The Steps Off My Porch

The Steps Off My Porch: "I believe it was that year when I first remembered hearing about terrorism. An American child was killed in an airport. I don’t remember all the details, but I knew enough. I didn’t need to be the brightest little kid to figure someone needed to do something about this."

Marked Me

Marked Me:

An Inadvertent Collector of Natural Body Art Reminisces

It was a scorching summer day when my husband and I got a letter advertising the grand opening of a new tattoo shop downtown. To celebrate, they would spend the day inking people for free....

The Best Toys for Girls...

The Best Toys for Girls...

"Untold Stories from Iraq and Afghanistan"

When I found out that I could contribute my writing ability to help let the world know what the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are like from people who actually were or still are there, that piqued my interest.

When I found out that these real stories were being compiled for a graphic novel to benefit the Fisher House, the Fallen Warriors Project, and the USO, and they needed some help with scripting, I was, to lapse in my excitement into Valley Girl-speak, so totally there!

A lot of other comic book professionals volunteered for this project, from upcoming independent talent to heavy-hitters who've worked for Image, DC, and Marvel. The end result, a compilation of true stories from the war fronts, promises to be touching, gut-wrenching, sometimes witty, and full of adrenaline-pumping adventure.

Updates and a chance to reserve a copy can be found here:
http://www.freewebs.com/herosfallen/

And keep an eye out for "Yea, Though We Drive Through a Tier One Hot Spot..."

Justice comes speedily hand-delivered by RushHour in Hero by Force, or at the moment in this sketch my partner in this venture sent me.

An Introduction to Irish Dance

I was asked to write about a performing art, so naturally, my first choice would be An Introduction to Irish Dance.

New works!

Book 2 of Hero by Force, Hero by Force: Absolute Hero is finished! Next installment is tentatively titled Foundation.

Katrina's Real Storm Surge

Katrina's Real Storm Surge

How to Feel a Hurricane Even in Idaho

… Or Oregon, California, Ohio, wherever you’re not likely to be in the way of a direct hit. For me, it was simple, and while it was more comfortable than it was for the millions of people actually in Biloxi, Gulfport, or New Orleans, it was by no stretch easy.

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 4

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 4

And now we come to the most important aspects of any hotel work. We get guests for all kinds of reasons and occasions. Tourists, convention attendees, wedding parties, families in town for funerals, people moving to the area who’ve yet to find a place, even a couple of families whose homes had burned down.

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 0.5

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 0.5

After knowing some of what I’d endured, people may not only wonder why I tolerated my employment in hotel housekeeping as long as I did, but what possessed me to take such a job in the first place.

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 3

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 3

Hotel Search and Rescue!

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 2

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 2

More spine-tingling, gut-wrenching tales from my time as a hotel housekeeper.

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 1

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 1

To get the family through grad school and job troubles, I took a few pretty thankless jobs. In the process, I discovered some shocking truths about what hotel housekeepers have to face every day.

Another Excerpt from the Life of an American Family

Another Excerpt from the Life of an American Family

"Every so often when I want to go out for sushi, catch the local international dance festival, or take in the music of my favorite German, Austrian, Italian, or Russian composers, my husband complains that I have something against American culture. Of course, if he goes with me, he ends up enjoying himself anyway. This time, when I suggested another cultural outing, he refused, deciding he’d rather hang out at the game shop and play Yu Gi Oh instead. I didn’t press the matter.

"His loss. While he was playing some card game that originated in Japan, we attended a celebration of real American culture."

Return to Horror Writing

I just finished a short script for a new zombie project tentatively dubbed "Not Dead Yet." Details on that forthcoming....

Character Driven

Character Driven

has been updated with a couple of old poems from my days (daze?) working on a college opera production.

So You Think You Can Write Fan Fic?

So You Think You Can Write Fan Fic?

I don't write fan fiction any more, but I have to acknowledge one of the ways I got back into writing. It helped me. Maybe this article can help others.

Excerpts from the Life of an American Family

Excerpts from the Life of an American Family: "I will always remember August 1, 2009 for the unprecedented number of people officially welcomed into our extended family all in less than five hours. My newest cousin chose this auspicious day to be born, giving her mother and grandmother the best of all possible reasons to not attend another happy event.
My sister and the love of her life finally got married"

What Is This Thing?

What Is This Thing?

A Close Encounter With the Many-Legged Kind

A Short Comic Book Site-seeing Tour

A Short Comic Book Site-seeing Tour

provides some examples and insights as to how comics can and should lead publishing onward into the 21st century.

Media Storm Entertainment

Media Storm Entertainment, a brand new entertainment company, has a neat new web site where people seeking information on new and different comic books and other literary projects from the small press can, well, find some!

I'm not just saying this because I'm writing and codeveloping Hero by Force. When I saw the talent that's been brought on board for MSE's other projects, I was impressed. Yes, there's a lot of new talent (your humble blogger included), as well as some veteran creators with resumes including names like, oh, Dark Horse, Image, and Marvel.

Not bad for indie small press! I feel pretty lucky.

http://mediastormmarketing.com/mse/

Character Driven

Character Driven

is updated with new poems including "Bike Passage."

Pioneer Reflections

Pioneer Reflections

Character Driven

Character Driven

The madcap misadventures of cybernetic pizza man, as chronicled in the poem "Pizza Man Percival Pinter's Opposable Problem" are now available for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

Character Driven

Character Driven: news, information, and some literary surprises from my mind and keyboard that may not be seen anywhere else, including poems like "Comic Book Patter" and "Popcorn."