I'm so sorry! (Plus a sale)

I made a terrible mistake! The mistake was trusting my formatting software.

You see, when I made the Gods of Fashion boxset, I included Penelope Pops the Question at the back as a bonus novella.

Or rather, I told my formatting application to include the novella. Sure enough, it made a section for the novella and put the author's note and acknowledgements at the back. What it didn't include was the actual story.

And what this means is that if you purchased Gods of Fashion before July 2, you are likely to have received a truncated version of the boxset.

Now, I am a perhaps overly cautious editor, but even I did not re-read the entire boxset before releasing it. It took a wonderful reader to let me know it was missing before I even knew there had been an error. Naturally, I a) explored the cruder reaches of my vocabulary, b) uploaded a corrected version to Amazon, c) asked Amazon to let people know the change had been made and they could download a new version.

Hopefully, everyone got that email from Amazon! But if you didn't, you can grab the new, updated version of Gods of Fashion by going to your Amazon store account. Once there:

  1. Go to Manage Your Content and Devices.
  2. Search for your Kindle book.
  3. If available, select Update Available, then select Update.

I am so sorry for the inconvenience, everyone. I work really hard to produce good quality books, and I hate to let you down with something like this. I've extended the sale on both Gods of Fashion and Heroic Women for another couple of weeks.

Also on sale! Ask Cassandra, for .99, as part of this Books for the Beach promo sale. All the books here are either free or .99!

In New Zealand, of course, a book at the beach will currently require a warm coat and perhaps a portable heater. I deliberately included my most wintry book in this one, so those suffering from summer can think themselves cool and refreshed, and those currently in my season can think "ah, yes, it is indeed very nice to lie on a fur rug in front of a fire in a cozy cottage." (In your most scandalous lingerie, naturally.)

Despite the murders and the fraught family history, I think Manny and Cassie are my coziest couple. They like each other very much, they want to make each other happy, and they talk sensibly about obstacles when they appear.

It's true, they rush the final love revelation more than a thoroughly sensible person might. But that's what happens when someone threatens to [SPOILER SPOILER]!

Vintage Style, NOT Vintage Values

It's the first week of the school holidays, and I have been sewing, reading, and socialising. I hit up the Lyttlelton Arts Factory for a double billed dance and comedy cabaret show (my review here). I also visited my amazing hairstylist Tash for a trim, and mentioned I'd been looking at a lot of vintage hairstyle tutorials recently.

"Would you like me to get out the rollers and put you under the giant helmet dryer?" she asked.

WOULD I??

Then she lent me a bunch of squishy rollers AND A PORTABLE BUCKET DRYER to try at home. Get you a hairdresser who.

Sewing-wise, I discovered a new-to-me vintage pattern maker, Tuppence Ha'Penny, who releases patterns in my cup and waist sizes. (Only just on the waist, but close enough to be an relatively easy alteration.)

Then I gritted my teeth and organised my fabric stash. This involved pulling boxes and piles from four places in my house (under the bed! in the spare wardrobe! in the corner of the living room!) and going through them, and this is why I'm not allowed to buy fabric until I make more space in the boxes.

Yes, yes, you know (or are) people who have much more fabric than this. The point is that this is plenty for me.

There's this thing where if you dress in 40s or 50s inspired stuff, people occasionally assume you espouse the dominant values of those times. I very much do not (except for "it's good to fight Nazis," an evergreen sentiment) but sometimes I feel like I need to wear a badge or something that reads "not here for your weird thoughts about immigrants or why you think modern women are trashy."

On the other hand, I love absolutely everyone who admires the cut of my coat or the sleeves of my blouses. Thank you! I made them.

What Kate's Reading:

  • More Anne Stuart! I'm really liking the multi-generational effect of the House o1f Rohan series.
  • Tuppence Ha'Penny also offers a collection of vintage magazines! I've been reading a lot of the post-WWII offerings in her archive, with particular interest in the vintage ads. Advertising has changed in presentation, but the messaging for women is still very much the same. MOTHERS! If you don't buy your child this, you are FAILING them! GIRLS! You're ugly! Buy this product to be pretty, or you will die alone! To hell with the lot of them, past and present.
  • My favourite cookbook author Julia Turshen's first foray into fiction, a lovely sapphic romance between a single mom city girl on a country summer break and the hot organic farmer who saves her from a flat tire. I am still not reconciled to the un-illustrated 831 covers. But I promise there's a nice story in here, even if this seems like a missed opportunity for adorable cover art.
  • Non-fiction audio listening: James C. Scott's In Praise of Floods. Unfortunately topical.
  • My ttrpg group played Thieves of the Tome, where you create a list of spells beforehand with chapter headings (or the first line) from a book you have handy. I used Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle, and thereafter, naturally, I read it again. Also, this excellent novella-length fic sequel.
  • I've just started Katherine Arden's The Warm Hands of Ghosts, and boy do I love a supernaturally historical drama where the characters are flawed, sympathetic, and deeply human. I'm 70 pages in, and I know this will deliver. So far, the supernatural is merely eerie, but I suspect that changes soon.

That Healey Girl is the weeklyish newsletter of Kate (Karen) Healey, a romance and speculative fiction author who lives in Ōtautahi, New Zealand and shakes plots loose by wandering along the river.