Since I’ve a nice uptick in sales lately on this M/M space opera romance, here’s a mood board of my original art inspired by the story, cover background from Natasha Snow, and images from Alphonse Mucha, The Nature Conservancy, and Pinterest. I don’t know any other way to respond to the anniversary of 9-11, or…
Read More Moro’s Price mood boardOh god, this is so funny it’s painful. To go along with Lani Sarem and GeekNation’s previous misadventures involving Handbook For Mortals, YA author and blogger Claribel Ortega takes on the soul-stunting task of reading and live-tweeting this book. To be super efficient, Claribel has Storified two separate reads in these handy threads. So if…
Read More Claribel Ortega tweets HandbookI may go on a rant later about the twin dangers of deregulation and ignoring manmade climate change, and how millions of people in south and central Texas will be paying for those governmental, industrial, and institutional mistakes. But right now, let’s consider the sheer power behind this ‘historic’ storm, made immeasurably worse by warm…
Read More Hurricane HarveySo much news to absorb in the last week or so: Charlottesville’s aftermath, Trump’s Phoenix speech, the solar eclipse, religious riots in India, North Korea, Hurricane Harvey… I might touch on all those later, but let’s look at two hilarious gaffes in recent social media. Both of them embody privilege, legal-but-morally-suspect corruption, and astounding condescension…
Read More Big Fails: Lani Sarem and Louise LintonOr: the state of LGBTQIA SFF and Romance publishing in 2017. Tl:dr…diverse authors may be courted by large publishers not so much for the value of their stories, but for the cachet of representing them as proof of diversity in publishing. Unagented authors and agents need to be wary of this possible trend, and plan…
Read More Diversity BingoI’ve talked before about a wonderful fanfic-writer-turned-agented-commercial-author, Alis Franklin. Time for a bittersweet update. LIESMITH has a great sequel, STORMBRINGER, which you can read. And what looks to be a couple of brilliant follow-ups, which you can’t (not yet anyway). You can find out more about her writing here. Out of respect for Alis and…
Read More Alis Franklin: Books of the WyrdFinally, finally, after way too many years of having only a vague idea what Sfassa, one of the main characters of THE PURIST, actually looks like when she’s human-ish, Hayley Amber Hasselhoff (yes, David’s daughter) showed me the way. I also owe a shout-out to model and wrestler Lindsay Hayward, and the other stunning plus-size models…
Read More Sfassa in Sirrithani guiseThese lovelies arrived today from AZ Art Supply: Richeson 10″ Female Right and Left Manikin Hands. 2/3 articulated, posing hands in blond wood (probably box, lyptus, or poplar, I’ll have to check.) Meant as an artist’s drawing aide, I find they make amazing jewelry models. I’m resisting the urge to woodburn henna designs on them,…
Read More Show of HandsGolden Acrylics makes some wonderful ‘open’ paints with built-in drying retardants. They don’t stay mixable anywhere as long as oil paints do, but they don’t dry instantly on canvas (like regular acrylics might, especially in Arizona summers.) This makes the Open Series really fun as plein air tools, along with a pack of canvas paper…
Read More Horizon: acrylic sketchOne of the best side-effects of online novel-pitch contests: the community around them. Whether or not a writer makes the cut (agent request, mentorship, etc), most writers can find new friendships and even collaborations within the larger pool of the hopeful and hopeless. Mark J. Engels and I met during a pitch contest in 2016…
Read More Mark Engels: ALWAYS GRAY IN WINTERAs of 8/4-2017, these are the companies advertising on Fox during Sean Hannity’s show. You know, the Sean Hannity of ‘Sandy Hook never happened’ (it did), ‘Hillary killed Seth Rich’ (she didn’t), and ‘Why sure, I’ll allow myself to be waterboarded to prove it isn’t torture!’ (he never did, not even for charity). So if…
Read More Sean Hannity’s AdvertisersOr in other words, the Twitter phenomenon that is #ThinkBIGSundayWithMarsha, begun and hosted by media entrepreneur Marsha Wright. Okay, many of us roll our eyes at those inspirational quotes slapped on lovely or heartwarming posters, and presented in slim metal frames. You know, the ones your boss and mine put up on our office walls?…
Read More Unrelenting OptimismTrying another sales portal, this time on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CraneHanaDesigns I’m conflicted about Etsy. They’re the best game in town for many crafters. They’ve made some colossal blunders in the past, and I feel terrible for them that the only way they can save the company now is at the cost of their allegedly benevolent company ethos.…
Read More CraneHanaDesigns now on EtsyThis has been a *long* time in the works, but I’m so happy to see ‘The Gear’d Heart’, a new steampunk serial by AG Carpenter. I’ve read it in an earlier beta form, and seen the kickass sequel. Now’s the chance to get in on a charming, devious, and dark story, via Patreon!
Read More The Gear’d Heart, by AG CarpenterAll glories I have wrought by hand and gift of seeing, All dreams I have brought from dreamscape into being, All mysteries I’ve taught, however fast or fleeting, Mingle toward the truth I’ve sought: streams at the Sea completing. Spirit of Probability, Spirit of the Single Path, I have sought you. You are not here.…
Read More Artist’s InvocationNow that I have your attention, here’s a little rant about authors asking for reviews. In short, we shouldn’t get grief for this. We shouldn’t be made to feel guilty for asking, or told we’re ‘pandering’ or ‘imposing’ on our readers. Likewise, we shouldn’t hold ourselves loftily above promoting our work in careful, tactful, honest,…
Read More Begging for Eyeballs: authors and reviewsA teaser for a piece called ‘Enlightenment’, which I describe in more detail here. I love book art. It’s one of my default settings after 20 years. ‘Can I make it into a book?’ is a question I now apply to everything from spam emails to a set of cocktail swords found in a thrift…
Read More Book Art Jewelry: EnlightenmentIn the mid to late 1990s, on the late-lamented site SFF.net, I hung out with a group of amazing writers who gave me courage to push forward with my own writing. One of those was Helen Davis. I was lucky enough to read the first few drafts of what would become ‘By Blade and Cloth’.…
Read More ‘By Blade and Cloth’: Helen E. DavisI’m thinking about this for a fantasy short story cover. Still revamping the previously (anthology) published 25-page story, but seriously thinking about self-publishing this and some of the more-obscure Lonhra Sequence side stories. I have a lot of them. Granted, this cover will be mostly taken up by text, but I like that it directly…
Read More Playing with cover artHappy Independence Day, for my fellow US friends (and for everyone else!) While we’re on the subject of independence, do you know about Patreon? The company bills itself as the best way for creators to build a sustained income. From what I’ve seen from many Patreon accounts, it’s succeeding. 35 creators each earned over $150,000…
Read More Patreon Ahoy!