This isn’t news to anyone who’s ever been in the query trenches. Suffering from this very process is one of the most inclusive clubs there is. For those who haven’t been here (or never will) querying is the process that authors take to attempt to get their book(s) into the hands of literary agents or maybe publishers. It involves sending a query letter that takes your 100,000-word book and trying to get its pure awesomeness across in a matter of a couple hundred words. We authors build a list of agents who work with their genre of book. We personalize each one and send with that agent’s specif ..read more

How do I do this blogging thing again? Words? Text? Paying attention to the same thing for longer than a minute? These are all things that seem lost to me (and many others) since sometime in March when the thing-that-shall-not-be-named began. However, the one silver lining to come out of that was the time to try something I’ve been thinking of for months and months. YouTube. No. Not watching it! I’ve done that. A lot. Probably too much, honestly. I’m talking about following in the footsteps of the Bionic Book Worm, I Should Read That, Breakeven Books, and so many others. So here I go. A Book ..read more

  DEAL WITH THE DEVIL by Kit Rocha Tor Books July 28, 2020 From Goodreads: Nina is an information broker with a mission–she and her team of mercenary librarians use their knowledge to save the hopeless in a crumbling America. Knox is the bitter, battle-weary captain of the Silver Devils. His squad of supersoldiers went AWOL to avoid slaughtering innocents, and now he’s fighting to survive. They’re on a deadly collision course, and the passion that flares between them only makes it more dangerous. They could burn down the world, destroying each other in the process… Or they could do ..read more

Confession time. I’m hijacking this Top 5 Tuesday post and turning it into a writing/brag post. (Sorry Shanah!) I’m terrible at remembering which books I’ve read had great opening lines. So normally, I’d just tap out on this week’s, but instead I thought I’d take the opportunity to share the opening line to the book I’m currently writing. I could use the feedback, and I think it’s a pretty darned good one. One of the best opening lines of all time? Certainly not. But if it makes people want to read the second line, it’s done it’s job, hasn’t it? This story begins the same way all the ..read more

Top 5 Tuesday is created by the prolific and always entertaining Shanah, the Bionic Book Worm. This week we’re talking about series, and ones that we haven’t started yet, but really want to. I have a confession when it comes to series. I’m GREAT at starting series. I’m just not always great with continuing and finishing them. If I’m being honest with myself, it’s probably about 50/50. Regardless, here are a few of the series I’ve got my commitment-challenged eyes on:           The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells       Likelike by Jay Kristoff &n ..read more

SHOREFALL by Robert Jackson Bennett Del Rey Books April 21, 2020 From Goodreads: The upstart firm Foundryside is struggling to make it. Orso Igancio and his star employee, former thief Sancia Grado, are accomplishing brilliant things with scriving, the magical art of encoding sentience into everyday objects, but it’s not enough. The massive merchant houses of Tevanne won’t tolerate competition, and they’re willing to do anything to crush Foundryside. But even the merchant houses of Tevanne might have met their match. An immensely powerful and deadly entity has been resurrected in the sh ..read more

Top 5 Tuesday is created by the always prolific Shanah, the Bionic Book Worm, and this week we’re talking about books that really tickle the funny bone. And I don’t mean books that had a humorous line, or some quip that brought a smile to your face. I’m talking about books that made you literally LOL! Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe by Preston Norton   Whenever I’m confused with why I keep requesting ARCs when I clearly don’t have time for them, I remember this book. I wasn’t expecting much, but it was one of the first “big company” ARCs I was able to get. Then, I end up ..read more

Top 5 Tuesday is created by the always prolific Shanah, the Bionic Book Worm, and this week we’re not talking about books at all! We’re talking about the things we do to stave off insanity. What are we doing with our time now that there seems like so much more of it?! How are we going to survive if quarantine doesn’t go away AS SOON AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE!! Work (Believe it or Not)     I’m one of the lucky ones that gets to keep working by commandeering my wife’s crafting room and turning it into a home office. For the first two weeks, I was so busy getting used to the new accommo ..read more

  WANDERERS by Chuck Wendig Del Ray July 9, 2019 From Goodreads: Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead. For on the ..read more

  THE UNSPOKEN NAME by A.K. Larkwood Tor Books February 11, 2020 From Goodreads: What if you knew how and when you will die? Csorwe does — she will climb the mountain, enter the Shrine of the Unspoken, and gain the most honored title: sacrifice. But on the day of her foretold death, a powerful mage offers her a new fate. Leave with him, and live. Turn away from her destiny and her god to become a thief, a spy, an assassin—the wizard’s loyal sword. Topple an empire, and help him reclaim his seat of power. But Csorwe will soon learn – gods remember, and if you live long enough, all debts co ..read more