The Real Cost of Magic In most urban fantasy, magic is just another resource. You have a mana pool, a power meter, an energy reserve. Cast a spell, it drains a bit. Rest up, it refills. It’s video game logic applied to narrative: magic as f...

I don’t like destiny as an inciting incident. It's Ok in real life - destiny is fine when it’s just a vague concept that makes people feel better about the universe. But in fiction? In urban fantasy specifically? I’m exhausted by the tropes...

Who is Emily Voss? Emily’s deeply, deeply flawed. Everything she is, everything she knows, and all of her reactions are the product of the mistakes she’s made in the past, and she’s constantly trying to move forward, despite a heavy burden of re...

What Demons Want A lot of urban fantasy treats demons like vending machines.  Summon one, make a deal, sign a contract. The mortal is gets outsmarted because demons are clever and contracts have loopholes. It’s a good narrative structu...

What I’m Working On… I told you in my last email that Past Mistakes was complete and I’m launching in the first half of 2026. Now we're in 2026. Here’s a tentative schedule and how that breaks down: December-January: Beta Readers I've...

It's been four years since my last email. If you've moved on, no hard feelings - unsubscribe link is below. Otherwise, I have good news:Past Mistakes, the first Emily Voss novel, is complete.I disappeared for four years. What happened? Life got in th...

Let me start with the good news.Past Mistakes, the first Emily Voss novel, is complete.I disappeared for four years. What happened? Life got in the way, in many different ways. Enough said.I frequently thought about returning to Emily Voss and her ba...

Today We are now in the long, slow, arduous stretch towards spring. Children chant songs about April and May, because that's when the flowers come back and we're reminded sunlight exists. Nobody sings about January and February, at least not in North...

Last week, where I live, absolutely perfect meterological conditions occurred.Perfectly awful that is.It was just warm enough for rain to fall in liquid form, but the ground was just cold enough to cause rain to freeze on contact. The entire city tur...

The weather's become much colder, with freezing temperatures as I walk my kids to school. On a sunny winter's day (which I'll admit is rare where I live), the view of daybreak peircing the mist that rises from the fields near my home, as we walk, is...