Happy Holidays and New Year Plans

And little cat wit her eyes all aglow waits for Santa Claws to arrive. Christmas 1995

Another year has almost flown and we’re fully into the celebrations of the season.  However, you celebrate, I hope that your holidays are filled with love, joy and lots of good food.

It has been a very good year for me as a writer.  My romantic alter ego, Riona Kelly, just published Bitter Vintage, a suspense romance novel set in the California vineyards in 1964.  I don’t think it’s too much of a secret that I use pen names.  So, if any of you like suspense romance, check this one out.  It’s a fun, fast-moving tale of intrigue, greed and treachery among the grapevines.

The other side of it is that I’m now free to move ahead with the first rewrite of my next Funeral Singer novel, A Song for Menafee.  I completed the first draft in November and I’m ready to tackle the next phase of it.  I have a little research to do and then I’ll be moving ahead.  Right now, I am targeting publication in mid-June.  So, be patient, more tales of Gillian and her friends are on the way.

legacy-neelaban-100-smallMore immediately, I am planning the release of my long-delayed science fiction fantasy novel, O’Ceagan’s Legacy.  From Pynhavyn Press, we’ve just revealed the cover and I adore it.  I think it captures the spirit of the story, pun intended, beautifully.  The novel touches on Irish legends and brings you along for an unusual and exciting ride with a spacer family from Erinnua (New Ireland) on their merchant freighter, the Mo Croidhe.  The planned release date is March 12, 2016, so it will be along soon.

Work continues on my Young Adult novels, a series called Isles of Magic and the first book is written and resting a bit before I tackle the rewrite.  It’s no secret that I love the Celtic lands, particularly Ireland and Wales, so this series of books will take you to these lovely places.  The plan is to publish the first of the books in 2016.

Thanks for sticking with me this year.  I hope your holiday stockings are filled with delightful, mysterious and wonderful good books to read.