Holo Writing

Authors Jacob & H.P. Holo

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Meet our new blessing, Dazzle.

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We had not intended to get a new cat. Not this soon.

For me, the loss of Nova was still so raw that the idea of adopting any new cat felt like a betrayal of her memory and all the joy she’d brought us. Like an ungrateful dismissal of a near-decade of blessing.

But this past Friday, my mom received a text.

See, my family has an unofficial Cat Network. None of us actually try to find cats, but cats find us, and together we get the cats to the places where they need to be.

In keeping with family tradition, my cousin’s boyfriend found an abandoned kitten on one of his construction sites. Cousin then went to rescue kitten … much to the surprise of her mom, who declared “You’re not getting ANOTHER cat!” (Cousin already has two, from similar origins. It’s A Whole Thing. 🤣)

But cousin had A Plan, and picked up her phone.

“I know it’s soon, but …”

It was soon. I told mom I’d think on it, and perhaps meet the kitten the next day since I was going to be in town anyway.

Then I showed Jacob the text.

We visited the cat that very evening.

And, well, you see the result. ☺️

The thing is, y’all, this cat’s absurd.

He cuddles.
He flops for scratches.
He squeaks.
He carries on conversations.

And he loves on sight.

There is so much of Nova in this random abandoned kitten that his every move makes me cry in her memory.

But it’s a happy cry now, because it feels like she had some part in sending him. Like she couldn’t bear to see us sad, even from her next life, and did what she could to help.

We named him in Nova’s honor, after the Dazzling Skies through which she fell.

Meet our new blessing, Dazzle.

To Nova, in her next life.

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I’ve long called Nova a serendipitous cat.

Appropriately, there was serendipity even in her passing.

We know we’re not the only ones grieving. So y’all need to hear the story of how she passed, and perhaps I need to tell it.

The past several days have been some of the worst of my life – largely because, Nova’s kidney numbers being what they were, there was nothing we could do except keep her comfortable and watch to decide when caring for her was no longer a mercy.

It’s the worst decision we’ve ever had to make, made even worse by the fact that her spirit was still as strong as ever. Her distinctive, wide eyes never lost their luster, and she never lost her loving, sassy expressions.

But she’d lost everything else.

Nova was a vocal enough cat that Jacob and I routinely carried on “conversations” with her, and she responded like she understood. She had a distinctive, delighted “prrt” she’d make when we surprised her with scritches. She had a ritual flop that she’d do whenever she wanted to be scratched on a certain part of her back, and she’d always do it during Jacob’s morning stretches, because his free hand was always perfectly positioned to give scratches. When Jacob sat down, she’d be in his lap in two seconds flat. (My lap was subpar, so she only sat in mine when he was at work.)

She’d done increasingly fewer of those things in the week leading to her fateful checkup.

The turning point was her tail flick. Nova has a distinctive tail flick that she does when she hears us say her name. She’ll do it in her sleep. It’s only for us. She does it with vigor even when she doesn’t feel well.

There came a point yesterday where she didn’t have the strength to flick her tail.

There were other, more conspicuous points, too – breath smelling like ammonia, cooling body heat, irregular breathing. I suspected that if we didn’t act that day, she’d suffer in the night from one of the dramatic results of kidney disease, and we wouldn’t be able to ease her suffering until the morning when the relevant services reopened. That’s no way for a cat like Nova to go.

But here’s where it gets serendipitous.

I’d sat down to write with her earlier that day, hoping to grant her what normalcy I could – and perhaps needing to have one last writing day with my cat. Once I suspected how the day would end, I burst into a hot mess of tears (a common theme of the past few days).

At which point – despite her weakness – Nova looked up at me with a distinct expression I see frequently on the writing porch. Only she knows what it means in her cat brain, but I interpret it as her “MA’AM, YOU SHOULD BE WRITING” look. And that day it came across as “Ma’am, I’m still your boss. My dying is no excuse for you to not be writing.”

I laughed, because well, it was so Nova.

But also, it felt like permission.

I talked to Jacob. He’d suspected the inevitability longer than I had, largely because Nova spends more time with him, and he could feel the nuances in her suffering before I could. He’s also the more realistic of the two of us, and I am an incorrigible shonen anime optimist who thinks I can solve every problem if I just yell and cry and fight hard enough to unlock my next power level. It works for most things. In cases like this, it’s my most painful trait. And I didn’t want my selfish optimism to be the thing that prolonged Nova’s suffering.

Thus, we made the appointment. We’d intended to have her put to sleep at home for her comfort (and because there’s only one thing in the world that she hates, and it’s cars), but the service our vet recommended wasn’t open that day. So we took her to her vet.

Which was another bit of serendipity.

See, Nova is beloved at my vet. A while ago, I learned that when they board her, she doesn’t get a little cat condo. If they have a free examination room, they give her the whole room. If any of the vets had a period where they needed to work in their offices, they’d let her hang out with them because they knew she enjoyed the company.

When we brought her in, every single vet and tech that we passed offered their condolences, and some cried. We weren’t the only ones losing her. They were losing her, too. We had people to grieve with, and Nova would be sent off by even more people who loved her – something that wouldn’t have happened if we’d gone with an at-home service we’d never used before.

But that was not the end of the serendipity.

See, I remember reading that sometimes, before cats pass naturally, they get a burst of energy so extraordinary it can trick their people into thinking they’ll recover. Perhaps it was that. Perhaps it was simply the change in environment that invigorated her curiosity.

But while we waited for the vets to make their preparations, she got it.

She explored the room. She sat in both our laps. She flopped for both of us. She prrted at our scritches. She squeak-talked as we spoke to her, in full conversations.

She flicked her tail every time we said her name.

We got to see every bit of the old Nova before the vets even returned to the room.

Again, it felt like permission.

Like she was comforting us, and ensuring that our last memory of her was a blessed one.

I held her in her blanket as she passed. Even then, she looked like herself. Her eyes sparkled so brightly, full of galaxies.

Jacob and I told her we loved her, and her last act on this earth was to flick her tail.

To know she was loved, and return it.

***

Our house is quiet now.

And I find reminders of Nova in my very muscle memory. Her stair step to our bed is no longer there, but my feet still avoid it in the dark. I went to my office to lure her from her nightly hiding place – the one she specifically goes to because she knows we’ll get her out by offering treats – before I realized she wasn’t there to hear the treat bag.

There’s not a single corner of our house she doesn’t inhabit.

But also – there’s not a single corner of our house she doesn’t inhabit.

She still lives there.

She just doesn’t have a body.

And, well, Nova was *always* more spirit than body.

A sad Nova update. 😔

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It’s been a rough day at House Holo, y’all.

I took Nova to the vet this morning expecting to hear about early-stage kidney disease, but it turns out that between her two most recent checkups, she advanced from “let’s keep an eye on it” kidney stats to Stage 4 Kidney Disease, the physical symptoms of which have become increasingly obvious in the past week, like an awful string of falling dominoes.

The single worst part is that her spirit is still there. She still flicks her tail every time she hears her name, and her eyes still go wide and brilliant whenever Jacob and I come to pet her.

But her body is increasingly unable to keep up with her spirit, such that Jacob and I will soon have a decision to make.

For now, Nova’s getting all the sunbeams and scritches she desires.

But I already know my next book dedication:

“To Nova, in her next life.”

We’re back at cons! :D

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Last year’s dearth of conventions left us starving to get back to con life, and now, we’re pumped to announce our first convention appearances since The Before Times! 😄

Scroll on to see if we’re coming to a con near you (and click their names for more info)!

  • Upstate Pop Expo – November 13th – November 14th, 2022 – Greenville, SC
  • FantaSci – March 25th – 27th, 2022 – Durham, NC
  • LibertyCon – June 16th – June 20th, 2022 – Chattanooga, TN

Amusing Stuff H.P. Finds When Doing Ad Research

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When I’m not writing, my main responsibility is marketing our books, and a lot of that involves compiling Amazon Ad keywords – usually by researching books and authors that are similar to ours, and by seeing what kinds of books show up in our Also Boughts.

This often leads me down some interesting Kindle rabbit holes. For example, there was a period where, for some reason, a lot of the readers who bought mecha action-adventure Bane of the Dead were absolutely devouring … harem lit. 😳

That said, here’s a collection of some of the stranger books I’ve come across. 😀

I haven’t read any of these as of yet, but many are so weird that they’ll probably make their way onto my reading list at some point. 🤣 Enjoy!

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We’ve reached peak light novel, y’all.

Reborn as a Vending Machine, Now I Wander the Dungeon (Volume 1) by Hirukuma

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I don’t even care what this is about. I’m 100% reading for the dinosaur hands.

Rexus: Side Quest (Completionist Chronicles #3) by Dakota Krout

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I’m a huge fan of honest, straightforward, unashamed titles, and this is absolutely that.

Making Monster Girls: For Science! (Volume 1) by Eric Vall

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I can’t decide if science has gone too far…or not far enough.

Maid to Order: A Catgirl Harem Adventure (Build-a-Catgirl Book 1) by Simon Archer

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Bizarre light novel titles are my favorite thing in the world right now.

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to A Starter Town (Volume 1) by Toshio Satou

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Ok, given how much I love animals and adorable things, I’d actually read the heck out of this.

Woof Woof Story: I Told You To Turn Me into a Pampered Pooch, not Fenrir (Volume 1) by Inumajin

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You know, given how much time I spend cooking and eating in games, I’d actually read the heck out of this, too.

Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill (Volume 1) by Ren Eguchi

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Have you read any of these little oddities? 😄 Tell me what you thought in the comments!

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Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.

Halfway Dead – Book Review

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halfwaydeadIf the tagline “Come for the waffles. Stay for the magic.” doesn’t grab you by the throat and plunge your eyeballs straight into Terry Maggert’s Halfway Dead then you, my friend…well, probably haven’t met the right waffle. Which is all the more reason to visit the good witch Carlie at the diner in Halfway.
Halfway is a town in the Adirondack Mountains “exactly halfway in the middle of something,” a liminal space that’s equal parts “tourist destination, pit stop for travelers, and a repository of more things magical than I care to think about” – which is why protagonist Carlie McEwan frequently finds herself occupied with the mysterious hidden world around this cozy town. Strange forces have begun to stir in Halfway Dead. When a dumb YouTuber gets himself lost in the unforgiving mountain terrain, he unwittingly stumbles upon one of the last surviving groves of American Chestnut trees, thus setting off a race to find the trees…which happen to be sitting upon an area rife with dark, dangerous magic, and home to an equally dark mystery in Carlie’s family history. Aided by a mysterious investigator and a vampire Viking hermit, she must venture into the woods to stop this magic – before it kills (again).
I knew I was going to like Halfway Dead the moment I picked it up – I mean, waffles and magic, what more could a girl ask for? – but I ended up surprised by the specific ways in which I liked it. Frankly, the plot was the least interesting thing about it – not because it wasn’t interesting, but rather because the world and characters surrounding it were that much more interesting. More than the quirky magical adventure that the tagline led me to expect, Halfway Dead reads like a love letter to the beauties and dangers of the Adirondack Mountains. This is heightened by the fact that Carlie’s magic is nature-based, equally as beautiful and equally as dangerous as the natural world from which it derives. The book is also clear that Carlie is not a storybook witch or a stereotype (“I’m a witch. A real one, not some amateur who reads things on the Internet and likes to dress up.”), and while I don’t know enough about the practices of modern witches to comment on the accuracy of the depiction, the practical, down-to-earth way in which her magic is presented has the depth of research-based writing. Maggert’s descriptions of Carlie’s magic are simply wonderful, with thoughtful attention to detail that ultimately builds to Carlie’s own evaluation of her skill (“For now, I treat my magic like a new pair of shoes. Someday we’re going to love each other, but for now we’re just trying to fit together comfortably”) and her treatment of both nature and things in general (“I take care of my things, because they return the favor”).
I could easily see a modern witch practicing in the same way that Carlie does (albeit without the same magical clout), and this is one of the hinges upon which the book rests.
The other hinge is the town of Halfway itself, and the mountains surrounding. Halfway is unique among fictional mountain towns in that it’s not a Deliverance-inspired backwater, but a cozy town where everyone knows everyone, the locals are charming, where Carlie’s magic is known and appreciated (though not by all and not entirely fathomed even by those), and its only real limitation (or perhaps one of its greatest strengths) is its sheer distance from everything else.
I’d go to the Hawthorn Diner to try Carlie’s waffles as much as I would to hear of Tammy Cincotti’s dating conquests, take tea with Carlie’s classy, fearsome Gran, or just to hear the servers talk their special brand of diner pidgin that names a half stack of pancakes after the shortest member of the staff and somehow makes raisin bread appealing by rechristening it “bug toast.” I would eat bug toast here until Carlie had to magic up a spell to roll me out. The town is a homey point of pleasantry buried deep in a mountain range that, despite its wondrous beauty, does not give a slice of bug toast whether the people hiking it live or die, and that’s even before one considers the magical forces at work in it.
A side note: One can’t fully appreciate this book without having some appreciation for the Adirondacks themselves – or really, any vast swath of wilderness largely untouched by human presence. To that effect, if you like to read books in themed clusters, Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods pairs excellently with Halfway Dead, both because of its similarly reverent sense of wonder and terror toward the woods and because it provides historical context that enhances certain parts of this novel. Halfway Dead clearly establishes that the pivotal American Chestnuts are severely endangered, the species nearly wiped out during a blight in the early 1900s, but a later read of A Walk in the Woods took my reaction from “Ok, so they found some chestnuts” to “HOLY SH** THEY FOUND AMERICAN CHESTNUTS! 😀 😀 :D” Plus it’s just a good read for people who like the idea of hiking but not the inconvenience of probably being eaten by bears in the isolated wilderness. But I digress.
If I were to fault Halfway Dead for anything, it would be how complicated the plot becomes at points. There are lots of characters and lots of different motivations circling around every facet of the conflict, from people who want to protect the pivotal American Chestnuts, to people who want to exploit the Chestnuts (both independently of the magical storyline), to Carlie’s family history surrounding that grove, to the aforementioned Viking vampire, who has his own complicated reasons for being in the woods in the first place, to the dark force at the center of it all, which has origins the reader never would have expected at the beginning of the novel. It all comes together nicely in the end, but until the reader reaches the end, it sometimes makes for a disjointed first read as one wonders why exactly the novel focuses on this new character or that new detail without a reason that’s apparent in the moment. (On the flipside, though, it makes the second read-through that much more entertaining.)
That said, its plot pretzel can be a bit exhausting – but the world in which that pretzel was tangling was so appealing that, in the end, it barely diminished the reading experience. If you’re looking for a cozy contemporary fantasy with just a twist of darkness, and a waffle-slinging witch who wrangles it all with panache, Halfway Dead is a must-read.
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Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.

Nova’s Having Hyperthyroid Adventures.

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While everyone else is social distancing from people, we’ll soon have to distance ourselves from…our cat. 😐
novasmile
Catboss Nova has been keeping things exciting this spring.
When H.P. took her to the vet for her regular checkup last month, we learned that she’s in the early stages of hyperthyroidism. 😞 Thankfully, though, there are a lot of options for treating it. With the right treatment, it’s fully curable, so needless to say, we’re going for that one.
This treatment, however, is radioactive iodine therapy, and while the vet’s going to send her home at safe levels, Nova’s going to be too radioactive for snuggles for two weeks after she returns. For a cat who thrives on snuggles, that’s going to be a big Do Not Like. 😭
In the meantime, Nova’s taking medicine to bring her thyroid back under control, and she is ALL FOR IT. 😆
See, whenever Nova has to take medicine, we sneak it into some fancy cat food to make it more appealing. This medicine has to be given twice a day, which means that she gets a little bit of fancy cat food twice a day, so I imagine her inner monologue goes something like:
“I have no idea what hyperthyroidism is, but IT IS AWESOME.” 😍

But that’s not the end of it.
See, Nova is what we like to call “selectively clever.” For example, she regularly tries to burrow under blankets…while still standing on top of them. 😐
When it comes to food, however, she’s a GENIUS, and she has figured out how to manipulate us so that she gets MAXIMUM TREAT.
The first week or so of her medicine, she scarfed it down without thinking. Now, though, she’s getting sneaky.
Now she waits until H.P. has prepared the Fancy Cat Food Medicine. She then eats it tenderly, carefully tasting for the pill, and gradually eats everything but the medicine. At which point H.P. tries to fool her with her favorite crunchy treats…
…and she scarfs EVERYTHING down without hesitation, treats and medicine. 😆
H.P. now has to vary her medicine strategy from morning to evening, solely to keep Nova on her toes.
We’re 100% certain that Nova knows what we’re doing, too, because when Jacob threatens to withhold her fancy food completely, she’ll eat the pill un-hidden.
Another strategy is to 1) hide her pill in a Greenie’s Feline Pill Pocket, 2) squish the pill pocket onto the back of a Greenie’s Dental Treat, then 3) offer the treat to her pill-side down so she can’t see the pill pocket.
For some reason, this one continually works without a snag…though it might be because Nova knows she won’t get fancy food until she eats the medicine snack, so the faster she snacks, the faster she gets fancy food.
Like we said, “selectively clever.” 😏
The important thing, though, is that she’s in good spirits and on her way to recovery, and that’s not a bad place to be. 😊
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Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.
 

Con Me Once – Book Review

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conmeonceRauch and Frank are two down-on-their-luck roommates who just want better lives – Rauch for the two of them, Frank for other people. It’s why, when Frank isn’t working at the local comic shop, he prowls the streets as the costumed hero Lambda Man, using homemade tools to do whatever small good he can around his rough Philadelphia neighborhood, whether chasing purse snatchers or driving pimps out of town. It’s why Rauch runs small errands for the mob, using those desperate acts to pull himself out of an even more desperate situation – but when he accidentally bungles a hit, he finds himself desperate to escape that world, too.
Both get their chance when a mysterious woman named Keira shows up with an offer: Join Heroes2B, Inc. Train to become a real hero. Complete one job at Las Vegas Comic Con. After that, they’ll have all they need to get out. The offer may not be what it seems – Rauch suspects it, even if Frank doesn’t – but it’s their one good chance to disappear, and neither wants to let it pass.
J.L. Delozier’s Con Me Once combines the fun of Marvel with the darkness of DC and the mafia drama of Scorsese. It’s a strange, unexpected combination (especially in light of Scorsese’s recent comments), but Delozier pulls it off in a similarly unexpected manner.
First, one should know going in that it’s not a comic book story so much as a colorful drama set in the trappings of several different cons, comic and otherwise. Keira, we learn, has the financial resources to support a truly awesome training ground for her heroes, complete with her own tech guru and local convention celebrity, Pinball – a Samuel L. Jackson lookalike whose inventions are as wildly inspired as the comics that did inspire them. Keira’s other recruits are similarly colorful. Ruletka, the unofficial leader of the group, is as serious a hero as the Russian Roulette from which his name derives, but is also really into baking and general hospitality, and the final member, Deliverance, is a hyperactive gunslinger on a mission from God who looks like a combination of Howdy Doody and Chucky.
Despite the motley setup, lighthearted comedy this is not. Comic trappings aside, the novel takes an unexpectedly down-to-earth approach to the heroism, motivations, and psychology of its heroes-to-be and the woman who assembles them. One of Frank’s formative traumas, for example, gave him a perpetual terror of movie theaters that borders on PTSD – which becomes a problem when a spontaneous movie theater crisis requires his heroism. For Ruletka, costumed heroism is a way to overcome the darkness of his past, but in the specific case of Heroes2B – and its incentives – it’s also a way for him to complete his physical transition to male. Frank is gay and Rauch is bi, but in addition to the typical stresses of working for the mafia, Rauch in particular has to put up with harassment about his sexuality from the soldiers above him – this in addition to worrying about Frank, who is not as cautious as Rauch himself, and is so eager to join up with Keira and do some good through Heroes2B that he doesn’t even consider the possibility that the opportunity might not be what he thinks it is. Then there’s Deliverance, who might actually be insane, though as yet untreated, and when one considers that Keira is a psychologist pitching Heroes2B as a study for her doctoral degree – and thus, you know, someone who should be concerned about that – suddenly her offer looks a lot less like the stuff of comic con….and much more the stuff of an actual con.
It’s still more comic book action than psychological thriller, though. The book starts with a wrenching murder and, though it takes short breaks to set up its vivid characters and setting, its momentum carries right through to a blockbuster ending that wouldn’t be out of place in any comic shop offerings. Even so, it’s more likely to be enjoyed by thriller fans who like comics, as opposed to comics fans in general. The novel name-drops a lot of fan-favorite references, and comic culture is central to the novel’s characters and conflicts, but it’s not a novel about comics culture, which means that if you go in expecting a love letter to comic cons, you’re going to be disappointed. (Even the climactic comic con is only a small part of the climax.)
References aside, the book’s true comic book spirit is found in its fast pacing, colorful characters and scenarios, and high action. That it was able to fit all this into a mostly believable situation and balance it with realistic drama makes it that much more entertaining.
If I were to fault it for anything, it would be that it doesn’t lean hard enough into its psychological aspects. Granted, the book wasn’t meant to be a hard-hitting psychoanalysis of its characters, but the story sets up the potential for truly intriguing backstories and then only goes into a few of them. I would have particularly liked to see what shaped Ruletka and Deliverance into the people they became before the story started – but then again, this was Frank and Rauch’s story, not theirs. And when it comes down to it, Keira’s own psychology background is just a door she opens to reach a different, completely unrelated goal. My only other complaint is that the actual conclusion comes so quickly relative to the action-packed climax that reading it feels like whiplash, and because of that speed, certain elements of the end (avoiding spoilers) don’t really have time to settle in.
Overall, though, Con Me Once is a fun, fast-paced, and unexpected blend of comic book mayhem and criminal drama.
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Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.
Also Note: I received an ARC copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Recipes on Top – Sublime Beer Cheese Soup (Mark II – Veggie Bomb)

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https://www.instagram.com/p/B6B5KKEBhrC/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Ingredients:

  • 1 lb smoked bacon, finely chopped
  • 1 medium red onion cut into ¼ in pieces
  • 1 package celery, chopped into chunks
  • 1 package carrots, chopped into chunks
  • 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 1 cup skim milk
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 4 oz grated white cheddar
  • 3 dashes Tabasco sauce
  • ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • ½ cup beer (preferably a dark Canadian), room temperature
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Bread of choice

Instructions:

  1. Cook the bacon in a large soup pot over medium heat until lightly browned.
  2. Add onions, celery, and carrots, and cook until the onion is tender.
  3. Sprinkle in flour and stir constantly for 2 minutes. Stir in milk and stock, a little at a time, blending well to ensure there are no lumps. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
  4. Remove from heat and whisk in cheese, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, and beer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Serve with your favorite bread. (I usually like French or Italian bread.)

Babble:
This variation of the Mark I came about because every time I made the Mark I, we basically ended up eating a whole block of cheese in one sitting – and while our taste buds very much enjoyed that, our guts did not. Also, when I cook, I generally like to use complete packages of whatever I ingredients buy just so I don’t have to store them (i.e. forget about them and find them moldy and mutating in the back of the fridge months later). 
Thus, to make a less overwhelming soup, I significantly cut the amount of cheese involved and then restored the soup’s heft with added bacon and vegetables. It’s far from a healthy soup – after all, we went from eating a whole block of cheese in one sitting to a whole pack of bacon in one sitting – but it’s certainly yummy as heck.

Recipes on Top – Sublime Beer Cheese Soup (Mark I – Cheese Bomb)

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https://www.instagram.com/p/B55T9zCHDz2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Ingredients: 

  • ¼ lb smoked bacon, finely chopped
  • 1 medium red onion cut into ¼ in pieces
  • ½ cup finely sliced celery
  • ½ cup finely chopped carrots
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 12 oz grated white cheddar
  • 3 dashes Tabasco sauce
  • ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • ½ cup beer (preferably a dark Canadian), room temperature
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon thinly sliced chives for garnish
  • bread of choice

Instructions:

  1. Cook the bacon in a large heavy-bottomed, non-reactive soup pot (cast iron Dutch oven works better) over medium heat until lightly browned.
  2. Add onions, celery, and carrots, and cook until the onion is tender.
  3. Sprinkle in flour and stir constantly for 2 minutes. Stir in milk and stock, a little at a time, blending well to ensure there are no lumps. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
  4. Remove from heat and whisk in cheese, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, and beer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Serve with your favorite bread (Try a French baguette) and top with chopped chives.

Babble:
If you follow me on Instagram, you know I love to cook. You know I also HATE SCROLLING DOWN THROUGH A MILLION ADS AND LIFE STORIES JUST TO GET TO THE GOTDANG RECIPE. 😤😤😤 Pro Tip If You’re Writing For Hungry People: NOBODY cares about your life when there’s the potential of food in the near future. Just sayin’.
That said, welcome to our newest blog feature, Recipes on Top, wherein I share my favorite recipes – at the top of the post, ‘cause ain’t nobody got time for the alternative. 😋
However, if you would like something to read in those small minutes when you’re waiting for your food to finish, I’ll include some thoughts on the recipe below the content itself. Sometimes it’ll be a cute story, sometimes a look into the process of developing the recipe – but always, it’ll come after the good stuff. ☺️
Now, for this first recipe, I have to give credit where credit is due: 
This one actually belongs to Jacob’s best friend, Joe, who gave it to us as part of a wedding gift – a cookbook composed of handy recipes hand-chosen by the man himself. By day Joe is a music teacher, but by night he’s the foodiest of foodies and much of the cookbook is the result of years of love and experimentation.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B58GOZPh0SF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
This particular recipe is one he based on the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup he tried at Le Cellier Restaurant in Epcot at Disney World.
We pondered trying the original when we went to Le Cellier several years ago, but then reasoned that this version was so yummy, nothing could possibly be better (so we gorged ourselves on poutine instead. And then got sick from Too Much Poutine. But it was worth it). 🥰

Holo Writing featured by Blue Ridge Public Radio!

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Whew! It’s been a busy month already! We just returned from Electric City ComiCon in Anderson, SC, and before that, we were at A.A.R.C. – Asheville Anime Regional Convention in Asheville, NC.
While we were there, Blue Ridge Public Radio reporter Davin Eldridge took some time to chat with us and used a bit of the interview in his feature on A.A.R.C.
HERE IT IS if you’d like to give it a listen (or read)! 😀
bpr
 

H.P. at Liberty Con 30!, Part 2 (or, FAQ: Where’d you get that…?)

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Last month at Liberty Con, I received so many compliments and questions about my table display in the Author’s Alley that it seemed prudent to compile all my answers in a blog post. So, without further ado, here’s my basic display:
libertycon display
And here are my answers to the oft-repeated question:

Where’d you get that/those…?

1) Bookrack?
I did not expect my bookrack to be the belle of the ball (er, Author’s Alley), but when one displays at a convention that is approximately 1000% authors, many of them indie, I guess that’s bound to happen.
Like most everything I own, this sweet baby came from Amazon: 4-Tiered 18” Wire Rack for Tabletop Use, 2.5” Open Shelves, with Header – Black 119362 (ASIN B018V6XAYM)*.
I’ve been using it for a little under a year and have been quite pleased with it. It’s sturdier than it looks, quick and easy to set up, and holds our 6” x 9” x 1.25ish” books well. At roughly $30, it’s not a bad price, either. My one complaint against it is that, for us, the length-wise fit is a little snug. It’s not tight enough to cause easy damage to the books, but enough to make one slightly nervous when a customer tries to put one back on their own. You’ll also want to keep the box it comes in for transport; though the legs are sturdy once set up, they flail like a muppet before set up.
kermit
*Unfortunately at the time of this post, the 4-Tiered version is unavailable, but then brief unavailability is almost a marketing strategy at Amazon. It’ll come back. However, if you’re looking for the 6-Tiered version, you’re in luck! (I have no experience with this one, though, so comment below if you have.)
2) Lollipops?
Now that we have 6 books out, these lovelies have been wonderful for expressing the gist of each title, and if the bookrack was the belle of the ball, the lollipops were its date.
I can’t take credit for the name; that brilliance goes to Dave Schroeder, but that’s absolutely what I’m calling them now.
As for where I got them: ME. I just whipped them up in Adobe InDesign, printed them out on cardstock, laminated them, and cut them out myself. If you’d like to make some for yourself, I’ve attached various files for your use below.
Blank PDF: Lollipops PDF
Blank PNG: Lollipops PNG
3) Banner?
I design our banner displays myself and have www.858graphics.com produce the finished banner. We paid a not-insubstantial sum for our 3’ by 8’ roll-up display (roughly $350 plus tax and shipping), but considering the attention it draws to our table, it’s more than paid for itself. The banner is huge but rolls up fairly easily and comes with its own carrying case. (I say fairly easily because you have to be extra careful about holding the banner straight when you lower it down into its base, lest it brush against the side and potentially damage itself. But that mostly comes down to user error, not production quality.)
858 Graphics also earns a special Customer Service mention:
We rush-ordered our banner for The Wizard’s Way close to Anime Weekend Atlanta last year, but a few days before the con, the box arrived at our local UPS center…empty, with absolutely no record or idea of where the banner inside had gone. I called 858 Graphics to check in about that, and they’d literally been on the case before I even called, printed and rushed a new banner at shipping cost only, all in less than 2 days, and such that it arrived literally 2 hours before we were set to leave for AWA. Now that’s service!
4) Bookmarks, Business Cards, Postcards, etc.?
I design all of our promo materials, too, but all of our printing is done through www.gotprint.com, usually on paper type “14 pt. Gloss Coated Cover (C2S) with High Gloss UV” for that shiny flair. They offer a huge variety of print products (and downloadable templates) at very reasonable prices, especially for the quality. We’ve never been disappointed with them.
5) Bookmark, Business Card, Postcard, etc. Holders?
Literally just went to Office Depot and grabbed something cheap-but-professional-looking and probably on sale. I couldn’t find the particular ones I bought on their website, but any business card holder without sides should do the trick. They hold all of our paper promo materials equally well.
6) Buttons?
I design our buttons, too, and have www.purebuttons.com produce them. We’ve always been pleased with them as well. Like Got Print, they offer detailed downloadable templates for you to use when designing your buttons, and they also print runs as small as 50 1.5” square buttons for approximately 55 cents a button (one of our previous orders). Cost, of course, will vary widely by button size, type, print run size, etc., but for author purposes, that’s a very reasonable price.
They also offer a number of other products – magnets, key chains, coasters, etc. – but we haven’t tried any of these yet. Again, if you have, comment below with your thoughts!
7) Book Easels?

Also Amazon: Gibson Holders Two Wire Display Stand, Set of 2, Black (6A-B) (ASIN B000RO6CEC)! They’re pretty simple and durable, so there’s not much to say about them except that they get the job done and fold up well.

8) Tablecloth?
Ok, no one actually asked about this at Liberty Con since I never had reason to use it, but I have been asked about it at other cons before. Here’s a pic of it in action at A.A.R.C. this past weekend:
AARC setup
It’s listed rather clunkily on Amazon as LinenTablecloth 90 X 132-Inch Rectangular Polyester Tablecloth Black (ASIN B008TLJZXK) and prices vary widely by the seller, but generally fall in the under-$20 range.
We bought it in 2014, and it’s held up through every convention we’ve done since without any visible wear. Folding can be a little awkward because of its rounded edges – and I do recommend folding, because just tossing it in a box results in a lot of wrinkles. The wrinkles do smooth out with relative ease, but the less wrinkles you have to smooth to begin with, the better your display will look.
Honorable Mention: T-Shirt?
Finally, it’s not part of my display per se, but I frequently wear it at cons and author appearances, and every time someone asks where I got it because, let’s be real, why wouldn’t you want a T-Shirt featuring a space cat shooting laser beams at the earth while farting a rainbow?
Laser-Eyes-Space-Cat-T-Shirt
Fortunately for everyone, this beauty is also on Amazon as Laser Eyes Space Cat T-Shirt (ASIN B00C1KAX0Y), though you’ll want to be careful which seller you buy from, as some are selling janky bootlegs, according to the reviews.
Whew! That said, I hope you curious minds find this mound of info helpful. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask away in the comments! 😀
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Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.