Writing

by 2 comments on "Meta fiction! Character studies! Cheesy writing!"

I had toyed with the idea of doing some side-character interviews during the debut month of THE PURIST, and I still might. But today’s offering is an old, mad, bit of fanfiction that spawned out of my on-and-off-fanfiction obsessions from 1991 to present. As I say in the disclaimer, through what I’ve seen from far…

Read More Meta fiction! Character studies! Cheesy writing!
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Four tiny (about .75″ high) Arizona landscapes handpainted onto heavy canvas, then beaded. The beads are mostly #14 and #15 glass seed beads, with a few larger seed beads used for texture. The smaller beads are under 1 millimeter in size. The two panels at the top are mostly done, while I still have the…

Read More Scenes from a Hatband
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Thank you to all the people who have purchased THE PURIST directly from NineStar Press, or from Kobo, Smashwords, and all the other non-Amazon platforms. Yeah, sure, you can buy it on Amazon, too. But if you do want to read this book, please consider buying directly. It helps my publisher and helps me! I…

Read More The Purist mini blurb
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For the (very few) readers who haven’t run screaming from this page already, here’s a link to a new glossary of people, places, and things from my Lonhra Sequence books and short stories. I don’t include much pronunciation for these entries (maybe later). You can, if you squint hard enough, see a couple of overlaps…

Read More A Lonhraverse Glossary
by 10 comments on "The Purist Launch Party and Giveaway"

It’s Thursday 2 August 2018, and that means we’re getting closer to The Purist being available for general purchase from www.ninestarpress.com and other vendors. To celebrate (and calm my nerves a bit), I’m setting up a giveaway on this blog. What is this book? Learn more here. Rules are simple: From today until 3 September…

Read More The Purist Launch Party and Giveaway
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In a little less than a month, I will be able to aim you lovely people at buy links for THE PURIST, my upcoming fantasy novel from NineStar Press. I’ve seen the final cover version. It rocks. It rocks so damn hard, in fact, that it could comfortably fit into the catalog of any of…

Read More Purist countdown!
by 3 comments on "The Purist"

We have a publishing date for THE PURIST: August 6, 2018! I’ve seen the first draft of the cover art from NineStar Press and Natasha Snow, and it’s *freaking gorgeous*. Added 7-9-2018: I have seen the final version of the cover. OMG. <Author falls over in twitching heap, burbling happily> It’s so good, folks. I…

Read More The Purist
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In truth, nonbinary characters and relationships already abound in science fiction and fantasy. Even really graphic ones. It’s just that authors who wrote this stuff were largely relegated to more literary fare in the late 60s-early 70s ‘New Wave’ or 2000s-era small-press erotic romance publishers. If they wanted to publish with Tor, Daw, Del-Rey, Ace,…

Read More Male/Male SFF Grows the F**k Up
by 2 comments on "Leaving Wattpad"

At the end of June 2018, my fantasy novel Bloodshadow will be unpublished from Wattpad. The book has been visible on the display site Wattpad since late 2015, and had over 2200 distinct ‘reads’. It received some lovely comments and votes. So why am I removing it? Wattpad is a sweet, fun place, but it’s…

Read More Leaving Wattpad
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Amazon finally made a move on (one) Kindle Publishing scammer. Read the Forbes article here. Why is this important? Given the difficulty of snagging a literary agent and the slow pace of commercial publishing, many authors are choosing self publishing as a side hustle or their main living. Amazon, for better or for worse, is…

Read More Amazon, KDP, and Self-Pub Stuffers
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I love book art. I love jewelry. More and more, I’m finding ways to combine them. I also really love the wrap jewelry from designer Chan Luu, and recently learned how to do my own wrap beaded designs. Cue a shipment of mini books back from a gallery, and a match that would be eerily…

Read More Tour Necklace/Bracelet
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Writers need to be careful when they’re approached to pay for book reviews. Some of these are real opportunities for marketing, some are well-meaning junk, and some are simply heartless cash-grabs by the organizers. Paid reviews are simply where the author pays the reviewer. Kirkus has a branch dealing with this. It’s somewhat legit…but only…

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I’ve been following this thing since late February, when someone I know on Twitter made ominous subtweets about a catfishing scandal (yet again) in the world of male/male romance publishing. This link from The Salt Miners gives a better overview and details. Riptide, one of the most outwardly prestigious publishers in the genre, got caught with…

Read More Diversity, Catfishing, and the Santino Hassell disaster
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For 43 years, Ornament Magazine has been documenting personal adornment through the world’s highest levels of wearable fine craft and art media. The magazine itself has a physical beauty that has never been compromised: thick paper, glossy finish, stunning photography, and deeply-researched articles. I first encountered Ornament in January 1979 in the skimpy magazine section…

Read More Ornament Magazine