Danny January: Blog

If you've been reading the Jack Pierce Chronicles and have not read the Beach House stories, be aware that there will be a terrible spoiler in "Tourist Season". If you intend on reading Beach House, A Week with the Musketeers, and subsequent stories, I recommend you do that before continuing with "Tourist Season." I'll begin publishing chapters of Tourist Season shortly so be forewarned.

I just finished the draft of Tourist Season and sent chapter 1 to my editor. It's always good to wrap up a section. It's also nice to receive a bit of appreciation in the Clitorides voting. There are some good stories this year and some are very long. I know how much work goes into my stories and I'm certain G Younger, Gruinard, Lubrican, and Michael Loucks put just as much effort into their work.
Centerfield did particularly well in nominations for the Romantic story category. Now, the voting.
April Fool's contest. I have absolutely no idea what I would write to compete in that. Now accepting recommendations. ha

I probably read more than most folks. I average a couple of fiction books per week, along with technical journals. The thought crossed my mind that if you like what I write, you might also like what I read. Maybe. Maybe not. You never know.

I get an email everyday from Bookbub with their recommendations. They send out a list of on sale books that fit a profile I give them. The goal is to get you to try new authors and most books are $1.99 or less.

I also use Libby which is a library app so I can check out digital books for free. I can afford to buy books but why should I if I can get the books I'm interested in for free.

Here's a few books I read this last year that I thought were exceptional in one way or the other.

Lost Birds by Anne Hillerman. Anne took over the Chee/Leaphorn series when her father died and she's done a wonderful job. Mysteries on the reservation.

You Never Know by Tom Selleck. I like Selleck and his partial autobiography was well written and entertaining.

From the Horse's Point of View by Debbie Steglic. Really helpful for the equestrian.

The Only Woman in the Room, by Marie Benedict. This was a wonderful biographical novel about Hedy Lamar. Well written and very interesting.

A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell. This wasn't particularly well written but the life was definitely worth reading about. It's the true story of an American woman who, against all odds, became a leader in the French underground during WWII. Incredible courage.

Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom. This is probably the best book I've read in the last 10 years. Absolutely fascinating (mostly) true story about a Crow woman named Goes First, who marries a white fur trader. I should have read this on a Saturday. It kept me up all night. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

I read a lot of average books and abandoned some real dogs. The books I mentioned above were pretty good, and some were great.

Here's a tool you might be interested in: www.literature-map.com
Go to the website and type in your favorite author. It will generate a "map" of authors that other readers liked. If you type in Ernest Hemingway, authors like JD Salinger, John Steinbeck, and F. Scott Fitgerald are close. It's not that they write about the same things or in the same way. It's that people who like Papa, also like those authors. Don't know who to read next? Go to that website and give it a try.

Let me know what you think.

It's that time of year again. I think this is an interesting tool for readers to discover new authors. Go vote for your favorites, then drop me a note and tell me who you like or what story you like and why. I'd love to hear it.

I just update recipes. It was one of, if not the first story I posted. When I first posted it, I had no idea that I'd be writing as much as I have been. Several of my stories are of the "as told by" nature and "Recipes" was no exception. I changed the name of the protagonist so it wouldn't be so confusing, made some general edits and clarified a few things that could have been confusing. Also, I added an "Author's Note" at the end.

I'm nearing the end of the first draft of Tourist Season and needed a bit of a break before finishing up. I saw the definite need to update the Beach House series (for reasons that will be intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer) before publishing Tourist Season. One thing lead to another and I reworked Recipes. Now, back to Tourist Season.

By the way, thanks to those who have supported The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. That is much appreciated.

And, for those who have asked, our horses do just fine in the cold weather. They develop a nice fuzzy coat that will shed like crazy in a couple of months. We leave the fuzz out near the bird feeders and they use it for their nests.