Hi Reader,

It's been ages since I sent out a newsletter. On the bright side, I'm not filling your inbox with spam. ;-)

I have some bad news and some good news, including the urgent good news that got me writing to you today, despite being behind on two consulting gig deadlines. It's the time of year when Armadillocon rolls around! My favorite writer con of the year starts THIS FRIDAY, Sept 12 - 14.

Life

Let's get the bad news out of the way first, and then I'll dive more into the good stuff. The last year and a half have been possibly the most difficult of my life, and I'm counting the COVID years, and that time my husband nearly died of a heart attack. Since the last time I wrote everyone, I gained and lost yet another job, and started my own independent consulting business because I was tired of the yoyo. Three jobs in one year was enough, thanks. AI is causing all kinds of problems in the job market in my data management tech space right now, anyway. I've attended two more funerals, lost my beloved 14-yr-old Pomeranian, and my dear 18-yr-old cat died. There was more, but I don't want to get into it all. This last year and a half have just really sucked.

So, on to slightly better news. My new consulting business is working out okay. I'm not earning as much as a full-time job, and the work is very spotty. I'm so busy I don't have time to sleep for a few weeks, then there's a fair stretch of nothing. Since it's been 28 years since I was out of work for more than a couple weeks, I've been enjoying the breaks a lot. I could probably get more gigs if I worked at it, but having free time is pretty awesome. I need a break.

And to even better news. After mourning our little buddy for half a year, my husband and I decided that we really loved Pomeranian traits, and wanted to get a new puppy. One very happy Pom dad got two littermate moms pregnant, and they both had litters the same day. We went to choose a new puppy when they were about 3 months old, and I fell in love with this big, energetic mostly black on top pup who rarely sat still. He's a throwback, twice as big as most purebred Poms. Trouble is, my husband fell in love with this tiny, independent, contrary little cuddle bunny. Out of the two litters, he's the absolute tiniest, but had the biggest attitude. So, yeah, we went to get a puppy earlier this year and came home with two Furry Chaos Agents (FCAs). They have been a great source of joy. And destroyed carpets.

Some other good news. I snuck off between funerals, and competed in a San Antonio area (Bjornsburg in SCA language) thrown weapons competition. I'd planned to just make the long drive, crash in my car, play in the tournament, and drive home.

But, I had to stay the rest of the day so I could accept the prizes, because - I WON!

Woo hoo! Among other things, this means I need to put on the tourney next year. Looking forward to that. Also, I got this nifty necklace that I have to pass on to the new champion next year, so I'm wearing it a lot in the meantime. And this OMG gigantic axe, I'm supposed to hold while I stand behind the Baron of Bjornsburg looking like a dangerous thrown weapons champion. I really need a black hood to make this work.

Unfortunately, the next funeral hit us right when the next Bjornsburg event was set to happen, so I have not yet had a chance to uphold my thrown weapons champion duties. But I'm going to the next Bjornsburg event in October for sure.

Writing News

Enough about my crazy roller coaster life, on to what you really want to hear about, "When's the next book coming out?" Um, about that, yeah. It'll be a while, I'm afraid. Liliana 4, Chosen Rose, is in limbo at the moment. I will let you know asap when I have better news on that front. Fingers crossed, I'm hoping to have some good news about this time next year.

On the good side, City Owl Press would like to re-release Precise Oaths, Explosive Chemistry, and Obsidian Prince with new covers with original artwork. I like the art on them now, but they're nice stock photo manipulation art. I lobbied for original fantasy art when they first came out, and now, the publisher has decided they'd like to do a re-release with new, original fantasy art covers.

I've pinged Denis Loubet (http://www.denisloubet.com/), my favorite cover artist, and we're set to discuss this weekend at Armadillocon some ideas for the new covers. They will likely have both Liliana and Alexander on the cover. Might have Pete also on the new cover of Precise Oaths. It will be a bit before the new launch, but I'd like to treat it like it's the first one, see if we can make a big splash.

My biggest problem with these books has just been getting the word out to the right folks that they exist. By the way, the Precise Oaths ebook is on sale right now for 99 cents through the end of this month. If you can shout that from the rooftops, I would appreciate it. If you haven't posted a review on Amazon, Bookbub, Goodreads, wherever you buy books, I'd be super grateful if you posted one now. It would especially help right now, even if you've already posted a review somewhere else, if you posted a review on Bookbub, too, right here: https://www.bookbub.com/books/precise-oaths-liliana-and-the-fae-of-fayetteville-1-by-paige-e-ewing​

I could certainly use some help with the relaunch when the time comes. If you want to be on the street team, let me know with a reply to this email if you haven't already volunteered. I'll send you info about how to help with the next launch if you volunteer to be on that team, and I'll see about sending something special to the team as a thank you. You have really been a huge help already and I appreciate it.

I'm also working on another book, an M/M paranormal romance with a lot of action, a little suspense, and a ton of humor. If you read the little short story about the two werewolf brothers on my website, this book is about Marc, the younger brother who is the pack enforcer and a fighter pilot, although the gentle pacifist scientist older brother, David, also has a small part in it. I've been reading some snippets of it at library readings and such and I'm getting a lot of happy faces and laughs, so I think you will love it, even if romance isn't your usual cup of tea. If romance with a lot of comedy is your thing, you'll get a huge kick out of this one.

Of course, it's me, so the new book will also have a ton of action and a fast-paced suspenseful plot. The book, tentatively titled "A Wolf Burned Once" is not even finished and I got one offer of publication already, so it should be out soon. But publishing is rarely a fast thing, so "soon" is a relative term. Look for some more info later this year or early next.

I'm also working on a hard sci fi about colonizing Mars, but that one could be a while.

Armadillocon and the WGW writer group

Which brings me to the best news! I'll be at Armadillocon this weekend speaking on panels and generally just enjoying my favorite con of the year. They set up a web page with a bio and pic of me: https://armadillocon.org/d47/bio-paige-e-ewing/​

In addition to me, almost my whole writing group will be there, everyone who can get to the con. This group has some AMAZING writers like David R. Watson, Sol Sharp, Dara Kountz, and newly published Victor Jimenez, and best of all Elizabeth Moon! We all have books we've written for sale, including some new books of short stories Elizabeth wrote recently in the Paksenarrion world. Plus, several of us, including some of our not yet published members, will do a group reading at the con. We have a wonderful variety of skilled authors in this group in every variation on the spec fic genres. It should be a fun reading.

Here's the schedule of where I'll be:

Friday, September 12
4pm Welcome to ArmadilloCon! Ballroom D, 4pm - 4:55pm

9pm Can We Have Fun and Be Serious? Southpark B, 9pm - 9:55pm

10pm Understanding Why GenAI Is Problematic Ballroom F, 10pm - 10:55pm

Saturday, September 13
1pm White Gold Wielders Reading Rm 104

5:30pm Autographing - Ewing Dealers Room

8pm Colonizing Mars Ballroom D, 8pm - 8:55pm

Sunday, September 14
11:30am Space Tries To Kill You With William Frank Ballroom D, 11:30am - 12:25pm

If I'm not at a panel, you'll see me around, chatting, attending other panels, or hanging at our table in the Dealer's Room. It's not a very big con and there will be a lot of very cool folks at it. For example:

• SPECIAL GUEST P. Djèlí Clark​
• WRITER GUEST Samantha Mills​
• ARTIST GUEST Sara Felix​
• FAN GUEST Brad Bankston​
• EDITOR GUEST Angelica Chong​
• TOASTMASTER Jayme Lynn Blaschke​

Hope to see you there!

I'm unlikely to miss you, for sure. ;-)

Cheers,

Paige E. Ewing

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