Happy St. Patty’s Day, and luck o’ the Irish to ye! (You bet I'm wearing green today, as I'm not fond of getting pinched. ;)
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Thinking of shenanigans and malarkey . . . It’s been a while since we’ve done a fun blog post related to one or more of our novels, such as a character interview, so we thought it was high time to have some fun with our books here again!

So now it has come to this. You have striven all year, scraping and saving your money, laboring to feed yourself and your family, to heat your house and bring what creature comforts you can into your existence. You had thought to put it off, but time has a way of marching forward inexorably. January 1st has passed, followed by January 31st, and beyond that--

​Beyond that, April 15th.

This post first appeared in Deborah's blog.

​So, as those who’ve been following my blog know, I’ve been engaging with a lot of Japanese media lately, and especially anime and light novels (with a bit of manga thrown in). As in, I’ve read over 100 Japanese novels in the past six months. This is relevant because in the particular subgenre I read, I’ve noticed a trend. It goes like this:

​We all know that 2020 was a rough year. And that's putting it mildly. But we thought we'd try to look back at it and focus on what went right, rather than on what went wrong. So here's our list of good things that happened last year:

This post is used with permission from its author, Katherine Vick. It originally appeared in her blog.

The human imagination is an extraordinary thing, when you stop and think about it. Being as I am not of a scientific bent, I have no idea of the ins and outs of how it can possibly work, how it is that a lump of grey meat inside a wrapping of bone could possibly generate images, ideas, unheard sounds, regurgitate things once seen and create whole new universes out of nothing. Indeed, to be honest, I don’t want to understand how it works - that would destroy the magic. I’m quite happy just to have the means to play in new and never-before-seen realms in the depths of my own head.

But there is another special thing about the imagination – it is unique.

Author Laura Loomis is holding a raffle, which is already running and will end at noon PST on Friday, November 27th - the day after Turkey Day. She'll randomly pick a winner that afternoon or evening. Along with a signed copy of the book, the winner will receive a bag of a special coffee blend from Brandywine Coffee Roasters called "Cosmic Turkey" - how stellar is that?! Check out this post on Laura's website for details on how to enter the giveaway.

We've also put the e-book of The Cosmic Turkey on sale for 99 cents during the contest. Don't miss out on either of these great opportunities!

Author Catherine Butzen is holding a raffle, starting today and running for one week, and she'll randomly pick not one but two winners! Along with a signed copy of the book, each winner will receive a piece of Egyptian-themed jewelry. Check out this post on her website for details.

The e-book of Painter of the Dead is also on sale for 99 cents this week. Don't miss out on either of these great opportunities!

There is something deeply satisfying to me about authors who take the most mundane things and make them magical (or sci-fi-y). Robin McKinley uses honey to perform magic in Chalice; Diana Wynne Jones uses everything from scolding to typewriters to musical instruments.

For every book we release, we'll feature an interview with one of its major characters. This week we sat down to chat with Akeela ("Aki") Lee from Painter of the Dead. Read below to see what main character Theo's spunky friend and colleague had to say.

For every book we release, we'll feature an interview with one of its major characters. This week we sat down to chat with Francis Cartier from Bargaining Power. Read below to see what main character Mercedes' ever-so-charming older brother had to say.