Back from a Hiatus! The Lowdown & Plans

Hi dear blogging, reading, author community!

I've missed you all. I kind of fell off the face of the earth toward the end of June. Well, maybe a bit before that. The highs and lows:
A high * I got super-busy trying to get ready for a bunch of amazing book conventions.
A high * I splurged for my first professional author photo (this one).
A low * I got bedbugs at one of the conventions!!! So did the unlucky photographer. Luckily, my exterminator had me well trained and I took care of business the second I hit home. NO bugs survived my war to the death. But my bites and resulting scars lingered for months. Yuck!
A high * I hit the USA Today bestseller list with a boxed set I'm in!!!
A high * I went to a writing retreat in Cape Cod and wrote every day, all day. Except for our sailboat ride and long dinners. Oh, and watching the Olympic Women's Volleyball teams kick some serious you-know-what!
A high * Attended a different book con in Saint Louis, sold lots, made new friends and had a blast! Penned Con to be exact, which gives all of their profits to Action for Autism. Mad respect to founders, Amy and Rick Miles.

***

I've had a long time to think about the blog. About how often I want to post, and more importantly, WHAT I want to post. I will post a bit less, but I will post. And yes, I will post about amazing books, and my own books... because I do love books and I do write. Just not 24/7.

The new Fireseed series covers

Ghosts of Fire anthology,
Untethered Realms Elements book 3

Shades of Prey, book 2

 So, happy fall, and wow, the Halloween season! And, I do have book stuff. A re-release with new covers and sales/freebies for my future shocker Fireseed series, including a new sequel novella called Blue House Magic. Untethered Realms has new story anthology out, Ghosts of Fire, book 3 of the Elements series. My story in this is Rollerskate Boys. Put the anthology on your Goodreads TBR list if you like. And I'll be doing a bunch of Facebook parties like Haunted Halloween Spooktacular on OCT 20 from 4 to 5 (EST) and A Magickal Samhain on Sunday, OCT 30 from 12 to 1:30 pm (EST) - all to help spread word of Ghosts of Fire and other spooktastic boxed sets I'm in, like Shades of Prey, Mystical Magic. Join the parties to chat with lots of authors and play games for giveaways if you like!!!

I'm happy to be back, and blogging. I will be checking into my fave old blogging haunts, and new ones, too.   xo Catherine

What's Doing for OCT Spooky Season? Mayhem in the Air - Cover reveal!

Untethered Realms, the speculative fiction author group I'm in has been cooking up a spooky new story anthology set to release around Halloween! My story is called A Strange Penitence. Here's a peek at the gorgeous cover! Even better, you can now put it on your Goodreads To-Be-Read list.

From Amazon bestselling and popular science fiction and fantasy authors comes Mayhem in the Air, a supernatural anthology of ten thrilling tales. Meet hot robots, hungry winds and the goddess of chaos. Explore alien planets, purgatorial realms, and a shocking place where people bury the living with their dead. Mayhem in the Air is the second, long-awaited story collection from the dynamic and inventive Untethered Realms group. 

A Strange Penitence by Catherine Stine - A young artist pays a supernatural price when a drawing trip to North Carolina turns deadly.

Mass Transit by Graeme Ing - For Emily, mind over matter is not just a saying, but the gateway to her career among the largest starships built by man.

A Tangled Weave by River Fairchild - A TimePulse rips through the Great Tapestry of Life, leaving Earth’s history in a jumble, and Death and Chronos in a race to save the world yet again.

Corrosive by M. Pax - In a world ruined by pollutants, Bex sets off to establish a new homestead with her dreamy robotic man. Already farming her plot of land is another dreamy man with radical ideas, presenting new challenges as corrosive as the air.

Saving Scrooge: A Short Story Prequel to the Saving Marley Series by Gwen Gardner - Marley is sent from purgatory to save the soul of his old friend. Can he save his own in the bargain?

The Silent Wind by Christine Rains - A team of specialists must dispel a mysterious storm on an alien planet to prepare it for colonization. One by one the crew disappears until only a seasoned soldier remains. How can he battle a hungry wind that makes no noise?

Paper Lanterns by Cherie Reich: In order to keep his promise to his daughter, Mayor Alfred Merry must betray the woman he loves.

Chaos. Hope. Love. by Misha Gerrick - Although Eris is the goddess of chaos, her life has fallen into a nice and comfortable routine. Until someone from her past shows up in her bookstore.

Cardinal Sin by Julie Flanders: Beleaguered hospital workers bury the living with the dead in the midst of a tuberculosis epidemic and a seething spirit vows vengeance from the skies.

The Ark by Cathrina Constantine -Plagued with memory flashes of fiery explosions and running for her life, Fallon emerges from a drugged stupor to find herself in an airborne Ark, and the earth below is a drowning wasteland.