The Portland Book Festival is this Saturday! November 10th, from 9am-6pm At and around the Portland Art Museum I will be signing books at the Willamette Writers booths 39 & 40 from 1:30-3pm. Come enjoy the Festival and stop by the booths for a visit.
Happy Day-After-Imbolc! The light is returning. Everything is early this year. My snowdrops are pretty much finished. They were out and beautiful by the first week in January. So I’m sending you a cyclamen and a spring iris. The plants with buds are baby daffodils that will be out in a few weeks.
After I got done being hysterical: Oh shit oh shit oh shit! I can’t do a book launch with no books! People are coming because they want the book and Another Read Through wants to sell it to them and so do I. What’s the point of a book launch if there are no books to launch? Etc., etc., etc. And then I took a deep breath (always a good thing, but, yes, this is probably the most over-used phrase in modern fiction, but I really did take a deep breath, in fact I took several) and it slowly dawned on me that a book launch is not just about selling books, it’s also about celebrating the birth of a new book, the manifestation of an idea born out of gallons of blood, sweat, and tears. OK, fine, I could work with this. I did have plenty of copies of Book One, Forging the Blade, so I decided to sell it for $10 instead of… Read More »
Hello darkness my old friend I’ve come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains… Sounds of Silence, Paul Simon A Blessed Solstice to All!
Come Celebrate With Me! Mainly by Moonlight will be available for purchase. At Another Read Through 3932 N Mississippi Ave, Portland, OR January 4, 2018, 7-8 pm Here’s the back cover blurb: Murder and Magic Make Devastating Partners Molly Adair is a warrior mage. Her parents are dead and she’s just moved to Portland, Oregon to live with her grandmother. She is so totally not looking forward to starting her junior year at Grant High School. She doesn’t know anyone and even if she did, she would have nothing in common with them. Things improve immensely when she discovers that Grant is the Mage Web’s magnet school for the United States’ West Coast. She begins making new friends, both mage and normal, and attending Tesseract Academy, the Mage Web’s school at the center of the circle of time. But then, someone steals Flick, her sentient sword, from its pocket between the worlds and stabs her best friend through the heart. And Molly is everyone’s prime suspect.… Read More »
Yes, ’tis the season of “ghosties and ghoulies and long leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night!”* My favorite time of year. The veil between the worlds is thin and spirits walk close in the night. And this year the veil has been thinner than usual and for a much longer time. True, some of thoseYes, ’tis the season of “ghosties and ghoulies and long leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night! spirits are our ancestors and well worth honoring, but most of them aren’t. So, as you are welcoming in your ancestors, it’s wise to make sure no unwanted spirits tag along. Which brings me to Samhain’s other claim to fame. It’s the Celtic New Year. A time of fresh starts and new beginnings. And before we start fresh, it’s always a good idea to clean up our act on all the levels—physical, mental, and spiritual. That’s why New Year’s Days of every culture, no matter when they occur in… Read More »
Come if you can! For the Workshop, the Book Signing, or just to say Hi! New Renaissance Bookshop Sunday, November 5, 2017 Workshop, 11am-1pm, Book Signing, 1pm Cost: $20, the Book Signing is free: To Register, Call 503-224-4929 “How the Tarot Major Arcana Relate to Your Life” The major arcana cards of a tarot deck tell the story of “The Hero’s Journey”, which is the basic plot of western literature and of each of our lives. Because we are all heros on our own journeys toward enlightenment. In this workshop we will follow one of the many variations of this plot through the major arcana and gain an understanding of the part each card plays in our own journey. Then I will teach you a three card spread that will show you where you are in your journey right now. This workshop will also help you understand my young adult fantasy, Forging the Blade, at a deeper level. I wrote the book as a Fool’s journey through the major arcana. Each chapter is… Read More »
When you are a self published author, and your book is available on Amazon, it is difficult to find a brick-and-mortar bookstore to carry your book. But New Renaissance, in Portland, Oregon, now has Forging the Blade on its shelves. I know that some of you have been holding out for the opportunity to buy my book at a local bookstore, and now you can–and from one of my favorites.
I love libraries. To me they are sacred places. Legend has it that the ancient Library of Alexandria had a sign in its main room that said: “The place for the cure of the soul.”* And so I am thrilled that there are now four copies of Forging the Blade in the Multnomah County Library. Since the sequel, Mainly by Moonlight, is set mostly at Grant High School in Portland, the library was kind enough to place one of the books in Albina Library and one in the Hollywood Library, the branches closest to Grant. *The Greek philosopher and historian, Hecataeus of Abdera, visited Egypt in the fourth century BC and reported that the library in the tomb of Rameses II had “The place for the cure of the soul” engraved on one of its walls. The modern historian, Luciano Cánfora, says that since the library in Rameses’ tomb was never found, it never existed, and, since the wall is located in his tomb, the soul referred to is the ka of… Read More »
