For the Fandom of Fantasy World Maps
This is an essay about a lifelong love affair with fantasy world maps. I could have written it; so could my husband have, and any of several of my friends for that matter. We who are fans of maps just generally can be inordinately fond of fantasy maps,…
Thinky Thoughts
Michael had some thinky thoughts for you last week, and started a post, but computer troubles are delaying his ability to complete it. The working title I saw was “The Cost of Everything,” and I took away from our discussion that it involves…
A Little More About That Raven Wing
Let’s talk a little more about that “raven wing”. From the wiki: The Raven Wing If you’ve read Dead Man’s Trigger, you already know how Raven got his name. If you were curious to know more about the device called the Raven…
For Your Action-Packed Weekend: Is Writer’s Block Real?
A link to a roundup of quotes from published authors, who have opinions about the question: Is writer's block real?
Reason, and Magic — Philip Pullman
“The universe of magic is a large place. It contains phenomena ranging from simple good luck charms to complicated systems of belief and practice such as astrology and alchemy, and it comes to us from prehistory, and from every part of the world,…
For Writers: Zen and the Art of the Story Arc
Every story has a story arc; it's a way of fitting more narrative in between two points which would be short and relatively uninteresting, otherwise. The goal of a writer is to start at the beginning point, then describe that arc so that it's so…
In Uncertain Times
I don’t know how else to put this. If you didn’t know it, you may want or need to know it, so I’m just going to write it straight-up: Michael and I have found ourselves in uncertain times. We’ve spent most of 2018 dealing with the…
Raven’s Tears is now on KDP Select!
For a long time now, we’ve been in the stupid position of having Raven’s Tears out of AMZN’s KDP Select service, while Dead Man’s Trigger remained IN the service, despite multiple attempts instructing AMZN NOT to renew its…
Making It Sew — and So
This week’s news is that Michael and I have finally begun the process of getting Dead Man’s Trigger (DMT) down from the digital clouds and into a real, physical paperback book. We’d like to apologize for the wait to those of you who…
Resurrections
Hi, everyone. Alesia, here. It feels good to be able to say that, after two long, dark years, Michael and I have resumed the work on book three of the Raven & Iris trilogy. He and I spent this last weekend reassembling the notes in paper and…