When I was involved in photography, I learned that the photographer's position could change an entire picture. Move a few steps to one side, and an unwanted object disappears from the frame. Lower the camera, and something ordinary becomes imposing. Come closer, and the surroundings vanish. Step back, and the same subject becomes only one small part of a much larger world. None of those photographs is necessarily false. But none contains the whole truth either. That is the difference between...
27 days ago • 4 min read
Almost September! I can’t believe it. This seems like a recurring theme with me – Where did the days go? I’m working hard on finishing up Dirtied Water, Book 3 of the Jeopardy Directive, and hoping to have it available in September. Although it’s a space fantasy, it has turned out to be both a suspense espionage noir and a strong romance. Here is an excerpt of a smuggling deal: Corbin hesitated for the briefest moment before following the others inside. The cave opened suddenly into an...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Our brains don't treat stories like ordinary information. When we're following a character's actions, intentions, emotions, and surroundings, the brain draws on systems associated with language, memory, emotion, social understanding, prediction, and mental simulation. We're constantly anticipating: What is this person going to do? Why did he do that? What's going to happen next? That's part of why: The man walked into the forest, doesn't do nearly as much to us as: The man walked into the...
2 months ago • 4 min read
I'm excited to announce that Echoes of Dust, the fourth and final novel in my Dreams and Secrets series, is now available! Banished to the Colorado frontier under the pretense of missionary work by the Catholic Church, Graham Cavendish expects little more than a quiet exile—and perhaps an untimely death. Instead, he finds himself caught between religious prejudice, deadly violence, and a love that forces him to question the life that was chosen for him and whether he has the courage to pursue...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Like many Americans, I found myself thinking about the founding of our country this past weekend. I remembered the well-known story of Benjamin Franklin leaving the Constitutional Convention. When asked what kind of government they created, he reportedly replied, "A republic, if you can keep it." As I thought it, I realized my mind had drifted somewhere it often does, wishing I'd been born in another time. I've heard many people say they feel they were born in the wrong time. Wishing they...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Most readers see a book when it reaches the finish line. What they rarely see is how many times a story changes before it gets there. I have two books I am about to publish, and they are both those kinds of books: Take Dirtied Water, The Jeopardy Directive File 3, for example. The version you’ll be reading soon is actually the third incarnation of this story. The first version was called Pretense of Control. At the time, I was experimenting with a science fiction romance that leaned heavily...
4 months ago • 9 min read
The human mind is a strange and remarkable thing. Recently, I watched an old film again: Flower Drum Song. I remembered watching it as a young girl, and there was something about it I never truly forgot. It’s a musical, and there was one scene involving men in masks and a woman searching desperately for the man she loved. When I was young, that scene frightened me. I remember the feeling of it more than the details. Finally, she found him. He had no mask on. She was safe, and I remember...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Lately I’ve been spending a great deal of time wandering the cliffs and fog-covered shores of Dunbrae. Not literally, of course. Though after enough hours writing and thinking about a place, it begins to feel strangely real in the mind. Welcome to Dunbrae is my first full attempt at a murder mystery. Naturally, I’ve already turned it into a series called Sea Smoke, set in a small coastal Nova Scotian village around 1900. The story follows Richard Gauthier, a French-Canadian detective from...
5 months ago • 4 min read
Lately I’ve noticed how loud everything feels. Not physically loud, necessarily. But mentally loud. Notifications. Headlines. Algorithms. Marketing advice. Endless opinions. Constant urgency. Constant movement. It often feels as though the modern world is forever demanding our attention like a child tugging at a sleeve. Look at this. Respond to this. Worry about this. Promote this. Improve this. Hurry. Faster. More. As writers now, we are expected to be far more than storytellers. We are...
5 months ago • 1 min read