Excerpts
Excerpt: Word War I Novel
The World War I fantasy novel is progressing nicely now. I’m still working on a proper title for it, but it’ll be something to do with Green/Steel nations, a World at War, etc. Maybe sub-title each book. “The Steel and the Green (Book I): The Fallen Veil”. Something like that. It’ll come in time I’m sure and isn’t necessary right now. I found that adding a spreadsheet to keep track of the timeline of all the characters was greatly useful in filling in gaps in the narrative and keeping things on track. It’s really interesting to write in this manner. I’m very used to a linear narrative focusing on a single character...
Read MoreExcerpt from “Summer”
Chapter I from my fantasy novel, SUMMER, which is complete at 120,000 words. Part I – June God offers us yearly a necklace of twelve pearls; most men choose the fairest, label it June, and cast the rest away. ~Thomas Wentworth Higginson 1 – Ernesto’s Memorial Day Moose Bash and Squirrel Buffet was guaranteed to be a magical kick off to summer, and I drove the two hours there from Baltimore to have a good time. And as always, Ernesto didn’t disappoint. There was a moose-shaped cake, and a huge stuffed moose near the front gate. He had a squirrel piñata hanging from the elm tree in his back yard. There was something odd and disjointed about the...
Read MoreMirabel Sinclair – Excerpt from Chapter 1
An excerpt from chapter one of the completed novel, Shadow of a Doubt, a standalone novel with series potential. Chapter One I would have enjoyed some sleep after pulling an all-night stake out, complete with bad egg salad for dinner and a chipped fingernail. I ended up with a roll of film—to be processed later—containing evidence that would be considered pornographic in twenty states, not to mention the final nail in the coffin of a client’s failed marriage. But I’d never learned how to ignore a ringing phone, even when it barked at me at two thirty in the morning. It didn’t help that I had to run downstairs to answer it. “Hello,” I said, half awake. I...
Read MoreWorld at War – Prologue
The re-write of my new WWI alternate reality novel is progressing. I’ve gotten three new books now for research and am drawing as much as possible from real world history to build the dual fantasy/technology world of 1915 in the book. Here is the first draft of the prologue for those who might be interested, drawing directly from the original event that flashed the world into the Great War, the assassination of Arch-duke Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie. Prologue The crowds were boisterous and loud, surging around Gavrilo as he fingered the pistol in his pocket, thrusting his elbows out to his sides like the wings of a bird to keep from being jostled. His...
Read More