Good news, everyone: I have found a skilled cover designer to do the text that I am obviously not qualified to go anywhere near. The designer and a pack of sharp-eyed folks in an online art forum found all the places I’ve messed up, and pointed them out. It’s called a critique, and it’s a…
Read More Singer cover, round three…A line taken from an editorial by Will Blythe, former editor at Byliner, in a NY Times piece today. Blythe talks about the ‘nondisparagement’ clause in his termination agreement: in effect, he’d gain two weeks of severance pay in exchange for never, ever, saying or writing anything bad about Byliner. Blythe also gives his reason…
Read More Truth’s caustically cleansing powersI had an interesting criticism leveled at me over the holidays: someone told me I was representing myself as some sort of professional or expert at this mishmash of stuff I love. Coming from this particular person, it was not a compliment. After I stopped laughing (not the expected response, I’m sure) I had to…
Read More Professional or expert?I received an email a couple of days ago from a reader who just finished Moro’s Price, loved it, wanted to know when and if there will be a sequel (working onnit, eh), and why I cite fan fiction as a major help in writing my original erotic romance. The same day I encountered yet…
Read More On Writing Sex Scenes (adult content advisory, duh.)(Seriously, seriously adult content, especially if you follow the links, so be warned.) This is going to be a review of an explicit M/M Avengers movie-verse fan fiction story. If any part of that bothers you, stop reading this post. I won’t mind. Background: Some good friends dragged me back into fan fiction in 2013,…
Read More ‘Born from the Earth’ review (adult content advisory)Disclaimer: I was provided with an electronic copy of this work, in exchange for an honest review. I promised A.G. this one a month ago, and I’ll post it over on Goodreads, too. (But I’m watchin’ ya, Goodreads, which is why I’m archiving my GR reviews somewhere else as well.) Non-spoiler review: A gritty revenge novella…
Read More Brass Stars review (adult language advisory)So, a thing happened today. I was clearing some old writing files off a hard drive, and found 2500 words starting a contemporary shapeshifter romance/dark fantasy set in Arizona. From 1993. There’s even a rough outline for the rest of the story. It could be fun, weird, and reasonably original. I don’t need more story…
Read More Why did I say ‘no shapeshifters’?I like green. I think this has been adequately established. I keep playing with green beadwork projects, some more effective than others. The pendant on one of them was originally this borosilicate glass flame, flashed in the same pink-gold as some of the #8 seed beads in the right angle weave chain. I never liked…
Read More Another rebuilt necklace, a bead vest, and a lesson…And Hanukkah, Saturnalia, Sunreturn, Kwanzaa, Festivus, and whatever else anyone wants to celebrate. In the dark times of the year, we all need a little joy and sparkle. Which is why I took this two-year-old necklace, the first piece I made when I got back into right-angle-weave beadwork: And reworked it into this: Because I…
Read More Merry ChristmasA good workspace can enhance both inspiration and production, but it won’t magically do all the artist’s work. (This fits writing-related workspace issues, too.) One of the recent would-be insults leveled at me, as an artist: I ‘worked out of a kitchen’. The person who said it was possibly deflecting scrutiny from their own unprofessional…
Read More Craft Credo #3: Work is more important than workspaceSinger in Rhunshan is now in its more or less final form, hovering around 16,000 words/75 pages. Too big for a short story now, but respectable for a novelette. It is a romantic fantasy action/adventure with discreet hints of a male/male/female love triangle (but no actual sex in this part of the story), and a…
Read More ‘Singer in Rhunshan’ novelette inches closer to publicationI just looked (for the first time in years) at the backlog of letters I sent to my then-literary agent back in the mists of antiquity – roughly two decades ago. Our association began when one of the founding agents heard me reading a contest-winning fantasy short story* at a big international SFF convention. It…
Read More Yes, I was that cluelessSince I have snarked about cover art before (and the current fad for more-or-less competent photocollages overlaid with text), I thought this would be a good time and place to tout a cover designer who goes well beyond average with that medium. Erin Lark is a writer, a friend, and a fellow nutcase over on…
Read More Erin Lark Cover ArtAmong my brain’s many flaws is the complete inability to write a decent first draft. I write and revise at the same time. I’m doing it right now, since there have already been three versions of the first sentence. A dozen, if I count that I am writing on a tablet today. Otgerwise, all ny…
Read More The Revision Curse…Okay, okay, there was the socially questionable and morally bankrupt comic book I wrote when I was maybe seven, but that didn’t last longer than fifteen minutes, a stern warning, and the ten feet to Mom’s shredder. It doesn’t count. Nor do the 130K of various fan fiction stories I’ve written over the years. What…
Read More My first real try at self-publishingI do most of my reading online these days, but I still love the physical feel of a real book in my hands. (With book artists, that’s probably a given.) I really like bookmarks – the civilized answer to turning down pages. I’ve made them from silver sheet, carved bone, and antique ivory piano keys,…
Read More Bookmarks and other anachronismsA special welcome to John Tristan, a UK author who is becoming a rising star through his M/M novels from Loose Id and Carina Press. I first stumbled across his work when I read his Loose Id debut Forest of Glass, then A Stranger in Skoria and A Slave in Skoria. Next came The Adorned,…
Read More John Tristan interview (adult content advisory)I am fortunate to have a piece in this exhibition: Watershed Tapestry, seen below. I’m in the company of some of the most well-known book artists of our time, in a unique gallery devoted to book and text-based arts. The show runs November 15, 2013 to December 28, 2013 23 SANDY GALLERY • 623 NE…
Read More Now showing: EcoEditions at 23 Sandy GalleryUpdated 6-19-2017: Brass Stars has been revised and expanded, and A. G. Carpenter now has the dark and gory (and gorgeous) results here. Her new cover isn’t shabby, either. *** A fun debut today for my friend A. G. Carpenter, who is a far better (and more prolific) writer than I am. Remember the name,…
Read More ‘Brass Stars’ by A. G. CarpenterJohn Paul Miller 4-23-1918 to 3-1-2013 A belated but no less heartfelt obit for one of the heroes of modern goldsmithing. Followed by the reasons why I think luminaries like him – in any field – are incredibly important to artists just learning their craft. When I was a total neophyte fussing around with the…
Read More When a kick in the pants is good for you (adult language advisory)