Steel

I just finished reading Steel, by Carrie Vaughn. I really liked this book and I admire Carrie Vaughn for putting the story together the way she did. She researched her topics well and grabs the reader's attention with all of the adventurous details of life at sea as a pirate, but also shows the day to day knitty gritty of the hard work behind what was ultimately a hard life.

I really like what Vaughn did to get Jill, the main character, to go back in time 300 years. The device is clever and I really liked how the story worked. Several years ago I wanted to write a story about pirates and include the women of the pirating world. I did my research, but I never pulled a story together. Carrie Vaughn has done an excellent job with Steel. I'm jealous, but I've also learned a lot about approaching stories that you want to tell.

If I were still in junior high or early high school, I would eat this book up. If you know any adventurous pre-teen or teen girls out there, give them this book to read.

You can see more of what I thought by reading my review over at Goodreads.

Some fairy tales end this way:

And for some, it's only the beginning...

Big Al's Books and Pals

Rose of Par Kluhnd has been reviewed over at Big Al's Books and Pals. If you're not familiar with this site, it's the one that went viral with this review and the author's responses. As a result, Big Al now has over 1,000 followers.

So, of course, I'm thrilled with the very nice review, and tickled with Big Al's interpretation of my author self in the 'about the author' section. Here's a tidbit from the review:

"As with the best stories of any stripe, Rose of Par Kluhnd is a grand adventure."  - Big Al's Books and Pals

To read the rest, click here.

My new book trailer!

I'm so excited about the book trailer for Rose of Par Kluhnd!



What do you think?

Another review, and Parth's song

Rose of Par Kluhnd received another nice review over at Goodreads, so that's made me happy. I haven't written much of anything for a while, for a couple of reasons. One being I'm not sure if what I have already written is good enough for me to keep writing (so good reviews are nice, although bad ones are often helpful, too).

The other reason being that I know there is a big idea inside somewhere, but it hasn't risen close enough to the surface of all of my thoughts for me to really see the shape of it and start developing another story.

Anyway, in the latest nice review, the reviewer said

I like how the author developed the love between Parth and Rose.

Parth is my favorite, and when I hear this song, I think of him, I think of it as Parth's song. The song is All the King's Horses, by Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation, and it can be found on their Mighty Rearranger CD:

You can now read first chapters!

In case you haven't noticed, I've added a few links over there on the left sidebar under Pages. Those links will take you to the pages where you can now read the first chapters of each of my books! Hope you enjoy!

The Ogham Alphabet



From the Triskelle Irish History Website.

This is the Ogham Alphabet, a form of ancient Celtic writing often found carved on standing stones.

Each letter is also associated with a type of tree. Different types of trees held their own special meanings - mystical, magical, or sacred - for the long-ago users of Ogham.

I borrowed the Ogham alphabet and use it here and there in my book, Rose of Par Kluhnd: A Fairy Tale. There are a lot of links to ancient Irish myth and legend in this book, for those who care to look for them. You don't have to be at all acquainted with Irish lore in order to enjoy the book, but it's there for those who want to delve a little deeper.