by Dan | Oct 14, 2019 | Black Sheep Manor, Black Sheep Manor, Blog, Books
It’s been almost eight months since I finished the first edit of my new Chene trilogy, and I’m here to bear witness: No matter what anyone tells you about how hard writing is, it’s nothing compared to the months of not-writing that follow the...
by Dan | Oct 12, 2016 | Black Sheep Manor, Blog, Books
Let’s talk about names in fantasy stories. Not just character names, but place names, plant names, animal names. Any kind of name, for any kind of thing you can imagine. Make a thing too exotic, your readers won’t remember them. Doubt me? OK, thought...
by Dan | Sep 10, 2016 | Blog, Books
Back in early 2012, I jammed out the first draft of my third novel, Bokur, in exactly 40 days. I didn’t take that long to plot out, either. My fourth book, Another Goddamn Novel About the Collapsing Quantum Multiverse, was similarly quick, with essentially no...
by Dan | Jan 3, 2014 | Blog, Books, Featured
Since I know some of you out there are thinking about publishing your own books and stories via ebook distribution, I thought it might be worthwhile for me to recap the lessons I’m learning as I go along. Just so you’ll have another data-point to use in...
by Dan | Dec 20, 2013 | Blog, Books, Featured
From my Darbas Cycle blog, a sequel to the Mullaqat creation myth… HOW COYOTE GAVE THE MULLAQAT THEIR CLEVERNESS A Mullaqat creation myth… One night after their return to the new world, the Mullaqat looked at Grandmother Hen and said, “Tell us...
by Dan | Dec 17, 2013 | Blog, Books, Featured
The enigmatic nomadic culture of Darbas, called the Mullaqat (literally, “the drifting people”), plays a huge role in the story I set out to tell in The Key to Darbas series (five books, beginning with A Madness and Siobeth). But it’s the curse of...