Welcome to S.N.Arly on the Web

I’m a long-time reader and writer of speculative fiction, the umbrella term that includes fantasy, science fiction and horror. The strongest influences in my formative years were Anne McCaffrey and Stephen King. I write both young adult and adult fiction.

I enjoy blogging and talking about the creative process, writing life, and independent publishing. You can find novel excerpts, short stories, writing exercises, essays on writing topics, and resources for writers in the left sidebar navigation. All my posts use visible tags to help you find more similar content.

I’m pretty friendly, so feel free to comment on posts or pop over to my contact form if you have questions.

Speed Writing #17 – Fandom Mashup

“Gryffindor,” Mikhail said firmly.  “Neville Longbottom level.”

“Airbender,” Evie countered, a smug smile on her lips.

“What?” Mikhail asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion.  “Did you just jump fandoms on me?”

“Ashitaka is clearly an airbender,” she replied.  He was one of the few people she could have this type of argument with.  “He’s all about peace and freedom.  He’s practically a reincarnation of Aang.”  She paused for a moment, her eyes going to the ceiling.  “Though I’m not sure how that would work, since Aang’s already a reincarnation.  So maybe we could call him alternate reality Aang.”

Continue reading Speed Writing #17 – Fandom Mashup

It Sounds Familiar – Now Out Everywhere

It Sounds Familiar is now available at all the usual places (it took about a month this time).

Here’s the updated list of where you can find it.

Now that we’re working on improving my life balance in our stay at home situation, I hope to plan some readings or something to give folks a taste of both Something Familiar and It Sounds Familiar.

It Sounds Familiar – Slowly Hitting Distribution

It Sounds Familiar’s distribution has been slower than usual, but that’s to be expected.

Here’s the updated list of where you can find it.

Still waiting on Barnes and Noble for both Nook and trade paperback.

It Sounds Familiar – Expanding Availability

It Sounds Familiar’s distribution is finally cascading out to more retailers.

Where can you find it?

A Familiar Story – the Series

The digital and trade paperback editions of It Sounds Familiar are starting to become available across additional platforms. This is the second book in the A Familiar Story series.

Two paperback books (Something Familiar and It Sounds Familiar) on a wooden table, separated by a green and blue glass orb.

The first book, Something Familiar, a story about a witch looking for a familiar and a shape-shifter who has run away from home. You can read the first few chapters for free over at Curious Fictions, if you want to try before you buy.

The second book, It Sounds Familiar, picks up with our witch and familiar pair coping with the biases they face in a society that is widely opposed to shape-shifters.

Update From Quarantine

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday!

The book It Sounds Familiar on a brown wooden table.

It Sounds Familiar is now available as a paperback and ebook at Lulu, and as an ebook at the Apple iBookstore. It should be hitting Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Rakuten/Kobo in the near future.

Paperback is looking a bit delayed as businesses and distribution chain components need to close to keep their staff safe. This is a necessary thing, and we can wait it out with our digital media in the meantime.

While we have no known COVID-19 exposures at our house, my daughter and I are both at high risk for complications, so we’re effectively quarantined (or perhaps reverse quarantined) for the foreseeable future. It’s all a bit surreal, but we’re getting by.

As a result of a teachers’ strike followed by school closures, I’ve been homeschooling my son for a bit over three weeks and my daughter for two and a half. Now that we’ve adjusted a bit, and distance learning picks up next Monday, I’m hoping to get my writing time back.

It Sounds Familiar – Finally (for real this time)

We ran into some technical difficulties on the cover (specifically the back cover text), and then, of course the world pandemic became a thing. Ideally, I should have more time, once the kids, spouse, and I all adjust to our current state of encampment at home.

The ebook (ePub) edition of It Sounds Familiar is now available from Lulu. It should cascade out to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBookstore, and Kobo in the near future.  I’ll post as I see those go live.

The print edition will be available once the page proofs arrive and are vetted.

Cover of the book It Sounds Familiar, featuring a blue sky and a classical French building.