First things first, Jessie Mihalik’s new book is out.
Interplanetary intrigue and romance combine in this electrifying finale to the Consortium Rebellion series.
As the youngest member of her High House, Catarina von Hasenberg is used to being underestimated, but her youth and flighty, bubbly personality mask a clever mind and stubborn determination. Her enemies, blind to her true strength, do not suspect that Cat is a spy—which makes her the perfect candidate to go undercover at a rival House’s summer retreat to gather intelligence on their recent treachery.
Cat’s overprotective older sister reluctantly agrees, but on one condition: Cat cannot go alone. Alexander Sterling, a quiet, gorgeous bodyguard, will accompany her, posing as her lover. After Cat tries, and fails, to ditch Alex, she grudgingly agrees, confident in her ability to manage him. After all, she’s never found a person she can’t manipulate.
But Alex proves more difficult—and more desirable—than Cat anticipated. When she’s attacked and nearly killed, she and Alex are forced to work together to figure out how deep the treason goes. With rumors of widespread assaults on Serenity raging, communications down, and the rest of her family trapped off-planet, Catarina must persuade Alex to return to Earth to expose the truth and finish this deadly battle once and for all.
But Cat can’t explain why she’s the perfect person to infiltrate hostile territory without revealing secrets she’d rather keep buried. . . .
Buy links and more at Jessie’s website, https://www.jessiemihalik.com/.
I like Jessie’s work, so if you are like me and you’ve been waiting for something new and awesome to give you a mental break, check it out.
We are working on Ryder full speed and you should have a large chunk coming to you this week. Gordon still wants to tweak it, otherwise it would have gone out today. We have picked the series and title, but we can’t tell you yet.
Since Kid 2 is moving to Austin, we have taken back our office and are having it renovated, since it badly needed it after it flooded last year. Now it has a new floor and the bookcases are arriving today, which means Gordon and I will need to get out the screw drivers and allen wrenches. I am very relieved to have the office back. I really need separation of working and leisure space, because otherwise I spent 95% of my awake time in one room.
Part of the renovations involve extending the bathroom. The office shares a wall with a garage and since the garage apartment is small, the hook up for laundry and extra bathroom is located int he garage. The bathroom was in an awful shape, but it’s getting steadily prettier. Office with the bathroom. Oooo, sparkles.
I am desperately trying to be entertaining here, but I’ve got nothing. All I’ve been doing in the past week is work and chores. It’s this weird phenomenon where I have a long to do list and I keep knocking things off, but it’s not getting shorter, because new things keep piling up.
The latest thing is to find an artist who can do some art for the website. The redesign is underway, and I need headers. All the headers. I found this one guy on art station, emailed him a couple of times, and got no reply. I’m kind of dejected because his art was so pretty.
While we’re on the subject, look at this one: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/26K0g
Is this the Edge or what? I also liked this one.
I wish we could license something of this caliber. Anyway, work calls, have to go.
I’m also excited by Jessie’s book release.
My less than exciting task for today is many loads of laundry.
My somewhat exciting task is to try the 3-2-1 Mug Cake recipe:
Combine a box of angel food cake mix with a box of chocolate cake mix. (Other flavors Of cake mix besides chocolate could work, but why)
Mix 3 Tablespoons of the mixture with 2 Tablespoons of water in a mug and microwave for 1 minute. Add toppings (optional) such as chocolate chips, whipped cream, ice cream.
Wow I’m totally in love with this artwork !!
“I am desperately trying to be entertaining here, but I’ve got nothing”, well, you succeeded just right here, you’re really a funny person. This has to be very great to be around you, your family are lucky !!
Oh my God, this last sentence doesn’t mean anything !! Second try : this must be great to be around you, your family is lucky….
Argh… I would like a “delete” button next to the comments… *face in the hands*
I love her stories. I got the book first thing Tuesday and am almost finished reading it. She’s great. I’ve read everything.
Oooh! Squee! Yay! There were so many great suggestions I can hardly wait to read what you chose! Loved the art and the first did seem mire-is the 2nd KD -ish. I agree with the other posters , that we just want to know that you 2 are well and home deco/reno is always interesting . I personally really enjoy the pet stories and the Christmas tree adventures and before and after pics were some of my favorites . Just saying .
Oh, the artwork! So cool! The first one was very edge.
I know an excellent graphic artist and sent him your web address so he could check it out and get in touch.
Thank You for your initial introduction to Jessie Mihalik & her Consortium Rebellion series. I don’t know that I would have stumbled upon the series otherwise & I have thoroughly enjoyed all 3 books. I look forward to more stories from her & I really hope that she will revisit Consortium Rebellion characters too.
Remodeling anything is a pain, even when it’s necessary. Our house is old (built in 1912) & needs a variety of things done, despite being relatively well maintained & somewhat updated. We are hoping to get some of our bigger projects done within the next year & it will be a relief once they are completed (& I’m sure more projects will present themselves in the process).
I look forward to the upcoming Ryder posts, as they have been a very nice bonus! Thanks for all of your hard work.
I love Jessie’s book since you first recommended. Have not read the latest yet…it is sitting on my kindle….because work from home. Four day weekend ahead tho.
I agree that first picture is definitely The Edge.
My kid has already moved to Austin. It was the right thing for them.
I wish I had the room to separate work and home stuff, but not right now. I do lunch outside to help keep my brain on track. Sitting in the car during rain is therapeutic.
The Edge style graphic was amazing. I’d live there. Sigh.
Oh yeah I love that art so much!!
Instead of a to do list, make a have done list each day. Crossing things off makes them seem like they no longer matter and you should be proud of how much you do each day. And we all know that there are often many, many unforeseen steps that need to be accomplished for each task, like “read instructions “(unless, you’re the typical guy or atypical girl), “get tools”(which may involve trips to hardware store), “watch YouTube video”, “patch up bleeding finger”, etc. Congrats on the new office! Oh, and the art was great!
I really like this series. The audiobooks are good too. Fun!
Thanks again for suggesting Jessie Mihalik’s books. Tried one last time you mentioned her work and now have all of them!
That second link is the Honeycombe! With the dog and everything.
The Mendoza art work is beautiful! I see why you want him.
I read Chaos Reigning and it was a good final book for the trilogy. I very much enjoyed it and hope to read more books by this author.
I am totally loving Ryder. It’s been so hard for me to read during this pandemic because I have absolutely no attention-span, but these little serialized chunks totally make my day. Thank you.
Also if you are looking for custom website art, you could do worse than this indie cover designer. I know he makes graphics for other things as well. https://www.jcalebdesign.com/
Gordon and Ilona, I so enjoy your blog, even if that was the only thing you did (although I’m selfishly glad it’s not!) I love the first picture for the Edge, really nice work by that artist. Both of you take care and may you and yours stay safe.
Wow – that’s some amazing art! I wish I had a space to renovate or expand… I’m a grad student in a shared flat during quarantine, so I spend 98% of my time in a single room (my bedroom) working on my dissertation and doing freelance editing… I can’t even go to campus to get away!
Repeat, anticipating the agony of losing Ryder I stopped at 3, sending everything to archive.
Oh, happy daze, for your news on completing it.
The Edge, the edge, oh yeah the words & scene scrolled through my head.
Awesome ???????? ???? writing vision entertainment. Rock on
If you’re looking for an artist, check out kisroka.com. I haven’t seen any of her landscape/environment work, but her characters, from anime-style to realistic, are spectacular.
I just started reading Jessie Mihalik’s Polaris Rising. It’s so good to have a heroine who chooses the sensible option. Not just butting heads with the hero at every turn to generate conflict. Working with each other and recognising each other’s strengths is a nice change. Conflict can come from the plot and other issues, not just doing something because the hero told you not to..
You two create interesting believable 3D characters, so it’s great finding other sci fi writers who do too.
Thanks for the heads up on her new book.
I had this on pre-order, already read it! I LOVED this series, it was a fun read and highly recommend
Julie was a hard sell for me, to be honest. But, I trust you and I am so glad I did. I couldn’t NOT try this and so far, it’s great. Thanks so much. And if you ever need yarn…shhhh..I have way too much. And it’s high end, too.
Eddie Mendoza did the cover art for The Messenger Chronicles by Pippa Dacosta: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BZMFLCW?ref_=dbs_r_series&storeType=ebooks
His work is amazing and the author really enjoyed working with him.
Hi, could you tell if you’ll have a new book with klaus?i m in love with the inkeeper serie.
Thank you
Thanks for sharing the art work and totally agree they remind me of The Edge series. The first one reminds me a lot of the families living in the woods.
I keep noticing the new shows popping up on TV and just can’t help but think one of your many different worlds would be great on TV! Seriously!!! I think the edge would be great but maybe they think that’s too close to the show of Once Upon a time that goes between two different worlds. That’s why I think if the execs want something totally fresh that the Inn Keeper series would be great or the Hidden Legacy series. Then I love the KD world and the Kinsmen stories so we are back to them all! Take care
House Andrews, I think you don’t have to try too hard to be entertaining. Musings on various things work quite well- your readers pick those up and really interesting things continue to be discussed in the comments. Even if you only think of an interesting question- I think it’ll take off into neat discussions.
I can’t believe we’re actually gonna eventually get a Julie series. I am not okay. Thank you guys so much :’)
Thank you for the suggestion of Jessie Mihalik as a new author to try out. I look forward to reading her books. Your suggestion of Will Wight was fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed his books. Now in month 3 of lockdown in my Saudi compound so doing lots of reading. Thanks for the Ryder posts.
Your posts, even when they’re about hardships, are a bright spot in my day. I love that your readers are important enough for you to make an effort to be present. It is amazing and I am truly proud to be a fan.