December 13, 2017

Meet Augustus and the Empress

Meet Augustus!

Full Name: Augustus Ekphrasis
Appearance: Augustus is a middle-aged Chairoscuran with black rings around his eyes that make him look sleepy, a head of short, scruffy hair, and several days' worth of white stubble on his chin and cheeks.
Likes: Cooking, political activism, food, the sky, clouds, stars
Dislikes: Being stuck inside Chiaroscuro, phantasmal jellyfish miasma, wind
OccupationCookProfessional rabble-rouser, prisoner
Favorite Food: Anything he makes himself
Spirit Animal: Panda
Spirit Vegetable: Daikon Radish
Little Known Fact: Several councilmen frequented Augustus’s shop before his arrest, and offered to put in a good word for him at his trial. They recanted this promise, however, when other council members accused them of accepting “bribes in the form of food”, which of course brought to mind the specter of the Great Dumpling Scandal, which no councilman would ever want to be associated with.

November 29, 2017

Single Sentence Forest Poems

While I usually tend to wax poetic for a page or two in my poems, I’ve been reading some poets who have small, almost haiku-like poems that capture a single thought or image, so I thought I would try this out. They weren’t originally all supposed to be a single sentence each, but that’s how they started to end up, so I went with it.

November 8, 2017

Retirement, Giveaways, and Heresy!

I have officially decided to retire my original covers of Miscast Spells and Outcast Shadows. First, because I like the new covers better. Second, their format doesn't jive with what I want for Recast Light’s cover. Third, I think it might cause confusion when ordering. And fourth, despite my trying to fix all the weirdness with cover confusion on Amazon, this is the final result:

October 27, 2017

Poem for Sarah in October Video

Hi everyone! Sorry, once again, for the late update. Below is this month’s poem video, which is just a short reading of “A Poem for Sarah in October”. I don’t think I’ll be doing a poem in November, as I have other plans, but December will round out my poetry video “once a month” scheme. I think I wrote twelve poems this year, even if I didn’t do a proper video for each once a month, so I’ll double check and have the last few all together in December’s video (don’t worry; they’re all short).

October 10, 2017

Meet Danika, Heidi, and Cecil

Meet Danika!

Full Name: Danika Morceau
Appearance: Danika is a tall Chiaroscuran with long, somewhat disheveled hair. Like her brother, she has a white complexion with two black stripes running up her cheeks
Likes: Mixing memories, creating new colors with chemicals, explosives (which are illegal in Chiaroscuro), cute hats (which are also illegal in Chiaroscuro), taking naps, reading 
Dislikes: Entropy, rotting garbage, the color black
Occupation: Chemist and memory merchant
Favorite Food: Meat dumplings
Spirit Animal: Crane
Spirit Vegetable: Onion
Little Known Fact: When Misha was offered the job of steward to King of Chiaroscuro, he asked Danika to move to the palace with him, but she insisted on staying in their old home at the edge of the city. He wasn’t sure if her decision was due to sentimentality, or to the fact that those living in the palace would not be copacetic with her more volatile experiments.

September 13, 2017

Bookish Fun: Reviews, Hidden Books, Indie Authors, and More

You've probably noticed that this post isn't the final installment of Love & Chaos. That’s because I’m overwhelmed with school and work. I've already dropped one class and fallen behind in another. Additionally, I’ve had to work a ton of extra shifts that I signed up for early in summer before I knew I would be working a second job. I currently won’t have a day off until next Saturday, September 23rd, and as we speak, I'm waiting to see if I'll have to take tonight's shift for a sick colleague

Thus, I haven't had time (or mental energy) to write. School and work have to come first right now, so that's just how it is.

August 30, 2017

World of Recast Light: Immortal Beasts

Though both the goblin nations of Gammon and Catawampus claim to have resident immortal beasts, humans generally consider these creatures to be the stuff of legends, though Vít Karolek, author of Flora, Fauna, and Fungi of the Goblin World, claimed to have personally come across one. His book includes the following passage:

August 16, 2017

Recast Light Teaser!

It's that time again! Time to change colors in honor of my next book. Recast Light, the third and final installment of The Styx Trilogy, is due out in June 2018. It's a long way off, but I will of course be posting character bios, world building posts, and publishing updates in the months to come. This week is the back-of-the-book teaser (it may be spoilery, so I'm putting it behind the cut.)

August 2, 2017

"Sunflowers", plus Life Update Vlog




Sunflowers

The monsoons are almost over,
as is summer,
and the tilt in the sunlight,
for those who’ve noticed,
has shifted slightly towards fall,
and the sunflowers are blooming.

July 5, 2017

Book Signing and Giveaways!

In downtown Flagstaff, on the first Friday of every month, we have something called the First Friday ArtWalk, where local business and galleries hold special events. This coming Friday, July 7th, I will be participating in this event for the first time, signing copies of MiscastSpells and Outcast Shadows at Bright Side Bookshop. Both editions will be available, and if you have an interest in local authors, books on Northern Arizona, or awesome book swag, Bright Side has that as well! The store is located at 18 N. San Francisco St., Flagstaff, Arizona, AZ 86001. There is on-street parking around downtown or in the lot south of the tracks off West Phoenix Ave. I'll be there from 5:00 to 8:00. Please swing by if you’ll be in town; buy a copy of my books, get your old ones signed, or just say hello.

June 24, 2017

Amazon Order Precautions


If anyone is trying to order the new edition of Miscast Spells from Amazon, double check that the release date is 2017. Something went loopy when I requested they make the newest edition be the one that shows up first in the search results, and somehow the one that shows up has a picture of the new cover, but is the old edition-- if you order it, it will be the old green cover.

I'm working to fix the problem, but in the meantime please double check the following information before ordering:

Old cover:
 ISBN 978-1943798001, released Jan 31, 2016, and says Miscast Spells: The Styx Trilogy Book One 

New cover:
 978-1943798063, released May 24, 2017, and says Miscast Spells (Styx Trilogy)   

June 21, 2017

Silly and Salty Poem Videos

The Strawman
A Political Ghost Story

On nights like this, when it’s black as pitch
and the wind wails through the sky,
you needn’t fear the ghost nor witch,
nor even the evil eye.
For there is a real beast out there,
as real as real can be.
I’ve seen him, truly. Yes, I have.
You can certainly trust me.

June 7, 2017

Earth Song plus Okami Poem Video


Earth Song: Waka or Yamato-Uta

“Hark! The call of the heavens, the earth, the sea...”
—Ushiwaka, Okami