Thank you for joining me on this journey. I'm still learning what you, my readers, would like to hear from me, so if you have any thoughts, by all means let me know. You can always @ me on Bluesky, Mastodon, or Tumblr (account links on my website).

In the meantime, here are some goodies for my inaugural newsletter issue:

Ma'am's House from A Memory of Blood and Magic

If you've read (or are reading) my debut novel A Memory of Blood and Magic you might be interested in my process for developing the primary setting for Part 2 of that novel, Ma'am's House. I'm a pretty visual thinker, and my background in design means that I like to have details worked out for a place when writing about it. Ma'am's House is a perfect example.

There's a number of choreographed scenes and action sequences that take place within those walls, and like a director on a set, I knew I needed to understand the character blocking to get that action to flow. In order to do that, I designed the house's floor plan and worked out who each room belonged to. I didn't include the drawings in the book, because they're not especially necessary to understand the action, but I needed them to be able to write it.

But now, I can share them with you:

If you’re curious, I created these plans using Affinity Designer.

A Memory of War and Solace

My second novel A Memory of War and Solace—sequel and conclusion to A Memory of Blood and Magic—is now available for preorder and is set for publication on September 30, 2024. I'm so excited for you all to read it. If you've read the Acknowledgements at the end of A Memory of Blood and Magic, you'll know that I originally wrote these two books as a single story, so Arin's story isn't over until you've read this second book. Book 1 gives you a teaser of the opening of Book 2. I'll hold off revealing any more for now, because most of what's in the second book will spoil some things for book 1. But I think that next month's issue, I might include some goodies to celebrate its release.

My Third Novel

I'm super excited to announce the title of my 3rd novel:

Common Accord

A blue-collar space opera set in a future of inter-species trade and politics.

In a single conversation, Jes Moran lost a ship, a job, and a marriage.

Now, with not much more than a cool head, a few clever scams, and an odd assortment of friends—a seasoned spacer, a washout young pilot, and an alien engineer on the run from a vicious cabal—they might just have a shot at a future.

A rag-tag crew is one thing. A skip-ship cobbled together out of parts rescued from the recycler, though? Well, when you’re at the bottom of the ladder, you grab for the rung you can reach.

When a hot tip for a big score finds its way to Jes’s ears, a plan starts to come together. But the ship is barely space-worthy, and the crew isn’t the only interested party. The cargo could set them up for life if they can get to it in time. It could also make them a target. Everyone is playing for keeps. But there’s one thing that nobody bargained for:

Jes Moran really doesn’t like to lose.

I’ve finished writing it and it’s about to go off to my editor and beta readers. It'll be out later this year. I'll be giving my newsletter subscribers a first-look cover reveal in an upcoming issue, and I couldn't be more excited to show it to you. This cover features character portraits by the amazing Angela Guyton.

I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I have writing it!

'till next time!
⎹< ∧/ B