Finally, the upcoming novel! I made my last edits while on an Alaska cruise, “enjoying” COVID symptoms as I finished with the last scenes. Caught a lot of interesting glaciers, all in retreat or dissolution, helped in part by the ship’s massively polluting engines. I wasn’t going to walk from Texas to see it, so…it . . .
Excerpt: A Question of Allegiance
Today, I’m showcasing “A Question of Allegiance.” A Day at the Zoo laid out all the characters and backstory. The trick with follow-on novels in the series was to make each novel standalone. Cue lists of key moments to be explained, biographies, and, due to the language, ensuring that each term is spelled and used . . .
Excerpt: A Day at the Zoo
This is the first of three excerpt posts for the Shmuley Myers books. Today, showcasing “A Day at the Zoo.” I’m presenting them first, as there’s a sale on both of my books during July! The @Smashwords sale is part of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale. Be sure to follow me for more updates and links . . .
TPoB Is Off to the Editor!
And the graphic artist. After one last set of comments (thanks, Victor!) and comments from the whole White Gold Wielders group, it’s finally off my desk. Until, of course, it returns with edits. Coming next: an excerpt. . . .
On Unintended Consequences and Proofs Thereof
I debated, both internally and with friends, about whether to write this. As someone who doomscrolls on this subject in this “alternate reality” America, each article on the progress of creating the reality of the Shmuley Myers universe is depressing. But, also, uplifting, given the strength of politics as regards to bodily agency. We’re creeping, . . .
Michael Chambon and Orthodox Judaism
Austin Poet John Gibbons posted this NYTimes article about Orthodox Jews and an extension of an eruv, which lets Jews carry (anything other than clothes) on Shabbat between private (their house) and public (everywhere else) spaces. Reminds me of my friends when I was growing up with keys made into tie clips or embedded in . . .
On Fiction & Current Events
I’m doing one last pass on the 3rd book in the Shmuley Myers series, The Property of Blood, before handing it off to an editor and page-setter to prepare for publication. That equates to a few months before publication. These mysteries take place in an alternate reality, a few decades after the Citizenship From Conception . . .
Launch!
Shmuley Myers, an Austin homicide detective, is back! A Question of Allegiance joins A Day at the Zoo and is ready for ebook preorder as well as for ordering in paperback. . . .
Limits of Privacy and Intrusion
The consequences of deciding what people can do with their bodies are just starting to cascade The slippery slope of how intrusive the state governments will be is just starting to reveal itself. spoiler alert: the slope turns into a vertical wall fairly quickly. Looks like A Question of Allegiance will be released towards the . . .
And the consequences begin
I’m not going to make this site yet another unheard voice with a political bent. Detective Sergeant Shmuley Myers has too many real-world situations in my books to deal with for me to get distr—ooh, squirrel! My ex-brother-in-law is a constitutional law scholar, who’s been involved in several of the pivotal cases put before the . . .