Exploring the Secrets of Spaceship Sound
I love reading. When I read, I am transported to another world, as described and defined by the author. And yet, there is one thing I'd love for books to have: sound effects. One of the things I love about movies, ever since reading about the amazing work done by...
10 Cartographic Conventions for more Beautiful Maps
Continuing on the subject of maps, I recently came across a fascinating post on Atlas Obscura, describing the various kinds of maps used by cartographers. As Harvard landscape architecture professor and author Jill Desimini explains, maps must retain geographic...
Deadshot Mary: a 1930s Undercover Cop Superstar
A couple of days ago, I mentioned one of the greatest fences of all times, Marl Madelbaum. Today I'll introduce you to a counterpart of hers, "Deadshot" Mary Shanley, an early 20th century undercover supercop. Hadley Meares of Atlas Obscura has unearthed the story of...
New York’s First Female Crime Boss Started Her Own Crime School
Organized crime in New York is often portrayed as a boy’s game, but one of the first and most influential crime bosses in the history of the city was a Prussian immigrant known as “Mother” or “Marm” Mandelbaum. Eric Grundhauser recently shared her fascinating story on...
Introducing BookBub Ads
Bookbub recently announced it will start offering advertising spaces. Unlike the vigorous screening process that leaves more books out than it allows in its popular newsletter, these will be available to anyone who can afford them. BookBub Ads will run in a dedicated...
Newsletter Help: Words That Will Send Your Newsletter Straight Into the Spam Folder
As I often say, newsletters are a great way of alerting people to new releases, promotional offers etc. Too often, though, our emails end up in the spam folder, never to be seen. So, I wondered, is there's no way to avoid this? Kevin, CEO & Founder of Comm100, has...
Monster-spotting in a 16th-Century Map
[slb_exclude] Continuing my infatuation with maps, I came across this fine 16th-century example of a cartographer's imagination running wild in an excellent post by Urvija Banerji of Atlas Obscura. The creatures depicted on land in the 16th-century Carta Marina are...
In Praise of Procrastination
Procrastination is the bane of many an author's existence. So, what if I told you that it may not be such a bad thing after all? The Passive Guy recently alerted me to a post by Quartz, which mentions the work of psychologist Maria Konnikova. In her own words: The...
New Release: Deepest Black by Rainy Kaye
Today, we're celebrating the release of THE DEEPEST BLACK by USA Today Bestselling author Rainy Kaye. THE DEEPEST BLACK is 99 cents for a limited time! Check it out, then scroll all the way down for an opportunity to win a $10 Amazon gift card! Ember has a little...
Happy Memorial Day – and an Amazon Offer
Today is Memorial Day in the US. Memorial Day became a US national holiday in 1971 and is celebrated on the last Monday in May. It continues the custom of honoring ancestors by cleaning cemeteries and decorating graves - an ancient and worldwide tradition. In early...
The AWC, Uninterested vs. Disinterested and a Grain of Salt
You know how much I love trivia about the English language. One of my favorite resources for that sort of thing is the AWC - the Australian Writers' Centre - and their free weekly newsletter. It includes a great grammar section called Q&A, plus another one, The...
New Pearseus Map and a 17th Century Map of the Skies
A New Pearseus Map Prompted by my recent post on maps in fantasy, I edited the Pearseus map I'd drawn for the Robinson Companion. The new map, seen below, is in high resolution (2700x2200) and includes Caria, a location first mentioned in Endgame, the upcoming last...