#books
17 posts
Meet Skeeter
Another new character, perhaps my favorite in The Commune, is Skeeter, a down-on-his-luck airboat pilot and owner of Skeeter's Airboat Charters, an organization that figures heavily in the new s
Meet Miss Thelma
I've been chomping at the bit to share some snippets of the new characters in The Commune , the next book in the Parata series, and I want to begin with a little old lady. Meet Miss Thelma: Bato
Symbols
If you've read any of the Parata books , you've probably noticed that I've included some 'props' in the form of images in both books. I enjoy doing this because I feel it
Burke’s Residence
I thought I'd give you guys a closer look at another location from The Betrayed , the historic home Sarah Burke lives in. I chose the Beauregard-Keyes House partially because I've always t
Meet Bernie
To honor the release of the second Parata Occult Mystery book, The Betrayed , I've decided to give you guys a preview of one of my favorite new characters, Bernard Latour: New
Saint Christina’s Church
In The Betrayed, most of the book is set in Nola proper, and one of the reasons I did that is that I wanted to include some iconic locations in the book. The first of those, introduced in the very fir
Experiments in AI Art
Love it or hate it, AI art seems to be here to stay. This is a fairly touchy subject amongst artists and authors, some of whom are (justifiably, I believe) concerned about their livelihoods. Also, the
Lafon Boy’s Home
I've already covered most of the locations used in The Artifact (you can read about them here and here if you missed the newsletters), but there's another location that was so creepy, I ha
Houses of The Artifact
As I've mentioned several times, I quite enjoy putting real locations in my books. I feel like it's a little easter egg when you recognize a real place in fiction, and it's one of th
Origins
I've been asked a few times where the ideas for my books come from, and honestly, it's been a different process for each of them. Desolation is a book I've had kicking ar
Meet Rachael Gordon
I just finished the first draft of the second Parata Occult Mystery book, tentatively titled The Betrayed. In honor of this occasion, I thought I'd introduce you to one of my favorite new recurr
R’lyehian Chants in The Artifact
One of the things that occurs a lot towards the end of The Artifact is that Rev finds himself in black rituals, where cultists gather and intone in guttural, alien languages while they attempt to tap
Confession time
I need to admit something to those of you who have read Desolation: I wrote an epilogue that I removed from the book before I published it. Why? Because it pretty drastically changes the ending, and I
The House in the Swamp
As I've mentioned in various places, I've taken some of the research for the Parata books to an extreme, using real locations and actual Lovecraftian lore wherever I could. As an example,
Want to know what’s wrong with education?
Some of you are aware that my career (and a large part of my expertise) is currently focused on perfecting education, however I almost never write about it in my blog, or discuss it in normal conversa
Three books that destroyed my ability to enjoy standard Sci-Fi
Three books that I have read in recent years have completely eliminated my ability to enjoy your typical space-opera sci-fi. And believe it or not, I think that's a good thing. Here's the
Amazon.com is the Devil
WARNING: This is an angry rant, and probably should not be read by anyone who is easily offended or dislikes swearing. You have been warned. In the "things that really annoy me" category,