It's award nomination season in the speculative fiction world, which means it's time for me to roll out my annual review of my publications for the previous year! And by annual, I mean, I haven't done one since...2018? Oh wait, 2018 was the only year I've ever done one? Um...oops? But I am recently inspired by Rosemary Claire Smith's "Reason to Publicize Your Award-Eligible Works" article to to give it a go. So here goes!

Yes, I had seven publications to my name in the last year! That's my highest total yet in terms of sheer numbers - I'm around a 15% acceptance rate at the moment, which is pretty gosh-darn good. Writing is a rejection grind, so anytime my acceptance rate is above 10% for stories I've sent out to be considered for publication, I'm feeling darn good. And I do feel good about the quality of my work published in 2020! Unfortunately, of those seven publications, only a couple are actually eligible for nomination for the Nebula, Hugo, Locus, or other awards of your nominating choice. Those are....

• "It's Only Vampire" - A humorous horror tale released in FARK in the Time of COVID: The 2020 Fark Fiction Anthology. The anthology was released in December 2020. What I most enjoyed about writing this one was finally capturing a bit of the humor in the generational battles we humans so often undertake - think, "OK, Boomer," but for the fang and crypt crew.
• "An Inconvenient Quest" - A flash fantasy quest in A Quiet Afternoon: Lo-Fi Speculative Fiction for a Peaceful Break from a Stressful World, released in July 2020. I wrote the first draft of this short story several years ago, when I wanted to really dig into using senses other than sight more often in my fiction. The result of focusing on smells? A synesthetic union of scent, emotion, and color for a lonely sprite who must find a way to save his ailing queen.
• "Wishing for More" - Oh, oh wait. This urban fantasy romance about graduates of the Jinn school trying to make their way in world came out in December 2019. I just didn't learn that it had been published until a few weeks into 2020. Now that's a story for another time. You can read "Wishing for More" in Helios Quarterly Magazine 4.4, but unfortunately, you cannot nominate it this year.
• "Some Who Wander" - Oh, no, nope. Not that one either. Because it's not fiction at all, but a fun little whirl of micro nonfiction about a bad choice I made one day while hiking through my neighborhood. "Some Who Wander" can be stumbled upon at Intrinsick.
• Consider "Hobgoblin" instead! Except you can't because it's a reprint, found in Whigmaleeries & Wives Tales.
• "What Scattered in the Wind"? Nope, also a reprint, this time in the ACCOLADES anthology.
• Surely, "Thlush-A-Lum" is up for some nominating fun? Assuredly not, as it enjoyed its fourth printing this year, in It Calls From the Sky. Clearly, I believe in the power of making your words work for you again...and again...and again. Reprints are great! But they are not eligible for nominations...unless I put them together into my own collection someday! A girl can dream.

So I guess those first two stories really are the only ones I have eligible for nominations this awards season despite my great publishing year. With seven publications added to my grand total of thirty-one, I'm not at all upset about that. If you read either "It's Only Vampire" or "An Inconvenient Quest" and liked them enough to give them a nomination, then you have my thanks.

And if not...more Stories by Rebecca Gomez Farrell are certainly coming your way in 2021. In fact, a new recording of my "Submission Caws" is up now at the Centropic Oracle here! More on that soon. One of my earliest stories, "She Could be Me," will make its way into Bards & Sages Quarterly in the spring. My brand-new "Fresh Catch of the Day" is coming out in A Quiet Afternoon 2 as well. And more new things that I can't quite speak about yet...but soon, very soon.

That's it for my second-ever awards eligibility post! Maybe next year, I'll have three pieces that'll qualify. Fingers crossed - or rather - poised over the keyboard, ready to write.

Hello readers, I have a guest post for you today. Astraea Press, publisher of my romance novella, Maya's Vacation, is having a blog tour to promote all of their winter holidays books. Today, I'm playing host! So read on for a message from Astraea Press and a synopsis of a pair of Astraea's holiday books. You'll also find out how to into to win a free $50 giftcard from Astraea and a free Astraea book of your choice!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Astraea Press! We love this time of year!Is it the cooler weather? The fires in the fireplace? Family gatherings? Or our sweethearts under the mistletoe.... We do love mistletoe ;)

Whatever the cause, we want to celebrate Christmas and this holiday season with you. This is one of the many stops on a two-week tour. Check out the rafflecopter at our website or the end of this post for a chance to win a free Astraea Press Christmas book of YOUR choice (eep!). There is also a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

I want to thank Rebecca and all the other blogs who have offered to help. All of their facebook pages and/or twitter are on the rafflecopter. I hope you get a chance to visit them all.

So... MERRY CHRISTMAS from Astraea Press and our authors. Thanks for a great year.

~Kelly from AP

Here is a Christmas book from bestselling author Patricia Kiyono:

Jess Tate is trying to make a life for herself and her teenage son after her husband's sudden death.  Running the family’s struggling landscape business in Northern Michigan has been hard work, and her son hasn’t been much help.  She’s managed to get by, learning to run the big equipment herself, but between snowplowing early in the mornings and working her daytime job in town, she often wonders if there will ever be more to life than endless work.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It has come. This is the last week I'm spending on bragging about Maya's Vacation, my romance novella about a woman who has to decide if she wants to chance her heart on an old flame all while painting and eating her vacation away. This week, I'm sharing a few snippets of interviews I've done to promote Maya's Vacation. I was interviewed at a couple of romance book and author sites. If you've ever wanted to learn a bit more about me or my romance novella, you should swing by them!

First up is I Am A Reader, Not A Writer from last June. Here is your teaser:

What is one book everyone should read?

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. It is a beautiful book that blends religious striving, human suffering, cultural understanding, and language into a narrative about learning to live with aliens on another planet and learning to live with ourselves.

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Viennese Cafe Waltz—it was a specialty flavor done by Safeway Groceries’ store brand for a few years: chocolate covered hazelnuts in a cinnamon, vanilla, and mocha ice cream.

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?

Eggs Goldenrod—cheese sauce over toast with sliced and grated hard-boiled eggs. Calories for the win!

Night owl or early bird?

Very much a night owl. I get a lot of eye rolls when I say I wake up around 10 am...until I remind them that means I’m in bed around 3 am.

Skittles or M&Ms?

M&Ms, especially those new coconut ones. If they made those in dark chocolate, I’d be in heaven.

Next on the agenda is Astraea Press's blog, where I did an interview the day of Maya's Vacation's release.

A random fact about your story.

Scrabble is not a recommended matchmaking method.A random fact about you as an author.

I’ve been writing stories since I mastered handwriting—though whether I’ve ever actually mastered cursive is up for debate. My first stories involved the La Brea Tar Pit and taking a ride on a unicorn with She-Ra. It was horror and fantasy from an early age.

Favorite line in the story (can be funny, romantic, etc).

My favorite line in the story is actually the very last one, which I dreamed—or rather, I dreamed a version of it that needed some editing. But I can’t share that one! Instead, I’ll pick this: Maya thought that interesting, but Dean’s soothing voice, like jazz spilling out of a sidewalk café, distracted her from giving it any further consideration.

Since three is such a beautiful number in writing, I'll end the interview bragging post with this snippet from Fridays Off the Wall at Joselyn Vaughn's blog last year.

Joselyn: Who would you cast as the main characters in a movie of your latest book?

Rebecca: In Maya’s Vacation, the main character, Maya, is a woman in her early 50s. She has a salt-and-pepper bob and an intuition that guides her strongly. I could see Kathy Najimy playing her. Dean, the main romantic interest, is an artist of the same age, lanky, and has a mop of curly blonde hair. Richard Gere with long hair would be a fun choice and would get that emotional angst just right, but I’d love Viggo Mortenson also. Danny Devito would be a perfect actor for Maya’s bustling friend, John. Naomi and Wynona Judd would have great fun playing Opal and Esther Donnelly, a pair of randy widows, as long as they don’t mind dying their hair pink.

Joselyn: I love the idea of a not 20-something heroine.  We can find love at any age. What is your favorite line for your most recent book?

This is not from a book but from my short story, Apocalypse, published recently at Yesteryear Fiction. It is about a woman—a diviner, actually—who is noticed by someone else for the first time in her life, which makes her realize that she’s worth noticing: His face is alight with the reflection of something dazzling, something she has never seen but always been. From the novel, I can only give my second favorite line—my first is the last line of the book, and I don’t want to give that away! My second favorite is Maya thought that interesting, but Dean’s soothing voice, like jazz spilling out of a sidewalk café, distracted her from giving it any further consideration.

Joselyn:  That is really nice imagery. Do you have any characters who keep bugging you for their own book? Will you give them one?

Rebecca: I assure you, both John and Opal from Maya’s Vacation are quite confident they are worthy of their own books, largely because they find themselves infinitely entertaining and think they are great catches to anyone of the opposite sex. The fact that I have no plans to do so simply mystifies them. Obviously, I’m not paying due attention to their charms, and they may be forced to try harder.

I hope you enjoyed those little tidbits on why I wrote Maya's Vacation and just plain learning more about me. I can't leave you without showing off that cover one more time and giving you links to where you can buy Maya's Vacation for $1.99, now can I? Here's where: Astraea Press, Amazon, or Barnes and Nobles.

And here's that pretty little cover:

We are still on my first published book, Maya's Vacation, in this week's fiction bragging post, and we will be for a few more weeks -- I did a number of interviews promoting it when it came out last March, so I plan to point you toward one each week. But this first one is not an interview with me. Instead, it's an interview I did with the main character in Maya's Vacation, Maya Holden. Perhaps she can interest you in her story.

Me: Maya, you seem like such a down-to-Earth woman, but tell me, how did you end up with a litter of ferrets?

Maya: Oh, that. [She waves it away with a giggle]. My husband — ex-husband, now, of course, but he was my husband  then — he never let me live that one down. What happened was that Meredith Viera one day on the Today Show had these long, furry animals I’d never seen before. They were so cute, I just had to get one. So I headed to the pet store that very afternoon, and what did I find but a mother ferret with a new litter of four babies! They were all so cute, no longer than my index finger, and I just couldn’t separate them. It felt like the right thing to do, taking them all home! Chuck turned bright red when he saw them, but he never did complain, not really. He’d been married to me too long! You might say I’m a creature of instinct.

Me: That’s hilarious, and don’t tell my husband, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I did something like that one day! Animals are hard to resist. Speaking of things that are hard to resist, what did you say about your first boyfriend recently? Something about how kissing him was like a great glass of tempranillo?

Maya: Honey, if I were kissing Dean again, I’d drain the bottle. He was — he was something else. It was so long ago when we were together, and I was probably just giddy with first love, you know how that goes, but I can still remember how he made me feel every time we — well, you know. [She blushes]. But you can’t keep that sort of relationship forever.  We’ve all got to grow up sometime.

Me: Do you really think so? Don’t some people manage to capture the magic forever?

Maya: I suppose I believe that. But don’t you think that sort of connection is scary? I mean, I loved Dean, I loved him so much that I moved from home at 18 to live with him in a rundown flat by the beach that I thought was heaven. We were going to be painters together, but he left and then . . . I couldn’t wait forever, could I? [She wipes a tear from her eye and breathes deeply, straightening up]. But how did we get to this topic? Let’s talk about something more fun.

Me: I can certainly do that! What’s your favorite dish, Maya? What food would you want on a deserted island?

Maya: I’ll take that bottle of tempranillo, for starters! But to help wash it down, I’d go for comfort food like chicken and dumplings—it might get a little lonely out on that island. I can’t help but dress up a recipe, though, so I’d stir some gruyere into the dumpling batter and probably roast the chicken first with tarragon and oregano.

Me: That sounds delightful! Thank you for your time, Maya.

Maya: A pleasure!

If that little peak into Maya's life makes you want to learn what the future may hold for her, then pick up Maya's Vacation today_!_ It's available in all e-book formats, including PDF, at Astraea Press, Amazon, or Barnes and Nobles.

For this installment of my Thursday bragging series, I'm giving away 5 copies of my e-book, Maya's Vacation! What's that? You like to win things? Well, entering to win is easy. Just leave a comment on this post by next Wednesday, 5/9, and I'll reveal the winners on Thursday.  Not familiar with Maya's Vacation? We can fix that easily!

Twenty-year-old Maya knew, as she watched Dean walk away from her front door, distraught at her silence and her father’s threats, that she would never love anyone with the intensity that she loved him. He was her painter, her artist, her soul mate and being apart from him hurt too much. She tucked those feelings away, determined to enjoy the safe and secure life her parents approved of: business school and a marriage to Chuck, a successful real estate agent.

Thirty years later, Chuck has cheated on and divorced her. But when he comes back, begging for reconciliation, Maya follows her intuition and takes a vacation to think it over. Her love of art, food, and wine combine at this retreat in the woods, and she prepares for a week of making new friends, tasting exquisite wines, and learning to paint again. What she hasn’t prepared for is the familiar voice she hears the first morning at camp . . . a voice that makes her skin tingle and brings back memories of who she used to be before Chuck. Has Maya buried her passion too deep to find love with Dean again.

You can also listen to me read from Maya's Vacation, so if you're interested in an excerpt, what better way to get one than by listening to the author speak for her characters? Each clip is about 3 and 1/2 minutes long, and you do need javascript enabled for the clips to work.

[audio:/audio/mvexcerpt1.mp3]

[audio:/audio/mvexcerpt2.mp3]

Don't want to wait to see if you won the contest? You can purchase Maya's Vacation now in any e-book form direct from Astraea Press (direct from the publisher is where I get the biggest cut, hint hint), Amazon, and Barnes and Nobles.

Next week, along with the contest winners, I'll share some of my favorite reviews of Maya's Vacation. There are some great ones out there!

My bragging series has finally brought us to the publication of my first book, Maya's Vacation!

It is a romance novella, reaching just about 50 pages in all, and it was published by Astraea Press in March of last year. The whole process of having a book published was so exciting, from perusing the editor's suggestions, seeing cover art for the first time, and watching as the reviews come in. Maya's Vacation is available in e-book only, but you can get it for your kindle, nook, or in basic PDF form -- however you want it! Here are the buy links from Astraea Press (direct from the publisher is where I get the biggest cut, hint hint), Amazon, and Barnes and Nobles. The novella will cost you a whopping $1.99. And if that's too much, I'll be giving away 5 $0.01 copies in next Thursday's post!

We'll be on Maya's Vacation in the bragging series for a while, because it brought me much to brag about! I plan to repost the recordings of myself reading from the book, highlight a few of the reviews, and highlight a few of the interviews at other author blogs to promote its publication in the next few weeks on Thursdays. For this first post on my book, I'm including an excerpt from it. I hope you find your romantic leanings intrigued!

At 4:45, the three of them made their way out of the cabin. Opal led them on the trail to the dining hall. The smell of sap on the pine trees made Maya smile, and she wondered if anyone had ever made a sap-based paint. It would be dreadfully hard to work with, but the smell would be so much better than oil ones. Dean used to smell of nothing but oil paints and sweat.

It was strange how being here made her think of him when she hadn’t in ages. He had come back those many years ago, but it was a year after she’d accepted her parents’ check, and by then she was already engaged to Chuck with their blessing. Dean had found her at her parents' home in New Rockford. She didn’t know how he found the house — she’d never mentioned which development they lived in — but she wasn’t surprised when she saw him striding up the walkway, holding a large, polished conch shell that must have been for her. Maya wanted to run to him then, everything within her screamed to go, but she’d made her decision months ago.

She’d wept in her bedroom, behind the curtain sheer, as he rang the bell. Her father opened the door then stepped outside and closed it behind him. Dean’s hopeful expression dissolved into one of shock as she heard her dad say, “. . . engaged . . . her life’s on track now . . .” in an increasingly louder voice. Somehow, Dean knew which room was hers, and she could feel him staring at her window, his blue eyes pleading silently with her through the pulled sheer.

“I came back for you, Maya,” he called out in the voice that used to inspire her to paint the sun cresting over a sand dune. She stood and ran toward the front door but stopped short when she heard her father threaten to call the cops.

Dean left.

Her father came back in a few minutes later and threw the shell in the kitchen trash. Maya wiped away her tears and forced her thoughts toward floral arrangements for the reception. Later, when her parents were asleep, she fished the shell out of the garbage. Painted on its pink lip was a miniature portrait of herself in profile, with a slight smile on her lips. It doesn’t look like me, she had thought, at least not anymore.

“You okay?” Esther whispered as the three women reached the dining hall. It was roughly four times the size of their Downy Woodpecker cabin. “You look pale.”

“I’m fine,” Maya answered, though she felt a little shaky. Odd how thinking of Dean could still affect her after all these years. “I was daydreaming a little. The fresh air feels good, you know?”

Opal opened the door to the Toucan, as the sign above it read. Maya was amazed by the set up inside. She’d been imagining the summer camp cafeterias of her adolescence, long plywood tables and a stainless steel buffet of indiscernible foods in the center of a large, colorless room. This was much more intimate. The left half of the cabin was filled with a cozy, open kitchen, and the other side held a few scattered, high pub tables and a larger table of polished cherry wood that could seat at least ten. The windows were floor length, exposing a view of the tops of pine trees and storm clouds gathering along the mountainous horizon. It was gorgeous. A handful of people stood around, chatting.

“I'd forgotten how lovely that view is!” Esther gushed. Maya nodded in agreement as she watched an older woman in coveralls pull a tray out from the oven and place it to cool on the counter. The woman caught sight of them and clapped her hands together.

“Oh, more guests!” She scuttled over and exclaimed, “Opal and Esther! You both look wonderful.” She gave them each a warm hug. Then she introduced herself to Maya. “I’m Catelyn, Cliff’s wife. We are so excited to have you here.” Her gray hair was in a loose bun. She gestured toward the pub tables. “Please take a seat!”

Opal and Esther sauntered off, and Maya offered to help with dinner. Cooking had been a passion of hers ever since she and Chuck had moved into their first home. Its kitchen was almost completely enclosed, and she had loved how the different spices lingered in it, making her feel like she entered another world every time she stepped inside, one that she wanted to contribute to each day with fresh flavors and experiments. Catelyn set her to pouring flights of wines for the guests, eighteen total counting her and Ranger, though one of the men wasn’t due until tomorrow morning.

“He’s a bit of a strange one,” Catelyn whispered to her. “Just called yesterday, hoping we could squeeze him in and sounding all flustered, too, like he couldn’t explain why he was coming. Now, who would act so weird about coming to a retreat?”

“I don’t know,” Maya laughed. “Sounds like a head case! Guess we’ll see tomorrow, huh?” She recorked the bottle of zinfandel and took a seat at an empty table. Opal was chatting with a skinny man wearing a bowtie the next table over. She gave Maya a wink.

Ranger came in with a few stragglers, a young-looking couple and a short man with a smile so large, it looked like he’d swallowed an orange.

“The wine's all poured? Well, get out of town,” Ranger exclaimed. “Time to take a seat then, everyone. Let's get this show on the road.”

By the time she'd finished her slice of mocha cheesecake and drank her port at the end of the meal, Maya had made fast friends with John, the short man. He'd taken the empty barstool next to her and spent the evening charming her with stories about his granddaughter and her new puppy. When he found out Maya was contemplating a reunion with her ex, he let out a low whistle and cried, “That's a damn shame! If I’d have known that earlier, I wouldn’t have wasted the last two hours on you.”

“Am I the only person who came here to paint?” Maya replied with a laugh.

“Yes,” John answered then whispered, “but don't tell Ranger Cliff.”

Consider this a potential glimpse into Catelyn's kitchen.

I'm joining in with Six Sentence Sunday this week, giving my fiction fans six sentences from one of my works to see if it entices you. Six Sentence Sunday is mainly perused by romance authors and readers, so when I participate, I try to include something a bit similar to that genre. This six comes from my short story, Treasure, that I'll soon be submitting to a speculative fiction magazine.

By now, she knew such things were repulsive here, that killing another human was anathema to his race, yet she was amazed he could focus on anything but her curves in the morning light.

“Get dressed,” she commanded, “or don’t you plan to work today?”

He gazed at her for a moment, groaned, and then rose. With both hands, he pulled her face toward his, kissed her, then whispered in her ear, “You’re safe with me, Filor.”

Her cheeks colored, both with flattery and shame. She could not trust him with her real name—did the shame mean she wanted to?

Hope you enjoyed it!

Time for another Six Sentence Sunday post--it's been great fun participating and getting your feedback on such short snippets! Here's another one from my romance novella, Maya's Vacation.

“Where are we going?” she asked after a few minutes of silent walking. She stopped to catch her breath, not knowing if the pace, the wine, or the proximity of Dean were responsible for her short‑windedness.

“Just a little spot I saw earlier today--itʹs on the other side of the bed cabins, and I think youʹll love it.”

“Okay, but slow down a little? Iʹm not exactly nineteen anymore.”

“No,” he agreed while lessening his speed, “youʹre better.”

Synposis of Maya's Vacation:

Twenty-year-old Maya knew, as she watched Dean walk away from her front door, distraught at her silence and her father’s threats, that she would never love anyone with the intensity that she loved him. He was her painter, her artist, her soul mate and being apart from him hurt too much. She tucked those feelings away, determined to enjoy the safe and secure life her parents approved of: business school and a marriage to Chuck, a successful real estate agent.

Thirty years later, Chuck has cheated on and divorced her. But when he comes back, begging for reconciliation, Maya follows her intuition and takes a vacation to think it over. Her love of art, food, and wine combine at this retreat in the woods, and she prepares for a week of making new friends, tasting exquisite wines, and learning to paint again. What she hasn’t prepared for is the familiar voice she hears the first morning at camp . . . a voice that makes her skin tingle and brings back memories of who she used to be before Chuck. Has Maya buried her passion too deep to find love with Dean again?

Maya's Vacation is published by Astraea Press for $2.99. It's also available at Amazon, and Barnes and Nobles for $3.99.

It's time for my second Six Sentence Sunday post! Six Sentence Sunday is a challenge to authors to put out six sentences from any of their works, published or not, that should excite readers to read more, and it is organized by the fine folks over at the Six Sentence Sunday blog. I thought I'd continue with Maya's Vacation for now, though I may include my fantasy work in the future! Here are my six:

He pulled away. “But you shouldn't be. You know that, don't you? He left you, Maya! How could anyone ever leave you willingly?” His voice was raspy now, how it used to sound if he'd stayed up all night, unable to stop painting.

Maya's Vacation is sweet, contemporary romance published by Astraea Press and available at their website (and Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and Smashwords) in all e-book formats.

I'm participating in something new today! It's called Six Sentence Sunday, which is organized by the fine folks over at the Six Sentence Sunday blog. As you may be able to guess, Six Sentence Sunday is a challenge to authors to put out six sentences from any of their works, published or not, that should excite readers to read more. These six sentences are from my romance novella, Maya's Vacation, which is published by Astraea Press and available at their website (and Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and Smashwords) in all e-book formats. Here we go:

“Dean Mitchell. Nice to meet you too, Cliff.” He spoke fast and with a nervous catch in his voice, but each syllable cracked her concentration until it shattered like a boulder hitting a car windshield. She went to look, and her heart nearly stopped. It was him.

It was him.

Here's the cover art for Maya's Vacation.

Thanks for stopping by!

This special Sunday blog is coming to you courtesy of the Character Interview Scavenger Hunt! What's that, you ask? Why it's a great excuse to discover the websites of a bunch of intriguing authors from Astraea Press, Whimsical Publications, and Purple Sword. Basically, you need to find the character interview on each site and answer a question based on each interview at some point during the month of May. There will be three winners pulled at random from the pool of participants who submit the correct answers to each question. Each winner will receive a different prize basket of goodies from us authors -- what's a scavenger hunt without prizes? All you need to do is have fun browsing some new blogs! There are 18 blogs to visit, but you have all month to do it -- just make sure you have your answers in before the end of the month. To participate, e-mail Robyn at promorobyn@gmail.com to let her know you want in. She'll send you the list of questions to answer and the links to the blogs.

And now, here's my interview of Maya Holden, the main character in my novelette, Maya's Vacation.

Me: Maya, you seem like such a down-to-Earth woman, but tell me, how did you end up with a litter of ferrets?

Maya: Oh, that. [She waves it away with a giggle]. My husband — ex-husband, now, of course, but he was my husband  then — he never let me live that one down. What happened was that Meredith Viera one day on the Today Show had these long, furry animals I’d never seen before. They were so cute, I just had to get one. So I headed to the pet store that very afternoon, and what did I find but a mother ferret with a new litter of four babies! They were all so cute, no longer than my index finger, and I just couldn’t separate them. It felt like the right thing to do, taking them all home! Chuck turned bright red when he saw them, but he never did complain, not really. He’d been married to me too long! You might say I’m a creature of instinct.

Me: That’s hilarious, and don’t tell my husband, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I did something like that one day! Animals are hard to resist. Speaking of things that are hard to resist, what did you say about your first boyfriend recently? Something about how kissing him was like a great glass of tempranillo?

Maya: Honey, if I were kissing Dean again, I’d drain the bottle. He was — he was something else. It was so long ago when we were together, and I was probably just giddy with first love, you know how that goes, but I can still remember how he made me feel every time we — well, you know. [She blushes]. But you can’t keep that sort of relationship forever.  We’ve all got to grow up sometime.

Me: Do you really think so? Don’t some people manage to capture the magic forever?

Maya: I suppose I believe that. But don’t you think that sort of connection is scary? I mean, I loved Dean, I loved him so much that I moved from home at 18 to live with him in a rundown flat by the beach that I thought was heaven. We were going to be painters together, but he left and then . . . I couldn’t wait forever, could I? [She wipes a tear from her eye and breathes deeply, straightening up]. But how did we get to this topic? Let’s talk about something more fun.

Me: I can certainly do that! What’s your favorite dish, Maya? What food would you want on a deserted island?

Maya: I’ll take that bottle of tempranillo, for starters! But to help wash it down, I’d go for comfort food like chicken and dumplings—it might get a little lonely out on that island. I can’t help but dress up a recipe, though, so I’d stir some gruyere into the dumpling batter and probably roast the chicken first with tarragon and oregano.

Me: That sounds delightful! Thank you for your time, Maya.

Maya: A pleasure!

Now, if you want in on that scavenger hunt, don't forget to e-mail Robyn at promorobyn@gmail.com. If you're interested in what Maya's future holds for her, then pick up Maya's Vacation! It's available in all e-book formats, including PDF, at Astraea Press, Amazon, or Barnes and Nobles.

Here’s the second clip! This one takes place later that same evening, after Dean and Maya have spent the afternoon and evening reconnecting.

[audio:/audio/mvexcerpt2.mp3]

Maya's Vacation is available for purchase (e-books only) at Astraea Press, Amazon, and Barnes and Nobles.

Don’t forget to head out to my book launch party at City Beverage tonight if you’re local! I’ll just be chilling from 6:30 to 8:30 with a pile of bookmarks, family, friends, and libations. Come by and say hello, and you might be one of 5 people to win a free download of the book!

I also have two interviews posted on other blogs today about Maya's Vacation. Take a stroll over to the Astraea Press blog and Kim Bowman's blog to read my answers to questions about my writing style and the book. What inspired the book? Who would I cast as the main characters? Take a gander!

Today, I have an update on my writing ventures, specifically, on two writing ventures that are coming up in the next two months! At the end of March, my romance novelette, Maya's Vacation, will be released by Astraea Press! It will be available in e-book formats only, but Astraea hopes to add print-on-demand to their repertoire in the future. Regardless, I'm super excited to have signed with them and to have Maya's Vacation out in the world soon.

I'm posting the synopsis in a moment, but I think this novelette will be great reading if you're a fan of this blog---my years of writing and pondering food and wine play a huge role in the story's concept. If you enjoy how I describe a dish or beverage, I hope you'll buy a copy and delve in! It'll be a fast read and safe for anyone who enjoys passionate characters without the busom-busting to go along with them. Astraea only publishes nonerotic fiction, which is one of the many reasons they and Maya's Vacation are a great fit. Here's that synopsis.

Twenty-year-old Maya knew, as she watched Dean walk away from her front door, distraught at her silence and her father’s threats, that she would never love anyone with the intensity that she loved him. He was her painter, her artist, her soul mate and being apart from him hurt too much. She tucked those feelings away, determined to enjoy the safe and secure life her parents approved of: business school and a marriage to Chuck, a successful real estate agent.

Thirty years later, Chuck has cheated on and divorced her. But when he comes back, begging for reconciliation, Maya follows her intuition and takes a vacation to think it over. Her love of art, food, and wine combine at this retreat in the woods, and she prepares for a week of making new friends, tasting exquisite wines, and learning to paint again. What she hasn’t prepared for is the familiar voice she hears the first morning at camp . . . a voice that makes her skin tingle and brings back memories of who she used to be before Chuck. Has Maya buried her passion too deep to find love with Dean again?

In other news, the fifth issue of Bull Spec is set to to appear on April 15, with my short story, Bother, in the fiction section. Woo hoo! The release party for Issue #5 will be at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh on the same date.

As part of the festivities, I'll be reading from Bother. Be prepared for urban marital angst and dragons! If you don't want to miss my short story or you're just a fan of speculative fiction, you should definitely subscribe to Bull Spec now. It's a gorgeous print magazine, but if you prefer reading online, e-subscriptions are available too.

Don't worry, I'll be posting reminders as the dates draw near, and I will definitely keep you posted on any release night plans I come up with for Maya's Vacation. My family will be in town, so dinner out, at the very least, will be in order!