Ask The Author: magic systems, sorta

I am implementing an almost-certain-to-be-erratic Friday Blog Post based on reader questions! Today’s question is a very, very old one: “What’s the most difficult part when constructing a system of magic for a world?” That is a Very Good Question. So, like, let’s take the Walker Papers and the Negotiator Trilogy, which are my two longest/best known serieseses. You would not *believe* how many books I read about shamanism, animism, and Native American cultures while preparing to write the Walker Papers. LOTS. MANY. BUNCHES. (I was frankly slightly less concerned…

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Thinks To Done: 2019

It’s coming up hard on the end of the year & naturally I’m freaking out about everything I haven’t gotten done, WHICH IS WHY I’VE BEEN KEEPING A LIST OF WHAT I *HAVE* GOTTEN DONE I wrote most of DEATH ON THE GREEN and all of DEATH OF AN IRISH MUMMY, the second two books of the Dublin Driver series (launching in January)! DEAD IN DUBLIN Book One of The Dublin Driver Mysteries American-in-Ireland Megan Malone has always enjoyed her job driving limousines…until one of her clients ends up DEAD…

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Worldcon 77: The Thursday

After years of preparation, Worldcon was held in Dublin this week, for the first time ever. A month ago I was, I confess, pretty exhausted by the very idea of it, even knowing that I tend to dread, rather than anticipate, big events. By a couple of weeks ago, though, my friends feeds were starting to fill up with variations on “Ireland, I am in you!” and I was starting to get pretty excited about the whole shebang. I’d been claiming it was CatieCon, and while I *guess* there was…

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Take a Chance cover

Take A Chance thoughts / Patreon signal boost

I’ve been having a think, and here’s what I’ve been thinking. I’ve got an artist for the next TAKE A CHANCE story arc. I need to be able to pay him, tho. If I can get my Patreon up to 250 patrons, at the average of $5/m that people are paying, I could afford to pay him for 4 pages a month. 300 patrons? 8 pages a month. (I can’t afford to pay him very WELL, but I could at least pay him. :)) It’d be a sneak peek/early, probably…

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Very Exciting Developments!

One might imagine, from six weeks of radio silence, that I have been busy. One would be correct. But there have been some Very Exciting Developments in that time! First off, I’ve gotten a studio to work in! It’s part of an artist’s collective, extremely convenient to my son’s school, and, as my husband said, “Bohemian enough to suit your sensibilities.” (I pointed out that I’m really not very bohemian, and he said, “No, but you want to be,” which is perfectly true. :) The collective has a Studio Cat.…

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