Where did all those book ideas come from?

Weeks of yard taming, painting, and power washing have finally come to a head: My family has arrived for their first visit to our Eureka house, and it doesn't look like an overgrown jungle! We're so happy to be able to share with them our discoveries in Humboldt County. We're also preparing to move our kids up from Daly City. We're as excited as they are to have them close again! ❤️

Peleos (Timeless Keeper Saga Book 3) is coming right along. I hit that inevitable point as I passed one of the climaxes where I had to pause and re-plot to ensure everything will tie together nicely. Fortunately, it was much easier than last time, so I'm just about ready to start writing again. I'm at 88k words. My soft target is 120k, which leaves me about 32k to wrap things up. I think I can do it, but if it needs more, then I'll apologize for delivering a tome as the final book of the series, although I certainly wouldn't be the first author to do that.

Emboldened by Enigma making the SPSFC4 quarterfinals, I also entered it into BBNYA 2025, and saw on Bluesky that it's been accepted. I've heard great things about this contest, so if nothing else it's an honor to support them this year. You can learn about other entrants and follow the contest on their Bluesky account.

In a recent correspondence, I was asked where the idea for Enigma came from. I sort of answered that in a previous newsletter, but, while I showed the kindling that turned into the roaring bonfire of the final story, I didn't touch on the spark that lit the kindling, i.e. what made me even write that exploration chapter? The answer for almost all of my books is a flash of a scene in my mind, usually out of the blue, around which I built the world, characters, and story. This month's feature explores the simple, laughable origins of my series and standalone books.

Enjoy!

In this newsletter

• The Seeds That Grew Into Books
• Currently Reading

The Seeds That Grew Into Books

Every story has a backstory—a seed of inspiration that, with care and hard work, eventually sprouted into something unique and wonderful. These are the seeds of my published stories to date.

The Z-Tech Chronicles

The core Z-Tech characters (Charlie, Mark, Cappa, Zima) originated from a years-long Heroes Unlimited campaign. Charlie was my character, Mark the character of one of my best friends to this day. Cappa and Zima were NPCs who appeared later in the campaign. They all lived happily together in a factory-fortress in San Francisco.

Decades after we stopped playing, a scene struck me out of nowhere. I imagined Charlie in an alley with a girl on their first date. She has no idea who—rather, what—he really is, and neither of them know that vampires exist. Then pow, a veritable bloodsucker jumps out of the darkness, forcing Charlie to blow his cover to save the girl he likes, raising a storm of questions and conflict that made my cruel author instincts drool. That scene survived numerous re-writes and made it into the published version of Angels in the Mist.

Once Upon a Nightwalker

After I'd finished writing the entire Z-Tech Chronicles series, my publisher had a short story call for submissions themed around corporate life and employee revenge (justice?). Z-Tech was still fresh in my head; it was an epic series that had changed the face of the world. But what would it be like to live in that world? How would a day in the life look?

So I imagined a post-series vampire trying to re-integrate into the workplace, threw in a hard-nosed boss, a little intrigue, and started writing.

Zima: Origins

Sometime while writing the Z-Tech series, I wondered how Zima would fare out in the world without the support of the Z-Tech crew—on her own for the very first time. A powerful scene struck me of her wandering San Francisco's Mission District, where she hooks up with a Hispanic family struggling to get by, and all the horrible things that could go wrong, given her instability. And voilà! Zima: Origins was born.

Timeless Keeper Saga

While struggling to imagine my next series after The Z-Tech Chronicles—my first attempt to create my own world with my own characters—yet another scene hit me from out of the blue: Two people from different worlds—separated by caste, space, and time—who were so compatible that not even the universe could keep them apart, where the woman held an unbelievable secret. They were on an alien spaceship—maybe a space station. Things had come to a head: the woman had to confess her secret or, sooner or later, she would lose him. Knowing he wouldn't believe her otherwise, she stabs herself through the chest right in front of him, then lets him watch in bewilderment as she rises from the mortal wound.

The emotional impact was so powerful that I had to write it. I liked the idea of uber-compatible lovers. Of her withholding a dire secret. Of finding out what led up to that amazing scene, how he would react, and where they would go from there. I liked the idea that the entire universe—maybe other universes, too—would be at their fingertips. Everything else—Holtondome, the Federated Nations, the post-apocalyptic setting—came from imagining what world would best lead to that scene. Sad to say that, unlike the scene that spawned The Z-Tech Chronicles, this one didn't survive the writing process, but I'd like to think Holtondome is better for it.

One Man's Trash

I was watching a Star Trek: Voyager episode where good ol' Tom Paris rescues a junkyard shuttle whose only occupant is a female holographic projection of the ship's computer pilot. The two hit it off, as Tom the Kirk Protege always does, but the ship betrays him and he ends up having to destroy her. That left a sour taste with me. Why did she have to be the bad guy? They had a good story going! What would have happened if Tom had fallen for her? How would that relationship work?

I batted this idea around until my publisher made a call for submissions for a shared-world anthology, The Truck Stop at the Center of the Galaxy, and I knew immediately what my submission would be.

Dragon Assassin

You'll be shocked to learn that Dragon Assassin also stemmed from a scene flash. I can't remember when it happened or what triggered it, but I imagined this guy—a modern-day hitman—who falls for another assassin over a clash during one of his assignments. They start dating, and he finds out she's actually a dragon.

All the questions flooded through my head. Why, oh why, would an all-powerful ancient dragon date a human, even one with a cool day job? How would he handle it? How would he survive? What would keep these two together? Years later, during a call for submissions for an urban fantasy anthology, I decided to find out. And, since it was a paranormal romance series, I decided to ratchet up the spice level—an experiment I consider failed and will not attempt again. You've been warned.

Lost Colonies

Originally titled Star Crossed, Enigma began when I suddenly imagined a well-to-do girl—a young ambassador who had never done a lick of manual labor in her life—from an advanced society, stuck on a backwater planet trying to prove to the owner of a tavern that she isn’t worthless. Worse, she can't even speak, denying her the use of her primary weapon. Everything else (the Lost Colonies, worlds, other characters, magic, politics, etc) came into existence to support that single scene. It struck me so powerfully that I wrote it out as a standalone chapter, which you can find here (it didn't end up in the book, so spoilers should be minimal if you haven’t read that far).

Currently Reading

Wind and Truth (Stormlight Archive #5)

This conclusion to the first arc of the epic fantasy Stormlight Archive series started strong, but soon became bogged down with ponderous flashback chapters and dream-like sequences that persisted almost to the end of the book, which finished satisfyingly big. Sanderson includes many modern, topical themes, including mental health, LGBTQ+, schizophrenia, therapy, and women's rights. While sometimes preachy and a little shoehorned, I absolutely applaud him for integrating them into the story at a time when these messages need to be heard. Click below for the full review.

Read full review

Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle

To be clear, I DO NOT agree with Israel's current administration. However, the story of their rapid rise from nothing is fascinating, specifically the ingredients for their culture of innovation. The book is clear and well-structured, making it easy to absorb the main points. I listened to the audiobook during a drive to San Francisco. Narration was top notch. Recommended if only to understand what makes Israel truly unique.

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