Year-end roundup

Where and when does this book take place? That’s the question many a writer has asked herself right after she types “Chapter One.” But for Regina and me, the setting was probably the easiest choice, once we decided that we’d be combining the real (Sophie Blanchard really was Napoleon’s Chief Air Minister) and the fictional…

I’ve been challenged by the students in Seton Hill University’s MFA in Writing Popular Fiction program. The task? The first mention of the word look in our most recent books, along with the paragraph before and after. From Magnificent Devices: She hoped. Her blue hat was not the best accessory for her raiding rig, but…

Napoleon’s invasion of England is hidden in the clouds… It is 1819, and Cornwall is agog at the daring of the two young lady aeronauts who, earlier in the summer, flew nearly to France and back in their homemade air ship. Much more is riding on Loveday Penhale and Celeste Blanchard’s new and improved vessel—they…

In the beginning, there was no Circle M ranch. Thirty years ago, there was only the girl next door and the boy who was too shy to tell her he loved her … December marks one of the hardest winters the Miller family has seen in the few years they’ve been ranching in Montana. But…

Mr. Stephen McTavish c/o Arundel & Hollis, Solicitors 46 Temple Lane London Dear Mr. McTavish, I am in receipt of your application for employment here at the Morton Glass Works, for the position of clerk in our development division, which specializes in new inventions to enhance the production of our various glass products. I am…

What a prosaic title for a blog entry. But every writer knows what this means: A home for those towering piles of books that have been accumulating on tables, on other shelves, in the bathroom closet, and on the floor of every room. Or maybe that’s just me. Our local Borders is one of the…