 I am thrilled to share the news that my novel, While Gods Sleep, has been selected as a finalist for the 2019 Colorado Book Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy by Colorado Humanities and Center for the Book! 🎉 I'm in great company again this year and, weather permitting, I'll be attending the reading series for finalists in the mystery/thriller/science fiction and fantasy categories on April 5th at the Denver BookBar on Tennyson St. 7-9pm. 
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 Today and tomorrow only A Borrowed Hell is free, as are the 3 books listed with it! Find links to all 4 books at this Amazon page. And watch Digital Fiction Publishing's website for more deals - they've been doing this with different books over the past few weekends! 4.6 out of 5 stars 27 customer reviews WINNER of the 2018 Colorado Book Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy! Lost in a barren alternative world, July Davish has two options: Confront his hellish past or be trapped there forever. While Gods Sleep has made it into the best-reviewed BookLife titles from January PW reviews! Check it out in BookLife news.   Wonderful news: While Gods Sleep received a very favorable review from Publishers Weekly last week! I'm doing a little Snoopy dance and you can celebrate with me because the book is on sale right now for $0.99 at Amazon  Well, here it is New Year's Eve again, and time to reflect on the memorable things that happened in my little sphere of existence during 2018. Professionally, it was a banner year. I had two new books released (or all three out of my three published novels if I squish in my Dec, 2017 re-release of my debut novel, A Borrowed Hell, by its new publisher). In March I learned that A Borrowed Hell was listed as a Colorado Humanities and Center for the Book finalist for the Colorado Book Awards. I also found out that month that I was accepted to the juried master writing class, Taos Toolbox. In April I was a faculty presenter at Pikes Peak Writers Conference, where I had a wonderful three days seeing friends, meeting new folks, teaching two workshops, and a co-moderating a short story roundtable. I believe it was sometime in May that I finally completed my final draft of my newest book and the hardest book I've written to date! In early June, A Borrowed Hell was chosen as the winner of the Colorado Book Award for the Science Fiction/Fantasy category for 2018. The last half of June was spent attending the Taos Toolbox 2-week residency workshop in beautiful Angel Fire, NM where I learned from instructors Walter Jon Williams and Nancy Kress, and guest instructors, George R. R. Martin(!), Carrie Vaughn, and Emily Mah Tippetts. Late July saw the release of my epic fantasy, The Halfblood War - the first book I ever wrote, and September was the release of a book I feel most represents where my writing is now and where it's going, While Gods Sleep. There were a few personal milestones over the year as well: my mother, a WWII veteran of the British Army, turned a very healthy 100-years-old in February (and she's still doing well as I write this). We made it through one of the worst Colorado droughts in recent history (where I learned there is a stage beyond extreme drought called "exceptional drought") and through one of the worst fires in Colorado recorded fire history that burned way too close to home and affected people we knew. Hubby and I didn't make our trip to WorldCon San Jose as planned, but he also survived - with no lasting injury - the chlorine gas inhalation that happened the day before we were supposed to leave. In Sept, I finally made the leap to a plant-based diet with very limited processed foods (plus backyard eggs and sometimes fish for now) and can feel the health effects and see the hoped-for weight loss well under way - yay. After losing two beloved animals in 2017 (our 20-year-old horse to founder and our 10-year-old dog to a fast-moving cancer), the search for a new dog is getting closer to fulfillment and the search for a gaited horse to be a companion to our Tennessee Walker came to an end. In December, just in time for Christmas, we got our paint Fox Trotter, Indigo, through a local horse rescue. All in all, a really great year with so much to be thankful for! On the reading front, I read 41 books this year according to Goodreads, plus a few beta and ARC books that didn't count as they're not yet released. Here's the summary, with my recommended, blew my mind, 5-star favorites highlighted below (though many more of these books were very enjoyable reads as well). Here's wishing everyone health, happiness, and good reading in 2019! Strange the Dreamer, Kraken (again), An Unkindness of Magicians, The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion, Spoonbenders, Flashforward, The Fifth Doll, The Land of Laughs, Paradox Bound, The Black Tides of Heaven, The City of Lost Fortunes, From the Teeth of Angels, Space Unicorn Blues, Nova, Never Let Me Go, Welcome to the Monkey House, The Stars My Destination, Collected Fictions, Casino Royale, The Library at Mount Char, Good Omens, Level Five, Bigfoot Loose and Finn Fancy Free, The Golem and the Jinni, Sandman Slim, Finding Ultra, Voice of the Whirlwind, Circe, Walking Through Fire, Alternate Routes, The Quantum Magician, North, Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr, The Changeling, Integration: Ghost Marines, Alice Payne Arrives, The Riddle Master of Hed, The Heir of Sea and Fire, Harpist in the Wind (again for the entire set).   I only just realized that this article ran on Oct 19th.
Many thanks to Colorado Humanities and Center for the Book and The Colorado Sun for this interview. A link to the full interview can be accessed HERE or in the image above.
 And now for something completely different. You're welcome. Black Friday Deal! While Gods Sleep ON SALE today through Sunday for $0.99 cents (regular price $3.99) Grab Your Copy Now "The pleasures of Greek mythology mixed with the dark undercurrents of contemporary fantasy.” Walter Jon Williams, New York Times bestselling author
Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it, and please, share safe, appropriate foods with your critter friends this holiday! Dogs and cats are both susceptible to similar toxins and dangers: no cooked bones, raisins, grapes, chocolate, xylitol artificial sweetener, macadamia nuts, caffeine, only small amounts of garlic, and never any drugs or alcohol. Here's hoping everyone gets to enjoy their own species-appropriate favorites this holiday! Only about a week left and then this deal is gone forever. StoryBundle website: https://storybundle.com/fantasy Not convinced? Check out this video trailer on YouTube.   After a colorful late Sept/early Oct, our weather dropped down into the 20s (Fahrenheit) then went back up to the 70s, and this morning we woke up to this. If your Halloween looks like this too, I hope your costume is warm! And hey, if you want to start hibernating and stock up for winter reading (or summer beach reading if you're in a different hemisphere) I can help. My epic fantasy, The Halfblood War, has been included in the Truly Epic Fantasy StoryBundle where you can get as many as 13 books from different authors for as little as $15 (or you can set your own price!). The bundle has been curated by Kevin J. Anderson, publisher for WordFire Press and author of more than 50 bestselling novels. Go get your epic on!  This fall has kept me busy so far with a couple of recent book releases, the completion of a new novelette, and attending MileHiCon. Now it's time to settle in for the cold months and get my newest Perilous Gods book written. Each book in the Perilous Gods series is a stand-alone based on different mythologies from around the world. While Gods Sleep turns Greek mythology on it's head, book 2 (written but not yet published) deals with Maya and Aztec deities, and book 3 is likely to be steeped in the folklore of Slavic paganism. Stay tuned for more news on the series. Speaking of news, my October newsletter went out to subscribers a few days ago with the StoryBundle link, links to a free short story site and new releases from other authors, and my standard sign off - an animal video (this time, a mini horse "overthinking".) If you want to see what you're missing, sign up here anytime and your welcome email will arrive with my short story "The Last King" - a story that blends both my epic and contemporary fantasy writing in a tale about old fae in a present day forest. And finally, since I'm posting on Halloween, it seems appropriate to include a monster quiz. Think you know your monsters? Give it a try - this quiz is not for the beginner.
HERE BE DRAGONS |
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Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Changer by Jane Lindskold Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee Recently Watched: Breaking Bad Doc Martin Read so far this year: Every Heart a Doorway Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword Fire and Bone Trail of Lightning Blackfish City The Handmaid's Tale Witchmark The Graveyard Book The Stone Sky The Halfblood War (audio file edits) Dimension of Miracles Wool The Lathe of Heaven Urth of the New Sun Inferno! 2 The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break Faerie Tale The Bone Clocks If you'd like to follow this blog, please click the RSS Feed below.
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