Release day!

September 4, 2015September 4, 201517 Comments

That’s right, my lovelies, it’s release day at long last! Starting today, you can get A World of Their Own to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part.

Oddly enough, those last two bits have had a profound impact on the making of this book. A World of Their Own is dedicated to great friend, fabulous author, and beating dragon heart of the Alliance of Worldbuilders, Lindsey J. Parsons, who died unexpectedly in January 2014. All proceeds from this book will be donated to the World Literacy Fund.

So go on, buy a copy for yourself, your friends, your family, even that baby down the street. Literacy is not just a privilege – it’s a right.

“A home without books is a body without a soul.” –Marcus Tullius Cicero

Pick up your copy today, available in paperback (Amazon and Amazon UK) and e-book (here and here), and have a great weekend! 🙂

Can you believe it?

August 14, 20156 Comments

It’s been almost a whole week since my last post! Hard to believe the week is almost over already.

Today, to make up for my absence, I’d like to share the first couple lines of my current WIP (no, not from The Lokana Chronicles), a short story I’m working on for the upcoming Ink Slingers League’s next anthology.

It’s a ghost story, but I don’t have a title for it yet. Heck, I don’t even have an ending for the story yet, or even a middle, which means I’ve got my work cut out for me to get it into shape by the submission deadline. But this idea’s been rattling around in my head all summer, and I’m really starting to get excited about it.

It’s the stuff of urban legends (and Saturday morning cartoons): a long-lost relative has died, leaving you part of her fortune. But there’s a catch.

There’s always a catch.

Very, very, VERY loosely based on something that actually happened to me, I love this story idea. I used to read all the ghost stories I could get my hands on as a kid, but I haven’t really written very many of them. This is going to be a fun challenge.

So, tell me – what do you think of my opening? And what kinds of books did you love as a kid?

Have a great weekend, folks!

It’s almost here!

August 9, 2015September 19, 201524 Comments

Promo_Banner_AWB_Anthology

That’s right, the release of A World of Their Own is fast approaching! After years of writing and editing and planning and editing and arting and editing one more time, I’m proud to announce that the Alliance of Worldbuilders has, at long last, chosen a release date for our first anthology. Available in print and e-versions, you can get your copy on September 4.

This book is chock full of stories set in all kinds of fantastic places and featuring all kinds of creatures. It’s got angels, dragons, vampires, dwarves, and much, much more. You won’t want to miss this!

All proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the World Literacy Foundation in honor of our fallen comrade, Lindsey J. Parsons. She was a fantastic author, archer, artist, and friend, and we miss her dearly.

We’re planning all sorts of fun things for the release, including a Facebook party that you can join now, so stay tuned!

Photo 365 #340: Where everybody knows your name

July 13, 2015October 7, 20154 Comments

Mmm, reuben and chips, omnomnom!

Writing, of late, has been an odd sort of chore. I love to write – I yearn to write – but lately when I find myself alone with my thoughts and a pencil, I find that the words won’t come. They used to spill forth from my fingers like fat drops of rain from a heavy summer storm cloud. They used to burst froth from my pencil like rushing floodwaters through a broken dam.

But now?

Now, I find myself extracting each precious word like a miner with a gem. Or, more accurately, like a dentist with a particularly stubborn tooth. Bubbles’ first tooth, with its inch-long root and insistence on clinging to his lower gum, springs instantly to mind.

But that’s if the words come at all.

Today, for a change of pace…

Convulsion

May 12, 2015May 12, 20157 Comments

Loaded leaden clouds stack the sky, watching gloomily as the western wind whips waves of grass into a silky frenzy in the moments before the deluge, before the land and sea and sky open up in a soul-rending cry as the world quakes and convulses, heaves and buckles, trembles and dies.

Long sentence, short story

May 7, 20152 Comments

For today’s story, I was inspired by one of my many (incomplete) trunk novels. Someday I want to go back to it and not only finish it, but polish the crap out of it, because it’s a story I love.

He laughs in her memory, the sound warm as fire and sweet as honey; for one brief, shining moment, she remembers what it was to be young and in love, a feeling she hasn’t known since the day he left her, cold and alone, with only a note to soothe her broken heart, and she longs to have his arms wrapped around her one last time to keep the cold and loneliness at bay forever.

I’m a guest!

May 5, 2015Leave a comment

Today I’m being interviewed by the wonderful Susan Finlay. We talk all things writing, so if you’d like to find out more about my books and some of the other kinds of writing I’ve done, be sure to check it out!

And don’t forget to check out Susan’s books. She’s got three mystery series going, one of which involves time travel, and I can’t wait to check it out. 🙂

A single sentence

May 4, 20154 Comments

The scales of those who came before litter the ground beneath the trees, decaying into dust, the last lonely reminders of the way things were before and the way they could be again.

A story in a sentence

May 3, 2015May 4, 20154 Comments

A voice echoes in the distance, a song upon the wind, calling her back to her own time, her own place, and though she desires to heed its call, she finds her feet unable to turn back the way they came, the road to the land of Maybe forever barred.

Photo 365 #182

February 5, 20154 Comments

prayerandcoffee

This pretty much sums up how I’m feeling right now. This cold is still kicking my butt, but in the last twenty-four hours, I’ve managed to finish that story for Miss Tadpole (and she liked it so much, she took it to school to show off), fix a bunch of track changes issues in stories I’d submitted for an anthology (and learned how to use track changes correctly in the process), start reviewing a short story for someone (Oh, hello, track changes, how are you today?), and process two tax returns at work.

*scarfs chocolate miraculously left over from yesterday*

Of course, these are quite fitting for today’s mental state as well: