???? Great news to start! You can now pre-order Blood Triad in ebook on Amazon! ????
The official Blood Triad pub date has been moved to July 9th , because Big Exciting Reasons that I will soon finally be able to talk about! But get ready for the Blood & Ancient Scrolls series to go to the next level in May…
AND, The next newsletter will include a link to a FREE STORY set in the B&AS universe, and will introduce a character whom you will see in action in Blood Ad Abyssum (Book IV) ????????☠️
Also, my fellow IIP-er, Tiffany Trent, has some exciting news over on her end. Tiffany and Terri Windling will be chatting April 18th on FB Live about her beautiful paean to the Arizona desert, The Wood Wife. I’ll be part of the excited viewers, and you should be too
And for those of you not over on the ‘Gram, IIP soft-launched the new Instagram Account
PRETTY PLEASE FOLLOW Not just because, in weeks and months to come, it’s going to have some really exciting news and content, but also because Lor, Lady of Marketing, would have great happiness in her heart to see the followers count go up. She’s been working her ass off not just on IIP, but in doing all sorts of nasty business grunt work, so that I can write. So please send her love in the form of follows!
My name’s Raven Belasco, and I’m a dark fantasy writer. These newsletters are about my work and that #authorlife. Updates out bimonthly to subscribers. Feel free to send your friends to my Beehiiv, where they can read the most recent letters and subscribe.
If you don’t want these getting lost in the spam filter, please add newsletter@ravenbelas.co to your email system’s address book or contacts.
A sadly limp and wilted feather Raven writes to you today. The Thirteen Year Old passed along a horrid little virus that makes you feel exhausted, achy, and brain-foggy, but not actually bad enough to stay in bed and rest. (At least if you are a pro at working through all the above symptoms because of a chronic illness ) Still, it’s slowed down my productivity and made everything just a thousand times harder, so caw, grumble, caw, cough.
I can’t take a day to stay in bed. There is simply too much that needs doing. Yesterday I took a business call while standing outside for the eclipse ???????????? I was setting up the business phone account with T-Mobile. Yes, Immoral Influence Publications has business lines, now! Today I’m keeping it “light” and just doing this newsletter and accompanying social media, then going back to bed and doing a meeting from bed, and then reading a book from a fellow author to blurb it. That’s as light as it can get for me right now.
???? The Archie Report ????
All Archie’s indoor training has gone really smoothly, but he still has massive issues pulling on the leash. Now, mind you, three months ago, he’d basically never worn one, and so we’ve done massive forward momentum in that time. But the pulling has to be a thing of the past before I will feel OK putting a “Service Animal In Training” patch on his harness, so Al, our amazing trainer, suggested a head-collar.
For those of you who have never used them, it does not hurt him. (And he can also eat treats while wearing it, etc.) But it absolutely keeps him from pulling. On the first walk out, his behavior was just completely different, because having the leash pressure coming from the front of him instead of his back makes him not want to pull. He mostly walked along right beside me, which was honestly even more than I had expected! The picture below is from the first walk—there will be a new harness arriving soon with a proper clip on the front. But he is already growing used to it and not letting it get in the way of enjoying sniffing and peeing on things.
With pulling being less of an all-consuming issue, we can get to other important steps in training. I am so proud of him—have I mentioned before how quick, clever, silly, and sweet he is? Cairngorm really found a perfect lil guy to take on the McWomble legacy ????
Today’s music recommendation is Love’s Graveyard by Aiyana-Lee—what they call a “powerhouse vocalist,” and granddaughter of the legendary Motown singer Jimmy Ruffin.
I’m going back to bed now! Can’t wait to send you that next newsletter! Until then, be good or be good at it!