Haven’t done a book post in a while because I’m not reading as much lately. It’s spring–there’s gardening, lots of writing and lots of cooking going on. There would be more eating going on, but I’m dieting…

I read both of these books on the Kindle–what great finds!

Wistril Compleat by Frank Tuttle is several novellas all in the same fantasy setting, all about the trials and tribulations of the grumpy Wizard Wistril. Humor, adventure, and fun capers all around. The first story started off a little slow and I was leery–but this book was some of the best fantasy I’ve read in long while. Great beach read–the pages turn faster and faster. I’m not that fond of short stories, but when they are all in one setting about the same characters, they read much more like a novel and are fully satisfying.

Wistril Compleat is also available on CD, although I’m not linking to it because it wasn’t currently in stock at Amazon.

Next up is a crime novel, Fatherly Love. I know, I know. Looking at the cover, this book doesn’t look like much, but we all know that covers don’t make the book!

Fatherly Love is a very good mystery, similar in tone/style to those great pulps of yesteryear, but with a modern sensibility (the women aren’t just for looks). It’s available on Amazon and also at Smashwords.com.

I’m also not sure I love the title of this novel; “Fatherly Love” while appropriate, leaves out a lot. I think it could be more…interesting. No, I don’t know what it should be, but somehow it seems like it should capture something mob-like.

I’m not tall. Not really. I used to be 5′7″ in the very early morning when I stood as straight as possible. I’ve shrunk, plus I slouch over my computer toiling away on words all day, so really, I have to stretch to be 5′6 and a half inches these days. I’m not all that skinny anymore either. Back in the day, I used to wear a size six and sometimes a size four. I *dreaded* shopping for pants because they do not make a size six with a 32 inch inseam (length for you non-sewing types.) Some time ago, they stopped making medium sweatpants with anything longer than 30 inches. Folks, I look like a dork in pants that are only 30 inches long, even if they are knock-around the house pants. DORK.

Okay, so even though I now wear a size 8 (and yes, sometimes a 10, but let’s just not go there, okay???) it seems that pants are still mostly 30 inches long. So now I’m a chubby DORK with pants that leave my ankles swinging in the wind. And no, 31 is not really long enough, but that appears to be the max available material left in the world. There must be a shortage of cotton because NO ONE makes women’s pants/tights/sweatpants that have a 32 inch inseam.

I have hunted high and low. I usually give up and buy men’s pants, especially sweatpants. But lately, the men’s sweatpants have changed style. It seems that men’s sweatpants, especially the light summer version, require the crotch to hang down around the knees. So now I am stuck with pants that either barely make my ankles or pants that make them twice, once for the pant and once for the crotch. Yeah, I be stylin’. Dork doesn’t even cover it.

This led me to buy a pair of cotton pants, a cross between stretchy pants and pants (We do not need to get too stuffed into the pants–I do not need to add bursting seams to my fashion statement). I tried them on before purchase. They were barely long enough. Barely. That is to say I would have liked at least another inch. Probably an inch plus. The thing is…they were cotton. We cannot afford shrinkage in the length in this household.

Washed in cold, line-dried. Yeah. They still shrunk. This led to taking out the hems. I didn’t even want to give back an 1/8th of an inch to hemming so I tried putting a backing on and “finished” the pant with a stitch. Never mind which stitch, one on the sewing machine that looked like it might work. I have no idea what the name of it was.

It looked like someone took the hem out and did some convoluted stitch to keep from looking like a dork, only this was a just a new kind of dork, we’ll call them goober pants.

So I hemmed them. An 1/8 of an inch. Now I have pants that are *almost* long enough. But they aren’t goober pants. They’re just sort of dorky, but not as dorky as they would be if they had a crotch at the knees and hems that ended just above the ankles.

All I need here is another 1/2 inch. Okay, really I’d like an inch and a half. Please???

This morning, the garden was infested with leafhoppers. Brand new ones, it appeared. Small, carrying mildew disease–no doubt–and voraciously hungry. Of course, I sprayed neem oil day before yesterday, but it drizzled/rained all day yesterday, negating my neem. Two branches of the blueberry bush were picked clean of blueberries and leaves (worm of some sort.) Yes, I sprayed BT worm killer–day before yesterday before the drizzle…

Rain is called for in the forecast tonight. So I sprayed half-heartedly to get rid of the leafhoppers in evidence. But I know that all day they will be under the leaves eating at the beans and tomato plants. That is the way the evil creatures are.

And remember that we just had one of the worst oak pollen seasons ever. Pollen everywhere–including washing into my fabulous rain barrels. Oak pollen decays quickly into a yellowish brown SMELLY sludge. Yes, one barrel was emptied yesterday morning. But it drizzled, washing the roof of pollen…and putting just enough in the bottom to smell like marinated sweat socks. The marinade, was, of course a combo of something that smelled like decayed worms cooked in stale beer. Disgusting.

No, gardening is not all about big, fat tomatoes. Not at all, not at all.

Today was berry picking day–or so we hoped. Last Thursday we were going to go, but rain was predicted at about 60 percent. So we didn’t go. It didn’t rain. Today, rain was only predicted at 20 percent, so off we went, about an hour to the self-pick farm. The rain picked up as we drove…

By the time we reached the town nearest the strawberry farm, it was raining slowly, steadily, heavy drizzle. So we went to Walmart, hoping to kill some time. There is *always* something we need at Wallymart. We puttered around, wasted time and bought some milk and a t-shirt or two. When we got back outside, it was a much lighter drizzle so we decided to head to the farm.

FOUR BUSES OF CHILDREN were there. YIKES. The parking lot was full of cars, fuller than we’d ever seen it. The rows were…muddy. Okay, at second glance, not too muddy. Rather than walk all the way from where we had to park to check-in at the little barn, we just put our boxes together and started picking. The check-in is really only necessary to buy boxes, but we brought ours from the last time.

The berries were plentiful and ripe! Many were sadly overripe, which was a darn shame. I guess with the funny weather we’ve had, the ripening has been uneven. The berries were not quite as sweet as years past either, but I blame the late cold and sudden hot type of weather for that as well. We picked 3 boxes. Once we arrived home, I decided that 3 boxes is a *lot* of berries. They hold about six pounds a box. I am pretty sure we have eaten about two pounds of berries already. So we have a few leftovers. I predict there will be strawberry shortcake in the house tomorrow!!!

The wild flowers weren’t bad this year, but I wouldn’t say they were a bumper crop. I still don’t have names for some of them. The red one is a new one–I have never seen it before. Poppy of some sort? It’s small for a primrose, but anything is possible. (Click for larger views.)

Yes, it’s true. Those last 3 aren’t flowers. But they’re almost as pretty!!!

Well Folks, it was a long, hard battle. Tons of comments and great suggestions. There were font wars, there were close-ups and bends in the road…

But here it is. The cover for Tracking Magic!!!

Currently, Tracking Magic is available at Amazon and Smashwords for $1.99.

Thank you everyone for your votes and comments. I think the end result is much improved!!! I had a lot of fun and I hope you did too!!!

“Get Smart” meets “Ghostbusters!” A humorous urban fantasy. Five case files from Max Killian Investigations:

Haunting Clues — Max is hired to expel a ghost from a mansion. To deal with the dead, though, he must first uncover the secrets of those still alive.

Curses! — Some days you curse, some days the curse gets you.

Dearly Departed — Max investigates a graveyard, but when it comes up empty, it’s his job to find the body–dead or alive.

Roadkill — Max can smell the dead long after they are gone. Of course, it’s not too hard to smell the ones that just died, but it could prove to be more dangerous.

Privy to Secrets — Some secrets are worth dying for. The trick is to know which ones make life worth living.

Well, just as with the cover poll for Executive Lunch, I received some very good suggestions. I’ve added the improvements, and we now have a run-off between two covers. If you like one of the earlier ones better, please let me know in the comments trail (and what it is you like!) I can still make a change or two, all in the name of art!

Cover A – Ghost	Cover B: Graveyard

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For those of you that haven’t seen the book description yet:

“Get Smart” meets “Ghostbusters!” A humorous urban fantasy. Five case files from Max Killian Investigations:

Haunting Clues — Max is hired to expel a ghost from a mansion. To deal with the dead, though, he must first uncover the secrets of those still alive.

Curses! — Some days you curse, some days the curse gets you.

Dearly Departed — Max investigates a graveyard, but when it comes up empty, it’s his job to find the body–dead or alive.

Roadkill — Max can smell the dead long after they are gone. Of course, it’s not too hard to smell the ones that just died, but it could prove to be more dangerous.

Privy to Secrets — Some secrets are worth dying for. The trick is to know which ones make life worth living.

“Get Smart” meets “Ghostbusters!”

Tracking Magic is due out soon in ebook form (Kindle, Nook, Sony, iPad, iTouch, iPhone, laptop, PC, netbook and so on)! As with Executive Lunch, please help me choose the perfect cover!!!

The first Max Killian Investigation was published at The Town Drunk back in March 2007. Since then Max has taken on a few even more difficult cases. Tracking Magic includes the first case, Haunting Clues and four new tales of investigative genius. Or luck, as the case may be!

You’re welcome to click on the link above to read Haunting Clues in its entirety before choosing the cover (it’s a free read) or just vote for the one that you like best. Here’s the back of the book blurb for Tracking Magic:

A humorous Urban Fantasy, five case files from Max Killian Investigations:

Haunting Clues — Max is hired to expel a ghost from a mansion. To deal with the dead, though, he must first uncover the secrets of those still alive.

Curses! — Some days you curse, some days the curse gets you.

Dearly Departed — Max investigates a graveyard, but when it comes up empty, it’s his job to find the body–dead or alive.

Roadkill — Max can smell the dead long after they are gone. Of course, it’s not too hard to smell the ones that just died, but it could prove to be more dangerous.

Privy to Secrets — Some secrets are worth dying for. The trick is to know which ones make life worth living.

Without further ado, here are the covers to choose from:

UPDATE: The comments trail has a couple of “improvements” per suggestions from voters. Feel free to vote on a cover and then see if you like the improvements! Continued comments always welcome. For most of the weekend it has looked like we’ll need a runoff vote…

Cover A – Ghost	Cover B: Graveyard	Cover C: Max Killian on the Case

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If you absolutely *cannot* wait until the cover is chosen, Tracking Magic is on sale exclusively at Smashwords for $1.99 in all formats: .mobi is for Kindle, HTML is for reading on your laptop, .ePUB is for Sony and Nook. There are also formats in PDF and one for the Palm device.

– If you buy a copy now, keep in mind, the cover may change! You’ll be able to download the new one when it comes available in about two weeks when voting is concluded and the “chosen” cover is uploaded. Tracking Magic will be available at all fine ebook retailers once the cover if chosen (Amazon, Sony, Apple, B&N…)

Thank you, everyone! No way would I do this without you!

Three new tomato varieties that I just *had* to try out:

Chica – an Italian tomato that supposedly can handle the heat. Okay, well let’s hope so because I haven’t found one that can and Chica didn’t handle cool weather at all. It’s a tiny plant making almost no progress in growth in two months and counting. A third seed I put in the pot a month ago finally came up. Soil too cold or were you just making a grand entrance???

Mama Mia Another Italian paste tomato. I found this one at a nursery. No one could tell me much about it (I hate nurseries with people who say, “can I help you find something?” and then it turns out that they know next to nothing about the plants.) Mama Mia has a great name and it looked homeless so I decided to bring it to the garden and give it a try!

Burpee’s Big Boy Most of the big boy family and any beefsteak tomato are failures here in hot Texas. At least they haven’t been good producers for me. When I do get a tomato they tend to be on the mushy side–a side effect from the heat. I’ve heard that this strain in particular is *the* one to try so…I grew some from seeds and also came across a lovely specimen in the nursery. See “homeless” reference above.

As in the past, I’m growing Juliets (large grape), Celebrities and some combo of Italian paste tomatoes from leftover seeds from two years ago (last year, I did not get any Italian tomatoes.) The Juliets are blooming and one bloom has already collapsed as though a tomato is inside!!!

The snap peas were coming along gorgeously, until 30 mile an hour winds this morning. Three branches WITH beans and blossoms have snapped against the trellis. Waaaaah. I hate when that happens. I count every bean as a victory…

Looking for some books for your fancy new iPad? Like cozy mysteries? Both my titles, Catch an Honest Thief and Executive Lunch are available at the iBookstore. I can’t link directly to the titles because they are accessible only from the iPad. They should be available under the titles or my name (Maria E. Schneider).

Catch an Honest Thief:

An Indiana Jones-style caper across the desert of New Mexico; high-tech gadgets, a mystery and a romance.

Alexia is trying to protect the crystals that power the city of Haven. Going undercover and stealing the crystals seemed like a great idea–until a real thief showed up.

Bait and switch is suddenly cat and mouse–but who is the real thief? And why is the new security chief spending so much time looking into her background?

Confessing her secret plans to protect the crystals might help the security chief narrow in on the real culprit, but it would cost Alexia her job, her freedom, and her status. Of course, if she keeps standing in the way of the real thief, it will cost her a whole lot more.

Executive Lunch:

Sedona is given the opportunity of a lifetime: play an up-and-coming executive with all the trappings of wealth with someone else footing the bill. The catch: find out who is stealing company funds before the criminals find out that their program is being debugged.

Sedona runs into danger, the corporate glass ceiling, and an occasional chance at romance in her quest to figure out who is stealing money from Strandfrost.

Sage: Tales from a Magical Kingdom is also available for iPad if you’re in the mood for fantasy.

Sword and Sorcery meets Agatha Christie. Three novellas introduce the Kingdom of Sage and those who protect its boundaries. Sometimes it takes a more experienced hand to save an entire Kingdom.

The first of these stories, Toil, Trouble and Rot, was published in Coyote Wild Magazine; the other two are all new, original stories. In Dungeons and Decay find out just how far a mother will go when her child is in danger–and how much magic it takes to keep him safe. In Call to Arms, its a family affair; every hand is needed when a ghost invades the kingdom demanding old wrongs be righted.

All of my books are priced under $2.00. Bargains! Check them out. Let me know what you think. Let me know if you have any problems with the download or the format or anything else. If you want to buy them via the Kindle app for the iPad, they are available through that mechanism as well.

And of course, my books are still available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords.com !!! Reviewers, feel free to contact me about obtaining a copy.

Happy Reading!

And a very happy Easter to all!!! The pie is chilling in the fridge, the ham is soaking (to remove excess salt), the potatoes are counted, the onions are picked from the garden…now all we are waiting for is actual dinner time!

I hope you have a great weekend!