The Amazon product page for BALLISTIC, second novel in the Palladium Wars, now has a picture of the cover on it, so I guess it’s official: I think it’s a gorgeous cover, and I love the art direction they’ve picked for the Palladium Wars novels so far.
Tasty treat or Devil’s Ichor?
Salty licorice is very much an acquired taste. It’s common in the Netherlands, the Nordic countries, and northern Germany. Outside of those regions, it’s hard to find people who like it. The salt in this form of licorice is ammonium chloride (“Salmiak salt”), and it gives the licorice a very astringent, almost cough medicine-like flavor. I…
The Switcher
It’s my birthday this week, so I went out and made a frivolous purchase: a Nintendo Switch Lite. I have always been a PC gamer, but in the last year or two, I’ve found myself gravitating toward consoles. I spend a lot of time in front of mouse and keyboard already, and I don’t really…
I’m totally trademarking “color kablooie”
October brings the golden days of autumn, and the last two days have been Chamber of Commerce tourism ad weather. We’re a little late for peak leaf season this year, but the first frosts just hit a few days ago, and now the leaves are in full Color Kablooie mode. This is my ideal weather–cool…
Non-Euclidean geometry, fall edition
When I need to let my brain’s background processes figure out a story element or untie a knot in a chapter, I take a walk in the place you see pictured above. It never fails to work. In other news, I just turned in the edits for BALLISTIC, second in the Palladium Wars series,…
It’s OK if you like fall colors, I guess
New Hampshire in the fall, the best time in the best place as far as I’m concerned.
Running a few Sharpies dry
Sitting down this afternoon to sign a bunch of bookplates for hardcovers of AFTERSHOCKS. I am signing these instead of the actual books because the alternative would be to ship me the hardcovers. Those come about 25 to a box, and I have to do 1,800 signatures, so they’d have to send 72 boxes of…
The outdoor office
There’s a pond about a half mile down the road, and when the weather is good, I grab my little Surface Go and head down there in the mornings to get a head start on the word count for the day. Right now it’s the start of the best month for using that outdoor office…
Dispatch from the desk
The most enjoyable words for a writer to read are “Pay To The Order Of…”, and the most enjoyable words for a writer to put down on the page are “THE END”. I’ve been quiet on here because I’ve spent the last few weeks finishing BALLISTIC, the second book in the Palladium Wars series. But…
Interview with the local newspaper
My local newspaper, the Valley News, interviewed me a few days ago, and you can read the whole thing here. It’s a very good piece that stays true to the facts, and I enjoyed sitting for the questions (with journalist Sarah Earle) and the pictures (with photographer Rick Russell) very much.