Ants have been part of my life since we moved from Colorado to Texas back in 1977. I had never seen a fire ant mound before the move, but it did not take long to develop a loathing of these industrious insects.

Sitting in the grass looks great in the movies. The reality in Texas and much of the south is that when you sit in the grass you’re just putting your delicate bits that much lower, closer to danger.

Nowhere was this issue more prevalent than at the small chunk of land we affectionately called “the farm.” Located just north of Brenham, TX, the main crop produced by the farm was ants, followed closely by yellow jackets, and humidity.

The farm (and its ants) was the inspiration for my first novel in the Census series. It’s been a few years since the first one was published. I’m glad to say that, courtesy of some downtime in oddly ant-free Portland, OR, I just finished the second installment in the series—CENSUS: What Lurks Beneath Book Two — Pacing

I also used this time to conduct another thorough round of edits of the first book in the series. The plot holes have been filled and smoothed over. The commas–whatever those are–have had yet another editing pass from someone who cares about such things (someone who could be enticed into a debate about the Oxford Comma, which just sounds like an overeducated bit of punctuation that likely could have received similar recognition at a community college). In short, the first book is now better.

I hope you enjoy both of the novels (all but the Kindle version of the second is available now with the Kindle version launch scheduled for tomorrow — pre-orders gladly accepted). As always, unless you’re in Portland, beware the ants!