Latest News
Magnets and Stickers and Bookmarks, Oh My!
I am leaving for the Lakefly Writers Conference in Oshkosh, WI on Thursday. While there, I will spend part of my time at the Scribe Hive Publishing table with my fellow author, Ted Fearson, introducing my new middle grade fantasy, Away with the Fairies. Since its official release date isn’t until 1 June 2026, I won’t have books. I will have bookmarks, stickers, and magnets. If you will be in the Oshkosh area on 2 May 2026, please stop by the conference. It will be held at the Oshkosh Convention Center.
Current and Planned Projects
Current novel projects:
My epic fantasy, Dream Songs, is coming along well. This story, the first in a trilogy, is centered around a mother with a prophecy, a daughter whose dreams may or may not reveal the coming danger, and whether knowing the future can help you alter it.
I have also begun the sequel to Away with the Fairies.
Latest news:
My upper middle grade fantasy, Away with the Fairies, will be released 1 June 2026. In it, a leprechaun helps 11-year-old Bommer enter the fairy realm to rescue his cousin Laura, who was taken by the fairies. He learns that fairies are neither tiny nor weak and that the fairy queen has no sense of humor.
Speculative Fiction
On temporary hold: After spending a week at the Novel-In-Progress Bookcamp in Racine, Wisconsin in 2024, I decided the beginning of my Five-Minutes-in-the-Future spec fiction draft, Rafi, needs some rethinking as to the starting point (not uncommon for me). I will restructure the already-written first quarter, with some added twists, and write the remaining chapters when I finish mulling over some ideas. In the meantime, I’ll be working on a few short stories and my fantasies.
Romance
On Hold: I decided to hold onto Escape to Kuwait, a second chance romance, while I focus on my fantasy writing. The novel is complete but my first love is fantasy, followed closely by science fiction. At some point, I will go back and reread this novel. If I still think it is ready to publish when that happens, I will do so. If not, I’ll work on it more before publishing.
Success and preparing new submissions: My short story, “Compass,” was published in “Dream Catchers: A Writer’s Coffeehouse Anthology” in March 2024. Eighteen writers from the Writer’s Coffeehouse Discord group wrote stories and poem to the prompt, “I think I’m having someone else’s dreams.” Available on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1XSQKBH). Paperback and Kindle versions are available.
I am told the Where Connection Lead anthology is still coming. When that happens, my short story, “Glint of Silver,” will be in it. Stay tuned for a publication date on that and news about a few other short story projects (One of them involves a cat, a mouse, and Satan. Another features the moon, an officious alien, and the crash of a spaceship.)
Poem a Day Challenge: During the month of April 2025, I joined a Poem a Day challenge with fellow writers in Second Life. The leader of the group set the them and poetic style for the day and we wrote to that. It was lots of fun and I learned about many poetic forms I had not previously encountered. Though I consider myself far more of a prose writer than a poet, I do recommend the experience to other prose writers. Like microfiction and other short story forms, it makes you think about the value of each word.
