Dramatis Personae Part Deux: ShaChri “Feral Daughter” Patel
Of all the characters in the book, Feral is the most fun to write. She’s American born of Indian parents. Parents who have become very Americanized, but still hold to some of their Hindu traditions and still speak with a bit of an accent. ShaChri’s mother, Puja, wanted very much for her daughter to grow…Read More
English as a second language
I read an interesting blog last night by Beyza Çitak about struggling to learn English (blog link). I can relate. I don’t speak English. I speak American. The “English” speaking world tries to make everyone think that the language spoken by English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, South Africans, Indians, Singaporans, Kenyans, Bermudans, and Americans…Read More
Cupboard under the stairs
You should know this already. Prior to attending Hogwarts, when the Dursley’s punished Harry Potter, they made him sleep in the cupboard under the stairs. We’re moving. Long tale of woe involving program issues and long delays and innumerable other problems familiar to anyone who has worked on a failed/failing project. So be it. Hey,…Read More
Cool Promo Stuff
I continue to be amazed at the high quality, highly creative people that my publisher, Inklings Publishing, is calling in to work on my book. Today’s shout-out goes to the graphic artist who did all of the promo material. Karina Winbigler is a wizard at this stuff. Check her out on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karinawinbigler/ She’s…Read More
Hey! I wrote a book.
Maybe highly experienced/published writers don’t get quite the same thrill as I’m experiencing right now. Pre-orders for my book just went live on Amazon, Square, and via the publisher, Inklings Publishing. Here’s the link to the Inklings market page: https://www.inklingspublishing.com/?fbclid=IwAR1Te_xsQ3V6yYlCWVeYrN3j3hUXJbPpjWcG_Mj9JYkC-JcJWWgGM19a2Ug If you want a hard copy, and I know that you do, best bet is…Read More
Hey! I’m on a podcast.
A while back, Angie Drymala of Creatrix Chats interviewed me for her podcast. It was not what I expected. I was anticipating some of the standard author questions (and got a few of those) but our conversation ended up being fairly wide ranging over the hour we talked. Here’s the link to the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50554875?fbclid=IwAR2RcttxPujvjvziKhOKcIZTOMsq-rBXfho0uKvpEyv9vpspfjFnc7L1UTw…Read More
Virtual Reality vs. Augmented Reality
Spark takes advantage of a technology referred to as Augmented Reality (AR). It’s similar, but different in important ways from Virtual Reality (VR). In VR, once you put on your headset, all of the real world is replaced in your vision by the fictional creation of the software. Orcs and dragons, damsels in distress, and…Read More
T minus 30 days and counting
Talked with the publisher – Fern Brady at Inklings Publishing (https://www.inklingspublishing.com) last week. The book is on track and should be published next month. Pretty excited about the whole thing. We had a long discussion with the editor, Steph Mathieson (https://www.wordgrower.net/) about the title. Solar Prime is a vast solar power facility situated in California’s…Read More
Hot Lava and Quicksand
Saw something online about things that worried you as a kid but turned out to be worth very little anxiety as an adult. Hot lava It was never simply “lava.” It specifically had to be hot lava. Never molten magma, liquified rock, vaporized stone, or the like. Similarly scalding, very warm, lukewarm and tepid were…Read More
First Look – WB
Very minor spoilers. Will Kwan is a second-generation gamer. His first toys were discarded Xbox and PS controllers that he chewed on as his teeth came in. Spark opened when he was six, but the family waited until he was tall enough to participate in all of the quests. By age seven, he had physically…Read More