark on a captivating adventure with the fourth installment of the Freedom Voyages series! Freedom Voyages Volume 4: Christmastime in Texas is a visual feast brimming with over 400 breathtaking photographs that capture the heart and spirit of America. These pictures showcase the landscapes, cityscapes, and vibrant cultural events that make Texas unique. It’s a visual record of a December road trip through Texas that will leave you in awe.

This 2000-mile road trip commences in the rugged beauty of Colorado’s Front Range, then continues through the otherworldly lava fields of northeastern New Mexico and into North Texas. Along the way, you’ll make captivating stops at the Capulin Volcano, small Texas ranching towns, and Dallas and McKinney’s dazzling Texas-sized Christmas light scenes. From North Texas, the journey continues south through the county seats of East Texas to experience its Christmas celebrations in quintessential towns such as Paris, Sulphur Springs, Longview, Nacogdoches, San Augustine, Jasper, Woodville, and others before concluding with a side trip to see Galveston fully decorated for the yuletide season.
Freedom Voyages is not just a book — it’s a thrilling invitation to embark on an adventure. For those who yearn to experience America’s roadways vicariously through pictures, thoughts, and experiences, these pages are a gateway to your own Freedom Voyage. Get ready to be inspired!

ANTHOLOGY WITH A STORY BY CHARLI COX: Claus of War: Santa’s Battle Chronicles (A Bayonet Books Anthology Book 16)

Ho Ho Ho? More like Lock and Load!

Unwrap the ultimate holiday thrill ride with Claus of War: Santa’s Battle Chronicles, Bayonet Books Anthology Vol 16!

Forget milk and cookies—Santa’s trading his sleigh for a war machine and his naughty list for a battle plan. From the icy depths of Europe to the jungles of Vietnam, 11 electrifying tales reimage Saint Nick as a battle hardened warrior facing cosmic horrors, mythical beasts, and relentless enemies. With stories by Alicia Kane, Charlie Cox, J.T. Arralle, and more, this anthology blends military sci-fi, dark fantasy, and holiday grit into a pulse-pounding collection that’ll keep you up long past midnight.

Perfect for fans of Dungeons & Dragons, Aliens, or Krampus Unleashed! When the stakes are survival and the enemy is ancient evil, Santa’s not just checking his list—he’s crossing names off.

Grab your combat rations, strap in, and buckle up for a holiday warzone.

Join Santa’s fight for survival.

FROM JOHN BAILEY: The Caracas Protocol: The Rescuers Book One

Perfect for a modern audience who misses the tension, cleverness, and style of early espionage TV adventures.

When a rogue alliance drawn from Venezuela, Russia, China, and a web of proxy regimes quietly prepares a global triple-strike operation, the United States activates a team that officially does not exist.

• Captain Grant Shaw, master of disguise and unflappable field leader.
• Dr. Lucia “Lucky” Vega, Cuban-American cyber-engineer who can breach any system.
• Malik Saint-James, actor and perfect impersonator.
• Dr. Nadia Petrova, Russian émigré physician with psychological ops expertise.
• “Baron” Delgado, explosive-ordnance virtuoso with nerves of steel.
• Valentina “Val” Moreau, illusionist and contingency strategist.

Their mission: infiltrate an international summit in Caracas, uncover the operation known only as The Caracas Protocol, and stop a three-country chain reaction designed to destabilize half the globe.

Working from a mural-hidden safe house, swapping identities through flawless masks, staging live television illusions, and turning enemy arrogance against itself, the team races against synchronized attacks in Tijuana, Port-au-Prince, and the Caribbean.

Failure means chaos.

Success means no one will ever know what they prevented.

High-speed, clean, clever, and safe for younger readers while thrilling for adults, The Caracas Protocol launches the Rescuer Files, a modern espionage series built on style, deception, and perfectly timed reveals.

BY LEIGH BRACKET, REVIVED BY D. JASON FLEMING: The Starmen of Llyrdis (Annotated): The Pulp Libertarian Science Fiction Classic

Michael Trehearne sensed his difference from other men, but he little knew he was a changeling of the only race able to conquer the stars!

Leigh Brackett’s 1951 novel, which first appeared in Startling Stories, not only prefigures books like Alfred Bester’s The Stars, My Destination and movies like Joss Whedon’s Serenity, it also makes a strong case for open source software and free culture in general, decades before either of those terms were coined.

• This iktaPOP Media edition includes a new introduction giving the book genre and historical context.

FROM C. CHANCY: Count Taka and the Vampire Brides

Welcome, traveler, to wild Tramontana!

Here you will find snowclad mountains, roaring rivers, vast caves perhaps never seen before by mortal man! Here the strong Horses of Night roam the mountainsides – perhaps you can tame one to ride with your charms. Here the shepherds call to the long-fleeced sheep, the sheep to their sweet lambs – and you can find true telemea, the softest and freshest of cheese, in the gift shop, herb-flavored, a dozen special varieties-

Eh? You’re not here for the gift shop?

Ah, the cameras, of course! Forgive me, most of the photographers we see head straight for the ski lifts. Or the whitewater. Yet there’s so much more to Tramontana! The healthy farmers bringing in the hay, the soaring churches, the wild gypsy dancers – you must dance with the gypsies – and Raven Castle! Oh, there’s a place of history… and mystery.

It held the line against the Turks, they say, and the ancient lords rooted out all manner of uncanny beings… or bargained with them. Have you heard the rumors? That Count Herodes has ruled from that castle for over a hundred years? True, I tell you, all true!

…Monsters don’t exist, eh? Well, well, take your photographs, and we’ll see!

But you must visit the castle. The Blood Moon is coming, yes, and they say that’s when vampire lords can take a Bride! Other years have come and gone with no new lady in the castle, but this year… oh, you should hear Mistral sing the omens! A lass with your modesty and charms-

What’s that? Ah, temper, temper; location shots, yes, I see. Which way to the castle… there are maps in the gift shop, and tour schedules – but we can do better than that! Why, we’ll escort you there ourselves, no trouble at all, I insist-

Ooof. That’s a feisty one! Well, she’s packed off now. The other Brides should have some interesting weeks….
Mihail? What do you mean, Kae’s not a girl’s name?

…Oops.

(Vampire with annoying relatives meets photographer with terrifying relatives. Hilarity Ensues.)

FROM LEIGH KIMMEL: All the Little Hedgehogs

In Soviet Union, genetic engineering does you.

Yona wondered why everyone kept steering him toward a military career, until one of his teachers noticed his aptitude for genetics. Now he’s the personal student of Academician Voronsky, working in a secret genetic engineering facility in a closed town.

However, Yona keeps having to spend as much time babysitting the Academician’s adopted son Kolya as actually doing genetics. When this extra assignment becomes a frustration, Yona learns just how quickly privileges can be retracted.

And then he starts learning just how deep the secrets of the Soviet human genetics program really goes.

A story from the Grissom timeline (Gus on the Moon universe).

Caution: Contains intense material that may be disturbing to some readers. Reader caution advised.

FROM ELISE HYATT (SARAH A. HOYT), ON SALE FOR 99c: Dipped, Stripped and Dead (Daring Finds Book 1)

DEAD MAN’S REFINISH

Some people find antiques. Dyce Dare finds trouble.

Ever tried fishing a Victorian sideboard out of a dumpster only to hook a dead body instead? Welcome to Dyce Dare’s life, where nothing goes according to plan—and never has.

At six, she wanted to be a ballerina (until gravity repeatedly suggested otherwise). At ten, she dreamed of lion taming (until Fluffy the cat staged a mutiny). Now at twenty-nine, she’s just trying to keep her furniture refinishing business afloat so she can upgrade her son’s diet from “pancakes” to “anything else, please.”

But when her latest dumpster dive yields a half-melted corpse instead of salvageable furniture, Dyce reluctantly adds “amateur detective” to her lengthy resume of career failures. Because nothing says “responsible single mom” like poking around a murder investigation, right?

Between dodging danger, dealing with her quirky neighbors, and trying not to embarrass herself in front of a certain handsome police officer, Dyce is about to discover that her talent for refinishing furniture might just extend to refinishing crime scenes.

Dipped Stripped And Dead – Sometimes the best way to clean up your life is to solve a murder.

(Warning: May contain splinters, sarcasm, and one very determined single mom who definitely didn’t plan on any of this.)

FROM SARAH A. HOYT, ON SALE FOR 99c AND PART OF THE BASED BOOKSALE BELOW (WHICH YOU SHOULD LOOK AT IF YOU CAN): A Few Good Men.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we declare the revolution!

He spent 14 years in solitary. Now he’ll ignite a revolution.
Born a prince among Earth’s fifty tyrants, Lucius Keeva emerges from imprisonment with a fractured mind and a deadly purpose. When assassins hunt him, fate delivers him to the USAians—secret keepers of America’s forgotten beliefs.

For 500 years, this underground faith has preserved the Constitution while awaiting their prophesied leader. In Luce’s madness, they recognize their messiah.

Now the son of tyranny becomes liberty’s champion. As the USAians rise from the shadows, their weapons of war finally unleashed, a broken mind and a fallen prince prove the perfect weapon against an unbreakable regime.

One madman. One ancient faith. One last chance to restore the republic from legend.

A FEW GOOD MEN —where belief becomes the ultimate revolutionary tactic.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY BAEN BOOKS

FROM SARAH A. HOYT: No Man’s Land: Volume 1 (Chronicles of Lost Elly)

IT’S NOT THAT KIND OF BOOK!

Sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic.

On a lost colony world, mad geneticists thought they could eliminate inequality by making everyone hermaphrodite. They were wrong. Catastrophically wrong.
Now technology indistinguishable from magic courses through the veins of the inhabitants, making their barbaric civilization survivable—and Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Kayel Hayden, Viscount Webson, Envoy of the Star Empire—Skip to his friends— has just crash-landed through a time-space rift into the middle of it all.
Dodging assassins and plummeting from high windows was just the beginning. With a desperate king and an archmagician as his only allies, Scipio must outrun death itself while battling beasts, traitors, and infiltrators bent on finishing what the founders started: total destruction.
Two worlds. One chance. No time to lose.

Volume 1
The Ambassador Corps has rules: you cannot know everything, don’t get horizontal with the natives, don’t make promises you can’t keep.
They’re a lot harder to follow when assassins are hunting you, your barbarian allies could kill you for the wrong word, and death lurks around every corner.
The unwritten rule? Never identify with the natives.
Skip’s already broken that one.
Now he’s racing against time to save his new friends from slavery—or worse—while dodging energy blasts and political intrigue. One crash-landed diplomat. A world of deadly secrets. And absolutely no backup.

Some rules are meant to be broken. Others will get you killed.

AND FINALLY, YOU REALLY SHOULD CHECK OUT: The 2025 Black Friday/Cyber Monday Based Book Sale! Is Still On. and No Man’s Land is part of it.

Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

So what’s a vignette? You might know them as flash fiction, or even just sketches. We will provide a prompt each Sunday that you can use directly (including it in your work) or just as an inspiration. You, in turn, will write about 50 words (yes, we are going for short shorts! Not even a Drabble 100 words, just half that!). Then post it! For an additional challenge, you can aim to make it exactly 50 words, if you like.

We recommend that if you have an original vignette, you post that as a new reply. If you are commenting on someone’s vignette, then post that as a reply to the vignette. Comments — this is writing practice, so comments should be aimed at helping someone be a better writer, not at crushing them. And since these are likely to be drafts, don’t jump up and down too hard on typos and grammar.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Your writing prompt this week is: SHAME.

First of all, the based book sale is going on still, and I’m in it with A Few Good Men.

Second, this is on the rolling sale, starting today:

Dipped, Stripped and Dead (Daring Finds Book 1)

DEAD MAN’S REFINISH

Some people find antiques. Dyce Dare finds trouble.

Ever tried fishing a Victorian sideboard out of a dumpster only to hook a dead body instead? Welcome to Dyce Dare’s life, where nothing goes according to plan—and never has.

At six, she wanted to be a ballerina (until gravity repeatedly suggested otherwise). At ten, she dreamed of lion taming (until Fluffy the cat staged a mutiny). Now at twenty-nine, she’s just trying to keep her furniture refinishing business afloat so she can upgrade her son’s diet from “pancakes” to “anything else, please.”

But when her latest dumpster dive yields a half-melted corpse instead of salvageable furniture, Dyce reluctantly adds “amateur detective” to her lengthy resume of career failures. Because nothing says “responsible single mom” like poking around a murder investigation, right?

Between dodging danger, dealing with her quirky neighbors, and trying not to embarrass herself in front of a certain handsome police officer, Dyce is about to discover that her talent for refinishing furniture might just extend to refinishing crime scenes.

Dipped Stripped And Dead – Sometimes the best way to clean up your life is to solve a murder.

(Warning: May contain splinters, sarcasm, and one very determined single mom who definitely didn’t plan on any of this.)

Time travelers shouldn’t marry, my father had told me forty years ago in this time line. But if they married, they should make sure it wasn’t to another time traveler.

As I flew into Colorado Springs in the morning, my hands so tight on the wheel of the flyer that my knuckles shone white through the skin, I sighed. The last ten years had taught me the truth of this, but the warnings were all for nothing. Who should time agents marry but other time agents? Who else could you marry on Christmas day 1943, when you were both 25, then retire with in 2202 when you were sixty? To whom else could you talk about that wonderful chick pea pie you ate on New Year’s probably 1231 somewhere in the French countryside? Who else would smile at you at reminiscences of Pompeii before the volcano? Who else would nod when you sighed about the beauties of European art before 2070? Who would even believe you’d traveled through time and seen all of that?

It was snowing lightly and the re-constructed downtown looked like a jewel under morning sun: self-consciously prim — if utterly false — Victorians gleaming under newly fallen snow. From this far up, it was impossible to tell if people walked the streets. Flyers were forbidden in the heart of downtown, and ground cars weren’t moving yet. It was too early for the people who agreed to believe in the living reconstruction to be moving.

But I could see the sudden flashes in Pikes Peak, and the ships rising, so the spaceport was working. To be fair, it worked night and day, twenty four hours, seven days, twelve months. So why would it not be sending ships to far distant colonies two days before Christmas at six am.

My destination was less lofty and more disquieting. Cheyenne Mountain had been decommissioned and recommissioned many times before I was born, mid-twenty second century. The last commissioning had been quiet, almost silent. The public knew there was a “scientific facility” under the mountain, but that was it. My parents had known better, since they’d both at one time been time agents.

(Removed because book — Christmas in Time — will be available for sale on Amazon 12-14-2025)

In case it’s not obvious, you’ll have to be thankful for a free short story TOMORROW since today I ended up cleaning and other stuff that means I’ve only sat down now for the first time.

So here’s my list of things I’m thankful for in no particular order, and surely incomplete.

I’m grateful for the results of the 2024 elections. The economy is no great shakes, but it’s no longer plunging into the abyss.

I’m grateful I finally got No Man’s Land out of my head, and grateful it’s selling if not amazingly, steadily and well.

I’m grateful for my husband (always), my sons, and the daughters my sons brought home to me.

I’m grateful for the cats, and grateful Havey is still with us.

I’m grateful I got to see my dad this year, and that he was doing well and mentally fit.

I’m grateful for the roof over our heads, the food on our table, for computers that work and heating that also works. (Because it’s brrrrrrr. That’s why.)

I’m grateful my health seems to be improving, and curious about whether it will get better once they desensitize me to what seems to be a major allergy to cats. (I always thought it was minor.)

I’m very grateful for my local friends.

And most of all, I’m grateful for my readers; the subscribers to my substacks (I PROMISE there will be earcs in the next week. It’s been a bit stupid since September.)

And I’m grateful to all of you my commenters, those who support this blog monetarily, and those who “simply” hang out and become a part of the family here.

I literally could have not have through the last year without you.

Story tomorrow. (I won’t promise to do one a day but I’m going to try to do five of them, then put them out on Amazon before Christmas. Hopefully.

Now go have your turkey. Pet your cats and dogs and cuddle your infants for me.

We are all so blessed.

I’m working on something for you guys. But it will probably tomorrow before I can put it up, because today is a day of doctor’s appointments.

As a teaser it starts with “Time travelers shouldn’t get married.”

Oh, and don’t panic. It’s just the allergist for, well, allergy testing. They’ll come back saying I’m allergic to stress and Portugal, but it must be done anyway.

In the meantime, I want to point out that the based book sale is ON and I’m in it.

With A Few Good Men. Okay, yes, gay protagonists (though if you decide they’re just good friends it works too. I know because several of my readers do that) but also the USAIAN religion, and I don’t know anything more based than that.

And if you wish to go directly (but you should check out the sale. There’s a lot of people familiar to you in it.) it’s here: A Few Good Men.

As always remember you can order it delivered on Christmas morning, and no one will know you got it on sale. :D And if you haven’t read any of the Darkship Thieves, you don’t need to. It’s a stand alone. Yes, it fits in the series, but it’s a stand alone.

Also, FYI, Draw One In The Dark is still on sale. It’s the first of my Shifter series, and set in an analog of what used to be my favorite diner in Denver, Pete’s Kitchen.

Anyway, in case you need your slice of red meat which I’m not providing due to doctor things and other stuff…. Go here. No seriously. GO HERE. Oh, yeah, warning, language, but this woman fulfills my repeated warning that good enough profanity is POETRY and just as difficult. If you’re on X you might want to give her a follow.

Oh, come on. I’m only one sixth through the plot. You didn’t think I was done, right?
My head just hasn’t been right for poetry.

This concludes the first album, though. As soon as I get them converted to MP3, I’ll put them in bookfunnel for download. (Yes, I AM trying to build shop before Christmas, but it takes time.)

Now, the first one is …. well, if you can’t sing happily about defenestration, you should just pack it up and go home. ;) (Yes, I DO know Imaginos is going to yell at me. It’s good for his vocal chords! It’s exercise!)

The second is not AS bouncy. It’s not about someone almost dying, after all.

It is a known fact — or at least heaven knows I’ve talked about it enough — that when I’m out of it either physically or emotionally I read… shall we call it? Unsurprising stuff. Like Jane Austen Fanfic or true crime.

The fact I’ve been doing that more or less non-stop for three years, with occasional forays into classical SF is a measure of how weird these three (or four) years have been. And yes, i promise to get back to reading the future of the past soon. I hit a snag because the book a friend sourced was scanned and it’s pdf and my eyes aren’t good enough to read that, so I got sidetracked and need to figure out what’s next after that skip.

But anyway, I get that sometimes — sometimes — you just can’t handle shocks or revelations. You need to know the book is going to end in a predictable way. (Weirdly true crime is mostly about “justice restored”.) Which is why people read genres like regency romance, or yes, Jane Austen fanfic. Or to an extent Western. Or….

But I’ve noticed a creep up of trigger warnings in fanfic. Some of these would be incomprehensible to non-Jane-Austen fans and are actually not so much trigger warnings as sub-genre warnings. There are subgenres some fans (sometimes I’m some fans) hate, like “Lizzy is not a Bennet” or “Bingley is evil” or…. whatever. That’s fine. It saves me the trouble of reading a fanfic that’s going to annoy me. Unless I’m in the mood to be annoyed, in which case I will read it so I can grit my teeth and mentally yell at the writer. (Bingley is evil is a problem because it usually turns into a revenge-fest on EVERYONE. Everyone is evil. Etc. I don’t think there’s ever a time I want to read that. You find yourself wanting to take a shower for the soul. With a wire scrub brush.)

We make fun of trigger warnings, often, but it’s a real measure of how stupid things have gotten. When I’m having to read a trigger warning for say “kissing without consent.” or “violence against children” (Okay, you’ll think that last makes perfect sense, until you find out it’s because a kid gets slapped once in the novel) or “verbal violence” or–

And you start wondering, on the serious, if the ideal novel for these people has no plot at all, just people sitting around having a nice meal and talking.

This is disturbing, because the whole point of a novel is to make you feel emotions and experience things you either can’t in your real life, or which wouldn’t be safe to experience in your real life, followed by resolution and catharsis. That’s what a novel offers you. The opportunity to be the someone else far away experiencing “Adventure” (which as we all know is really a series of unpleasant events.)

Anyway, I’ve slowly come to the conclusion all this demand for warnings and screeching about offense isn’t by real readers.

No, seriously. Real readers know that no one can insulate them against all surprises in a book (or blog) and that in fact the point of reading is to get out of your head and experience different things, different events, different emotions and different points of view. You might disagree vehemently with them (I actually do with most of the really old science fiction. Really, scientists in charge? Who thinks that’s even safe? Oh, yeah, the Soviet Union. But even they didn’t DO IT. They just paid lip service. They might have killed a lot more people if they’d done it, at that.) but that forces you to think about why you disagree and how you’d do it differently. If you’re of a certain frame of mind, you mind end up becoming a novelist and writing your response to what you disagree with. Though if you are worth spit, even then, your “response” will be less of a response and more of this whole new thing it became, with the response buried somewhere inside it. And if you’re not of that frame of mind, you’ll still end up a more considered and self-reflective thinker than you were before. For one, while you might think that the other POV is stupid, if you read a whole novel with it, you’ll be aware that thought went into it, and might even have to confront that the worst stupid takes a lot of thought and self deception.

Anyway, the point is, I don’t think the offense-monsters read. Because the whole point of their screeching is to shut down the thinking and prevent ANYONE ELSE from being exposed to the material, and maybe thinking.

That’s not what they say, of course. They say “I’m offended.” And “I’m hurt.” And “You’re mean because you offended me.”

But what they really mean is “this you cannot think” “This you cannot see” and “this you cannot read” and “this you cannot write.” And “this you cannot say.”

They have, you see, completely surrendered their very core to the herd. They have given up their right to think and feel and be, in favor of belonging completely to the herd. (They used to have a term for this and said it as though it were praiseworthy: “mind-kill”.) So being exposed to contrary things hurts, and they have no defense, because they have taught themselves not to think and/or reason through things.

The pain they feel at the slightest hint of disagreement is true. It is also a symptom of what they have done to themselves, and has nothing to do with being mentally or emotionally healthy.

Just like the pain of withdrawal of a chronic alcoholic denied alcohol is real, and continued and too fast withdrawal might kill him, however continuing to feed his drinking habit will also kill him, faster.

To give them trigger warnings, apologize for any offense and handle them with kid gloves is not only bad for them but bad for society in general.

How?

Well, because it establishes some points of view as incapable of being questioned. Even when those points of view are right, if they are never questioned, they can slowly become well…. evil. Take for instance the point that “More children are better.” While in general this is true, or the human race goes extinct, if no one ever questions it, in 50 years or so, people will be shunning couples who have been married ten years and have no kids, without regard to possible fertility issues, or even ability to raise a kid. (Or other things.) Or telling all women married and unmarried, young and old to have a kid NOW, which …. well, it’s better than extinction, we’ll say that.

All points of view, regardless of good, bad or neutral status, should be questioned, mocked, played with in your mind regularly. Why? Because if nothing else, it helps you establish why you believe what you believe. It makes society aware of its own boundaries.

That was the genius of the first amendment.

So if you write a kissing without consent, or a kid gets swatted in your book and the screechers descend on you? The best answer is “That’s cool. You’re offended and I should care why?”

And the same for something someone overheard you say; a fit of temper on your twitter account (it happens); a joke; something you said at thanksgiving; a sign on your lawn; your t-shirt.

The only healthy answer to “I’m offended” is “That’s fine. You’re allowed to be.” Because they are. And you’re allowed to offend them.

The royal family of Spain, being related to Queen Victoria, had a set of hemophiliac heirs. In order to protect them they had every tree in the royal gardens padded.

In the long run that just delayed the inevitable. It’s very sad, but hemophiliac heirs couldn’t carry the royal line, and certainly created all sorts of vulnerabilities, in terms of the royal rule.

In the same way, emotional hemophiliacs are going to bleed out. You can’t stop them. If you pad everything in the public sphere, they’ll just become sensitive to smaller and smaller blows. Eventually they will bleed out in a pile of anger and depression.

But emotional hemophilia is treatable and curable.

Refuse to pad intellectual and emotional life. Don’t be cruel for no reason, of course, (See where I hate “Bingley is evil” fanfic and why.) But if you have something to say you know someone is going to take offense to (I think these days that is every single thought and perhaps every single word, including “a” and “the”) ignore it. Just speak, think, dream, create.

If they’re offended? The only possible answer is “I really don’t care.”

And carry on.

It is not right to say I was overprotected as a child. At least, not if you count the many things I got up to that I shouldn’t have, including exploring tunnels in the woods and walking alone from the city through areas that were less than safe, and such.

However my life was relatively controlled and um… predictable? Look, women of my generation in Portugal didn’t have a lot of options. If I didn’t marry — oh, I could talk about how well I “read the signs” with Portuguese men. TBF I don’t read them well with anyone, but it seems worse with Portuguese men — I would live with my parents my whole life, and probably end up teaching in either high school or college. I could see the vast panorama of the next 80 years or so unfolding before me, by the time I was 18. And it was all predictable.

So, one day when I was sixteen I saw a poster. All it showed was a woman coming out of a suitcase and it said, “Come out of your shell” and had a phone number. (The woman might have been coming out of an egg carrying a suitcase. look, It’s been over 40 years, what do I know?) It was in the least used entrance of my high school, by the exit to the gym. During summer. Someone just put it on a cork board.

Now, the parent I now am flinches at this, because I can imagine a dozen schemes that would be wrong and dangerous, from that poster. But I was 16 and curious. And I only saw the poster at all because a bunch of friends came in during summer to play a friendly game of badminton in the gym, then everyone needed to go to the bathroom, and I didn’t. Like so many things in my life, it started because “I was bored.”

So I called the number. They told me they were an exchange student organization, and did I want the forms to apply? This is fairly insane, because I’d never even gone to camp in summer, but– they pushed. So I said sure, and gave my friends’ address because why freak out the parents?

When the forms came I was just going to throw them away. But the problem was — I’ve mentioned this right? — I could see my entire life unfolding in front of me, and…

And it wasn’t living. Not really. So I told myself I’d do something exciting, ONCE. Something to remember the rest of my life. I applied. Which is how (And there are a lot of stories in this) I ended up being an exchange student to Ohio. Where I met the Mathematician. And then…. well, things changed.

The way I look at it, my life was on path of high probability and I didn’t like that path of high probability. I’ll be honest, it might have fit someone else just fine. In fact, it probably would fit most people just fine. But I knew I’d never marry, and though I loved my parents and I had friends, I had a sense of unending loneliness on that track. Forever. I didn’t fit in Portugal very well, which is where the unending loneliness comes from. Being odd man out. Pretending to fit in. Forever.

So I stepped out fo the track, out of my comfort zone, took a step into the unknown. And here we are.

Better or worse? Only G-d knows, and He might be scratching His head. But different. Very different. And unpredictable, and — in my opinion and having lived it — it’s been a good life and very not a lonely one, because I got the Mathematician. And the kids. And a lot of you.

And though I remain an Odd who will never fit anywhere? I fit better here.

So, why am I telling you all this? Today I ran across this piece of advice. Here, let me show you a screen shot:

She’s not wrong you know? I mean, we can quibble on the details, and as people have pointed out,t he most important thing is to ask. Women don’t. So you have to. But yes, having something special about you helps. I mean, look, most of you can’t help it, but you might not be showing it, because odd protective coloration is to hide the weird.

Believe it or not in the comments there is a guy arguing that he’s just average. There’s nothing special about him. And that women used to go for the average guy and now they don’t.

I pointed out this was not true. My dad, in the forties, wrote letters for his friends to impress their would-be girlfriends with beautiful language (caused a lot of marriages that way.) And I know of people who painted beautiful things for people, and–

It was always about having “a thing” about sticking out. Having something you’re good at or passionate about. (And no, don’t talk her ear off about Spiderman. Unless you first establish she’s ALSO a Spiderman geek. Yes, sense. But there are female Spiderman — or whatever — geeks, and if you find out she’s one, let her know you’re one too. That’s glorious.) And not being afraid to show it.

The poor kid — he revealed he was 30 — came back and told me no, it was much easier before cell phones and–

Sure, writing letters won’t get you there (Or it might, who knows? It’s quaint enough now. Like in my day, a guy could get way ahead in Portugal by singing a serenade under his lady’s window, even though that was way outdated.) But there are new ways for tech.

And there are cons, and hobby classes and classes on whatever you’re really passionate about in your community college. And unless your main hobby in life is “Dick, having one” and you’re interested in girls, in which case going to a class for your hobby won’t help, you can find one through your interests. Okay, so it might be your secondary or tertiary interest. Like, if your local gaming or comics community is wall to wall leftists, consider signing up for, I don’t know, a car maintenance class at your community college (The sort where they teach you to change a tire, not the really involved ones. Those beginner ones often have women.) Or take up ham radio. Or go to a history club.

The point is poke around in enough places that you have a chance.

And sometimes do something you’d never ever do, like answer a stupid poster and consider going out as an exchange student. (I really can’t describe how far out of my comfort zone that was. I think my family is still in shock over it all these years later.)

Because if you’re lonely or don’t like where you are in life, sure: It probably isn’t your fault.

I have spoken — at length — about the problems with both the dating and the job market in the current day and age. And I don’t hold it against any young person who is unhappy and struggling.

However, even if it will be harder than it was even for my generation, the solution remains the same. As grandma would put it “If you’re not happy, put yourself in the way of happiness.”

Which means stepping out of the way you’re on.

It might take asking a lot more women out. (Apparently men get a lot of yeses by getting a lot of nos on the way there.) It might take applying to a lot of places, sometimes crazy places.

And, hey, I know: You’ll get rejections and that hurts and sucks. You’re not giving me any news. I spent 13 years getting rejections for my writing before my first acceptance. There was the day that 60 rejections came back all at once. It was my birthday too. Did it hurt? Oh, heck yeah. But you know… I continued (I don’t know. I probably have brain damage, okay?) and eventually there was an acceptance, and a little further on, it was all acceptances.

… and if you never get acceptances? Well, at least you tried. Sometimes that’s all you can do: try.

But if you’re going to try? Really try. I mean, you know the concept of “Fight like a cornered cat”? Well, try like a cornered cat. Try all avenues, even the seemingly impossible or strange ones: Take courses. go out and meet people. Talk to people you’d not normally talk to. Take up a new hobby. Go visit that church down the block. Take walks. Consider going abroad as a volunteer for some cause you believe in. Get that degree. Learn that foreign language. Take a fascinating detour into competition tiddly winks.

Try like you mean it.

If you’re not happy with your life, shake out of it. Test other avenues. Try a new life.

Ultimately, life is all you got. You got this life, this unknown span of days. Sure you can spend it hiding in your corner and simply surviving.

But what’s the fun in that? Get out there, take damage points, max your stats, level up.

Make something of yourself and the time you have.

Will it be better? Only G-d knows, and He’s not answering surveys.

But chances are you’ll enjoy it more. Go.

Book Promo

If you wish to send us books for next week’s promo, please email to bookpimping at outlook dot com. If you feel a need to re-promo the same book do so no more than once every six months (unless you’re me or my relative. Deal.) One book per author per week. Amazon links only. Oh, yeah, by clicking through and buying (anything, actually) through one of the links below, you will at no cost to you be giving a portion of your purchase to support ATH through our associates number. A COMMISSION IS EARNED FROM EACH PURCHASE.*Note that I haven’t read most of these books (my reading is eclectic and “craving led”,) and apply the usual cautions to buying. I reserve the right not to run any submission, if cover, blurb or anything else made me decide not to, at my sole discretion.– SAH

ON SALE FOR 99C FROM SARAH A. HOYT: Draw One In The Dark (The Shifter Series Book 1)

Deep in the Colorado Rockies, Kyrie Smith has mastered the art of keeping secrets: like how she turns into a panther at will, or how she’s trying to solve a string of shifter murders while serving up the daily special. But she’s not the only one with something to hide.

Take her coworker Tom Ormson—your typical guy next door, if your typical guy could transform into a dragon and might have accidentally killed someone. Then there’s the lion-shifting cop investigating the murders, a guilt-ridden father, and a trio of dragon shifters hunting for something called the Pearl of Heaven.

As if navigating a world of supernatural intrigue wasn’t complicated enough, Tom’s falling for Kyrie, discovering powers that shouldn’t exist, and learning that trust is a two-way street paved with decades of secrets. In Goldport, Colorado, where the coffee’s always hot and the shifters are always watching, solving a murder might be the easiest part of Kyrie’s day.

Welcome to small-town life where everyone has something to hide—and some of those secrets have scales, claws, and a tendency to roar.

FOR REASONS I DON’T UNDERSTAND, IT INSISTS DARKSHIP THIEVES IS ALSO STILL 99C. SO: SARAH A. HOYT – Darkship Thieves.

Athena Hera Sinistra never wanted to go to space. Never wanted see the eerie glow of the Powerpods. Never wanted to visit Circum Terra. She never had any interest in finding out the truth about the Darkships. You always get what you don’t ask for.
When an intruder in her bedroom forces Athena to flee her father’s luxury cruiser in a tiny lifeboat, her escape leads her straight to the legendary Darkships—mysterious vessels that steal Earth’s power supply. And into the life of the pilot of the Darkship.

Thrust into a hidden asteroid colony and hunted by powerful enemies, Athena discovers shocking truths about her father’s empire and her own identity. As she navigates this dangerous new reality, what began as a fight for survival becomes a battle for freedom that could transform humanity’s future.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

REMEMBER YOU CAN BUY THESE BOOKS ON SALE AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED CHRISTMAS MORNING. NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW.

WITH A STORY BY NICHOLAS ARKISON AND A LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE KNOWN TO THE BLOG: Fantastic Schools Familiars

Have you ever wanted to go to magic school? To cast spells and brew potions and fly on broomsticks and – perhaps – battle threats both common and supernatural? Come with us into worlds of magic, where students become magicians and teachers do everything in their power to ensure the kids survive long enough to graduate. Welcome to … Fantastic Schools.

Come explore the world of familiars, and how they help their human to make magic. Meet a young apprentice whose life is changed forever by her familiar, and the treachery of her closest ally. Meet a bonded couple who isn’t sure which is the patron and which the familiar, then follow the adventures of a familiar helping out from beyond the grave. Learn what it takes to have and hold a familiar, and how to take care of them, and then follow the adventures of two students who take each other as familiars, which will either save their educational careers or destroy them beyond repair.

All this, and more, in Fantastic Schools Familiars …

FROM J. KENTON PIERCE: A Kiss for Damocles (Tales From the Long Night Book 1)

A Kiss for Damocles follows the journey of Shaifennen Roehe, a young homesteader who is the right girl in the right place to serve as a catalyst in her world’s, and eventually, her civilization’s, restoration. She must adapt from merely struggling to survive in a harsh world as her simple homestead becomes a boomtown, and then the keystone of a restored colonial government.

Meanwhile, competing Townie politicians and merchant princes have other plans for Hesperides Colony’s future and take a very personal interest in her as she inadvertently kicks over a few of their apple carts. And all the while, sinister, hidden forces watch and calculate and a centuries-old shadow war comes to a head.

Shai’s universe is one filled with fallen empires, implacable war machines, lost civilizations, hostile xenos, the occasional ancient unspeakable horror, and she’s going to bring the ruckus to every corner of it.

FROM STANLEY WHEELER: Accidental Pirates: A Pirate & Dragon Adventure for Boys

Accidental Pirates: You don’t choose the adventure. Sometimes the adventure chooses you.
Two brothers. One flat tire. One mysterious cave.
What starts as a summer hike with Grandpa turns into the ultimate wrong turn—straight through a crack in the rock and into the Caribbean, 1770s style. Suddenly Chris and Kenny are dodging bloodthirsty pirates, outrunning razor-feathered dragonlings, and facing the fire-breathing Green Lady herself.
With only a pocketknife and a quick lesson in loading flintlock pistols, the boys must outwit Captain Ross and figure out how to get home again. Fortunately, they have an ally.
A rip-roaring, edge of your seats adventure for every boy who ever dreamed of swords, ships, and a chance to be the hero.

EDITED BY D. JASON FLEMING: Bourbon and Lead (Raconteur Press Anthologies)

The dames were trouble. I knew that the moment I saw them. But they knew exactly the siren song that would get me to follow.

“Dime Detective Stories,” one of them said.

“And you can pitch it to the scribblers any way you want,” the other purred.

Yeah. I was doomed from the start.

And that’s more or less how this anthology happened. It was held special for me to edit, because my love of the hardboiled school of writing is well known to my friends. But since noir has been covered six ways from Sunday in various RacPress anthos, I chose both to open up the concept a bit, and to reference the kinds of crime and adventure writing I especially love, but which are disreputable and disdained by the same academy that acknowledges (long after his death) the value of Raymond Chandler.

FROM NATHAN C. BRINDLE: I’m The Beautiful But Evil Space Princess Who Rules A Galactic Empire But Really Wants To Leave People Ruthlessly Alone!

Alice is the Imperial Princess Regnant of the Galactic Empire. At 22, she has been thrust into power after her father (the Emperor) and her two older brothers have all died in various ways. Her Imperial Chancellor, Lord Rupert, does everything he can to support her, but has somewhat different ideas about how the Empire should be run than did his late Emperor.

Alice has one major problem: She cannot be crowned Empress Regnant until she marries and produces an heir.

But Alice, being kept busy three days a week by interminable audiences with petitioners, and the rest of the week with what she terms “mostly busy work”, has no real way to meet young men — well, reasonably eligible young men, anyway, and of her own age — with whom she might eventually take up and form a household. And she chafes at the necessity of trying to rule, hands-on, an Empire so huge it cannot be truly ruled by any one person to begin with.

She just wants to leave people alone, as her father and his predecessors did for centuries.

Then, into her life walks the Crown Prince of a planet many, many parsecs away from the Capital Planet…and her life begins to take on a life of its own…

FROM JAY MAYNARD: Royal Crystal (The Crystal Therapy Chronicles)

A princess is breaking.
The crystal is her last chance.

Princess Helena of England has everything—status, duty, lineage.
What she lacks is the ability to feel anything at all.

Shattered by trauma only her family knows, Helena enters the Laminatrix Mental Hospital, where healing means surrendering mind and body to the seamless black suit and the silent depths of the crystal. Inside, she must confront the memories she has hidden from the world—and from herself.

At LMH, Dalton Ward has taken the white suit to understand the truth behind the magic he once defended in court. His transformation will force him to choose who he is when every illusion of control is stripped away.

And as Helena’s treatment pushes the boundaries of what the crystal was ever meant to do, LMH faces a question with national consequences:

Can crystal magic heal a princess…
or will it remake her into something the Crown never expected?

A story of trauma, duty, and rebirth—
Royal Crystal expands the Laminatrix world into its most powerful, emotional, and politically charged form yet.

FROM CAROLINE FURLONG: Stone and Sky (ExtraOrdinary Beasts Book 3)

They watch. They guard. They endure.

From ancient cathedrals to far-flung planets, gargoyles stand sentinel between the world of stone and the endless sky.

In Stone and Sky, discover tales where winged guardians wake, monsters find new shapes, and legends are reborn in the clash of magic and machinery. Inside these pages you’ll find fantasy, urban fantasy, and science fiction stories that prove gargoyles are more than carved stone—they are protectors, rebels, and sometimes, the greatest danger of all.

Step into the shadows where stone takes flight.

FROM JOHN BAILEY: Castellano, Maestro (The Fantasy Books)

In a quiet Central European village where the night belongs to peculiar guardians, one voice rises above all others—passionate, operatic, and utterly impossible to ignore.

Castellano is Bělov’s most celebrated nocturnal performer, a creature of artistic temperament and boundless ego whose serenades shake windows and test the patience of every sleeping soul. His rival, the massive and mysterious Lord Percy, prefers silence and solitude but is constantly drawn into confrontations with the village’s insufferable maestro.

When a plague threatens their territory, these bitter enemies must choose between rivalry and cooperation. Alongside Grace of the Chimney, Old-Mistress Milka, and a community of guardians who maintain the delicate balance between human settlement and wild nature, Castellano begins a journey from solo performer to reluctant team member—learning that true artistry might require harmonizing with others rather than drowning them out.

Told with romantic ambiguity that slowly gives way to delightful revelation, Castellano, Maestrois a tale of community, growth, and the surprising friendships that emerge when we set aside pride for the greater good. Perfect for readers who love stories where animals have rich interior lives, villages feel like characters themselves, and redemption comes not through grand gestures but through choosing, again and again, to be better than our worst impulses.

For fans of: Watership Down, The Wind in the Willows, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, and cozy literary fiction with anthropomorphic sensibilities.

FROM HOLLY CHISM: Gods and Monsters (Modern Gods Book 4)

Here there be dragons…again, damn it.

Deshayna has her sanity back, and forces older than the gods have granted her a new purpose. Chronos, his freedom restored, fights for his sanity, and with it, a purpose in helping Deshayna—now called Shay—with hers. The gods are starting to pull together more…and it’s about time.

Millennia after the last dragons to threaten human existence have been hunted down, they’ve started to reappear, hinting to the surviving gods that something more sinister appeared first: Tiamat.

Instead of a confrontation, though, the gods—major, minor, and genus loci—are drawn into a frustrating hunt for a predator that flees rather than attempting to strike.

FROM MARY CATELLI: The Princess Seeks Her Fortune

In a land where ten thousand fairy tales come true, Alissandra knows she is in one when an encounter with a strange woman gives her magical gifts, and another gives her sisters a curse.

And she knows that despite the prospects of enchantments, cursed dances, marvelous birds, and work as a scullery maid, it is wise of her to set out, and seek her fortune.

BY ROBERT ORMOND CASE REVIVED BY D. JASON FLEMING: The Rider From Hell (Annotated): The classic pulp western revenge novella

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A gripping novel of outlaw revenge!They had heard, those Mexicans, of Gringo honor—and one at least, was willing to gamble that young Dal Givens would return with the many good American dollars for the release of his friend, John Thurston—who otherwise would die of dry rot and torture in the great new Federal prison of Carrizal!

• This iktaPOP Media edition includes a new introduction giving historical and genre context to the novella.

FROM BLAKE SMITH: An American Thanksgiving

It is Thanksgiving Day, 1865, and Margaret Browne isn’t feeling very thankful. The war is over, and her grown-up sons have returned from the fighting, but her beloved husband remains absent, last seen a captive in a notorious prisoner-of-war camp. The Browne family muddles through their uncertain path, lost without their leader, but when everything begins to go wrong all at once, Margaret must hold together the farm and her family, and turn a disaster into a true day of thanks-giving.

FROM KAREN MYERS: Tales of Annwn – A Virginian in Elfland (The Hounds of Annwn Story Collections Book 1)

A Collection of Five Short Stories from The Hounds of Annwn.

The Call – A very young Rhian discovers her beast-sense and, with it, the call of a lost hound.

It’s not safe in the woods where cries for help can attract unwelcome attention, but two youngsters discover their courage in the teeth of necessity.

Under the Bough – Angharad hasn’t lived with anyone for hundreds of years, but now she is ready to tie the knot with George Talbot Traherne, the human who has entered the fae otherworld to serve as huntsman for the Wild Hunt. As soon as she can make up her mind, anyway.

George has been swept away by his new job and the people he has met, and by none more so than Angharad. But how can she value the short life of a human? And what will happen to her after he’s gone?

Night Hunt – When George Talbot Traherne goes night hunting for fox in Virginia, he learns about unworthy men from the old-timers drinking moonshine around the fire and makes his own choices.

Who could have anticipated that the same impulse that won him his old bluetick coonhound would lead him to his new wife and the hounds of Annwn? Every choice has a cost, he realizes, but never a regret.

Cariad – Luhedoc is off with his adopted nephew Benitoe to fetch horses for the Golden Cockerel Inn. He’s been reunited with his beloved Maëlys at last, but how can he fit into her capable life as an innkeeper? What use is he to her now, after all these years?

Luhedoc needs to relearn an important lesson about confidence.

The Empty Hills – George Talbot Traherne arranges a small tour of the local human world for his fae family and friends, hoping to share some of the sense of wonder he discovered when he encountered the fae otherworld.

He’s worried about discovery by other humans, but things don’t turn out quite the way he expects.

Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

So what’s a vignette? You might know them as flash fiction, or even just sketches. We will provide a prompt each Sunday that you can use directly (including it in your work) or just as an inspiration. You, in turn, will write about 50 words (yes, we are going for short shorts! Not even a Drabble 100 words, just half that!). Then post it! For an additional challenge, you can aim to make it exactly 50 words, if you like.

We recommend that if you have an original vignette, you post that as a new reply. If you are commenting on someone’s vignette, then post that as a reply to the vignette. Comments — this is writing practice, so comments should be aimed at helping someone be a better writer, not at crushing them. And since these are likely to be drafts, don’t jump up and down too hard on typos and grammar.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Your writing prompt this week is: PAINSTAKING