• January Wrap-Up & February Goals

    I had a very good, low-key January that also included some major news and accomplishments. First of all, I’m excited to announce that Steel Empires #3: Steel Blood will be released July 2017 from Raw Dog Screaming Press, along with a full slate of other amazing books. Want to know what Victory has been up to…

    Continue Reading

  • Review: LIES, DAMNED LIES, AND HISTORY (Chronicles of St. Mary’s #7) by Jodi Taylor

    This novel was another strong installment in the Chronicles of St. Mary’s time travel series, full of both laugh-out-loud and gasp-out-loud moments. I continue to love Max, Leon, Peterson, and the rest of the gang, and Taylor’s glimpses into the past are realistic and tantalizing. I think we’ve established by this point that I adore…

    Continue Reading

  • Book 4 is DONE (sort of)

    That’s actually a lie. The first draft of book 4 of the Steel Empires series, Steel Time, is done. There’s still a ton of work for me to do, including cutting at least 10,000 words of length, but I can’t fix what doesn’t exist. And now it definitely exists.

    Continue Reading

  • Review: TEMPEST edited by Mercedes Lackey

    Favorite story: “Harmless as Serpents” by Rosemary Edghill & Rebecca Fox Perhaps because they are such alien creatures, stories where a point of view character is a Companion always intrigue me. Throw in tantalizing details about the mysterious land of Iftel, the realistic aftereffects of Karse’s religious upheaval, and multiple laugh-out-loud moments, and this was easily…

    Continue Reading

  • Review: A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE BUILDING RECENTLY ERECTED FOR THE DEPARTMENTS OF NATURAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM by Richard Rathbun

    This is not a typical review, because this is not a typical book. I stumbled across this text while looking for books about the historical design and architecture of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. This was a perfect research resource for what I needed. It was well-written, succinct, and easy to…

    Continue Reading

  • “Dear Sherry” letters needed!

    One of the regular features at Speculative Chic is called Dear Sherry, hosted by award-winning author and certified life-coach Sherry Peters. In it, she answers reader letters with concerns about anything related to writing and publishing. She even answered a letter from me and gave some great advice! But I won’t tell you which one,…

    Continue Reading

  • December Wrap-Up & January Goals

    Happy 2017 to all! This year I’m looking forward to continuing work on the Steel Empires series, contributing to Speculative Chic, reading lots of amazing books, and attending fun conventions, and watching lots of great movies and television shows. This year’s motto is probably “Work hard, play hard.”

    Continue Reading

  • Review: THE PURPLE HEART DETECTIVE AGENCY by Rock Neelly

    There are a lot of really great things about this “modern noir” book, which is why I kept reading until the very end. I picked it up primarily because of the disabled main characters, which is a diversity not often seen in fiction. While their combat injuries certainly informed their characters, neither men were ever…

    Continue Reading

  • Review: UNDER THE EMPYREAN SKY (Heartland Trilogy #1) by Chuck Wendig

    I picked up this book on Kindle purely because of a blog post by the author completely owning the fact that he had written about a character who was gay without homosexuality being used as a plot device or some sort of moral lesson. As someone who strives for the same diversity in her own…

    Continue Reading

  • Review: CLOSER TO THE HEART (Herald Spy #2) by Mercedes Lackey

    This book had the awkward job of pushing along a trilogy plot that I don’t quite understand and a relationship that is already solid. I keep reading Valdemar books because this world has such a special place in my heart, but at this point the drama and intrigue is no longer there for me in…

    Continue Reading

  • Review: WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? (Chronicles of St. Mary’s #6) by Jodi Taylor

    I find the title to this latest installment of my favorite time travel hijinks series highly amusing because I thought I already knew all the ways in which things would go wrong in this world. It turns out that I was tragically wrong, and I’m so thrilled that this author can keep surprising me.

    Continue Reading

  • Review: THE ANATOMY OF JANE (WJM #1) by Amelia LeFay

    This novel was the first (non-fanfiction) three-way erotica I’ve read, and it both met and failed my expectations in different ways and on different levels. I absolutely don’t regret purchasing this ebook. But I’m not sure whether I will be purchasing the sequel, despite the fact that this book ends on a ridiculous cliffhanger (one…

    Continue Reading

  • Holiday Letter 2016

    Happy holidays to all of my readers! Every year, my husband and I send a card and newsletter to family and friends. Since I include all of you in that category, below is a (slightly redacted for privacy) copy of the newsletter. I hope you are all having a great holiday of your choice. (In…

    Continue Reading

  • Review: HOME BIRTH (Kaiju Revisited #2) by Jessica McHugh

    Disclaimer: The author and I share a publisher and I consider her a friend. I received an ebook version of this novella in exchange for an honest review. Despite this being the second in a shared-world series by many authors, this story works well as a stand-alone tale. It included just enough science-fiction world-building to…

    Continue Reading

  • Review: FAIREST, WINTER, and STARS ABOVE by Marissa Meyer

    This post includes reviews of the final three installments of the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer.

    Continue Reading

  • Review: MAGIC STEALS by Ilona Andrews

    While Kate and Curron obviously hold a place close to my heart, I think my favorite romantic couple in this series is easily Dali and Jim. Because I’ve also known these characters as individuals for so long, this makes their relationship all the sweeter.

    Continue Reading

  • Review: HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany

    Like many readers, I had a difficult time falling in love with the play that continued the story of the both the original and next generation of wizards from the Harry Potter universe. Since I hadn’t read anything in script form in over a decade, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out…

    Continue Reading

  • Review: A STUDY IN SABLE by Mercedes Lackey

    I was excited by both the return of Nan and Sarah in Lackey’s Elemental Masters series and the introduction of this universe’s version of Sherlock Holmes and the Watsons. The aspect of this novel that I was most impressed with was that my brain never once tried to “cast” my mental images of the characters…

    Continue Reading

  • Review: “Clay Tongue” by Nicholas Conley

    Disclaimer: I received an ebook version of this novelette from the author in exchange for an honest review. The gorgeous cover to this novelette is a perfect match for the beautiful language and sweet story contained within. This short tale is well worth checking out for a quick escape.

    Continue Reading

  • Review: ALL-NEW WOLVERINE VOL. 1: THE FOUR SISTERS by Tom Taylor

    To be fair, I haven’t read any of the original Wolverine graphic novels, so I didn’t really know what I was getting into with a female version of the iconic Marvel character. As played by Hugh Jackman, Wolverine has consistently been my favorite part of the X-Men on screen. So I had high hopes for…

    Continue Reading