My first book sale.

Upon first publication, it won the award for best first SF/F/H of the year (The Compton Crook).  It stayed in print for a good long time, it birthed a number of sequels, and when it went out of print, it turned into a collector’s item that drew (and still draws) startling prices online and in convention dealer’s rooms.

And lo, a most wondrous editor chose to reprint Jess at a new publishing home.  But for various reasons, the book didn’t fit well in its new home.  It never made it to bookstore shelves as expected, and soon it was all but impossible to come by.  I began the efforts to regain the rights.

As many of you know, that particular road has been a long one–and it’s not a road I can discuss any longer.  That’s not what this post is about.

This post is to say that as of now, Dun Lady’s Jess is mine again, and I am SO HAPPY.

As soon as I can, I’ll have both Jess and the sequels in production for backlist release.

See?

SO HAPPY!

Come join the party?

05/16/12

And here’s the latest, the greatest, the newsiest news!

• After years of effort, Dun Lady’s Jess has been reverted.  Time to celebrate!
  
• Touched by Magic and Wolf Justice, the King’s Wolf Saga, are newly available via Nook, and Touched By Magic has been chosen for the Nook First program.
  
• The FoxAcre Press edition of Nose for Trouble is newly available in lots of formats!
• My out-of-print backlist is at Backlist eBooks– with more to come!
• Night of the Tiger was a December release (Nocturne Bite). The release schedule for the four outstanding Nocturnes is: Tiger Bound 08/12; Kodiak Chained  12/12; Demon Blade 2013; Dark Blade 2013.
• ConneryBeagle’s medical fundraiser goes on,and his updates are at the anthology pages!
  
• Belle Cardigan Corgi is now an occasional blogger at WordPlay.  Of course she is! (And yes!  She’s been joined by ConneryBeagle & Dart Beagle!)
• You can subscribe to WordPlay by Email
• The steamy new paranormal e-novella, Touched By Fire, is available via all formats.

In fact, I’ve just driven through another morning of looming desert thunderstorms (motto: “We tease, but we don’t deliver”) to an early morning dog show day.  The fourth of a four-day rally trial cluster, as it happens.

This is Dart Beagle’s second rally trial, and his (and my!) first trial in an indoor venue.  His very first rally trial was outside in a green grassy park and he was delighted with life outside the ring, but became concerned inside the ring–where suddenly he was all alone except for that JUDGE who was LOOKING AT HIM far too INTENTLY.

Oh dear.

He did still qualify on both days with a score in the high 90′s, but I instantly made the decision not to enter him in regular obedience classes just yet–he needs the verbal encouragement allowed by the rally venue.

Since then he’s had some practice sessions with a savvy friend playing judge, and I hoped that he would feel more confident this time around.  I’m happy to say that he did, although he found the building–low ceilings, crowded conditions–to be a bit too much chaos.

On Friday (Day 1), he hit another score in the mid-90s, with enough increased confidence so I could see it–but not enough to make me sorry I’d foregone regular obedience.  That was also his third Q in the 90′s, all three of which were in the ribbons, and it resulted in his Novice Rally title, yay!

Me watching someone else receive a ribbon in the line-up and Dart just being nosy... "I can stretch my neck THIS FAR without getting out of position..."

Advanced Rally is (music of impending doom) off-lead. It also has “stations” of increasing difficulty, including the entirely new goal of going from sit to stand-stay at heel.  Never mind the dog’s performance…the chances for Handler Stoopits increase exponentially!

*bites nails*

But I liked his attitude heading into the ring.  I think he liked his attitude, too.  He was cocky, endlessly waggy, and strutted his way through the course, presenting me with a whole new challenge–keeping him in check!

With a little handler compensation, he got another mid-90′s score for his first Advanced Q and a second place (which actually would have been first place had he been moved up to Advanced A instead of Advanced B, but that’s a very long story and NOT MY FAULT!).

Not to mention his dogmom was totally excited.  THIS is the attitude I’ve been waiting for–glimpses of what I see in him in training.

Dart is a dog who keeps different personalities in his pocket and can pull them out at random as we enter the ring gate, so I never take him for granted.  But lo!  On Sunday he was even BETTER!  Happier!  Snappier!  More attentive and precise!  A score of 98 and a blue ribbon!

So, pretty much as you read this on Monday morning, I’m back out at the fairgrounds and in the ring, hoping for happy, snappy, attentive and precise–in short, hoping to end the weekend on a really nice note.  And also hoping that I don’t make any Stoopit Handler errors that mess with his head–or mine!

Wish us luck–!

Things are a little busy right now for me, so my blog production might be some what sporadic…but I do have two begging to be written so here is the first!

Dusty is three.  He is a Tennesee Walker and is just starting his riding career.  Penny is five and this is her third year as my main riding horse.  She makes part of her living “mentoring” other horses. In the pasture with the group she is a loner with attitude to spare.  But when she is working, she is pretty professional and tolerates a lot.

Dusty needed to learn to cross water.

The first week we did stream crossing like this:  Penny! Go first!  Maybe Dusty will follow.

Or not.

Penny! Pony Dusty!  Maybe he will be compelled to follow (i.e. we will use some horse power drag force combined with LOOK, Penny can do it!).  Soon Dusty was following  Penny up and down the stream.

Penny!  Stand in the stream with Dusty’s mom on and let me ride Dusty to you!

Penny! I’ll ride you and Dusty’s mom will ride Dusty–but Penny!  Hold still and wait for Dusty!

Success all around! 

SO, we decided to go to the lake Santa Rosa.

But in the mean time, I went down to help judge an American Competitive Trail Horse Association (ACTHA) event held at Acacia Riding Adventures. I took Tabooli and a Choctaw Pony, Raven, for the fun ride down on the Rio Grande, prior to the event.  Tabooli was the mentor and Raven was the draggee (I mean trainee).

Truthfully, Raven did not need a whole lot of encouragement to take to the water and by the time we were ready to go to Lake Santa Rosa, RAVEN moved up to mentor!

At Lake Santa Rosa, Dusty’s mom asked him if he wanted to go in the lake.  Dusty said, “Nope.”

Bring on the Mentor! (and the Mentor From Behind, Thunder, who at about 1000 years old, is a Mentor of Mentors.)

With a mentor in front and one in back, Dusty was destined to enter the Lake!

Thunder says, "ok kids, my job is done here. i will supervise from land."

Dusty says, "well, as long as i am here I might as well drink!"

And we're coming out! Thunder has our backs!

 Next we saddled Dusty and I rode him in, following the intrepid Raven of course, and then Dusty’s Mom rode him!

Everything's easier if Raven goes first!

Then, we went for a nice wind-down ride along the lake, which I had to add in the blog just so I could put in these cactus flower pictures!

 An excellent way to spend a day!

For those of you who have noticed my silence in all things social networking…

While I’m still dedicated to investigating cat search & rescue with Connery (and eventually, Dart), this past week was a lesson in the need to develop policies and protections.

A pet owner Behaving Badly created half a week worth of profound distress, time sink, and exhaustion.  That’s not only where I’ve been, it’s what I’m still getting over.  While I don’t feel comfortable relating details, let’s just say there was a short period of time where I didn’t even feel safe from this person.

Dear Pet Owner: That is the wrong way to be.

Anyway, I’m tired, and it didn’t do my health any good, and it’s going to take me some time to bounce back.

However, to answer some of the questions that have come up about ConneryBeagle’s need for cat hair…

Start with a clean brush.  It doesn’t have to be pristine or scrubbed, just free of hair from other cats.

Brush cat.  Lots.

Collect hair, put in sealable baggie, label baggie, and send to me:

PO Box 1630/Tijeras NM 87059

I can use sandwich-size baggies and, when possible, quart-size.  This is so I have enough hair from some individuals to divide and use as targeted scents, while the others are decoys.

I’m  making this up as I go along, by the way.

And, for final fun…Touched By Magic came just shy of breaking the top 100 selling Nook Books at Barnes & Noble last weekend.  How awesome is THAT?  Heck, I want it all…I want to be in that top 100!

	$4.49 Nook Touched By Magic
	One man loses everything to magic–and will do anything to prevent it from taking over his world. “Doranna Durgin envelops her appealing characters with a rare, shimmering aura of mystic legend.” –Romantic Times

	$4.49 Nook Wolf Justice
	Magic is back–and only the man who once tried to stop it can save his world from what happens next. “Durgin has a magic touch for creating rich fantasy.” –Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

I am allergic to CATS.

I don’t like to admit it, but I AM ALLERGIC to mymom, too.  Don’t tell.

But I have gone looking for CATS anyway.  LOST CATS.

I am just learning to do this.  Mymom says a lot of people have helped ME and it is good if I can HELP BACK.

I found a CAT and he is back home.

I found ANOTHER CAT but he is STILL HIDING.

It is like tracking only NOT.  It is SEARCHING and that is different.  It is not really my job to GET THE CAT.  It is my job to show the people where to FIND and TRAP the cat.  Mymom says, “Any cat we can CATCH is not MOBILE and that is not a good thing.”

Now I need to practice the difference between searching for CATS and TRACKING THINGS.  So I need CAT HAIR.

I need cat hair that comes from DIFFERENT CATS so we can play with looking for THE RIGHT CAT.  That is hard, because I would like to find them ALL.  Mymom has a place to send cat hair!  She says it has to be these things:

!Each batch from a single cat, starting with with a CLEAN BRUSH!

!Each batch in a BAGGIE WITH CAT NAME!

Oh.  Those are the only things.  That is NOT HARD!

Here is a place to send CAT HAIR:

CONNERYBEAGLE
c/o Doranna Durgin
PO Box 1630
Tijeras, NM 87059

When cat hair comes here, there is NO SUCH THING as a BAD HAIR DAY.

Anyway, this is my most recent newsletter, which was titled “New Books in the Wild!”  It’s an image, which is the only way I could get it here, and that means it’s a wee bit squished (the text is clearer in the real thing).  BUT if you follow this link:

THIS LINK HERE.

Then you can see it “live,” which has a cool subscriber button, an RSS button, and a variety of other things to poke and click, including all the links that here are just tauntingly underlined text.

But that would be if you CLICK THIS LINK HERE.

Below is just an image, for the pretty of it.  It has no active links.  THOSE ARE HERE.

I am still doing REHAB but that does not mean I am not having FUN.  I am TRACKING and I have helped people find LOST CATS and I have done AGILITY JUMPINGS in special exercises.

Also I go with mymom when Dart Beagle does things.  And then I watch and I go YAWN because I already KNOW THESE THINGS.  See, I will SHOW you.  Because last weekend we went to a PRACTICE OBEDIENCE THING and it was Dart Beagle’s FIRST ONE.

There is a reason mymom has Dart Beagle practice sitting on a BUCKET. Otherwise he thinks he should just sit right on his BOTTOM and show all his PARTS TO THE WORLD when he is sitting UP STRAIGHT.

Dart Beagle should be CLOSER to mymom. At least his TAIL is HAPPY.

This is a LONG DISTANCE for a RECALL but Dart Beagle is WAITING. That is GOOD. He is that SMALL SPOT over there across from MYMOM.

Dart Beagle ran VERY FAST on the recall and mymom had a thought balloon and it said, "Gee, I hope he STOPS WHEN HE GETS HERE!"

Dart Beagle DID STOP but his butt stopped NOT FAST ENOUGH so he is crooked. Mymom has a new thought balloon and it says "AWWW, EAR MALFUNCTION SO CUTE!" But I am CUTER, I am sure of it.

This is a HARD THING: it is the LONG DOWN. Dart has his own THOUGHT BALLOON. It says something about IT IS TIME TO BE CREATIVE.

You SEE? He is thinking TOO HARD. That is NEVER GOOD.

That's FUNNY. Dart Beagle does not seem to be in the shade as much any longer. And his legs are stretched out BEHIND. And his front legs are stretched out FRONT.

There he is THINKING again. It cannot be GOOD. And look, his back end is all tucked under again. And the shade is BEHIND HIM.

LOOK! LOOK! CAUGHT IN THE ACT! BAD BEAGLE! BAWH!

Oh Look. Mymom has SPOKEN. Now Dart Beagle is BACK IN THE SHADE. But he is STILL THINKING.

Work on Wolf Justice ebook production…

Work on Kodiak Chained first draft in the home stretch…

Work on fun blog with silly pictures of silly Dart.

Theoretically, all of these things would have happened today.  In actuality, Connery and I spent this time unscrambling logistics for and rolling out on a cat elimination search.  (This would be a search in an area so extensive and difficult that the best goal is to discover where the cat isn’t so live traps can be set in optimal places.)

He did, in fact, also locate several very promising areas, including one deeply hidden cat we couldn’t even get a flashlight on (so may or may not be the cat wanted), and I hope the owner is able to set traps accordingly.

But the Dart pictures will have to wait until the next time, because I has a deadline…or two…

I think maybe I need to get Connery an SAR orange harness for these days.

Also, a bit of housekeeping.  By which to say, if you’re like me and you need lists and reminders and things in your In Box, there’s a handy dandy “Subscribe to WordPlay by Email” link over there to the right.  I’m telling you, if I don’t get it in RSS or via subscription, then I’m doomed…

Also to mention, by the by, that Wolverine’s Daughter is a free download at Kindle, Sony, & iTunes, and is 99c at Nook for as long as it lasts, which is to say as long as it takes those places to process the restored price I put through last week.

But on to the bling!

ConneryBeagle shows off his newly strong stifles (aka knees aka the bendy-out spot on the front of his hind leg)

Each year the conditions are right for something new to thrive. The first year I was here, it was prairie evening primrose. Last year the verbena was so full of itself it could hardly stand it. This year it's the taller mustard (don't know the species yet), along with the shorter mustard on the right. The shorter mustard has seeds like a penny plant, very pretty! I saved some dried ones for the mantle last year.

The cat mint is not doing too shabby, either. This is a volunteer that escaped from a planted area in our front yard.

Something in the phlox family--good and wild, and it volunteered along the edge of the yard. So pretty!

Another sign of spring: Juvie ravens are hanging around the paddock and using my mounting block as a staging platform for their playthings.

These green hair plugs are made of hardy Mexican feathergrass. Kinda hoping it spreads...

I don't even know the family for this one, but it's another that's doing very well this spring, showing up in several places where I've not seen it before. In this case, it's in the front yard, and I noticed the distinctive foliage last fall and hoped it would survive so I could see what it turned into. Very cool!

Got bling?