Mary Louisa Locke's Monthly Newsletter

November, 2024

Dear Reader,

I am glad to report that I have heard back from my first and second round of beta readers, with a generally good response to Where the Grassflowers Grow: Caelestis Book Five. Consequently, there were only a few places where I needed to do anything beyond correct typos. I have now sent the manuscript to my proof-reader, and I hope to get it back by the end of the month. If this happens, I should be able to publish at least the ebook editions before Christmas, so look for news of this in December’s newsletter.

I am having surgery on a tendon in my right hand today, and I don’t know exactly what the recuperation time will be, but my intention is to spend the next month or so doing the research for the next full-length novel in the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series. As with my other mysteries, this will start with researching a particular occupation held by women in this period, and this time it is female illustrators I will be examining. Because book and magazines of this period relied on artists to create etchings as the source of their illustrations, and because of the importance of women in the printing business in San Francisco, I already have the name of a couple of women to research as I develop my plot. Right now I am simply at the stage of finding links for articles and books to read.

Substack Notes:

I have just started to use the substack Notes feature.
Notes is a space on Substack to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more. I plan to use it for posts that I think more than just my subscribers might be interested in or to recommend posts I am reading by other authors that I think my readers might find of interest (particularly post of historical interest.)

How to join

Head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. As a subscriber or follower of this monthly newsletter, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around!

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If you encounter any issues, you can always refer to the Notes FAQ for assistance. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Discounts and Free books:

Keeping up with my attempt to remind people of the fact that my Victorian mysteries often use holidays for their settings, I have discounted the audiobook version of Pilfered Promises, the fifth book in the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series to $2.99 Pilfered Promises is set in the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Click HERE to find out where you can get this discount.

In addition, in my daily newsletter, An Aging Author’s Daily Diversions, I will be putting up a series of posts about the book, these holidays, along with excerpts from the book that illustrate both of these holidays. The first post came out yesterday, so do click Here.

A reminder of my Ebook Perma-free books:

Maids of Misfortune: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery (Book 1) This first book in the series permanently free and you can get it on Kindle and all other Retailers.

Between Mountain and Sea: Caelestis Series (Book 1) This first book in the series permanently free and you can get it on Kindle and all other Retailiers.

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For more information about either my mystery or science fiction series, check out my website. For daily information on my journey as an indie author trying to age gracefully, check out my newsletter, An Aging Author’s Daily Diversions.