Pet Sitting, and Dogs in General

 I'm going to try to blog twice a week from now on: Some social media gurus think that's the optimum amount to stay visible without drowning in a sea of internet. I'm thinking a shorter blog midweek, maybe something about history, what with the 250th anniversary of the USA coming up.

Or pet pictures.

This is Indiana Jones, who goes by Indy for calling time reasons. He's my oldest daughter's dog--we pet-sat for him while she was out of town for a few days. He's a bit of a face licker, and Heaven help you if he gets through the door without a leash, but he's also very cuddly. Also, as we all know, happiness is a warm puppy, especially in winter. (He's not 2 yet, so close enough to puppy.) Unlike our beloved dog Beowulf, he's happy to be a foot (or side) warmer in bed all night.

Beowulf had a job and he knew it: Protect his humans, and guard his home. He rarely stayed in one place for longer than half an hour before he set off on patrol. Indy is way more laid back, although he'll let you know if he hears someone coming.

If I look a little rough in this photo, I was going through some back pain issues at the time. I doubt Indy would have let me put him on the couch and press my lower back against him for heat, but this time of year you can always find ice.

I looked a little better last time we took care of him.

Indy's very lovable, but generally Emily and I prefer larger dogs. Beowulf was big, and he could look a lot bigger when you didn't notice him coming. The dog I wrote into We Love Trouble is based on Beowulf, but is all black, much bigger, and has, shall we say, an unusual brain. (You haven't missed it--that novel is still in the submission process.)

We Love Trouble is a humorous murder mystery with ghosts in it--but the ghosts aren't directly involved in the murder. We'll see if that idea gets any bites.
 

 

Our books aren’t as cuddly as a warm puppy, but they’re just as entertaining and don’t have to go out to potty.

 

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Remember: Authors with pets depend on book sales for food. And bones.

 

Beta Readers Needed

This is something I should have done, and planned to do, years ago. Because if you're going to procrastinate, procrastinate like a boss! Eventually.

I'm looking for beta readers for my unpublished novels. Now, many of your know what this means, but since I've never been completely clear on it myself, here's my definition:

An alpha reader is that first person (or people) who go over an author's work. For me that's my wife, who's a talented editor and also doesn't put up with my crap. A beta reader is reading not as an editor, but as a reader--for fun, which is good, because they don't get paid. (Neither does my alpha reader, although I do bribe her from time to time.)

The beta reader is just looking at the big picture: What works for them, what doesn't, what's confusing, why a cat is mentioned in chapter one but never appears again. That last one actually happened to me. Their reward is getting to read a new book before almost anyone else does, without paying for it. Or possibly, depending on how much the author has his crap together, it's their punishment.

 

Believe it or not, in addition to my eleven published works I have four "finished" manuscripts being shipped around to editors or agents, two more in the final stages, and another that's going to be finished up this fall (I hope). It's the four done ones that I'd like to get fresh eyes on, so if anyone would like to volunteer to read one, I'd be extremely grateful. They include:

Summer Jobs Are Murder, a young adult mystery:

Cassidy Quinn’s summer vacation wasn’t supposed to include witnessing a murder—or being the main suspect. Now she and her oddball family have to find out where her best friend has disappeared to, why the dead man looks just like her friend’s father, and how she can afford to buy a car on minimum page. Oh, and who’s stalking her. 

 

Beowulf: In Harm's Way, a science fiction space opera:

Paul Gage and Sachiko Endo almost single-handedly won the first battle of an interstellar conflict--but no one seems to know how they did it. To protect their war heroes, the Space Fleet sends them far from action, with a tiny, untested patrol ship and a green crew. As long as they can keep the engines running everything should be fine, but Gage is convinced the Beowulf is headed for trouble. By the time they finish dealing with an invisible spy vessel, an invading ship full of children, and a psychiatrist with her own agenda, the crew starts to believe him … and that’s before an enemy fleet shows up where it can’t be.

  

We Love Trouble, a humorous mystery with supernatural elements:

Wulfgar the dog sees ghosts—but never the ones he wants to see, like murder victims who could identify their killers. That's a problem when his humans find a dead man and an injured teen in an Indiana State Park. Nothing is ever an accident for Travis and Victoria Noble, who are so often suspects themselves they have bond money on speed dial--soon they're surrounded by bodies, suspects, horses, and the odd conspiracy or two. It's all Wulfgar can do to keep his adventure-loving humans out of jail themselves … or worse, he could soon be seeing their ghosts, too.

The Source Emerald, a modern fantasy (apparently this kind are described as "low fantasy"):

Rookie FBI Agent Lilly McCray’s first assignment is easy: Follow up on the sudden appearance of valuable emeralds across the country. The odd part is that the gems keep popping up in locations related to L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz.

Lilly doesn’t give that coincidence much thought, until she confronts a little blonde girl who might be a smuggling ringleader—but who claims to be Dorothy Gale, Princess of Oz. Before Lilly knows it inanimate objects talk, people disappear into thin air, and she and Dorothy must go on the run from evil magics that threaten to tear two worlds apart … and it’s not a dream.

 

So, if anyone's interested in reviewing a new novel, let me know, and I'll e-mail the manuscript to you. All I ask for is an honest opinion, no line editing necessary, although I certainly appreciate being told when I mispell mispell.

 

Have a read and a drink.

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"