It's so hard to keep a secret- Now with 100% more Foreign Body!

Way back in March, I started the process of putting the 6 Tory Bauer Mysteries back in print, through CreateSpace (the same folks who published The Nut Hut, and the two paper doll coloring books). It has been a long, slow process, and I had to keep quiet about it because I wanted to surprise the artist who did the wonderful new covers for the series. That artist also happens to be my son, Curtis Taylor

Though Foreign Body is still in the pipeline (I think it'll be ready next week), the first 5 books are ready, and I absolutely could not wait one minute longer to show off these amazing new editions.

The books are the same as the original paperbacks from Avon/Harper Collins, but in trade paperback format (larger than mass market pbs), with all of the covers Curtis did for the eBook editions.

I am absolutely thrilled.

Lemee tellya, it never gets old.

Foreign Body is now up and running!!!. And in case anyone needs a reminder- this is the series reading order (they were originally published out of order).

Funeral Food

Sex and Salmonella

The Hotel South Dakota

Mourning Shift

Cold Front

Foreign Body

Drum Roll Please!

It's been a long time coming, a very long time (because I just didn't get the file proofed), but Foreign Body, the 6th Tory Bauer Mystery, is finally available as an eBook from Amazon. The other platforms will be live soon, and I'll post links as I get them.

In the meantime, it's up at Amazon.

Edited to add that it's up on B&N for Nook too.

And Smashwords.

And at Kobo.

The wonderful new cover, as with all of the eBook covers for this series, was designed by an exceptionally talented artist, who also happens to be my oldest son, Curtis. I love this one as much as all of the others

I'm excited to have the whole series available as eBooks now.

And trust me, this, right here, never gets old. Ever.

KOBO sale of Funeral Food this weekend! 50% Off!

KOBO is running a sale this weekend, with 50% off of select titles, including Funeral Food, the 1st Tory Bauer Mystery. Use the code SAVE50 at checkout!

If you don't have a KOBO reader, you can download a KOBO app for your phone or computer.

Woohoo!

Lotsa fun with CafePress...

New Tory Bauer goodies are available from CafePress, using the wonderful covers designed for the eBooks by Curtis Taylor (yeah, the name is not a coindicence).

I love CafePress's rectangle fridge magnets. I've had sets made of each of the new covers. Mourning Shift and Cold Front look right at home with the rest. The 6th (and final, for now) cover is being designed even as I type. Soon, I'll have a full set.

I'm wearing the Mourning Shift tee right now, and as soon as it cools off enough (not any time soon, I fear), I'll be wearing the black Cold Front hoodie.

Two more beer glasses to add to my collection.

They'll fit in nicely with the rest. I do have to add a caveat about the beer glasses- the transfers are exact replicas of the covers, but they're also translucent, and therefore not easy to see. Also, if you leave the glasses soaking overnight (not that I'd ever do that), the glass turns a slightly opaque, which actually makes the images easier to see. It's not a problem for me, but it could bother others who order the glasses.

Amazingly enough, beer glasses don't just have to hold beer. I like the Seagram's Dark Honey, though maybe not quite as much as the Wild Turkey American Honey. I can sip the Wild Turkey neat, but not the Seagram's. On the other hand, the Seagram's makes a nice mixer.

It's been my week for CafePress orders- Curt designed a new logo for his HopHeadSaid beer blog. I loved it, and immediately needed a beer glass (natch), a golf shirt, and a new coaster for my desk (serving its purpose right now).

You can see all of the Tory Bauer merchandise by clicking here, or on the link to the upper right. The HopHeadSaid things are available here, and while you're at it, check Curt's blog. It's great.

Cold Front is now available for Kindle

Cold Front, the 5th Tory Bauer Mystery, is now available from Amazon for Kindle download! I'm so excited! I assume it'll be up and running for Nook tomorrow, and for Sony and at Smashwords within a few days.

Woohoo!

Thanks, as always, to Ryan Boettger and his students for the formatting, Abby Reilly at Dystel and Goderich for wrangling the uploads, and Curtis Taylor for the amazing and wonderful new cover!

Mourning Shift starting to show up, and a bit of pool stuff

The pool is finally full and beautiful. The patch is holding, and the pump is running (though a few replacement parts are on order, so we don't run the pump full time yet). The water is warming up- the girls swam yesterday morning, squealing for the first 15 minutes about the cold water, and then having a wonderful time. I swam laps in the afternoon, and remembered how very much I love swimming, though I'm nowhere in shape enough to swim 300yards in a single go. I'll work up to it.

It's so beautiful. And it's calming just to watch the light dance on the water. Unfortunately, there is no light dancing on the water right now, because it's going to storm. Of course.

In the meantime, the eBook version of  Mourning Shift (the 4th Tory Bauer Mystery) is going live. It's up at Scribd and Smashwords now. It'll show up on Amazon and B&N in 1-3 days, though it could appear any minute. It'll be up and available at Sony within 2 weeks.

I'll post here, and link to the right for the Amazon and B&N listings as soon as they're up and running.

I'm proofing Cold Front now, and it'll be ready to upload in 2-3 weeks, and after that, Foreign Body. It's been quite an adventure, and once again, I want to thank my friend Ryan Boettger and his Grad Tech Students for the formatting, and Curtis Taylor for the amazing covers!

Cool book news

I can go for weeks without anything new to report on the publishing front, and I still don't have anything new to tell about the current fiction project, but Knitting Book News sort of exploded all over this week.

First, I did a podcast interview with Kelly Petkun of Knit Picks a few weeks ago, and it went live on Thursday. I, personally, have not listened to it yet because there is some weird technical glitch with my recorded voice where I end up sounding like an adenoidal 12 year old. It happens every time... so strange. But you can listen to it here. It was a fun conversation, and I don't think I said anything too stupid.

And I learned that foreign rights to The Big Book of Socks were sold! English language versions of the book are already available in Europe, so I have to assume that whoever bought the rights (I don't have all of the details), is planning a translation. This could be my first foreign language edition, and I am inordinately excited about it.

And on top of that, PDF versions of both The Big Book of Socks and I Heart Felt are now available directly from Taunton.

 It's actually handy to have the book in PDF format, because you have to download it to your computer first, and then transfer it to your eReader (it looks wonderful on my Kindle Fire, doesn't it? The entire book is there, just like any other book on my Kindle, and I can pinch and zoom the pages as I need).

And since the book is on your computer, you can print out the charts and instructions for individual projects! Win Win! Both of the Prayer Shawl Companion books (knitting and crochet- I designed the cover project for the former, and another shawl for the latter) are also available as PDF books.

Speaking of eBooks, Interweave has the All New Homespun Handknit book available too- I have a project in it. Also, Spin Your Socks, with the Christmas Stocking pattern that sort of jump-started my knitting book adventure.

Oh, and I guess I do have a little Fiction Book News- the final 3 Tory Bauer mysteries are nearly ready for me to proof in their eBook format. Mourning Shift will be the first one of this batch released, probably by mid-June or so, with Cold Front, and Foreign Body following.

Like I said, and exciting week!

Final doesn't mean what we think it means...

Curt is still tinkering with the cover of Funeral Food. The Kindle version of this book (and of Sex and Salmonella, and The Hotel South Dakota) will be ready for release soon, which means that pretty soon, *final* will actually BE final.

Once again, the changes are small, but wonderful. The artist is a genius. Read about the changes and take a peek at the Sex and Salmonella cover work in progress here.

Cool, no? I can't wait to see what Curt puts inside the frame.