Book Launch Parties!

Have you ever been to a book release party? I have, and it’s been a lot of fun. And book launches combined with Philcon, the “longest-running conference on science fiction, fantasy, and horror,” sound excellent!

My writer friend Bernie Mojzes has not one, but two book launches coming up as part of Philcon. His book, Mistress of Bees (featured in my previous blog), will be launched at Philcon on Saturday Nov 22nd at 6 p.m.. Bernie says, “It’ll be in a section of the hotel that is not restricted to Philcon guests, so you don’t need to buy a badge for the day or weekend to attend.” Bernie also has a cat story in A Future for Ferals, an anthology of speculative fiction stories and real-life accounts to benefit stray and feral cats.

Bernie tells me that anthology will be part of another launch party at Philcon at 8pm the same day.

Philcon sounds pretty awesome to me. According to its website, it will have an “Art Show and Auction; a Vendors Room full of unique merchandise; a full-featured Tabletop Gaming room; our Writer’s Workshop (featuring professional authors and editors); Concerts; Dances, our Masquerade/Costume Competition, and more!”

But you don’t have to wait until Philcon to get your hands on these two books. Mistress of Bees is available now through Barnes and Noble and Amazon. And A Future for Ferals has a planned release today, October 16th, for National Feral Cat Day. To give the greatest benefit to the cats, you can get it from its dedicated webpage. It will also be available at Barnes and Noble.

Though I have not had the opportunity to read the anthology as a whole, I have read a draft of Bernie’s story in A Future for Ferals, and I am reading Mistress of Bees now. Both would make excellent October reading for those who like haunting, chilling stories in anticipation of Halloween! One caveat: both are for mature readers, and they veer as close to horror as I care to read. Caveat lector for tender-hearted readers. But for those who seek out chills, I recommend them.

October 16, 2025 3

Friends’ Book News!

As I make progress on the second book in my fantasy duology, several of my writing friends have news of actual book releases, upcoming or already accomplished! These range from nonfiction books on passionate interests to fantasy novels for both the young and the mature reader. I’m so pleased for my colleagues.

Here are the books, in approximate order of release.

My Canadian “friend of the pen” Kilmeny MacMichael has not one but two publications. The first is a chapter in the book Cooking The Detectives: A bite sized guide to the tastiest TV detective shows by Jenny Hammerton. Kilmeny describes it as “introductions to many popular and excellent TV detective shows… gossip about acting celebrities and their relationships with their kitchens… recipes from said celebrities…” plus her chapter about detective characters on the radio.

And after much dedicated work, Kilmeny’s very own book Blackmail, Bodies and Baked Noodles: A Guide and Recipe Collection Celebrating Box 13 is now available as an e-book and in a print format that should be easy to use for cooking! Here’s the description: “This book includes an introduction to each episode in the old time radio Box 13 series alongside half a dozen recipes from the voices of America’s golden age of radio and seventy recipes in total. Come and sink your teeth into history and adventure.” The recipes sound delicious! And if you’ve never enjoyed the excellence of old-fashioned radio drama, Kilmeny would be a good guide for where to start!

My old friend Susan Bensema Young has exciting news: she has just released her own passion project, Advanced Braidwork for the Model Horse after more than 3 years in the writing and decades of aspiration. Congratulations, Sue! As she describes it, “I have wanted to document my miniature braidwork techniques for many years, and this is it! This 225 page book exhaustively covers eight of my favorite pieces of braided headgear…There are 47 beautifully hand-drawn full page Plates and 323 photographs (all but 2 in color), buttressed by a couple of full page drawings.”

Her works are truly pieces of art in miniature. You can see many, many examples of her art on her website, and read more about the book in her blog. You don’t have to know anything about model horses to appreciate the beauty of these pieces.

My local friend Bernie Mojzes now has his own book of fantasy for the mature reader, Mistress of Bees available for Pre-Order, to be released on September 16, 2025. “Noble or ignoble, human or otherwise, everyone knows there is only one person in Ashbury to turn to when things go horribly awry: the self-proclaimed “Lady” Maris Goselin. Handy with a spell or a blade, Maris is known for her wit, her cunning, and her temper-and of course for her loyal bees.” I know I’m intrigued! (Plus I’ve had a peek at its excellent map.)

Meanwhile, my friend Aud Supplee is hard at work on the fourth book in her “Winnie and the Wizard” series. As a fan of her first three books for young adults and the young at heart, I’m very eager for the fourth book to come out! I must confess, I’ve had sneak peeks at Book Four as Aud has shared drafts of chapters with me, and I am really enjoying what I’ve read. Of course, since reading Frama-12, I feel like the characters Winnie, Mikey, and Kip are good friends of mine, and I’m anxious to see what happens to them. You can read a bit about the books progress on Aud’s blog.

Frama 12 Cover Art — Book One in the Series

I am so very pleased for you all, my friends! Congratulations on your hard work and exciting book news!

September 9, 2025 5

Book Review: Aylen Isle by Aud Supplee

Happy Tell a Fairy Tale Day!

After too long a hiatus, it’s time to wake up my dormant blog. And what better way than to celebrate some things I love: fairy tales and Aud Supplee’s books.

I’ve enjoyed observing Tell a Fairy Tale Day for several years ( 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024), and this year I particularly want to celebrate Aud’s latest book, Aylen Isle.

An enchanted sword and an out-of-control wand. What could possibly go wrong?

Aylen Isle isn’t a fairy tale retelling, but it has many fine fairy tale elements: a bewitched princess, conjurers and wizards, tree sprites, a forest with magical perils and healing “mother trees,” and an enchanted sword with a quite unusual origin (a stone enters into it, but not in the way you might think). All this in the refreshing twist of a tropical island!

Best of all, Aylen Isle centers on some of my favorite fictional young people: Winnie, semi-reluctant heroine on more than one world; her adorable little stepbrother Mikey (who knows something about magic and multiple worlds); and their friend Kip, aspiring magician. They all have important roles in helping the bewitched princess and preventing their nemesis from bringing trouble to the kingdom of Aylen Isle—or any other world, for that matter. And that’s only part of what they have to deal with!

I’m not alone in my love for Aylen Isle. Kirkus Review calls the novel “A gripping adventure enhanced by a creative plot, lively dialogue, and strong female characters.” (If you don’t mind mild spoilers, check out their excellent full review here.)

And the Readers Choice Awards’ 5-star review calls Aylen Isle, “an imaginative and well-crafted novel, which draws readers into a magical world of adventure and self-discovery. With a well-paced plot, timely-twists and turns, and a relatable female protagonist, the book will keep readers engaged until the very end.” (Their full review has mild spoilers, too.)

Aylen Isle is the third book of Winnie’s, Mikey’s, and Kip’s adventures together. In my opinion, you’ll enjoy this book more if you’ve read at least Hutra, their previous adventure, first. And really, part of the joy is seeing all these young people grow and deepen over time, so why not start with Frama-12, the beginning of it all?

Read more about Aylen Isle (and the whole series) on Aud’s blog.

I recommend Aylen Isle for fantasy lovers from Young Adult to Young at Heart!

February 26, 2025 4

Book Review: Hutra by Aud Supplee

Happy National Tell a Fairy Tale Day! In honor of the day, I want to celebrate Hutra by Aud Supplee.

“One lefthanded world. Two missing little boys. Three teens must make it right.”

Hutra isn’t a fairy tale or retelling per se, but it is a fine, fun portal fantasy, part of a series with many fairy tale elements: queens and kings, enchantments, wizards, and knights in shining, er, pink armor with magic swords! Check out Frama-12 (available now) and Aylen Isle (when it’s released) for more about those excellent things.

But you don’t need to have read Frama-12 to enjoy Hutra. Just jump right in, and soon you’ll be plunging through a time tear into another world. You’ll get to know some of my favorite young people: Winnie, avid runner and former reluctant general; her friend Kip, aspiring magician; and her adorable little stepbrother, Mikey, who knows something about generals and magic.

The world they jump into seems like Earth, but something is definitely—off. Make that a lot of somethings. Good thing they have young Nor to help guide them in this new world, though he’s more astonished than they are at their arrival. Nor is an animal communicator, and one of my favorite people in the whole series. As Kirkus Review says, he shines: he’s “privileged but principled, rebellious but deeply affectionate.” Nor may be privileged, but he’s not at all spoiled; in fact, he’s a pretty humble young man, driven by curiosity and a passion for helping animals. Which turns out to be helpful when looking for a lost little boy!

You can meet Nor early in Hutra, and also on Aud’s blog, where she’s posted a deleted scene in honor of Hutra’s “birthday.” I like this scene a lot, and I like the rest of the book even better!

Happy belated birthday, Hutra! And happy reading to all.

February 26, 2024 1

A Quintet of Good Book-Related News

This isn’t all strictly new, as some of these things happened a bit ago, but it’s good news nonetheless and I’m quite happy to share it. In the approximate order I learned about these, here goes.

First, the adventures of “Winnie and the Wizard” continue! My friend and critique partner Aud Supplee has gotten the green light for the third book in the series, with the working title “Aylen Isle.” I read a recent draft of the book last summer, and it’s such a fun adventure. I’m eager to see how it’s evolved since then. You can read more about this announcement on Aud’s blog.

Stan Gale, another writing friend and critique partner, has recently published “A Living Faith.” I’ve had the pleasure to read much of Stan’s writing over the years; it is always thoughtful, thought-provoking, and warmed with his personal voice. I recommend his works for anyone looking for inspiring devotional reading.

My writer friend Kilmeny MacMichael has had two poems recently published, one in an Off Topic Publishing Poetry Box. This subscription sends you an original poem, organic tea and artisanal chocolate to “savour while you read.” (If I lived in Canada, I’d surely indulge!) She has another poem about a merman in Worlds of Possibility, an anthology of uplifting science fiction and fantasy.

And she has a story in an upcoming anthology called Red Eyes & Tired Lungs, collected to bring some good things out of a summer of wildfires. I’m looking forward to Kilmeny’s new writing.

Jason Zeitler, my Running Wild Press colleague, released his novel Half-Caste in December, published by Polyphony Press. I enjoyed Jason’s short story, “Inglorious Carnage,” in the third volume of Running Wild Anthology of Stories. His new novel, described as a “thrilling tale of political intrigue, love and loss, and the soul-stirring value of friendship,” sounds fascinating. You can find out more about Jason and his work here.

And last (though not chronologically), in 2023 I finished the medieval-esque fantasy novel I’ve been working on for lo, several years now. It is the story of a girl who swears she will not be helpless in the face of prophecy, but will face her fate and protect her people. This is still a draft, but not a first draft, as I’ve been editing it as I go with the help of my excellent critique partners. Partway through, I realized this story will take two books to tell, so I have launched myself into Book Two now. I’m enjoying adventuring with my heroine!

Congratulations to Aud, Stan, Kilmeny, and Jason. Much success to you and your new works!

January 16, 2024 5