Fantasy 
For all things related to the genre.
D’Aulaires’ Norse Myths
Early in the morning of time there was no sand, no grass, no lapping wave. There was no earth, no sun, no moon, no stars. There was Niflheim, a waste of frozen fog, and Muspelheim, a place of raging flame. And in between the fog and fire was a gaping pit–Ginungagap. Thus begins the creation… Read More ›
Hounded
Centuries ago, the druid Siodhachan Ó Suileabháin fled a battle between gods and carried away the powerful and dangerous sword, Fragarach, capable of killing the gods themselves. He angered the Celtic god of love, Aenghus Óg, who longs to take back the sword and kill the druid who took it. In Tempe, Arizona, a handsome, seemingly… Read More ›
Dead Things
More horror than urban paranormal, Dead Things is a very dark tale about the price of going home again. Eric Carter has spent 15 years on the road trying to escape his past. A mobster of the magic-wielding sort, Jean Boudreau killed Eric’s parents, and in revenge, Eric killed him. Boudreau’s second-in-command, Ben Duncan, forced Eric to… Read More ›
Mary Pope Osborne’s Norse Myths
Much like Greek Mythology, the Norse myths have inspired grand operas, art, literature, and comic books. This mythology of the Northern climes is primarily derived from the Icelandic Eddas, which date to the 13th century, though the lore is far older in origin. These tales of gods and giants, dwarves and elves—light and dark—inspired the operas of… Read More ›
Mary Pope Osborne’s Greek Myths
Thousands of years old, Greek myths have been told and retold countless times and in countless ways, inspiring works of art, music, literature, and film. Many of us first encounter these tales of wonder as children. So it is no surprise that many authors—from Nathaniel Hawthorne to Bernard Evslin to the D’Aulaires—have presented collections of these… Read More ›
The Tragedy of Whitehall
Here is the prologue of The Tragedy of Whitehall, the fantasy novel I’ve decided to work on as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) 2012. I’ve long had the concept for this prelude novel to a fantasy trilogy, which is in turn part of a larger fantasy series that I’ve yet to come up with… Read More ›
Jane Austen: Blood Persuasion
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that…” “…there is nothing new under the sun.” Or in this novel’s case, should that be “moon”? You see, it’s 1810, and the Damned have fallen out of favor with the Prince Regent–“banished from polite society”–even though they were crucial in helping defeat invading French forces during the Napoleonic… Read More ›
The Witching Hour
An Englishman remarks to a bartender in New York City that “he’d just come from New Orleans, and that certainly was a haunted city.” The doctor sitting next to him agrees and remembers … “He had been dreaming of the old house in New Orleans again. He had seen the woman in the rocker. He’d… Read More ›
Steve Jackson’s Sorcery!
“You may leave the village along one of two paths. One leads up into the hills…The other takes a downhill route…turn to page # to follow your path.” In the 1980s, Choose Your Own Adventures with their second-person point of view engaged thousands of young kids—and me—with a wide variety of mystery, fantasy, and scifi adventures. … Read More ›
Immortals (2011)
Greek mythology stirs the soul with gods bickering, heroes defeating monstrous beasts, and rich stories explaining the cosmos. Perhaps as much myth has been lost to us as that which has survived to the present day. With advances in CGI and other cinematic effects, more films have explored these fantasical stories. Yet many stray from the… Read More ›
The Poisoned Martini 