(Read to the bottom because there are Amazon gift certificates on the line!)

I’m upgrading my newsletter to a new, more secure, system. This means that all subscribers need to reconfirm that they would like to be on my e-newsletter list.

If you are a current subscriber to my newsletter you should have received an email newsletter@stephanietyler.com today asking you to confirm your subscription. It’s super-easy—one click will do it.

If you don’t receive the email, or you want to update your email, or you never were subscribed in the first place, you can sign up here on any page of my site—there’s a form right in my footer.

If you have any difficulty, you can email my web team at web@stephanietyler.com with the specifics of your technical issue.

I don’t want to lose you, so as an incentive, four lucky confirmed newsletter subscribers will be randomly chosen to receive Amazon gift cards. I’ll give away three $10 gift certificate throughout April and a $30 gift certificate on April 30. The quicker you confirm, the better chance you have of winning!

Lonely is the Night comes out March 5th – it finishes out the Shadow Force series and provides a bridge into the new Section 8 series.  All my guys know one another, so for me, all my suspenses do connect together.  The excerpt is here – it’s all of Chapter 1!

Recently retired Delta Force Operator Reid Cormier utilizes his special skills by working black ops jobs all around the world with his former teammates and their wives. Reid’s career keeps him busy, but he can’t get his last job—or the woman involved—out of his head.

US Marshall Grier Vanderhall faked her own death without telling Reid of the plan first, and he couldn’t forgive her duplicity. But when Reid learns that Grier has been kidnapped by a dangerous ring of criminals, he drops everything and heads to New Orleans to rescue her. And while Reid knows that his skills make him the best option to get Grier back, he’s not sure if this mission will give them another chance—or get them both killed.

And now, I’m hunkering down to write, because there’s a HUGE blizzard heading my way.  Stay safe if you’re in Nemo’s path (and I don’t ever remember them naming a blizzards before?!)

Picture it – a kitchen on New Year’s Eve.

Me:  We’re eligible for a phone upgrade tomorrow – we can get our iPhones!

Zoo:  I don’t think I am.

Me:  We got our phones the same day.  Same account.

Zoo:  Oh.  Okay.

Me:  So I can either order them from Sprint and they’ll take a few days to come or you can stop in a Sprint store in the city and grab them.

Zoo:  Okay.  Why don’t you have them sent.

Me:  Sure.  You’re not near any Sprint stores?

Zoo:  (without a hint of irony and / or recognition)  Well, there’s a Sprint store in my building.

Me:

Zoo:  You want me to get them?

Me:

Zoo:  So I’ll get them.

Me:

Mom:  I’m leaving now.  And there’s water on the floor – be careful because someone could slip.

Me:  Someone, or you?

Mom:  Well, I could easily slip on this.

Zoo:  And then you’d sue us.

Mom:  (on her way out the door)  Parents sue their kids all the time…

So, remember this post?  Well, yesterday early morning (like 5AM early) Zoo says, “you know how we’re always like, I hope the boiler lasts?  It’s leaking.”

Me:  The boiler’s broken?

Zoo:  Right, the hot water heater.

Me:  *stares and wonders how that’s the same thing*  So it’s not the boiler?

Zoo:  No.  But it’s flooding in the basement a little.  Keep an eye on it.

Me:  *spending all day mopping up constant flood of water in said basement*

Cut to…

Plumber (later on that evening after replacing the water heater):  I know you said the boiler’s also doing something weird, but I didn’t hear any rattling.

Me:  It was doing it this afternoon.  And then, when I put the heat to 68 in another zone, this zone goes to 74.  And it’s the same zone that’s rattling.

Plumber:  Well, it’s this radiator that’s close to the thermostat that’s making that heat go up.

Me:  *trying to be logical* It’s been there for 6 years and that’s never happened.

Plumber:  *shrugs*

*Chinese food comes.  We have hot water.  No one cares*

Cut to…6AM this morning

Zoo:  Guess what’s leaking.

Me:  Hot water heater?

Zoo:  The boiler.

Me:  The boiler boiler?

Zoo: Yup. And there was this awful rattling sound…

Plumber:  I should’ve just slept here.  You need a new valve – it’s a 40 year old piece.  Oh, and there’s also this rattling in the boiler.  It’s because the zone pipe is corrupted.  That happens.  It happens because the water gets too hot…

Me:  And makes the heat go up ridiculously high.

Plumber:  Right.

Me:  It’s like, half the time when I speak, it’s dolphin sqeaks.

Plumber: *ignores me* These things happen in threes.

Me:  Thanks, Angel of Death, part 2 (because part 1 is my mother) – and this is the third thing.  Remember the giant leak in the tub upstairs two weeks ago that means we have to rip out the entire bathroom?

Plumber:  Oh, right.  Zoo yelled at me when I gave him the price for redoing the bathroom. *turns as he’s halfway out the door*  I’ve never seen a boiler pipe explode but check on it every couple of hours and call me if it happens.  Otherwise, I’ll be back later.

Me:

Because there are no words