If you’ve been following the story, thank you for reading. If you haven’t, please get started!

Next steps:

1. Paper: Some of you don’t like to read online, but paper is your thing. There will be Kindle and Create Space versions of the story in a month or two. Before that happens, I plan to re-edit the entire novel, add an encyclopedia for words and characters, and possibly some illustrations and technical plans for the starships.
2. Sequels: A sequel is planned. However, there will be other stories in the “Warriots of the Hollow Worlds” universe, most notably, “The Turquoise Bones” which will be published by Clean Reads in April.
3. T-shirts: I plan to make a T-shirt availalble.
4. Support: How you can support my writing:
   1. Read my story and give me votes on Wattpad
   2. Like my author page on Facebook.

This weekend I finished a new 6000 word short story called “Feeding the Souleater.” The concept is that in order to travel across a particularly dangerous icy wasteland, people need the aid and protection of giant wolves called souleaters. In return for its services, travelers need to feed the souleater a piece of themselves, a brightness associated with one of their memories. Sometimes the animal doesn’t like what it finds inside a person’s soul, however, and may turn on the one that feeds it. Some souleaters are more dangerous than otheres–and some who work as couriers have particularly unpleasant things within their spirits.

I will start shopping the story around soon. I can’t say how long it will be until it finds a home, but I’m eager for all of you to see it.

I don’t generally read self-help books, or books on how to be a success, but I made an exception for this one because it was written by Scott Adams. I find his blog to be thought-provoking and inciteful, even if I don’t necessarily agree with his opinions. I found this book to be chock-full of useful advice about life and how to be more successful at it. One key piece of advice is to put your health first–ahead of family, your job, etc. because (he says, and I agree) you can’t be good at anything else until you take care of your own body. Anyhow, I strongly recommend it.

View all my reviews

There is much to love about this book. And speaking of love, this story completes a story arc for Waxilliam Ladrian (a.k.a. Wax) in a most satisfying way. Wax has never been able to love anyone since the death of his first wife, Lessie. Instead of trying again, he got engaged to Steris for political reasons. All the while, I’ve been rooting for Steris’ sister, Marrisie, to claim his heart. She seems the more logical choice. Unlike her cold and calculating sister, she has a real interest in police work. Love, however, is never quite what you expect. Nor is it here.

View all my reviews

My wife gave a talk about Villains (as defined by Tami Cowden) at a local writer’s meeting this Saturday. It occurred to
me to try and match them up with deadly sins. Even apart from the fact there are eight villain
archetypes and seven sins, things don’t line up exactly. No villain of any worth is based on
sloth. Unsurprisingly, pride seems to be one of the worst evils.

I think it’s probably useful to try and categorize the bad guys, if only to help keep their
characters varied and interesting in one’s stories. For some of these characters, the sin represents
the villain’s motive, in other cases it’s something they exploit in others.

Hello, World. I was playing around with Krita (the free paint program) this morning. Behold my picture, “Elf Magic.”

And, yes, I know Christmas isn’t in July.

I am pleased to announce the new cover for my wattpad story “Warriors of the Hollow World,” featuring the amazing Zahra.

In the chapter depicted in this image, Zahra portrays the character of Olara who is speaking electrotelpathically with her dead friend/servant for the first time since he was killed.

Does this cover make you want to read the story? I plan to tweak the cover over the coming weeks, so let me know what you think.

Olara, the leader of the Claw Clan, has known only war her entire life. Vengeance, like the artificial world she lives inside, has circumscribed her every thought and action. However, the universe is much bigger than she imagines, and the darkness filled with stars beneath the ground is more than a mythical realm of magic and legends–it is the past and future domain of her people. She could share friendship with other, distantly related, humanoid races that travel through space–if she can put her hatred aside. But whatever she chooses, there will be war.