Time to take stock.

Time to take stock of my writing career.

I entered into this with the hope that I could get one book written.  Then to get that one book published.  That was my goal.  Just to prove I could do it again.

But I kept on writing and writing and enjoying it, and before I knew it I had a body of work behind me.

I've had five books published this year by Books of the Dead Press.  I've got another book coming out in early January from Ragnarok Publications.

So I'd say I succeeded at my original goal.

After stuttering on my writing for a year, then exploding for a year, and then keeping up the pace for another year, I've really slowed down in the last quarter of this year.  I've been sort of involved in trying to get people to notice what I've already written.

It is a hard task.  Much harder than the actual writing.

I make small incremental attempts, and really don't see much happening.  But nothing will happen unless I make the attempts.  So I've been trying.

It's frustrating because I now know it is within my grasp to get a book in the top ranks of the bestseller lists of Amazon if just everyone who wished me well would just buy a book.  It's .99 and 3 minutes of effort for my readers -- it's everything to me.  The cost is low on their part, and the reward is high on my part.

But you know what?  The books have garnered good reviews -- and not just in that initial phase of friends and family being supportive, but over the last half year or so the reviews have continued to be good from casual readers.  That's really encouraging.

I believe the main force I'm dealing with is entropy, and with people simple overwhelmed by choice and the barrage of media messages.

But what are you going to do?  What can you do?  I've come close to begging a few times -- hell, I probably have crossed that line.

I've been impressed by the steadiness of Roy at Books of the Dead.  He has great credibility in the horror genre, and has several books that have done very, very well. He's got a #1 book right now.  (Not mine, unfortunately.)  My book sold way better than I could have accomplished on my own.  I'm very thankful that I hooked up with him.

And I'm excited by the enthusiasm of Ragnarok Publications.  It's almost infectious how delighted they are with the progress of their company.  I'm very happy to be on board and hope that Tuskers will do well for them.

So I need to just keep writing, and enjoying myself, and remember that I've already far outstripped my original ambitions.


Doing it for the money?

Of course I am. 

But not really.

A little test:  If I was approached to write someone else's comic or book for industry average wages would I do it? 

No, I can't see myself doing it.  I can't see myself toiling on someone else's idea or franchise.

If I was approached as a ghostwriter and offered a lot of money, would I do it? 

Well, maybe for a lot of money, but probably not for anything less.

I guess it's an advantage to owning a business is that it is giving me a living income.  Even more so, that I feel like Linda and I will be able to retire, barring catastrophe, and not fall too far in living standards.

So do I write for the ego?

Of course I am.

But not really.

I think too much success would equal pressure.  My dream scenario is that I write happily away in obscurity right to the end, but become hugely successful in time to enjoy it... heh.  Not that is going to happen.  I've worked out the odds and they are so astronomical as to not be countenanced in any of my thoughts.

Weirdly enough, I feel a pressure to succeed on behalf of my publishers, for some reason.  I want them to do well for taking a chance on me.

At the same time, I love the idea of people reading my books -- and enjoying them.

The enjoying part is the most important part. 

Which just puts me back to where I started -- writing the best book I can.

Every book is a new start.

Came up with another idea for a book.  I like the concept, and it might be fun to write.  Really, at this point I'm just going to let whichever story grabs me and go with it for as long it comes.

But I love the title:  "NOBODY KILLED ME." 

I was amazed that no one else has used this title yet.

The idea is a character who is lost between universes, always trying to get home, pursued by enemies. (Odysseus-like.)  Meanwhile, he gets into adventures in each universe he lands in, and so on. Maybe a bit of Doctor Who vibe, which I think I can pursue because I've only seen a couple of episodes so whatever vibe I arrive at probably won't even be close, which is good.  (Only two episodes of Doctor Who?  I know, strip me of my nerd credentials.)

I've written the first three pages, 1st person, with some elevated language.

Which immediately causes me to doubt.  I feel like Tuskers is such a successful effort, that I wonder if I shouldn't try to replicate the straight-forward simplicity of it.  Good old fashioned 3rd person storytelling.

But the other thing that Tuskers taught me is -- try something new, something unexpected.

I certainly had no plans to write about a Wild Pig Apocalypse, but once I did, I realized it was a new start.

It made me realize that every book is a new start.

Well, writing trilogies and sequels is not quite the same thing as a new start, but I'm mostly finished with the sequels I've so far written, so I can move away from that concept for awhile.  There are advantages to writing sequels, too, and I've fully enjoyed doing them.  But I think the time has come to do some one-ups.


It does seem like every time I challenge myself to try something completely new, I make an advance in my writing, going back to Deviltree, which was a purposeful attempt to get away from heroic fantasy, and felt wonderful to write.

If you keep writing, every book could be the book that everyone likes, that catches on.  You just don't know, all you can do is keep writing.

Living in two worlds.

I have a bifurcated vision of writing and reading.

On one hand, I think self-publishing and/or small indie publishing is the way to go.  I really believe the Big Five are dysfunctional.  Agents are worst than useless.  I can't ever imagine ever trying to sell my books into this market.  I'm pretty sure it would stall my writing career, and it isn't necessary to be read or to make money or even to gain appreciation.  In fact, I think the traditional publishing world would actually be harmful to my progress.

On the other hand, I still sort of take my own reading from that world.  I still get my reading material from one of my two bookstores.  I don't own an e-reader.

I'm not sure why this is.  I mean -- how can I so clearly and easily see the advantages of writing digital copy but ignore it as a reader?  Maybe I just haven't gotten around to changing.

I'm sort of like the guy at the turn of the 20th Century who really, really loves horses but recognizes that the automobile is the future and starts selling gasoline.  You know, eventually he probably buys a car for himself.  But until then, he still has his horse stable out back.  He can clearly see the future in one thing, but still want to live in the past himself.

Does that make any sense?

This split vision does make it somewhat hard for me to completely understand Amazon and all the book blogs and all the other social media connections and the rest.  I don't inhabit that world, but I'm trying to sell into that world.

So be it.  I shudder to think what would have happened to me if I had tried the traditional route instead of the one I took.

So I slowly adapt, and I try to keep up. But it isn't natural to me.

When I bought Pegasus Books I wasn't really a comic reader.  I had to fumble my way, much as I'm fumbling my way as a digital book writer.  I could intellectually see the qualities of it.  I could appreciate it.  I could admire it.  I could understand it.

But I couldn't really feel it in my gut.

I kept trying and eventually I found Alan Moore and his stories, and Neil Gaiman quickly followed, and Frank Miller and so many others, and I found myself finally really getting it and even more importantly living in that world. The longer I inhabited that world, the more I found and the more I felt it.

I ended up making a career out of it.

So you can understand something, but not feel it.  You can feel something, and know it's the wrong way to go.

Kind of hard to explain.

I'm a very logical guy in some ways.  But this isn't just logic.  I really do understand that digital is the way for writers to proceed and because of that, the readers will follow.

And yet I still have a nostalgia and a desire to feel the old-fashioned book.

Funnily enough, I'm not worried about my businesses.  I believe traditional publishing will hold on long enough for me to finish my career.  I believe in fact that traditional and digital will co-exist.  But I would advise any beginning writer to forget about the Big Five and do it yourself.

In my new career, as a writer, I'm pretty convinced the advantage goes to digital and all its promise.  Because I want to be a writer, I'm following a path that I don't totally understand but instinctively, intellectually, and logically understand is the right way to go.

I'll keep going until I totally feel it as well.

Led to the Slaughter, an Amazon Bestseller.

Books of the Dead Press put a new line on my Led to the Slaughter page.

"AN AMAZON BESTSELLING HORROR TITLE."

Here's what my publisher said,

"Led to the Slaughter has been on the Amazon bestselling horror list. Maybe you didn't know that… Frankly, I should have been bragging about the Amazon ranks for years."

I didn't know that. 
He also put a nice gold digital badge on the cover of my book, that says, "Most Popular Item.  Best Seller.  Best Selling."

So it begins?

I get nervous every year around this time. 

Last year, Pegasus Books did over 70% of our business in the second half of the month.  In fact, the first half of the month's daily average was actually below the yearly average.

Then BOOM!  Best Christmas ever.

I think I understand why this time lag is happening.

First of all, we've gotten to that point in the season where shopping online probably can't guarantee arrival before Christmas.

Second, despite what everyone says, most people do like to experience the Christmas shopping thing, if only for a short time, and the best time is the week before the holiday.  The bustle can be invigorating.

Third, Bend being a tourist town, we get all the visitors and out-of-towners in that last week.  Kids get out of school. Tourists always spend more money than locals.  Everything in my store is new to them.  Downtown fills up.

In other words...it's time.

Makes it hard to plan inventory, though.  If something sells out, we probably can't get it in on time.  So I'll end up with too much of some things and not enough of others. We used to be able to get a read on things.  The big boom on the weekend after Thanksgiving, a lull of a week or so, and then a steady build where we could adjust. 

Now we just fill the store, wait until that last week, and hope we guessed right.

But so far, they haven't cancelled Christmas. 

I think we're flirting with disaster, though.  Every year.  Imagine that snowfall of a couple of weeks ago happening now.  My business dropped to nothing for a few days.  This wouldn't just cost a few hundred bucks, but at this time of year would be thousands of bucks.  Imagine a disaster somewhere in the world where everyone becomes glued to the TV. 

It's scary.  Being a business that depends on Christmas makes the experience different.

Fortunately, I usually relax on Christmas Eve.  Suddenly a pleasant lassitude washes over me.  It's out of my hands.

I can finally enjoy.

Columns not about my book, but really about my book.

So that was fun.  I joined a online Christmas party at Ragnarok Publications to talk about Tuskers.

They made the big announcement about the Angelic Knight imprint -- turns out it was an existing publisher they purchased for their Horror line.

Each author had ten minutes to introduce themselves and talk about their book.  I was the last author up, because I procrastinated the longest at answering the invitation.

It was kind of fun, actually.

So a couple of hundred people attended, and the questions came fast and furious.  The pop-up "Likes" every few seconds were a little distracting, and pretty soon I was just grabbing a question at random and answering it.  Totally out of control.

People really do seem to like the idea of a wild pig apocalypse.  Superintelligent pigs on the rampage.  I hope that means they want to buy the book.

I've been lined up to write a couple of columns for writer oriented blogs so far, so that's more outreach than I've done up to now.  Hopefully there will be more of that coming.  As anyone who reads this blog knows, I'm never short of words.

I may take slightly longer on these columns than I do on my everyday blog -- which I have always kept loosey goosey on purpose so that I can do it without pressure.

I need to find interesting ideas that won't be about my book -- but of course are really about my book.

Ragnarok Party

Ragnarok Publications is having a public online party tonight at 5:00 PT, 8:00 ET. https://www.facebook.com/events/1494313060858339/  I'm supposed to step in front at 6:30 and chat about my book and answer questions and give away a copy of Tuskers.

Didn't know this kind of thing existed...

Damn me if even an online party doesn't make me nervous!  I'm just such an introvert, it's disgusting.  I mean, most of the time I'm just fine with it.  But then something like this comes along and I realize I'm the same old guy.

I'm thinking of opting out, actually.

Originally I asked the publisher, Tim, if I could come and stand in the corner and the next thing I know I'm actually going to have to give a speech. Well, sorta...

Do they serve booze at this party?

It should be kind of fun, actually.  I'm a talker, so I shouldn't have too much difficulty. Once you get me going, it can be hard to get me to stop.  It's only a ten minute slot.  A bunch of very clever guys in Ragnarok, and I'm probably stodgy compared to them, but so be it.

So....where's the wine bar?

The Weird Wild West

Jim Cornelius of Frontier Partisans,  http://frontierpartisans.com/,  asked me to write a column for his site, and this is what I came up with.

The following is a guest post by Duncan McGeary. Duncan is the owner of Pegasus Books in Bend, Oregon, and the author of several books, including two historical horror novels set on the mid-19th Century California frontier — “Led to the Slaughter: The Donner Party Werewolves,” and the newly-released “The Dead Spend No Gold: Bigfoot and the California Gold Rush.” I asked Duncan to talk a little about his choice of setting and genre.
There’s monsters in them thar hills, and the weird west was never wilder. ‘The Dead Spend No Gold’ is a fine tale to be spun around some High Sierra campfire—as long as you don’t mind lying awake all night, wondering what that sound was off there in the trees… 
••••••
To me, there is no better place for mythical creatures and legendary lands to exist than in the early American West. It was as mysterious as any fabled past, as haunting as any medieval time, as exotic as any foreign land.

And yet the West is also accessible and understandable, at least to a generation who grew up learning its tropes and stereotypes. The myth of the West is so different from the reality, that it leaves plenty of room for new interpretations.

For the early settlers, the West was unknown and unknowable. What was known wasn’t always right. What was right wasn’t always known. Anything could happen.  It was the edge of the universe — “Here there be Dragons.” Or, more accurately, here there be “Lava Bears” or “Wampus Cats” or “Hodags.”

Sounds like a great place for astonishing things to happen, right? Horrible things. Bewildering beauties and unforeseen terrors. For the pioneers, who really didn’t know what lay behind that next mountain, or over that desert, or on the other side of that river, the future was yet to be written.

In researching “Led to the Slaughter,” I found the most useful sources to be the pioneer diaries of women. Men tended to talk about miles crossed, or animals shot, and other such practical things. It’s true that for the most part, women were also mostly circumspect about their difficulties. They were a stoic breed, not given to complaining. But there were differences in the way men and women saw the journey. Men saw opportunities and riches and new beginnings. Women went along on the journey most often only because the menfolk insisted.

One of the more telling differences between men and women’s perspective was how they spoke of the Native Americans. Men would spin tales of near escapes from savages, the constant fear of attack, the looming menace. They would brag about how brave they were to dare to confront such dangers.

Women, on the other hand, would talk meeting with Indians as opportunities to trade for fresh meat or materials from the natives. These encounters often saved the pioneers, or at the least, made their journey less uncomfortable. Women often looked forward to the encounters, men dreaded them.

So from the very first explorers, myths were already being created. Truth and fiction were already being blurred.

The early wagon trains were often led astray by con men, who led them off the beaten track by promising “short-cuts” and “easy passage.” Because no one knew the truth. Those who were inclined to make maps made those maps for their own purposes. It was a “Wild” West because the rules of civilization didn’t apply, except those rules you brought along.

The title of “Led to the Slaughter” comes from the unfortunate tendency of the Donner Party to accept such shortcuts as real, and to be led into disaster.
20889206It didn’t much for the rules to break down.

In the real west, terrible things happened, most often man against man. In “The Dead Spend No Gold,” it’s the white man’s massacre of the native tribes that leads to a confrontation with the more primordial figure of Bigfoot — who isn’t so easily driven off.

Not much of a stretch to take the real events and turn them into horror, with mythical creatures such as werewolves and Bigfoot as metaphors for greed and hatred.

The West was primal and the human response also needed to be primal to survive. It’s amazing, actually, that for the most part the pioneers held to the proprieties. Woman would keep a fresh clean dress for Sundays, while their everyday dress turned black from the dust of travel. Men would be formal and courtly and most often law-abiding.

But in extremis, the West stripped away such niceties, and it was down to simple survival. And the horror genre is as primal as it gets. Man against nature, man against beast, man against…the Other.
Stories of the West have expanded far beyond the actual truth — which leaves enough gaps in the story for new myths to be created, blended in, and not seem out of place. Just as fantasy often has a medieval setting or feel because it lends itself to that genre, I believe the Old West lends itself to the weird, the primal, the unknown and the new.

There is always that out-of-the way rocky arid tract of land, where man is overwhelmed by nature, where the winds howl in the night and the wolves prey on their livestock and the unseen Indians are always over the horizon. Where anything, even the inexplicable and unexplainable, can happen.

The West is wide-open.
•••••
Duncan spins a fine tale. I think you’ll enjoy ’em. Here’s the links:
THE DEAD SPEND NO GOLD: Bigfoot and the California Gold Rush.  
LED TO THE SLAUGHTER: The Donner Party Werewolves.  




If I liked veggies, I'd be a vegetarian.

I'm only half joking.  My taste for veggies is severely limited.  I'd be hard pressed to create a lifestyle out of it.

But the more I read up on how we treat our livestock, the more horrified I am. 

The precipitating event in Tuskers is a super-intelligent pig escaping from a gestation cage.  She and her brood want revenge...and I'm on HER side.

Meanwhile, I had a customer into the store who said she was a little upset that I was making wolves the bad guys in Led to the Slaughter.

"Oh, no.  They're werewolves.  Completely different.  The evil comes from the human side."

"Yeah, but the poor wolves are so misunderstood!"

(I started telling Linda about this, and she said, "It's true. Wolves are misaligned."

"You mean maligned?"

This part of the story has nothing to do with my point but it was such a great Malaprop that I had to tell it.)

Anyway, it's terrible what we do in these factory farms, but it's somehow even more terrible that it's done to intelligent creatures like pigs. 

I'm thinking I need to buy Free Range meat, if I can trust that label.  I'll pay the extra.


What it takes.

I've been reading Wool, by Hugh Howey, to get a sense of what the fuss is about.

This is the poster-child for indie books, the break-out success, being made into a movie, even.

It's in 5 parts, each part longer than the other, until it becomes a pretty substantial book.  The first part -- the one that apparently got all the initial attention -- is actually pretty small.  It would have been a fairly interesting story, by itself.

Nothing spectacular though.  I mean, more than competent.  Some good writing after a maybe a bit of maybe trying too hard at the beginning.  (As a writer, I'm noticing that a lot in good first books.)

Halfway through, I was thinking -- this is nothing special, why is it so huge?  Then about 3/4ths of the way through, I started noticing the quality of writing again, and it was pretty damn impressive.

So I'll give him his due.  He probably deserves it.

So here's the thing.  You have to write a good book.  It's up to me to write a good book.

I keep trying, and I can't tell how good my own books are or aren't in some ways.  I know when I've done my best, and I try to only publish those books.

But ultimately, it's up to me to write books that people like. Not only that they like, but which they want to promote.

A good book may not get noticed much, left alone. Publicity is still the biggest factor as far as sales are concerned.  I mean, FIRST you have to write a good book, then you have have some luck, some connections, some timing, some skill at selling yourself.

Hugh Howey has a nice website, and a nice online persona. Humble yet authoritative. Just folks. And he's obviously been very smart about his career management.  And he writes good books.  So more power to him.

I keep coming back to the idea that I should just write my books, do my best, enjoy the process, and let nature takes it's course without expecting much.

I'm O.K. with that, most of the time.




The twenty dollar drink.

I've been so active on social media the last few days, it doesn't feel like me.  The publication of one book and the announcement of another sent me into a frenzy of activity that is very unlike me.

So I'm going to back off for awhile and just get back to writing.  Re-institute the 7 to 11 rule about not being on the Internet.  Get centered again.

It's hard, because without effort my books won't sell.  Simple as that.  I can't just put a book up for sale and expect anything to happen. Just the idea of a book, even just the cover, isn't enough.

It's frustrating.  I know for instance that the .99 price of my early books wouldn't be a high hurdle for most people, and yet each sale is the world to me. 

I have to ask.  I have to find reasons for people to pay attention. I have to motivate them to give me a chance.

And for some reason, Internet activity is something I can do.  Familiarity at a distance, I call it.  And a lot of these people feel like friends, even if I've never met them.  Others I've met and didn't get close to in the real world and yet I'm constantly interacting with on the Internet.  Truth is, the social media is probably something that is actually good for me. The loner type who is generally friendly.

I used to get my social action at the store, but I'm not working enough for that to completely work.  But I can't write if I work, so there's that.

I dreamed all night of interactions.  Last dream I had was hanging out with some Hollywood types and they insist on going to the most divey of dive bars.  I hand the bartender a 20.00 and he hands me back .50 and nothing else.

Story of my life.



.99 cent sale for my books at Books of the Dead.

My newest book, The Dead Spend No Gold is 3.99, but my earlier tomes are up for sale for .99.  So for those who have considered reading my books, now's a really good time!  So download them now while you have the chance and read them when you have the time!

While it isn't necessary to read Led to the Slaughter in order to enjoy The Dead Spend No gold, it might add to the experience.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IJQR190?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B00IJQR190&linkCode=shr&tag=booofthedeapr-20&=digital-text&qid=1392914589&sr=1-1 


The Vampire Evolution Trilogy is one big story.

Death of an Immortal http://www.amazon.com/Death-Immortal-Vampire-Evolution-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00K1XI0QM/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1418228291&sr=1-3

 Rule of Vampire http://www.amazon.com/Rule-Vampire-Evolution-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00K1XQY9M/ref=sr_1_5?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1418228331&sr=1-5

 Blood of Gold http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Gold-Vampire-Evolution-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00K1XRF72/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1418228477&sr=1-4





"There's monsters in them thar hills!" The Dead Spend No Gold

Since The Dead Spend No Gold is my NEWLY published book, I really ought to be talking about that.

I got a very cool quote from Jim Cornelius, who is the editor-in-chief of the Nugget newspaper in Sisters, Oregon. Jim is a real devotee of American Frontier arcana, and has a really cool website called, Frontier Partisans. http://frontierpartisans.com/

His West is more hard core, the West of Cormac McCarthy and John Wesley Hardin, not so much the Louis L'Amour version.

Plus, I know from talking to him that he loves dark Fantasy.

Here's Jim's quote:

 "There’s monsters in them thar hills, and the weird west was never wilder. ‘The Dead Spend No Gold’ is a fine tale to be spun around some High Sierra campfire—as long as you don’t mind lying awake all night, wondering what that sound was off there in the trees…” ~ Jim Cornelius, Frontier Partisans

THE DEAD SPEND NO GOLD: Bigfoot and the California Gold Rush. http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Spend-No-Gold-California-ebook/dp/B00QPOJL1Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1418017288&sr=1-1

"The world needed this book." Rudy Rucker

So this is cool. Rudy Rucker was in my store a few months ago when I was writing Tuskers, and he seemed intrigued by the idea and by my enthusiasm.

Rudy is a well-established S.F. writer, one of the "founders of cyberpunk", winner of the Philip K. Dick award. I've read some of his books and I carry him in my store.

Anyway, I asked him for a blurb, and this is what he gave me.

"Pure pleasure. Superintelligent wild pigs on a rampage. The world needed this book."
---Rudy Rucker, author of The Transreal Trilogy

Maybe a tad ironic, but I like it.

The Dead Spend No Gold is live!

My Merry Christmas Book!  Good things happen all at once, I guess.

My sequel to Led to the Slaughter, starring Virginia Reed, is out!

The Dead Spend No Gold: Bigfoot and the California Gold Rush, by Duncan McGeary, Books of the Dead Press.

This is a stand alone book, by the way.  If you happen to like Bigfoot!  It isn't at all necessary to read the first book to get the complete story.  It is set a year after the Donner Party, when gold has been discovered in the Sierra's.

"Virginia Reed survived the Donner Party Werewolves only to find herself in a life and death struggle with a creature out of nightmares. When gold is discovered, California becomes flooded with miners who push Indian tribes from their lands, or kill them if they refuse to leave. But there is a creature in the mountains who reacts to the invasion of his territory by slaying everyone who trespasses."

I'm asking you guys to please buy this book from Amazon, especially in the first week or so.  If enough people buy it at the same time, it could end up on some of the best-seller lists.  Really that simple. If you buy this before Christmas, it could move the title way up the rankings. A bunch of books sold in the first week or ten days has an outsized impact.  Even if you don't want to read it yourself, send it to someone who likes the weird and wonderful.

It costs $3.99.  It means more to me than you can imagine.

Here's the Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Spend-No-Gold-California-ebook/dp/B00QPOJL1Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1418008396&sr=1-1

If you have a Nook or any other device, you can buy from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/499795

Oh, and please, please, please give it a review.  Just a sentence or two and a ranking, that's all it needs.  Reviews are pretty much the whole ballgame. People buy books over the long run because of reviews.

I'm really proud of this book. I tried to make it a great successor to Led to the Slaughter.

The Tuskers release is still over a month away, so this is my Christmas book.  In fact, hey, it might make a good gift!

After ten months of hard work, good things are starting to happen again.

I feel like Led to the Slaughter got my foot in the door, and I'd like to pry it open a couple more inches. This is my chance to make some headway against some very strong winds.  (The sheer number of books being released is astounding.) So please don't hesitate, go directly to the Link and click.  I will be forever grateful. And maybe some day, you can say you know a best-selling author.

You could make this a very Merry Christmas with just a click.  Make it a gift!