Blog Book Review: All Systems Red All Systems Red is a wonderful science fiction novella that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The protagonist, self-named Murderbot, is exactly that. Its only problem? These pesky things called feelings that prevent it from not caring about its clients so it can go back to watching serial shows. Wells
Blog Book Review: Better Angels Better Angels is a short Truck Stop at the Center of the Galaxy story, the first scene of which made me wonder if I’d somehow stumbled into the taboo category of Amazon’s adult reading section. Having read other Water Dragon Publishing titles, however, I took a leap of
Blog Book Review: The Smugglers At its core, The Smugglers is a heartwarming coming-of-age story that shifts perspectives between the mother, Deralka, and “Boy,” giving tender insights to the challenges each faces during the most difficult physical transitions of any adolescent’s life. How is that science fiction? Neither Deralka nor Boy are human; they
Blog Book Review: Trade Wars Trade Wars picks up not long after Foreign & Domestic. It grabbed my attention from the very first paragraph, which also set the tone for the book. Phillips delivers yet another Clancy-esque Navy thriller starring the Texian Armada misfits on another banter-filled, high-seas adventure. The stakes are higher this time,
Blog Book Review: Storm Front I first started Storm Front several years ago. I don’t think I made it past the first chapter before quietly yawning and moving on to another book. This time, I listened to the audiobook narrated by James Marsters and wow! I honestly don’t know whether I just hadn’
Blog The Daily Word Count Conundrum Authors are repeatedly told that success means writing each and every day. Some have gone so far as to say 3,000 words is the absolute minimum, otherwise kiss your career goodbye. (For the record, my average doesn’t come close to that mark.) NaNoWriMo awards anyone who can scribble
Blog Book Review: Hunter Hunter resumes Donovan's exploration of “New Seeking” with the addition of court intrigue and an old flame. The book also shifts to the perspective of Ruben, the aspiring and highly coveted magus boy wielding incredible power in a series of nostalgic training sequences worthy of Feist or any
Blog Book Review: Sinera Sinera is one of my favorite characters from the Glass Bottles Series, so as you can imagine, I was thrilled when I discovered she had an entire book dedicated to her. It’s a short book (novelette), but gives great insight into a very complex elf with a quiet but
Blog Book Review: The Stargazer Gift Shop “Gentle” is the best way I can describe The Stargazer Gift Shop. The story is told from the perspective of Rhoda, a high-functioning, artificially intelligent robot with a heart of electrum who runs a gift shop on The Truck Stop at the Center of the Galaxy. What starts as a
Blog Book Review: Coke Machine Coke Machine is a delightful little adventure in the Truck Stop at the Center of the Galaxy universe. Marichka is starship engineer working on an ancient machine that doles out a caustic brown, sticky liquid. Things go from bad to warp-core-breach faster than Scotty can say “She cannot take any
Blog Book Review: Caliban's War Leviathan Wakes is some of the best science fiction I’ve read in a long time. So, when I picked up Caliban’s War, I was prepared to be let down because nothing could compare to the wonderful book I’d just finished. Fortunately, I couldn’t have been more
Blog Author Spotlight - Morgan Chalut Morgan Chalut lives in Dallas, Texas with her delightfully handsome and silly, charming, supportive and lovely husband, Philip. They have two dogs together: Caramel, who absolutely wants to be your friend, and Sammie, who very definitely does not. Morgan has been writing since she learned that just anyone was allowed
Blog Book Review: Seeker Seeker has all my favorites aspects of epic fantasy: an engaging and varied cast of characters, a wonderfully developed world, and a unique magic system that is balanced, well defined, and bursting with possibility. This first book of The Unwoven Tapestry series introduces Donovan, a grizzled veteran mage who doesn’
Blog Book Review: Silence Fallen Silence Fallen is the first audiobook I’ve ever listened to with 2 different narrators voicing the characters and their respective chapters. I didn’t know that at the time, however, so when George Newbern started talking, I thought for a moment my device had switched to a different book.
Blog Book Review: Magic Triumphs I’m glad I took my wife’s advice and read Iron and Magic before tackling Magic Triumphs. Without that little gem, there just wasn’t enough coverage of Hugh and Elara in this book for me to connect with them. So, if you’re thinking of finishing this one
Blog Book Review: Beguiling Voices Beguiling Voices, the third book of the Glass Bottles series, takes place soon after the conclusion of Broken Bridge. Fern Fatelli is, understandably, an absolute wreck after the traumas of the previous book, and to the author’s credit, faces it like many of us would if facing the same
Blog The Knifest Christmas So, my NaNo project, The Knifest Christmas, is at 1,891 words. It might have been twice that had I not spent hours trolling through pictures for the cover, then messing with Photoshop for hours more to create a metallic effect for "Knifest". The result probably highlights why
Blog Once Upon a Nightwalker - Free Download Once Upon a Nightwalker is now available, just in time for Halloween! The best part? It's FREE! This Z-Tech Chronicles novelette follows Ellen Bloom and her struggle to fit into her old job after the events in the main series have left her forever different from her coworkers.
Blog Halloween Surprise? Hopefully So close! I'd really, REALLY hoped to have a surprise for everyone this past Monday, but it still needs some tweaking. Should be able to share it very soon! Hiked along the old Devil's Slide freeway along Highway 1 this past week. True to its name,
Blog Truckin' Toward NaNo and Halloween NaNoWriMo is right around the corner. Someone recently challenged me to write a holiday story, which I haven't done before, so that's going to be my theme. The question is whether it will be a Z-Tech Chronicles story or something different. Stay tuned. =] We're
Blog Book Review: Arthur Mace, Medieval Gumshoe Arthur Mace, Medieval Gumshoe is the first book in the Adventures of Arthur Mace series by James Husum. It’s the second mystery I’ve read in a row, taking my lifetime total to 3. Unless you count the Samantha Moon series, in which case I’m way higher than
Blog Book Review: Due Date The first and perhaps only mystery I’ve read before Due Date is Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon—which, if you haven’t read it yet, should be the very next book on your reading list. In fact, I’ll wait until you’re done. (Plays with nails while
Blog Day? What's That? Smokey Times. While it might look like a scene from Blade Runner, this was actually taken by one of my co-workers from his place in San Francisco earlier today. The sepia filter was free for everyone today. Being right on the ocean, we had thick fog below the smoke layer that blanketed
Blog Book Review: Broken Bridge Like its predecessor, Broken Bridge follows Fern (probably my all-time favorite heroine name) through a magic-rich world ala Kate Daniels and Mercy Thompson, where supernatural elements are relatively new to Earth’s timeline. Or at least, as far as humanity is concerned. Fern’s customer this time is Cobb, and
Blog What's Up - California Fires Edition Hope everyone affected by fires in CA is doing as well as you can! The smoke here is better today, thank goodness. Yesterday smelled like someone had lit a campfire in the middle of the guest bathroom. Today was clear enough that I braved the treadmill and walked a fast