WANTED: One Time-Turner

Remember the time-turner in the Harry Potter stories? The one that Hermione used to double up on her classes? The one that she used to help save Buckbeak and Sirius Black?

I need one.

It doesn’t need to be new. I don’t even need to own it. Borrowing it for what’s left of the month of November would be enough. Because whoo, boy, is my plate overly full for the next few weeks.

First, I need someone to tell me how the heck we’re already in November. Shouldn’t it still be August? I swear I blinked, and the calendar pages just flew away.

Now I have two weeks to get about four weeks’ worth of tasks done. Some are work tasks, and boy, am I feeling the pressure there. I have manuscripts to review that are coming in faster than I can read them. I have templates I need to create so that the next set of manuscripts can be written. And I need to map out the curriculum for our next project before the end of the month, because we need to have the budget and pricing done by mid-December.

Then there are home tasks in preparation for my family’s arrival for the Thanksgiving holiday. Things like making sure I have enough seats for everyone (Spoiler: I don’t. Yet.) and making sure my dining table is cleared off so we have a place to eat (which means finding a place for all the random stuff that currently call my dining table home).

I’m also in the middle of redoing my home office. I switched jobs in September, and while I still work from home, I have found that the new job requires slightly different logistics than my previous one. So my home office is currently mid-rearrange while I wait for the furniture I ordered to arrive.

Plus there’s the usual time needed for the normal day-to-day stuff—cooking, cleaning, taking care of the dogs, writing, reading, walking, etc.

I feel like I need another 12 hours in a day.

So if you happen to have a lead on a time turner, please do let me know.

The Best Book I Read This Month: The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova

The best book I read this month was a delightful, magical story by Zoraida Córdova called The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina. I was bewitched by the book’s prose in the first five pages, and the story held my attention from there.

The book tells two parallel stories that ultimately unite at the end: the story of Orquídea Divina’s life, which she has kept secret from her family, and the story of her grandchildren’s pursuit of information about Orquídea’s past.

Both storylines are imbued with magic, yet the characters remain grounded. These characters were not creatures of fantasy, but very real-seeming people who use and experience magic as an expression of their emotions. In this way, the book felt very reminiscent of the works of Gabriel García Márquez and Isabel Allende.

I wouldn’t call this a happy read—there’s violence and abuse and death—but it is a satisfying one and one I plan to read again someday.

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER: Greeks Bearing Gifts!

Five years ago, I was assigned to write a horror story in the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge. I knew even as I wrote it that the story was meant to be more, that I wanted to expand it into its fullest and best version. It took me five years, but I did it. Presenting Greeks Bearing Gifts, a horror novella in the tradition of The Twilight Zone and Stephen King.

So what’s it about?

Broke and unemployed, Jason "J.D." Donovan finds unexpected financial salvation when he encounters a mysterious door-to-door salesman. But the old adage is right: if something seems too good to be true, it probably is, and J.D. soon has to choose between being able to pay his bills and saving the people he loves.

The book officially releases October 18th, but you can pre-order your very own copy right now.

• Ebooks are only available through Barnes & Noble for the time being.

• Paperbacks are available through Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.

  This is one of my most favorite things I’ve ever written, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The Best Book I Read This Month: The Decent Inn of Death by Rennie Airth

The best book I read this month was the latest installment in one of my favorite series. The Decent Inn of Death is the sixth entry in Rennie Airth’s John Madden series, which follows Scotland Yard inspector Madden from the aftermath of World War I in Book 1 (River of Darkness) to the mid-twentieth century in this one.

I love this book for the reasons I love this whole series: the police work and the cast of characters. At the center of this story is John Madden’s former boss and current neighbor, Angus Sinclair. Sinclair is long retired but in doing a favor for a new acquaintance, finds himself drawn into a mystery that threatens the life of another new friend. The situation is complicated by a snowstorm that isolates Sinclair not only with the intended victim but the murdered as well. Meanwhile, Madden, two Scotland Yard officers, and a visiting consultant race to find Sinclair and save both him and the woman whose life is in danger.

It’s a solid closed-room (closed-estate, in this case) mystery. If you are fan of English mysteries and you’re not reading this series, you are missing out.

The Best Book I Read This Month: Midnight Atlanta by Thomas Mullen

The best book I read this month is the third in a series that focuses on Atlanta’s first Black police officers. The events in Midnight Atlanta occur in 1956, the same year as the Montgomery (AL) bus boycott, which does play a role in the story. There are even references to Martin Luther King, Jr. , and his father. The focus, though, is on the murder of a prominent Black journalist in Atlanta soon after his return from a visit to Montgomery. Was his death related to the bus boycott? Or was it the result of a conflict closer to home?

The mystery in Midnight Atlanta is suitably complex with well executed twists and turns, but it’s the characters who keep me coming back to this series. I admit, I wonder and worry about a white author writing Black protagonists. I can’t help but think that there are nuances missing in Mullen’s portrayal of his Black lead characters, Smith and Boggs, because he is a white man writing Black men. I like both characters very much (though I might like Smith a tad more than Boggs), but I wonder how different they would be written by a Black author.

Midnight Atlanta gave more “screen time” to Sgt. MacInnis, the white leader of the Black police squad, than in previous books. MacInnis is caught between two worlds, and I thought his struggle was handled well. I’m curious to see where his character goes from here, given the choice he made at the end of the book. (No spoilers!)

It’s possible to enjoy Midnight Atlanta without having read the previous two books, but I think you’re doing yourself a disservice if you do. I highly recommend starting with Darktown (Book 1 in the series) and working your way up this one.