In an earlier post, I talked about the Marvel comic Dakota North, which ran for five issues in the mid-80s and is now the subject of a brand new collection, Dakota North: Design for Dying. Now Dakota’s creator and writer, Martha Thomases, has been kind enough to talk to me a bit about Dakota’s origins. You wrote about the fashion … Read More
The Original Story about Mount Horeb’s Psychic Boy
When I wrote about this in an earlier post, I offered to post my transcription of the original newspaper articles, if anyone was interested. Thanks to all who said they were. Here you go. Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Wis, Thursday afternoon, April 1, 1909 Headline: MT. HOREB MYSTERY STILL BAFFLING ALL EFFORTS TO SOLVE IT Sub-headline: Residents Divided on Question … Read More
Review: Vampire Classics (Graphic Classics #26)
It’s no secret that I love me some vampires. I’ve even written two vampire novels of my own, Blood Groove and The Girls with Games of Blood. Their combination of danger coupled with intelligence, of being able to pass as one of us until the fangs finally come out, makes them the perfect monster. They can be used to represent … Read More
Ten years after The Sword-Edged Blonde
Ten years ago this week, a lifelong dream finally came true. My first novel, The Sword-Edged Blonde, came out in hardcover. It introduced both me, and my character Eddie LaCrosse, who has gone on to feature in four more novels and a smattering of short stories. Although the manuscript that became Wisp of a Thing was the one that induced … Read More
A Special Offer for Independent Bookstore Day
In honor of Independent Bookstore Day, here’s some incentive to get out and visit your local indie store today: if you buy one of my books from an indie and send me a photo of the receipt, I’ll send you a signed copy of another of my books. Indies are the people who are in it for the love, and they … Read More
Announcing the Tufa Coloring Book
Hey, all you Tufa fans! Artist Shoshanah Marohn has put together a official coloring book featuring scenes from all four Tufa novels, at least one short story, and even a sneak image from the fifth book. If you order it now, you can get $2 off the official price of $9.98. That’s right, from now until Chapel of Ease hits shelves on September … Read More
Ode to Billie Joe: the value of the hidden
Yesterday was June 3rd, or as Bobby Gentry describes it: It was the third of June, another sleepy dusty delta day…. That is, of course, from her magnificent ballad “Ode to Billie Joe,” a song as much about what’s unsaid (or unsung) as it is about what’s said. Billy Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge; the singer, a young … Read More
Rocky IV: Electric Bugaloo
Every Thanksgiving, I have a Rocky-thon. Starting whenever I get up, it’s all Rocky, all day. Except it’s a curated marathon. It includes Rocky I-III, Rocky Balboa, and now Creed. There’s no Rocky V, which no one seems to question. But how, folks ask, can I leave out Rocky IV? Well, lemme tell ya. I reviewed Rocky IV for my … Read More
Across the same river with The Idylls of the Queen
Alice Walker wrote The Same River Twice about the process of turning her novel The Color Purple into a movie. The title itself is a paraphrase of the philosopher Heraclitus, and is more fully translated as, “You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing on.” In 2011, I wrote Dark Jenny, the third in my Eddie … Read More
I’m giving away 10 advance-reader copies of CHAPEL OF EASE
Chapel of Ease, the fourth Tufa novel, won’t officially be out until September. But I have some advance copies to give away right now. Here’s the official description: When Matt Johanssen, a young New York actor, auditions for “Chapel of Ease,” an off-Broadway musical, he is instantly charmed by Ray Parrish, the show’s writer and composer. They soon become friends; … Read More