Blog
CASCADIA–A PICTORIAL PREVIEW
This blog is different from most I write, in that it’s built around pictures and photographs rather than words. Cascadia, my forthcoming novel, is set primarily along the spectacular and rugged northern Oregon coast. I grew up not far from there in Portland, and I know I didn’t fully appreciate the magnificence of the region until…
Read MoreYES, I KNOW THAT’S NOT WHAT A REAL TSUNAMI LOOKS LIKE
When I got my first look at what is now the cover of Cascadia, my left-brain (logical, factual) persona took over. I fired off an email to my publisher: “NO, sorry. The cover image looks great, but it’s much too Hollywood. A real tsunami doesn’t look anything like that.” Now most publishers, especially the majors,…
Read MoreHow EYEWALL influenced CASCADIA
Of the four novels I’ve had published so far, my first, Eyewall, remains by far the best seller. That’s been a little difficult for me to come to grips with, since I don’t think the book necessarily reflects my best writing. It’s not that it’s bad writing—or it would never have sold as many copies…
Read MoreTHE FIRST ONE-STAR REVIEW OF CASCADIA
Stormy, our five-year-old Shih Tzu, pads into my office and sits next to me where I’m working at my desk. “Hey, Storms, what’s up?” He doesn’t respond, just looks up at me with his big brown eyes the size of shooter marbles. I notice he’s sporting a tie. “What’s with the tie, dude? Haven’t seen…
Read MoreHOW A NOVEL IS CONCEIVED
I grew up in western Oregon. It seemed, at least in terms of natural threats, a bucolic place in which to spend my youth. For instance, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes there were about as common as the Northern Lights in Georgia. Hurricanes were nonexistent. Such storms are born over warm oceans. If you’ve ever…
Read MoreLOOKING FOR A FEW THRILLS AT CHRISTMAS?
In my newest novel, BLIZZARD, a corporate executive undertakes a desperate journey through an historic Southern blizzard, but quickly realizes the storm isn’t the only thing that can kill him. A question that naturally arises is Could a true blizzard really smack the Deep South? The answer is yes. In fact, one did in the…
Read MoreTHE AUTHOR’S ABYSS
It occurs every time I complete a manuscript and send it out for comment. I can’t explain it. It just happens. I tumble into something I call The Author’s Abyss, a sinkhole of self-doubt. It’s recurring epiphany I have that, in plain language, reminds me I can’t write worth a shit. I realize the beloved…
Read MoreEl Niño and SUPERCELL (the novel)
Last week I blogged about El Niño and its connection, or lack thereof, to wintry weather in the Deep South. This week I’ll take a look at El Niño and its influence on severe storms–supercells and tornadoes–in the same region. There’s a late-winter/early-spring climatological maximum in Dixie of severe storms (before the focus of the…
Read MoreEl Niño and BLIZZARD (the novel)
As you’re undoubtedly aware, a powerful El Niño is expected to exert heavy-handed authority over our weather this winter. And before I go any further, please, please, please remember El Niño is NOT a weather phenomenon. It’s the name given to a particular Pacific Ocean temperature regime. El Niño exerts an influence on weather patterns,…
Read MoreCASCADIA–SLEEPING GIANT
Cascadia. If you live on the West Coast, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, the name will register with you. If you live elsewhere, it probably won’t, unless you happened to have read the article in the July 20th issue of The New Yorker titled “The Really Big One.” Turns out L. A. is off the…
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