Hello hardcover fans!
The Incredible Adventures of Liberty Jones is available in hardcover tomorrow! You can order by clicking HERE! There’s a special addition for the hardcover that you won’t see in the digital format! A little friend who will keep you and Libby company while you experience the incredible adventure!
Happy Reading!
Kathleen
The Incredible Adventures of Liberty Jones is out now! If you’ve pre-ordered the book will upload automatically to your Kindle app or e-reader!
I hope you enjoy Liberty’s time travel adventure!
Happy reading! Much love!
Kathleen Rear
“Ah! There you are Miss Jones!” Henry came limping toward her leaning on his cane.
Those not dancing were crowded around the dance floor. Libby reached out to steady Henry as he was jostled. She looped her arm in his letting him lean slightly on her. He nodded his thanks.
She knew it wasn’t considered proper, as they had only been introduced that evening but, there was something about the frail man that stirred a protectiveness in her she couldn’t explain. Maybe it was that despite his condition he was still a cheerful soul, and such people in Libby’s opinion needed to be looked after.
“But why are you not dancing my dear?” he asked.
She showed him her dance card and the blank space next to the first waltz.
“If I was well enough, I would be out there with my Helen, she’s a wonderful dancer,” he said, as his wife and her partner for the dance swirled by. “Next year, I vow to be rid of this malady and will dance my wife off her feet.”
She gave his arm a squeeze. “I don’t doubt it in the slightest, Mr. Taylor,” Libby told him.
“Henry, please,” he said. “I greatly admired your uncle. He was a man of impeccable character.”
“Thank you, Henry, that means so much,” she said. “And I would be pleased if you could call me Liberty.”
Henry nodded his smile wide. “Liberty Jones!” he laughed. “Now that’s a name fit for a heroine in a novel.”
Libby was laughing along with him when a voice spoke up from behind her.
“A novel filled with many incredible adventures, no doubt!”
Libby froze. She knew that voice. The scent of cedar cologne teased her nose.
“Ah! There you are!” Henry said to the person behind her. “Miss Jones, may I introduce my cousin?”
She had no choice but to turn around.
“Liberty Jones,” Henry continued. “This is my cousin. Mr. Edward Taylor.”
It was him. Edward. Edward from the train. Edward the thief.
Dressed in an exquisitely cut evening suit, his waistcoat was a bronze and gold silk paisley Jacquard. He’d had a haircut since she’d seen him last. He no longer sported the floppy waves of the twenty-first century. His golden locks were shorter, more in keeping with the style of this era, parted to the side, and gleaming with pomade.
She barely heard a word Henry was saying above the roar of blood in her ears as she fought to control her impulse to punch him in his gorgeous face. Instead, she lifted her hand for him, mumbling something incoherent.
“Enchnaté Mademoiselle,” he said, brushing his lips over her gloved knuckles.
Annoyingly, tingles proceeded to skip up her arm at his touch, and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from gasping aloud.
“Oh Eddie!” Henry chuckled. “Do stop, you’re enthralling poor Miss Jones!” Henry patted her on the arm. “He’s been spellbinding Helen’s friends with his continental manners all week!”
Willing herself to snap out of it she drew herself taller and tipped her head narrowing her eyes. “Continental?” she asked. “I take it you’ve been traveling then, Mr. Taylor?”
Amusement kindled in his eyes, but it was Henry who answered her question. “Eddie was raised in France by his mother’s relations after my dear Uncle Phillip and Aunt Sylvia passed away, tragic, they both succumbed to fever just two weeks apart.”
Edward’s acting skills were excellent; his lowered gaze and small sigh conveyed a hint of long-suffering sadness convincingly. “This is my first time back in, what is it…?” he turned to Henry who finished for him.
“I’d say at least ten years,” Henry told him. “Why we hardly recognized him when he showed up at the house in New York.”
“A much overdue visit,” Edward nodded.
“Ten years is a long time.” Libby lowered her voice and leaned toward Henry. “Are you positive it’s him, Henry? Are you sure he’s not some crafty imposter, bent on mischief?” she gasped dramatically, “or worse!”
Edward’s eyes flared briefly, the only sign that Libby’s “jest” had hit the mark before he joined Henry in tossing his head back with laughter.
Edward stepped closer. “A beautiful woman with a wicked wit is a dangerous combination.”
“Indeed, cousin, quite right!” Henry’s eyes gleamed with mirth. “And you are in luck,” he continued, nodding to the dance card dangling from Libby’s wrist. “There are a few spots left, should you dare to dance with this dangerous woman.”
“Oh! I really don’t…” Libby started, but Edward had already plucked the card up dangling from her wrist and began to write his name next to every blank space left on her card. She felt herself begin to perspire. He’d claimed every waltz, and the last quadrille.
“Very brave, cousin!” Henry laughed.
“I hope I survive the night!” Edward told him with a wink.
Libby’s smile was sharp as razors as she hissed under her breath, “Don’t count on it.”
Click (this link) to pre-order your copy today!
The launch of THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES OF LIBERTY JONES is only a two months away!
Here is an excerpt to tide you over!
The terminal was busy, she swerved around the flow of hurried people craning her neck looking for Edward. There! By the newsstand near the exits. He was turned away from her as she ran toward him examining something in the light coming through the big windows above the exit doors.
A glimmer of gold and the flash of yellow citrine grasped in his fingertips had Libby growling. Was that why he had befriended her, was it why he’d turned on the charm, just to rob her? And she’d fallen for it to! Fool, stupid, stupid, fool!
Libby swung her portmanteau at his legs connecting with the backs of his knees. He tumbled over with a shout of surprise, the scarab flying out of his fingers. Libby watched as it arced landing a few feet away, she raced after it her case forgotten. Edward ran by her to pick up the scarab first.
“That’s mine!” she growled, lunging for it only to have him snatch it away holding it out of her reach. He smiled at her, is blue eyes twinkling as if it was all a game. “Bastard!”
A guard began making his way over, Edward noticed him too and Libby took advantage of his momentary distraction, socking him in the ribs. She grabbed onto his wrist trying to pry his fingers open with her other hand.
Just then a high-pitched whine, like an alarm, began coming from Edward’s closed fist. He opened his hand and they both gasped, the scarab was crawling around on Edward’s palm, its wings unfurling as if it would take flight!
Libby grabbed for it, but Edward closed his fingers around her hand trapping it within his grasp her palm pressed against his. Bright light seeped out from between their clasped fingers, it grew brighter and began to flash. The air crackled with electricity, jagged bolts swirling around them, the terminal and people began to warp and twist in a vertigo inducing swirl of light and color. She felt locked in place unable to move.
Libby blinked up at Edward and saw his wide-eyed expression, and she knew that whatever was occurring wasn’t just happening to her. The phenomenon stopped all at once, and Libby felt her shoes touch the ground her legs absorbing a small jolt. She and Edward sprang apart each taking a breath as if surfacing from a depth.
“Wha…” she began, her head still spinning.
Edward was already on the move toward the exit, she looked down at her hands to find them empty. He still had her brooch!
“Stop!” she yelled after him.
Her legs wobbly, she tried to run after him but stumbled. A man stepped over to steady her, holding her by her elbow.
“Miss are you alright?” the man asked. He had a big fluffy mustache and bushy eyebrows that seemed to support the brim of his bowler hat.
“No!” she sobbed. “That man with the flat cap and the leather bag stole my brooch!”
“What!”
“He’s just gone,” she pointed at the exit.
The man bounded after Edward rushing out the exit by the newsstand.
How could she have been so stupid! She pressed her hands to her stomach feeling nauseous. She tried to take a deep breath to calm herself but the stench in the air made it worse. She coughed, the smell of soot and oil strong in her nose. She looked around to see what could be making such a smell and froze.
She blinked, wondering if perhaps she had suffered a stroke. The terminal looked different, its architecture like the photos she’d seen of the station from a hundred years ago. Similarly, the men and women she saw no longer wore the standard twenty-first century travel uniform of sweatpants, t-shirts, and slip-on shoes, but were clothed in wool suits, long bustled skirts, hats, and gloves. Shaking her head, she tried to make the vision go away but it persisted.
“What in heaven’s name?” she said aloud.
A boy stood in front of the newsstand waving a paper. “Enormous coal vein discovered in Kentucky!” he yelled at passersby. “Results at Saratoga! No-toe Charlie arrested for thievery! All the news that’s fit to print—two cents!”
Libby wandered over feeling lightheaded again. The boy smiled as she approached and held out the paper to her. “Paper, Miss?”
She shook her head. “Can you tell me what day it is?” she asked him.
“It’s Friday, Miss,” he replied, giving her a quizzical look.
“No, I mean what is today’s date, what year is it?”
The boy’s expression turned suspicious, “It’s… 1887,” he told her, stepping away. Then under his breath, “Nutty broad.”
Libby turned away feeling at a total loss. Was this really happening? As if in answer to her question she heard her name being called and looked to see Charlotte hurrying toward her from across the terminal waving and smiling.
Very versatile, hummus is really easy to make.
2 cans Chickpeas (aka Garbanzo Beans. I used some that I put up last winter ☺️)
2-3 tablespoons Reserved Canning Liquid
1/2 cup Tahini
2-3 tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 cloves Grated Garlic (or very very finely chopped)
1 tablespoon Ground Cumin
1 tablespoon Paprika
2 teaspoons Salt
2 teaspoons Pepper
Drain chickpeas reserving the liquid from the can. (You might need more than above so I save it all)
Place all the ingredients into the bowl of and food processor or blender and pulse until creamy. Have a taste and adjust seasoning to your liking. If it seems too thick add more canning liquid.
Spoon into a container with a lid and store in the fridge. I decorate the top with cumin and paprika. You could also garnish the top with diced olives or artichokes
Not sure how long it stores for because it’s usually gone in a week!
Serve with pita chips or alongside roasted or grilled lamb or chicken.
1373 3101 (Libby & Charlotte’s secret cipher)
The End.
The book is done!!! Well, the first draft anyway.
I was looking back and discovered I started it in July of 2021! I think Dark Star took me three years to write so this is wins second place for time taken. After a bit of a break I’ve resumed edits and hope to be done soon.
The big update for Liberty Jones is that it’s available to preorder and available for Kindle Unlimited now!
So what’s the next project? Hmmm…. Well, I thought I’d go and see how Horatio is doing back in Remy.
Now that he’s human again, life is very different. It’s not all naps and cheeseburgers like it was when he was a cat.
He’s got all those young mages to look after, plus he’s the owner of Sam’s former shop and business is booming during the summer Solstice as usual. As the Children of the Serpent prepare to induct another of mage into the coven, Horatio finds there is a big surprise awaiting him courtesy of the temple guardian, Michael.
Not sure when that will be available but watch this space in the coming months for more updates!
And if you’d like to get updates for all my work, plus whatever else fills this space (recipes, photos, book recommendations etc.) sign up for the newsletter below!
The Incredible Adventures of Liberty Jones will be available on July 14th 2023!
Watch this space for more information. You’ll be able to pre order soon!
Several versions of the cover were in the works with much hemming and hawing. The space needed for the very long title caused problems galore, TIAOLJ (even the initials are unwieldy) is kind of steampunk but not quite, kind of fantasy but not quite, sort of historical fiction but not really. What kind of cover would suit?
Secret ciphers, trains, bug shaped brooches, creaky old summer cottages, horses, fatal boat races and the most dangerous flower in America are all very much a big part of the plot but you don’t just throw all of it on the cover of a book unless you want to end up the subject of the Smart Bitches Cover Snark (it’s a laugh, and to be honest I wouldn’t be too upset if I made it there one day)
So when I saw the below picture I nearly fell off my office chair! It’s her! That’s Libby!
So! Without further nattering I give you the cover for The Incredible Adventures of Liberty Jones:
Liberty Jones comes from a family of historians. Raised by her aunt Deidre she had an unconventional childhood filled with historically accurate dress-up and lessons ranging from how to decipher hieroglyphics to how to load and fire a flintlock pistol.
Recently earning her master’s degree, Libby receives the gift of her aunt’s heirloom scarab brooch and a ticket for the Coast-to-Coast Cosplay Connection, a cross country train trip for clothing historians and cosplay enthusiast’s. Libby packs her bustles and corsets and eagerly hops aboard looking forward to spending five days in the 19th century.
On the train she meets the handsome and charming Edward. Flattered by his attention Libby strikes up a traveler’s friendship.
Once in New York Libby finds Edward has disembarked without so much as a goodbye, but more urgently her brooch is gone! She catches up to Edward on the crowded train platform red handed with her brooch! In the ensuing scuffle to get it back the brooch begins to glow, and the scarab seems to come to life! The world around them warps and shifts and she and Edward are transported backward in time to the year 1887.
Though she might be a fish out of water Libby is prepared, in fact she’s been preparing her whole life for this precise situation. She finally understands the secret of the Jones family line. She was not born into a family of historians but rather a family of time travelers!
Now Libby must navigate the rules and rituals of New York’s Gilded Age to find Edward if she ever hopes to get back home.
Liberty Jones is due to be released in 2023
Hello all!
Have you been having a busy summer? I have! You know all those things that were put off until after we could come up for air these past few years? All the birthdays, weddings, vacations, family get togethers, holidays, not to mention helping our son move house from Colorado! All of it! That’s what’s been going on.
I’ve been working on the new book too.
Along the way i’ve been saving the links and the book recommendations that have floated my fancy. And here they are!
First the Links:
Moonbath is a company run by the gal whose house we stayed at in Colorado this spring. If bathtime is a ritual for you I highly recommend you checking it out!
I’ve been taking a bigger interest keeping house plants. Planterina has been my crazy plant lady guru!
The husband LOVES pickled veggies! This summer I learned to pickle carrots. It’s the first step in my pickle arsenal!
What is the song lyrics you mishear the most? For me it’s the chorus of “Blinded By the Light” by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. Drove me crazy! Then I looked it up.
Did you know THE SANDMAN is now a series on Netflix? Makes my little fangirl heart so happy!
Now for the Books!
I started out my summer with Nora Roberts’ Nightwork.
Greed. Desire. Obsession. Revenge . . . It’s all in a night’s work.
Harry Booth started stealing at nine to keep a roof over his ailing mother’s head, slipping into luxurious, empty homes at night to find items he could trade for precious cash. When his mother finally succumbed to cancer, he left Chicago—but kept up his nightwork, developing into a master thief with a code of honor and an expertise in not attracting attention?or getting attached.
Until he meets Miranda Emerson, and the powerful bond between them upends all his rules. But along the way, Booth has made some dangerous associations, including the ruthless Carter LaPorte, who sees Booth as a tool he controls for his own profit. Knowing LaPorte will leverage any personal connection, Booth abandons Miranda for her own safety—cruelly, with no explanation—and disappears.
But the bond between Miranda and Booth is too strong, pulling them inexorably back together. Now Booth must face LaPorte, to truly free himself and Miranda once and for all.
The sequel to For the Wolf!
The First Daughter is for the Throne
The Second Daughter is for the Wolf…
Red and the Wolf have finally contained the threat of the Old Kings but at a steep cost. Red’s beloved sister Neve, the First Daughter is lost in the Shadowlands, an inverted kingdom where the vicious gods of legend have been trapped for centuries and the Old Kings have slowly been gaining control. But Neve has an ally, though it’s one she’d rather never have to speak to again: the rogue king Solmir.
Solmir wants to bring an end to the Shadowlands and he believes helping Neve may be the key to its destruction. But to do that, they will both have to journey across a dangerous landscape in order to find a mysterious Heart Tree, and finally to claim the gods’ dark, twisted powers for themselves.
You’d think that Gabriel Allon could stay out of trouble now that he’s retired.
Legendary spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon has at long last severed ties with Israeli intelligence and settled quietly in Venice, the only place where he has ever truly known peace. His beautiful wife, Chiara, has taken over the day-to-day management of the Tiepolo Restoration Company, and their two young children are discreetly enrolled in a neighborhood scuola elementare. For his part, Gabriel spends his days wandering the streets and canals of the watery city, bidding farewell to the demons of his tragic, violent past.
But when the eccentric London art dealer Julian Isherwood asks Gabriel to investigate the circumstances surrounding the rediscovery and lucrative sale of a centuries-old painting, he is drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse where nothing is as it seems.
Gabriel soon discovers that the work in question, a portrait of an unidentified woman attributed to Sir Anthony van Dyck, is almost certainly a fiendishly clever fake. To find the mysterious figure who painted it—and uncover a multibillion-dollar fraud at the pinnacle of the art world—Gabriel conceives one of the most elaborate deceptions of his career. If it is to succeed, he must become the very mirror image of the man he seeks: the greatest art forger the world has ever known.
New to me series set in Paris. This was my favorite set in a witchy chocolate shop.
Welcome to La Maison des Sorcieres. Where the window display is an enchanted forest of sweets, a collection of conical hats delights the eye and the habitués nibble chocolate witches from fanciful mismatched china. While in their tiny blue kitchen, Magalie Chaudron and her two aunts stir wishes into bubbling pots of heavenly chocolat chaud.
But no amount of wishing will rid them of interloper Philippe Lyonais, who has the gall to open one of his world famous pastry shops right down the street. Philippe’s creations seem to hold a magic of their own, drawing crowds of beautiful women to their little isle amidst the Seine, and tempting even Magalie to venture out of her ivory tower and take a chance, a taste. . .a kiss.
Parisian princesses, chocolate witches, pâtissier princes and sweet wishes–an enchanting tale of amour et chocolat.
And finally this short story about a character mentioned in Sourdough.
At last, the story that definitively bridges the world of Sourdough to that of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. It’s all one Penumbraverse.
James Bascule is adrift. College beckons—but not quite strongly enough to actually get him to campus. A trip to Europe showed him a world bigger than his Northern California upbringing—and yet, one broken heart later, Northern California is where he’s returned. Back to his old bedroom, paying his bemused parents rent with his new hobby, baking bread with the sourdough starter that is his only souvenir of what was apparently just a summer fling.
The future is being built an hour or two down the highway—it’s 1985; the twenty-first century is just around the corner!—but that’s not his world either. While sitting in a Sonoma County bar, indulging in a little aimless day drinking with a junior college acquaintance, he meets a man. A man with . . . something like a plan. Has James ever heard of a “suitcase clone”? It’s a cutting of a vine used to clone and propagate noteworthy grapes—say, from a legendary European vineyard to an upstart Napa Valley operation. This man has an operation. He has a suitcase. He just needs an enterprising young accomplice up for an adventure.
Just how deliriously fun and thrillingly mind-expanding an adventure, James can’t yet know. But we, of course, know how Robin Sloan crafts a story. Crossing the international literary-techno-conspiracy of Mr. Penumbra with the delicious experimentation of Sourdough, The Suitcase Clone is a tale that enriches and expands the Penumbraverse in ways you never saw coming, told by a mysterious narrator with an unexpected perspective on the great puzzles of life. Who could it be?
Also! Stay tuned right here for the cover reveal for THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES OF LIBERTY JONES, later this month!
Of all the books in the series I had to map out every move for Children of the Serpent. All those loose ends I left dangling had to be tied up but didn’t know how! (post it notes are a writer’s best friend!) And others like this character I knew the outcome for all the way back in the first draft of the first book.
Children of the Serpent: The Final Book of the Revel Night Saga
Twenty-three
Sarah smiled as the girls’ laughter drifted from upstairs. She often envied her granddaughters, having a sister seemed wonderful. One had a partner in crime, a confidant, and, when needed, someone to kick you in the ass.
Sarah had been lonely growing up, her father’s family never accepted her. It had been apparent from the beginning she wasn’t a normal child. Able to hear what the trees gossiped about and wishing the flowers good morning earned her the reputation as a kook. It set her apart from everyone else and she soon realized if she didn’t what to continue to be “Crazy Sarah,” she would have to blind her eyes to what she could see, deafen her ears to what spoke to her.
She got good at it, passing for normal, and her deception was complete when she began to date and eventually marry a human man named David Bright. They had been happy for a time, but Sarah’s true nature had been hard to suppress.
Then she had met Niall, a wild and beautiful Faerie, and she’d been tempted beyond all reason for a taste of the life denied her. She believed he was in love with her, believed he would leave his wife and she her husband and they would run away together. Her hopes and her heart were broken when Niall had grown bored with her revealing he was not the least bit interested in leaving his rich and titled wife, Elspeth Glenghlas.
David learned of her betrayal and left her. He had never contacted she or Stella again. It was just deserts; she’d been stupid and reckless. She had raised their daughter alone, lonely once more.
She’d been bitter toward the Fae; they had brought nothing but sorrow into her life. She let that feeling fester for a long time turning her against even her own daughter. The actions she had taken at the time had nearly doomed both she and Stella to lives of pain and resentment.
Her past seemed like the life of another woman now. She and Stella had been reunited with their Faerie kin, Stella was happy in her marriage and had her hands full with three beautiful children and a career as a Pathfinder. And herself? Sarah toyed with the chunky emerald and Drakon claw necklace draped around her neck. She’d finally achieved a happily ever after too. Almost.
As leader of the Wild Hunt, Hunter was bound to his vow. He had long ago sold himself to the hunt and once bound, it was forever. Why he had done so was a mystery, for once one surrendered themselves to it their memories, knowledge of who they were before, was stripped.
They were under the command of the Seelie Queen who used them sometimes as mercenaries but most often to fill her trophy room with exotic and rare species. They ranged the wilds of Faerie, the hunt a never-ending revelry of drinking, camaraderie, and sport. Sarah and Hunter could only be together twice a year, on the nights of the summer and winter solstice when they hunted in the Mortal realm.
For years, Sarah would hide in the tree line surrounding the meadow on the solstice and watch the Wild Hunt as they set forth on their bi-annual excursion into the Mortal realm, hoping to glimpse their leader.
She’d pictured herself riding beside him many times. It was a silly fantasy, her and the leader of the Wild Hunt.
However, he had been aware of her watching him and he had come looking for her. He offered her a place at his side, and she’d been tempted, but she couldn’t miss out on becoming a grandmother and enjoying the renewed relationship with Sibah, she hadn’t been ready for oblivion, even if it meant eternity with Hunter. Now, however. She thought about it more and more. She wasn’t getting any younger, she’d be sixty in April, though thanks to her Faerie bloodline she didn’t remotely look it.
If she joined him, she would forget her whole life up until she took the vow, for her there would only be the hunt and she would only be the hunter. But there was time yet for decisions of this magnitude after all this crap with the Phaji was over. She had faith her son-in-law and grandson would lead the Shadows to victory again. She had to believe it, the alternative was too grim to consider.
Picking up the television remote she turned on the idiot box hoping to turn her mood around. She’d pondered herself into a funk, what she needed was some mind candy. There was a lot of that on offer these days. Weird game shows, dubious survival programs, not to mention too many so-called reality shows to count, all courtesy of the Demonic realm. Most media, social and otherwise was produced by Demons.
Though apparently not today, the screen was full of nothing but static. Jiggling the connection at the cable box wasn’t a help either. She pressed a few random buttons on the remote and a picture sprung into view. The scene on the screen was of total mayhem.
Demons in fancy dresses and formal wear were running for cover and huddling in groups while a force of human men flung fireballs from their bare hands at the stage in a huge arena carved from stone. This was no action movie! Sarah saw Daniel Acer draw a trident and defend the people around him. This was Queen Morag’s coronation ceremony! Following the death of her brother, Alocer, she was supposed to be crowned Satan the Sixth. What in the Sam-hill was happening!
“Girls!” she hollered. “Girls!” She turned from the TV and ran up the stairs.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the excerpts! Happy 4 year anniversary to the Revel Night Saga!
You can buy the whole series by clicking this LINK!
Be well my friends!
Kathleen Rear 