Jacksonville Judas' beloved hero, Wade Nevlin, has retired to Key West to forget his painful past in Jacksonville, rife with loss. After a friend introduces him to AA, Wade fulfills his dream of starting a charter boat company aboard the Beverly, named after his cherished, late wife. His new life includes a cadre of new friends, a charming cottage and his beloved dog, Sandy, Then he meets the mysterious, Melina, a stunning, younger woman who discovers a dead body in the front of her condominium after he accompanies her home one night. Who shot the man? And should Wade worry when he discovers the dead man is José Cisneros, a business partner of Melina's future ex-husband? Wade simply cannot fathom that such a woman could be involved in a homicide. As Wade falls further for this beguiling woman, the murder investigation reveals her close ties to the victim. As a menacing stranger stalks the couple, dangerous incidents follow that include the poisoning of his precious dog. An increasingly desperate Wade must separate his growing feelings for Melina from a trail of incriminating evidence revealed during the investigation. With a killer on the loose and a dangerous man stalking his loved ones, Wade has no time to waste. Is Melina too good to be true? Or will she be the killer's next victim?

If you have recently participated in NaNoWriMo, you've probably already heard that NaNoWriMo has officially stated they are shutting down the NaNoWriMo organization. I'm not going to go over everything here, but Literary Hub has a good breakdown of it and links to much rel evant information. What was NaNoWriMo? For those of you that didn't know. NaNoWriMo was short for Na tional No vel Wri ting Mo nth. It started in 1999 as a silly little challenge to try and write a 50K word novel in 30 days. Then in 2006 it became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and grew into a worldwide phenomenon. It also expanded to offer other challenges throughout the year, but the big one was the official November challenge, which often had hundreds of thousands of writers participating in NaNoWriMo (November) or Camp NaNoWriMo (April and July). This worldwide growth also spurred the creation of local writing groups and communities. We often had our own NaNoWriMo group here at the guild during November, and that tradition is likely to continue, we will just no longer be able to use the NaNoWriMo site. So what's the alternative? Several alternative tracking sites started up when NaNoWriMo started having problems in 2023 and I have checked many of them out. The one I liked the best is a FREE app called TrackBear . I've been using it almost since it came out (early beta user) and I must say it's pretty solid and a great app even just for general writing. It's almost identical to the NaNoWriMo dashboard and can even IMPORT your NaNoWriMo history, so for us veteran WriMo's with years of history, we can preserve it and continue on as normal. It also allows us to setup our own writing competitions and create groups to track everyone's progress, so we'll likely use it for any DVWG events. So what is TrackBear? TrackBear  is essentially a habit-builder for writers. Progress on a project can be tracked, interchangeably, by “words, chapters, pages, scenes, lines, or time.” You can even import your old projects from NaNoWriMo into TrackBear! The platform also explicitly states that “TrackBear is designed with privacy in mind and will always be free to use. TrackBear isn’t a social network, a chat platform, or AI-powered, and there is no premium tier or pay-to-play. There are no ads, no third-party tracking, and no data harvesting. It’s just a place for you to track your writing.” Sign onto TrackBear to IMPORT and SAVE your NaNoWriMo history!

Meeting called to order by President Michelle Bassett at 6:38 pm Pacific.

Meeting called to order by President Michelle Bassett at 7:32 pm Pacific.

A Whisper House Press Horror Anthology From the pages of Whisper Heights Independent School Panel's newsletter to the streets of a zombie-apocalypse'd hellscape, Year One is a quick and merciless jaunt through whatever counts as mundane to the poor sods who reside within its pages-those characters to whom we relate all too well. In the first of a planned series of yearly efforts, Whisper House Press has gathered in this short volume the exceptional work published on its website over the past twelve months. In these pages, we welcome to the Whisper House stage C.J. Erick, Jonathan Reddoch, HFJ Ballard, Val Chatindo, J. Niera, Jamie Janazian, Paul Lonardo, Jen Mierisch, Liam Hogan, Theodore Hill, and Erin Dawkins.

Meeting called to order by President Michelle Bassett at 9:57 am Pacific and presided over by Vice President Kevin Kindle. A quorum was reached with 12 members in good standing and 5 guests. Annual DVWG Election Results: For the position of President, Michelle Bassett was nominated by Angela Little, seconded by Liam Bruce. Michelle accepted the nomination. With no further nominations, Kevin called for a voice vote. All present members in good standing vote “aye” by show of hands. Motion approved. Michelle informed the membership that the Board of Directors voted to amend the Guild’s bylaws, eliminating the term limit provision, due to difficulty in finding volunteers to run for open board positions. For the position of Treasurer, Jessica Bruce was nominated by Aedan VonWeckmann, seconded by Greg Porterfield. Jessica accepted the nomination. With no further nominations, Kevin called for a voice vote. All present members in good standing vote “aye” by show of hands. Motion approved. Meeting Adjourned at 10:04 am Pacific.

A Compilation of Stories, Poems, and Musings Animals are an integral part of the world we live in. Some share our homes as welcomed guests. Others as unwanted intruders. Still others coexist in the wild, separate yet connected at such deep levels that we can't help but pause whenever they're encountered. This eclectic compilation celebrates animals through stories, poems, and musings drawn from the creative wellspring of profound experiences, personal memories, and pure imagination. “MENAGERIE is a delight! Stories and poems about animals told from so many unique and insightful perspectives. Each is a gem and collectively they are a treasure trove! Highly recommended!” Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Red Empire and NecroTek "An eclectic menagerie of tales and poetry. Some will bring you to tears, while others will leave you with a heart filled with joy. It's time to explore."
 Lisa Diane Kastner, Author, Editor, and Founder of Running Wild, LLC. "Menagerie is a special book that will earn its way onto your shelf of much-handled favorites. In an eclectic collection of prose and poetry, anyone who has loved or lost a pet will find a contribution that echoes in their heart." 
Trond Hildahl "It's wonderful to see a writing group that not only encourages its writers, it provides an opportunity for them to showcase their work for others to see. And as a poet, I'm impressed that there are 14 poems in this collection, each one about a different  part of the menagerie. I especially appreciated Blessed Mercenary. And Roommates made me smile. Well done!" 
C. H. Lindsay, poet, writer, book lover.

An Adventure of Faith and Freedom When Titus refuses to deny his Christian faith, Roman persecution destroys his family and condemns him to a brutal life in the copper mines of northern Italy. Underground, surrounded by despair and danger, he must choose between hatred and hope, revenge and redemption. From a mine collapse to an emperor’s audience hall, Titus’s journey spans the Roman Empire during Constantine’s transformative reign. Alongside Tribune Felix, he discovers that true freedom comes through forgiveness, not force. Authentic historical details bring ancient Rome to life while timeless themes of faith, friendship, and courage inspire modern readers. This gripping adventure combines accurate historical research with compelling storytelling. Readers will witness early Christian persecution, experience Roman culture, and walk through Constantine’s palace while following Titus’s transformation from broken slave to Roman citizen. An unforgettable tale where archaeological accuracy meets heart-pounding adventure, proving that faith can triumph over the darkest circumstances and that God’s love never abandons His people.

Bound by blood and ancient markings, strangers forge a shared destiny. Twenty years ago, Qrodin found himself abandoned in an unfamiliar city after his mother was murdered and his twin was abducted. Unable to forget the past, he never stopped looking for his sibling—or for the killer who stole everything from him. Meanwhile, Qat woke up on a pirate ship at the age of eleven with no memory and no family. The only way forward was learning to follow in the footsteps of the captain. After all, becoming an assassin is easy when you have nothing to lose.When the estranged twins find themselves in the same tavern twenty years later, Qat is brought face-to-face with a missing past, and Qrodin ends up with more questions than answers about the mystery surrounding their mother’s death. To unravel the events of that night, they need each other. The only problem is, one of them needs to get out of town fast. The two hitch a ride with a traveling party—a mysterious elf with a past she can’t talk about and magic she can’t control, a monk who only speaks with his hands (and his fists), a dwarf with a battleaxe and an attitude; and a sweet little archer, who may be tiny, but has a knack for cooking up just what they need. As they race across the country, they discover a shared, powerful legacy—that of the Drakkaen Nakkla. The quest to outrun pasts, unravel ancient mysteries, and embrace their true purpose has only just begun.

In the near future, we make first contact with aliens. Not because they arrive in spaceships, but because they’ve been here for years—we just didn’t know it. Mark Phoenix, an old cowboy looking to retire out in the country after losing his business and his marriage, discovers the aliens while working on his friend’s ranch in the Rocky Mountain foothills of Central Alberta. Fate, however, has other plans for Mark—plans put in motion nearly a century earlier—his retirement is not part of the plan! The aliens, a group of female trade representatives that had crashed on their way to the home world of the Federation, use some alien technology from the crashed ship to restore his youth and virility. This inadvertently starts a chain reaction as government agencies take an interest in the aliens and those they’ve been in contact with—as does their Federation! Join Mark and his harem of sexy aliens as they embark on an epic adventure that alters everything we thought we knew about life in the universe—Earth may never be the same. Not exactly a spaghetti western, but there is spaghetti!

Mark learns the ropes of being a king to billions. Join him and his crew on their adventure as they expand their universe and learn some secrets of life in the universe, while searching for the bastard Prince! The King of Atlantis picks up where The Cowboy and the Aliens left off! You must read that book first!

Your typical boy meets girl story, except the girl turns out to be a witch that casts spells for the euphoria. She transforms the unsuspecting boy into a wolf and, by either accident or design, not a normal wolf! No! A werewolf that turns human on the full moon! So, reverse-werewolf? Join Jake as he meets her other victims and they conspire to break the witch’s spell. Making friends isn’t easy when you’re the big, bad wolf!