Sign up to the Newsletter

I love to share new releases, interesting news and special events with my readers, so please sign up here

The Eclipse Does anyone have to say anything but ‘the eclipse’? These spectacular heavenly events are rare, especially in totality, and that only makes them more precious. The Husband, a sometimes stargazer, and I drove up to a little town not too far from Columbia, Missouri, to see the eclipse …

Wow! This has been a busy summer! And it’s not over yet…

Most importantly, I sent four manuscripts to my editor – OH, DEADLY NIGHT, a novella for a Christmas-themed mystery anthology; WELCOME HOME, a sort of women’s fiction/gothic/thriller; an as-yet unnamed romance set in my beloved Palo Duro canyon; and THE MASTER OF MORECOMBE HALL, a traditional gothic set in contemporary …

An Intercontinental Appearance and a BOOK SALE

An Intercontinental Appearance… and a SALE! Okay, okay, I know I’m late with this, but just wait until I tell you why. I wanted to wait until it was over so I could tell you all about it. At my age – and with the life I have lived – …

Happy New Year 2017

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and a wonderful (and safe!) New Year. Our Christmas celebrations were quiet ones, just with family and food and trinkets. We are all so blessed that there is nothing we really need, and usually can’t afford what we would like (though if someone …

December Update

Notice something different? Yep – I’ve finally started a newsletter, and you can sign up just above this! It’s going to be an occasional thing, just when I have a new release or something truly newsworthy has happened. In researching doing a newsletter I subscribed to several, and a few …

Happy Christmas

How on earth did it get to be December so quickly? Of course, I’m still wondering how it got to be 2016! Time seems to be just zipping by! Anyway, I’ve got a lot of news to share.

First of all, I have finally begun a newsletter, please sign up. It’s going to be a casual thing, sent out only when I have a new release or something really exciting to announce. In the spirit of research I subscribed to a number of author newsletters and was astounded to see how often some send them out – believe it or not, some writers send mailings three and four times a week! How do they find that much to say? Or find the time to do it? Or find any time to write after doing it? No way – I’ll never do anything that over the top. If you’re interested – and I hope you are – there’s post above that will get you on the list.

Miss Morrison’s Second Chance

Second chances are often the best. Twelve years ago, long-time sweethearts, Verity Morrison and Bradford Pemberton, were torn apart by a vengeful act of Verity’s jealous sister. Refusing any other suitors, Verity has descended into spinsterhood at the family estate, her heart broken. After being disgraced and exiled to foreign lands, a now wealthy Bradford has returned to England in order to get to know his nephew, Charlie, better. He’s quite surprised to run into Verity who is chaperoning her niece. Their feelings are as intense for each other as always, but Bradford believes Verity long married and Verity believes Bradford is under her sister’s thrall. Neither bothers to correct the other. It takes a kidnapping, an unexpected rescuer, and mistaken identities to prove that true love does indeed deserve a second chance.

https://www.amazon.com/Morrisons-Second-Chance-Janis-Susan/dp/0997173246

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/miss-morrisons-second-chance-janis-susan-may/1123892397

The House In the Pines – A World of Gothic

THE HOUSE IN THE PINES, is a gothic novella is set in the woods of East Texas.

Hired to write the biography of elderly tycoon Henry Wolfe, Dianne Grayson happily comes to Wolfe House, a Victorian mansion set deep in the piney woods of East Texas… a house she has always wanted to see. Henry Wolfe is just as autocratic and overbearing as she expected, but no matter how he acts she is determined to stay there until she gets the answers she wants.

What she did not count on was his rugged grand-nephew and a startlingly handsome and attentive young cowboy, both of whom show great interest in her, nor how the mysteries of the past can affect and endanger the present day.

Once she discovers the truth, is it too late for her to save her own life?

Pamela Thomas says “I chose this book because I know Janis and have read several of her novels. There seems to be a little bit of Janis in her books and this one was no exception. This book is written so true to the Texas I’ve come to know and love for the last 30 years, it’s easy to slip inside of the Woods and spend a few hours with willfull women, wild weather and wicked. . . oops almost said too much. I enjoyed the read. ”

Buy the eBook now https://www.amazon.com/House-Pines-World-Gothic-Texas-ebook/dp/B01JSYOHFC

Prefer a paperback https://www.amazon.com/House-Pines-Janis-Susan-May/dp/1941520189

Halloween Newsletter

Hope you had a wonderful Halloween! I love Halloween – it’s really the only truly grown-up holiday in my opinion. For one night you get to be anyone or anything you want – the apogee of grown-up ‘play like’. I’m just sorry that grown-ups can’t go door to door demanding candy… my waistline, however, isn’t.

We haven’t had trick or treaters for years. One reason is that our front door is at the back of the house (yes, it’s a very unusual structure – doesn’t have any hallways, either!) and can be reached only by walking down a long and dark driveway. The fact that in the last window on the driveway I have on permanent display a 4 foot tall mummy doesn’t help. (Of course it’s a fake, darn it, but it’s a good one.) I used to put one of those battery operated tea lights in front of it because otherwise you can’t see it in the dark… it was a lovely spooky effect!

Well, here we are in beautiful Florida. Again.

Well, here we are in beautiful Florida. Again. The Husband and I came down to St Pete Beach about two weeks ago to attend the Novelists Inc. conference – the best conference for working professional writers in the world – and enjoyed it thoroughly. More information about that in a …

Rocks!

This has been the most entertaining weekend ! The Husband is a mineral collector, and our house is full of mineral specimens, neatly mounted on plexiglass cubes in lighted cases. While I like and admire his collection, I prefer my mineral specimens faceted and mounted in precious metals for wearing, …

The House of the Pines is released

It’s hot here – blisteringly, uncomfortably hot. Of course, it usually is this time every year (it is summer, after all!) but as we had a lovely cool spring it just seems hotter. I vote that Willis Carrier, the man who invented air conditioning, be immediately voted a saint! Needless …

Self-Publishing: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Janis is speaking at Dallas MWASW group Self-Publishing: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Self-publishing can be very freeing and lucrative for some, but it isn’t for everyone. Janis Patterson learned how to self-publish the hard way and is happy to share what she knows. Explore the ins and …

Okay, this has been a wonderful couple of days…!

Seldom in my writing career has so much wonderful stuff happened at once!

By the time you read this, I will have finished my Janis Susan May East Texas-set gothic for the A World of Gothic novella serial anthology. The title is still in flux, but I promise to tell you as soon as it’s finalized.

Now for the jaw-dropping stuff –

It has been a busy time around here…

I’m working feverishly to finish my as-yet-untitled gothic novella – set in East Texas, of all places – for the serial anthology called A World of Gothic. We’re a bunch of authors who love gothics, so we all got together and are releasing a novella a month. Have no idea …

April Update

Whew! The last two weeks have been dizzying! First, The Husband and I went to Las Vegas. We had won a trip there (three nights in a casino hotel, tickets to a show, a tour, some gambling money and a couple of free drinks) and it had reached the …

What people are saying about a Killing at El Kab

Omg… awesome, brilliant… i could go on… The way Ms Janis describes the police etc and ahhh ill ruin it if i dont shut up. Please tell her it is brilliant.. the descriptions are rigdy didge!! I was laughing.. but i dont want to say at what.. Mia – from …

The Unexpected Benefits of a Passion for Research

I was recently asked to contribute Marilyn Meredith’s blog here is the article for my readers.

For far too many writers the word ‘research’ brings up unpleasant images of slaving away in dusty library stacks taking notes or endless hours at the computer tracing down esoteric and difficult to find sites. Some love both, but most don’t. Far too many novelists don’t like research at all, which is a pity, both for the reader and for the writer.

Research can bring new knowledge, new friends and some fantastic adventures. When I was doing THE EGYPTIAN FILE (written by my Janis Susan May persona) I needed some exact information about a graffito in a tomb at the necropolis of El Kab. I had been there some years earlier (which is how I found out about the graffito) but could not remember in which tomb it had been.

March Newsletter

This Is It!

I’m proud to announce the official release day for A KILLING AT EL KAB is March 20^th. I’ve just ordered the proofs for the print edition and will put the electronic version for pre-sale on Amazon just as soon as I can. And figure out how to do it… Anyway, the pre-sale price for the ebook will be a bargain at $2.99! On release day it will go up to $4.99, which is still a bargain.