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Month: November 2014

Writing the Wrongs

  I had a plan for this blog post. I don’t remember what it was. Last night’s events in Missouri have left me saddened, outraged, and deeply distressed. I can’t talk lightheartedly today. In this world, we’re not supposed to hit people. We’re not supposed to react with violence to the hate and harm piled on us. And I get it. I do. Anything that can be solved with violence can be solved better and faster without it, if people are willing to try. And we need to be willing to try. Or it just gets worse. I know that. But sometimes, man…sometimes the need to just hit someone is pretty darn strong.

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Year of No Fear: Eye Pain

Those of you who have been following my shenanigans know that since February of last year, I have been suffering from severe chronic eye pain in my left eye. It happened suddenly, and as far as I know, it hasn’t affected my vision.  But the pain has been excruciating, and it’s constant.  I’m on a nerve pain medication for it, but I have to stay on a low dose to prevent terrible side effects.  So I often have breakthrough pain. (I am, however, very thankful that I didn’t go blind.  That would have been much worse.) 

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Con Aftermath

So, if you guys follow our Twitter or Facebook feeds, you’ll know that a few weeks ago we had a table at a smallish scifi/fantasy literature convention called MileHiCon. We went into this madness with our previous experience on the subject being that we had attended a couple conventions ourselves at various times, and also knowing people who had had tables themselves, though not with any details about how they had run said tables.

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The Secret to Making Weekends Last Longer

I’ve recently re-learned something about weekends that I tend to forget. It has to do with travel. Ever wonder why a weekend (or week) away tends to feel longer than the same amount of time in one’s regular routine? Basically, you’re out of your rut — seeing and doing new things — so you’re actually noticing the world, no longer on autopilot. That means you’re fully alive in every moment and experiencing every detail. As a bonus: you’re also doing more fun things (unless you’re travelling for work); you’ve literally left the grind of work and other daily responsibilities behind; and you’re probably getting more exercise (walking!) and more nature. I’ve found this time-dilation phenomenon to be true of all sorts of travel, from long-weekend hops to a nearby town or city, to multi-month overseas expeditions, and everything in between. Last weekend I took a road trip through gorgeous countryside to another city, poked around a trendy street, stayed in a place I’d never been before. Earlier this fall I spent a weekend in Montreal, doing much the same things. This summer I went hiking in the Rockies for most of a week. A year and a half ago, I spent three months backpacking around Asia. All of those trips felt twice as long as they really were. Here’s the secret: you don’t have to actually travel.

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Introducing Even the Score

  One, two, three, How many will my victims be? One, two, three, four, How many more to even the score? When Taro Hibiki leads a survival class into the backwoods, he has two goals: to prove himself as an instructor, and to propose to his beloved Rafe before he loses his nerve completely. In the wilds might seem a strange place for that, but it’s where Taro feels most at home—and the only place the couple can escape all their other responsibilities. BFR’s colonists claim the name stands for “Big Effing Rock,” and boast of their planet’s dangers. Yet more treacherous than sight-scamps or bomb bugs is a human seeking vengeance. Soon Taro’s students are dropping one by one, and no matter what Taro does, the killer stays a step ahead. Worst of all, Taro suspects the students are targets of opportunity—that the ultimate goal is Rafe. Taro would die for Rafe in a heartbeat, but who’s going to take care of Rafe if he does? As it happens, the killer has a plan for that, too. Even the Score will be available December 1st from Turtleduck Press. It takes place two years after the events of His Faithful Squire. Find a chronology of the Dream’verse here. § Trust Rafe to set the scene perfectly. We huddled in the deepest, narrowest part of a canyon called Fools Rush In. Sharp grey cliffs rose all around. Rafe the Victim lay in a tangle of rocks at the base of a blank…

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Even the Score

A novel of the Dream’verse One, two, three, How many will my victims be? One, two, three, four, How many more to even the score? When Taro Hibiki leads a survival class into the backwoods, he has two goals: to prove himself as an instructor, and to propose to his beloved Rafe before he loses his nerve completely. In the wilds might seem a strange place for that, but it’s where Taro feels most at home—and the only place the couple can escape all their other responsibilities. On BFR, proud colonists say the name stands for “Big Effing Rock,” and brag about their planet’s dangers. More treacherous than bomb bugs or sight scamps, though, is a human seeking vengeance. Soon Taro’s students are dropping one by one, and no matter what Taro does, the killer stays a step ahead. Worst of all, Taro comes to suspect that the students are targets of opportunity—that the ultimate goal is Rafe. Taro would die for Rafe in a heartbeat, but who’s going to take care of Rafe if he does? As it happens, the killer has a plan for that, too.  

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