Tea and Monsters
Point of Sighs was the last book that Lisa and I were able to talk about before her illness meant putting aside creative work. We knew we wanted to look at Astreiant’s tea trade, and…
writing
Horses for Courses
Lisa and I started plotting Fairs’ Point before she got sick, and part of the fun for Lisa was the chance to indulge in some inside jokes about one of her great interests, thoroughbred racing….
Special Effects
In the acknowledgements to Point of Dreams, we listed a man named Frank Mohler, then a professor at Appalachian State University, “whose presentation on the development of scenic spectacle at the 1999 Southeastern Theatre Conference…
Looking Back, Looking Forward
It’s pretty typical of 2023 that I should be writing my usual year-end review several days later than planned. It was a year of great highs and horrible lows: I went in with friends on…
Hypothecaries, or where ideas come from
The idea that became Night Sky Mine had its origins in a piece of legal boilerplate. At the time, I was working part time for an older lawyer who was winding down his practice; he…
Why Write Queer
I started writing queer characters and themes for the reason that I hear many other LGBTQIA+ writers cite: these were the stories that I wanted to read. When I sold my first novel, in 1984,…
Re-reading: Dolphin Island
I recently stumbled across an inexpensive ebook copy of Arthur C. Clarke’s Dolphin Island, which is a book I read to destruction when I was a young teenager. (Literally. The paperback eventually fell apart, which…
Pride Storybundle 2022
It’s time for the latest Pride Storybundle! Once again, Catherine Lundoff and I have pulled together a collection of outstanding LGBTQIA+ SF/F, with five books in the main bundle and ten in the bonus. You’ll find…
Reworking Things
Elise Matheson (aka Lioness) just had an interesting post on her Patreon about having to go back and rework a piece of jewelry because of an unexpected problem with some of the included beads. (By…