Cover art in progress preview - book two!

This is not the Major Announcement I keep promising. However, this is too cool not to share, and Willow gave me the go-ahead. And it is sufficiently spooky for this time of year. So, here's a preview of the cover art for the second Monkey Queen book!

The best part? This isn't even the finished art! (© 2014 Willow, all rights reserved, used by permission.)

good causes

Instead of regular Tuesday blogging, I wanted to direct your attention to what may be the best Kickstarter project you'll back all year: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/carmeneckard/almost-maiden-save-maiden-high-schools-almost-main Help a high school drama class in North Carolina put on a play about love.

And Neil Gaiman would like to talk to you about Syrian refugees. He said this video will break your heart and put it back together. He's right.

I don't want to go until I've blogged it all out

It's a quiet Sunday here, and there's not much to report Monkey Queen-wise, but I did want to mark the passing of Jack Bruce. I was a fan of Cream's studio stuff, but it wasn't until I started hearing their concert versions on internet radio last year that I realized how awesome they were live. And Jack Bruce made it go, anchoring the bottom, providing the underrated vocals and writing most of the non-cover songs. Thanks, Jack. Here's a sample, and while I'll understand if it's not to your taste, I hope you start downloading or YouTube surfing if it is.

I blame Slugworth

Why the Oompa-Loompa did no one tell me about this? What is wrong with you people?

I'm not angry. I'm just terribly, terribly hurt.

No longer surprised.

Edited 10/26: All ten are now spoken for, so sorry if you missed it. If you're wondering what you missed, it's below the cut.

Sunday will never blog the same

Just to let regulars and random viewers know - we are hoping to make a Major Announcement sometime in the next two weeks or so. It's been a bit delayed, but trust us, it will be worth the wait.

And just a quick reminder for those of you who drop by without leaving a comment (which is always encouraged and welcomed):

I have a stainless steel spork. I will not be ignored.

25 years gone

Note: This post has very little, if anything, to do with what I write. If that bothers you, feel free to skip ahead.

October 17, 1989. I've taken time off work to watch the first game of the World Series, the first one for the Giants in 27 years. I've settled in on the couch in the little room I've rented in an apartment in San Francisco's Richmond district, TV and snacks at the ready.

Then, I feel the shaking. Instinct kicks in and I move to the doorway of my bedroom, figuring it will stop in a few seconds. It doesn't. It's the Loma Prieta earthquake, later measured as 6.9 on the Richter Scale.

A large, heavy wooden bookshelf takes up most of the wall space between the wall and the room's only window. When I say large, I mean at least six feet high. There is a board underneath the front of the shelf to keep it leaning back against the wall. It holds my comic collection, and lots of other things. And as I watch from the doorway, the quake brings it down, the top hitting the couch I had been sitting on.

As the shaking stops, I survey the damage and somehow wrestle the shelf back into place. I crawl over spilled boxes and damaged comics to get to my portable radio. I turn it on and hear about the Cypress Structure, the Bay Bridge, the fires in the Marina, the scope of the quake.

And as I start to clean up the mess, it hits me. If I hadn't moved when I did, if I had stayed on that couch, I'd have been under that shelf, injured or worse, with no one else in the apartment to find me and no phone.

There are many reasons why I'm glad to be telling the stories of Michiko and Beth and sharing them with you. And one of them is the fact that I had the sense to do something wise when the quake hit. It's the fact that I'm even here at all to tell the stories. And I'm grateful for that chance, more than words could possibly say.

Behind the scenes: How Michiko got her scarf

A new behind the scenes post! This one's also long, so more below the cut.

Sunday morning bloggin' down

Not much to discuss today. If you're new here, welcome! Catch up on the old posts, leave a comment, pass around the triple chocolate chunk cookies (but leave the haggis potato chips for John Barrowman).

If you're wondering what all the fuss is (or will be) about, here's a link to Amazon.com for the page for the first Monkey Queen book, Of Introductions And Abductions. Click on the "look inside" button to read a lengthy preview, and check out how the expanded view on the cover makes Willow's awesome art even more awesome. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NAKJUG2

[6/7/15: Edited as we switch to Kindle Unlimited and being exclusive on Amazon.]

And I leave you with this link to the Dork Tower webcomic; in this strip, John Kovalic reminds us that writers write...among other things. Have a great week. http://www.dorktower.com/2014/10/07/writers-write-dork-tower-07-10-14/

A quick Halloween joke

What happened to the pizza guy who took too long to bring Hannibal Lecter his thin-crust pepperoni and fava bean pizza?

He was de-livered.

eBookSoda!

Just wanted to thank eBookSoda for featuring the first Monkey Queen book, Of Introductions And Abductions, on their website and emails today! Find new, exciting and overlooked books at their site, and sign up for their mailing list! http://www.ebooksoda.com/

Behind the Scenes: The secret origin of Beth McGill

I've always tried to come up with my own visual looks for my characters, instead of basing them on people I know. It gets a bit tricky sometimes, having to remember which faerie has the curly blonde hair and which has the glasses with the big round frames, but I'm happy with the process overall. However, there are exceptions to almost everything, and the biggest by far was Beth. More below the cut.

How space and time were nearly shattered on Saturday

It was a moment that no one had expected to happen, at least as suddenly as it did. But then, there was the rift in the space-time continuum! A tear in reality so epic that it threatened the very fabric of existence! A peril so great that it took fifteen Doctors, a Heterodyne, two wizards named Harry and a dog with a time machine to fix things! And along the way, all photographic and other evidence mysteriously vanished! Only one thing is left, to remind those in the center of it all of what took place...

(That, and a lot of very happy memories. Willow, I'm glad we were able to spend some time together, and I hope that we'll meet again someday!)

Speculative Fiction Showcase!

Today, the first Monkey Queen book, Of Introductions And Abductions, is the featured new release at the Speculative Fiction Showcase blog! Many thanks to Heidi, Cora and Jessica for spotlighting our book, and for a nifty blog! If you like your fiction on the speculative side - fantasy, science fiction, horror, paranormal, or just weird - stop on by for features, author interviews and more! http://indiespecfic.blogspot.com/