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POINT OF VIEW: Finding Beauty and Love in the Face of Chaos

chaos - pixabay

Ithani comes out tomorrow, the culmination of three years of work and the conclusion to the Oberon Cycle trilogy. I am so not ready. It should be a triumphant moment for me, and I should have been deep in pre promo and preparation these last three days. Instead, I have been on the phone to Apple Care for the last three days almost non-stop, trying to fix Mark’s email app, which has suddenly swirled down into chaos and stubborn non-functionality. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a driven person, one who fills his days with IMPORTANT things to … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: I Am My Mother’s Son

Mom and Scott

My mother is one of the strongest people I know. She brought me up to be self sufficient, to stand on my own and to go after what I wanted. She made me my own man. There was a period in my childhood when she was single and supporting us both on a teacher’s salary. I never once felt like we were poor. I always had what I needed, and often enough I had the things I wanted. The shirt above was one of them – Quicksilver and Ocean Pacific shorts were all the rage when I was in Jr. … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: The Blood Moon

Last night we saw the blood moon. Okay, technically it was a “super” blood moon, as it was at close approach to the earth, but it actually looked kinda small to me. But it tickled a memory, something from a very long time ago. When I was a kid–maybe four or five years old–we lived in a quiet residential neighborhood in the middle of Tucson, Arizona. This would have been in the arly to mid seventies. I remember lawns and small houses there, the oleander bushes and lone saguaro cactus in the back yard surrounded by a chain-link fence, the … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: To the Moon Part Two

Last fall, I took a deep dive into Antarctica to write my novella “Slow Thaw.” It was an amazing experience to immerse myself so deeply into setting. Now I’m setting my sights a little higher. My next novel is a stand-alone in the Liminal Sky universe tentatively titled “The Long Redemption.” I am pulling together everything I have learned over the last four years of writing – plot, characterization, overall fabulousness – and I am really excited to get into this one. Much of this new story is set on the Moon, a place which I have never visited. To … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Three Cats Short of a Horde

Warning/Disclaimer: In today’s column, I discuss phrases that are colorful synonyms for when someone is “crazy.” I want to distinguish this from mental illness, which is not what I am referring to. Instead, I am referring to people who espouse crazy ideas, often knowing they are not true. Every good writer loves words. It’s an inherent part of the job, just like good lawyers love the law and good pilots love their planes. Words are an integral part of our trade, and we delight in the weird and wonderful nature of the language and enjoy twisting it around like warm … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: 2019

It’s that time of year again – time to take stock of the ending year, and make plans and write down my goals for 2019. Looking Back So I thought I’d start by looking back at what I said a year ago: “Nevertheless, I go into 2018 re-energized. For one, it’s an election year, and I can see a blue wave rising on the horizon.” Nailed it! Yeah, we didn’t take the senate, but we go into 2019 a lot stronger than we did in 2018. “For another, I finished and sold book two for each of my trilogies with … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW; What a Difference a Week Makes

scott - happy juice

Last week I was at a bit of a low ebb, bemoaning how difficult it was to market your work on social media and in the publishing world. This week, none of that has changed. Facebook still makes it hard to get your posts out there without tons of money, and Amazon… well, the Zon is still the Zon. And yet it was a good week. I sent in my final book of my second trilogy – “The Shoreless Sea,” to the publisher. And I’ve started my evil plan to storm the SFWA (Sci Fi Writer’s Association) – or “siffwah”, … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Back in Beta Land

beta reader - 123rf purchased

Hey all, I am on the downslope, the final approach, the last few miles before reaching manuscript-sending home. “The Shoreless Sea,” book three in the Liminal Sky trilogy, is finished, and the beta reads are coming in. This is always a nervous-making time for me, as I am sure that at least one of my beta readers will want me to re-write the whole damned book. *pulls out hair in anticipation* So far, I’ve been lucky… but there have been some big issues raised. For “The Rising Tide,” one astute beta called me on killing off a character too early … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: To The Moon

Moon Scott

Hey all, Next month I will embark on one of my most ambitious novel projects ever, tentatively titled “Moonbase: Redemption”. It’s set in the same general universe as the Liminal Sky series, but will be a stand-alone novel. Although the jumping off point is in a similar time frame as “The Stark Divide,” this one will encapsulate a lot of my hopes and dreams for the future. Most of it is set on the moon, as the title suggests, and so I am taking a deep dive into all things lunar. I bought a lunar globe and a lunar atlas, … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Leaving a Legacy

legacy - pixabay

Hey all, The shocking sudden death of author Ethan Day this week, along with the passing of my own stepfather Tony a few weeks ago, has gotten me thinking about death, and mortality, and artistic legacy. Ethan’s own legacy will be measured at least in part by his many published books, and by his time stewarding the Gay Rom Lit con, along with his wonderful co-conspirators. But he will also be remembered for his sweet, happy demeanor, and the integrity with which he lived his life. For me ,this was most evident in the way he wound down his Wilde … Read more