Superheroes! Steampunk! High-stakes adventure! Cool characters fighting implacable enemies for the fate of the world while they’re battling their own demons! If you like any or all of those things in your reading, Archangel: Ascensionhas it all. I was very … Continue reading
Dutifully and cheerfully answering the call from Mystery Writers of America (NorCal Chapter) I will be among the authors signing and chatting at the Grand Opening of the brand new and very shiny Barnes & Noble at The Veranda shopping … Continue reading
My first novel was also my first experience trying to create a fantasy world from the ground up. With Tolkien as my only model, I waded hip deep into Scottish history and Auld English linguistics to come up with character, clan, place and object names for my fantasy trilogy, The Mer Cycle.
Here’s what I learned: whatever names I use, it pays to simplify their spelling wherever possible.
Continue readingA sense of place plays a critical role in determining whether a reader “gets into” a story or not. Good place names can lend an aura of reality to even the most fictional of places. Conversely, an obviously made up place name in a story that pretends at reality can make a location that seems perfectly real to the author seem perfectly ridiculous to the reader.
Continue readingWhat if the name hadn’t been “James Bond”? What if the name Ian Fleming gave his super spy had been “Crane, Ichabod Crane?”
Continue readingHere’s a question for you, Dear Reader. What publisher would have taken Bram Stoker seriously if his villain had swept onto the page and said, in sepulchral tones, “I am Count Humperdink. I want to drink your blood”?
Continue readingHello, my name is Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, and I’m a recovering research-aholic. I know that research addiction is common among writers of speculative fiction (genres that begin with ”what if…?”). This doesn’t mean there aren’t writers who hate research with … Continue reading
Arthur C. Clarke posited long ago that any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I’d like to turn that aphorism on its head and suggest that any significantly advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology. Simply put, the magic of … Continue reading
Gina “Tinkerbell” Miyoko, P. I., the diminutive protagonist of my newly-relased debut crime novel, THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER, packs more than a spectrum blue Taurus to protect her. Thanks to her Mom, Nadia—who is a folklorist and cultural anthropology professor at … Continue reading
In support of my debut crime novel, THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER (October 2, from Pegasus Crime), I’m embarking on my first-ever blog tour. Confirmed dates and “locations” for the tour are: 09-25-18 @4:00 pm – Science fiction author/blogger Juliette Wade will interview … Continue reading
