Leonie Hallward and the Secession of Greenwich Village. A painter with a talent for magical landscapes meets the revolutionary scene in 1916 Greenwich Village, and history turns out rather differently. Includes cameos by Emma Goldman, John Sloan, and selected characters from Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray. (Summer NaNo project, in process as of June 2012). Check out excerpts here.
The Necromancer and the Barbarian: A Love Story. (2011-2012) In the opening decades of the twenty-first century, the time is out of joint and the magic is back. Forensic artist Elsa Felix has inherited her mother’s unfortunate gift of listening, but with a twist: the dead with unfinished business talk to her as she’s rebuilding their faces. Her ghost-whispering skills fail completely with her latest assignment, a 17-year-old Iron Age sacrifice who’s decided that he wants a second try at the life that was cut short 2000 years ago in a bog in Northern Germany. Meanwhile, her other cases include a killer who takes historical reenactment just a bit too far. [2011, October (planning) and November: 85,000 words as of November 30, completed on 7 Februrary 2012 at 95,000 words. Currently in revision.] Read an excerpt here and on this site.
The Lost Pissarro, A Tale of The Great Change. (2011, July and September) In a New York where unicorns and werewolves roam Central Park, struggling painter L. A. (Angie) Stavros thinks that she’s found a gig as an art forger. Instead, she’s become a conduit for lost paintings to come back to life, and that’s just the beginning of the complications. Published 2015 by Glass Knife Press. Read draft excerpts here.
Annie Brown and the Superhero Blues. (2011, August: goal is 25,000-30,000-word finished manuscript) A young superhero struggles with parental expectations, sibling rivalry (her brother is way cooler than she is), the lingering doubt she should have gone to Mad Scientist school instead, and an inappropriate crush on an aspiring Evil Minion who’s moonlighting as a barista. My response to the Samhain Superhero Romance Call. Work began on August 1 as the August MiniNaNo, and the work is going to beta-readers at the end of the week of August 15. [First draft 8/5/2011-8/19/2011 at 33,000 words; final draft 8/27/2011 at 29,970 words. Currently in revision with projected publication date in spring 2015.] Read excerpts here.
The Shape-shifter’s Tale (2010, currently in revision). In the second decade of the twenty-first century, the magic is back, but it’s far from welcome. The Church of the New Day has sworn to wipe out witches, shape-shifters and other Abominations. Teresa is a Shifter hiding in plain sight from her cousin Philip, the Church’s most zealous witch-hunter, when a public burning and disturbing dreams from the past send her on a perilous quest. Currently in revision. Read an excerpt here.
Erika and the Vampire (2011, approx 5000 words; published July 2012 at 11,000 words). It’s a dangerous world now that the magic is back. Erika’s friend Annabelle has a new bad-boy crush, the lead singer of a vampire rock band, and she wants Erika to come along. Erika has doubts. Takes place in the same universe as The Shape-shifter’s Tale. Published July 2012 by Glass Knife Press.
Max and the Ghost (2011, approx 11,000 words, published October 2012 at 13,000 words). Max’s brother Anton gives him a job to keep him away from his oddball friends. The problem is that the job comes with a big secret: Anton’s condo is haunted, and the ghost has its own grievances. Takes place in the same universe as The Shape-shifter’s Tale. Published October 2012 by Glass Knife Press.
The Reincarnations of Miss Anne (begun 2009, in process at 72,000 words). In Utopia, the world grows thin as atrocities in our world make it less and less probable. Favilla Vogel is sent on a time-traveling mission to find the pockets of resistance to dystopia, as whistle-blower Vera Paterson finds something wrong in the numbers, over and over again. Scheduled for completion and revision in 2013-2014. Read an excerpt here.
The Scottish Play, or Fire and Ice (2008, first draft; queued up for revision in 2011). Maggie Halloran just got the role of Lady Macbeth, and she’s about to learn some scary lessons about the magic of the theater. Time-slips, demon ghosts, and then there’s the altogether too alluring stage manager, Marina. Scheduled for revision in 2013-2014. Read an excerpt here.
Cleopatra’s Ironclads (NaNo 2012) Cleopatra VII, scholar and queen of Egypt, races against time to turn hieratic steam technology to military purpose. Features Marc Antony the grease monkey and a do-over of the battle of Actium. (Another first! I got to write a naval battle!) Scheduled for revision in 2013-2014. Read an excerpt here.
Inside the Jump (NaNo 2013). A locked-room mystery set on a starship. Someone has murdered the immortal dictator of the fortress planet T-7, and the designated assassin didn’t do it. The captain, a draftee from a failed terraforming project, must solve the mystery against a background of diplomatic intrigue and political threat. Multicultural blue-collar space opera with a political-thriller twist. Read an excerpt here and on this site. Book 2 of the Ship’s Heart Trilogy.
Ship’s Heart (2014). Half-sisters Jehen and Yasmin grow up under Sarronny Dome, a failed terraforming project that produces brilliant starship cadets. Martisset’s aristocratic family assumes that she will follow her namesake on the Road of the Stars. Book 1 of the Ship’s Heart Trilogy. Slated for completion in April 2014 (as Camp NaNoWriMo project). Read excerpts here.
The Fourth Prime (NaNo 2014). Under cover of a war on the Outposts at the edge of the Inhabited Worlds, starship captain Jehen collaborates with unexpected allies to rescue her home world from the aspiring galactic emperor. Begun during NaNoWriMo 2014. Read excerpts here.
Romance with Rayguns (2014). Reluctant assassin sent to kill alleged space pirate defects to his target and falls in love. Witty patter, assorted mayhem, implied naughty bits. Partially drafted during NaNoWriMo 2014, in progress. Read excerpts here.
The Clone’s Complaint. Life is not easy when your genetic original is the Great Shipwright. Yasmin-3 launches on a career as a minor villain, but finds eventual redemption through sex, fried dumplings, and fannish adoration of operatic space pirates. Excerpts, including character interview, here.
E. P. Beaumont 