Fall promises to be hectic: We have less than sixty days left before the midterms. Looking at my wall calendar, election day is November 6. I expect to be working in a Bay Area Vote by Mail unit around election time, a seasonal job that I would actually enjoy and find worthwhile. Our American democracy is pretty fragile at this point, and we need to be super-vigilant about our voting systems. I hope that if there was any voting irregularity this time in an important race, it would be discovered pretty quickly… but who can be sure? I am also looking forward to Bob Woodward’s new book, Fear, though because so many excerpts have been released, I feel I’ve read it already…

Two writing/publishing projects are in the works for me. I have never turned any of my books into audiobooks, but Findaway Voices makes this easy now. The book is one of my shortest, my self-help memoir Connecting the Dots. I’ve narrowed down my choice of a narrator to one very talented person and just want to hear her read a section of the book to be sure it’s a good fit. If all goes well, it’s likely that the audiobook will be out by Christmas! Since this is my first go-round, I’m going to make it available on as many outlets as possible (and there are many!), and charge $5.99. Keep an eye out for it.

Pre-order now!

My other news is of a pre-order. Return to Carlsbad, book 3 in my MM contemporary romance Elsie Street series, is available to purchase now for $3.99 and will be released October 9! Look for it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Kobo. (I might release it on Google Play a little early, just for fun.)

Haven’t read Book 1 yet? Just to make it a little easier for folks to try the series, the first book, Elsie Street, is now free at virtually all stores in ebook format!

In this final book, dramatic changes come to Aaron’s and his older sister Tessa’s lives as they both finally move on from the past, though in Aaron’s case healing comes from confronting the past and returning to his childhood home in coastal Southern California, where so many of his early experiences with loss and trauma took place. But it’s not entirely a sad book: there’s a passionate love story in there too. Marc, Aaron’s former therapist who has issues of his own, is an understanding lover who offers Aaron both sex and friendship. Aaron’s challenge, though, is to feel worthy of it.

It’s the first evening of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival here and I am going to go eat a moon cake.