Category: Blog Tour

Pillow Dance

Their jovial attitudes were having a positive effect on the results. They enjoyed this chapter in their psychic education, and the progress was faster than telepathy. Despite appearances, the crew had a level take on the exercise.

One day, the fun ratcheted up another notch. Larger objects were being moved when a pillow flew across the room and hit Derak in the head. He picked up Shesain’s internal laughter and shot a pillow back across the room at her, catching her off guard and knocking her back on her couch. Rising from the shock, her eyes grew wide, and she returned the favor. This time, Derak deflected the pillow, and it hit Robert in the chest, causing him to lose concentration. Someone requested more pillows from Terga and when they appeared, Shenar shot one across the room and smacked Jack in the face. Before they knew it, they were in a full-fledged pillow fight, running and dodging each other’s aims. Derak hit two targets at once, and Jack was getting good at deflection.

The raucous laughter from the room could be heard all the way on the bridge, and Qex marched back, followed by Vel. As Qex opened the door, three pillows were headed in his direction; they stopped in mid-air, inches from his face. All the pillows hung in mid-air, then dropped to the floor.

Vel countered the disgust showing on Qex’s face, trying hard not to laugh. Qex shot a look at her. The smile left her face, and he faced the crew. “You’re worse than Telaxian children. If these antics did not help you in your lessons as much as it does, I would put an immediate halt to it. I see you have moved into deflection. If you employ such childish methods, at least keep the noise down.” He turned and headed back to the bridge, followed by a grinning Vel.

(more…)

The Cover Art in Herald

The cover art for Herald beautifully depicts a battle in a medieval warehouse. This art was created by Jeff Brown in consultation with author Lee Hunt and publicist Lyda Mclallen. Their goal was to showcase some of the numerous symbols and ideas related to the story. I thought it would be fun to see how many of the symbols and images we could identify and point out their significance to the story.

(more…)

When Agents Reject

Sometimes life throws you a curveball. Or a half-dozen.

I’m in the process of querying agents for my latest WIP – The Dragon Eater. If you know any authors, you probably know what delicate and fragile creatures we are. Give is nine great reviews and one bad one, and we’ll grab onto that last one and take its words to heart as if it was the only one that mattered.

Most of us have a pernicious inner critic that lives inside of us, always ready to tell us how piss-poor we are. That our writing is boring and derivative. That we really have no business pursing this craft at all. So it doesn’t take much to entice these little destructive mosters out of their dens to do their best to bring us down.

Querying agents is a long, difficult process that’s like catnop to these critics. They parse every word an agent says when they reject our work, and use it to beat us over the head, to remind us that we really do suck.
(more…)

Hi, this is Arthur Herbert, author of the new psychological suspense novel The Cuts that Cure which was just released May 11th. It’s my debut, and I have to say, I feel a little like I’m releasing my kid out into the real world: nervous, yet excited. I really appreciate the opportunity to write a guest post and let y’all see a little bit of who I am.

I was told I could write about anything I want. In thinking about this, I’ve found that my day job as a surgeon has been endless fodder for stories around campfires (which I attend all the time) or at cocktail parties (which I try to keep to a minimum). I feel like I should also emphasize that while Cuts is fairly dark and sinister, I’m not like that as a person. So as a result, I thought it would be appropriate to pass along one of my lighter stories.

(more…)

Stitches and Sepsis – Guest Post

Liz Faraim

Many hours of research go into my writing. If someone looked at my internet search history without that context, they would probably be very concerned. Rest easy, all of those searches serve a purpose.

While writing Stitches and Sepsis I had to do a deep dive into the world of hospitals and wound care. I will try not to give too much away, but anything beyond this point might have some mild spoilers. You’ve been warned.

Okay, so in Stitches and Sepsis Vivian gets into yet another knock-down drag-out fight, and she sustains some series lacerations. Does she go to the hospital? Well, if you are familiar with how stubborn Vivian is, then you know she did not seek medical attention.

Sepsis soon follows. But what does that look like? Well, that is where my research started. I did extensive reading into how sepsis affects the entire body, as well as what septic shock looks like. Also, trust me, do not do an internet search for images of septic wounds (or do?).

(more…)

Writing Hope – J. Scott Coatsworth

The nice folks at Horror Tree asked me to write something author-focused, so I thought I’d take on the journey I’ve been traveling these last few years as an author.

There’s so much “darkness” out there. Covid19, Russian aggression, our US politics – it seems like everywhere you turn, things are bleak and dreary. Even our fiction is infected. A few years ago, a new Superman movie came out, and it sullied the Kryptonian’s cape and reputation in a misguided effort to be dark and edgy, missing entirely what makes the Man of Steel so appealing.

I see this in a lot of movies, books, and shows, trying to out-do one another in terms of trauma, damage, sleeze, gore, and violence. And everywhere there’s a miasma of darkness. I get it. There’s plot gold in conflict, in edginess, in the dark. But sometimes we all need to drink from the well of hope instead.

My own writing has followed this path, seeking to provide light instead of darkness. In the heart of the pandemic last year, when Italy was in the throes of its lockdown, the news showed a clip of Venice – an empty Venice, lacking the usual Carnival crowds. Venice is sinking, slowly dipping into the waters of its lagoon, and as sea levels rise, its days in this world are numbered. Dark, right?

But what if there was a way to turn that around? To flip a symbol of the horrors of climate change into a vision of hope for a new world? And so was born my story in “Fix the World” called “Rise.”

(more…)

The Called

Guest Blog: Research that went into The Called

Ugh…research. Why is it every story I decide to write requires more research then I ever think it will, even for a modern story.  Okay, sure there are vampires (or Immortals), witches, and magic, but still why should there be so much research.  I guess I can’t make anything easy.

For The Called, much like for The Calling there was a lot of leg work I needed to do for this story, luckily I had the rules already set up for my magical beings. Since this was a sequel all the basics were in place and many of the location were fleshed out, so I didn’t have to research that, of course I had to expand on it, but not build it all from scratch. Still, I had a bunch of research to conduct and even do a few interviews with people to ensure I would be representing members of their community in the right way.

(more…)

Writing: A Universal Form of Self Expression

By: Cathy Jackson

Some people are born knowing they want to be writers. Some discover the love of writing in their teens, sure they were meant to be writers. Others write later in life, finding the joy of putting pen-to-page. And still others stumble upon writing as a creative outlet for particular energies. I came to writing through the death of my momma.

Her not-so-sudden passing stunned me. She had been dealing with health issues for several years before I received the phone call of her passing. Her rapidly declining health bespoke time was running out, and there was only so long before she shed her mortal coil.

I will never forget the Thursday morning the call came. Our youngest son was still a toddler. He and I had taken his older siblings to school and, when we came home, laid down for a quick nap. My phone chimed, and I groggily picked it up. An aunt was on the other end of the line, telling me my momma was in the hospital. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but I needed to be where she was.
(more…)