I grew up on a very different kind of exposure to fantasy than most people. That was partly thanks to Daeluin, the roleplaying forum I joined as a kid, as well as my mixed interest in both eastern and western fantasy. For me, fantasy had always been a richly magical thing, full of impossible civilizations and their impossible creations. Even … Read More
The feud between traditional and indie publishing
I’ve been doing a lot of reading and engaging in a lot of discussions around this subject lately and oh boy is it a spicy one. It doesn’t help that most of the subreddits I’m a member of are divided neatly down the line here, either (though don’t dare ever point it out). Mostly, this has resulted in some crazy … Read More
The plight of fantasy healers
The concept of healers is something I’ve always found interesting in literature, and especially in fantasy. This was true even before I trained as a combat medic and spent five years working in an Emergency Room, and that experience has only deepened my interest. I’ve found that characters who are healers are also often side-characters, are pacifists or otherwise unable … Read More
Whoopsies and the Pitch Wars
So I decided to submit my recent novel Islandblood to Pitch Wars since the timing was just too perfect. I was already about to start querying anyway and told myself it couldn’t hurt. Still, I didn’t expect to get any requests, as Pitch Wars is like querying but worse. Many of the “mentors” also aren’t people with any real experience … Read More
The Mongrel Writes
I spent a long time thinking about what I wanted to write for my first blog post. This, after all, marks the moment in which I “officially” describe myself as an author (something more to do with perspective than reality considering how long I’ve been writing). In the end, I decided to write about myself and, in turn, what that … Read More