The year is fast approaching its end and the Christmas festivities are starting, our very own Secret Santa is well underway with many wonderful gifts being posted in Winter Wonderland for every one to enjoy.

November was a relatively quiet month on Circle of Crones with many of our favourite authors taking part in NaNoWriMo, where the authors involved attempt to write 50,000 words in a single month. If you haven’t come across NaNoWriMo before you can read all about it in the latest addition of eMuse, along with stories, articles, poems, art and reviews. They’ve also collected some outstanding fiction including powerful and emotional pieces about life’s harder moments and a lighter memoir that will make you chuckle.

October turned out to be a very exciting month; our very own Alpha3760 was published and she has several others in the pipeline. Alpha has always been one of my favourite authors and her story Access Denied takes us to a world where ‘the Committee’ controls everything; food, healthcare, housing, information and even love. This story has everything – mystery, intrigue, tragedy, passion and romance. This is a real page turner that I highly recommend. You can also read an interview with Alpha and a review of Access denied at eMuse.

October also saw the end of our last review-a-rama. Congratulations to RainLady and Pip who posted the most eligible reviews during the contest. Reviews are really the lifeblood of an archive site like this and their value to the authors that receive them can be incalculable, so if you haven’t posted any reviews lately or you are just looking for another good read, where better to start than RainLady and Pip who are not just wonderful reviewers but wonderful story tellers. An honourable mention must go to steve34 and Lady Grey who also posted many many wonderful reviews during review-a-rama and of course are very own review queen – Llewellyn McEllis, who has posted well over a thousand reviews and encouraged so many authors over the years. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. From all the Staff at Crones.