Good morning! I am happy to announce that, “Deadly Lineage: Necromancer Tales Book I” is now available for pre-order (or will be within the next day or two). This is a spin off book from the Perfect Pixie series. We were introduced to Erasmus Boone in the final pixie book, “Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie”. Deadly Lineage is set in the southern US state of Mississippi during the heat of summer. As with the pixie books, this an an m/m fantasy. Unlike the pixie books, a human, Detective Franklin O’Hare, takes a leading role.
I don’t believe I planned a spin off series when I first wrote Erasmus’s character, but I really enjoyed him, along with his arrogant, warlock father, Nicodemus Holland. I began creating a backstory in my mind for Erasmus and the story kind of evolved from there. Our lovely, unpredictable djinn, Aurelia, pops up throughout. I have to say, I also really enjoy writing her character. She is so powerfully detached from the world and in some ways, oddly naive.
I have a new proofreader for this book and really like her. I was going through editor changes with Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie and I think it showed. While I’m sure mistakes still managed to weasel their way into Deadly Lineage, they are hopefully fewer and won’t take away from the enjoyment of the book. Thank you to those who wrote me and pointed out some of the editing errors in the last book. You lit a fire under my ass to (hopefully) make this one better.
I am currently working on the final book in the Maverick Mysteries series, “Paved With Good Intentions”. I hope to have it available late fall to early winter of 2024. Perry and Nate are due for a happy ending, but of course, the road leading to that HEA is fraught with a nasty assassin hell bent on causing as much grief and pain as possible. Nate has his hands full trying to protect Perry while enjoying a Maverick Insurance Company retreat at a state park. Poor Nate. Don’t worry, he’s up to the task 🙂
On the home front . . . my air conditioning is working again (at least temporarily) which is wonderful. My T.V. died over the weekend. It had a chronic condition that became acute and terminal on Saturday morning. Sigh . . . I have a new T.V. Add it to the list of “new” objects joining my household out of necessity this summer. So far, all of them have been manageable, but the list is becoming alarmingly long.
At least we’ve had more rain this summer. The past 2-3 years, that hasn’t been the case and it’s been stressful. So far, this summer, we’ve gotten much more. I could do without the strong winds that are snapping trees like twigs, but the rain is most welcome and therefore, I find it difficult to complain. So often, you have to take the bad with the good. I’ll take bouts of electricity outages if it means more water for the garden and fields.
Not much to write on the veterinary side of things. While every day is different, they are also remarkably the same. I have had a string of patients that would rather eat me than be examined, but that is par for the course as well. In a way, I understand. I’ve always said, if I were a cat, I’d be a biter.
Fennik and Newton are hanging in there as well. Newton is being his typical cat self and Fennik is currently getting his groom on. It’s nice and peaceful at the house without him constantly wanting in and out and then sitting at my feet, panting and staring at me while I try and figure out exactly what he wants. Eventually he seems to get tired of the game and lays down to sleep (snore). Post grooming, he smells all fresh and lovely for about 48 hours max. Fen is super cute, super sweet, and super stinky. Again—taking the good with the bad. To quote Meat Loaf, “Two out of three ain’t bad”.
As always, thanks for subscribing and reading. I hope you all like my take on necromancers and especially, Erasmus Boone. I’m hoping to turn this one into a series as well. Until next time, stay well, stay cool, and mentally sound (that last one is always the kicker).
MJ May
veterinarian and fiction writer 