Not that I’ve noticed a clamor for updates, but - for my purposes as well as potential readers’ - here’s what all has been happening in this summer of 2025:
Completed, submitted, and contracted a new lifetime-love modern-historical M/M novella, ETERNAL SUMMER, scheduled for release this month (August).
Completed, submitted, and contracted a new M/M short story, MILLENIUM, carrying forward the story of a secondary character from the novella, scheduled for release in September.
Completed, submitted, and contracted a new M/M novelette, EMBER CAST, for the JMS Books Advent Calendar promotion in December.
If you want to keep an eye on things (bearing in mind that JMS Books always offers a pre-order discount and you get an actual book file, not a “license”), here’s a link to my page: Alexandra Caluen
In other writing news, I’ve been researching and outlining two new contemporary romance projects, tentatively for the 2026 publishing year; and continuing to research two historical projects. Who knows when those will finally be done to my satisfaction. But they are in the works. One is set in the George IV-era (just past the Regency) and is probably a novella, which ties in to my novella THE HUNTING BOX. The other is actually a trilogy, length of each title yet to be determined but probably not full novel length - in fact, the three stories will very likely add up to a novel. Those were inspired by some cover art I acquired on impulse and will be set in post-WWI Paris.
Outside of writing, I’ve been doing what everybody else is doing: trying not to completely lose my mind over the state of the US government. Enough about that for now - there will be more political posts in the future, but this isn’t one of them.
The second-biggest thing this year was a vacation. My husband and I got married in 2001 and took our then-biggest-ever vacation as our honeymoon, to Hawaii’s Big Island. This year, as a retirement celebration for him and an early 60th-birthday celebration for me, we topped that with a weeklong road trip vacation to Alaska. From Denali National Park to Kenai to Seward, we had a grand time.
And the biggest thing (drumroll please): as mentioned in the past, we are preparing to move across country. That is happening. Since getting home from Alaska, it’s been a marathon of sorting, packing, Goodwill, household hazardous waste, more packing, planning, reserving, organizing, and general frenzy. After the moving truck departs, we will drive across country with all our chattels and our cat.
The move is, of course, one reason I had to button up my 2025 publishing year so early. I’m hoping that having four projects already on the go will help me in the adaptation to new environment / adjustment to relocation areas. For me, having a work-in-progress is immensely comforting.
I will post again as each remaining 2025 title launches. Maybe, if time & mental bandwidth permit, at other times too. Since, as you’ve probably noticed, I tend to have Things To Say.
Happy Summer and good reading, y’all.