Dreams of Fire and Death

This is a bit of ‘extra’ material to go along with the SEEDS trilogy. It’s a character-building exercise I did to get in the head of one of our characters, though I won’t say who – that might give away plot points from the books! It’s a very dark scene from the head of a…

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Write, Because No One Else Can Save You

The last few weeks have been rough. Not like, ‘my parents were hit by a bus’ rough. Not like, ‘I or someone close to me was diagnosed with cancer’ rough. Not like, ‘The bank reclaimed our house and we’re living out of our car’ rough. Nothing anywhere near that drastic, I assure you. I am…

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Divergence in Dystopia: A Comparison Study

This is a guest post by Kevin Weitzel.  In September of 2008, Scholastic had no idea that what they had just released would become a worldwide phenomenon. Since then, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins has been recognized as a global sensation that’s changed the lives of millions. Hitting the New York Times Bestselling Lists…

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What’s The Deal With Genres?

Genres are incredibly important things. The best books, of course, will transcend genres – I think of my favorites Catch-22 or the Brothers Karamazov when I think of books that transcend genres and become simply ‘great books’. But when we as writers or publishers are in the process of writing and marketing our works, it’s…

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Writing As A Team: Collaborative Fiction Writing

This is a re-post from the Alliance of Independent Authors website, for which I contributed an article about writing my debut novel with my mother and sister.  Over the last year and a half, a mother and two daughters have written a novel together, collaboratively, in an almost entirely egalitarian fashion. “Somehow all three of…

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Book Review: “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley

BRAVE NEW WORLD is considered a classic in literature, a book students are often required to read in high school,  a story that shows the limitations and complexities of utopian/dystopian society. I was told that I had to read it because of the immense similarities between it and my own debut novel, THE SOWING. So naturally, I…

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Why We’re Serializing, Part 1

A lot of people have been asking why my co-authors and I decided to publish serially. In the age of Amazon, instant gratification, and the digital revolution, why would someone choose to release a book in installments rather than the full thing?  We’ve even had a few people ask ‘what is serialization?’ and many more have…

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The Birth Of A Book

Dear readers, Over the last few months, you’ve put a lot of faith in me. You’ve read and commented on my posts, followed my blog, retweeted my tweets, and followed me on the strange and errant journey that befits any adventurer. You’ve supported me and encouraged me and I could not ask more of any…

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Law of Conservation – A Short Work Of Fiction

Green. Red. Pop. The echoes hiss down upon us distantly like a noise underwater, or from far away. I sit in a crowd of hundreds of people, children and adults, squealing, pointing, shouting at the sky. Green, blue, white, pop, pop, pop. The height they will reach is equal to the initial velocity times time…

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Book Review: “The Rising Wind” By Ken Floro III

Over the past few months, I’ve become more and more confident when it comes to indie books. I’ve found some really stellar authors, people who clearly deserve success and ought to be respected for their writing. People who have obviously invested time and energy into their creations and have brought worlds compellingly to life. I’ve…

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