Odds and ends

 

Oh my goodness.

This new job I got in Moonlight Falls is amazing and incredible.  I can't really say enough about it. I would have been kicking myself if I didn't take it. 

 

I'm now the chief archivist and paranormal researcher at the Library of Lore and Antiquity.  Basically I spend all day cataloging old books.  Very old books.  I also coordinate supernatural trivia contests and occasionally share stories from when I was an active ghost hunter. 

I no longer actively hunt ghosts.  I don't have the desire to do that anymore.  I find this work (studying paranormal phenomena and alchemy) a lot more fulfilling and mentally stimulating than just going from house to house stamping out specters and poltergeists.  Another plus is that, since I'm no longer working nights, I'm not coming in at 3 in the morning, so I have more time to spend with my kids.

One of my favorite books that I've found so far is a manual on alchemy that was co-authored in the medieval times (!) that I've been able to authenticate.  The listed authors are Balin, who was a master wizard in the court of Queen Alys, and the queen herself, who had dabbled in alchemy and magic and had been a student of his. 

I decided that I was going to make a deal with my kids, who were against me taking the job and uprooting them from their school and their lives.  It was going to be difficult but we were going to find a way to make it work.  They were going to continue to attend school in Hidden Springs, but we were going to live in this new house we're building in Moonlight Falls.  Besides, we were outgrowing our place in HS.  My youngest son, Sawyer, was sleeping in the hallway. That couldn't happen anymore. 

I delayed the release of my book Alys in Wonderland, but it is coming out this year.  I'm going to address the supernatural convention in Moonlight Falls and promote the book heavily there.  Alys in Wonderland is a historical biography on Alys de Montfort, the Queen of Arkovia, and details my own encounter with her ghost.
 

 

Alys de Montfort was a fascinating woman.  Of Tredonian descent, she took over as queen of Arkovia upon reaching her age of majority, because her father, King Edward, was killed with his own sword by his ambitious nephew in a sword fight.  She'd been educated at the foot of the wizard Balin, who taught her alchemy and magic.  She'd learned government with Lord Jonas Darron, her father's steward, and she'd learned 'womanly' manners with her great-aunt Cordelia.  She never married.  She skillfully held off her suitors using guile and the occasional sword point. 

 

 

I'm going to be heavily promoting Alys in Wonderland in Moonlight Falls.  As the keynote speaker at the supernatural convention, I'm having to write the keynote address -- and also keep an eye out for my daughters, who I'm afraid have inherited my tendencies. 

 

 



 

I'd be remiss without introducing the newest member of our staff.  This is Bonehilda, our skeletal maid.  Hear me out.  Poor Max in Hidden Springs was completely overwhelmed by the size and activity of our household, so after talking it over with Andy, we got him some help.   Bonehilda is great with our youngest son, Sawyer...

 

...and with Sage's dog, Bitsy!  Poor Sage hasn't had much time to deal with the animals as she'd like, preoccupied as she is with school and extracurriculars.  So Bonehilda has stepped in the breach.

And this of course is our youngest son, Sawyer Nathan Cheesman.