How I Wrote It: The Lead Cloak
The Lead Cloak is now available! Click through for links to find links to your favorite online bookstore. This book was a long time coming. For years I’d been tossing around an idea for a science fiction novel, but I never did anything with it. That was until April 24, 2011, the date I decided to sit down and start writing, just to see if there was something there. How do I know the exact date? Because I charted it. That’s right, I charted my novel. Words on the Y Axis, Time on the X Axis. It’s probably the single nerdiest Read more…
Hanna Rosin, The End of Men, and The Lead Cloak
Next Tuesday is the book launch for my sci-fi adventure novel The Lead Cloak and we’ll be celebrating at Kings Books at 7:00! Across town, the author Hanna Rosin will be speaking at UWT … at 7:00. Argh! This is really frustrating! Because if I weren’t launching my own book, I would probably be seeing her … especially considering that she inspired a lot of the world of The Lead Cloak! A few months before beginning work on The Lead Cloak, I read Hanna Rosin’s Atlantic article “The End of Men.” It’s an excellent article and well worth your time. (I have Read more…
Announcing "The Lead Cloak!"
It took me more than two years of writing and editing, but I’m finally ready to announce my next novel. The Lead Cloak The Lead Cloak is a science fiction adventure set seventy years in the future. It will be available in three weeks, on October 15. Below is the short trailer I created for it, and there is a whole website with information about the book. I am so excited to share this novel. It is an adventure with a lot of action and the highest of stakes. It is a mystery, set in a world without secrets. And Read more…
After all that …
Way back in 2011, I was putting the finishing touches on The Marinara Murders and didn’t have a new project to work on. I had an idea for the next Beautyman mystery, but my head was full of a science fiction novel. I’ve never written science fiction, but I couldn’t get it out of my system. So I took a leap and started writing. It ended up going really really well. The book gathered dust during my election campaign that year, and then I picked it up again. Hannah’s arrival the next year actually helped me pick up the pace, Read more…
Hercule Poirot and the Case of Public Domain
So here’s the news: there will be a new Hercule Poirot novel commissioned by the estate of Agatha Christie coming in 2014. The first Poirot novel was published in 1920, and the last Poirot novel was published in 1975. So that’s a 39 year break between the last Poirot novel and this one. Why wait so long? Or better yet–why is this book coming out now? Well, to answer that question, let’s jump back a couple decades and investigate the case of the 1991 novel Scarlett, a sequel to Gone With the Wind that was authorized by the estate of Margaret Read more…
Every sale still amazes me …
The first day of every month is a hard one for an independent author. All your sales are wiped clean. However well you did the month before, all those sales disappear, and the counter resets to zero. This is what the sales report for Kindle looks like when you haven’t sold any books. No matter how good previous month sales were, this is the bar you see before you sell anything this month. Ugh. Back in 2010 and early 2011, there were some months when this bar wouldn’t go away until the end of the month. Now it usually goes away pretty Read more…
An update on “Frank Herbert Park”
Metro Parks finished its review of the public request to name the peninsula that forms the yacht basin “Frank Herbert Park.” Their conclusion was two-fold: “Frank Herbert” is eligible to be a park name. The peninsula is actually a part of Point Defiance Park, and thus can’t be named Frank Herbert Park. The first conclusion is excellent news. The second conclusion is, personally speaking, disappointing–although after a long discussion with the Historic and Cultural Asset Manager, I learned a lot about the history of the breakwater and its creation to be a part of Point Defiance. So I understand where Read more…
Sneak Peek
Things are moving along with my sci-fi adventure novel! I’m thinking October, but the hard and fast date is not fixed yet. There’s still a lot to be done, which is why I’m not sure of the date. So until then I want to share a small slice of the cover art from Tacoma artist Chandler O’Leary. It’s just a small hint of what is to come. So very excited to share the rest soon!
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