When does a protest become a riot? More important, why does a protect become a riot? I dug deep into that topic before writing my extended protest scene for Beautiful and Terrible Things, to ensure its authenticity. (I have, thankfully, never been at a protest that turned violent.) As I suspected, a number of forces … Continue reading Book Excerpt: Why Does a Protest Become a Riot?
I'm pretty excited to tell you that Beautiful and Terrible Things has won another book award! And this time, it's a first-place win, as opposed to the finalist and honorable mentions received to date. My contemporary novel was named "2024's Best Literary Book of the Year" in the Indies Today Awards. And, hot off the … Continue reading Best Literary Fiction Book of the Year, and Musing on Genre
Contemporary novel Beautiful and Terrible Things has been awarded an Honorable Mention in the Fiction-Social Issues category of the 2024 Readers' Favorite International Book Award Contest. This award means a lot to me for two reasons. The first is that Readers' Favorite, which is one of the largest book review and award contest sites on … Continue reading Social Issues Aspect of “Beautiful & Terrible Things” Recognized
Thanks to Julie Sara Porter at Bookworm Reviews for posting an advance review of my forthcoming novel Beautiful & Terrible Things. Here is an excerpt from the full review: Review Highlights "The best thing about this book are the well developed characters. The six protagonists have the type of friendship that makes the Reader think, … Continue reading Bookworm Reviews: “Like the Friends Gang”
The first advance reviews of my forthcoming novel Beautiful and Terrible Things are in, and they offer high praise! Sending "Advance Reader Copies" (also called "Advance Review Copies") out to publishing trade magazines and media before a book is published is a time-honored tradition in the process of publishing a novel. The idea is that … Continue reading Advance Reviews Praise “Beautiful and Terrible Things”
I'm very excited to announce that a second edition of my adult contemporary novel Horseshoes and Hand Grenades has been published! It's the same story, with minor updates, that has been winning accolades like the following: “A novel that will likely stick in my mind for years to come.” -- The Audiobook Review “A beautifully … Continue reading Second Edition of Horseshoes and Hand Grenades Published
Maybe I should have called this post: Book Deal, Take 2: Beautiful and Terrible Things. Beautiful and Terrible Things is my next novel -- the story of six friends who remind us that friendship has the power to validate, destroy, transform and save lives. I have bad news and good news. And the bad news … Continue reading Book Deal Update: Beautiful and Terrible Things
My short story Inside and Out has been published by Monadnack Underground, "a journal of thought and spirit". Here's a taste of the dark story tracing a college romance--and its disturbing secrets (in the well-put words of Monadnock Underground). "You can’t break up with me. We’re unbreakable. You said it yourself." "I was wrong. Nothing … Continue reading “Inside and Out” Short Story – Monadnock Underground
It’s Free Ebook time again! My contemporary novelette The Wallace House of Pain (longer than a short story, shorter than a novella) is being made available as a free ebook for 3 days only. From Friday, October 14th through midnight on Sunday, October 16th, the book will be offered for free exclusively on Amazon. Here's … Continue reading Free Ebook: The Wallace House of Pain
In honor of it being Day 3 of the Horseshoes and Hand Grenades Blog Tour, we have three postings to share with you today. (Just kidding. It wasn't planned that way. It just turned out that Review Tales by Jeyran Main split her post into two pieces: my guest post about why I wrote HAHG … Continue reading HAHG Blog Tour: Day 3