“But think of the art!” – Dispatches from Dystopia

There is this common tune, that great art (and great art movements) comes from periods of strife and political unrest. While it’s most famously seen in music, take rap or punk as examples, pushing back against oppression is also a major influence on the British comic book scene in the 80’s. The panacea we’ve been […]

Review: Rites & Desires by Amanda Cherry

First of all, how DARE you! Second, I say that with love. Because as much as I wish I’d created Ruby Killingsworth, I never could have pulled this novel off with such joyful aplomb. See, there’s been a number of stories told in Cobalt City over the years, but never anything like Rites & Desires, […]

The Benefits of a Step Back

As regular readers know, I’ve been working on a new Cobalt City novel for over a year now. As is typical for me, progress is not always smooth and constant. I had a big block from some time in October until just a week ago where I’m pretty sure I didn’t finish a single chapter. […]

Year of Creators Interview: Arinn Dembo

This week’s interview brings us writer Clarion West graduate, spec fiction author, and game writer Arinn Dembo. She’s been a writing pro for quite a while, but even before she got her first big sale (if memory serves, an amazing and high profile review of a favorite book by a favorite author), she’s been a […]

Year of Creators Interview: Torrey Podmajersky

This week’s interview brings us to SWFA member & author, UI writer, tech writer, and occasional leather crafter Victoria “Torrey” Podmajersky. A constant source of insight into her chosen areas of interest, she is responsible for one of my favorite thoughts on Star Wars: The Last Jedi–that the Resistance could have really benefited from a […]

Year of Creators Interview: Dawn Vogel

Welcome to the inaugural Year of Creators interview! We’re kicking things off with the multi-talented and multi-dimensional Dawn Vogel. It’s not enough that she’s one of the editorial geniuses behind Mad Scientist Journal as well as a frequent vocalist in pop-up cover bands around Seattle. She’s also a sought-after crochet crafter and author. Her most […]

Coming in 2018: A Bit of Joy & Hope

Earlier this week, I realized that I knew an inexcusable number of smart, weird, inventive, & creative people. People who create all kinds of art because they love creating art. Like me, most of them are grinding it out in the gaps between day jobbery. I felt with as much horror as is going on […]

2017 Bright Spots: 6 Favorite New Songs

If we’re being completely honest, 2017 was a pretty shitty year in a lot of ways for a lot of people. That said, there were some bright spots. And as we descend upon the death of this year with all the enthusiasm of Yeats’ “rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem […]

Twitter is a Tool

I used to have some variation on a certain conversation about Twitter from people who didn’t use it. They didn’t see the point. They’d tried it out, and couldn’t figure out why anyone would use Twitter. My explanation always amounted to this: Twitter is a tool. If you don’t need that tool, don’t use that tool. […]

A Cover Reveal & a Word About Representation

I’ve shared this cover on Facebook and Twitter the other day, but I was saving putting it up on my blog until I had a few minutes to talk about the book and representation. When looking at old blog posts, I found some talking about working in this setting, on this project, from April of […]