The journal

January 28, 2022 · 284 words

Pawn Takes Prize

Gabrielle Harbowy attended Taos Toolbox in the last pre-pandemic year, 2019. Since then she’s made good use of her time. A story, “The Dybbuk Ward,” will appear in the March issue of Fantasy magazine, and her novel Aether’s Pawn will appear at the end of February. Here’s a synopsis: Indigo Steelquill — Quills &#8

January 26, 2022 · 67 words

New Arrival

A copy of Lord Quillifer has turned up on my doorstep. I have to say I’m more pleased with the book’s appearance than I thought I’d be. The book’s official released date is February 15, but now that print copies actually exist, they may start infiltrating bookstores ahead of that date. There’s never a bad […]

January 25, 2022 · 271 words

Eye-Catching

Behold a proposed cover for the next Praxis book, launching next September. This isn’t the final cover, so the published version might be somewhat different. In the meantime, Tor.com published a piece by James Nicoll on five novels featuring a depopulated Earth, with my Knight Moves among them. Depopulating the planet

January 22, 2022 · 215 words

COVID Day Six

Late on Day Five (Friday) I began to feel better, at least insofar as I wasn’t spending hours of every day coughing and sneezing and otherwise spending all my time battling the Phlegm Monster. Just as when I have a cold, the Phlegm Monster prowls from sunset to sunrise, keeping me awake and coughing and […]

January 20, 2022 · 151 words

COVID Day Four

I’m lucky. Mostly it’s like a bad cold. My head is stuffed, and I have coughing and sneezing fits. I can function and perform basic tasks. I didn’t sleep well last night, and I don’t have a lot of energy. But there’s no fever. My O2 levels are 91+. I still have an appetite, and […]

January 19, 2022 · 26 words

Take Two

The second Covid test came out positive. I don’t know which test to believe, but I guess I’ll be hanging around the house for a while.

January 18, 2022 · 304 words

I Don’t Get It

Last night I started feeling a little ill, with a sore throat. This morning I still had the sore throat, plus a bit of elevated temperature that fell far short of anything I could call a “fever.” Otherwise I felt reasonably okay. But we’re in a pandemic, right? So Covid was the first thing that […]

January 18, 2022 · 140 words

Across the Sea of Genre

Who says Taos Toolbox is only for writers of science fiction and fantasy? We teach skills that are applicable across all genres. Case in point: Stephanie Vance, a real-life DC political consultant, has written Across the Aisle, a romance set in our nation’s capital. Tough as nails DC lobbyist Dallas McGrath can’t belie

January 16, 2022 · 0 words

Another Fine Sunset Here in the Southwest

January 13, 2022 · 21 words

Cover Reveal

The cover for the forthcoming Czech edition of Hardwired, by an artist who rejoices in the superhero name Dark Crayon.

January 13, 2022 · 439 words

Plot Rant

I just finished listening to an audio book, a mystery/thriller thingie with an interesting, somewhat science-fictiony premise. The writing was on the high end of competent, and the characters held my interest, and the novel’s milieu was interesting and fresh, at least to me. What finally broke my patience was the autho

January 11, 2022 · 119 words

Rolling the Bones

We continue our survey of recent or forthcoming works by veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy. Sara A. Mueller’s The Bone Orchard was workshopped at Taos Toolbox, and will be published by Tor Books on March 22nd. Here’s your takeaway: “A masterfully woven plot with refre