This one’s a gift to a writer friend of mine, to honor two of his passions. There will be another post plugging his writing once it comes out from his new publisher. The platform for Lynx Engineer is a Hurley hat from 2006, in black cotton with silk-screened white stripes. The ears are made from…
Read More Lynx Engineer HatThis merits breaking out from my usual addition to the ‘Filigree’s Rule’ page. Not all literary agents are equal! It’s a truth in current publishing markets, that an author in possession of a decent manuscript should at least try to find an a literary agent BEFORE approaching publishers. I still stand by that, even though…
Read More Another #AgentFail, or Money For NothingI just learned that my long-time mentor and art representative Bill Stewart passed last month. It’s sad news. I’m having difficulty processing it, then I feel guilty, because far closer folks to Bill have the full weight of that grief on them. So I’m going to celebrate what Bill and his wife Vicky mean to…
Read More In Memoriam: William ‘Bill’ StewartWhat happened: The celebrated M/M erotic romance publisher Dreamspinner Press appears to be heading for a rocky end or a catastrophic re-org. Right now, submit there at your own risk. I’ve been holding off this particular post for over a year. I don’t have any books with Dreamspinner, and I wanted to give both the…
Read More Alas, DreamspinnerTwice a year since 2010, I’ve made the category award ribbons for a major regional art festival. No other festival boasts anything like our awards. The Tempe Festival of the Arts opens from December 6 – 8, 2019. This season, the Featured Artist is Arizona’s own Jackson Ocheltree, who crafts gorgeous pieces using lampworked glass,…
Read More Tempe Festival of the Arts Awards, Fall 2019After a couple of decades of dithering around with it, ‘Needle and Sword’ is finally becoming a novella instead of a short story. Possibly a book, since I have a tendency to stuff too much into manuscripts. I’ll be honest: I’m pantsing most of it, since I have no idea how the two larger stories…
Read More Another book cover: Needle and SwordMy brother would not want me to sit still and mourn. Or is that a selfish excuse to keep moving, keep fighting? Survivors’ guilt is a bitch, folks. It sinks in claws and never quite lets go, and makes us second-guess all our impulses. Anyhow, if I want to go anywhere in publishing fiction, it’s…
Read More A book coverI lost a brother yesterday morning in a terrible car accident. The usual problem with rural New Mexico roads: impaired people howling 80+ miles per hour down a two-mile slope, no brakes, just plowing into my brother who was only 300 feet from his house. My brother died instantly, or nearly. The kid who hit…
Read More A requiemI’m a big fan of Channel Awesome’s THE NOSTALGIA CRITIC, its host Doug Walker, and the show’s reviews of (often) older movies: it skewers commercial favorites, shines a light on forgotten classics, and generally advances media critiques in a way I only wish Goodreads & Amazon would allow for books. Doug Walker’s recent review of…
Read More Side characters add sizzle!This one started, as have the others, with an olive-drab jacket I found at Goodwill. This is what it looks like now: The Venezia-brand jacket was US size 15-16, with solid seam detailing and strong cotton fabric. It came with antique silvery buttons, and silver and antique copper studs on the collar and pocket covers.…
Read More Olive Venezia Tailcoat
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Back in 1992 I waffled around with a short story about a warrior-woman, an embroiderer, and the city they both loved. That became NEEDLE AND SWORD, which was fan-published shortly afterward. I’ve had it on the blog for the longest time. I’m getting ready to take it down, in preparation for releasing a longer, slightly…
Read More Needle And Sword: new covers!Summary: with new pricing and display policies, the US Goodwill charity risks alienating the very collectors and upcycler artists it has been using to gentrify its brand identity. When I was a kid, thrift stores were forbidden territory. My mother had a not-unfounded horror of thrift stores as vectors of disease and infestation*. She also…
Read More Goodwill Loses Relevance?Okay, now I can share the insanity that helped lower my bank account and rebuild my bead supply. In late March and late April of this year, I was lucky enough to buy the combined bead troves of two amazing women. I know their names but am protecting their privacy and legacy. One is in…
Read More Bead Hoard!Swarovski crystal (and its imitators) are having a resurgence in fashion right now, in gem-embellished clothing and shoes, jewelry, fingernails, and even architectural elements. But Swarovski…the real thing…is rather pricey. The cheapest I’ve found is around $3 to $6 for 144 pieces of 1 to 2mm ‘flatbacks’, the glass gems most easily fastened onto surfaces…
Read More Harvesting Heat-Fixed CrystalsNineteen years ago I moved into the lower-rent end of a pricey Phoenix subdivision, courtesy of dual incomes and the dot-com bubble bursting at just the right time. The backyard went from Bermuda grass and gum trees to a minimalist sweep of gravel, Indonesian statues, and oleander. It’s always been the stepping stone to something…
Read More New Walls, New WindowsA hearty shout-out to Jamie L. Brewer, who did a lovely job reworking some of the problem areas on my website when I didn’t have time and know-how. (Have I mentioned the new job with 50+ hours a week? Or all the fiction I’m trying to finish writing this year? Or the art I have…
Read More Website revamped!A heads-up, dear readers. The Blue Night Blog will be undergoing some much-needed updates in the next few weeks. So if things look a little strange, or the blog is offline, don’t worry. I’ll be back to annoy and dazzle you soon enough. What’s in store? Changes in art: I’ll be updating my RL gallery…
Read More New Things On The HorizonThis weekend, downtown Tempe is closing off Mill Avenue and several surrounding streets for the year’s first Festival of the Arts. I’ve had a sneak peek at the attending artists, and there’s a lot to love in a few blocks of tree-shaded urban oasis. Plus music, festival food booths, and street art contests! Also, cool…
Read More Tempe Festival of the Arts Spring 2019Around lunchtime last week, I looked up at the sky and thought, “Hey, those look a LOT like wall clouds. And that sky has a color I haven’t seen since Portales*. Oh, look, that hubcap-shaped cloud is…” Rotating. Over the next 45 seconds, this elegant funnel dropped out of the clouds. It skimmed northeastward, the…
Read More Accidental StormchasingI’ve been so busy with art and a new manufacturing job that I have completely neglected the Blue Night blog. Sorry, folks, I’ll try to carve some time out for bloggy stuff. In the meantime, I really love my job. First, a PSA: If you know someone going through a traumatic and dangerous breakup/divorce/etc, make…
Read More Rants from a neglected blog