Paved With Good Intentions Now Available

Good afternoon. I’m happy to report that, “Paved With Good Intentions”, the forth, and final installment in the Maverick Insurance Mysteries series is now available. It might be a few more days until the paperback is available for purchase, but the e-book is out.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing Nate and Perry’s characters, along with all their friends and frenemies. I hope those of you who read this series will be pleased with the ending. As with all my books, Nate and Perry get their HEA. As an aside, I will be sad to see a lot of the supporting cast go. I love Delia Carpenter and Gayle Ridley’s characters. I wish I had a little bit more of each of them in my personal, emotional wheelhouse.

The second book in the Necromancer Tales series is complete and in the process of editing. The second book will be titled, “Deadly Deception” and will hopefully be out in Jan/Feb of 2025. Erasmus and Franklin have grown closer and are a powerful, united team. We get a little more background on Franklin O’Hare and most of the book takes place in his old stomping grounds of the Chicago area. Poor Erasmus. He’s a southern boy through and through and the chilly, October air of the northern Midwest is a little daunting.

I will most likely start writing the third necromancer book next, although I haven’t started it yet. Not to get overly political, but like many of us, I’m finding it difficult to concentrate. My brain feels like a scattered mess most days. I’m trying to reel it in and become productive again, but I suspicion it will be a work in progress with many stops and starts. I will keep writing. My characters and their stories are my escape from reality and I think we could all use a little escapism right about now.

On the audiobook front, all the pixie books are now in audio format. “Deadly Lineage” the first necromancer book, should be available in audio soon. I haven’t gotten an update from Podium with a release date yet (or if I have, I can’t remember—sorry Podium). They’ve picked up the first 3 necromancer books and the voice actors have been decided on. Please let me know what you think when they do become available

Not much new on the veterinary front. We are variably busy. I feel like our work load has decreased back to pre-COVID times. FenFen and Newton are still (thankfully) hale and hearty. I purchased several small balls for Newton to play with and as of this moment, all them are lost beneath furniture somewhere. He really loves them but they don’t stay on the playing field for long. Oddly enough, I find myself saying to Newton, “We need to find your balls,” which just sounds ridiculous.

That is all for now. Until next time, do your best to stay well, both physically and mentally. It’s a struggle, I know. My personal saving grace are my pets and my stories. When my heart feels too heavy, that’s what I turn to. Thankfully, Fen and Newton have broad shoulders and can bear the burden and my characters never let me down 🙂

MJ May

Happy October

Happy early October everyone! Today’s photo is brought to you by the solar powered ghost Halloween decorations in my yard. I was a little skeptical, but these guys really do put out a lot of light. It doesn’t last all night, but they glow well for several hours. They are down by the mail box. Fingers crossed they stay there as they are close to the road and sticky fingers that might like them as much as me.

Updates on upcoming books . . . I’d hoped to have the final book in the Maverick Insurance Mysteries, “Paved With Good Intentions”, out by late October. However, there are some editing delays so it may not be until November. I suspicion this will then roll over into the next Necromancer Tales book. I’m about half-way done writing it, but I’m not sure when editing can be done, or at least the time frame for it. Books are in the works, but might be a bit delayed. I will certainly post more updates when I have them.

Speaking of updates, Podium picked up the audiobook rights to (at least) the first 3 necromancer books (2 and 3 are yet to be published). The audio cast has been chosen and should be getting started soon. I don’t have an exact date for release yet. Also, the final pixie book should be available in audio very soon as well. I sincerely hope you’ve liked the audiobooks. For those of you who’ve read previous posts, you know I’m a reader, not a listener.

On the personal front, I live in the Midwest and we received a lot of rain from the remnants of Hurricane Helene. We also got a lot of wind. But we are fortunate and the damage around the area is minimal and was not life threatening as it was in other states. All I can say is that those who have suffered great loss are in our thoughts and we are crossing our fingers and toes that there are no major weather

As stated in the title, Fall is in the air, although it doesn’t really feel like it outside today. I’m okay with that as I’m a warm weather person myself. I dread the cold. It will be here soon. We’ve had some hints of it, but nothing that lasted long so far. Earlier this summer I posted that my air conditioning died. Well, it was revived long enough to get me through the season but still needs replaced. That gets done this upcoming week (blah). I’m taking an extra day of this week to be at home while it gets done. It is a bit of a joke in our family that nothing ever goes smoothly when it comes to anything needing repaired/replaced in my home. I would truly like that trend to fade away. We’ll see how this goes. 

Fennik celebrated his sixth birthday at the end of August. It’s hard for me to believe he’s that old now. Of course, he wore his birthday hat and my coworkers indulged me by singing happy birthday to him. We had cupcakes and Fen got a white one. He was thrilled being the center of attention. He and I could not be more socially different. I’m telling you, Fen has no sense of self-preservation. He believes everyone on the planet was placed there to love and pet him. He’s a happy boy. He’s also typically a stinky boy and snores loud enough to wake the dead. 

That’s all for today. Thanks so much for reading and for your comments. I enjoy writing and hope to continue for as long as the ideas keep coming. Some days are certainly better than others. 

Until next time, stay well and safe. I hope you’re able to enjoy the Fall weather. As one final shout out, today is my sister’s birthday (I won’t say how old she is ;). I was blessed with a wonderful sister and friend. Happy birthday, sis.

MJ May

Deadly Lineage: Necromancer Tales Book I Now Available (Take Two)

Good morning everyone. Deadly Lineage: Necromancer Tales Book I is now available on kindle (e-book and KDP). The print version is still scheduled for release on July 31st. Again, so sorry about the mix up. I downloaded the Kindle version and everything seems okay.

You can see Newton in this photo. As most of you with cats and computers are aware, cats want to be smack dab in the middle of the action. Or, smack dab in the way. Newton is no different. He’ll cock his head and look at me like, “What’s the problem?” when I try and shoo him out of the way.

Okay, this post is short and sweet. I went kayaking yesterday for the first time in my life and my arms are not happy today. I used muscles I’d forgotten I have. It was a good time, but parts of my body are regretting yesterday’s activities and evidently that includes my typing bits and pieces 😦

Have a great rest of your weekend,

MJ May

Apologies!!!

Good evening everyone. So . . . it’s not a good idea to set up your books on Kindle late at night when you are tired and your brain is mush. When I was deciding on a title for the first Necromancer book, I went back and forth between, “Deadly Legacy” and “Deadly Lineage”. I chose the latter but when I posted it to Kindle, I wrote the title as, “Deadly Legacy” which doesn’t match the book cover and isn’t the correct title anyway (brownie points to anyone who caught that ahead of time—obviously, I get zero brownie points).

So, the short of it is this, I had to cancel the pre-order. If you pre-ordered the book (thank you by the way), it will cancel this for you. I am in the process of re-uploading it, but it might take a day or 2. The plus side is that it might actually be available earlier than July 31st.

I will keep you posted, and again, I’m very sorry. I actually thought I corrected the title, but when I “corrected” it, I think I actually, “uncorrected” it, if that makes a bit of sense.

I’m reusing an image from a post long ago because I believe it is fitting. This was Newton in his cat cave. That’s about how I feel right now. I’d like to duck and cover, but alas, that is not a productive choice when you’re a human trying to rectify a mistake.

Thank you all, and so sorry for the confusion. I’d like to promise it won’t happen again, but sigh . . . that might be a false promise. I will try my best!

MJ May

Deadly Lineage: Necromancer Tales Book I

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

Air Conditioning Woes . . . Sigh . . .

Good morning one and all. As you can tell by the title of the blog post, I am having air conditioning trouble. Bless the poor old unit’s heart, it is at least 40 years old. Like much of the US, the heat has been above and beyond recently and I think it’s been too much for my unit. I went to bed last night with the temperature at 81 and it was down to 78 when I got up this morning. That’s even too toasty for me.

Fennik isn’t made for the heat. I plugged in a fan last night, hoping he’d lay in front of it and instead, he acted like the fan was there to murder him. Newton lounged in its airflow, but not Fen. I gave him a bath this morning to help cool him down for the day. He’s more comfortable now and tonight the weather is supposed to cool down so hopefully things will be a bit better.

It’s amazing how we get used to our creature comforts. I grew up in the country in an older home with no air conditioning and I survived just fine. Oh, I remember sweltering summer nights laying on top of the covers with a fan pointed on me, but at the time, that seemed perfectly normal. Fast forward through time and now I’m stressing about the air conditioning taking its last gasp.

In my defense, I have mental trauma (yes, I’m being dramatic) from an ongoing air conditioning issue I encountered in the first home I purchased years ago when I lived in Virginia. When I purchased the home, it had recently gotten a new air-conditioning unit installed. You’d think it would be smooth sailing, right? Wrong. For most of the summer, it didn’t work. The company that installed it was in and out of the house a half dozen times, swearing that it was fixed and it would work for a day, maybe two, and stop.

Finally, I was so fed up I called and asked for the owner of the business (this is very unlike me). The owner showed up and I don’t even know what to call the experience beyond bizarre. Keep in mind this was maybe twenty years ago, but still in an age where his comments were not acceptable.

The owner was a middle aged to older, white male. He came to the house, looked at the unit, then found me outside where it was cooler. When he approached me, he asked, “Where’s the man of the house?” (Yeah, not even remotely making that up).

I blinked and responded, “You’re looking at her.”

He appeared taken aback and asked, “So, you own the house?”

I replied, “Yes.” Of course, I had a mortgage, but figured he was asking if I was the one paying those mortgage bills.

He appeared puzzled then asked, “So, you run the household and work too?”

At this point I was so utterly stunned that I just sort of stared and said, “I suppose so.” In my head I was thinking that I didn’t think myself, one dog, and two cats made up much of a household to run, but I also didn’t think that was the point so remained quiet.

At this point, he looked me in the eyes and said, “I’m not sure how much you understand about science.” This was his lead in to trying to explain to me how air conditioning units worked.

My response was, “I’m a doctor, so I’ve taken a few science classes.” I hardly every tell anyone what my profession is but by this point I was done. While he was correct concerning my lack of knowledge regarding air conditioning units, I was terribly offended that he assumed I wouldn’t be able to follow along with a conversation because of my lack of education, gender, or whatever else he wrongly thought.

Anyway . . . the unit didn’t get fixed so much as finally replaced and I sold the house a couple of months later and moved back to the midwest. Now it’s a funnyish story. Honestly, at the time it was a funny story as well, mostly because I was so flabbergasted humans like him still existed in this country. So now I’m having trouble with my poor, beleaguered, 40+ year-old unit. Bless her heart, she’s put in a lot of years and I suspicion we might be at the end of her long life. Sigh . . .

Moving on from air conditioning . . . if you were wondering about the photo, this is a current picture of my back yard. My dad (along with a little help from my brother-in-law, niece, nephew, and me) built this lovely pergola earlier this spring. I got the idea that I’m going to grow grapes. I ordered two different kinds – seedless concord grapes and a red globe seedless grape. The concord vine is doing its vine business and growing up the pergola. The other vine . . . not so much. It looks more like a tiny grape vine bush. It’s got lovely, healthy looking leaves, but seems to have no interest in reaching for the sky. I suppose we’ll see how it goes.

Not much new to add on the writing front given the recent posting. I’ve sent, “Deadly Legacy” for proofreading and am hopefully still on schedule for a late July release date. “Paved With Good Intentions” (the last Maverick Mysteries book) is puttering along. My brain’s been distracted with work, car repairs, plumbing repairs (another interesting tale), and now the air conditioning. It will all work out. As they say, one thing at a time. It’s just hard for me to focus when I have so much muddling around in my head screaming for attention.

Thanks for letting me vent about my air conditioning (vent! Ha!). Fen, Newton, and I will be toasty kiddos until it’s up and running again.

Stay well and hopefully cooler than me!

MJ May

Oh, I also updated the main photo and changed some of the wording. This picture is compliments of my vacation to the coast of Mississippi last fall.

Waiting Fennik

Happy Father’s Day everyone. I hope you are having a good day. It is currently very warm where I live. Nearly every day this week is supposed to top 90. I don’t mind the heat. I wish we had some more rain to go with it, but I’d certainly rather the heat than the cold.

Today’s photo is compliments of Fennik. He is deaf and can’t hear when I come home. I have two main doors I leave through and typically he will wait beside the one I exited for me to come back. He gets confused when I leave through one and come back through another. This particular day, I had to leave several times and often came back through a different door. I’d been home maybe five to ten minutes before I took this picture. I was in the kitchen, putting some things away and when I walked into the living room, there he was, sitting in the chair and staring out the window, waiting for me to come home. He had no idea I’d been there for the past few minutes.

While I wish he could hear, having a deaf dog isn’t all bad. Fen could care less about thunderstorms or fireworks (very important as we are entering the month of July soon). He also doesn’t react if there is a vocal animal in the clinic waking up from anesthesia or in an exam room. He just lays by my desk and snores the day away. I try and enrich his life as much as possible and still talk to him all the time. I suppose that’s more for my benefit than his. Regardless, I wanted to share this picture with the rest of you.

I also wanted to give some updates regarding upcoming books. First off, thank you all for supporting the Perfect Pixie series. It was sad ending it, but it doesn’t feel truly over with Erasmus Boone’s first book coming out soon (hopefully by the end of July). I just started reading through the first round of editing and it will go to the proofreader next weekend. The book cover is being created and as soon as it is done, I will get Erasmus’s book up for pre-order. I’ve really struggled on a title. I believe I’ve settled on, “Deadly Lineage”. I will certainly post a blog update when it is available for pre-order.

I’ve started writing the fourth, and final, book in the Maverick Mysteries series. I do know the title of this one, “Paved with Good Intentions”. It’s always more of a struggle writing this time of year as there is so much to do outside and my writing time is limited. I love being outdoors and hate to waste the opportunity, especially when I know winter is never far away and will eliminate outdoor plans when it arrives. The last few years I’ve started going on more walks around my neighborhood and also to local parks. I hope to travel to a few more state parks that are a bit further away in the near future.

Work is still busy, however, I think we are getting back to “pre-COVID” levels. That seems to be mostly across the board in veterinary medicine. It truly depends on the day. Some days we run around and wish we had more time and other days it’s more relaxed. Veterinary medicine is predictably unpredictable which is a difficult pill to swallow for this A-type personality who thrives on planning the day.

Newton is doing well and is a constant source of entertainment. He is such a cat! Cat’s crack me up and sometimes I just sit there and shake my head at him. Poor Fen wishes he understood cat behavior better too. Sometimes Fen looks at me and all I can do is shrug and say, “I’ve got no idea either, bud”.

That’s all for now. I’ve been wanting to post an update for a bit and either forget or run out of time. I loved this picture of Fennik and thought it was good motivation to finally sit down and give an update. Until the next time, stay well and for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, get out and enjoy the warmer weather while we’ve got it. Mother Nature is far more creative than anything I can think up in my brain. I hope you can all take a moment or two to appreciate her hard work.

Take care and stay sane,

MJ May

Side note: If not out already, the final pixie book should be released soon on audio. Thanks so much to Podium for putting them out there 🙂

Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie Available for Pre-Order

Good morning. I’m happy to post that the fifth (and final) book in the Perfect Pixie series is now available for pre-order and should be delivered April 29th. Although this is the final book in this series, there will be a spin-off revolving around a brand new character that we meet in this final book (the epilogue here is key). Our pixie friends and their cohorts will pop up now and again in the new series, but won’t be the main focus. As of this blog post, I’m about half-way through writing the first installation in this new series. I hope to have it out by late summer or early fall.

Writing the Perfect Pixie series has been a tremendous amount of fun. I really enjoy the world they live in and imagine I’ll write several more storylines based on the rules and setting of this world. When I’m finished with the current book, I’ll probably start on the final book in the Maverick Mysteries series. I enjoy writing Perry’s and Nate’s characters and am eager to finish up their tale.

I believe the audiobooks are going well. It is my understanding that Perfectly Charmed Pixie should be out soon, if not already. Perfectly Perplexing Zombie will be out soon also and I’ve uploaded Purrfectly Perplexing Pixie for Podium to start work on. I really hope people are enjoying the audio versions. As I’ve said before, I’m a reader. I’m very new to the audiobook world.

Veterinary medicine seems to be settling back to its “pre-COVID” days. I don’t believe that’s just our clinic, but most veterinary clinics around the U.S. We’re still busy, but not as overwhelmed as we’ve been the past few years. I would love to be able to take either another day, or half-day off work in the future and now that it is calming some, that might be possible. Not immediately, but there’s a glimmer shimmering out there somewhere.

I feel like a lot has happened since my last post. Nothing terrible, just a few odds and ends. I had another birthday and am yet that much closer to the big 50. Yes, I’m old 😦 I believe I’m typical when I say that I’d like my younger body back, but not my younger self’s brain, emotions, or angst. I’m not going to say I’m a pillar of emotional health, but it is sooooo much better than it used to be. I credit writing and age for that one. Writing gives my brain a brake and I think there are some things you simply don’t figure out until you’ve got a few moons under your belt. Maybe I was just a slow learner. Since I can only live my life and no one else’s, I’m not sure.

Thankfully the weather is getting better. As usual, spring’s weather is akin to one of those roller coasters that make me vomit. I’d rather get on the tiny-tot one, but that’s not what Mother Nature throws our way this time of year. Today is supposed to be lovely and despite the fact one of the doctors at the clinic gave me her cold crude, I intend to take full advantage. I’ll be snotty and coughing, but I doubt the birds and squirrels will mind terribly much. While I love this time of year, there’s so much to do that I often get a bit overwhelmed. I also don’t get as much writing done because when it’s nice outside, you’ve got to take advantage.

Adding to the outside shenanigans this year . . . I decided to put up a pergola and grow grapes. It sounded like a fantastic idea in the middle of January. I still think it’s a good idea, but building the pergola is a bit more complicated than I originally thought. My dad is graciously helping me and we’ve roped my brother-in-law and nephew in on the action a time or two. I’ve never grown grapes before (or any edible crop—I’m a flower lady). We’ll see how it goes. I’ll say one thing though—that pergola isn’t going anywhere. It’s one solid piece of outdoor finery.

Fen Fen and Newton are doing well. Newton had another birthday, not that he looks a day over two. I’ve already opened the windows in the house and he’s currently lounging on his cat window seat. That’s great because it means he’s not sitting in front of the computer or plopping his butt on the keyboard as I try and type this. Fen is currently licking a spot on the carpet. I have no idea why. God only knows what’s there. I love him to pieces, but sometimes he is terribly gross. I’ve caught Newton giving Fen similar looks, making me believe the cat and I are on the same page regarding that thought.

That seems about it for now. I sincerely hope you like Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie (I think I’ve enjoyed naming the books as much as I’ve liked writing them). I can’t thank you all enough for your support and comments. You’ve allowed me to share my characters and the hopefully charming worlds they live within and that means more than I can ever say.

Until next time, stay well, safe, and sane. It’s tough out there.

MJ May

As an aside, if anyone catches an error in the blurb for Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie, let me know. No idea why, but the program was being fussy about copy and paste. Patience at an end, I retyped it into the section for KDP. I reread it several times, but there could still be typos. Thanks so much!

The Road to Hell: Maverick Insurance Mysteries Book III Available for Pre-order

Good morning! I’m happy to report that the third installment in the Maverick Insurance Mysteries series is now available for pre-order and will be released March 1st. Whew . . . I feel like this one has been a long time coming. I really enjoy writing Nate and Perry’s characters. The third book moves the story along and opens a few character’s eyes. There will be at least one more book in this series (no, I haven’t started it, but I have a vague notion where we are going). The last installment will hopefully be out later this year, most likely fall, and will be titled, “Paved with Good Intentions”.

The fifth, and final, pixie book is currently in editing. I finally settled on a title, “Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie”. No, that’s not a typo (hint, hint). While this will be the final book in the Perfect Pixie series, I do have plans to write more stories within this universe. The epilogue in the final book more than hints that direction. My hope is that book 5 will be available by late spring or early summer.

For those of you who enjoy audiobooks, “Perfectly Perfect Pixie” should now be available for purchase. There was a delay, but all is well now. Podium has picked up the rights to all the pixie books, so fingers crossed, eventually they will be available on audio.

For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, we are stuck in the doldrums of winter. Those of you who’ve read my posts in the past know I’m not a fan. We had about 2 weeks of nothing but rain, mist, freezing rain, spitting snow, snow, or some variation of clouds and precipitation. I was starting to believe the sun got tired of our solar system and decided to vacate the premises. It was so unbelievably dreary. I will take freezing cold with sun over that. Or, at least I’ll take it after day after day of blah. Currently, the sun is shining once more, proving it is stuck with us.

Veterinary work is plugging along. I had a very satisfying case a couple of weeks ago when I removed a foxtail (plant, not a mammalian tail) out of a dog’s nose. The thing had been lodge up there since November. Ouch! There aren’t a lot of times where I feel like I instantly improve an animal’s life, this was one of those special occasions. I was be-bopping around the clinic all day. I wish all days felt half that satisfying.

Fennik and Newton are also plugging along. Their relationship is a strange one, but infinitely enjoyable to watch. Newton is such an instigator. Fennik will look at me sometimes with this confused look on his face and all I can do is shake my head and shrug because I have no idea either. Still, they make me laugh and bring a lot of joy. In my humble opinion, life is infinitely better with a furry friend around.

Until next time, stay well—mentally and physically. Try and stay warm and go stand out in the sun as often as you can. I hope you enjoy “The Road to Hell”.

MJ May

Perfectly Perplexing Zombie Now Available!

I can’t believe Christmas is only two days away. I swear, time really does fly. It doesn’t appear that we’ll have a white Christmas where I live. Rain—yes. Snow—no. I’m not truly upset about that. While I think snow is pretty, it is horrible to drive in and if we did have inclement weather that day that would mean those employed to clear the roads would be pulled away from their families and loved ones. So, rain it is!

As the title and picture on this post indicate, the fourth book in the Perfect Pixie series is out. Perfectly Perplexing Zombie follows Wendall Galen’s and Hellfire Rayburn’s story. I enjoyed writing Wendall’s character the most—especially the bits involving Trinket (you’ll meet the little scuttlebutt in the story). This book also starts moving the general, overall storyline in the series further along. Book five, which I am currently writing, will conclude this series. I do have plans brewing in my head to write other stories that take place in this universe. I’m also still toying with the idea of writing a book of short stories pertaining to side characters throughout.

As an FYI, unfortunately, Perfectly Perfect Pixie’s audiobook date release has been pushed back to February 6th. From what I understand there were some narrator issues, but everything should be fine. I’ve gotten some great feedback regarding the Perfectly Imperfect Pixie audio recording. The same voice actors will be used for Perfectly Perfect Pixie.

The third Maverick Insurance Mystery book is currently going through editing and will hopefully be released sometime in February. That is the current goal. I believe there will be four books total in this series. I will start on the fourth one as soon as I finish the fifth pixie book.

On the veterinary front, we are still busy, although I do believe it’s slowed down some from last year. This time of year often brings a lot of euthanasias and that is sometimes difficult to get through.

Anyone who has a job working with the public is well aware that it can be a mixed bag. I have clients that I adore and look forward to seeing. They are the shining lights in my day. And then there are others that act like social vampires that suck the joy right out of your soul. I’d really like to get back to the days where being an asshat was considered an embarrassment instead of a right to be celebrated. Maybe we’ll get back to that point someday, but so far I haven’t seen a lot of evidence leading that direction. In fact, I’d say it’s the opposite.

Hmm . . . sorry, that wasn’t very upbeat or in the holiday spirit so I’ll finish on a high note. I am looking forward to Christmas this year as I think I got some surprise gifts my family will like. Shh, don’t tell, but Fennik is getting a peanut butter stuffed hoof and Newton is getting a couple fo new toys he can beat the shit out off before batting them under some piece of furniture where they disappear until God knows when.

I’ll end there and wish everyone happy holidays and a very happy and safe New Year. I’ll throw in a wish for everyone to try and hold on to their sanity. I doubt most Americans are looking forward to 2024. As much as I’m dreading the upcoming election year, I keep reminding myself that I am blessed to be able to vote and have a say in my future. I will keep that in mind as I lay awake at night worrying. Choice is a precious gift. One that should never be squandered or taken for granted.

Stay well, safe, and as content as possible.

MJ May