Summer is theoretically over, although you wouldn't know it when temperatures are still way too high for the month and we are dearly missing rain. Still, we are past the autumn equinox, the day are getting noticeably shorter, and to me, it kind of feels like fall (if that makes sense). That might also have something to do with the fact that the only trees that still have fruit are the apples, the quinces, and the medlars.

I haven't been very active in writing the past few weeks, due to a variety of reasons I won't go into. But now that (too hot) summer is turning into fall, the motivation is coming back; additionally, a few new subscribers have signed up (hi there!), which always provides a boost. 🙂 On the plus side, not writing meant I read a lot, at least by my standards—which gives me material for book reviews!

Short post today. Last week, I connected with Josie Midforth, a professional audiobook narrator, and she graciously offered to do a sample reading of A Basquet of Cats. So I sent her snippets of the first four chapters, just enough to get a feel for the three PoV characters Gentza, Kitty, and Kerbasi. And boy, do you get a feel for them in her narration.

That screeching sound you heard from international publishers and film rights buyers was an abrupt application of the brakes after a fevered pursuit of the unpublished debut novel.

Last year, I mentioned that I had purchased an ebook Humble Bundle of John Scalzi novels a while back. Since I prefer physical books to electronic, I don't use my reader much (a PocketBook Era, which I am quite happy with, not the least because it's not tied to a particular ecosystem), so after reading a bit of the bundle I forgot all about it.

We're into the third heatwave in Europe already, although so far this one looks kind of chilly in comparison to the others; only high 30s C (around 100F) during the day means you can start sitting outside in the evenings from about 8 p.m., with a slight breeze under the trees giving the setting a nice Spanish vibe. Or doing stuff around the house, so today: farm updates!

The Guardian recently had two lists of the "100 best novels of all time". The first one was curated by professionals (writers, academics, critics etc.), and the second one by readers. I've read 7 of the first list, but 13 of the second, so I obviously agree more with the latter. As usual with these things, the lists say more about the people choosing than about the objective quality of the books.

Christian Bieck is joining us today to talk about his novel, A Basquet of Cats. Here’s the publisher’s description: Gentza is a young black cat living a happy life in the Basque lands of medieval F…

It's been almost two months now since the launch of Basquet, and promotion is still ongoing. That means a few book readings (more about that in a future post), but mainly via social media. In fact, I'm spending more time on BookStagram and BookTok than I would ever have imagined possible. And the book still needs reviews... *nudge nudge*

Meteorological summer begin was this Monday, and we are already past our first heatwave of the year at 35°+C (93°F). Meaning it was about time for our newest house guests, Colin and César, to have a hair cut! Hard to believe they've been with us for almost half a year now. The boys were starting to look like teddy bears, and since…

I usually don't "do" audio books; not because I think they don't count somehow, but more because I prefer the sensation of a physical book. Plus I find I tend to drift off when listening to something, especially when a phrase or plot point reminds me of my own writing. The exception is when I'm on the road. Going to visit my mom in Germany is a long drive, 1,100 km (about 700 miles), and I find that when driving, the spoken word is better than music to keep me awake.

When I first looked through Guardbridge Books's selection of titles sometime last year, "Saving Hell" by Maria Sjöstrand caught my eye for several reasons. The cover has a black cat and an apple with a bite out of it, and nothing else, and "supernatural jaunt" as the genre description sounded intriguing, as did the blurb on the detail page. So when I saw it lying on GB's dealer table at…

The long wait is over. Yesterday was finally Launch Day for my debut novel! I hope you are all eager to get it, and (more importantly) read it—I know how it is with those TBR piles that get higher and higher... Either way, once you've read it, I'd appreciate a rating on Amazon and/or Goodreads. An honest one, of course. Every rating helps.

Just because something is created with a younger audience in mind, doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyed by all. After all, whomst among us doesn’t love the idea of magic cats? Author …

"Cat Charm" is up and free to view. It's a graphic novelette in the world of A Basquet of Cats, a.k.a the Whiskerverse.

A Basquet of Cats is available for preorder. Here are the links.

What readers can expect from this site, and the blog.

We are currently at EasterCon, and yesterday was the big day when pre-release copies of A Basquet of Cats became available. They look gorgeous! The launch event was in the evening, together withe Slab Press, who launch their newest dark SF anthology Obsidian. An interesting contrast, the light(er)-hearted YA fantasy, and a collection of less optimistic novelettes and novellas in cold, cold space.

This needed a lot more shading, but that would only have made it worse; learning shading is pretty far down in my to-do list.

To celebrate day 30 something really hard. Might try it again on day 100 to see whether it's improved.

Still not very good, but improving, at least in my imagination.