Everything cuteness and light

So, nothing is cuter than a baby goat, right? This little guy is one of the offspring of my new boyfriend. Okay, he's not my boyfriend exactly cause I'm married and that would be wrong. No, he's the new boyfriend my dairy goats. So they can continue making delicious milk and make me cute little babies like this. Let's say it together. Awwwwwwwwwwww!

See, this is what happens when I have no content. I give you cuteness. Not a bad trade off, no? What's that?  You need more cuteness to make it worth your while? How about...

Baby chicks. This little cutie is Iris. She is now big and sassy, but here, she was small and sassy.

Here is the big and sassy picture.

She has the most awesome muff and beard. Not a chicken fan? How about duckies?

Now aren't you just overwhelmed with cuteness? Need more?  Man, you are tough.  Okay, here's something so cute you won't be able to resist. 

I give you...

DONKEY CUTENESS! SQUEE!

Aren't you squeeing? Why aren't you squeeing? 

Content? Pfft. Okay fine. Content and cuteness?  I can do that.  Here goes...

Are you squeeing now? I have a new book out February 21st. yay! As the cover and the title might hint, this is a paranormal mystery.

The dead have no respect for anyone trying to have a life.


Portia Mahaffey always liked that she was the only woman in her family without a psychic 'gift'. But a concussion awakens her latent ability to see ghosts. And one of those ghosts is prepared to haunt her until Portia agrees to convince the police her death was no accident.


With no choice but to help Corinne, Portia reluctantly uses her new gift and some good old-fashioned detection to track down the truth.


Seeing the dead is just the beginning. Portia's world becomes filled with hungry demons, mercenary shadow beings, vengeful poltergeists…and one very alive murderer willing rank her among the dead.

Who knew hanging with the dead could be so hazardous to the living?


See? Content and cuteness all in one package. You're welcome.

I looked it up so you don't have to...

So I haven't posted in forever, but I'm here now and I think you'll agree this was worth waiting for.  Or maybe not.  Anyway, a recent kerfluffle about agency pricing model and Kindle and ebook pricing made me curious about ebook prices.

I read a lot of ebooks. A. Lot. Last year I think I might have read in excess of 150 epublished items. I write for epublishers as well, so the debates on pricing concerns me.  It also makes my mind wander when it should be doing other things like writing or folding laundry. So I started wondering what the most expensive ebook out there was.

The internet makes everything so easy. A few minutes and I had the answer. It took me considerably longer to put my eyes back in my head and close my jaw. The most expensive ebooks were all scientific treatise, and when I say expensive, I mean a gasp-inducing $6,431.20.  Yes, I'm serious. Selected Nuclear Materials and Engineering Systems sells for over six grand. Plus the 20 cents. No idea what the small change is about. Six grand isn't enough?  It's actually discounted. The price used to be over $8K.  Hey, it's expensive, but it's part 4 of a series (all similarly priced) and it's #53 in the Kindle Store for ebooks on thermodynamics. At only $4,960, Selected Systems from Al-Fe-V to Al-Ni-Zr is kicking Selected Nuclear Materials and Engineering Systems butt in the rankings.  The "customer reviews" are hilarious. "I had to sell my car and take out an equity loan on my house to buy this book, but it was worth every penny." They are worth following the link.

Fiction was a distant cousin. I had to sort through over 1,000 books to find fiction. The most expensive fiction ebook I could find was a self-published novel.  The author priced it at $200 and strangely hasn't sold one yet. Maybe that's because he keeps describing it as "a film" in his back cover copy--which is also rife with errors.  No, I'm not making it up. Go check the link. I'll wait here. I'm not sure what makes it worth $200, but that makes me think twice for griping about a $15 ebook. I still won't pay $15 for an ebook when the mass market paperback is 7.99, but I don't go pick up the paperback either. I just generally don't buy the book.

There is someone offering his resume for the same price. Also a selection of clearly gag offerings are listed. I guess everyone needs a hobby. There is even a listing by someone who doesn't want you to buy his book. No, really. He has some sort of dispute with his publisher, so he raised the price up to $199.99 and begs people not to buy his book.  Sadly, he has a higher Amazon rank than the self-published novel that thinks it's a film, indicating that people have ignored his wishes and purchased the book in spite of the fact that there is no indication of the subject matter.

All of this of course raises the question of just how much to price something.  Fortunately for you, my next ebook is only $5.50. The First Ghost will be released on February 21st and, as you can see, it's a bargain.  You should buy it.