Here We Go Again

The June 21 release of Volume II of Tales of the Dearg-Sidhe, THE GREAT QUEEN'S HOUND (aka Dubhghall 2)  has been edited and is on its way to the publisher. 

I had promised myself at least a weekend off before I started anything new.  I was going to go to archery practice today, to work it all our with the feeling of the bow in my hand and the hand-eye coordination it takes to hit the target with that all-fulfilling sound of arrow piercing paper.

But the Gods had other ideas.  Last night it started to rain. OK, granted it was wet at Agincourt, but that was Agincourt.  We who live in Southern California have forgotten what rain is, for the most part, even if we have come from wetter climes and our appreciation of historical precedent does not factor into the desire to avoid mud and the craziness of drivers who have no idea what cars do in the rain.

So last night I stayed up way past the hour I would have stayed up till had I really supposed I was going to be on the range this morning, and The Muse bent my shell-like ear and said those magic words "What if" again, and I, resolute as I can be, said "NO!", but not before I had, in fact, typed the dread words "Chapter One" into the electron stream which has become my life.

And then I erased it, determined to go to bed.

She was not finished with me yet, however.

Somewhere, in the deep dark recesses of my brain there lurked a memory of a novel  had started some 16 years ago, a mystery novel entitled "AROUND IN CIRCLES" and The Muse guided my hand to the file, somehow preserved and transmitted to this computer, several generations newer then the one upon which this had been written, and I opened it and read the first chapter and saw that it was good.

The words "CHAPTER ONE" were already there, in caps, and about 10 pages of text which needed a few changes to bring them into this century, but I was hooked and my publisher was hooked when I sent him the chapter this morning, and...

...and I face this with a smidge of trepidation on many fronts.  First, I have never written a real mystery before, though I have had mysteries surface in the course of my other novels.  Second, the style of writing is very noir, something not my usual style at all.  Third, I am taking on the persona of Yank detective, based in Los Angeles., which means I have to change my spell check to U. S.  English and hope for the best.

Sigh.

At least I'm a Gemini.