Selling Saturday: Smashwords Coupon for “Bugging Out” and Other Promotions

This week’s Smashwords coupon is for “Bugging Out”: Change is hard to deal with under the best of circumstances, but what do you do when everything you know seems to be disappearing around you? A lonely, cantankerous shopkeeper struggles to keep what’s left of his world. This is another instance of things appearing out of … Continue reading →

Forecast Friday: An Excerpt from the 2037 Report on the Universal Bathroom Amendment of 2017

**Well, here we are in the 4th month of the year, and my writing goals say that I need to increase my weekly blog postings to 4 before the end of this month, so you find yourself (on the latest day possible) reading the inaugural edition of Forecast Friday. Enjoy! An Excerpt from the 2037 … Continue reading →

Writing Wednesday: What I Need as a Writer

Back in 2004, when I determined that my life had been deprived of a creative outlet for too long, I had to pick one. I stuck with things I knew, which meant choosing between theater, playing music, sketching, and writing. Theater will always be one of my loves, but to do it proper requires lots … Continue reading →

Meandering Monday about Selling My Self’s Shorts

Selling isn’t easy. That’s why we have salesmen, and why the good ones make the big bucks. When dinosaurs ruled the earth, I applied for a clerical job from an ad in the newspaper (a physical newspaper – I told you this was LONG AGO…) I was told that the clerical job was filled, but … Continue reading →

Selling Saturday: Smashwords Coupon for “The Sheila Wulf Chitinoid Sessions” and Other Promotions

This week’s Smashwords coupon is for “The Sheila Wulf Chitinoid Sessions”: The things you run into in space… Fresh from the University, Sheila Wulf thinks she’s made her mark when she discovers an alien species, but her fifteen minutes of xenopological fame seems to be wasted on a tribe of uncooperative crabs. Could anything be … Continue reading →

Writing Wednesday: Remounting the Writing Horse

This writing year has had an ugly beginning. Normally, the start of the year is when I recommit to a writing schedule, and I build up a good “average words/week” (even hit my 3000 word target a few times), so by the time I get to the inevitable HOLIDAY DROP-OFF at the end of the year, … Continue reading →

Meandering Monday about How You Play the Game

I play games (like none of you knew), and on those fields of battle, I show no mercy, and expect none as well. My opponent on the other side of the board (that’s right, I’m old fashioned – sometimes it’s ACTUAL BOARD GAMES) is the enemy, and we are out to destroy each other. There … Continue reading →

“Solid People” – Now Available On Preorder

Up for ePublication next is my speculative short story “Solid People”: The afterlife is what you make of it.  A run-in with Mr. Topp’s flatbed strands Sarah and her mother in Newbury. Despite her mother’s warnings about becoming  attached to things, Sarah decides to spend her time with some Solid People. It’s a very short one, spawned … Continue reading →

Selling Saturday: Smashwords Coupon for “The Black Spot” and Other Promotions

It has begun… As a writer of speculative fiction, I find it gratifying (if sometimes unnerving) when elements from my stories creep into my everyday life (usually it’s the other way around.) A week ago, after digging up our rose rosette-infected rose bushes, I took off my glove and discovered a small, dark spot on … Continue reading →

Writing Wednesday: Revisionism

SO – the work I decided to do on my Jimmy Delaney series is definitely more of a revision than a rewrite – I’m making minor changes to the first three stories – some so that it reads better, and a couple of touches to deal with slight series’ inconsistencies (such as how much time … Continue reading →