Monthly Archives: April 2021

I’m working on Justine Fixes Everything, and it’s one of those writing days. Write a little bit. Get up and wander around. Do small errands, like fix a buckle on Mocha’s mediumweight blanket before putting it away, and pulling out the rain sheet instead.

Write some more. Think about what I’ve written. Look at other chapters I’ve done so far. Fiddle around with something else that needs to be done.

Write more. Check out social media, and flinch away.

Not racking up the words today.

But there’s a reason for this. I’m writing a difficult passage, involving a young woman who’s been extracted from a traumatic situation. I’m literally feeling my way through this part paragraph by paragraph, because I need to think about it. Laying the foundation for the Justine that we see in other books of the Martiniere Legacy. Wondering if I’m going too far over the top with this story. Then thinking of real-life counterparts and saying “nope.”

Donald Atwood is almost too good to be true, until you realize the degree to which he’s been raised to be the kind of man who, while loving to love women, is also ethical about it. And–I think there’s going to be a physical issue involved. Still thinking about that.

But I’m still feeling my way along in this story. Justine’s voice comes slowly, in part because she wants to hide a lot of this. It’s about a period in her life where she is weak, and vulnerable. And yet it’s a part of her life that creates the foundations for her later strength, to become the fixer for the Martinieres, the one who pulls a lot of the logistics together not just for security but for transportation. It sets up the rationale for her eventually becoming the Rescue Angel.

It’s still not an easy section to write.

So it’s been a week now since Mocha colicked. She was doing fine before we took off on a ride, had gotten herself a drink from the trough, eaten her grain, and didn’t show any distress on saddling.

Two hours and five miles later, she was on the brink of colic, and wouldn’t take a treat, but didn’t have sufficiently obvious signs of distress to call the vet. And since she lives in pasture, there was a chance that she’d walk off whatever this was.

An hour later, she was dropping to her side, in obvious distress, and did so three times in 5-7 minutes. Her gums had not gotten to the point where they were pale white, and still showed good capillary refill. But gut sounds were limited.

Fortunately, we caught it early. Her vet gave her a shot of Banamine intravenously (pain reliever preferred for colic), then pumped some water into her stomach and did a rectal exam resulting in some small poops that were still pretty hydrated. Within a short period of time we had good gut sounds, she was reaching for grass to eat, and after being blanketed and turned back into the pasture headed off for where the hay was at a trot.

But. She’s twenty-one years old. We blanketed her because a cold, gusty storm was blowing in, and it brought snow flurries. Just a little extra care for an older horse who had just gone through a rough time. I didn’t bother trying to mix up wet feed for her because I’ve learned by experience that she doesn’t care for mush unless I add sweet stuff to it and, well, it didn’t seem to warrant that level of reaction.

It took her a couple of days to start acting like herself. I started pulling the blanket in the morning because she really only needed it at night–daytime temps were okay, nighttime were below freezing with breeze.

Monday, she went to the vet for a dental exam (previously scheduled) and vaccinations. And deworming, and shoes, since her farrier works with the vet clinic and it was easy to do (she had originally be scheduled to be shod the day after she colicked but we moved the date out, on the vet’s recommendation).

She passed the dental exam with flying colors–dental work for horses is filing off sharp points that form on the molars and leveling out uneven growth back there (some horses will develop what’s called a wave, where the molars are uneven and don’t meet properly). Got her vaccinations. Since she was in the stocks already and coming out of sedation, I popped in with the dewormer and took care of that chore.

The vet is concerned that parasite load might be an issue, and suggested a change from twice a year to four times a year deworming. I’m also considering a feed-through dewormer, Strongcid-C, but thinking about it. The big concern is that we just don’t have a real reason for her to have colicked, except…weather-coaster weather. But the only other time she’s come even close to doing this where I can pinpoint weather as a factor was at a horse show where a big nasty storm hit, and she started doing a colic-like fuss. But I got her back to her stall, stripped the saddle, blanketed her, and she settled with no problems, aggressively eating her hay. The other time she definitely colicked was part of a cascade of health issues tied to stress from moving, change in environment, and white line disease. She just doesn’t have a history of doing this–twenty-one years old, two definite colics, one possible developing that never went anywhere.

Stuff like this does happen with older horses, though, and it can be an indicator of decline. Or not.

Anyway, today was a week after the colic. She’s been cleared for light work. So I went out midday (after the morning blanket removal) and caught her up. When it came time to saddle her, she clearly remembered and associated colic pain with the saddle. I got the mare face stink-eye, with flattened ears and a head toss. Eased the cinch gently, didn’t push the issue.

The other thing is that I didn’t want to do a hard ride, either, because she’d also just gotten her hind shoes back on and that alters her stride a little bit.

She found a lot of things to look at during her ride. Ambled along, looking at everything, ears forward.

When we got back, she was careful about her first treat, again, clearly remembering the last time. Chewed it up, went “oh, okay, gut doesn’t hurt” and all was well.

Went back out tonight with her favorite blanket, the green one that she wore so many winters in her stall. She came to me, raised her head and stood square, in the proper position for easy blanketing. I flipped it on her back just like I used to do all those years riding with Gregg, where I might end up helping blanket 15 horses or so in the barn. She stood good and still for her blanket getting fastened, then asked for more cookies.

Apparently she wants her blanket at night right now.

Damn, I spoil this horse. But she’s worth it.

Well, we have a date. Broken Angel: The Lost Years of Gabriel Martiniere will be released on April 25th, 2021…and preorders should go live pretty darn soon.

This is a book of the heart, in part because Gabe started yakking at me and wouldn’t shut up over a year ago. As I worked on Ruby’s story (the trilogy comprising Inheritance, Ascendant, and Realization), I realized that there still wasn’t a lot that Gabe was telling me. But he was being his cagey and paranoid self, hiding everything until, oh…about the time I wrapped up work on The Heritage of Michael Martiniere. And as I started writing Gabe’s book, I realized the degree to which he really is the foundation of the whole series. Because Gabe is the one member of the Family who not only did stand up to Philip Martiniere, but is the only member of the Family who actually was in a position to stand up to Philip.

But oh, the price Gabe pays. Over and over again.

I’m not happy about the resolution of the picture in the blog post. For some reason both WordPress and Dreamwidth have it all fogged up. But it looks better at thumbnail size for social media, so…a win, I guess?

There’s more. I have rough summaries for the remaining Martiniere Legacy books.

Here they are:

It’s been a week.

Monday was actually all right, as near as I can remember. I took a deep breath and started prepping Broken Angel: The Lost Years of Gabriel Martiniere, for publication. Because of the way that I formatted the Word doc, though, I had to go back through and edit a bunch of stuff by hand in Vellum. On the other hand, that wasn’t too bad as I also did some final edits and proofreading as I went through. I learned from working on a friend’s book that going through every page; one screen the editing doc, the other the print version, really helps. And as I went through the process I realized that I’m getting it figured out and that it really is going to be a pretty book. Yay!

Tuesday I got my first Moderna Covid vax. Side-effects have been mild, a little tiredness, sore arm, some headache. A little itchy on my arm. Oddly enough, my gut feels a LOT better and something just started feeling better in my body. Psychological? Quite possibly.

And then there was Wednesday. OH GOD, was there a Wednesday (and now the caps lock on my keyboard DOESN’T WORK and it is brand new as of August, damnit). Anyway. Computer problems with husband’s connectivity, the printer kept throwing off error codes that required it to be turned off and back on, the Zoom Soroptimist meeting I was running had a couple of people with internet issues, hoo boy).

But that wasn’t the biggie. After the Soroptimist meeting, I went for a ride. Everything appeared normal with the old mare when we started out. She ate two pounds of grain, was a wee bit cranky about the hind cinch, but that happens sometimes. Ride went well, though a storm was blowing in and it was clear that I had dressed too lightly. And then–she didn’t want her post-ride treats.

That was–worrisome. Mocha never turns down treats. NEVER. I watched her for a while. Something was not-quite-right, but I didn’t have enough NQR signs to suggest that it was a good time to call the vet. I went home to eat dinner, but kept fretting, and finally went back out to the pasture–just in time to see her lie down flat on the ground. Like a dying horse would.

Ulp. Something was wrong. She jumped right back up when I yelled her name. But still…something was wrong. I went back and looked her over. Capillary refill on her gums was still good. But she didn’t want another treat, and she stood with her nose to the ground, and looked like she wanted to go down again. I called the husband to tell him something was wrong. Then the barn owner.

She went down again. Then back up. I marched back to the pickup to get her halter. She went down a third time while I was calling the after-hours emergency vet number. By this time I had a pretty good idea that I had a colicking horse on my hands.

The vet came and the verdict was colic, all right. Early stages. He administered intravenous Banamine and pumped some water into her gut to hydrate her (took two tries, the first, smaller tube kept going into her lungs and caused a big nosebleed). Also did a rectal exam. He advised putting a blanket on her since we had a forecast for a return of winter. I sent the husband back to the house to grab what we jokingly call the “portable shed”–the heaviest damn waterproof blanket on the market.

She came around quickly and was starting to grab at grass like she was starving. Turned loose, she took off at a trot for where hay had been spread. Whew.

We made two after-dark trips to check on her. Both times she was skittery–didn’t like the flashlights, I guess–while her younger pasture mates were all “HUMANS HUMANS HUMANS pet us feed us treats pay attention.”

The next morning she was clearly tired but better. It was cold and snowy so the portable shed stayed on. It came off this morning but will go back on tonight as tomorrow is supposed to be Winter Returns Number Seven or some such thing.

Well, between shot reaction and being tired out from late night colic checks, Thursday was kind of a bust, though I did a panel on short story writing for Quarancon and finished formatting Broken Angel. I also fixed some major formatting problems with The Heritage of Michael Martiniere, and added some new back matter to reflect the latest additions to The Martiniere Legacy series (more on that in another post).

Today, I had a chiropractic appointment, some other things, and uploaded the new version of Heritage as well as Broken Angel to the usual ebook distributors.

Broken Angel now has an official release date of April 25. Now I just need to get all the promo work going. Preorders should be going live pretty soon now.

Whew.

 

I’m one of those writers who has a book writing plan. That is, I sit down every December and plan out what books (and hopefully short stories and essays) I will be working on during the coming year. This usually involves a bit of note-taking, rough outlines, the whole nine yards.

Now do I stick to that plan?

Until the year of Covid, yes. Oh, I’d modify the plan every quarter. But the books that I wrote every year fell into a nice neat little sequence. Perhaps not quite in the order I originally planned. However, they marched right along.

Then November of 2019 happened. I pitched a standalone book to a startup press, based on some agricultural technology research I’d been doing. It was going to be about a woman rancher fighting against the odds to save her ranch through the use of agtech, and her quest for funding while marketing her new tech.

Um. Covid happened. The book didn’t work for the press. So I blew it up into a trilogy (which was already starting to happen), listened to the ex-husband character who kept insisting that he was not the jerk that I was trying to make him, and…well…

The Martiniere Legacy was born. And it’s at four books, assorted short stories, a fifth book in line to be released at the end of April/first part of May, plus three more tie-in books that I’m working on right now.

Was this part of the plan? Nope. Books four and five (The Heritage of Michael Martiniere and Broken Angel: The Lost Years of Gabriel Martiniere) were on the table. But the next three…didn’t really come to the fore until I finally admitted that I simply was not ready for the next project on my list.

 

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The next project on my list was supposed to be an expansion of the Goddess’s Honor series, a new trilogy that takes off from the ending of Judgment of Honor. I had a rough idea of the series storyline and what might be involved in expanding that series. I was starting to rock and roll on it in early January.

Then January 6^th happened. Was that a factor in the Martinieres becoming more vocal while the problems of the Darani Empire faded? I don’t know. I just know that more and more, I was delving into the pieces of the Martiniere Family history that begged to be told. The trilogy (Inheritance, Ascendant, Realization) was told from Ruby’s perspective. The Heritage of Michael Martiniere from Mike’s. Broken Angel from Gabe’s.

Blame Gabe, I guess. His voice was the one that expanded the Martiniere Legacy from one book. And while I was working on his book, a spinoff story showed up as a submission for a themed anthology. As I wrote it, I realized that I could write more stories set in that segment of Gabe’s life, and that I might want to do just that. I visualized a set of short stories, titled Alvarez Armory, about Gabe as a part-time mercenary, in business with his brother-in-law to fight against a rising tide of corporate militias during the 2040s/50s.

And as I finished off Broken Angel, Justine started to talk.

Now Justine has been one of the will-of-the-wisp characters. She is a foundation of the Legacy, both in her support of Ruby but also in the silent support she has provided over the years to the rebellion against her tyrannical, narcissistic, manipulative father. But she’s not wanted to talk, until I got a few whispers in my ear from her, and boy howdy, I was NOT about to ignore her when she decided to speak.

Oh, I’m used to courting these characters. The Goddess’s Honor series happened the way it did because Rekaré, who is fundamental to the series, was evasive in the same manner (and when she did decide to talk, hoo boy did she ever tell a story).

But Justine is not Rekaré. And the only way I can get her to talk is to tell recent family history from her perspective. So. A book with framing stories. Okay, I’ve not done that before. We’ll see how that works. So far, so good. Justine Fixes Everything works in that context.

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Still. Justine Fixes Everything and Alvarez Armory were intended to be written after I wrote the next set of Goddess’s Honor books.

And then another Martiniere Legacy book reared its head. I wrote a quick piece to help me with understanding the end of Broken Angel, because it desperately needed a rewrite. It’s currently up on Curious Fictions.

https://curiousfictions.com/stories/3899-joyce-reynolds-ward-return-of-the-prodigal-son

And at that point I realized that there was yet another book. One thing my editor has been nagging me about is showing what happens after Gabe becomes the Martiniere. What do he and Ruby do to stop the rise of indentured servitude? What about the problems within the Martiniere Family and the Martiniere Group, because the end of Broken Angel starts to show that Gabe is not the only Family member abused and traumatized by Philip Martiniere?

Oops. Another book. Repairing the Legacy.

It also doesn’t hurt that I’ve been reading an author new to me, Beverly Jenkins, and absolutely LOVING her Black Western Romances. MsBev (as Romancelandia calls her) is deft at interweaving some multigenerational stories set against unknown history that SHOULD be known, but isn’t. And I’m finding (since I’m getting these books from the library so far, saving my money for the ones that AREN’T in the library) that it’s easy to slip into her interconnected books without having to read them in order.

It’s a different way of doing a series, especially the multigenerational variant set around a location. And it has certainly expanded my parameters for what constitutes a series, and whether a series needs to be strictly linear.

(Seriously. Go read MsBev. Good books. Highly recommended. Powerful women and mindful men. A lot of authors can learn from her, and by God, her stories are fun and also a nice antidote for those of us who want western settings but are sick to death of THAT set of genre cliches. Read her. NOW. Especially if you want spicy stories.)

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But what about that floundering Goddess’s Honor set of sequels?

The longer I sat down to grapple with the second trilogy (plus, because it seems that I can’t just write a trilogy, it’s gotta be longer than that!), with interruptions by assorted Martinieres, the more I realized that the reason that the books didn’t want to be sketched out and planned was a simple one.

The books aren’t ready to be written yet.

I wanted to tackle some heavy issues. Witmara is a young Empress, coming from a former colony. She rapidly realizes that she is dealing with a wrecked political structure that includes elements, such as slavery, that she abhors. She’d like to eliminate it immediately.

But. Magic. Significant opposition.

She has to destroy the Darani Empire to save Daran.

And that is harder to contemplate than it seems.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I’m wrestling with rebuilding a flawed political and corporate structure in the Martiniere Legacy while struggling to examine the implications of a failing empire in a fantasy. At the moment, it seems easier to look at it from a setting similar to our own world, with technology instead of magic.

Besides, other areas to research have made themselves known. Textiles, amongst other things.

All the same, it’s clear that the process of destruction while trying to preserve what is of value is not as easy as it first appears. And that for whatever reason, that’s where my brain wants to go at the moment.

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Short version?

Sometimes stories don’t want to come together For Reasons.

And sometimes it’s kind of hard to figure out just why that is.