SURVIVED THE LAS VEGAS SUMMER

 

WOW! Can you say HOT?

We have just been through one of the hottest summers I can remember in Las Vegas. Heat and wind. We are used to the summers being hot, but it seemed that there were more consecutive days of heat plus wind than ever before. It sort of felt like stepping into a convection oven.

Now, thankfully, we are into September and slowly watching the temperature drop. Needless to say, with days in the triple digits it wasn't the best time for appearances or book signings. So, that said, I have just updated my schedule of signings and talks. This time there is a bit of a variety. 

CHECK THE APPEARANCES PAGE AT www.morganstjames-author.com for more info.

I will be doing signings at Bad Owl and Coffee Class coffee houses as a member of Coffee House Tours. 

Added to that are two OPEN TO THE PUBLIC appearances at senior living facilities Legacy Living and Avamere at

 

Cheyenne. People are often curious about how after 20 years as an interior designer I became the author of 21 books beginning with the award-winning Silver Sisters series. It is fun to share, including the fact that my co-author for the series, my sister Phyllice Bradner, and I became best friends through our writing and the Las Vegas Review Journal even did a feature article on that in 2009.

 

Then there will be the multi-author Summerlin Book Fair in November. Las Vegas is the home to many fine authors, and this is a great chance to discover new favorites.

Have a wonderful day.

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

Living in Las Vegas, summer's soaring temperatures come with the territory. We have had one of the hottest summers on record and that is not great for inspiring creativity. Sure we huddle in our air conditioned homes or apartments, get into our air conditioned cars and drive to our air conditioned destination but it just isn't the same as when our weather morphs into wonderful days.

Today I finally got the ambition to update my appearances on my website, www.morganstjames-author.com, I couldn't believe how much time had passed since my last blog post or update. Yes, I did venture out into the oven a few times a week, but also stayed in my nice cool home much more often than normal and watched lots of TV and played games on my phone which is not typical for me. I assured myself that those games are wonderful for keeping my mental processes sharp, and they are. Besides, who can resist a Perry Mason marathon. I am up to Season 6.

Interesting little side note. My first job out of school was working as a receptionist for a Beverly Hills theatrical business manager. One of the clients was the then story editor for Perry Mason which was in its second year of production. The producers had been reluctant to hire Raymond Burr for the lead because he was quite overweight. However, he lost a considerable amount of weight and it is hard to imagine anyone else in that part. Not only that, but my first new car was a 1959 Ford Galaxy Convertible and guess what Mason drove in several episodes---yep, a car just like mine. I was 20 years old with long black hair and kept the top down as much as possible. If it was cold, I blasted the heater.

Anyway, an A-Type like me can kick back for only so long, so here is the update. I have been booking new appearances and just updated my website. Two new books are partially written, but they have been on hold for a while. I am considering doing some TikTok book videos injected with humor and we will see how that goes. My son Jason is a real commedian and he suggested including the comedy along with  snippets about some of my books and those of other authors. 

Some of you might remember my wonderful late dog Dylan who crossed the Rainbow Bridge . The current canine members of our household are my rescue dog Cucumber and Jason's rescue bulldog Junie B Jones. Both of them are characters.

CURRENT NEWS & UPDATED MY WEBSITE-CHECK IT OUT

Thanks for stopping by. One of the major changes I just made to the BLOG section on www.morganstjames-author.com was to move the section with links to the Writers Tricks of the Trade magazine I published through 2019 closer to the top of the Home page. 

Yeah, even though publication stopped almost five years ago, the issues are all still available on Joomag so I posted the link. Some of the things are outdated now, but there were so many fine articles by contributing authors, editors, and marketers that it would be a shame to waste them. They are still very valid, so check out the issues.

The Appearances & Media page was updated. My next book signing is with  J.D. Neil on April 13 at Coffee & Rock, a very cool rock & roll themed coffee house. This month I shared a book signing with Alan Geik at Bad Owl Coffee. There was lots of "traffic" and we met some great booklovers and had nice chats. 

I have said you can teach an old dog new tricks, and since I'm technically "old" I am going to embark on recording a series of short videos to place on TikTok/BookTok. Some will be about me, some about my books, trailers or writing techniques, and some will be reviews of other books. The page is LuvMysteryBooks at TikTok. Check it out and follow me. I expect to begin loading videos in the next few weeks. Got the tripod, light ring and some excellent advice from my son Jason Pransky. Lights, camera, action!

#books #writing #MorganStJames #booktok #booksignings

NEVER STOP LEARNING

My philosophy has always been never stop learning. Just because you are getting older, it is no excuse to just kick back and do nothing but watch TV. Having turned 84 last month, (how did that happen?) I love learning how to do new things.

I made some book trailers a few years ago, but since joining Authors Den I decided to learn how to make them slicker since we can post videos for our books. I'm in the process of listing all 21 of my books, but at this writing only have 9 on the site.

My first attempt at this was the trailer for my latest book FATAL ENCOUNTER.

I felt pretty good about the result and decided to learn how to do more. This was the result. Although it still needs some tweaking, it is a great feeling to keep at something and learning from your mistakes instead of giving up.

 

ALMOST BACK TO NORMAL

 After feeling like a hermit for almost three years thanks to Covid, it looks like things are almost back to normal.

As a Coffee House Tours author I have book signings for almost every one of the coming months. Last Saturday I was at Bad Owl Coffee in Henderson with table-mate RJ Waters. We had a good time chatting with some of the customers and thank those who purchased copies of our books.

I just updated the appearance schedule on www.morganstjames-author.com and suspect even more dates will be added during the year.

And, GOOD NEWS. My latest book, Number 21, is approaching the finish line. It will be available in Kindle, Kindle Unlimited and Paperback.

NEW BOOK SIGNING APRIL 7, 2023

Coffee House Tours has several new author and venue members. The rest of 2023 will be very active with signings and events throughout Las Vegas and Henderson. This is my latest one and it sure would be fun to see  you there. April is child abuse awareness and prevention month, so although I will have copies of my funny mysteries, I will also have copies of memoirs I co-authored for two amazing abuse survivors. They go through so much, that pouring their hearts out, raw and unvarnished, not only tells their stories in the hope victims will be helped, but is a healing tool for them.

     

 

 I am starting the New Year with a special dinner event presented by Miss Phoebe's Eatery in the Southern Highlands section of Las Vegas, zipcode 89141. I love this restaurant, and they are very supportive of local authors in addition to having great food. 

                 

They are not normally open for dinner on Thursday night, but as I said, this is a special event hosted by the owners, Allan and Tina Duss.  $29.95 not only includes dinner, but your choice one of my signed books. The books alone sell for anywhere from $14.95 to $19.95, so it's a great deal. I will be reading a selection from my book RIPOFF, the second book in the Revenge is Fun series, followed by a short discussion.

A former FBI undercover agent and NYT bestselling author gave us a blurb that said it was a good thing we weren't crooks, because our plot could have possibly worked. 

So many of my books are inspired by something I personally experienced, and this is no exception. My co-author and I actually worked for a private sector company contracted to market furniture manufactured in Federal prisons and could only sell to Federal government entities. My biggest deal was for $3 Million! Because we had been inside prison factories, witnessed some of the "grifting" that was done by management of the company we worked for, and more, we were able to develop a fun crime caper featuring three savvy women who bring down a big embezzling scam.Without knowing how the system worked, and having toured prison factories, we could not have written this book.

What an affordable and fun evening for people in the area, so if you are in Las Vegas, consider checking this out. The restaurant is currently taking reservations.