(The author of this book provided a free uncorrected galley copy for an unbiased review.) Plagues permitting, the shiny gorgeous Tor Books* trade paperback of K.A. Doore’s THE UNCONQUERED CITY will be out this summer. Having read library and friends’ copies of the first two books, I plan on buying hard copies of all three.…
Read More Review: The Unconquered City, K.A. DooreHeading into a grim week. So far, I and my loved ones are safe. Arizona lagged behind others in setting a ‘Stay Home’ order. I only go to grocery stores, mail drop, a health clinic, and work. I’ve been masked in public for a week (my own sewn masks). Work…is problematic. My company is essential…
Read More Covid19 update: ArizonaThe novel coronavirus (‘novel’ simply means this is a new strain in humans) has reached Arizona. As of Saturday, March 14, Arizona has twelve confirmed cases of Covid-19. Scary enough, many of those cases came from one family, and a health worker whose original Covid-19 exposure remains a mystery. We have large numbers of senior…
Read More Covid19 in Arizona‘I should have died the day I learned my father’s name. I would have, but for the second of three gifts I inherited from him, and one I took from my mother. I think—I did die. I just didn’t stay dead. After 25 years, several titles, and several false starts, I’m rewriting and fine-tuning the…
Read More Light On Water, rebootedI was in countdown to the March 3, 2020 release of K.M. Szpara’s (M/M Dystopia? Romance? Slavefic? Cautionary screed?) DOCILE, from Tor Books. I’ve been hearing about this book for over a year. I’d planned on actually ordering it. Then I read the first eight chapters on a free Kindle Sample offer. Oh, dear. I…
Read More Review: DOCILE by K.M. SzparaYou should read R. B. Lemberg’s THE FOUR PROFOUND WEAVES from Tachyon Publications. You should also read their prequel novellette ‘Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds’ in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. It would not be a bad thing to read their charming ‘The Desert Glassmaker and the Jeweler of Berevyar’ in Uncanny Magazine. Or their…wait. Stop. Just go…
Read More Review: THE FOUR PROFOUND WEAVES by R.B. LembergI’m psyching myself up to finishing some major pieces of fiber, bead, & book art this year, including some pieces in the design phase for years! To start, I wanted a pair or two of gloriously beaded sandals. (To work on, enter in art shows, wear to art & book events, etc.) I can’t justify…
Read More Beaded Panels for ShoesThe Putz-in-Chief has once again demonstrated…to everyone but his cultists… how little he really knows or cares about America’s Heartland. This SuperbOwl tweet from Donald Trump was taken down quickly, but screenshots abound. Here is one more. What’s even more pathetic? #BoneSpurs Donny has attended several rallies in Missouri! Recently! You’d think Kellyanne or Hannity…
Read More Um, Kansas City is in MissouriI’m looking back on old art pieces that stalled out, got trunked, went into limbo…whatever we call it, most artists have some. Why they stalled? All reasons are valid: ‘I made it for someone, we lost touch, I’m embarrassed by them now, they’re embarrassed by me, I’m not finishing this!’ ‘I bit off way more…
Read More Making, Unmaking, RemakingFor the last month I’ve been drafting a blog post about the organization called Romance Writers of America. I keep having to add new stuff. So I’ll get this out there now. A month ago I would have told you “The RWA (Romance Writers of America) is a storied professional organization with a lot of…
Read More The RWA Meltdown(This is a long post. If you just want my review and not my commentary, stop before the spoiler breaks.) People keep saying Emily Skrutskie’s space opera adventure BONDS OF BRASS is basically Finn/Poe fanfic, and I disagree. Oh, the pedigree is there, but this story has a much deeper….birthright, if you will. If you…
Read More Review: BONDS OF BRASS by Emily SkrutskieNeal Peart is dead. On January 7, of glioblastoma. He’d been ill for three-and-a-half years. He and the close-knit Rush band family kept it quiet. When I found out, I cried. I’ve been a Rush fan since my brothers introduced me to the band’s unique music forty-five years ago. Every record…nearly every song…was a marker…
Read More Wallflowers and Warrior PoetsHi, everyone! I’ve had an absolutely shitty day that reinforced my basic cynicism toward seven-tenths of humanity. I won’t go into the details, it would just bore you. So I came home, ate a piece of very fine chocolate, took a new picture of a beaded tapestry wall hanging, and entered it into an art…
Read More Revenge queries and art show entriesI’ve had a couple of blog posts over the years about Alis Franklin’s take on Norse mythology, Loki legends, and responsible LGBTQIA storytelling. Alis has updated and self-published those works, so go have fun. Link here. New covers, new material, squee! Not feeding an irresponsible beast of a Big 5 publisher, yay!
Read More An Alis Franklin updateThis 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 Sword