Dog Aliens 3: She Wolf Neya Is Out on Kindle!

The last book in Cherise Kelley's Dog Aliens trilogy is now available. Get it here:

Dog Aliens 3: She Wolf Neya

For dog lovers of all ages, but  
geared toward readers aged 9-12.
100% clean content safe for children.
Minor violence between wolves and dogs.

Neya wants to start a new pack with Raffle, the dog alien who calls her into psychic visions daily. Her pack would kill him if they knew. The wolves and the dog aliens are ancient enemies.

Raffle says he can't leave his humans, who would kill her if she came near. Neya decides to make Raffle jealous with another dog alien. But lone wolf Cholf keeps getting in the way!

Meanwhile, Lido spies and Baj flies.

The Dog Aliens Series

Kaxian Duty - A Dog Aliens Short Story
Dog Aliens 1: Raffle's Name
Dog Aliens 2: Oreo
Dog Aliens 3: She Wolf Neya

Hugh Howie Contributed to Our Free Book of Short Stories!

Hugh Howie, the author of the Wool / Silo books that have been picked up for a movie by Ridley Scott, contributed a story to our free book of short stories. Stories on the Go: 101 Very Short Stories By 101 Authors, is now free for Kindle, Nook, iPhones and iPads, and Kobo Readers.

I contributed a story, too! It's from the dog's point of view, which I'm told I do really well. The title of my story in the book is 'My Master Got a Raw Deal'.

I hope you will pick up this book and enjoy all the short stories. Each one is four pages or fewer. 

The book is a sampler of all the different types of stories independent authors are publishing these days: romance, science fiction, thriller, horror, literary, and just about everything else you can imagine, including a few adult titles.

Please read the stories you like and leave the rest unread. It's free!

This free book of short stories came to exist because of a suggestion Hugh Howie made on December 30, 2013 on KBoards, an online forum we indie authors hang out at. At the time, many self-published authors were starting a trend of getting on the New York Times bestseller list by contributing to boxed sets of novels and pricing the boxed sets at 99 cents.

I'm paraphrasing here, but Hugh Howie basically said hey, let's see how many of us we can get into one book and put it on the New York Times bestseller list! 

This got a bunch of attention! Three hundred of us were involved and we had a committees to read all the submissions and accept or reject. Lawyers told us how to deal with charity contributions and took months and months drafting contracts for all authors to sign. We had a videographer compiling shorts of each of us saying, "My name is X, and I'm an author!" 

The first version of this anthology was nearly ready to go when I pointed out that short story anthologies were not eligible for the New York Times bestseller list. At this point, many of the big names dropped out, but Hugh didn't. He was still up for it, God bless him.

It was funny, though. At this point, the thread about the anthology was so long that no one was reading it all. New people were still jumping in with New York Times bestseller list stars in their eyes. It took months for this thread to die out, but it finally did.

But not everyone was in it for the bestseller status. 100 of us just wanted to be in a book with Hugh Howie!

Andrew Ashling took up the reins, and again I'm paraphrasing, but he said let's get back to the idea of creating a collection of short stories. Let's make it a basic toaster and forget about trying to make it a 1,000 function microwave oven. If giving the money to a charity is a big headache, then let's just make the book free.

So that's what we did. We made it free so we didn't have to restrict stories to the type a charity wished to be associated with. We took stories from whoever wanted to contribute, so there was no need of an acceptance committee. Twenty of us volunteered to proofread the stories. Andrew Ashling formatted the stories into one cohesive book and incorporated our proofreading corrections. Selina Fenech paid Scarlett Rugers to design the cover.

And now, thirteen days shy of a year after Hugh Howie envisioned it, we give you this free book of short stories to enjoy!

Stories on the Go: 101 Very Short Stories By 101 Authors, is now free for Kindle, Nook, iPhones and iPads, and Kobo Readers.

Tail Between Legs

After reading Kaxian Duty, a lady said she had never seen a dog with tail between legs in real life. Here is a photo I took the other day at the dog park. This newcomer puppy's tail was under his tummy almost the whole hour.

He stayed near his humans for security while other dogs came over to sniff and get to know him. He had his tail between his legs even when friendly dogs or humans came near.

He was afraid. A dog puts tail under belly when he is afraid. Mostly only puppies are this afraid, or rather timid, but at times even grown dogs tuck their tails in this manner.

This is such common knowledge that there is a saying that uses it: "with one's tail between one's legs." The saying is spoken of someone who is defeated, cowed, or humiliated.

Here are some examples I just made up using this saying:

After she turned him down at the party, he had his tail between his legs, he was so disappointed.

He struck out in the baseball game yesterday, so today he's walking around with his tail between his legs.

Her tail is between her legs because she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

What Breed of Dog Is She?

This is our new year-old puppy! We adopted her yesterday at the animal shelter. They say she is a shepherd mix, but I think she looks more like a hound. She has heeler paws, with the thumbs up the leg a little. She uses those thumbs to her advantage by holding onto rawhides while she chews them.

She is a brindle color, which means she has stripes of different colors, like a tabby cat. She has a big snout, and it is all black. Her ears flop. She has a barrel chest, like a greyhound. She's beautiful.

She has such a long tail! It moves just like a tiger's tail. We thought about naming her Tiger, but that is Scott's nickname for me, so that won't work! Scott suggested naming her Pumpkin, and I have been calling her Pumpkin Pie. That's just a bit too sissy for him, though, so he told me that name is not for sure. UPDATE: Her official name is Pumpkin Pie Spice. :) We call her Pumpkin. My mom calls her Spice Girl.

She is very playful outside, running and jumping and chasing toys and flinging them about! Someone taught her manners, though, because once she comes in the house she behaves. She was left at the pound because she suffered separation anxiety. I'm guessing her previous owners worked outside the home and came back to a mess. I work from home, so this will be her forever home.

We went for our first walk this morning. :)

This is part of the fun of adopting mixed breed dogs from the animal shelter: guessing what kind they are! So what breed of dog is she? Or what mix, I should say. 

Speculative Fiction Blog Hop

Thank you, RJ Crayton, for tagging me into the Speculative Fiction Blog Hop! I hear it has been going on for years, and no one has been able to trace it back to its source. RJ Crayton is writing the dystopian Life First series about a society that can force you to donate internal organs. Really scary, "run for your life" type stuff! She and I know each other through the KBoards Writers' Cafe, where we both hang out.

For those unfamiliar with speculative fiction

I first heard the term used to describe Sherry Gottlieb's bookstore, A Change of Hobbit. It was my favorite hangout when I was a teen, and only today through her site have I found out it is "the oldest and largest science-fiction and fantasy bookstore in the world." So if you want to know what speculative fiction is, read the fascinating story of why Sherry opened her bookstore. :)

For those unfamiliar with blog hops

They are sort of like the old-fashioned chain letters you used to get in the mail, where you get one and then you ask other people to keep it going. In this particular blog hop, apparently it used to be you tagged three other bloggers, but we have only seen one blogger tagged so far as we traced it back.

Anyway, how fun. On to the blog hop questions!

What am I working on?

 

My series is about how all dogs are really aliens from other planets. Dog Aliens 1 and Dog Aliens 2 are published, and I am working on Dog Aliens 3.

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

 

My fantasy superhero is a dog. OK, I just Googled "dog superheroes" and got a Wikipedia page with ten, so maybe that's not so different after all. :(  In case you wonder but aren't curious enough to click, they are:
1.  Underdog (I can still hear the song in my head...)
2.  Ace the Bat-Hound
3.  The Comet Dog
4.  Dynomutt, Dog Wonder
5.  Goofy (Really? He doesn't seem like a superhero to me.)
6.  Krypto
7.  Lockjaw
8.  Rex the Wonder Dog (Road Rovers)
9.  Wonder Dog (Super Friends)
10. Yankee Poodle

OK, well, all the dogs in my dog stories are aliens. That's my other genre: dog story. Only, no one has made that a genre, so all of us 'dog story' authors have to list our stories under children's fiction > animals > dogs. What's up with that, Amazon? Barnes and Noble, any help? Kobo? Google Play? No? Now you know. All the dog stories are in Children's Fiction. Yep, even the really heavy dog stories like Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain.

Oh, I know!

I write happy dog stories where the dog doesn't die at the end. There you go. That's how my work differs.

Why do I write what I do?

I write family-friendly, action-packed, humorous stories so that parents and grandparents can enjoy what they read to their kids and grandkids. Jean Baldridge Yates made the Raffle rock and the photo collage you see at the top of this post. Teachers write and tell me my books are in their 4th and 5th grade classroom libraries. I know families with 8-to-11-year-old kids where the whole family will read my books and discuss them together. One mother says my books are her 8-year-old's favorite books. I get such a kick out of all this! Hearing from readers is the best part of being an author.

How does my writing process work?

 

I am a slow writer. I type really fast; that's not the problem. I just don't have that many ideas, so I have to grab on to the ideas I do have and let them live in my imagination until I start to hear what the characters are saying to each other. Then, I write that down. :)

My first draft is almost all dialogue. Next, I go through and describe where the characters are and what they're doing. I make another pass through and tell what they're thinking. Another pass to make sure there are funny parts and silly parts. As I go through each time, I also tweak to make sure things make sense and the timeline is consistent. I keep passing through and adding stuff until my deadline.

I thought my writing process was weird and unique until I read Alexandra Sokoloff's blog: Screenwriting Tricks for Authors. She has posted a list of all the types of passes she does, in order of descending importance, until her deadline comes and she has to turn the thing in. It's uncanny how similar our two minds are, yet she writes horror while I write silly superheroes.

Tag! You're it!

I'm tagging Travis Hill, another author I know from KBoards, who writes all kinds of stuff, but one of his stories I've actually read (and really like) is It's Better This Way, which happens to be free right now on Kindle!

I love this bit Travis emailed me about his favorite activity:

"Trying to convince my wife that I need a ninja sword. I mean, they wouldn't sell the things on TV if they weren't invaluable weapons for when gangs of ninja suddenly crash through your living room windows, swords drawn."

P.S. Here you go, Travis!

The Dog Aliens Series

All the Dog Aliens stories have happy endings. The dogs don't die. For dog lovers of all ages.

Dog Aliens 1: Raffle's Name

Clem is a big dog with a secret: he is an alien from outer space.

Every morning, he digs out of his yard to mine jex. He has a hard time keeping the little dogs from stealing his jex.

Unhappy with the digging, Clem's human abandons him in the mountains, where Clem discovers his talent for manipulating thoughts. This talent comes in handy at the animal shelter, but then Clem goes a little too far with it at his new human's house. In the process, he gets a new name: Raffle.

| Amazon | iTunes | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords 

Dog Aliens 2: Oreo

Oreo is a rascal dog. Adopted by a suburban family, all he wants to do is run away and hunt. Prevented from that, he gets his kicks by making trouble for his goody-goody adopted brother, Raffle.

But Raffle keeps saying they're both aliens from outer space.

At first, Oreo just laughs at him.

But then things get weird.

| Amazon | iTunes | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords 

Dog Aliens 3: She Wolf Neya

She Wolf Neya wants to start a new pack with Raffle, the dog alien who calls her into psychic visions daily.

But her pack would kill him if they knew. The wolves and the dog aliens are ancient enemies.

Raffle says he can't leave his humans, who would kill her if she came near. Neya decides to make Raffle jealous with another dog alien. But lone wolf Cholf keeps getting in the way!

Meanwhile, Lido spies and Baj flies.

| Amazon | iTunes | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords 

Dog Aliens 1, 2 & 3

Get All three novels in one ebook. BONUS: Free short story!


| Amazon | iTunes | Barnes & Noble 

Get an email if there are more stories in the series!

Kaxians Featured on Galactic Netcasts!

Listen to the radio show below! Dog Aliens is a series of 200-page novels for children aged 9-12, available in paperback as well as ebook. All my Dog Aliens books have happy endings, and no dogs ever die in them.


Free Sample!
Dog Aliens Short Story: Kaxian Duty

At three months old, Clem faces his first day of Kaxian duty with anxiety. What will his assignment be? His tail has a mind of its own, which doesn't help matters any.

Dog Aliens 1: Raffle's Name

Clem is a dog with a secret: he is an alien from Planet Kax!  Every morning, he digs out of his yard to mine jex. Unhappy with the digging, Clem's human abandons him in the mountains, where Clem discovers his talent for manipulating thoughts. This talent comes in handy when he finds himself in a cage at the animal shelter, but he goes a little nuts with it. 

Dog Aliens 2: Oreo

Oreo is a rascal dog who loves to make trouble for his goody goody adopted brother Raffle, who keeps saying they're both aliens from outer space.

Dog Aliens 3: She Wolf Neya

Available soon!

Neya’s body has changed. She has new feelings she doesn’t understand. She wants her own mate and a new pack with him. Now if Raffle would just ask her, already! She decides to make him jealous with Red, another dog alien. But this lone wolf Cholf keeps getting in the way!

Get notified about new Dog Aliens books!

 

My Kaxians were discussed on the radio!

It's an hour-long show, but the Kaxians part starts at 0:32 and goes on for eleven minutes! Listen here:

The Alien Invasion #99 - Poo Or Not

Galactic Netcasts' Anessa Alana Magnus Moyenes said some really nice things about my Kaxians on Wednesday, March 5, 2014. She talked mostly about my Dog Aliens short story, Kaxian Duty, but said she read some of Dog Aliens 1: Raffle's Name in order to fill in the details she needed in order to describe the Kaxians on the show's Creature Feature. :) 

A Google alert sent me this. I had no idea it was happening!

Vincent Trigili and his son like my dog alien books!

Please comment on Vincent Trigili's blog post and thank him for blogging my two free books, everyone. :) He appreciates that I write family friendly science fiction that his 10 year old son loves! This is the best feeling ever! 

Here's a recent photo of Raffle and Oreo with some Maple tree roots we see on our daily walk in the park. I find these tree roots beautiful for some reason. Of course, the dogs usually want to sniff the tree for scent messages and then struggle with each other to be the last one to leave their own scent messages. This line of Maple trees is a very popular scent message site for the local Kaxians. ;)

Do you like the new book cover concept?

This would be for Dog Aliens 2. Dog Aliens 1 would just have Raffle. I asked Midnight Whimsy Designs to somehow increase the contrast on Oreo so that the sunglasses show up better. She is going to see if she can find a Springer Spaniel or a Border Collie with white markings, or perhaps make his sunglasses shiny so that they show up better. The short story, Kaxian Duty, will have Raffle, Lido, and Skil as puppies in a spaceship but without the ties or sunglasses yet. Dog Aliens 3 will be the wolf, Neya, on the grass outside the spaceship, with Raffle in the distance in his tie and sunglasses.

Winter Stars!

 

I don't know if these pictures do it justice, but tonight it looks magical out. Something about the way the light

plays off the snow on the trees. Something in the way the clouds part just enough to reveal the winter stars. Somehow the snow clings to the trees in just the right way.

I didn't dare hope the camera would capture the mood, but then I saw these pictures on my screen. Am I imagining it, or does the one with the porch light look almost like something the late great Thomas Kinkade would have painted?  I have no idea how it came out looking like a painting. I used the timer and set the camera on the windshield. I love it, though.

The top photo doesn't show the stars, though, not in this small version, so I'm glad I shot this second look. I love that the stars are visible through the clouds. It's as if they are reminding us that Winter is just passing through and Summer lurks out there, waiting for its turn.

I just had to share this with you, I found it so beautiful.

Who's on First Computer Parody

Love this computer age parody of Who's on First that Mom just sent me in email! LOL!

ABBOTT:  Mac?

COSTELLO:  No, the  name's Lou.

ABBOTT:  Your computer?

COSTELLO: I don't own a computer. I want to buy one.

ABBOTT:  Mac?

COSTELLO:  I told you, my name's Lou.

ABBOTT:  What about Windows? 

COSTELLO:  Why? Will it get stuffy in here?

ABBOTT:  Do you want a computer with Windows?

COSTELLO:  I don't know. What will I see when I look at the windows?

ABBOTT:  Wallpaper.

COSTELLO:  Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software. 

ABBOTT:  Software for Windows?

COSTELLO:  No. For the computer! I need something I can use to write  proposals, track expenses and run my business. What do you have?

ABBOTT:  Office.

COSTELLO:  Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend  anything? 

ABBOTT:  I just did.

COSTELLO:  You just did what?

ABBOTT:  Recommend something.

COSTELLO:  You recommended something?

ABBOTT:  Yes.

COSTELLO:  For my office?

ABBOTT:  Yes.

COSTELLO:  OK, what did you recommend for my office?

ABBOTT:  Office.

COSTELLO:  Yes, for my office!

ABBOTT:  I recommend Office with Windows.

COSTELLO:  I already have an office with windows! OK, let's just say I'm sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need? 

ABBOTT:  Word.

COSTELLO:  What word?

ABBOTT:  Word in Office.

COSTELLO:  The only word in office is office.

ABBOTT:  The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO:  Which word in office for windows? 

ABBOTT:  The Word you get when you click the blue 'W'.

COSTELLO:  I'm going to click your blue 'W' if you don't start with some straight answers. What about financial bookkeeping? Do you have anything I can track my money with? 

ABBOTT:  Money.

COSTELLO:  That's right. What do you have?

ABBOTT:  Money.

COSTELLO:  I need money to track my money?

ABBOTT:  It comes bundled with your computer.

COSTELLO:  What's bundled with my computer? 

ABBOTT:  Money.

COSTELLO:  Money comes with my computer?

ABBOTT:  Yes. At no extra charge.

COSTELLO:  I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?

ABBOTT:  One copy.

COSTELLO:  Isn't it illegal to copy money? 

ABBOTT:  Microsoft gave us a license to copy Money.

COSTELLO:  They can give you a license to copy money?

ABBOTT:  Why not? THEY OWN IT!

(A few days later)

ABBOTT:  Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO:  How do I turn my computer off?

ABBOTT: Click on START.