Dear Friends and Followers,

Welcome to my January Book Buffet, a monthly newsletter featuring updates on my publishing adventure, including my novels When Things Go Missing and This Sea Within. I also share reviews of books I’m currently reading and my thoughts on the literary and Indie publishing world in general.

Here’s what’s on the menu this month:

• Update on my new novel, This Sea Within
• Giveaways for When Things Go Missing
• Reedsy’s 20 Best Book Covers for 2025
• Liz Dexter’s Top 13 Fiction Books for 2025
• When Things Go Missing Review by Marie A. Bailey
• My reviews: The Dime and The Fox Wife
• Jimmy Fallon as Jim Morrison singing The Reading Rainbow

This Sea Within

Thanks so much to those who gave me feedback on the title and cover of This Sea Within as requested in a recent post. I needed to nail down the title and get feedback on book covers I like before hiring someone to help me design. With your help, I was able to do both. I decided to keep the name This Sea Within and market it as a stand-alone rather than as book one in a trilogy. This is what most publishers do when the second book in a proposed series is not yet available. I wrote it specifically to stand alone “with series potential.” And while I already have scenes written for book two and three and fully intend to get them published as soon as possible, who knows how long it will actually take. Man plans, God laughs, you know.

But I do have a cover designer now. I’m thrilled that Baris Sehri, one of the top three designers I’d hoped to get, agreed to design mine. What he needs now is the back cover description of the book and a couple of blurbs to go with it. I’m delighted that three talented authors have agreed to read my book and, if they like it, write blurbs I can use.

I’ve also been working on the book description—with a little help from Claude. Is that cheating? I used this AI program as an editor. I wrote the copy and asked him to improve on it. Pleased with his suggestions, I edited it some more and here’s what I have so far. Tell me if you think this would grab the attention of a reader. It’s a work in progress so may change before going to print:

She came to find herself. She stayed to fight a revolution.

Some waves you can’t outrun.

1972. While American students burn draft cards protesting Vietnam, rebellion brews in San Balanque, where a U.S.-backed dictator rules.

Lena Landon, a California surfer and anti-war activist graduates with a degree in journalism and wants to do something meaningful with her life. She feels the ocean’s restless energy pushing her toward some unknown destiny.

She travels to San Balanque—her estranged mother’s homeland. Named for the legendary Malenque who sacrificed herself to save the country, Lena wants to learn more about her heritage. There she teams up with fellow journalist Daniel to interview the freedom fighters determined to overthrow President Ortiz’s corrupt regime. The plan is to observe, not participate.

Then she sees Raoul — the rebels’ charismatic leader — rising from a jungle pool. Everything changes. That dark wave sweeps Lena into a life she never imagined. She joins the rebellion and stands at Raoul’s side as his “Malenque of Old,” writing stories to support their cause.

But transformation from pacifist to freedom fighter comes at a brutal cost: Lena confronts the moral ambiguity and harsh realities of guerrilla warfare—executions, kidnappings, torture. Raoul’s family sees her as a threat. And his ex-lover assigned to train her watches with contempt.

All the while, Lena guards a dangerous secret: her mother, the esteemed artist Dolores Machado, is married to the enemy—Ortiz’s Vice President and closest confidant.

As the revolution intensifies, Lena must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice for love, justice, and a cause worth dying for.

It’s a bit long, so may need to be cut. Also, am I giving away too much of the plot? What do you think?

Giveaway! Giveaways!

Who doesn’t love a giveaway? I have two going for When Things Go Missing. The first one is with Book Sirens, which won’t be lasting for much longer. In the meantime, they are promoting my book in two ads, including the one above.

The second one is on Library Thing and will start February 2. Both giveaways encourage recipients to write honest reviews and post them on the author’s preferred sites.

If you haven’t read my book yet, I hope you’ll pick up a copy. If you’ve already read my book and enjoyed it, please leave a review on as many of the following sites as suits you. It doesn’t have to be long. A few sentences or short paragraph is fine. Reviews are crucial to an author’s success. They get the algorithms moving and help others who may enjoy the book find it. Here are places to leave reviews:

Amazon Bookshop Barnes & Noble Bookbub Goodreads

20 Best Book Covers of 2025

I was so surprised and pleased to discover that the cover of my novel When Things Go Missing was listed in Reedsy’s 20 Best Book Covers for 2025. It was one of two literary book covers chosen. Here’s what they wrote about the covers designed by Owen G. and Richard L.

Literary fiction may not technically be a standalone genre, but that won’t stop us from including our two favourite lit fic covers on this list!

Author Deborah J. Brasket knew she’d found her foundation for When Things Go Missing when she discovered Colorful Architecture, a public-domain painting by Paul Klee. This presented designer Owen Gent with a unique challenge: how could he transform a piece of fine art into a functional book cover, while still honoring the spirit of the original?

Owen started with some minor tweaks to the original artwork, then added a few narrative-friendly elements like the whited-out house and silhouette. One fittingly elegant font later, and voilà: a book cover that bridges the gap between gallery and bookshelf.

Jackson Cleary’s Searching for Her is a novel about a deranged young man’s search for his soulmate, which designer Richard L. captured with an appropriately unhinged collage. Richard layers a number of disparate elements around a young woman’s face — vintage maps of Los Angeles, palm trees, streets signs, and newspaper clippings — to create a visual representation of the protagonist’s scattered psyche. The hand-lettered title scrawled across torn pink paper adds a raw, urgent energy as well.

I can’t thank Owen enough for working on this with me. When Things Go Missing is available at at Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, and other major outlets.

13 Best Fiction Books of 2025

Another delightful surprise! Book Review/Blogger Liz Dexter included When Things Go Missing in her 13 Best Fiction Books of 2025.

Liz read a whooping 243 books last year! Can you believe it? And among them she honored my debut. I was stunned and humbled to be included among so many extraordinary authors like Anne Tyler and Tove Jansson. I hope you will take a moment to look at some of the other fiction and nonfiction books she recommends.

“You don’t see her. You just see Mom.”

Review by Marie A. Bailey

Many thanks to Marie for this insightful review.

Note from Marie: I received this novel for free through a giveaway. Free or not, I always post honest reviews. Just saying.

In Deborah J. Brasket’s novel When Things Go Missing, Franny, a wife and mother of two adult children, leaves her family without warning or explanation. Franny isn’t really missing. The reader knows that, but in the beginning her family doesn’t. They are only aware that she still exists when she chooses to make them aware.

With her daughter Kay, it’s phone messages always left when Kay is asleep or out of her apartment. With her son Cal, it’s through strange and provocative photos that she mails to him. With her husband Walter, it’s the charges to his credit card that lets him know where she might have last been seen.

This idea of a woman, who has just turned fifty, leaving her family without warning and without explanation is intriguing. Franny starts with a “shedding process, opening closets and cupboards, ridding herself of everything she no longer needs, stripping away all that’s not essential.” That’s in the Prologue, before we even get to the expected reactions of horror, anger and angst from her family. On its surface, we all could possibly relate to a “shedding process.” Some might call it spring cleaning or even death cleaning. But what does it mean when one’s own family is stripped away, deemed “not essential”?

After the Prologue, Franny recedes into the background, and we experience Kay’s, Cal’s and Walter’s reactions in turn, each viewpoint moving the novel forward. We experience their frustration and anger and fears.

Kay is a headstrong, yet somewhat needy young woman, working toward a career in archaeology. She often annoyed me. Of the three, she seemed to be the one who didn’t want her mother to be anything but a Mother. As a soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend says, “You don’t see her. You just see Mom.” A bit ironic given Kay’s own fierce sense of independence, her determination to not let herself get bogged down by a man and marriage. Franny who kept the family together. Franny managed Cal so Kay didn’t have to. Franny was always there when Kay needed her. Until she wasn’t.

Cal is a drug addict who in turn uses and abuses his family. He’s older than Kay but just as immature in his own way. Yet, his immaturity stems not from being spoiled, but from being misunderstood and believing he’s always been unwanted: “Like from the day he was born, they were all waiting for him to move out again.”

Walter is a quiet husband and father, seemingly uninterested in his children and his wife. He has a temper, one that has scared all of them, including him, on occasion, which might be why he keeps to himself. At least until he too starts the shedding process.

How these family dynamics play out through the novel is truly fascinating and deeply insightful. I saw Kay, Cal, and Walter as people in arrested development, people who basically depended on Franny to do whatever was needed so they wouldn’t have to, so they wouldn’t have to grow up and figure out on their own how to become fully actualized human beings.

I believe that was what Franny was trying to do for herself, find out what she was really meant to be in the world, beyond being a mother. She could only do that for herself, just like Walter, Cal, and Kay had to do that for themselves, separately and by themselves.

While the novel ends a bit neatly, it also left me feeling uneasy at first. Then I felt relieved, sad, and, finally, satisfied. We learn through Walter, Cal, and Kay that Franny was a good mom and a good wife, and so the ending fits, even if at first you think it doesn’t.

When Things Go Missing is a story is that has lingered with me long after I put the book down. It left me wondering about the role we play in each other’s lives, the relationships we build, the relationships we might later wish we hadn’t started. It left me wondering about the degree to which we use each other and call it Love. It left me wondering about how co-dependence is often mistaken for Love. It left me thinking about how liking each other, respecting each other might be just as important in a family as loving each other.

My Reviews: The Dime and The Fox Wife

The Dime by Mark Paxson

I’ve been enjoying Indie author Mark Paxson’s blog KingMidget’s Ramblings for years and finally picked up one of his books. I’m so glad I did. I’ll be reading more of his work.

BACKCOVER BLURB

The Dime is a bruising but ultimately hopeful small town coming of age tale winding its way through a gauntlet of loss, disability, and abuse. A tragic car crash orphans two sisters, leaving them bound for life, one to a wheelchair and the other as caretaker. An abusive alcoholic dad and criminally derelict mom seed and nurture a paralyzing self-doubt in their son. This story follows three trauma survivors as they intersect for a moment in time, share their scars, and find comfort and resilience together in their paths to healing.

Ten years after their parents’ deaths, Lily, now 20, is a cashier at the local Five and Dime, a job provided as charity and pity so she can support herself and her sister Sophie, a socially withdrawn 16-year-old in a wheelchair. Lily desperately wants her sister to have a normal high school experience but Sophie is increasingly uninterested in the world. That is, until Lily catches a shoplifter and concocts a plan to help Sophie.

Pete is the new kid in town. On his 16th birthday, just another day to his parents, Pete decides to help himself to something from the Five and Dime. His plan goes wrong when Lily see his theft and stops him. Rather than put Pete in cuffs, Lily instead offers a trade – he can keep what he stole and she won’t tell, as long as he takes Sophie to the upcoming school dance.

MY REVIEW

What I love most about The Dime is what you see on the cover, this juxtaposition of dark and light depicting three troubled people outlined in black—one of them in a wheelchair — staring out at a sea of light. They stand at the very edge of devastation, a dark past, but their toes touch the light, that well-spring of hope. You can see how close they are. You can see the love. And you can also see the dark obstacles still before them. Paxson does not draw back from the darkness—he takes us right into the center of it. And he also shows us hope, the human connection that can lift us up and make us whole.

The story begins with Lily, a young woman stuck in a deadend job, desperately trying to be a mom to her little sister after their parents are killed in an accident that left Sophie, a youngster full of life, unable to walk. Lily suffers from survivor’s guilt as well as sense of hopelessness, feeling nothing she can do will ever help her sister. Blackmailing Pete into asking Sophie to a dance is a wild, reckless, last ditch hope that somehow, something will bring this girl back to life, give her some happiness.

Pete’s story is even sadder than that of Lilly and Sophie. He is severely wounded in his own way. His father physically and mentally abuses him while his mother who looks the other way and neglects him. He fights his own demons too, a depression that manifests itself as dark tentacles that want to pull him under. Despite this he has a good heart. He yearns for something better, brighter.

Sophie too feels helpless, stuck in a chair that confines her and limits her opportunities. She has no friends at school. She eats alone in the cafeteria. And yet she has a bit of spunk. When Pete approaches her to ask her to a dance, as Lily blackmailed him to do, he hesitates. He feels for Sophie, but also feels his own inadequacy. She is the one who end up asking him to the dance!

What unfolds from here is how these three characters end up helping each other see themselves and each other in new, positive ways. It’s a story of love, friendship, and found family. How they evolve and slowly bloom is not a straight-forward path. It has its dips and curves. But the ending will leave you feeling hopeful. At least for two of these characters. One falls off the page at the end. No one knows where they’ve gone, what they’re doing. Which makes me think there might be a sequel on the horizon. I hope so. In the meantime, I’ll be checking out some of his other books and hope you will too. You won’t be disappointed.

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

After reading Ka Malana’s review of When Things Go Missing where she compared it very favorably with The Fox Wife, another book she enjoyed, I was intrigued. I’m so glad she recommended this book. While it’s nothing like mine, I found it delightful. I was so taken with this novel I went searching for her first two. And guess what? I already owned them! Yes, they’ve been on my Kindle for years, unread. This tells you something about the state of my kindle, and my reading habits. I’m a collector of books.

I used to say when my bookshelves were overflowing (before there ever was an electronic book) that I had more books than I could ever read in a lifetime. I said that proudly. Whether true or not is another story. But judging from my kindle, I’d say if that wasn’t true before, its true now. Somehow that does not make me unhappy. It’s like owning a library. I can browse to my heart’s content and never run out of reads.

But does that keep me from buying more books? No, it does not. I just need a better way of organizing this library so I can find all the gems that have been neglected.

BACK COVER BLURB

Some people think foxes are similar to ghosts because we go around collecting qi, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking.

Manchuria, 1908.
In the last years of the dying Qing Empire, a courtesan is found frozen in a doorway. Her death is clouded by rumors of foxes, which are believed to lure people by transforming themselves into beautiful women and handsome men. Bao, a detective with an uncanny ability to sniff out the truth, is hired to uncover the dead woman’s identity. Since childhood, Bao has been intrigued by the fox gods, yet they’ve remained tantalizingly out of reach—until, perhaps, now.

Meanwhile, a family who owns a famous Chinese medicine shop can cure ailments but can’t escape the curse that afflicts them—their eldest sons die before their twenty-fourth birthdays. When a disruptively winsome servant named Snow enters their household, the family’s luck seems to change—or does it?

Snow is a creature of many secrets, but most of all she’s a mother seeking vengeance for her lost child. Hunting a murderer, she will follow the trail from northern China to Japan, while Bao follows doggedly behind. Navigating the myths and misconceptions of fox spirits, both Snow and Bao will encounter old friends and new foes, even as more deaths occur.

 The Fox Wife is a stunning novel about old loves and second chances, the depths of maternal love, and ancient folktales that may very well be true.

MY REVIEW

I’m not going to go into detail about this book, except to say that from the opening lines, I knew it was going to be a fun read. These lines give you a sense of the voice:

“Some people think foxes are similar to ghosts because we go around collecting qi, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking.”

Snow’s irreverently humorous, contemptuous, and egotistical voice kept me entertained throughout. Bao’s quieter, sadder, and more meditative voice made for a satisfying contrast. The book is full of intriguing characters and fascinating anecdotes about mystical foxes. And the whole book is like nested Russian dolls, full of one mystery after another. I raced through the book, wanting to unravel it all. Or, at least I tried to race through the book. But it kept going on and on and on.

Last night I thought I’d surely be able to finish the book in time to write the review because it seemed like everything was coming to a critical head. But when midnight approached and I was not at the end, I checked to see how many chapters were left. 21!!!

No, I have not finished The Fox Wife. I will keep reading because I really, really want to know how all those mysteries will be resolved. And because it’s just so fun.

The Reading Rainbow, A Reader’s Treat

Speaking of fun, I’ll leave you with this. Thank you so much for staying with me this long. I’d love to hear what you thought of all this.