As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Point of View: Wait, There’s a Zone?

fog - deposit photos

It’s so hard to get into the writing zone these days. I have three active novels, I’m working on and two other short stories I need to complete by March. So there’s plenty to do. Nevertheless, our politics hangs over everything like a miasma, a thick black smoke that chokes out almost everything else. I try to block it out. I do my best not to let it own my life. But it’s always there, lurking in the background, seeping into everything. And in this new world of inflationary pressure and “artificial intelligence” and corporations hell bent on extracting every … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Review: The Reluctant Incubus – Alex Woolfson

The Reluctant Incubus - Alex Woolfson

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Detective, New Adult LGBTQ+ Category: Gay Reviewer: Ulysses Get It On Amazon | Publisher About The Book A hilarious, high-action M/M Buffy the Vampire Slayer—but all grown up, made spicier, and with a scrappy and lovable monster as the hero. Perfect for fans of TJ Klune, David R. Slayton, and K.D. Edwards. I was born an incubus, a literal soul-sucking sex demon. But I’ve deliberately never fed, so I don’t have any powers. Still, that doesn’t stop an arrogant fae prince from blackmailing me into stealing a magical watch from a creepy San Francisco mansion. Turns out, the … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Point of View: Wanting to Be Big

giant shadow - deposit photos

I’ve been writing seriously now for over eleven years. As regular readers of this column will know, I’ve climbed a long ways up Writer Mountain, but not as far as I hoped I would. Still, I haven’t done badly. And yet… I had a few things happen this last week that brought me down a peg. First of all, I was going to be a featured author at an event next year. Or at least thought I was, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out. There are a few reasons for this, but one of the main ones is that I’m … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Author Spotlight: Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Allan Dyen-Shapiro is a Ph.D. biochemist whose non-linear career has taken him through the worlds of science and education and left him with many stories to tell. He finished his first novel and is looking for an agent/publisher. Short stories in addition to those in anthologies/journal issues available on Amazon can be read or are linked from his website: allandyenshapiro.com. You can also access his blog from the website, which focuses on … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

New Release: The Spellbinding Magic of You and Me – Timoteo Tong

Resurrecting My Magic - Timoteo Tong

Timoteo Tong has a new YA fantasy/sci-fi book out, The Magicals Alliance book 3: The Spellbinding Magic of You and Me. Magic, monsters, and a boy who never asked to be chosen. Sixteen-year-old Santangelo Lo Geffo is drowning in grief. After his mother’s sudden death and his father’s emotional disappearance, he’s convinced the world has forgotten him—until his childhood best friend, Joshua “Neeky” Tang, shows up out of nowhere, charming, bold, and full of secrets. Their reunion reignites buried feelings and a bond stronger than fate. But something darker stirs in the magical underworld known as the Gloom. A cursed … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Author Spotlight: Siobhan Muir

Siobhan Muir

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Siobhan Muir lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with her husband, two daughters, a kitten who thinks he’s a dog, a cat who’s not impressed with him, and the dog who just wants to go for a walk. In previous lives, Siobhan has been an actor at the Colorado Renaissance Festival, a field geologist in the Aleutian Islands, and restored inter-planetary imagery at the USGS. She’s hiked to the top of Mount St. Helens … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Review: Castways of New Mojave – David Brin & Jeff Carlson

Castways of New Mojave - David Brin

Genre: Sci-Fi, Colonization, YA Reviewer: Scott Get It On Amazon About The Book Interstellar kidnapping… or opportunity? A thousand teens and their teachers were stunned when the alien Garubis yanked Twenty-Nine Palms High School right out of California’s Mojave desert, plopping it into a jungle many light years away. It was supposed to be a “gift”—a new settlement for humanity. But tell that to Mark, Alexandra, Barry and Sophie when strange parasites attack… and they don’t know what to eat… and the island of Earth-buildings runs out of water! Some claim to have spotted strange tool-users in the forest. Are … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Review: Colony High – David Brin

Colony High - David Brin

Genre: Sci-Fi, YA Reviewer: Scott Get It On Amazon About The Book High school is hard enough. It gets a lot harder after the aliens show up.In the captivating YA science fiction novel “Colony High” by acclaimed author David Brin, the skeptical high school junior, Mark Bamford, finds himself caught up in a web of mystery and extraterrestrial intrigue. Living in the seemingly ordinary town of Twenty-Nine Palms, California, Mark dismisses the absurd rumor circulating among his classmates—an alien stranded in their midst. Such a clichĂ©d movie rip-off, right? Can’t the math geeks come up with a more convincing hoax? … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Point of View: The Big Joy of Small Pride Festivals

This last weekend, we attended our final Pride of the season. Tri-County Diversity’s Pride in the Park is a small Pride up in Yuba City that serves the Northern Central Valley’s queer community. This is our first time doing the event. They had been after us for a couple years to come up from Sac Town – about an hour’s drive north. We finally said yes this year when our calendar allowed for it, and had no idea what to expect. And when I say we, I mean our Queer Sacramento Authors Collective (QSAC) group. Seven of us came to … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Cover Reveal: The Captains of Oartheca – James Siewert

Captains of Oartheca - James Siewert

James Siewert has a new MM sci-fantasy romance coming out on November 9th, Oarthecan Star Saga book 3: Captains of Oartheca – and we have the cover reveal. Welcome to Oartheca—a world of shattered beauty and stolen futures. Where noble Barons rule with ironclad grace, and loyal drones unquestionably obey. A wounded world, rich with history and pride, struggling to heal… while war still smoulders at its edges. Hoping to change the fate of all Oarthecans, Captain Rowland Hale II and Toar Grithrawrscion embark on a mission as herculean as it is perilous: to bring Oartheca under the aegis of … Read more