Okay, so the people who have followed my blog are probably asking themselves, exactly what will we be getting that we haven't been getting already, that we weren't getting for free? The short answer is: a lot. The slightly longer answer is: now that I'm treating my blog like a business instead of a hobby, I'm going to be posting frequently. Probably not multiple posts every day like I've been doing the past week or so, but almost certainly I'll be writing between four and five posts per week minimum, unless I'm offline from the internet for some reason. I haven't taken a vacation in about ten years (I don't count taking the grandkids to Disney World as "rest and recreation" but it was fun) and have no plans for one in the immediate future. I'm not going to commit to a specific number above one or two blogs per week because I've learned the "art of the deal" from Donald Trump. The secret to a happy customer is to under-commit and over-deliver. Promise less and give them more. Photo by J.E. FitzGerald. Reproduced by permission of J.E. FitzGerald, ©2001. One of the benefits of my new attitude and approach to the blog is that when I learn about something cool, you'll be the first to know. Until about five minutes ago, I'd never heard of a marble statue called "The Veiled Virgin", sculpted by an artist named Giovanni Strazza. My wonderful and talented musical friend from Down Under, Brad Luke, shared a photo of this exquisite masterpiece with me on Facebook. The photo took my breath away. It is one of the most beautiful sculptures I've ever seen...and I became … [Read more...]
The Rootstock saga
Attention science fiction and fantasy fans! Here's a link to a new blog you should follow, about the upcoming Rootstock series of novels. Questions: are you bored with the same old tropes of a male-dominated genre? Tired of starting an epic story the author can't be bothered to finish? Give a woman's take on epic fantasy a chance to change your mind about what the genre can deliver. The genius behind these four terrific novels had this to say: Rootstock tells a powerful story of who we are and why we are here. Interwoven voices tell the tale in shifting, short chapters of tight POV crafted to hold a reader's attention in an age shortening attention spans. Plentiful dialog, edgy themes, and a diversity and depth in characters lift Rootstock above the norm.Rootstock chronicles a future beyond our forgotten past. The Watchers, ancient civilizations grown weary of war but stagnated in their state of perpetual ease, have been seeding Earth for eons, competing for evolutionary preeminence in never-ending cycles. Set amidst the rich backdrop of clans, kingdoms, and empires in a roughly eighteenth-century society, Rootstock follows a compelling ensemble of POV characters in their struggle for survival. Drawn from diverse cultures and ideologies, their paths entwine in love, duty, and the quest for freedom.Swordplay occurs far more often than gunfights, and remnants of technological wizardry such as teleportation are still accessible for a select few. Special “mindgifts” begin to awaken as bloodlines inspired by the Scots, Native Americans, Berbers, and even Middle-Earth … [Read more...]
