Books, Stories, Giving Thanks and more!

Some thought on Thanksgiving, but first … to kick off the holiday season, here’s a lovely reading santa from the folks at the Based Books Black Friday sale. You can pick up books there for yourself of for gifts at a fraction of your normal cost, but only for a very limited time!

In addition, here’s a free story for the holiday. This story previously appeared in the anthology God, Robot.

This has been such an amazing year, and I have so much to be thankful for. Number One is the coming grandchild, but Number Two, not too far behind, is the fantastic trip to Scotland and England that I had been looking forward to for so many years and which turned out even more wonderful than I had imagined it could.

It turned out so wonderfully, with so many good opportunities and chances to do things I truly valued with wonderful friends, that it was as if I could feel the Hand of God upon the whole trip. From the fact that I got there, due to the generosity of a dear friend, to traveling with two fantastic friends, one of whom is my co-writer on my upcoming project, the Regency fantasy romance The Temptation of Blaire Avarty, to meeting a friend I had known online but had never met in person and finding him even more wonderful than his electronic version, to spending time with my British beta reader and visiting Devon and Cornwall with her and having just the most fantastic time.

But the most amazing thing was…that I could walk.

I had had trouble with my ankle for a bit, but in May, I hurt my foot and spent several weeks in bed. I was really worried that I would not be able to do the walking the trip entailed, but I kept praying and praying. I refused to allow fear to dominate my experience.

Slowly, my foot recovered. One funny moment was that I felt I should test to see if I could up a steep hill, something I had not been able to do a week or so earlier. So I picked a steep hill near here and took a walk with my sons. On the way to the hill, I realized I had not bought something I needed for the trip. I pulled out my phone and started Googling.

When I looked up, I was at the top of the steep hill. I had walked up without noticing while looking at my phone. :-)

On the trip, almost every day, there was some problem related to my foot. Each time, I looked up and prayed, “Nothing can impede my walk with God.” I applied this to my foot and to my general life experience.

Every single time, the problem, whatever it was, vanished, and I could walk normally.

One of the days in Scotland, we walked 18 miles, including up a steep hill.

I was so grateful for this demonstration of God’s care and grace.

A few highlights (staring PWB the Purloined Water Bottle)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!