January 2016 Newsletter
Vol. CLXX

Gentle Readers:

Happy 2016!!!!!! I hope you've started January feeling fresh and hopeful, the year a clean slate in your hands. May you accomplish everything you set out to do this year! Speaking of which, it's time for my annual review. It's up today on the Tao. Stop by and see how I fared with my 2015 goals. You may be inspired to make your own plan of attack for 2016!

How's this for a fun way to kick off the new year? I am so excited to share the wonderful news that NO ONE KNOWS has been named an Okra Pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Association (SIBA). I am over the moon and so honored to be included with this season's most highly anticipated books. Thanks, SIBA!

And since it's always nice to start the year with virtual clean slates: I've reorganized my website a bit. I (er, Amy) cleaned up the navigation, so it's prettier and a bit more intuitive for y'all to find your way through. I hope you enjoy it!

We had a major scare to start the year. Jameson the Thrillerkitten ended up in emergency surgery after ingesting (as we found out) four inches of christmas ribbon and a large chunk of green plastic, origins unknown. We're ready to have her home and healing. New Year's Even felt all wrong without her silly face, though her sister is enjoying being queen of the castle. Careful with your fur babies as you break down your holiday decorations...so, we move forward into 2016 with very clean floors....

Honestly, is there anything better to do in January than grab your favorite hot beverage (hello, Earl Gray, you sexy beast) and dive into a good book? I can help you out there! I'm happy to report that the first two Sam books, A DEEPER DARKNESS and EDGE OF BLACK, have been combined into a digital box set that releases on January 18—and it's only $5.99. And my latest short story on Two Tales Press, THE OMEN DAYS, is a dark, twisted, happy, sweet tale of love and redemption, set against the backdrop of Twelvetide (which we're still in the midst of for two more days!). You can find it for $2.99.

One of my favorite ways of keeping warm during the winter is, of course, drinking wine! To help you out, The Wine Vixen now features a "Budget" page, where all the wines are divided by price. It's never been so easy to get a great wine on the cheap (or find your Valentine's Day splurge!).

Are you having a hard time sifting through the noise to find your new favorite author? I have a solution for you! Our most recent guests on A WORD IN WORDS are incredibly smart and insightful people, and I think their books are worth a read. Check out their interviews here!

And, as always, you can get my latest news from my blog, The Tao of JT, which you can get delivered right into your inbox!

Events

It's Winter Hibernation time for me, kids. I'm nose to the grindstone right now, writing hard with Catherine on THE DEVIL'S TRIANGLE, Nicholas Drummond #4. I'm happy at home with the kittens until March, when I'll be at the Tucson Festival of Books for the very first time, and doing some touring for NO ONE KNOWS. I can't wait to see you there!

Get Thee to a Bookstore

(Oh, books. You've been so naughty lately. You've been elusive and fretful, and not wanting to participate when I sit down to read you. Ergo... I go back to the basics. So there.) Actually, it's been a pretty fun month. I've been listening to Victoria's book at the gym — if you haven't read her yet, you need to drop everything and go download all her titles. Why? She's pretty much so brilliant I'm considering camping on her doorstep and begging for tips. Put it this way, I keep making excuses to GO to the gym. And of course, anything Daniel Silva writes is my new fave. But when nothing else appealed this month, I thought I'd take a quick spin in Harry Potter's world. And I'm so glad I did. Gosh, these books are fantastic. I'm looking forward to continuing the series into the new year! This month's best:

THE ENGLISH SPY ‐ Daniel Silva
A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC (Audio) ‐ Victoria Schwab
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE ‐ J.K. Rowling
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS ‐ J.K. Rowling
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN ‐ J.K. Rowling
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX ‐ J.K. Rowling

If you’re on Goodreads, friend me, and follow along. I’m always interested in what you’re reading, too!

January Contest

The January contest is live now: enter to win a signed hardback copy of THE FINAL CUT, a 2016 calendar and a $10 online book store gift card to Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million OR iBooks (winner's choice).

Enter here to win.

January Recipe — Buckwheat Crêpes

"JT, why are you giving me a recipe with wheat in the title? You are supposed to be giving me gluten-free recipes!" I assure you, gentle reader, I've not gone (too far) off the deep end. Despite its name, buckwheat is gluten-free! It's not a derivative of grain; actually, it's related to rhubarb, and its seeds are ground finely to make buckwheat flour, with which you can make these delicious, nutty crêpes. So it's not a typo, unlike the month we added flour to the Rice Krispy treats . . . ahem.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 cups coconut milk
• ¾ cup buckwheat flour
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• Fat for greasing the pan (butter, vegetable oil, coconut oil, etc.)

Directions:

• Add the first five ingredients to a blender, and blend until smooth. (If you're worried about the batter being too thin, add one cup of milk to the blender at a time. But keep in mind, crêpe batter is supposed to be pretty thin!)
• Pour the batter into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and chill. For best results, chill the batter overnight.
• The next morning (or when you decide to make the crêpes), remove the batter from the refrigerator. Let it sit on the counter and come to room temperature, about 45 minutes.
• Stir up the batter. It should have the consistency of heavy cream or well-stirred coconut milk. If the batter is thicker than this at room temperature, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk.
• Set a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. When the pan has come to heat, add a tiny amount of fat—less than a teaspoon—to the pan and wipe it over the entire surface of the pan.
• Pour about ¼ cup of the batter into the middle of the pan, then lift the pan off the heat to swirl the batter around to cover the entire surface of the pan. You should have just enough time to coat the pan evenly with batter before it starts cooking.
• Let the crêpe cook for 1 minute, then lift up an edge with a rubber spatula. Flip the crêpe with the spatula. Cook for 30 seconds on the other side.
• Slide the crêpe off the pan and repeat the process with the remaining crêpe batter until they are all cooked. Serve the crêpes immediately.
• We like to fill ours with Gruyère and a little prosciutto. You might like sauerkraut and some scrambled egg, or even jam and peanut butter. Really, a crêpe is the perfect container for your favorite food. If you want sweet crêpes, add a couple of teaspoons of honey to the batter before you set it in the refrigerator.

If you're interested in printing out the recipes I have in this newsletter, I'm happy to tell you that they are all available in PDF form, in bright, shiny new packaging.

That's it from me! May 2016 be your best year ever. Y'all read lots, stay out of trouble, and I'll see you soon!

xoxo,

*You can see all of my previous recipes and download them here. (Don't forget: shiny new packaging.)