2015

Cover reveal: My latest book, Torn Roots

My newest book, Torn Roots, is ready to go. It will be published at the end of July, along with eight other new additions to the Lei Crime Kindle World, and it’s time to show the world the cover designed by the incomparable David C. Cassidy.   What Torn Roots is about Hawaii is known […]

Punctuation pet peeves

There are a few things about punctuation that drive me up a wall. They’re tiny little mistakes, more violations of convention, really, and they don’t interfere with understanding the meaning of a text. But correcting them is so easy to do. In order to maintain your image as a communications professional, remember these finer points […]

Writing tip: Whose hose they're taking there

I don’t like to rant about little things, but I’ve seen too many instances where supposedly professional writers and editors use “you’re” when they mean “your” and “it’s” instead of “its.” So, I’m dedicating this post to my quasi-regular “grammar tips” feature in hopes of clearing up the confusion. Most writers, editors and readers I know are […]

Some days, I wish I had never met that woman A couple of years ago, The Magic Appreciation Tour challenged writers to start a short story that begins with the words, “Some days, I wish I had never met that woman.” I was inspired to add to the story of the Witch’s Son, which begins with […]

Exploring other worlds—Kindle Worlds, that is

I have not only entered the Lei Crime Kindle World, I have been exploring it deeply from a number of perspectives. I missed blogging last week because I was busy traveling and writing, but I can now announce that my newest book is finished and the manuscript is in the hands of my editor, the […]

Originally published on Blogger in 2012. Kudos to Smashwords and its head, Mark Coker, for pushing back against censorship. A couple of weeks ago, I posted a column about how Paypal was forcing e-book retailers like Smashwords to remove e-books whose content it found objectionable. If any e-book seller was found to be selling books […]