Guest Blogger - Alice Duncan

Oh, boy, I hate to make predictions because, unlike Daisy Gumm Majesty, I ain’t no seer (well, she isn’t either, but that’s another story). However, if the rest of the year continues along the lines of January, it’s probably going to be filled with more magic than mayhem! This is a good thing, since 2010 really sucked.

This year started out with a day job. Now I’m not altogether in love with day jobs, since I have other work that I have to get done at home, but boy, I needed the money. This particular job was as legal secretary to an attorney in Roswell named Ramon Garcia. He’s a very nice person, and his wife, who got a Kindle for Christmas (and who’s a total sweetheart named Rachel) bought all my Kindle books! That, as you can well imagine, gave me a big lift. As did the money from the day job.

January was also the month PECOS VALLEY REVIVAL, book #2 in my Pecos Valley series, was released (actually, I think the actual release date is February 9, but who knows about these things). Mind you, until Five Star picked this book up, I didn’t realize there was going to be a Pecos Valley series, since the publisher for which I wrote the first book and this one got wiped out in 2005 thanks to Hurricane Wilma. But I’ve just finished writing Book #3, so I hope this month’s book does well. That’s a hint, in case you didn’t catch on. By the way, I don’t care if you read my books, but if you’d buy one or two of them, I’d really appreciate it.

Also in January, I finished putting what I thought was my entire backlist up on Kindle and Smashwords. Then I realized I forgot two books. That’s not a bad thing; it only means work, but I’ll get them formatted and uploaded eventually. Then I’ll have a whopping thirty-four books available in e-formats of various shapes and sizes. I do have two books and three novellas that aren’t available in e-formats and never will be, but that’s just the way the ball bounces. Still more magic than mayhem going on, by gum.

And then the Powers That Be at Five Star sent me the cover art for GENTEEL SPIRITS, Daisy Gumm Majesty’s fifth adventure. This is not only about the best cover I’ve ever received, but it has my very favorite line, ever, from a review of one of my books on the cover! The line is from a review of HUNGRY SPIRITS, last year’s Daisy offering, and it says (in case you can’t read it), “This entertaining series deserves to be much better known.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

As if that wasn’t enough, I got a whole box full of ARCs (advanced reading copies) of my May Mercy Allcutt mystery, FALLEN ANGELS. I love this cover, too, although it doesn’t hold a candle to the GENTEEL SPIRITS cover:

Since I have all these lovely ARCs, I’ll be giving away three of them in my monthly contest. If you’d like to enter, simply send me your name and home address at alice@aliceduncan.net . I’ll toss your name into Daisy (my winner-picking wiener dog’s) special contest doggie dish, and at the end of the month she’ll slurp up three wieners—I mean winners.

Speaking of wieners (not winners), I am at present fostering two absolutely gorgeous orphans. Bitsy is a little black-and-tan longhaired mini-dachshund, who’s just found a home with some wonderful people in Albuquerque. Hot Dog is a spectacularly handsome mini-dachshund. His coloring is technically called “wild boar.” What that means is that he’s red with an overlay of black. As you can see, he’s adorable. This picture shows him doing what he likes to do best: chew up pinecones. Never mind that there are two (count ‘em) nice, dog-friendly squeaky toys on the couch with him. He wants to make a mess. I think it’s a testosterone thing.

Also in January, a woman from a local book club asked if I could speak at the group’s next meeting, which will be held on February 2. I’m not gung-ho on speaking to groups, but they’re going to give me dinner. Whatta deal!

All of my dogs are healthy. Anni, my older daughter, now lives in Roswell and actually has a job. Robin, my younger daughter, is moving to Roswell (!), something I can’t quite get my brain around, but which makes me ecstatically happy. And Riki, my younger grandson is visiting at this very minute! I tell you, every now and then life is good.

At any rate, so far so good. If the rest of the year continues along these lines, it might be worth living!