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All the information you might want

/ Albion, Announcements, Questions and answers

Hello, and welcome to my newly redesigned website! I wanted to take a moment to share some of what you can find now. I’ve also revamped and redesigned my authorial wiki, and this post also has more about what you can find there. My goals I’ve written an ever increasing number of books, and I have a lot more in mind. While you can absolutely still read almost all of them in any order you like, I wanted to make it easier to find the books you’re interested in. Here’s what the website and wiki now make possible. Read on for more specifics and a lot of links. A way to follow characters or larger arcs across multiple books. Are you curious about a particular character? The wiki will let you find out all the places they appear, and which books are significant. Curious about the full arc of the books about the Carillons or the Edgartons or the Council? You can find lists and brief notes about each book in one place. A way to find the books you’re most interested in (or avoid the books that aren’t your thing, or not right now). To make this easier, I’ve created tags, content notes, and a list of books with context that let you browse for those things you want to read. A way to put books in order in different ways. With books reaching from 1882 to 1940 right now (and expecting more Victorian-era books to come, as well […]

Cover of Mistress of Birds with pinecones and fall berries. The cover has a man and a woman in silhouette on a deep purple background, with an apple in the corner. The man holds a walking stick as tall as he is.

Idea to Book: Mistress of Birds

/ Ideas to books, Mysterious Powers

Welcome to our idea to book post for the last book in the Mysterious Powers series, Mistress of Birds. The idea for this book grew out of three things: a desire to try my hand at something more in the gothic vein, being fascinated by Dartmoor, and of course, apples. (With a bonus note about titles, for fun.) 

A copy of Bound for Perdition lying on a piece of aged paper with elegant handwriting. The cover of Bound for Perdition has a man and woman silhouetted in dark brown on a green and brown background, with the woman holding a book while the man gestures. An open blank book and pen are inset in the top right corner.

Summer (any time) reading fun

/ Reading

It’s time for summer reading challenges where I am. Whatever time of year it is for you, I thought it might be fun to do a round up of some reading challenges. Some of these come from libraries, and some come from other groups. I’m still waiting on my local library’s challenge (out on June 17th), but I’m thinking about how I’d like to nudge my reading a little bit.  (To be honest, a lot of it has been research reading, one way or another, and I would like to mix it up, and also just read more.)  Here are some different challenges to check out. You can also check your local library systems (a lot of libraries put something together for adults, as well as for kids and teens.) If there’s nothing up yet, check back later in June, my local public library isn’t launching theirs until the 17th.

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A copy of Bound for Perdition lying on a piece of aged paper with elegant handwriting. The cover of Bound for Perdition has a man and woman silhouetted in dark brown on a green and brown background, with the woman holding a book while the man gestures. An open blank book and pen are inset in the top right corner.

Writing and the question of AI

/ Writing and publishing

If you’ve been anywhere on the Internet recently, you’ve probably seen a lot of comments about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning when it comes to creative applications like art and writing. (Among other reasons, it’s a big part of the current Writer’s Guild of America strike.) It’s about time for a post from me about what that means for my writing, and then some general thoughts about the larger implications of these new and ever-improving technologies.  One thing that’s making some of these conversations complicated is that people are using the terms “artificial intelligence” and “machine learning”  in a variety of ways. Here we’re mostly talking about situations where computers use information they’ve been trained on to give output (basically, making predictions of what makes sense based on what they’ve already seen.) 

The cover of Old As The Hills displayed on a tablet in front of a pine forest, dotted with firefly light. The cover of Old As The Hills has a man with a can and a woman silhouetted on a green ground with a map. She holds out her hand, he is putting something into it, forming a doorway between them. An astrological chart behind them shows the symbols for Venus, the Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn highlighted behind a splash of glowing stars.

Reviews and how they help

/ Questions and answers, Writing and publishing

Reviews are a fantastic way for readers to help out authors they want to support. But a lot of readers are nervous about what to write, where to share them, and what they ought to know about the process. Here’s a little demystification to help. I’m focusing here obviously on books, but the same basic process can help with music, podcasts, and all sorts of other content out there.  The short version: Leaving a brief (2-3 sentence) review of books you love wherever you get or talk about your books is a fabulous way to both help other readers and the author. They don’t need to be long or complicated to help. What kind of review are we talking about?  When authors talk about reviews helping, what we mean is usually something simple. We’re talking about a review of one to four sentences from a real human who read the book and wanted to share a couple of thoughts. You don’t need to be elaborate and you don’t need to include tons of details. Reviews like this help provide what gets called “social proof”, that real humans read the book and had a range of feelings about it.  Detailed reviews and literary criticism are fantastic too – but they’re a completely different thing. Many people aren’t up for writing that (and certainly not about all the books or music or whatever else it was they enjoy).

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Pre-orders now available!

/ Announcements

Have you wanted to make sure you can get my books as soon as they’re released? Now you can pre-order them on Kindle, Apple Books, Nook, Kobo, and Smashwords! The pre-orders for Old As The Hills (out on May 5th, 2023) and Upon A Summer’s Day (out on June 21st, 2023, an unusual Wednesday release for me) are both available now – click through on the title to get all the links. I’ll add the Gumroad link just before the release date, and the other ebook sources will become available as the files work through the various systems. (Once the book’s out, a request to your local library sometimes shakes things loose, too.) Going forward, you can expect to see pre-orders coming out about 12 weeks before the book’s release date. Keep an eye on my newsletter for the latest and to get a glimpse of the covers. If you’ve got questions, let me know through the contact form or reply to any of my newsletter emails.

Idea to Book: The Hare and the Oak

/ Ideas to books, Mysterious Powers

Welcome to this week’s installment of “Idea to Book”, this time taking a look at The Hare and the Oak. It was a chance to take a look at three different strands I hadn’t spent much time wtih before. First, a deeper look at some of the implications of the Great War and the land magic. Second, what it’s like for someone who’s magical but not folded into Albion’s culture to figure it out. And third, a later in life romance (and what that means for Cyrus, in particular.)  As always, there are some mentions of things that are spoilers (though I’m not getting deeply into the plot details of the book).  Land magic and the implications of the war One of the things I think about a lot – fairly obviously if you read more than a few of my books – is the way the Great War changed people. Specifically, and also repeatedly, how it changed their relationship to the land magic. Great Britain and Ireland weren’t touched by direct fighting the same way as continental Europe war. (Or as they would be in the Blitz and other bombing raids of the Second World War.) And yet, there were an awful lot of changes to the land as a result.  There were even more changes for the people who went and fought and came back. The sheer fact of being in the trenches would be destructive to many people’s land sense. That’s even before you get into issues

Idea to book: Fool’s Gold

/ Ideas to books, Mysterious Powers

Fool’s Gold has a slightly different origin than many of my story ideas. Kiya (my friend and editor) had been talking to a friend of theirs who loves a disaster elf. Kiya told me about that. And then promptly said I should do something more with Robin, I hadn’t done a villain redeemed book yet. Which, to be fair, is exactly what Robin is made for.  Villain redeemed Robin turns up in two earlier books. He appears briefly in Wards of the Roses, wanting to get more involved with the research that begins at the end of that book. Kate isn’t at all sure what she thinks of him, and Kate has good instincts.  Here’s how she describes him then:  Kate paused, then cleared her throat. “He did the thing where a man reaches to kiss your hand, a little click of his heels, the precise angle of the bow, and the – gleam in his eye. Not the sort who’d push you into a convenient dark corner for his own pleasure, but the sort who uses his charm to get what he wants.” And of course, if you’ve read Seven Sisters, Robin has definitely been up to no good, and with some potentially dangerous results. He’s so bent on what he’s searching for that he doesn’t see anything else, or doesn’t think about the consequences.  The question with Fool’s Gold was how to write a story where he could be an engaging protagonist and have a romance that was satisfying.

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Nocturnal Quarry is in flight

/ Announcements, Land Mysteries

Which is to say, if you wanted some more Alexander in your life, here it is! (This novella is an enjoyable read on its own, but will make much more sense in context if you’ve already read Best Foot Forward.) In 1938, Alexander is sent off to American to tend to some diplomatic matters on behalf of the Council. While there, he hopes to tidy up some loose ends – figuring out what’s happened with Geoffrey’s long-term nemesis, see what information he can get from American magical connections, that sort of thing. America has plans for him, in the form of several unexpected meetings. Want a copy of your own? (Kobo and Barnes and Noble Nook are still in the process – I’ll send a note to my newsletter and update here when those two stores are available.) Oh, and if you’re curious about the art Alexander looks at while at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, there’s a post here for you!

Idea to Book: Eclipse

/ Ideas to books, Mysterious Powers

I love all my books – and all my point of view characters – but Thesan and Eclipse are particularly near and dear my heart. (I love Isembard too, mind you.) This staffroom romance at a magical school has a special place in the series, too. Education and the foundations of Eclipse I grew up in the US, but with British parents. Every year, my father would go off to spend a week or so in England – for research, to see shows in the West End (he was a theatre professor), and to see friends. He’d come back with his suitcase half full of books, many of them for me. School stories There’s a whole glorious literature of children’s school stories in British children’s lit. The ones I grew up on were mostly Enid Blyton’s St. Clare’s and Malory Towers books, and the Chalet School books (there are many, and the first half or so are set in a school in the Austrian Tyrol, but run on a British girls school model, before it moves due to the Second World War.)  But there are many many other books of that type and certainly many references to the boarding school experience. The houses, the rivalries between them (even when you’re put in them in purely pragmatic ways), and the many things that students get up to when they’re not right under a teacher’s nose (and sometimes when they are) were all part of the tapestry for me.  My own education and

A copy of Bound for Perdition lying on a piece of aged paper with elegant handwriting. The cover of Bound for Perdition has a man and woman silhouetted in dark brown on a green and brown background, with the woman holding a book while the man gestures. An open blank book and pen are inset in the top right corner.

Bound for Perdition is here!

/ Announcements, Mysterious Arts

Get your copy of Bound For Perdition now! In 1917, Lynet has done what seemed impossible. A skilled bookbinder, she’s worked to create magical journals that can readily communicate with each other. When she returns from leave for the death of her father, she’s given a new challenge – make them faster and cheaper. She and Ellis, the papermaker on the project, struggle to figure out how to move forward. When Reggie is assigned to help them, Lynet isn’t sure what to do with him – or make of him. Recently invalided out of the front, he’s like all the Schola men downstairs who ignore or insult her. But he’s also willing to fetch the tea, take instruction from her, and share some good ideas. Reggie isn’t sure how much help he can be, but he’s soon swept up by the project’s potential and fascinated by Lynet’s skills and knowledge. When problem after problem crops up for the project, he’s willing to do what it takes to protect the work and keep moving forward. And for those of you who’ve read other books of Albion, a look at Temple Carillon and his wife Delphina, in 1917. Get your copy of Bound For Perdition now!

Idea to Book: The Fossil Door

/ Ideas to books, Mysterious Powers

Welcome to our Idea to Book post for The Fossil Door! I’ve been spending a lot more time with Gabe and Rathna recently, thanks to writing Old As The Hills and Upon A Summer’s Day (coming out in May and June 2023), and getting to spend time with both of them at two different points in their lives has been fantastic.  The Fossil Door has so much that I love – an amazing location, portal magic, and of course the way Gabe and Rathna get to know and trust each other.

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