Mary Louisa Locke's Monthly Newsletter
October, 2024
Dear Reader,
I am delighted to report that I have finally finished the first draft of my fifth and final book in the Caelestis series. If you remember, starting in January I faced a series of medical issues, causing me to suspend working on it for over four months. However, despite continued problems with both of my hands (I am set for surgery in a month on the right hand) over the last two months I was able to complete the last chapters to my satisfaction. I will spend a couple of weeks going over it with a fine-tooth comb, then send out to beta readers for feedback, followed by copy editing and proof reading. If all goes well with the surgery and the feedback, I am planning on getting the book up as a pre-order right before x-mas and publish it in January.
I have also decided to change the title! I worried that the title I had been using—In Ddaera’s Embrace—was too similar to the title of the third book of the series. So, the new (and final title) is Where the Glassflowers Grow.
So here is the new cover!
Discounts and Free books:
And for those of you who missed it, I spent last month putting up the entire short story, Aelwyd, for free on my daily newsletter. This story set in the in the very first year of settlement on Caelestis and features a minor character from the series. Where you can find the two posts about this story and the story itself is HERE.
In celebration of Halloween, I am discounting the audio book edition of Uneasy Spirits, the second book in the series to $2.99 on Chirp, Apple, Nook, Spotify. (The ebook version is only $5.99 on all retailers.)
Finally, I thought that a number of you who enjoy historical mysteries, might want to try Sarah Woodbury’s relatively new medieval mystery series, since the first book in this series, Crouchback, is currently free. Besides the fact that she is a good friend (who is also responsible for designing the new covers for my Caelestis series,) she write really dynamite historical mysteries! I really recommend you try this book out.
Crouchback (The Welsh Guard Mysteries Book 1
None could go against the King and Queen of England, least of all Catrin ... not overtly, anyway.
April 1284. As a newly widowed lady-in-waiting to the very pregnant Queen Eleanor of England, Catrin never expected to return to Wales again. She was definitely unprepared to be confronted with murder when she got there—or to find herself face-to-face with Rhys, the childhood friend she lost twenty years before. Rhys had never intended to return home either, but a lifetime of war has deposited him right back where he started—impoverished and owing service to Catrin's older brother.
With Wales fallen irrevocably to England and not knowing whom else they can trust, Catrin and Rhys join forces against the treachery and intrigue rife within the half-built Caernarfon Castle. And when the killer strikes again, this time within the royal court, the pair race to uncover his identity before he touches the king himself—or his infant son.
Crouchback is the first book in The Welsh Guard Mysteries.
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.
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.