the league of reluctant adults

I can't tell you exactly how the word Zaomancer first popped into my head, but I can give you a good idea. Usually those moment of character creation happen very much on the back burner for me. Eric Courtney, from my Void City series, came from some point between High School and college when I was playing in a friend's roleplaying game. Eric's mad, murderous daughter Greta just showed up on the page as I wrote, but the protagonist of my new novella happened on a three-way call one afternoon. I'd just heard about the death of a very cool guy in fandom. Giving his name might be a little disrespectful as I'd just met him and spoken with him for all of thirty minutes (valuable minutes I hope readers will find once they see the epic fantasy I've had lurking on my WIP list for the past several years). My friend Rob and I were talking about random stuff and my friend Richard cursed. "What's wrong?" I asked "I have to resurrect a database," h...

Even at the holidays, especially at the holidays, the writer's muse can run amuck. Maybe it's the upcoming release of Burned (A Void City Novel) by J. F. Lewis (hey, I see that guy in the mirror sometimes) at the end of January or the fact that I've been working on two different books set in that universe, but there are times when I'm so in writer-mode that normal everyday things can be rendered horribly funny because I realize how one character or another would react to them. On the way home from lunch, for example, we were listening to Bing Crosby and David Bowie singing "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth" and this whacked out impatient driver zoomed into the lane behind us, then around and past us... It infuriated my wife... And in glow of that anger, I was struck by the visual of happy Christmas shoppers in a hollywood-like surreal moment, walking down the sidewalks of Void City as Greta, one of my more murderous vampires, drove down the street in Fang, t...

When I started writing the fourth Void City novel (currently titled Hunted) I had a problem. Wererats were nearly what I used to fix it, but that would have totally wrong. See if you can follow my thought process: In any ecosystem, when one natural predator dies out or is diminished, the ecological niche they occupy is taken by another predator. So... with the reduction in the total number of vampires in Void City after the events in Crossed (Void City, book 3), it seemed only natural, that I bring in wererats. Until I started writing it and the wererats didn't show up. I didn't know why they wouldn't show up. They simply didn't. I had a problem and my conscious brain didn't know it, but my subconscious totally thought I was being a moron. My subconscious was all about the chupacabra. I caught myself googling them and complaining about how much cooler they could be... and then going back to trying to shoehorn wererats in book 4. When I finally tried putting t...

Recently, one of my readers stopped speaking to me. I didn't know about it until later when everything was okay again. Another one of my readers, when they reached the offending part of CROSSED that had so upset the other reader, threw the book across the room. A third, I'm told, stood up when he reached that portion of the novel and shouted, "Noooo!" at the top of his lungs... in the middle of the night. (I think I owe his wife an apology.) Then there was the reader who sent me an angry and impassioned email, begging me to undo what I had done... if, in fact, I didn't already undo it later in the novel. A few posted things on my Facebook fan page about it. Of course, they're fine now. Each of the readers I mentioned finished the book and were pleased by what they found at the end, even if it wasn't the ending for which they were hoping (or expecting). And I like to think I held up my end of the writer-reader bargain. The closest I've ever come ...

There I was, minding my own business, writing with a blanket around my shoulders (It's frick'n cold in Alabama right now)... you know, the usual, when something happened. Eric, my angry, forgetful, brutally honest, and shamelessly unapologetic vampire was getting himself into trouble for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time to wrong woman. I was sure she was going to throw a punch. Absolutely certain, but instead, the chapter ended. Now, that happens. In Crossed, I jumped back and forth between two characters in one of the big fight sequences. Or, in other places, a scene ends mid fight and I kick over to the next chapter either in a different point of view (maybe to Talbot, Eric's cat-like friend or Tabitha, Eric's bride and fellow vampire), or just to give Eric a chance to start the next chapter (and the fight) off with something funny and obnoxious, but not this time. This time, I jumped outside the fight scene altogether. I don't think that had ever h...

Out in the dark, a trio of killers celebrate Halloween in the vampire tradition. To them, Trick or Treating involves naming costumes, refereeing valid targets, and verifying kills. The vampires in my Void City books do not sparkle, and Eric is anything but a classic hero. Nevertheless, he might just rise to the occasion in this fun short story ... You'll have to read to find out, but don't start here. In the spirit of trick or treating and going from house to house for candy, I've decided (on the spur of the moment, really) to serialize a Halloween tale, posting different sections (as I write them) on various blogs. How many parts will there be? I have no idea, but I do promise this: The story will be done and all the sections posted by Halloween Night. Part 1 can be found over at Paranormal Haven (along with a contest that runs through 10/27/2010 at 11:59 pm cst) Part 2 is located at Pocket After Dark (where you can also read STAKED, the first Void ...

Trick or Frick'n Treat! Pocket After Dark has STAKED for free download for the next 30 days, and a preview sample of ReVAMPED, and... I just posted a free short story about Vampires and Chocolate. It's all here . Spread the word and enjoy! :)

Because someone dared me, here's how I think it would go if Eric (from my Void City series) tried to explain the birds and the bees to a still-human version of his daughter Greta: Eric: But you already know... Greta: Well, yeah, but I still want us to have The Talk. All daughters get to have The Talk. Eric: Fine. You remember the book "If you give a Mouse a Cookie"? Greta: Ye-es. Eric: It's like that. Greta: No it isn't. Eric: No. It absolutely is... Eric: If you give a boy a kiss, he'll want to touch your cookies. If you let him touch your cookies, he'll want to unwrap them. If you let him unwrap them, he'll want to put them in his mouth. And THEN, if you let him put them in his mouth, the boy will want to pet your kitty. But if you let him pet your kitty, he'll want to see your kitty. And of course, if you let him see your kitty, then he'll want to feed it. And if you let him kiss you, touch your cookies, unwrap your cookies, put them in his ...

So... I think the idea is that we band of merry lunatics should answer the questions in the main LRA: WTF post in our own post so they're easy to find. And if I'm wrong... well, my being wrong is not particularly new to anyone. ;P I'll answer some of the questions in character and others... Eric: Good lord, would you stop talking about questions and f*cking answer one? [Enter, one vampire in "Welcome to the Void" t-shirt and jeans.] Me: Right okay, so Kiyote asked "How do you organize your writing? Outline or no? Notecards? anything?" Good question, Kiyote. I'm a panster so- Eric: I can believe that. Me: Believe what, Eric? Eric: I can believe you got pantsed a lot. Wait. That would be a Pantsee. Never mind. Go back to talking about your pants. Me: I start out with a character and a situation, an idea for a central conflict and rough idea of what the theme of the book is. Eric: Theme? [Eric raises an eyebrow.] Me: Yes, a theme. Eric: You're sayin...