Category: Books

Things my editor told me

I think I’ve mentioned—though no more than a gazillion times or so, so you might have missed it—that my next book to be published by DAW will be Masks, first book in a trilogy (and hopefully series) that will continue with Shadows and Faces. Earlier today I spent a couple of hours on the phone …

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First book from writers I advised as writer-in-residence is released!

On Saturday I attended a book launch at the Regent Park branch of the Regina Public Library, and no, it wasn’t for one of mine: it was for Only One Round: One Couple’s Journey to Living the Good Life, by Steve and Reneé Wallace. I was thrilled to be asked, because Steve and Reneé were …

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The birth of The Hobbit

I posted this back in July, but it seems apropos to post it again today, with the release of the first movie in the new trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s book The Hobbit. It’s the first chapter of the biography of Tolkien I wrote for Enslow Publishers, entitled J.R.R. Tolkien, Master of Imaginary Worlds..and it’s …

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How I became a DAW author

Here is a tale I’ve told oft before, though never (I think) in print or pixel: the tale of how I became a DAW author. It’s an oft-told tale because I like to share it with writers who are still in that seeking-publication stage, for though the specifics of it are of little use (I …

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From the vaults: Opening of Land Surveying in Saskatchewan

Commissioned by the Saskatchewan Land Surveyors Association, Land Surveying in Saskatchewan: Laying the Groundwork for Property Rights and Development talks about the work of surveyors past, present and future in the province. And here’s a good long chunk of Chapter 1, which (you should pardon the expression) lays the groundwork for the rest of the …

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Chicon 7: the 70th World Science Fiction Convention

(Note: if you’re thinking this doesn’t exactly read like a typical convention report from a SF writer, that would be because this is actually my weekly science column. A slightly different version will be my column for the next issue of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild newsletter Freelance. Never let a convention go to waste! (The …

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Saturday (er, Sunday) Special: J.R.R. Tolkien, Master of Imaginary Worlds

I think I’ve now posted the introductions to all of the biographies I wrote for Enslow Publishers except this one: J.R.R. Tolkien, Master of Imaginary Worlds. Like my book on Orson Scott Card, it was part of their Authors Teens Love series. Why, yes, I did really really enjoy writing this one. How did you …

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Saturday Special: The First Two Chapters of The Haunted Horn

For this week’s Saturday Special, the first chapter of the YA/middle-grade ghost story The Haunted Horn, which I’ve just released to Kindle (other ebook formats and eventually print to follow). It’s set in Arkansas, where I went to university, although Searcy bears only a passing resemblance to the Oak Bluff of the story (although both …

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Saturday Special from the Vaults: Orson Scott Card

I wrote two author biographies for Enslow Publishers’ Authors Teen Love series. One was on J.R.R. Tolkien, and the other on noted SF/fantasy writer Orson Scott Card. The former was easy because he was long dead and had been written about a great deal, the latter harder because he’s very much alive and hasn’t been …

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Some reviews of The Helix War

The Helix War is a first for me, being an omnibus of two previously published books, Marseguro and Terra Insegura. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in the way of reviews, except I figured there wouldn’t be quite as many of them. And, so far, that’s certainly been the case. But there have been …

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Saturday…oh, all right, Tuesday…Special from the Vaults: Introduction to Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw

My 2007 book Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw, published by Red Deer Press, is just what it says: a collection of 10 walking tours (eight in Regina, two in Moose Jaw) that take you past a number of homes and commercial buildings of historical or architectural interest, with a brief description of each. …

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Saturday Special from the Vaults: The City Must Die

Chapter One of a YA novel I hope to finish someday…The City Must Die (that’;s an entirely fictitious cover). Why is it unfinished? Well, because I sold Masks instead, I guess. But reading this over again for the first time in months, I realized I really want to write this one. There’s actually a different …

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