Month: May 2017

One of the key parts of a good story is the use of detail:  not exhaustive, generic detail, but the right handful of details to shine light on the heart of the story.  Of course, in direct contradiction to that statement, that's not exactly w......

This post contains indirect potential spoilers for Unnatural Causes, a book which is still in the editing process and thus some ways from submission, much less publication ... which makes the odds of remembering an unspecified song reference, out of co......

I've been quiet for a while because, almost three weeks ago now, my desktop crashed with a dramatic bellyflop, leaving me to the tender mercies of my old laptop, (mostly) affectionately know as the Frankenlaptop.  It is called the Frankenlaptop fo......

This piece of flash comes to you by the way of two sources. The first is Chuck Wendig’s Friday Flash Fiction Challenge. And here is what he says about that: Way this works is, below you will find two tables — X and Y! — and you will pick...

So…. I have done exactly what the title suggested. A fellow author brought to my attention this contest, over on the blog by author Mark Lawrence.  I think it is a really neat idea, so what the hell, why not?  I entered Pilgrimage to Skara (still available on Amazon,...

Leading Edge 70 is out with my story, "Loyal Dice" ... Pazia's first adventure. It's been a long and convoluted journey getting this one to print:PaperbackKindle...

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, grandmoms, foster-moms, stepmoms, like-a-moms, expectant moms, even fur-moms ... and all the moms I might have forgotten.Because it's my day for songs, this one seemed appropriate:Mom - Meghan Trainor...

Here’s my take on the never ending debate over our friend the exclamation mark. Personally, I find comments such as ‘never use it’ insane. Advice to use it three times at most in 100,000 words (Elmore Leonard) – impossible!   So, here’s a simple rule I use – maybe...

Hey all. So aside from ink-slinging like a champ, I also run a small Imprint—Shadow Alley Press—that publishes a few select authors. One of those authors, uber-talented eden Hudson, is preparing to release her second Jubal Van Zandt novel—a gritty, dystopian, cyberpunk/urban fantasy mash-up, which rocks more than actual...

I feel as if there's a constant tension in my creative process between the old and the new.As a writer, I'm restless:  always moving on to new worlds, new characters, new ideas.  I love short stories in part because it enables me to take a sn......