Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Here's wishing all my readers a happy solstice. I do love to think that the days will start getting longer from here, because though I like cool weather and am loving the snow we have all over right now (not so keen on the ice that has made my street a skating rink, but hope it will go away soon), I struggle with the darkness of a northern winter. It is always kind of amazing to me that winter begins when the day length starts to grow, so maybe it's not winter, but autumn, that is hard! My street getting its coating of snow. While you are snuggled in avoiding the winter chill or summer heat (depending on your hemisphere), don't forget to take the opportunity to nab a good book, cheap, from the Smashwords Year-End Sale ! Many of my books are on sale, with a new book on extra-deep discounts each week. For this week, both Death By Adverb (Pismawallops PTA #3) and Return to Skunk Corners (Ninja Librarian #2) are 50% off!

Photo by KL Caley Participating in the weekly #WritePhoto blog hop at KL Caley's New2Writing blog.  I'm a little late with this--expect more of the same this week, and next, but I'll put up a post when I think about it :)  Meanwhile, everyone enjoy the holidays of your choice (me, I'm a little inclined to choose them all, especially any with food associated). Today, in 530 words, we have a little Christmas story for you. Carriage   “Careful how you stow those things.” The order wasn’t necessary, but he gave it anyway.   “Are you sure this is going to work?” That was Crocus, always questioning his judgement. Questioning everyone’s judgement, to be fair. Crocus couldn’t take anything as a given, which he supposed wasn’t all bad.   “I’ve tested the horses. They’ll do.”   “Why can’t the reindeer—” Crocus started to ask.   “They need snow. The bare stones and pavements hurt their feet. Hooves,” he corrected himself. This business of ha

In Part 1 of this account , we outlined the project (hiking roughly 1/3 of the Via Alpina across Switzerland with Tom, Carol, Bob, and Diane), and covered our first two days, hiking from Mels to Elm (and taking transport to Braunwald). Part 2 took us on to Klausenpass and to Altdorf, home of William Tell. In Part 3 we climbed over the Surenenpass and enjoyed rest days in Engleberg. Part 4 took us over the next pass or two to Meiringen. And now for Part 5.   Day 8: The Death of Holmes, and on to Grindelwald I admit that I was at most vaguely aware that Conan Doyle had bumped off Sherlock Holmes in what was to have been his last story about the great detective. (Note: Doyle did this because he felt Holmes distracted him from his more serious literary pursuits. Can you name anything Doyle wrote besides the Sherlock Holmes stories? Me neither.) I didn't realize until we got there that the great event had happened in Meiringen, at Reichenbach Falls, and that we would walk right past the

Hey, y'all, the Smashwords End of Year Sale kicks off today and runs through the... well, the end of the year. You'll find all of my books at prices between 99¢ and $2.99, with different books being featured with special low prices at different times through sale. To begin with, Death By Ice Cream is always just 99¢. Jump into the Pismawallops PTA mystery series and escape to a beautiful island... in the Salish Sea. Then follow up with book 2, because Death By Trombone is 50% off for the first week of the sale. Then keep checking back for more of my books on super specials, as well as browsing the thousands of other titles on sale through the end of the year!   Check out https://smashwords.com/shelves/promos    Meanwhile, I'm doing my best to get ready for Xmas and to write a short story for a Dec. 31 deadline. Have a great time reading!  

  Photo by KL Caley Participating in the weekly #WritePhoto blog hop at KL Caley's New2Writing blog. This week I did an exactly 100 word drabble (exclusive of the title).   Wreath   “It’s a beautiful door,” she said.   “Historic, if you ask me,” he replied.   “And the wreath—it’s a nice touch.”   “Meant to be welcoming, I suppose.”   “Why don’t I feel welcome?”   They stood in the courtyard and studied the door, wondering what was wrong about the door.   “How do you open it,” she asked.   “There’s a latch thingie in the middle,” he pointed out.   “There’s a wreath hanging over both doors,” she pointed out.   “They open in. Just push it open and walk in.” He demonstrated, stifling cries of pain as his face encountered the prickly circlet of pine boughs.   ###   Hope you enjoyed a little laugh there!     ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2022  As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated. Don'

I'm doing a two-fer here, reviewing Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna and The Other Side of the River together, since having read the first I went and jumped right into the second.      Title: Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna and The Other Side of the River Author: Alda P. Dobbs Publication Info: 2021 and 2022 by Sourcebooks. As ebooks, 264 pages and 242 pages respectively Source: Library digital resources Publisher's Blurb (Barefoot Dreams): It is 1913, and twelve-year-old Petra Luna's mama has died while the Revolution rages in Mexico. Before her papa is dragged away by soldiers, Petra vows to him that she will care for the family she has left―her abuelita, little sister Amelia, and baby brother Luisito―until they can be reunited. They flee north through the unforgiving desert as their town burns, searching for safe harbor in a world that offers none. Each night when Petra closes her eyes, she holds her dreams close, especially her long-held desire to learn to read. A

In Part 1 of this account , we outlined the project and covered our first two days, hiking from Mels to Elm (and taking transport to Braunwald). Part 2 took us on to Klausenpass and to Altdorf, home of William Tell. Part 3 climbed over the Surenenpass and enjoyed rest days in Engleberg. VA Day 6: Jochpass to Engstlenalp (I'm continuing my day count of only the days when we made forward motion, so this skips the two "zero days" in Engleberg.) The uninspiring weather from the day before continued through the night, and we woke to fog--but no rain, so it was an improvement. We had talked of doing the Titlis lift ( see last week's post ) on this very short hiking day, and were glad we hadn't waited! Visibility all morning was, to put it mildly, limited. View up along the Jochpass lift. Those funny chairless lifts are for mountain bikes. It was only a little more than a 3 mile walk from the top of the pass down to our hotel. We took our time, enjoying the mystic look