Hi all,

So I'm a little bored and I want to play 'what ifs'. In this case, what if Sylvie got turned into a movie? Yep, it's the author dream-game of "who would they cast to play my characters?"

Your incentive to play along: I'm giving away three signed copies of Ghosts & Echoes for my favorite casting calls--the ones I think come closest to the character. You only need to send in one character suggestion for a chance to win. Paste 'em in the comments, so we can all admire. If by some wild circumstance, two people submit the same actor, I'll take the first posted. Read more

So May went by in a flurry of frantic activity. My brain is still reeling. I'm a slowpoke at heart, content to putter steadily forward in increments.

This month I had a family trip to Vegas, which was a city I'd never managed to go to before. Read more

The header really says it all. Whee!

Ghosts and Echoes release day!

I may have to snoopy-dance.

Currently reading: just finished Mike Carey's fifth Felix Castor Book: The Naming of Beasts.

So this weekend was Conestoga and the first time that I've managed to make the not-so-arduous trek to it. Glad I did! It was a great time! I got to meet up with old friends, come face to face with internet friends, and make some new ones. That, and there were books everywhere! Which always makes me happy. Read more

So, it's the end of the first month of the new year and what have I accomplished? Cue me ranting about my own writing. Feel free to skip below where I tell you what I've been READING. That's the fun stuff.

New writing. Two new books to work on. That's exciting! About 35K written between the two, and I'm enjoying playing with new characters. Love laconic Max, love sociopathic Black Ned, love determined Cachita. And of course, I love letting Sylvie loose to wreak more havoc. Read more

“Nine people die of sudden heart attacks downtown and you didn’t think anything of it?” Kevin asked Michaels, the officer investigating James’s case.

“You know how it is, Dunne. If all of them had crossed my desk, yeah, maybe. But I got one. Sikowski got one, Delaney got one, and cops I don’t even know got the others. Besides, nine people is not a statistically large number for everyone who works downtown.”

“I know,” Kevin said, “but still--one a day--doesn’t it feel wrong to you?” It twanged in his head, resonating throughout his bones. Whispering. Read more

This is a story in two parts that's set in the Sylvie landscape, though it's about Kevin Dunne. It's spoilerific for certain plot info in Sins & Shadows. Read more

Oh, the pet project. . . . I've decided I want to do something with it. So it's time for revision. The problem is: the pet project was fun to write but it's a monster to revise. A lot of the things I let slide in a pet project are just no good at all in a real novel. Chapter two, I'm looking at you and your nested flashback. Long flashbacks are tricky at the best of times. A nested flashback? Is an abomination. I'm pretty sure they take away your writing license for committing it, unless you're doing it with exquisite artistry. This nested flashback? No artistry. Read more

Starting a new book always intimidates and thrills me in equal portions. There's so much work to be done before the prose ever starts. I'm a bit of a clockwork writer--things have to go in a certain order before the book begins, and at this point, I don't know if that process is necessary or just my way of winding my brain up. Read more

3.

Psyke woke, thick-headed and cold, from dreams of breathlessness and terror. The tisane Olympia had fed her, a poisonously sweet concoction of Petal, bitter chocolate, boiled milk, and sugar syrup had done its work most thoroughly. Time seemed clouded, her head mazed, and her body as lethargic as river silt.

Her world was darkness streaked with grainy light, and the faint sour smell of her breath was directed back at her, captured by cloth. Read more