Love: Immortal and Mortal

UPDATE #2: After posting this in the comments, I realized I should've put it up here. It's Monday...can you tell :)

I'm back...finally! What a mess. Of course it had to happen on the week I blog. We didn't get our service back until Saturday afternoon - and the cable is still strung out across our front lawn, which will probably prompt a nasty letter from the HOA. Such is life. Our provider said a different crew will come out to bury it within two weeks.
I'll be by to visit you this week. Better late than never :)

UPDATE: My wifi is out and will be until Friday at the earliest. The cable is broken under our street. I may make it to visit some of you this week, but most likely I'll be visiting most of you next week.

September? Really? I'm not ready for September, but I suppose I better hustle and get ready or it'll go on without me.

September is a great month for releasing books. I have a new one to share with you by Murees Dupe. I love this cover!

The Amaranthine

(Thelum series)

by Murees Dupé

now available

Claire is sassy, human, and an outcast of society―who only wants to know where she belongs.

Alex is arrogant, selfish, and an immortal warrior―who thinks he’s prepared for everything.

Claire knows the world of immortals is where she belongs. As her guide and guardian, Alex finds it hard to resist Claire’s subtle charm. Can the two overcome their differences and embrace their passion for each other, or will the possibility of true love be lost to both forever?

You can find it here:

Kindle * Nook * Ibooks * Kobo *Amazon (paperback)

Sending you good wishes for much success, Murees!

Now that I've shared the news about The Amaranthine, I want to give you an update on my trilogy progress. I'm about two-thirds finished drafting the second book. I hope to be done by the end of the month, or no later than mid-October if the story runs long. Then there's the third book - the ending. I love writing the ending :)

I can say for certain that I really miss chatting with all of you throughout the month. But . . . since I am a writer, I've gotta, you know, actually write.

Before I go back to drafting fiction, however, I have a story to share. A true story, as it turns out, about my totally mortal family. I'll try to make it interesting - so you don't feel as if you're chatting with your aunt's grandmother's third cousin twice removed. If there is such a thing.

I do a little bit of family tree reading because I'm curious about where I came from. While I love to do research, not so much on family. It's too time consuming.

I learned  way back when that It doesn't take but a couple of generations to produce a whole lot of people and paper. Especially when a family is prolific.

So buckle up - here we go.

You've probably heard me say that I'm mostly German and English. English on my mom's side. German and English on my dad's. There's a stray Irish lass on Dad's side and a randy Frenchman on Mom's. Plus one Viking or more way back when.

My uncles and cousins have been able to trace many of these lines back to colonial times in our country, and then my ancestors moved west. So I come from a long line of independent vagabonds.

A few weeks ago, I got a notice that the family tree was updated. So that night I went over to look, figuring someone I probably don't know either died or had a baby.

But no. A cousin had connected the dots on my paternal grandmother's side. Until the addition of this new information, we believed all of Grandma's ancestors initially arrived in Virginia.

Turns out, that's not exactly so. One happily married couple arrived in Massachusetts. Plymouth Colony, to be exact. She via the Mayflower with her parents and siblings. He on the Anne (the third ship to arrive - I think).

That's all cool and gives me fodder to chat about at gatherings. But here's something even cooler for me. The original arriving male ancestor wasn't who he said he was.

I love that!

He created a new identity for himself and no one was the wiser, until some genealogist somewhere started tracing the lines back. The person he said he was had died as a young child back in England. At this point, there's little chance of finding out who this magnificent impostor truly was.

Was he a hardened criminal? A scoundrel? A poor man who saw an opportunity to better himself? A royal without a future? Whoever he was, a drop or two of his blood runs through my veins. That's as fantastic as the drop of Viking blood from my mom's side!

More speculation . . . did this mysterious man confess his secrets to his wife? Did one or a combination of their children bear his real name? Or the names of his parents? Did he fear someone learning of his secret? Did he have a plan if they did?

I've seen movies about this kind of thing. Read books. But this is real life. And my family. Amazing!

Oh, and it turns out there's also a French Connection on Grandma's side. In this same line. One of the early female descendants of the impostor married a descendant of a documented Huguenot in Virginia.

So I am officially a teeny bit more French than I originally believed. Sadly, I did not become automatically skinny and develop an impressive fashion sense upon learning this news.

But I did suddenly crave French fries :)

p.s. - In the interest of transparency, I need to tell you that I have no idea if this family history has been verified. I'm just sharing what I read. So maybe. Or not.

See you back here on Monday, October 5.

Have a great September!