Oy, my main website got hacked. Boo hiss. ANYWAY. There seems to be a trend toward community input these days. The general public has become the gatekeepers, and I think that’s okay. Things like indiegogo, Patreon, and Kickstarter allow people to support
Mother Characters in Scifi and Fantasy
There’s not a lot of mother characters as main characters in speculative fiction. I can think of exactly two in books that I read (Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly and Boneshaker by Cherie Priest). Part of me is sad, because there’s
Library Book Sale Finds: Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
The problem with the library book sale books (now I’ve been to another one) is that I’ve got a whole bunch now, and I can’t tell which ones I picked up versus which ones my husband picked up (unless they’re
A New Way to Tackle the TBR Pile
If you’re like me, Squiders, (and I suspect you are to some extent) you have a ton of books sitting around, waiting to be read. Physical books, ebooks, books you were super excited for and yet have not touched, books
The Dangers of Library Book Sales
Ah, Squiders, library book sales. Dangerous, dangerous things, aren’t they? One of our local ones, in celebration of Western Welcome Week, is having a week-long one where you can fill up an entire bag of books for $3. Three. Dollars.
My Gateway Novel: Wishsong of Shannara
Whenever we find something we like–a TV show, a band, a sport, whatever–there’s always something that introduces us to whatever it is, our “gateway,” if you will, that we never forget, especially if whatever turns out to be transformative in
Character Archetypes: Wrap-up
Well, Squiders, I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at some of the character archetypes. We could go on forever, honestly. Some people denote eight different character archetypes, others twelve. Still others can break down each archetype into another six or
[Guest Post] Chris Mandeville on the Inspiration Behind Her Post-Apocalyptic Seeds
My friend Chris Mandeville’s debut novel, Seeds: a post-apocalyptic adventure, was released on April 18, 2015. One week later it shot to number 6 on Amazon’s Top 100 list of post-apocalyptic books, and it’s been in the top 100 since. She’s agreed
Why I Chose to Write About Ghosts and Sci-fi
Today with have a guest post from Erin Zarro, whose new book, Grave Touched, comes out today! Without further adieu, I’ll let her take over. Ghosts and sci-fi, you say? Really? Yep. I’m a big fan of ghosts and the
General Media Update
Today’s been rough, Squiders, so for the sake of my poor brain, I’m going to keep this simple and go through some of the speculative fiction stuff I’ve been consuming lately. 1) Forever Forever is a crime procedural/supernatural show on
