3 Ways to Make Minor Characters More Colorful

The Terminarch Plot Is On Sale for .99 Cents!

Today begins the week long .99 cent promotion of “The Terminarch Plot”.  It is the first installment of “The Five Rims” series of books set hundreds of years in our future, a time when the human race has dwindled to less than 50 souls after their tyrannical empire fell at the hands of four races

Cover Reveal: The Terminarch Plot

Here it is, kids.  My fourth novel.  It’s the first novel in a series I’m calling The Five Rims.  It’s listed as a science fiction adventure novel, and that it is.  It has constant action, a near-cliffhanger at the end of every chapter, intrigue, weird aliens, rich alien culture, a snarky hero who may or may

New Podcast Up: Selling Your Book In A Wasteland

On this episode we discuss the many methods of publicizing a book that you’ve written, the do’s and don’ts of convention tables and general publicity, and some tips about how you can best stretch your advertizing dollar. We also put our eyes back into our heads after watching Mad Max: Fury Road…and there is nothing

“Come Apart” Will Be On Sale for .99 Cents through 3/31

I have decided to offer my latest novel Come Apart for a one week sale.  From today through the 31st it will be on sale for the measly price of .99 cents. Synopsis: In our lives there is always one event that we wish we could change, to travel back and make a step to the

Writing An Ending First

My latest work in progress, Come Apart, has been a year long experiment to see if I could write the final chapter of a book first and then build the rest of the novel around that final chapter. I can tell you that the progress has been a challenge. This all started when I read Pines  by Blake

Book Review: Pines by Blake Crouch

As a writer, I read a great number of books in all genres.  However, science fiction is near and dear to my nerdy little heart.  I don’t just love any type of science fiction, but love the type that not only has sound science but also a message that comments on humanity. This is why

Research and the Period Novel

I spent the better part of six months researching biblical end-times scenarios, possible ways that the world could fall apart geopolitically, super-viruses, and another six months outlining my novel to incorporate all of that knowledge.  One of the biggest problems that period novels have is when the research takes over the novel entirely. For example,

The Sagging Mid-Section: Is Your Novel a Swamp In the Middle?

One problem that amateur novelists face is what I call the sagging mid-section.  They might have three to five chapters at the beginning that do everything that yesterday’s post mention, and the ending of their novel is fantastic and wonderful, full of interesting plot twists, but the middle of the novel bogs down in a

The Slow Start: How to Open Your Novel With a Bang

One of the most annoying facts about inexperienced novelists is that they often will open their novels with tons of backstory about some character or place.  The novel might begin with something like “The war was ongoing” or “this is the reason these two people did not get along with one another” or some other