Kind of a sad day here. You all know how much I love whales, yes? And in particular humpbacks? I even went out on a whale watching tour in Kauai in hopes that I would catch a glimpse of one in the wild. Just before we turned back toward the harbor at sunset, we saw a mother and her calf surface, then their humps and flukes as they dove again. It was magical and was a big highlight of the trip for me.

Well, this morning, we had a something highly unusual happen. Here on the west coast we get gray whales and orcas (killer whales) in our waters. This morning, however, a lone baby humpback washed up on shore close to us, and died. This poor baby got tangled in a fishing net far to the west of us while he swam north toward Alaska with his mother. The calf’s fluke and body were covered in deep lacerations from the nets. It was very sad. My aunt and I took the boys down to see it, not realizing it had already died. The boys had brought their pails to pour water over the baby to keep its skin from drying out. We were all very sad to hear it had passed away.

 Crowds of people were gathered around it, and a few people had placed flowers on its head. I hate to think of it suffering such a horrific death, frightened and far away from its mother, who must have stayed with it as long as possible. When the mothers give birth down in Hawaii and other tropical places, they don’t feed for months, starving while the baby nurses and gains enough strength to make the trek to either Alaska or the Antarctic, where the mother can feed again. My heart breaks for them both. 

I was glad to see my boys were deeply touched by this animal’s plight. I make them watch National Geographic shows all the time, especially oceanography or anything to do with whales. Big weasel came out with me on the catamaran in Kauai to see the humpbacks in the wild, so seeing this calf really hit home for him.

It’s the start of June already, which means I have only three more weeks until my two weasels are out of school for the summer. It also means I have to get as much writing done as possible before that happens! Since I’m writing on deadline for the first time and have two manuscripts due August 1st, you’d better believe I found some camps to put the boys in. But they’re cool camps. One is going to a Star Wars and a junior film makers camp, and the other is doing a space and junior scientist camp.

I’ve finished the draft of Danger Close (which will probably be retitled), and now have to put it aside while I do edits for a Callie Croix release coming out early next year (Covert Seduction). Once that’s done, I’ll be juggling line edits and copy edits for that story while I revise and polish Danger Close. After that I plan to take the first week of August off, to let some ideas percolate in my little brain for Jackson and Maya’s book.I’m certain by then I’ll need the break!

I also entered Deadly Descent into the 2013 EPIC Awards, so please cross your fingers and toes that someone falls in love with Cam and Dev’s story. And, because I’ve been such a good girl and working so hard, I bought myself this pretty little Victorian jacket that I’m very excited about. I keep waiting and hoping that hoop skirts will come back in style again while I’m alive…

It’s official! Carina Press has offered me a contract for both the second and third books in the Bagram Special Ops series. Both books will release sometime in 2013.

Here’s a shot that gives you an idea of how Ryan and Ace work together 🙂 Pretty deadly combination. I’m still working on finding out particular details from various military/former military contacts I’ve been put in touch with, and hope to get those ironed out in the coming weeks so I can really make this story shine. I want to do justice to Air Force Combat Controllers and Spooky gunship crews with this book.

CCTs are a dedicated, highly trained bunch, and their discipline under fire and in combat has earned them many awards in recent years.  They work not only in war zones, but also in humanitarian relief efforts like the aftermath of the devastating Haiti earthquake to help direct air traffic in and out of a stricken area when no one else can or will.

Ace and Ryan’s story (working title Danger Close) is due August 1st, then I’ll start in on book 3.