For Americans who sacrificed for my freedom.

…couples!!

The manuscript for Lost Rochester, Minnesota is finished, submitted and moved on to production. Yeah! Lots of back and forth stuff yet with editing, layout, proofing, etc., but it’s progressing forward. The plan is for release in January/February 2018. No exact date yet. Stay posted. This is a historical nonfiction about lost buildings, businesses and sites. I’ve focused mainly on late 1800s and early 1900s because that’s what I’m most interested in. However, there’s so much more that could be included. Volumes worth!!

Check out my publisher’s website for regional historical nonfiction books!

www.arcadiapublishing.com

Pick up the current issue of Rochester Women magazine to read about Pandora’s Passion (and me!). Page 45. Thanks to Catherine H. Armstrong for the great writeup!

www.rwmagazine.com

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

(Editorial on the front page of the the New York Sun in 1897)

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon
115 West Ninety Fifth Street

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.

We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

—————–

“Is There a Santa Claus?” reprinted from the September 21, 1897, number of The New York Sun.

I’m pleased to announce that my second romance with Satin Romance (an imprint of Melange Books) will be published sometime in Spring 2017! Tentative plans are for a release in April/May.

I’m so excited! It’s my first published historical romance. Historical romances were my first love and I have several waiting on the back burner. This one is called Miss Evergreen’s Plum Pudding Surprise and it is set during Christmas in the England’s Regency period. Jane Austen’s era! The anthology’s working title is Food and Romance Go Together.

Stay tuned. I’ll release more information when I know more.

Check out other great books at Satin Romance!

http://www.satinromance.com

Check out my article about the Rochester MN Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Chapter in Rochester Women magazine (pages 18-19). I love writing romantic fiction, but I’m also passionate about history and once in a while write a nonfiction article.

Reviewer indicates she’s interested in learning more about Rora and Theus. Perhaps a prequel or sequel? Hmmm….

http://www.longandshortreviews.com/?s=Amy+Hahn

Magical Nanny University graduate Wednesday is excited about her first assignment at Dr. Thomas Anderson’s home. Since the death of his wife, Tom has buried himself in his work. He has little time for his three daughters. Wednesday’s first goal is to make Tom see how important it is to spend time with his little girls. Secondly, she needs to get rid of his girlfriend (with a little magic of course!) who hasn’t a shred of compassion or love for his children. Third, she wants to bring laughter and fun into his life. But Wednesday never plans on falling head over heels in love with Tom. It’s forbidden for her kind to love a mortal. How will she ever explain she’s a cauldron-boiling witch to the scientific doctor and that she has to leave him and his girls forever when all her goals are achieved?

Available @ Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Wild Rose Press

Better World Books

http://www.betterworldbooks.com

Books at great deals. And every purchase helps fund libraries and literacy.