Ever since working on an essay for a subsequently-cancelled SmartPop collection, I’ve been fascinated with attitudes toward Wonder Woman. My friend Elizabeth Keathley, a much more well-read and long-term fan, was kind enough to write about the character’s recent history. ***** I have two daughters, ages three and five. When I was around their ages, I wore through more than one … Read More
Twilight vs Harry Potter: Leaving Space
This was recently posted on the website Learn from my Fail: “I got into an argument with this at school. She was of the opinion that Twilight was better than Harry Potter. Her reasoning? Harry Potter’s characters had too much personality, while Twilight’s characters were blank and boring enough that she could put herself in their places.” Now, before you say … Read More
“We two are now more than us two”: messing with the rhythm
Every good work of dramatic storytelling has an internal rhythm that we, as readers/watchers/listeners, subconsciously pick up on as we go further into it. It often means we’re able to sense where a story is going before we should, based on hints the storyteller didn’t even know s/he was giving us. Sometimes it can be obvious, like the ten individual … Read More
Guest blog: Deborah Blake on maladaptive intertia
Deborah Blake is the author of six nonfiction books and the paranormal romance Witch Ever Way You Can, as well as the excellent short story “Dead and (Mostly) Gone,” found in The Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction, along with my story, “Draw Down.” Deborah has been kind enough to write about a condition every author has, or will, experience. (And catch … Read More
A dialogue on the “Common kickass heroine”
Recently my friend, author Teresa Frohock, brought to my attention a review of a current urban fantasy/paranormal romance title in which the reviewer referred to the main character as “the common kickass heroine.” We were both struck by the implications: that what was once a fresh symbol of female empowerment in the male-heavy world of fantasy had become, through repetition … Read More
The best* Christmas Eve gift
*Sarcasm. Once about ten or twelve years ago, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, I went through a process that will be instantly familiar to every struggling writer: I sent a query letter to a publisher, and they responded with a request to read the first three chapters of my manuscript. This happened fairly often, so I did not … Read More
Review: Death Watch
I met Ari Berk at the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association annual banquet a few months ago; we shared a table as we each signed 200 copies of our most recent books. He was a great person to have beside me for such a repetitive and time-consuming task, and when he told me about his new YA novel Death Watch, I … Read More
Announcing the second Tufa novel
It’s official: there will be a second Tufa novel. Titled Wisp of a Thing, it will not be a straight sequel, but another story in the same setting, with many of the same characters. Release date, cover art, and back cover text are all to come. But I wanted to announce this during the holidays, to thank everyone who … Read More
To Avoid Shark-Jumping
As I await the page proofs for Eddie LaCrosse IV (Wake of the Bloody Angel) and begin the first draft of Eddie LaCrosse V (so far, Eddie LaCrosse V), it occurred to me that every book in the series begins with two concepts, one of which is the same each time, while the other is very different. If you’re out … Read More
Announcing Haunted: 11 Tales of ghostly horror
A few weeks ago I promised an announcement for fans of Blood Groove, my first novel about vampires in Memphis in the Seventies. Here it is. Sir Francis Colby, the Victorian spiritualist and the only man to ever defeat vampire Baron Rudolfo Zginski, returns in a new adventure, “What’s the Frequency, Francis?” as part of the anthology Haunted: 11 Tales … Read More