Kali Wallace: Five Things I Learned Writing Dead Space

Hester Marley used to have a plan for her life. But when a catastrophic attack left her injured, indebted, and stranded far from home, she was forced to take a dead-end security job with a powerful mining company in the asteroid belt. Now she spends her days investigating petty crimes to help her employer maximize its profits. She’s surprised to hear...

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Emily R. King: Five Things I Learned Writing Wings of Fury

Althea’s world is ruled by Cronus, the God of Gods, whose inheritance is the world and women, his playthings. He takes mortal women as prizes and discards them when he’s through. No woman dares to defy him. After her mother is taken from her and dies as a result of Cronus’s cruelty, Althea is determined not to suffer the same fate as so many women...

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Amanda Cherry: Five Things I Learned Writing The Dragon Stone Conspiracy

When the Fäe go to war with a Nazi cult, one woman will protect humanity’s future. As World War II rages, accidental immortal Pepper Elizabeth Jones is on the run from government agents on both sides of the Atlantic. Hidden in neutral Ireland, she is summoned to meet with a mysterious general, The Righ, who tasks her to save magic itself from the Nazis....

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Why “Gentle Writing Advice,” Exactly?

If you follow me on Twitter (you fool), you may have seen that I have been doing a thread over there of so-called GENTLE WRITING ADVICE. (That thread is here.) And I just wanted to talk about, for a moment, why I’m doing that. So, an indeterminate amount of time ago — my Pandemic Brain tells me it was either a few weeks or seven-and-a-half years —...

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Susan Mihalic: Five Things I Learned Writing Dark Horses

Fifteen-year-old equestrian prodigy Roan Montgomery has only ever known two worlds: inside the riding arena, and outside of it. Both, for as long as she can remember, have been ruled by her father, who demands strict obedience in all areas of her life. The warped power dynamic of coach and rider extends far beyond the stables, and Roan’s relationship...

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Cover Reveal: Dust & Grim!

WELL, HEY THERE. What’s this? Why, it’s just the cover to my new book, Dust & Grim, out October 5th. In it, a girl inherits a funeral home for monsters from her parents, but must share that inheritance with a brother she’s never met. There are: mysterious doors! Talking wolves! A rogue devourer! Something in the wallpaper! A secret cemetery! And...

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Building Bridges Made Of Breakfast

This is not going to be one of those RECIPE BLOG POSTS where you first must endure a wall of text about the author’s magical visit to Tuscany where they met Mime King Marcel Marceau and picked fresh herbs while simultaneously making love to a secret paramour who then cooked them a frittata so wondrous it made them pregnant with a baby Iron Chef. It’s...

Jan 2021

Healing Takes Time, And Healing Is Painful

This morning, as Donald Trump left the White House for (*knocks on wood*) the last time, it was snowing outside. Just a light sprinkling of little sugar flakes, sticking to some surfaces but not to others. And then as he took off, the sun poked through for a moment — a patch of blue sky amid the gray. Half the sky is turbid gray gunmetal. The other...

Jan 2021

Blurbing A Book: What It Is, What It Means, And Other Questions

So, I started talking a bit about blurbs on books over yonder hills at Twitter, and it became clear that a lot of folks, even other writers new to this whole CHAOS CIRCUS, don’t even entirely understand them. Hell, maybe I don’t even understand them. It’s possible they’re some kind of Idea Virus, some Memetic Parasite and we authors have been passing...

Jan 2021

Julie Hutchings: Five Things I Learned Writing The Harpy 2: Evolution

Charity Blake became a nightmare. But there are far more dangerous monsters out there than her. Train-wreck antihero Charity Blake thrives at being a winged avenger, but exacting vengeance takes as much from her as it gives. To retain the humanity she’s fought tooth and claw to keep, she tries to walk away from her monstrous side for good. With no...

Jan 2021