Since Anthropic swiped five of my books to train their AI on (and now owe me a bit of cash), I decided to mosey over and see what they got for the money. The prompt was to write a paragraph in the style of Scott Oden. And this is the result: The old warrior moved... Continue Reading →

I've mentioned before, I think, how ideas for books just strike out of the blue. One day I'm contemplating series characters and where Conan came from, and the next I'm hip deep in plotting a modern occult thriller based around ALL of the lore I'd created for The Grimnir Saga. That's how the game works,... Continue Reading →

The other day I’m re-reading Harold Lamb’s The Crusades: Flame of Islam -- the second volume in his non-fiction duology about the goings on in Outremer.  It's a favorite of mine, and one of my go-to sources for information and inspiration. The way Lamb writes of the Crusader States and their war with Islam is... Continue Reading →

It seems to me that the Holy Grail of fiction writing -- both old-school and modern -- is the successful series character.  Robert E. Howard’s Conan; Harold Lamb’s Khlit the Cossack; Bernard Cornwell’s Uhtred and Richard Sharpe; Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s Saint-Germain; Lee Child’s Jack Reacher; Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon; Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse; Jim Butcher’s... Continue Reading →

I wanted to take a minute and say thank you to everyone who has grabbed a copy of OLD GODS AND OTHER TALES; thanks for giving it a read, talking about it, dropping a few stars and reviews. Thanks for showing interest. Hell, thanks for caring. The loss of my friend, Howard, took the wind... Continue Reading →

My brain loves nothing more than a good distraction. This happens like clockwork: I declare my intent to work on a single project; my brain, rather than toeing the line, has a "hold my beer!" moment and proceeds to dredge up something else that looks cool and shiny and new. It then tries to get... Continue Reading →

Old Gods and Other Tales is in its third week of release, and already reviews are starting to come in. Author Charles R. Rutledge calls it "well written, full of color, action, and atmosphere." He goes on to add: "Something I have always said about the historical artwork of Roy Krenkel is that it looks... Continue Reading →

My brain is like one of the generational Japanese soups . . . it's been bubbling and steeping since 1625, with new ingredients added as the pot runs low. One of those floating chunks of vegetable protein is my Persian novel, The Dying of the Light. It's been percolating in the stew for a few... Continue Reading →

I've been traipsing down memory lane over on Facebook. My interest (obsession?) with ancient history began in 1984 or so, with the purchase of a chunky mass-market paperback encyclopedia of short Roman biographies. This one, to be precise: The budding writer in me meant to use it as a resource to harvest details about historical... Continue Reading →