Writing

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Once upon a time, music was a crutch I needed before I could write at all. Like good chocolate and tea, or the perfect writing environment, the right music was part of many little rituals to activate my reluctant muses. I don’t write to music very much these days. The muses and I have reached…

Read More soundtracks
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‘Maestro’ complete at 2800 words. Revisions on ‘The Black Wave’. Refined first two chapters of MORO’S SHIELD, sent rough synopsis to editor. Research Russian resort cities for COLD COMFORT. Epiphany on BLOODSHADOW: a way to cut another 5K off this 122K behemoth, and start the story faster. Character and plot outlines for an untitled fantasy…

Read More October 4 updates
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Some review links for MORO’S PRICE: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/381595991 https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-moro039sprice-891333-145.html http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/moros-price-by-mc-hana-2/ http://www.loose-id.com/moro-s-price.html#product_tabs_reviews As I said earlier, a good mix of different ranks with some very clear positive and negative comments. In other news, I’ll be featuring my original character sketch for MP (done back in summer 2011), in late October. I’ll be part of a blog hop…

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Works in Progress: ‘Maestro’: contemporary erotica short story for a charity anthology: 700 words, researching subways and violins. MORO’S SHIELD: m/m/f erotic romance sci fi, 9K first draft out of projected 70K. MORO’S CROWN: m/m/f erotic romance sci fi, plotting series closure. BLOODSHADOW: high fantasy, in revision, 118K. LEOPARD’S LEAP: plotted, outlined, waiting on Mixed…

Read More September 27 updates
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There’s been a lot of heated discussion on other online forums about reviews. I’m new to being reviewed, so I find the process fascinating. Yes, the negative reviews sting a bit. But I went into publishing knowing I wasn’t going to reach every single reader, just as my art isn’t for every viewer. When I…

Read More When a bad review is good
Aside

A hint, O Wise and Beloved Readers: while I love comments, I’m hoping to see cogent ones. Patchwork comments with no clear relevance will not be posted, no matter how entertainingly insulting. Likewise, if your email addy leads me to believe you’re pitching knockoff fashion items.

If you cannot pass a college-level Turing test, your post will not be seen on this site.

Added note: If you’re just doing SEO tricks to drive traffic to your commercial site, you will send vague messages with content lifted from online sources. When you use content lifted from online sources, and your email sig comes from ANY kind of obviously commercial site, my spambots will probably squash your message without me ever seeing them. Don’t let your real messages be squashed. Be coherent, be literate, be appropriate to the topics at hand. Convince me and my bots you’re a human.

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THRONES OF DESIRE is loosely inspired by George R. R. Martin’s ‘Game of Thrones’ novels, but consisting of 14 original stories by various erotica authors. The e-book version went live on the 11th, and the trade paperback will be available on the 18th. I have a story in this one: ‘Saints and Heroes’, about a…

Read More Anthology contributor’s copies
by 2 comments on "Fun with spam"

In my other life I am an artist working in a relatively unknown medium, but I’ve still managed to gain a following among collectors. In that other life, I get to use my writing skills in another way, by creating text-based art from original prose, poetry, out-of-copyright material, and ‘found’ material. One of my greatest…

Read More Fun with spam
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COLD COMFORT: still researching the Tam Lin legend and its variants for my story rebuild. Watching ‘Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex’ for inspiration/ world building in the late 21st Century. Listening to Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ and Duran Duran’s ‘Lonely In Your Nightmare’, as I did when I wrote the initial…

Read More September 2 updates
by 2 comments on "Sampled Fiction, Serial Numbers, and how I might have just mortgaged what was left of my soul."

Does our entertainment culture value sampled products over original works? Is this creative sloth, or a calculated shot at maximizing profit via audience familiarity with tried-and-true stories? When done by professional writers via publisher license, the trend gives us dozens of ‘Star Wars’ novels, John Scalzi’s affectionate and awesome H. Beam Piper reboot FUZZY NATION,…

Read More Sampled Fiction, Serial Numbers, and how I might have just mortgaged what was left of my soul.
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My signed and countersigned contract for MORO’S SHIELD arrived yesterday from Loose Id. Somehow, having a contract for the sequel makes MORO’S PRICE more real. The story I started writing on 03-05-2011 as a fun experiment is now a job, no less enjoyable but infinitely more terrifying. I have the dreaded Second Novel Syndrome to…

Read More August 11 update
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I’m a fantasy writer just now wandering into the world of erotic romance. I’ve been reading fantasy since the early 1970s. Hence, my high tolerance for vast paragraphs of worldbuilding, complicated plots and sub-plots, and tiny nuggets of foreshadowing scattered like diamonds on a path. Sex in older fantasy and science fiction novels often faded…

Read More Plot as Foreplay?
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I’m a writer and artist living in the American Southwest. I’m lucky enough to work in creative industries as diverse as commercial analog and digital art, art instruction, bookbinding, jewelry-making, and film cell retouching for a major theme park company. My artwork is collected by numerous private clients and university special collections, and has been…

Read More Crane Hana Books begins.