On Writing
LATE TO THE PARTY: ZOMBIE edition
This book came out in 2014 but I only got around to reading it last month. I don’t know why I waited so long. It was really one of the best books I’ve read all year. The Girl With All The Gifts is a post-apocalyptic zombie-ish novel. (Which begs the question, can it...
Start Where You Are
I always love this time of year because people start reflecting back on their year. For me, I like to see progress. In order to see progress, I have to have a benchmark to see how far I've come. January 1 to December 31 is traditional but certainly even shorter...
Your Book Would Go Great With My Workout
We went from wildfires to storms and flooding. This can make it challenging for me to get my evening walks in with the dog. Although, she doesn't seem to mind it as much as I do when she tracks mud all over the house. There are presently dirty towels all over the...
5 Veteran Creatives Storming Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Hey, it's a holiday that means a lot to me. Here are some people who served this nation and then went on to write kickass books. I think we say "Thank you for your service" and mean it, but there's also one more thing you can do to show your appreciation, which is to...
Modern Monsters
The day after Halloween is always a little rough. I had a third cup of coffee this morning to cope. When I was out with my kids last night, I saw more adults than kids. It got me to thinking about how much we all love about Halloween. In addition to the freedom to be...
Worldcon 76, LeVar Burton, and Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™
I've never been a con person. A friend of mine is an artist (Rob Chang's gorgeous artwork here) and when we were kids, we went to a Comic Con to hang out with other comic book artists. That was over 20 years ago! This year Worldcon is coming to San Jose and so I'm...
Hearts, Flowers, and Light Sabers
The alternative title for this post was going to be "everybody loves love." What am I talking about? Apparently one of the top two selling books of the Star Wars franchise of all time, even after all these years... is The Courtship of Princess Leia (Star Wars)....
Crank The Twelve Week Year For Writers and Bullet Journal Enthusiasts
I remember last year when I kicked off 2017 with a publishing calendar for the year. It was ambitious and I failed to hit a number of those dates. However, in failing, I also succeeded on so many of them that I count it as an overall win. I know that without that...
EPILOGUE – COLD WAR: Alien Strike
Epilogue Mack looked around him as Reno burned and smoldered in the aftermath of the battle. Plasma burns scarred every building. Dead Ringheads lay scattered up and down the street. Low, guttering plasma fires burned a dim purple on most of the bodies. A good portion...
The Girl From the Pie Shop
Early afternoon light streamed in from the plate glass windows of the small, bustling diner, illuminating the cramped interior with its century old décor. The mingled smells of cinnamon, coffee, and French fries permeated the room, as the scents from the lunch crowd...
YA/NA Science Fiction – Futuristic Books With Heart
Surprising absolutely no one, many YA readers are over age 35! This obviously explains the runaway success of series like The Hunger Games and Divergent. (Yes, the parents read those books too. Shhh.) And now we have the proven category of "New Adult" as well....
Monday Launch Madness – Alien Incursion Is Up!
It's been a week of granular details as Ken and I worked through revisions from our editor and the Amazon KPD process. There were a number of different things we didn't think about until we were knee deep in it, including crucial details like whether the title was in...