Now 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!In honor of a great opening week for my M/M space opera romance MORO’S PRICE, here’s a snippet from its direct sequel, MORO’S SHIELD. Basically the start of the second chapter, because I can’t post the first chapter (it’s that smutty). But this is not just a series about sex: it’s about adventure, intrigue, and…
Read More Moro’s Shield snippetPlaying with bits of art I’ve collected or created over the years, to give myself another visual image-set for THE PURIST, a big fantasy novel currently out in Queryland.* Yes, this is SINGER IN RHUNSHAN revisited, massively revised, and (I hope) getting closer to being fit for outside reading. For now, I’m so happy the…
Read More ‘The Purist’ mood board 3AG Carpenter has been a friend, writing buddy, and occasional critique partner for nearly seven years. In that time I’ve watched her writing grow from merely good to brilliant, with a dry and restrained style that shouldn’t convey as much emotion and depth as it does. Her blog offers more detail on her writing and…
Read More AG Carpenter: three novellas you should readAs of November 26, 2020, the second edition of MORO’S PRICE will no longer be available. I’ve unpublished it, in preparation for a new self-pub version arriving soon. For some reviews of the first edition, go here. I’m pleased that my longtime friend Sherwood Smith bravely took up an ARC of this version, then gave…
Read More Moro’s Price 2nd EditionOn a writer’s forum, I read a recent discussion of different storybuilding tools, among them the Snowflake Method. This existed long before there were alt-righties and GamerG4ters whining about ‘liberal snowflakes’, so settle down. Randy Ingermanson’s method shows writers how to start small, with basic but sturdy frameworks, and build ever-increasing detail. This can help…
Read More Accidental worldbuildingI get approached by advertisers more than than I expected, for a blog that has too many words, not enough pictures, and a very low (but loyal!) readership. So far, none of those advertisers have made a compelling case for value-added vs annoyance factor…so, no ads on Blue Night. I’ll happily review products and works…
Read More Now on Ko-fi.com!Here is an American flag. I shot it a couple of weeks ago, looking west in Central Phoenix, outside a modest strip mall with a bakery, a pizza joint, a taco shop, a Buy Your Gold store, a cell-phone store, a nail-art salon, and some other little businesses. That’s as representative a slice of modern,…
Read More Memorial Day 2017That’s right folks, the madness that is Phoenix Comicon starts in just a few hours! I probably won’t attend this year because of schedule conflicts with other work and art stuff. If you’re brave enough to deal with the heat and crowds, I can promise there will be lots of insane, wonderful, awe-inspiring moments for…
Read More Phoenix Comicon 2017The rewritten, expanded version of my smutty M/M space opera romance, Moro’s Price, is now up for pre-orders at NineStar Press. It should hit other vendors in a few days to a week after publication on June 26, 2017. A shout out to my brilliant editors, and to cover artist Natasha Snow. She managed to…
Read More Moro’s Price revised edition now on sale!Americans are so myopic, sometimes. In the rush to ‘teach to the test’ or advance our science and math education (well, until Betsy DeVos became Education Secretary), we’ve forgotten that art can involve some high levels of math and science, too. Follow this Racked.com and Twitter thread for an in-depth look at the MetGala dresses…
Read More STEM and artIt’s May 2017, and America (and the world, really) is still reeling from perhaps the greatest case of affinity fraud ever perpetrated: the election of Donald J. Trump to the American Presidency. Let’s look back at Tate Publishing, as a company deeply interlocked with some of the mindsets enabling Trump’s election: nominally ‘Christian’ worldviews…
Read More The rise and fall of Tate PublishingI have this featured over in links, but it’s worth a closer look and a shout-out: Shaderunners. From the comic’s ‘About’ page: One part Prohibition fantasy, one part Robin Hood, and a whole lot of epic heist, Shaderunners follows a group of ragtag bootleggers and bohemians who band together in an effort to steal colour…
Read More Shaderunners webcomicI both love and hate Pinterest. On the plus side, it’s an incredible resource for worldwide inspiration in every visual art field, curated to various levels of research and granularity. On the minus side(s), it’s a hot mess. The app is pushy as hell, and locks down random scrolling unless you log it. Which I…
Read More The dark side of PinterestI’ve had this piece of fiber book art in mind since 2011-2012. I’m glad I held off until now: even Mitt Romney’s version of the GOP has been eclipsed by the current crop of corrupt, venal, sanctimonious, and utterly incompetent politicians gracing the Republican Party. (And I say that as a former GOP member!) ‘Politics…
Read More First Look: Politics As UsualIt’s April, and I’ve been so busy with my own art and writing I forgot one of April’s cherished traditions. It’s Hugo Awards nomination time! And that means another Pie Fight GIF, this time courtesy of the very topical film Dr. Strangelove. I love how stoic and dignified this poor guy looks…kinda the way most…
Read More 2017 Hugo Awards List!