Dear Editor, The Princess of Aenya is a fantasy adventure reminiscent of Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn and Michael Ende's The Never Ending Story, with a little bit of Song of Ice and Fire injected for good measure. It stands roughly at 125,000 words. What’s the story? She is known for her arresting beauty and mismatched eyes. One is turquoise, like the greater moon, the other is violet,... Continue Reading →
Olympia Publishers and the Art of the Soft Scam (Updated 2018)
Nobody has time for yours. This post was going to be something else entirely, a celebration. My wife and I received a positive response from a publisher, and the other night, we made a special toast at P.F. Chang's, "To passing the second gate!" See, there are three main obstacles to getting your book in... Continue Reading →
Ages of Aenya Kickstarter Video
OK, so it's probably no secret that I am camera shy. Being a writer and all, I definitely feel most comfortable behind the page. But we live in an age of video. My 5 year old kid is addicted to YouTube. She can watch hours of kids unboxing toys. And it bums me out, knowing... Continue Reading →
2014 Year End Review
Radia Noora, the Princess of AenyaWell, folks, this is it, another year gone at the Writer's Disease. I would like to say this was the year that my dreams came true, that I found a publisher for my work and sold millions, but alas, Fate has yet to smile on me. Like Frodo Baggins, I... Continue Reading →
The SIX Greatest Fantasy Novels of All Time
I've been wanting to make this list for a long time, a greatest of, but strictly for fantasy novels. So this list excludes a lot of great books, like the Sci-Fi masterpiece that is Frank Herbert's Dune. I also left out things that could be construed as fantasy, but also fall into other genres, like Marry... Continue Reading →
The Gorgon’s Lover
Let me tell you how I killed her—how I killed the only woman I ever loved. I am a wretched thing, truly, and have little else to offer but this story. Hear me out, if you are wanting for a tragedy, but I give you fair warning: this is no tale for children or the... Continue Reading →
The Devil’s Advocate: Melodrama is Good!
In the 2004 film, Troy, Achilles kills Hector after a climactic battle, and Andromache, beset by grief for the death of her husband, basically does . . . nothing. The actress gives a performance of subdued shock, blinking heavily before slacking against the parapet wall. This is in stark contrast to the way Homer describes the... Continue Reading →
The Tao of Writing
For two decades, my family and friends have struggled to understand my need to tell stories, and to have those stories be recognized. They sometimes see it as just a need for approval, or praise, or fame. While praise does motivate me, what really drives me to write is much simpler: we who suffer from... Continue Reading →
Money and Art Make Strange Bedfellows
Internet Land is rife with a very angry bunch of people who have nothing better to do than decry certain individuals for being, for lack of a better word, "sellouts". George Lucas is most famous for this, with message board posts going something like this: "Once, George cared about art! But now, he's just a... Continue Reading →
The Five Greatest Books I’ve Ever Read: #4: Frankenstein
Ask any ten people if they know Frankenstein and you will undoubtedly get a YES. Such is the power of the mythos created by Marry Shelley, an early female novelist who, in 1818 (200+ years ago!) at the remarkable age of 18, hid the fact of her sex to get her book published. It is... Continue Reading →

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