It’s been a tough week here in Christchurch. Yesterday, the man responsible for the March 15th terror attacks was sentenced. I’ve been following the trial on local media, and the victim impact statements have been incredibly moving. The resilience, strength, compassion of our muslim community has been forefront—but so has the devastating losses they suffered in losing 51 of their already small community.
I decided I needed to devote some time to self-care, and grabbed a couple of blocks of chocolate from the supermarket. I waited until my niece and nephew were in bed asleep, then broke it out to share with my sister and brother in law. Turns out, my sister had the exact same idea! Between us, we had four blocks of chocolate, a bag of chocolate covered almonds and a packet of Tim Tams.
We were sitting on the floor of the living room, sharing our stash. My sister said, ‘you know, when I was a kid, this was my worst nightmare—that when I was in bed, Mum and Dad were having treats without me.’ Cue tiny footsteps coming down the hall. I shoved my chocolate under a chair, and my sister threw a blanket over the rest of the snacks. My nephew wandered into the living room with a big grin. “Mummy cuddles?”
Yeah—we were very nearly busted by a two year old!
The self-care worked. I’m feeling much more positive this morning. Having allowed myself time to feel sad, I’ve woken up feeling renewed determination to get back to work. Which brings us to the purpose of this post:
The Lady of the Bog: Early bird release.
An ancient queen refuses to stay in the past.
One day Florence Skelton is risking her father’s wrath by reading Jane Eyre and befriending Rosemary, the neighbourhood rebel. The next, a woman she doesn’t know is trying to drown her. To escape her would-be murderer, Florence takes a job as secretary companion to an archeologist and his beautiful, distant wife. But excavating Aylesport bog brings ancient—and deadly—secrets to the surface.
Florence can write about heroines, but navigating the bog’s treacherous waters requires courage she doesn't possess. Her only hope of survival is Rosemary—and Rosemary doesn’t even know she’s in trouble. Can Florence find her inner heroine before she becomes part of Aylesport’s chilling history?
The Lady of the Bog is the eleventh instalment of the Read by Candlelight series, gothic standalone novellas featuring an ever growing LGBTQIA+ ensemble cast. Read now to sink into a mist-filled world of ancient queens, literary heroines and a collective of lepidopterists.
The Lady of the Bog is currently available in epub format from my store here, and to my Patreon supporters in mobi and epub format here. It will be available for sale until September 4th, at which time, in order to comply with Amazon’s KU terms of service, I will take it down. Amazon readers, you can preorder The Lady of the Bog here.
Free books by signing up for LimFic.
Liminal Fiction is an online database of LGBTQ sci-fi and fantasy books. By signing up as a reader, you get regular notifications of new releases, author events and the ability to create and manage TBR lists on the LimFic website. As a thank you for signing up, readers get four free ebooks. For the month of August, those books include The Secretary and the Ghost. If you have not yet read it and you would like to, sign up as a LimFic reader now.
A group of authors from NineStar Press are planning a virtual conference. We’re currently looking for reader input to shape the conference and inform things like time-zones of sessions, what those sessions will be about and who will take part. I’m a Ninestar author, so this, in theory, could include me! It would be really cool to have your thoughts and suggestions. The survey is short, only nine questions long. To fill it out, go here.