Before we start regular conference updates proper, a heads-up that bestselling author and SCWC Director Janis Thomas will once again conduct her popular Novel Boot Camp in San Diego. Limited to only 10 participants, this immersive, 8-workshop track requires pre-registration and tends to sell out sooner than later. >>Complete details
Also, please be mindful that we’re still wrangling a few gremlins in our email server. Should be resolved soon, but do subscribe for updates if you haven’t received one over the past four weeks.
So Much Good “Muse”
What with wrestling tech since February, have neglected deserved props to all the SCWCers with new books…
Mustang to Paducah, A Zany Romp Into the Sixties, by Raul Ramos Y Sanchez (America Libre), mixes a stoner road trip and multiple murders with exuberant gonzo abandon … Pat Spencer’s Golden Boxty in the Fry Pan is a coming-of-age novel that brings to life the hardships and joys of a multi-generational Irish family struggling to stay together during the Great Depression … Post and Perilous is the third in Laura E. Akers’ Davina Glenn mystery adventure series.
From prolific author Teresa Burrell, the fraught trials of attorney Sabre Brown continue with The Advocate’s Nightmare, The Advocate’s Oath and The Advocate’s Phantom. The longstanding series (now up to 16 titles) draws heavily from T’s work as a lawyer in San Diego, whose private practice specialized in domestic, criminal, and civil cases. Also a former teacher, her work in juvenile court focused on representing abused minors and juvenile delinquents.
On the brink of World War II, Katharina Berger was the most sought-after stage and film actress in Germany. George (G.J.) Berger’s To Steal a Moment’s Time, explores his struggling mother’s remarkable diaries journaled while trying to survive Nazism and find his father during the first year of his life … The Diabolical, Book 11 in David Putnam’s Bruno Johnson thriller series. Janet Evanovich calls it, “Riveting, scary, but with plenty of wit and humanity” … Patrick Holcomb’s Where the Seams Meet plumbs the emotional depths of a desperately fractured relationship between a father and his son through their one common denominator: baseball.
“Spine-tingling […] deftly highlights the injustices of the American legal system regarding child abuse and parental rights all while presenting an engrossing cult thriller,” declares Publishers Weekly of of Mary G. Thompson’s young adult thriller, The Word … Book six of Indy Quillen’s award-winning Fox Walker suspense series, Perceptions, thrusts her expert tracker hero into a murder mystery that forces him to question his legendary bushcraft skills and world view … Shady Fortunes, Douglas J. Bornemann’s fifth installment in his historical fantasy The Dreamweaver Chronicles drops August 20th.
August 27 sees the arrival of Melanie Doctors’ debut domestic drama Sleep in Peace. Of it, our own Ara Grigorian (Fortuny Bay series) effuses, “Wit, vulnerability, family saga, and love all come together in this story of self-discovery and second chances” … And from Christina Fong, the third in her YA fantasy Nightingale Songs Trilogy, ‘Til the Last Ember of Starlight, is out October, 2025.
Congratulations and best of success to all!
Dates for our 39th annual winter event are Presidents’ Day Weekend, February 14-16, 2025. Discounted pre-registration is now open. Register today and save.
–Michael Steven Gregory
Executive Director, SCWC
