An Intrinsic Love for The Craft

Capturing Magic Through Writing

I’ve had a love of books since I was a child.  Not only did my family love books and foster that same passion in me since I was small, they told me that I taught myself to read.  I would make them read the children’s books that I had over and over to me until I had them memorized and connected the words spoken to the symbols on the page.

That did not bode well when I entered school and had to learn how to read using phonetics.  Still, my love of books never dimmed.  In time, I managed to get into the flow of the new system.  Even so, it was many years before I turned my hand from flipping pages to writing them.

Since then, I’ve had my work published by Buttontapper Press, Firbolg Press, Dynatox Ministries, and a few others as well as publishing some of my novels as an indie author.  This year will have White Cat Publishing bringing out the first in my long-awaited fantasy series:  “Paladin’s Honor”.  The paperback will be out in late October of 2021.  There will also be an audiobook version as well as electronic of it.  I’m also joining in the Keepers of Knowledge:  Division of Sciences series which is tentatively set to come out in November of 2021.

Capturing the heart with Romance

Leaning into the romantic kiss

Paladin’s Honor is the romance tale I’ve been wanting to tell for a long while.  I love fantasy and most of the fantasy I’ve read over the years proved to have romantic elements in them down to being out and out romances with a fantasy cover.  So I’m thrilled to share this book with you!

The premise of the book was:  What if love came after?  You won’t find a familiar love-at-first-sight here, and there are some heavier notes in the story that can be triggering for some.  However, the tale rises in a crescendo that builds towards an honest love and a relationship that is founded on mutual respect and admiration.

Paladin’s Honor is the first book in a trilogy and there will be many more set in this world.  The story doesn’t end at marriage, it just gets started.

As I do write horror as well as romance, my stories often have strong elements of both in them.  If you want a steamy, heart-pounding thrill ride of a tale, then look for “Love at the End of all Things”.  Once there, you can meet the Charms, Thomas and Cassidy.  Here you can find out what a zombie apocalypse is like for a loving young couple about five years into their marriage.  What I wanted to portray in this book was how a couple supports each other in a healthy relationship.  The zombies in it represent The Great Recession where people faced the loss of jobs, home, and health as an inevitable, rolling force that they couldn’t be dodged or escaped.  Set around 2007-2008, it captures the difficulty of families losing their primary support and digging deep to find secondary means to keep going.  Dark and racy, it will keep you on the edge of your seat.  Yes, it is safe to read all the way to the end.  It is a romance…although I often say my stories are what you’d get if Stephen King wrote romance.

Looking for something with action that’s a little less dark?  Then you want the Lost Heroes series.        Lost Heroes II:  Osprey’s Tale and Lost Heroes II:  Firefly’s Tale are both available.  This story is about a couple of superheroes who had a terrible event occur that sent them on different paths.  Suddenly the opportunity comes to reconnect and they seize it immediately and try to figure out how to make it work right afterwards.  I highly recommend reading both books as the same experience is very different when seen through the eyes of the other character.  Likewise, you get a glimpse into the parts of their lives that they don’t share with each other…and possibly anyone.  If you are looking for fleshed-out characters, this is the one for you.

My brain wanted to write the middle of the series first, I don’t know why.  After a hard drive crash, I feared I had lost everything for book one.  Fortunately, I did find my original handwritten notes and some of the back-up files on this one got retrieved, so book one and the rest of the novels can finally be put together.