Language in Fantasy and Science Fiction

One of the things that really pulls me into a story and transports me to a fantastical or future setting is the language, specifically the invented slang and terminology for various things. For example in Star Trek we have "phasers," "beaming," "transporters," "replicators," "tricorders," "hyposprays," "Jefferies tubes," "Turbolifts," and on and on. Firefly didn't have …

Author Interview – Karissa Laurel, “Touch of Smoke”

Today I am honored to interview Karissa Laurel on the release of her latest book Touch of Smoke, a paranormal romance available as both e-book and paper book. Tell me about your book, and is it a standalone or part of a series? Touch of Smoke is a paranormal romance that takes place in the …

New Year, New Focus

So the new year is approaching and while I don’t make New Year’s resolutions anymore, the timing coincides with a resolve to stop wasting time and get more writing done and submissions sent out, as well as work on the sequel to Revenants Abroad, and finish the romance I started and have been posting at …

Author Interview – Paul Magnan

Today I am delighted to present an interview with a writer acquaintance, Paul Magnan. His debut novel,  Kyu, The Unknown: The Coming of Dis (Book 1) is the first in an urban fantasy series set in an alternate world.   The Territories have been unified for a thousand years, brought together under the sword of Harra …

A World Away – Chapter Six

Finally! Chapter 6 is up now on Wattpad. Thanks everyone for your patience. It's been a rough month for me, but I feel like I'm starting to pull it together again.

A World Away – Chapter 5 on Wattpad

I see I've missed mentioning when I've posted the last few chapters of this story. It's up to Chapter 5 now on Wattpad, if you want to get caught up. This is a romance, if you're not familiar with it. Also, it is a work-in-progress, so the final product may be slightly different from what …

Progress – A World Away

Just a quick  note to say Chapter 2 of A World Away is up now on Wattpad. Thanks for all the reads and the kind feedback! Hope everyone's having a great weekend.

Flotsam

So... Long time, no see! Between bad weather (being snowed in with no power for 2 days in January) and just general life stuff, the blog has once again taken a back seat to... well, everything. In an effort to rectify that (at least to a small extent) I thought I'd post a snippet of …

Revenants Abroad Free through December 31

I decided to make Revenants Abroad free through the end of the year on Smashwords. Amazon doesn't allow a price below .99 unless I put it into the KDP Select program, which I can't do right now. I'm still hoping the Multnomah County Library will pick it up, and it has to be available on …

Side Projects

Some stories take longer to gel in my head than others. The cast and crew of Revenants Abroad was nearly effortless. Andrej in particular, who was of course the genesis of the story, appeared in my head fully-formed, ready for action. Anne-Marie took longer for me to get to know. Neko ... what can I …