Scarlet Letters

I'm glad to report that NOCTURNAL URGES and A MORE PERFECT UNION will finally see print this summer! The two books will be combined into a trade paperback release from Cerridwen Press, titled NOCTURNE. It's set to come out in late summer or early fall, and when I get a more definite date you'll all know, believe me. You folks know how much time, effort and affection has gone into the Nocturnal Urges series. As I'm working on the third book - sex-free, I'm afraid, too much death and destruction for a romance - I'm struck by how much this little world has grown in my imagination. Before Nocturnal Urges, most of my mind lived in the Sanctuary universe, with little forays into horror sideshows. Now I switch between my oppressed slaves and my lusty vampires with equal sadistic delight. So, you say: Why should I buy NOCTURNE? After all, I'm a devoted Elizabeth Donald fan and I already bought the ebooks! For several reasons. First, a print book is always going to b...

There is just something about my coffeehouse. I've been stuck on INFERNII for quite some time. Hell, I'm weeks behind in everything. I was supposed to finish the second draft of INFERNII by the end of April, and guess how THAT'S not happening? Somehow I just can't work well in my apartment. It's like pulling teeth. My concentration is lousy. I get nothing accomplished. But as I am kidless this week, I chose to go to my coffeehouse tonight after work. In the three-and-a-half hours since I got here, I have gone through half of SETTING SUNS seeking the typos to correct, reread ALL of the 26,000 words already written for INFERNII, gone over my outline and written the first 2,000 words of the bedamned traps chapter. It's better than I remembered. As I write this, it's just after 10 p.m. The door is open, letting in the cool spring breeze. There are young people sitting outside at the black metal tables. There are more young people and a few older people sitting i...

Some of you may know I'm the captain of a Relay for Life team, raising money for the American Cancer Society. Last year we raised almost $1200 for cancer research. It's that time again, folks. I am beginning with the annual promotion on my web site. It's just a few promotional items, but all funds will go to the Relay for Life fund this year. Also, you can donate directly to the fund via a Paypal button. Note: Direct donations are tax-deductible. The purchases, alas, are not. Something about the IRS tax code, I dunno. Every one of us knows someone who has fought a battle with cancer, or God forbid, lost their lives to cancer. There is literally no one untouched by the disease. The American Cancer Society funds research and local programs to support cancer patients in their fight. Please consider donating to this important cause. And now I'm done asking for your money. Well, for today... www.elizabethdonald.com

Many years ago, two little girls in Massachusetts decided that if there was a Mother's Day, a Father's Day and a Grandparents' Day, there should be a Sister Day. And lo, those two little girls declared March 31 to be Sister Day. Originally commemorated by doing each others' chores, through the years, it occasionally passed unmarked. But there was usually a phone call, an e-card, and on the few occasions they lived in the same state, a lunch or shopping trip. When I told my co-workers that today is Sister Day, there was good-natured gibing that soon Hallmark will be printing cards. It's all my fault. We invented a holiday. And it's true, we tend to sneer at these holidays - artificially created excuses for us to spend money. But aside from the Hallmark silliness, these minor holidays serve as an annual reminder to tell our loved ones how we feel. It is far too easy to let the years pass with so much left unsaid, and when inevitably we part our ways, how much wors...