Book Zero: Enmity (and the Jubagh series)

There's a story behind this story; Enmity is only the beginning, the written-after-the-fact prequel to the Jubagh series that has consumed the last few years of my life.

In 2007, I decided to train my self-discipline and creative muse by taking a random one-sentence story idea, expanding it to a short paragraph, and writing a short chapter every single day. One month later, I finished the first book and already realized I needed two more to wrap up the story. A short while later, I had finished all three books and was reeling - with no preparation, no brainstorming, and no worldbuilding outside of writing the rough draft itself, I'd just written an entire trilogy. I wrote about a hundred thousand words by the seat of my pants in under three months. Wow.

I took a breather and created a wiki for the Gurhai universe, the setting of the series. I made a starmap, accurate to the pixel - 100 pixels is a month of standard intersun travel time. I wrote up most of 100 sentient species descriptions and half of 100 worlds and all of 30 sun systems. I figured out the mechanics of a sci-fantasy universe that used gravitic ore to generate both gravity and magical energy, that sailed unbreathable interstellar winds, that grew on disc-shaped worlds orbited by tiny, spherical suns.

And then I wrote again. I got halfway through the second trilogy, The Renegades of Jubagh, before I realized too much had changed. I needed to go back and revise Demon-God before I could continue... but what happened before even that? How did two of my main characters come together? Why on any world did Rai Gerring, a mild-mannered black mage who defected from a cult years ago, get along with Brandon Styhan, a loud-mouthed paladin exiled for anger management issues and more subtle Lightworker politics?

That's where Book Zero: Enmity comes in. Enmity is the story of what happened to Rai after he left his cult and how he meets Brandon - and why, exactly, two should-be mortal enemies don't kill each other on sight.

And there's an epic plot with universe-wide ramifications in there, too. But it's mostly about Rai and Brandon.

Ghosts in the Machines

Ghosts's rough draft was written as part of National Novel-Writing Month 2009, and it was the tenth book I've actually finished. It was a blast and a half to write in a month, and the end result was surprisingly potent and workable. A friend summed the concept up perfectly: "Alien shapeshifters riding ghost-powered motorcycles in the desert with a bunch of steampunk animal robots."

Yes, it really is that cracktastic ... interesting.

I'm currently revising the rough draft, expanding and polishing the manuscript to a more robust depth and length, reweaving the plot to a tighter braid, and honing the characterization to an art. While Ghosts may not find much reception in an agent's inbox, I'll be happy to self-publish it when the revision process is complete.

Into Fang Wood

Into Fang Wood is a fantasy novel set in the world of Ykinde. In the midst of a blood-feud that's lasted for centuries between the Lupos and Avan peoples, a new evil develops in the depths of Fang Wood and begins to spread its terrifying influence. Wolfrunner, a Panthera beastwalker, stumbles upon the dread secret of Fang Wood and becomes the catalyst for a battle for survival that will involve all the intelligent people of Ykinde - Panthera, Lupos, Avans, and humans. As the curse of Fang Wood claims more souls, Wolfrunner and the others must find and destroy the master who controls it... before the entire world falls under its shadow.

I am completely enthralled to this story, which grew from a bumbling cub to a tentacular, knotty creature within the span of months. The original was simply a light character-based story about two Panthera - Wolfrunner, a feral shapeshifter, and Shieldbreaker, a staunch warrior - and their strange but functional person-to-animal relationship. Now, the story encompasses a world-threatening mystery, every sapient race on Ykinde, and a potential turning point in the Elderwar. It still manages to revolve around Wolfrunner and Shieldbreaker, who are both so drastically changed by the experiences they survive that they're entirely different people come the end.

Oh, The Inhumanity!

Oh, The Inhumanity! is not any kind of fiction work, but a comprehensive ebook about my worldbuilding and creature-designing methods. Largely focusing on sentient life-forms, this will be a crash course in designing things that aren't just humans with some facepaint and pointy ears. I get knee-deep into biology, zoology, and xenospeculation while keeping it accessible to and easily-understood by the non-science-inclined. This ebook can be used for hard science fiction, high fantasy, and everything in-between; I discuss evolution alongside magical creation and offer questions and ideas for your own worldbuilding and critterbuilding needs. I love seeing monsters and aliens that are inhuman in both form and function, and I'm making this resource to facilitate and encourage that trend.

Read more about Oh, The Inhumanity!.

The Wolves of the Tahori

Wolves is The Big One. This is the epic novel that has been marinating in my head and heart for a decade or more. Its character list is extensive, its prologues could be a small series in and of themselves, and its plot is more intricate and complex than a braided Celtic knot. Though I already know all the stories that go into this beast, I'm still figuring out what goes where, and which happens when, and how much I write versus how much I leave as backstory. I'm currently in the process of trying to get a detailed outline that flows without drowning and twists without strangling.