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So you’ve met Astara—street-smart bard with a talent for improvised harmony. You know the world runs on mathematical magic. Now let me tell you about Sheliak, and why they’re simultaneously the best and worst possible partner for a magical heist. (You can keep up with the adventure by joining my mailing list . I'll send a copy of the story to you when it's published, this autumn) The Otherworldly Problem:  Sheliak doesn’t just think differently—they are  different. Where mos

You know that moment when you’re worldbuilding and everything suddenly clicks into place? When disparate elements—magic systems, political intrigue, romantic tension—suddenly form a perfect chord progression? That’s what happened when I started building the world of The Frost Emerald Affair. Now, a fine point here: I start with characters and don't pay attention to the overall world until I have characters I need to put somewhere. I'm definitely not a "world-first" creator. A

Meet Astara of Aquitania—and yes, she's exactly as trouble-prone as she looks. Picture this: a short blonde with the kind of smile that makes tavern keepers simultaneously reach for their coin purses and walk straight into a barrel. She's got magical music that can charm the pants off a statue (sometimes literally—long story), a mouth that would make a sailor take copious notes, and a burlesque performer's street-smarts and frequent, voluntary loss of costume. Five foot one i

W ell, inspiration strikes according to no civilized schedule—sometimes with the subtlety of a iron skillet falling to the tiled floor from the top shelf in the kitchen, sometimes creeping cat-footed via a character portrait that catches the mind unawares. For me, it was a character rendering of Sheliak (above) that changed everything. Ok, a quick flashback: I've been writing Astara, the short blonde uninhibited star of several (unpublished) stories, for years. I've even play

I don't do story prompts. Well, not usually—as you can see below I do, on occasion , jump on a story prompt if an idea pops into my head...

Well, the book cover looks good! It's not your standard Fantasy Adventure/Fantasy Romance design (a decision which might come back later to bite me in the rear-end!)