My observations as a reader, news about current and future novels, guest posts, independent author adventures, and more.
6 Things I Learned from Reading Romances I’ve mentioned it before, but when I set out on the Central Galactic Concordance journey, I read a lot of romances so I’d know what romance readers expect. Because my CGC universe also has mental talents (hence the title of my latest book, Minder Rising), an element that usually appears…
Get yer’ red-hot science fiction romance at the SFR Brigade Summer Café This is my kind of café, one that caters to book lovers. This week’s special at the SFR Brigade Summer Café: SPACE OPERA! In keeping with the theme of the summer café, below is a food-related excerpt from my brand-new novel, Minder Rising….
New release: Minder Rising (Central Galactic Concordance Book 2) Can covert agent Lièrén Sòng stay alive long enough to save Imara Sesay and her prodigy son? Space opera! Action! Romance! Minder Rising is the second novel in my Central Galactic Concordance series. It’s a standalone story that takes place after the events in Overload Flux, the…
Sizzing Summer Reads Event – COMING SOON Stock up on vacation reads for the summer at a big party over at The Romance Reviews (TRR). With 350+ authors and 350+ prizes to be won (including a grand prize of $100), they’re bound to have something that will suit the occasion. Since I’m guessing most of…
Just a quick note to point you to the Smart Girls Love SciFi blog, where RK interviewed me about my books, my writing process, time travel, and alien invasions. Author Interview: Carol Van Natta | Smart Girls love SciFi * * * * *
There’s this thing going around the intertoobz, wherein an author is challenged to provide “7 Things About Me as a Writer.” Below is mine. I am in respectful awe of “pantser” writers who can write a whole book from start to finish with just a vague notion in mind of where the story ought to…
Overload Flux is an Award Finalist (Hooray for Me!) Thanks to the reader judges for selecting Overload Flux (A Central Galactic Concordance Novel) as a finalist for the Readers’ Crown 2015 Award in the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Time Travel category. I’m in with some pretty high-powered talent, so it really is an honor to be nominated. The…
Galactic News Trends Or, What I’ve Been Up to that I Haven’t Been Around Much Galactic news trends, in the Central Galactic Concordance universe, are the trending news topics that everyone in the civilized galaxy is talking about. Because it’s my universe, I can pretend that it’s news that a Certain Author disappeared from her…
Genres: Reader’s Friend, or Straightjacket? A classic Saturday Night Live fake commercial had Dan Akroyd and Gilda Radner arguing about whether a new product, Shimmer, was a floor wax or a desert topping, only to have spokesperson Chevy Chase reveal that it’s both. If you’ve never seen it, watch it here. I feel that way about…
Now You Can Buy Ebooks AND Support Your Local Independent Bookstore Most people still read paper-based books, but the number of ebooks read is growing every year, and the number of people who say they mostly buy ebooks also growing. I heard a recent statistic that says 75% of book sales are for paper/hardbound. In…
Science Fiction Thought Experiment: Fun with Total Eclipses Stephanie J. Pajonas is a science fiction author and Facebook friend, part of the estimable SFR Brigade. She recently posed this question: “Would it be possible for a [habitable] world to have a large moon that traveled slowly enough around it that it caused long solar eclipses?” Now me,…
Three Features I’d Like to See in Future E-readers Dear E-reader Manufacturers and User Interface Designers, First, kudos for inventing e-readers, and for figuring out how to make it easy to get content for them. Independent authors like me wouldn’t have nearly as viable a career without them, and as a reader, I am thrilled…
Thoughts about Book Content Warnings and Disclosures There’s been a controversy brewing for awhile on content disclosure and warnings. As a reader, I tend to favor disclosure, because I like good smexy scenes (if they’re plot-driven) as well as the next person, but I like advance notice. I especially want to know if the…
I was having a conversation-by-post with another science fiction romance (SFR) author, Pauline Baird Jones, and we agreed we’re readers as well as writers, and like to recommend books to our friends. I especially like recommending SFR books to my friends because I’d like our relatively new little corner of the genre universe to take…
Me, Quoted in a National Newspaper I’m sure some readers of this blog are used to publicity and seeing their names in the paper, but I’m not, so I’m feeling pretty good about being quoted in the “Happily Ever After” column of USA Today. I know, that and $5 gets me a nice chai tea…
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