Cover Reveal and Free Review Copies of “The Breathing Sea”

Hi all! I hope you are all doing well and staying safe. Here things continue to be reasonably calm, although lockdown has been extended to the end of May. Better than the alternative, for sure. For me, of course, the difference between life under lockdown and life not under lockdown is not that big, but […]

The Breathing Sea I is Free This Week!

Greetings, all! With the spring equinox rapidly approaching, now seems like a great time to make the first part of my story of spring, The Breathing Sea, free! The promo will be running March 16-20. And of course it’s always free on KU. Get it here. Here’s that link again to get The Breathing Sea I free on […]

Snakes and Steam: Rewriting Chekhov’s “In the Ravine” (plus this week’s selection of giveaways)

It’s another not-so-beautiful early spring day here. The daffodils are blooming, but the occasional flake of snow falls from the sky. So it seems like a great opportunity to write some more about my story of spring, The Breathing Sea. As I wrote last time, The Breathing Sea starts in early spring and continues until midsummer, and is […]

Spring is Coming! Fear, Faith, and Free Signed Paperbacks.

Well, it’s the first week of March, which means spring isn’t quite officially here yet, but the daffodils and crocuses and pears are already blooming in my neck of the woods. I hope they don’t get nipped in next week’s predicted hard frost/winter storm. Things have been pretty exciting for me recently, and only sort […]

Winter is Here! Viking Rock, Free Books, and Other Fun Things

Happy Winter Solstice, everyone! Friday marked the onset of winter and the turning of the year. And although this is the darkest, deadest time of year, it is also the beginning of the new year. Not entirely coincidentally, I have recently become obsessed with a genre that I’ll call “Viking Rock,” for want of a […]

Two Women are Not Enough: A World Out of Balance

Goodness! Is it another weekend already? It is! And the leaves are finally starting to turn here in North Carolina, and it might get down below freezing. Not that fall is late or anything. I mean, it’s only November. The world isn’t getting out of balance, is it? Okay, so maybe it is. Scratch that: […]

Most Successful Promo Ever, and Musical Interlude

Once again, a huge thank you to everyone who helped in whatever way with the launch of The Dreaming Land I, which was my most successful promo and launch ever! An especially big thanks to those who have provided reviews, and of course reviews can be posted on Amazon at any time 🙂 I’ll be gearing […]

Stormy weather: Rusalki, Vodyaniye, and other forms of water magic in modern fantasy

In my last post I talked about how I incorporated the story of Gray Wolf into my books. With Hurricane Florence currently playing will-she-won’t-she with my part of North Carolina, today seemed like a good time to talk about how I worked various forms of magical water creatures into my stories, along with some good […]

Thrown to the Wolves: Writing Russian Fairy Tales into Contemporary Fantasy

Last time I talked about how I incorporated the character of Baba Yaga into my novels. But she is hardly the only Russian fairy tale character I have repurposed for my own ends. The one who appears in all three of the mini-series that comprise The Zemnian Series, and who was one of my favorite as […]

Was Baba Yaga Really So Bad, Anyway?

Before I jump into the meat of this post, I have a request! One that should be pretty simple and easy to fulfill. The official release date of The Dreaming Land isn’t until September 22, AKA the equinox, but I’ve already published the paperback of Book 1 so that people can start posting reviews. So if you […]