Cozy-adjacent fantasy author
Back in the bad old days of the early 20th century, queer fiction had to have an unhappy ending in order to get published. Much like the Hays Code required movie villains to get their comeuppance, there was an unspoken rule that homosexual characters needed to come to an unhappy end – and if they…
People don’t like messages in fiction, for some reason. They think they’re preachy and didactic. I disagree. I’ve always been fond of message-driven fiction. Some of it can be preachy and didactic, sure. But I’m thinking of stories where the messages are far subtler. Kurt Vonnegut’s Deadeye Dick, for example, showed 12-year-old me that a…
I’ll be 56 this February. Wow. I’m used to being the oldest one in the room. I hang out on a few Discord servers, and for some reason there are a lot of younger people on Discord. Maybe because it started out as a gaming platform? I’m not sure. It definitely reminds me of IRC…
From the pilot episode of the Lavender Tavern podcast. Go give a listen! In a city that stood on a hill by the sea, every child born was given a pair of dice. When the doctors had delivered the baby, red and crying, and cleaned it and cut the cord connecting it to its mother,…
This one’s from 1998. I am grateful to my old friend Josef C. for finding it. In a way, this story makes me very sad for the person I was when I wrote it. I’m also glad my writing’s improved substantially since then. “No”, said Jentner, “I won’t do it.” His mother laughed…
An incomplete story from 1998. Based on a dream I had. I woke up, wrote it down…and then was interrupted by a person from Porlock. Once upon a time, there was a glittering city of jewels that shone and banners that waved gloriously in the breeze, a city of happy, content people who knew…
This pastiche of Sex And the City is from decades ago…thus the iBook. Still as true today as it ever was. Contains mature content! Okay, so the four of us were sitting at our favorite café, and at least one of us was itching. Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself here. You have to know…
I’m over the moon to announce that I’ve sold my novel manuscript Talio’s Codex to Space Wizard Science Fantasy for publication in July, 2024. Talio’s Codex is set in a Dutch/Venetian-inspired world of canals, water worship and magic-powered skyships.
I’m very happy to announce that I’ve sold my short story, “Mail-Order Husband” to Wyngraf. It will be published in their Valentine’s Day 2024 issue along with two other stories. No spoilers, but I can say it involves the Weird West, a half-orc and combustible materials. Looking forward to seeing it come out!
This is a test.