Hi TSD Readers! I wanted to give you a quick update on what’s in store for you in the coming months. As you know The Pooka is coming out later this year and I’m hoping my second Persimmon book will have a publication date near Christmas time though that may not happen until the new year. I’ll be taking part in NaNoWriMo 2011 and during those 30 days I plan to complete my foray into Young Adult territory and that project will have a publication date of late spring next year. Coincidentally I will be needing beta readers for my YA project in March 2012 and I will be updating you on that topic in the coming months.

However, the point of this post is to fill you in on my current project which is a short story for the 2011 Scriborium Anthology tentatively titled A Very Scary Christmas which is coming out this Christmas of course. My short story will be included with about 9 other stories from the other Scriborium members and I am so excited about it that I have to share the news with you. The theme of the collection of short stories is a Christmas story with a paranormal or horror twist. The name of my story is “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”.

Here’s the synopsis:

Elspeth Stone hasn’t been home since she left for college after high school at the age of seventeen. Her decision to leave wasn’t supported by her family and she went without their blessing.  The only person she kept in contact with after the falling out with her family is her younger sister Erin. Now, 13 years later, Erin is pleading with Elspeth to come home for Christmas. Despite her resistance to the idea, Elspeth relents only because she hasn’t met her 5 year old niece yet and if she doesn’t come home this Christmas she may never get the chance since the child is ill and may be dying. The thought of going back to her childhood home fills Elspeth with the old fear and dread. Memories of the terror she experienced there, the horrors that went bump in the night and the evil thing that lurked in the shadows waiting for her surfaced from the dark recesses of her mind. As her sense of foreboding mounts, she doesn’t  know if she’s going home to reconnect with her estranged family or to confront the demons of her past.

And that’s how it goes. I might even be persuaded to give you a sneak peek and share a short excerpt here in the weeks to come. It’s going to be an exciting couple months, that’s for sure, and I hope you’ll come along for the ride!

ΩPhoto Credit 1, Photo Credit 2

Not bad for a children`s book to sell 13 000 copies its first month on the shelves! Actually, it`s pretty stellar. Who says you need a big budget advertising campaign to make ends meet? And it’s available just in time for Christmas, which I’m sure is no coincidence, my friends. Santa Goes Green is written by Anne Margaret Lewis and is beautifully illustrated by Elisa Chavarri, and published by Mackinac Island Press. It’s also available for a preview before purchase at the publisher’s website which is just good foresight and always a nice touch. It may also be the contributing factor as to why this book is enjoying such runaway success coupled with news spreading by word of  mouth.

The topic is hot right now because it has Santa, a polar bear, walrus and a beluga (my youngling’s fave!), and a conscientious youngling named Finn who is very concerned about global warming and sets out to do something about it. It has been said that this generation will truly be custodians of the Earth, the humanitarians. It is highly believable, as this generation seems to be highly conscious of things at a very tender age; things we ourselves at that age were never concerned about, and maybe even as adults still ashamedly haven’t become as concerned and involved as we should  and could be.

So, thanks for the heads up from my fab friend in far away Spain about this book! And it is the way most people have been hearing about it before it hit the media radar; through the grapevine, and the news is spreading like wildfire! So I’m off to pick it up for my own youngling, and as a gift for some other little special ones, because anything that encourages caring and is inspiring to boot is well worth giving! Happy holidays!