front page | Mindy Klasky, Author

Back in the Saddle

by Mindy | Sep 21, 2021 | administrivia, front page

I’m baaaaack!

For the first time in my writing career (and I’ve been writing full-time for thirteen years!) I took a complete break from my day-to-day schedule.

Not a vacation—I’ve taken those, for a few days here, a week there, once for two whole weeks. On vacation, I still think about writing, and I often jot notes to myself for one book or another.

This break was six entire weeks. No outlining. No editing. No writing.

I wasn’t as lazy as this post makes me sound. I had a total hip replacement on the first day of my break. And I spent the first week doing an awful lot of sleeping (including dreams where I thought I was running through fields, shouting words like, “XJWBZQR!” which apparently meant, “I’m free! I’m free!”) And I devoted a large portion of the other five weeks to physical therapy.

I did read a lot—a book every couple of days (which, for this slow reader was a joy!)

And now, I’m back. Refreshed. Eager to work. On a cane, but only part of the time (and I hope to be off it completely in a month or so.)

And I’m deep into final edits on The F Word, which I look forward to sharing with you next month!

Excelsior!

Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft FREE for a Limited Time!

by Mindy | Apr 27, 2021 | front page

Happy spring!

I’m celebrating the season by making the ebook of Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft absolutely free! And this isn’t just any version of Girl’s Guide. This is the 15th Anniversary Edition (complete with a bonus essay!) It’s never been free before.

In case you’ve somehow missed the buzz, here’s the “back of the book” blurb for Girl’s Guide:

Jane Madison has a problem. Or two. Or three.

She has a desperate crush on her Imaginary Boyfriend, a man who doesn’t know she exists. Her doting grandmother insists she meet her long-absent mother. She’s working as a librarian, trapped in absurd costumes and serving up lattes in a last-ditch effort to keep her employer solvent.

In lieu of a well-deserved raise, Jane is allowed to live in an ancient cottage on the library grounds. She soon discovers a hidden chamber filled with magical books that awaken her inner witch.

Her first spell releases a smart-mouthed feline familiar. Her second makes her irresistible to men. Those witchy workings draw a compelling astral enforcer, David Montrose.

Will magic—and David—solve Jane’s problems? Or only bring her more disasters?

“[A]n irresistible tale of power and love, friendship and acceptance… Charming and insightful.” — Romantic Times

Girl's Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky

And if you’ve already read Jane’s story? Then you’re ready to hear David’s version of events!

The Library The Witch and the Warder by Mindy Klasky

So what are you waiting for? It’s time to start reading!

“Changing of the Guard” Available Today!

by Mindy | Mar 30, 2021 | book view cafe, front page, recent, short stories

My short story, “Changing of the Guard” is available in the brand-new anthology Black-Eyed Peas on New Year’s Day, which releases TODAY!

The “back of the book” blurb for the anthology says:

2020 wasn’t kind to any of us, was it? (And 2021 is off to a shaky start at best!) Pandemic, economic collapse, out-of-control wildfires the world ’round, ice storms, murder hornets…and that’s without even discussing politics.It’s time to send some good energy out there into the world. Good luck, good wishes, good magic, talismans and rituals and lucky charms—you name it, we’ve got it here.

BLACK-EYED PEAS ON NEW YEAR’S DAY is a multi-genre anthology focused on hope. Here you’ll find more than a double dozen tales—fantasy, science fiction, literary, even nonfiction—that will bring a smile to your face and some optimism to your heart.

After all, we’re all in this together. (Except the murder hornets. They’re not welcome here.)

“Changing of the Guard” is a fantasy story about hope and healing. It rose out of a writing prompt to tell a story from an unexpected narrator (in my case, a tree) — and I think it’s my very favorite, among all the short stories I’ve ever written.

You can buy BLACK-EYED PEAS ON NEW YEAR’S DAY directly from Book View Cafe (and, as always, your purchases there support a vibrant community of authors, providing the editor with the highest-percentage royalty anywhere):

www.mindyklasky.com/guardBVC

or as an ebook from Amazon:

www.mindyklasky.com/guardKindle

or as a print book from Amazon:

www.mindyklasky.com/guardAmazon

What’s the Big Idea?

by Mindy | Feb 11, 2021 | elsewhere on the web, front page, love in 2020 series, recent

Today, I’m the guest at John Scalzi’s “The Big Idea”. If you don’t know John, he’s an amazing science fiction writer (and movie critic and blogger and Internet personality extraordinaire). Among other things, he publishes a blog called Whatever, including “The Big Idea” blog series where authors talk about the, um, big idea behind their novels.

And today, I’m talking about what made me decide to write a romantic comedy set during 2020, with the coronavirus an active factor in the book. Check it out!

The Big Idea

And leave a comment over there, letting me know what you think!

The C Word in Stores Today!

by Mindy | Feb 9, 2021 | front page, love in 2020 series, recent

We authors aren’t supposed to have favorites among our books. Like parents, we’re supposed to say that we love all of our creations equally. We’re suppose to shy away from direct answers and say that our favorite is the book we’re currently writing.

But I’ve got a secret to share: The C Word is my favorite.

I love how the story came to me after a long dry spell, when I feared that I wasn’t going to come up with an original story ever again. I love how the words flowed during the second half of 2020, after months of coronavirus-induced non-writing, when I spent day after day after day fiddling with administrative details instead of putting down new words. I love the characters—how Katie McIntyre is sassy in a way that I never am, how Jason Price covers up his emotions with easy actions until he can’t avoid the weight of those feelings for one more second.

Most of all, though, I love how The C Word is a positive, feel-good book, even though—or, maybe, especially because—it’s set during the pandemic. Sure, the coronavirus makes my characters work a little harder for their Happy Ever After. But success means more when it’s hard-won.

The C Word is available for sale today, as an ebook at all your favorite online vendors and as a print book at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. If you want to buy a print copy at your local bricks-and-mortar store, ask them to order it. (You’ll make it easier for them if you tell them that the ISBN—that’s the International Standard Book Number—is 978-1-95018-439-2.)

Here’s the back-of-the-book blurb:

When a one-night stand, a fake relationship, and a demonic cat aren’t enough of a challenge—just add a pandemic.

Sportswriter Katie McIntyre thinks star pitcher Jason Price will be the perfect fling to help her forget her cheating ex. Their hook-up is supposed to end with breakfast.

But the coronavirus has other plans.

Katie unexpectedly becomes her grandmother’s full-time caretaker. When the disoriented elderly woman thinks Jason is Katie’s devoted beau, Katie pitches a pretend relationship to the star athlete. Jason knocks the fake-boyfriend ball out of the park.

Soon, their increasingly real alliance is tested by disastrous cooking, adult-themed donuts, and a hairless, irascible cat. And COVID quarantine inevitably magnifies one small secret (Katie’s) and one tiny lie (Jason’s.) The harder this pair falls, the greater the risk of those hidden truths.

If your heartstrings have been tugged by the feel-good rom-coms Beach Read, Well Met, or The Friend Zone, then pull up a chair, because The C Word is the perfect romantic comedy escape for you.

What are you waiting for? Read the first chapter and buy your copy today!

Read the first chapter

The Woman Who Lied Available in Stores!

by Mindy | Jan 12, 2021 | front page, the woman who lied

A couple of years ago, I was driving home from a writing retreat in a Pennsylvania state park. I’d left the cabin early, because I had a 10:00 meeting back home. The winter-fallow Pennsylvania fields were covered with frost, and an overcast sky looked like steel.

As I drove, I thought about my retreat-mate, who was still sleeping in her room when I left. In one of those authorial flights of fancy, those thoughts that flash so quickly you can’t really be sure you didn’t dream the entire thing, I imagined getting a phone call from the park rangers, asking me to turn in the cabin key. When I told them my retreat-mate was supposed to have done that, they told me they had no record of my fellow writer. Further investigation revealed that she was missing, as if she’d never joined me for a week of frantic writing.

None of that happened, of course. My retreat-mate woke up a couple of hours after I did, and she made her way home without any untoward event.

But I started thinking. I started plotting. I started putting together the novel that eventually became The Woman Who Lied. And today, that book is available for you to read, as an ebook and a print book!

(Don’t worry. No actual authors were harmed in the making of this novel.)

What’s it all about? Here’s the back-of-the-book blurb:

Here’s the back-of-the-book blurb:

What would make you mad enough to kill?

Jess Fox breaks the rules. She’s a self-published author of wildly popular erotica, writing exactly what she knows. Her frank words make rough men blush. She sleeps with any person she desires. She’s been powerless before, and she’ll do anything not to feel that way again.

Now she longs to be accepted as a legitimate author. And when she meets Rachel Hanley, an international bestselling novelist, she recognizes her meal ticket. Rachel’s tense thrillers are popular enough to support her entire hometown, but she’s recovering from a traumatic brain injury and she needs help.

Jess sees a chance for control. She becomes Rachel’s intern, caregiver, and writing partner. Both women go on a writing retreat at a remote forest cabin. Soon, one of them is dead, floating at the foot of a waterfall.

But which woman died?

And which woman lied?

If you can’t get enough of psychological thrillers by Gillian Flynn, A.J. Finn, or Ruth Ware, then step inside Jess’s mind and get ready to bargain for your life.

Read the first two chapters