IRON AND MAGIC has made the Goodreads finals. Please vote for us if you get a chance.

So I have some cool release news. An ebook version of Kinsmen collection is now available for pre-order.
The collection includes only previously published works: novellas Silent Blade and Silver Shark and a short story, A Mere Formality. Again, no new material is included.
If you wanted them all in one volume or if you’re buying it as a gift for a friend, here they are.
Release date: December 31, 2018.
Preorder: Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, BN.
But what about the audio? After I’m done writing this brilliant post, I will call to the agency and try to discuss the possibility of the audio with the new subrights agent. Stay tuned.
Now for the bad news. Traditionally Innkeeper ebook came out at Christmas, but we are so behind, we may have to push that date back. The manuscript needs a deep extensive edit, and trying to finagle it and meet contractual deadlines is just too much.
On the home front, today is winterize house day. It is unseasonably cold, which reminded us both of a chore list. We have to have the chimneys cleaned. This house has 4 fireplaces. We need to have the dryer vents cleaned. I need to order a cord of wood.
On top of everything else, during the renovation Gordon and I put our wedding rings into a “safe place.”
You know how this goes, right? Yep, we have zero idea of where the rings might be. We both miss them and having spent roughly a month without them, we decided to bite the bullet and buy new ones. That way if we go out, the waiters will stop asking us if it’s all the same check. 🙂 I am not a jewelry person – my ears have never been pierced, for example, but I do miss my wedding band.
Sorry you lost your rings! I hope they turn up eventually. I expected the delay. Absence will surely make my heart grow fonder. As I used to tell my students during my teaching days, quality always wins over quantity.
Question about the innkeeper e-books. Are they rereleases of what we have already read or is there unedited.content that couldn’t be posted online? I’m curious after one of the chapter releases a few weeks ago.
Yeah they include content that is not pg 13 lol
They also polish the story nicely and improve the flow (from serial to novel), if you can believe it, they make them even better!
Hope you find the wedding rings soon! I can wait patiently for the new Innkeeper.
The good news is now you’ve spent money on rings your real ones will turn up.
Innkeeper will happen when it happens and we will all no doubt happily devour it when it appears. You guys rock and now you tell me there is a short story of the Kinsman Universe. How did I miss this?
I agree with your statement. As soon as new rings are bought, the old ones will taunt you with there presence. ?
This was my immediate thought as well. It’s the surest way to find them.
Murphy, his laws, and their corollaries. They get you every time.
Buy those new cool looking metallic silicon ones. You will have a comfy substitute until you find your other ones. Also once you find that safe place, will you tell me where it is because I put some stuff there too
My wife and I love the silicon wedding rings.
Some months of the year we can wear our original gold metal rings, some months we cannot, but for months we cannot we wear the metal ones, we wear the silicon ones. Originally we were going to have the original gold metal rings resized, but the celtic knowwork would be ruined.
For safe place memories, I snap a picture and email it to my wife and mine gmails. If I forget to snap a picture, I can check my gmail for all my past safe places since we usually reuse the same temporary safe places.
I’ve just checked out silicone wedding rings- they look SO cool! Do they feel the same as metal?
I was really “deep” as a teen and said I would never wear any rings before my wedding ring, to preserve the meaning (lol, drama queen). Fast forward being married and not being used to the feeling of a ring at all, I constantly take it off without realising because it feels so alien.
Have you pondered the idea of wearing your wedding ring on a chain around your neck, Rossana? It’s closer to your heart that way, and also you would see it and feel loved every time you look in a mirror (and your husband ditto when he sees it)… 😉 If you then add a silicone ring, that would just be double love and commitment
Hehe, same issue as Ilona- I want to look the part . Plus my hubster wears his and is not happy with my shall we say alternate means ?
I hate “safe places”.
I can never remember them and I am always in a panic that I threw out the box/folder I put the jewelry or papers or whatever in.
My husband lost his wedding ring about 15 or 16 years ago. 🙂
I never wear mine because it is too heavy. I wear all sorts of other rings – when I remember.
When I do wear my plain gold band, I always tell my boys – It’s the “One Ring”.
🙂
They roll their eyes at me!!
Been married 22 yrs and counting but not missing my wedding ring.
My wedding ring (engraved with message from my husband on our tenth anniversary) was stolen when my daughter borrowed it for her high school production of The Sound of Music”. She was Mother Superior, and someone took it out of her green room locker. “Climb Every Mountain” has never been the same time me since.
to me
Yikes! That’s awful.
About three years after we were married, my wedding ring went into the surf at Galveston beach on a romantic walk at sunset.I rinsed the sand off my hands and shook them dry. I saw the band plop into the water, but there was no finding it in the dark.
My current ring is one I made my husband get me for our 30th anniversary. It’s a size 10 and now too large, but my first ring was a 6. It wouldn’t go on my pinky anymore.
(I never had an engagement ring. We had other things we needed more.)
Don’t worry about the rings. The moment you have the new rings kid 1 or kid 2 will walk into the living room and announce: “Guess what I found in the second bathroom.”
I’ve been married 35 years – for our 17th anniversary, we got matching tattoos. A colorful Celtic design, interlocking hearts and wreath, around a gold ring, mine on a lower back, his on a shoulder blade. I made him go first, because I’m a wuss, but we got it done. Neither of us wear jewelry. So our rings are permanently attached. I tend to forget it is back there, so when I do glimpse it in the mirror, I’m sometimes startled.
I think if I remarried, this is the way I have to go – even when I was married I rarely wore jewelry, and pretty much never rings*, but now it’s beyond rare, and I avoid anything on my hands. We exchanged hand made chains (this might not have been the best symbolism, in retrospect) but that really wouldn’t work for me now.
(I really doubt that I will marry again, but darn, I do actually have ideas for a wedding? I mean, between the scarlet gown to honor my grandmother, and having a tattoo artist on site – and inevitably my sister heckling about how it has to be a tramp stamp, and other friends calling out “arschgeweih”…)
* When I was in my teens I wore rings – and then left them on pianos all over Seattle because I always took them off to play. Now – well, I’d pretty much never wear them.
That safe space is where I swear dragons get their treasure hoard from and where one of each pair of my socks go to play.
Hope Gordon is feeling better!
Amazon carries a product I’ve used for over 15 years – they have lasted that long. Look for Richco ‘book it’ sock clips.
They come in set of 32 clips 4 color by 8 clips. Only take off clips from socks when you’re wearing them. They are washer & dryer proof.
In over 15 years, I lost 1 sock.
There is no virtue in sorting socks! Just in having them sorted and ready.
On another note, I will always fondly remember the ferret raid whenever dryer vents come up.
Spare socks have actually evolved to their next stage of development: Tupperware lids.
So happy to hear about the Kinsman bundle! I’ve been waiting for it. For Innkeeper, call it a winter tradition. Since you (and Gertrude Hunt!) are in central Texas, that could mean any one of our half-dozen or so “cold snaps”. What a good idea to have spare wedding bands. I’m sure y’all have a plan for the next “safe place” so you won’t lose them again, once they show back up. Did you check the teacups, mugs and glasses you don’t usually use, and the pockets of things in the closets? 🙂
My husband and I just replaced ours with silver rings we made in a class- which was awesome and fun, and has more significance (we made each other’s) than the random ones we picked 14 years ago.
Plus soldering and hammering metal is magical!
Karma says the minute you put on the new ones, you’ll find the old ones.?
When my hubs & I renewed our vows we got rings, and wear them on the other hand. I kinda like it.
I bet your rings will show up as soon as you buy new ones. It always happens to me.
Good luck with all the to do list!
We’ll be happy to see Innkeeper when you get it to us!
Have a great day!
We’ve updated our wedding bands a couple of times. I now have a third band that I like very much, a 2mm art deco silver band. I have no idea where the old bands are. I feel sure we have them, but, it’s good I don’t need them. I just tell myself they are in retirement.
Our fireplace would need the cleaning thing, but we haven’t ever used it. 24 years and never used it! Saving money here!
Sounds like you’re feeling better. I’m so glad.
Our wedding bands were wearing out …for our 35th we had new ones made..etched with our initials, our kid’s initials, and tiny gemstones for grandkid births…I have never loved a ring like this. our history is right there.
Make sure to also install security in the drier vents, we all know how beasties can get in and steal your manuscript USBs ?.
Hope everyone is recovering well and you find new rings you both love!
I knew someone would beat me to this observation! Have to ferret-proof the dryer vents!
? Disney minds and all that…
+1!
LMAO!
Our wedding bands were wearing out …for our 35th we had new ones made..etched with our initials, our kid’s initials, and tiny gemstones for grandkid births…I have never loved a ring like this. our history is right there.
I am sure that everyone will say the same things that I am about to say, however I think that we all agree that your health, safety and happiness come first. I love your books so much that I will wait as long as it takes for them to be published.
And you should know that your writing is so good you even appeal to those who don’t like romance. I have a co-worker who does not particularly like fantasy or romance genres. We are in a book club together and I chose Burn for me when it was my turn to choose the book. Not only did my co-worker like the book she read the entire series.
Their books even appeal to men who normally wouldn’t be caught dead reading a romance.
So we’ve seen in these comments, Big Jeff, when several of you compared military experiences and such… 😉
That says a whole lot. It’s like you know you made it in Hollywood when you’re on Sesame Street. Ilona and Gordon made it when men who wouldn’t be caught dead reading romance. ?
In our house, when something is lost, we tie a handkerchief (a bandana or a cloth napkin are also used when hankies are unavailable) and we send word to Saint Anthony- “Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony, please
come around. Something is lost and cannot be found.”
Worth a shot because it always works for us – and yes, the hubs always rolls his eyes at me, but never asks that I not do it ?
Oh, that’s fine.
If Innkeeper needs an extensive edit that means it’s going to get even better, right? 😉
When you are cleaning your dryer vents do you also going to ferretize them? You know just in case ferrets decide to spy? 🙂 As for safe place, I sometimes put them in the glove compartment of my car and totally forget about that. Or I convinced I lost a ring when it was just in my backpack at the bottom. Or you gave it to the kids for safe keeping. Get better and good luck with all the contractual stuff we will gladly wait for inkeeper.
oh no! Sorry about your rings! that really sucks. No worries about Inkeeper, y’all have been incredibly busy. Glad y’all are feeling better and have a wonderful rest of your week!
hahaha, yeah, keeping things in a “safe” place meant never finding them again when i need them and always finding them when i don’t, sigh
my “safe” places tend to be up high, not sure if the same applies to you, i’ve found a few things just by looking up =)
I’m very jealous of your 4 fireplaces, as for Innkeeper all in good time. Thanks for all you do for us!
Oh no! Your rings!
Innkeeper ( as all the books you write) is worth waiting for. Just take one thing at a time
Ah, crap. Wrong picture. Sorry!!!
I’m kinda liking the first picture more.
I’m all in on the first photo.
+1
It reads like a Terry Pratchett quote. Even if it’s not, it ought to be.
Yes! Love Terry Pratchett. Stumbled across this video not too long ago – a short compilation of some of Terry’s kickass heroines. (From paranoidowlet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3vsDDxeVuc&index=74&t=0s&list=LL61THrHvx3XzmNLJLCjnKFw ).
Like the first picture. So true some days!
Lol … loving the first pix!
Don’t worry about having to push back Innkeepers. Life happens. Hope you guys and your kids are all making a steady recover back to good health.
Was your safe place cat proof? My furry monsters love sparklies. They try to get in my jewelery box and have great hearing when I just touch the lid.
My husband’s rings (yes plural, he has a ‘real’ one and multiple silicon ones for work) were missing for what we thought was a couple months. I found them the other day in a bag I used for my jewelry when we moved 8 months ago. We’d looked everywhere but it never occurred to us that we hadn’t unpacked them.
I was concerned for your improving health when you said you had to winterize your home. I’m originally from upstate NY and that’s a pretty physical task up there. So relieved to see your list isn’t going to make you relapse!
As for the ‘safe place’ … well we are not allowed to say or do that in my home. Mainly because my mother put many things in a “safe place”, never to be seen again. When my parents passed and my siblings and I went to clean out the home we grew up in, we had great hopes of finding all kinds of treasures. Nope. We now believe that saying “safe place” creates a tiny black hole that sucks your item in and seals itself off. ;-/
Which book was it where they had to do Christmas late? These things happen. Do what’s necessary and take care of yourselves. You will only make things worse worrying about what can’t be helped. It helps that you mentioned that you wouldn’t be able to make the date you were hoping for, so no one made plans for something that can’t happen.
I’m so sad for you on the loss of your rings!
I will be excited to have Innkeeper come whenever it comes. Contracted work comes first and we will enjoy the effort of your edits when you have time to catch your breath and catch up.
Ps FOUR fireplaces?! So jealous. I’d settle for 1!
If you’re doing chores, I hope that means both of you are feeling better. I’ve never heard of the Kinsmen, so I’m very excited to find out about another work by you guys that I can sink my teeth into! Thanks for the update 🙂
I’ve been voting for you on Goodreads and hope you win. ?
+1
Hey, Innkeeper isn’t even done. Quite the “novella” – things got extra awesome. Happens!
BTW, I wanted to put in thanks for the comments in Diamond Fire about untreated aquamarine. As a March baby, I was given a fair bit of aquamarine jewelry when I was younger… and I always wanted to like it, but that blue color just didn’t work, and clearly it was supposed to be blue-green and WTF? It’s all kind of moot, especially since I don’t wear jewelry often, and tend to be more interested in unique metalwork than gemstones, but intellectually satisfying. …and kid me is happy. (I like gems, but what would I do with them?)
Sell them to buy more books ?
I don’t suppose the safe place was a safe deposit box was it?
Of course, then you might be like me. Have the box, but don’t remember where the key for the box is. Freaking Murphy and his stupid law.
My husband doesn’t wear a wedding ring because he broke that finger when he was younger, and the bone rubs the ring funny. He gets a kick out of pretending we’re not married at restaurants; one time, a waiter was boxing out leftovers and asked if they were going to the same home (weird way to ask if he could just put them both together in one box). When I replied yes, my husband said, “They are? Oh, goodie!” The waiter stared at my huge, 7 month pregnant self, and had no idea what to say. We left that restaurant in giggles.
My ring got stuck on my finger and I had a to get it cut off at the emergency room, and I haven’t fixed it yet, so I bought an inexpensive Claddaugh online. I almost like it better, but I do miss the sparkle.
I tend to email myself my safe spaces so i can go back and search digitally.
Hah! I do that all the time. Put things in a safe place and lose them. STILL looking for a few things. If I want something kept safe now, I give it to organized former Marine hubby who is much more organized than me. Just voted for Iron and Magic on Goodreads!
Thanks for the update on the Kinsman publication. The only bad news about Innkeeper would be that you decided not to write it anymore because some people are such jerks to you and Brandi. The rest is fabulous storytelling that we are so lucky to read! It’s fatal to put stuff away in a safe place! I can never find it and only happen upon it when I’m looking for something else I tucked away and lost ? I bet the minute you buy new rings you’ll find the old ones. Good luck!
Times like these I can certainly understand how in some cultures, this is when you’d give offerings to house spirits to help you find them.
It’s not the same safe place you put the kids Christmas gifts you lost last year (and later found)? Or did Mary Poppins come by and tidy up things into her bag?
I have a misplaced brooch I acquired in Denmark, that I’ve been trying to find for 3 years after we did some rennovations to the house.
Upside I suppose is: new bling in your case.
Unsolicited tip: A preventive measure for the future: use your phone’s memo/notepad feature to note safe places. Assuming of course your phone has security measures on it (keypad lock and/or biometrics). I have a file for gifts I’ve picked up for family/friends and more importantly the safe place I stored it in. Especially after I found a gift lost in my closet for 20 years (the friend finally received it).
As to SotB, you guys are still writing it. The treat is the installments, the final product just makes it easier for us to re-read. We can wait. But thanks for letting us know.
p.S. While I’m not Catholic, this meme seemed fitting. 🙂
Don’t worry, your rings will appear… just after you buy the new ones 😉
My mother developed dementia, and she put some of my jewelry in a safe place. I never noticed it was missing, because I was taking care of my mom.
Year after she passed I was checking my radiators and I found some jewelry in a small bag behind the radiator.
I remember my mom told me when she was a small girl that she thought the radiators in the church was where you put the money. I guess she thought my jewelry was a donation.
Never missed the jewelry, only my mom and her hugs.
I have pierced ears, and If I don’t wear earrings, I feel naked.
Don’t worry about the innkeeper , get your house warm for the winter.
And the rings will eventually be found. Get something you like .
Just an idea but my brother and his wife got inexpensive wedding bands for traveling abroad so they wouldn’t be targeted by theives.. You could do the same and when your nice ones show up again you can wear those in areas you feel safe and the inexpensive ones when traveling in areas which are less safe.. Just a way to feel like you aren’t wasting money 🙂
Thank you Ilona Andrews for the laugh. I too have put items in A Safe Place and they are still safe. My BILs think hilarious that I swear my missing single wool boot socks and missing for 12 years ear rings are in said safe place. They say once I replace my MIA, err, safe items, I will find the safe place. GRIN. So I hope you two find the MIA items.
Do not worry about Innkeeper. When it shows up for purchase, I will buy it and add to my ilona Andrews collection.
Thanks for date on kinsmen collection. I have read them all but it would be nice to have together.
I did that with James Schmitz stories as i read the original Telzey Amberdon and Trigger Argee stories in Dad’s old Analog magazines. So when Baen published collection edited by Flint, I bought the dead tree version. Then they mysteriously disappeared with various siblings. Now my Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs, and J D Robb dead tree books disappear usually between Thanksgiving and Christmas.. The neices and nephews do not read dead trees but my ebooks vanish and reappear too…. Usually after they visit on their way home from university and reappear in January on their way back.
I am glad to hear you all are getting well. Weatherman mentioned the S word for us on Thursday. A bit early but this is an el Nino weather pattern. Sigh.
I wish you could find your rings. Somewhere in my house are two gift certificates for William Sonoma totaling $300. These were from when they were actual paper certificates. I really would like to find them and their safe place.
I wish you could find your rings. Somewhere in my house are two gift certificates for William Sonoma totaling $300. These were from when they were actual paper certificates. I really would appreciate like to find them and their safe place.
Ah yes the proverbial safeplace. May it rest in peace. The worst thing we ever found in a safe place was a very old hard boiled Easter egg. I have had several wedding rings because we were too poor to get what I wanted when we got married. The one I have now is a designed ring that includes parts of all the rings and my Mom’s diamond. I adore it because the memories are good. I hope the rings turn up. If I forget I am trying to remember and just walk away sometimes it helps. Glad that sickness is not the dominant note in the blog today.
Take care of what you need to. I once found my engagement and wedding ring inside the pages of a magazine on my night stand. Good luck finding them.
We can look forward to a something nice for the New Year or Valentine’s Day. Heck, it can be 4th of July come to that. Don’t stress over it and take care of yourselves. You don’t want a repeat of the colds.
I’ll send a prayer to St. Anthony for your rings. I’m not Catholic but I’ve found he is pretty helpful regardless of faith. All the best and I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving!
Don’t sweat Innkeeper. I know you have some contractual deadlines to meet, just do those first. Meanwhile, we can read, reread, and savor the books that we already have.
We all understand the concept of a “safe place”. It’s always that one time you decide to put it in the most logical place.
I can’t remember where my safe place is either. Sometimes I think I do, but then it’s gone. Poof! I hate that!
Will await Innkeeper with wonderful anticipation! Glad you are all on the mend. It was 6 degrees this morning here. Don’t talk to me about cold! ?
Four fireplaces? One cord of wood? Oh, my dear . . . Buy two. On the other hand, I live in Michigan.
Canada here,,, only 2 wood stoves, but 4 cords for sure.
I love this blog. Sometimes it feels like I’m instant messaging with an old friend, or one of my daughters or son. 🙂
Louisiana here, at least 2 cords. 3 would be better.
Well, they are supplementary to central heat and air.
Just look forward to the lovely “surprise” you’ll get when you find/remember your “safe spot”.
BONUS: You’ll have two sets of awesome rings with many stories to tell the grandkids when they’re old enough to understand. (I know, very far in the future!) ? ? ?
And each kid can now have a set as an heirloom!
Have you tried to look for a safe place for the new rings? I’m sure the old ones will be there!
Oh, that’s too funny!!
And apt to be the best way to find them!
I’ve actually found something misplaced using this method, however, it was not what I was originally trying to find. Still fun finding that long misplaced item.
I voted. I loved IRON AND MAGIC.
+1
I was so happy it made it to the finals,,, I tried to add a book to the autobiogrphy list, but it didn’t work. “Son of a Critch,” is awesome.
I did too even though Burn Bright by Patricia Briggs was also on list.
Burn Bright is a good book, not as good as Iron & Magic though.
Don’t forget to install the pressure sensors in the dryer vents. 😉
LOL! Yes! Go Ferrets!
Both those thoughts occurred to me too!
As soon as you buy new rings you will find the old ones. So you’ve got that going for ya.
Absolutely. The best way to find a “lost” item is to replace it.
On the other hand, perhaps your taste has changed (or your ring size) and the new ring will be an improvement.
Go for it and enjoy your new (and old) ring(s).
Oh, if I could only find all of the things I’ve lost in my “safe” places. I’m convinced the fairies took them.
I know for sure it ain’t the house elf.
Good luck! (And as far as the Innkeeper release goes… Life happens. We’ll wait. Some more cheerfully than others)
Love that “some more cheerfully than others”. Here’s hoping the holiday spirit takes us all over.
All of my jewellery, I repeat ALL of my jewellery is currently in a “safe place”. It has been for months. I have no idea where I hid it (even told my SO, he doesn’t remember either!) and as a result, I have a mild panic attack every time I think about it. I feel ill now!
I purportedly have form when it comes to putting something in ‘a safe place’. Sufficiently so that the better half has threatened more than once to buy me a box and emblazon it “Jassie’s safe place”!
Had a similar experience with jewellery I took on an international work trip in Sept last year and put away somewhere safe, intending to file them properly when I had time. I hunted everywhere for months, frustrated at what I’d done and eventually resigned myself to having to slowly replace this small collection of some of my favourite pieces. Last month my better half stumbled across the little leather folio they were in and it took every ounce not to cry over it all. I now make the time to file things back in their ‘usual’ spot the first time! I hope for a similarly positive outcome for you Lib, absent the heartache and rediculous timeframe!
Wasn’t “of Swine and Roses”, part of the Kinsman universe?
Also my wife’s college ring is in the same “safe place.” Let me know if you find it while looking for yours.
Hi Keith
Of Swine & Roses the pre-emminent tale that caused me to fall in awe of Ilona Andrews is the precursor for the Hidden Legacy series
+1. Me too, it’s the first Ilona Andrews story I read and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Maybe you could get Dromeo to use his vampire mind control to get you to reveal the “safe place”. If you ask really nicely. Maybe. OK maybe not.
I agree with the other poster that you will find your wedding rings as soon as you buy new ones.
Voted for Iron and Magic. Looking forward to Innkeeper in the New Year.
We need new windows in our apartment – they’re old and worn out. However, because we live in a co-op all the apartments have to get done at one time. It’ll cost. There will be a charge to all the owners so nobody really wants to do it but it is 10 degrees colder next to the windows. Some people see ghosts. I feel breezes.
Don’t forget to get double panned windows! They are awesome for cold weather.
Yes – double panes for sure!
Remind fellow owners that heating is sooo much more expensive over time than one-time cost of windows.
In NYC heat and hot water are included in rent so a lot people don’t pay a separate heating bill. For the owners of co-op apartments the heat is in the monthly maintenance fees which are set once a year. We paid out last year to replace the 50 year old boiler and the new one is much more smaller and efficient so we have savings there. Several folks bought into the building when it first went co-op in the 80’s and nobody wanted to live in this area. They bought their apartment cheap ($20k) and don’t have large salaries or a lot of spare cash. So windows might need to wait another year or two to give people a chance to save up again for another assessment for the cost.
Put clear plastic over your leaky windows on the inside to cover the whole window space. It will at least stop the breeze from blowing through.
get that plastic stuff that you heat with a hair dryer to shrink it tight – it creates an air blanket that cuts down on the cold and eliminates those “breezes”. Also use the cushioned insulated tape in areas that leak. I had to use them around the base of my sliding door – made a world of difference. My Hydro company sent a free roll of about 10 feet one year to encourage people to save electricity.
Strangely cold here in Dallas too. I put a pair of ruby and diamond earrings in a safe place. It took a year and they turned up at the bottom of the linen closet, a place I had cleaned out just a few months prior. I am blaming Aeslin mice. “Hail”
Aeslin mice can be tricky, but I’d love to ear the stories of the colony of Aeslin that live in the Andrews family.
The celebration list only would be awesome!
“the day the Goddess of good writing give us the family treasure to keep safe and never asked it back again! HAIL!”
+1
+1
Going to V O T E
Safe places! Ha! put my wallet in one, two weeks later … still looking. Cie la vie … got my regular stuff but passport & other occasional stuff …? Drat nab it!
Jan/Feb for Innkeeper, check. Will stay posted for updates Good news
Stay on track, for deadlines. It will help you stay on point for the tales you tell
Winterizing, sheesh! One day its 60° the next its 37°. I got lucky and remembered its November. Cleaned heater, windows, changed screens & put heater on low to get clean air flow.
Snuggle in, get comfy, relaxation stretches and a long winter … of working & reworking your writing schedule
B well & enjoy your rings, new & old when they turn up
Will you consider a style for the new, so you can wear them stacked when the old reappear
I agree with a previous comment. Get an anniversary band in diamond, or your birthstone, or kids. Get it thin enough to wear above your original wedding ring. You’ll love the early anniversary gift once the wedding rings turn up. My safe places are the hutch, a shoe box, an old purse, or the silver box where we keep passports. Yours might be where you keep Xmas wrapping paper, or where your files are, or instruction manuals. Safety deposit box at the bank? What book do you love? Inside that book? Good luck.
Don’t forget inside a bag of prized, new yarn.
We had some snow flurries this morning in the Texas Hill Country!
Ah, those safe places…my passport has disappeared into one….
Two cords minimum. Envy 4 fireplaces tho you may want to consider gas inserts down the road…after the Innkeepers sell a gazillion copies?? Even sooner…
Take time you need to explode the newest books. You’re just fine.
Safe place is sock drawer.
my husband found a couple pieces of my jewelry in his sock drawer – I don’t remember putting them there at all! Perhaps I wrapped them in socks for safe keeping while traveling?? Good luck, enjoy the new bands, hope everyone is feeling back to normal soon!
Please don’t worry over the Innkeeper book. When it gets to us, it gets to us. I have both Kinsmen novels, but not the short story. So, I’ll be buying the all in one. ?
Ah yes, safe places. The “l’ll put it here so I don’t forget” syndrome. Been there (like everyone else). You and Gordon will find them when you least expect it, or when you get new ones. My parents wore rings. My dad had his cut off since his ring finger swelled badly. My mom wore hers until the gold got so thin it cut her finger. It was so funny when my dad got asked if he was married right in front of my mom and me since he didn’t have a wedding band on.
I love my gas fireplace! Pennsylvania here. Use it every day in the winter.
Plus one!
Re wedding rings; I know someone who did something similar. Used a hypnotist to “remember”. Dunno what it might cost, but if it works it’s probably cheaper than new bands.
My wife and I still always get asked if it’s on the same check or separate – despite our wedding rings being absolutely identical. I wish they’d stop – I can ask if I want it on separate checks.
I hope you find your other wedding rings though! I know how sad it can be to lose them and be without them. I’ve done the whole ‘bought new rings’ and suddenly my old ones turned up – in a place I never expected them to be. LOL
Try being single. I gave up eating alone in a decent sit down place 15 -20 years ago because the service sucked. I would have to finally flag someone down and the hostess or waiter would tell me “oh honey, I was waiting for your husband to join you before I came over”. Since I have never been married it was going to be a long wait.
Been to the same restaurant, had the same waiter…
It’s been better the last few years. I don’t know if it’s because more single women travel, but I have better luck with waiters now. Good luck!
I didn’t get married until I was 41 and I traveled for work so I ate out alone a lot. I just told them when I came in it was for one person only. I didn’t have a problem then. Here in NYC they mostly put the bill in the middle between the two people so either one can take the tab. They don’t ask if you want separate checks so if you want one you have to ask.
I imagine that big cities would be easier for singles. Too bad I don’t care for big cities. 🙂
I lost my wedding rings in February.I always put them in the same spot, but we can’t find them. I am glad that y’all can buy new ones. I will patiently wait for the Innkeeper ebook. I hope that y’all have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Your blogs are always a breath of fresh air. Rock on and btw, Bohemian Raphsody is an awesome movie if you want to be warm and entertained.
I don’t know about the others, but I’m really, really, really going to miss that weekly fix of Innkeeper once we reach SotB final !!!!!!
Thanks for the ebook of Kinsmen!
Hope you come across your rings!
Which one is A Mere Formality? I thought I’d read everything…I can’t remember this one.
Oh, you will enjoy it. It is like an extended scene where they are at a big diplomatic banquet and an incident occurs, a death. So they desperately need a treaty with the faction of the guy who died, but there is a competing side trying to “steal” the deal for themselves.
I think the entire story covers 2-3 days.
It’s also free on the website, I think. I found it funny as heck.
Whenever is fine. You spoil us rotten and we can wait. A quick note. If you use inserts in your fireplace, add an aluminum can to the fire. It cuts down on the black sticky smudges on the glass.
Reallly? I’m going to try that. Any idea how that works?
As the aluminum burns, the black tarry creosote just burns away. I know it’s chemistry, but I forget how.
As the aluminum burns, the black tarry creosote just burns away. I know it’s chemistry, but I forget how.
Any chance of paperback? I have individuals on Kindle, but I like my real books 😉
I hope you enjoy picking out new rings!
My understanding of Subterranean Press is that they only print limited edition and numbered series special edition books. The hardbacks via Subterranean are always an investment, but their ebooks includes all the beautifully illustrated artwork found in the print editions.
That or the cats found them, so God knows where they got to. Get a safe in your house to put your valuables in. Hope you find your rings soon.
Then hope you don’t have robbers. A family member had a safe with stuff in it. When robbers broke in, they took the safe entire. The pack ratted stuff they left alone. Too much time and trouble to look to see if there was anything good there.
OK, so, voted for you — ✔️
We’ll wait for the innkeeper to come out — Don’t worry about us, we’ll buy whatever you publish, and you have to get the contract work done first.
Also we’ll know how this Innkeeper turns out soon and can wait a little while for it to get published, and it will be more fun to read if the internet version isn’t
quite so fresh in our minds. Meanwhile, we can gobble up whatever you publish next. ✔️
About those wedding rings, My advise is to get some nice silver ones
because your house will know as soon as you buy new ones and cough
(please excuse the expression) the old rings up, because that’s the way the universe works and you can get some great silver rings for no money.
My DH and I have moved 13 times in 43 years of marriage and although we have always thought we would find that “Safe Place”, we never did, unless we
replaced a lost item, then the old one instantly reappeared. We just moved again almost a year ago. We gave up on finding all the safe places in the last house. Now we’re trying to find those treasures that got lost during the move
and those that got moved around as I painted each room.
I have an idea for a huge money-maker that will be even better than Siri or Alexa. How about one that you can ask, “Hey ___ where did I put my @#$%^&!
stupid ….
✔️
How about if next year you schedule 6 or 8 weeks just for unforeseen delays.
And if nothing interferes, you can spend that time sitting around your pool, house, bathtub, or slipping out of town on vacation. You can make up stuff like, “I have the sniffles” (from reading a sad romance) and no one will know the difference. We just want you well, rested, and happy!
?
In 5 years you will have a microdot tag on all of those valuables. So that you can ask Alexa, Siri, etc. where your safe place is at. Then the GPS will walk you to them.
This is out now, but it comes in a keychain fob form, I think. I’ve seen many internet ads for it, but it’s always the same company/product.
That’s just too scary! You DO know that everything you ask Alexa, Siri,
even Amazon,
for that mater, gets tracked. Have you ever noticed that if you look up a product on the internet, you get ads for that product on other sites you follow (such as Titan TV) for weeks and weeks until you want to climb up on your roof and scream to the world, “I don’t want to buy any, I just wanted to know what a $400 pair of sneakers looks like!”
Then my husband, Who now, for some strange reason, gets my emails on his laptop which sits next to mine and sees what I looked up on eBay,
Starts asking, “do you need a new pair of sneakers?”
Being a hermit ain’t as easy as it once was! ?
Ad-Blocker and browser Do Not Track will get rid of those ads following you everywhere. Then, of course, you’ll get the pop-ups “I see you’re using an ad blocker…” The Accu-Weather site will even say how many pages you’ve viewed while blocking the ads on their site! But, it’s still better than being haunted by something you only glanced at in curiosity.
Now to figure out where I put something after I used it last – it DIDN’T get back into its “safe place”!! 😉
I love Ad-Blocker. I haven’t tried Do not track, that will be next. Yahoo email drives me nuts trying to force me to white-list them.
Unfortunately I can’t have them on my office computer.
Thanks for the updates. Won’t be surprised if your rings show up after getting the new ones. Hope the winterizing goes smoothly.
We can wait for the Innkeeper – y’all have had plenty on your plate lately! Thank you for all that you do to spoil us in the Book Devouring Horde.
Oh, and don’t forget to have sensors installed in the dryer vents in case ferrets come to call…
LOL, I knew someone else would post that.
+1
Wedding rings: I see a bookshelf and a small vase with a lid. There is a small round thing on the lid to open the vase. The rings are inside. I can’t get this image out of my head. Please let me know if it is real.
No, but good try. 🙂
Is there where you put yours, Domitila? ?
No one else mentioned it so I am just going to ask. I have never heard anyone say they were going to have the dryer vent cleaned. Why? Does it get dirtier in Texas then anywhere else ? I am sincerely curious. Or is it different, mine is just a tube that goes from the back of the dryer to a small square vent hood on the outside of the house.
Lint piles up, can become flamable, so every few years it’s a good idea. Lol, also plugs the vent taking longer to dry clothes
That;’s how fires start. You need to have your vent professionally cleaned annually because there may be lint in the back of the dryer you are unaware of. Here is a good article on it.
https://www.angieslist.com/articles/hiring-vs-diy-dryer-vent-cleaning.htm
Our dryer is vented through the attic to the roof, so in the winter the pipe gets cold. And I haven’t been able to figure out how to clean it. So are there people who make their living that way?
I know the pipe has lint, because the dryer took forever to dry a load of clothes. I finally disconnected the hose and put a stocking over the end and periodically empty the stocking into the trash.
But I really would like to find someone to clean it.
I had a packrat last year get into my dryer vent and block it with it’s nest. The outside part of the vent was only a year old, but it got past the flapper somehow. Talk about a mess to clean out.
I haven’t had a problem losing my wedding ring since I tattooed it on lol good luck with everything and don’t stress to much. Thanksgiving is next week and we remember how last year went for you ?
So much to do!! Don’t worry – we’ll be here when you’re done!
On the other front – hoping you find you wedding rings. I went years without wearing mine due to getting a bee-stinger stuck under them and then got (ahem) somewhat more plumpy whilst trying to decide if they needed to be re-sized ( they did ?).
THEN last year I lost the stone out of my engagement ring (clasps has broken off) only to find it 6 months later up the other end of the house. This in spite of a total bedroom makeover and washing and giving away 3/4 of our wardrobe.
The only way it could have made it to where it was found is by surviving the laundry and several vacuumings!!
Vote – check
Preorder – check
Wedding rings missing – I applaud the idea of new rings. I like the idea of rings as a symbol of unity, and there is just something about them. I’ve been divorced for almost 20 years but I still have mine.
PS: I’ll take Innkeeper whenever you give it to us and forever grateful for the gift.
All of my jewellery, I repeat ALL of my jewellery is currently in a “safe place”. It has been for months. I have no idea where I hid it (even told my SO, he doesn’t remember either!) and as a result, I have a mild panic attack every time I think about it. I feel ill now!
(Apologies for dual post – accidentally posted this as a reply first)
My wedding ring broke so I found a pretty decent surgical steel one amazon until we feel like really replacing it! $20.00!! Nobody knows it’s fake either they have some really nice ones ?
+1
Voted for you of course! You have no equal?. I too have a Safe Place where there are 12 sterling goblets that will not be getting used for the holidays. Looked everywhere. Regarding the rings, maybe plan on sooner or later finding them and make the new one so you can stack it next to old one?
Curious if you’re a gem person even if you’re not a jewellery person? Not many laypeople are aware that aquamarine is heated to turn them blue, instead of greenish-blue. And some research clearly went into the “Tear of the Agaen” as well, which is why I’m asking.
Hubby gave me a pair of diamond earings for our anniversary 2 years ago and it was in that safe place too. I found them this week during our third pack and unpack this year. They were in my kids jewelry box, under the liner. Also it’s my first winter in 6 years and I am done, though my hubby says it hasn’t really started ? some one send me warm vibes..I am an island girl
Contracts are important. Deal with them first. We will wait for SoTB, maybe not with patience, but we will wait.
I’ve never understood the concept of putting something in a “safe” place. I just put things away, where they belong. Jewelry goes in the box, or rather, one of the boxes. Important papers go into the file cabinet or my fireproof lock box. I may need to sort thru other items to find what I want but I always find them.
As well as cleaning the vent it’s also a good idea to periodically have a serviceman clean out the interior of your dryer. I had that done earlier this year because I noticed that there was an awful lot of “dust” in the laundry room. Once the dryer itself was cleared the dust problem went away.
As someone who doesn’t wear jewelry, I don’t have a box. I had to take my wedding ring off when pregnant cos my hands ballooned. Took me ages to find the safe place, their “away” was on my finger!
For years my jewelry was mostly 2 rings and I had a box that “lived” on my dresser that was their designated storage place for when I needed to take them
off. I learned that habit from my grandmother who didn’t wear jewelry except for
her wedding and engagement rings. She didn’t use a box, instead she had a ring keeper that had belonged to her mother.
A ring keeper is a decorative glass or porcelain dish with a spike in the center that your rings will fit over.
At one time my mother couldn’t find her wedding rings she fad on her nightstand. We looked EVERYWHERE. Turns out my little sister had picked them up and put them on while eating out of a boc of cereal. Find them the next time somebody poured a bowl of that cereal. Would never have thought to look there
I know this might sound idiotic to some but it works for me every time: when you cannot find something but you know it’s in the house, before you go to bed at night, empty a table ( it’s always dinner table for me) of everything- needs to be completely empty) than place a clean glass ( water, wine, whatever) bottom up in the middle. Than go to bed. In the morning you’ll wake up and go to the exact place you put your thing (rings) in. It works every time, I don’t know how or why.
Costs you nothing to try, you don’t even have to believe it works.
I always take my jewelry off at work and put them in a little white canvas bag before I go work out. The bag goes into my backpack and the backpack doesn’t get opened until I get home. Once I’m home, I take my work clothes and that bag out and put everything away. I lost that bag, with 2 sets of wedding rings. The original set and the set my husband gave me when he surprised me with a complete wedding (with honeymoon!) on our 30th anniversary. I was just sick. Two months later, I was digging through some old sweats in the back of my closet and there it was! Buried in the middle of the pile! How or why I have no idea. So don’t give up hope! They could very well turn up when you least expect it!
Yes, well, my father’s parents hid some watches in a safe place before they went on a trip. Years later, they found them in the basement inside a bag of yarn. It was sheer hell going through the house after my grandmother died, because it didn’t matter how irrelevant something looked: you never knew if you were going to find a diamond ring in it somewhere.
Been through a grandmother, and now my mother, who was the same way. I still have boxes to go through.
I am trying to downsize, but I have so many hobbies it is HARD!
When you find them, now you will have a set to leave with each girl. 🙂
Does anyone else buy from Amazon and wish that Kindle gave you the option of organizing your books (i.e. similar to a real bookshelf by genre or category)? Wondering, because I’ll probably buy this compilation for the updated cover and so that I can ‘tidy’ my kindle (one book instead of the three I currently have).
I use collections on my Kindle (Paperwhite). It is still a pain (especially after an update) – and you can’t do it on the website and force the update down to the Kindle. I’ve even setup a naming convention for my collections so that they get grouped the way I want them.
I wish I could have 1 sort option for the “home” of the Kindle and another for inside the Collection.
Hm, I use the Kindle app on my phone and haven’t seen the option to create a collection. I’ll have to look into that!
I put my overly expensive watch my darling husband bought me in a “safe place” , the pocket of the purse I was using while moving from Louisiana to Texas. Found it three years later when I was cleaning out my closet. It had fallen through a small hole in that pocket, all safe and sound. It almost belonged to the donation box. Good luck! Hope you find it.
While you are looking for your wedding rings, could you find my safety deposit box key? I know it is in a red envelope that I put somewhere safe when I moved.
I hate it when the safe place hides! I too lost my wedding ring. I went a long time without one, but it was my only jewelry too and I missed it. So happy for you both, to have new ones.
I understand why you have to do “an extensive rewrite” but wonder if you would consider adding the original- as written on line – to the back of the rewritten copy so we would have both versions. I realize that suggestion probably makes you cringe but I really like the versions/segments you have written online and I really like your finished published works. I would be happy to pay extra.
Amazon considers this padding and frowns on this practice. 🙂 So unfortunately, we can’t do that.
Darn and blast.
So ‘padding’ is out but we’re the BDH and thus a ‘committed’ (/needing to be committed) lot, apparently prepared to pay up for our addictions….am I the only one wondering if there’s a potential market for the Author Lords’ equivalent of a Directors Edition? ?
OMG, the dreaded safe place! Some day the location will pop into your head when you least expect it. Says the woman who set down her fabric scissors on the cutting table and spent 30 minutes looking for them. Sigh.
My husband died 5+ years ago, I still have not found his will. Most things were in both our names, for the few in his name only, I showed a copy of our marriage certificate (35 years!) and they were happy to change over to my name.
I moved from Florida to Texas and put my “good jewelry” in a special pouch, zipped into the inside pocket of my purse. Upon arrival, I put the pouch in a safe place while waiting for my jewelry box to arrive on the moving truck. That was December 2004. Still looking. Should have trusted the moving company.
Famous last word to our selves. I am still looking, there are many things in that safe place. I would like them back, when you know yours mine might be in a similar spot…share. Have a good holiday season. Happy thanksgiving, you both need it. Early I know, just didn’t want to forget. Thank you for your books.
OMG! Bless your hearts. On the bright side buying new rings together can be fun!