Dialogue doesn’t just reveal a character; it reveals their world. Dragons of the Ashfall takes place in a steampunk world of gears and coal. I wanted the vocabulary the characters used to reflect the setting, so I invented a number of idioms. “I’ll be out in a gear’s turn,” means the person will be outContinue reading “How You Say What You Say”
Tag Archives: Dark Owl Publishing
Dragons of the Ashfall
It wasn’t always a novel. Once it was a short story. One of the first that was published that bore my name. It premiered in Wings of Change. Its title: “A Dragon Bigger than My Stories.” It was about a girl in a clockwork city. She was ground down. She longed for solitude. And thenContinue reading “Dragons of the Ashfall”
Year of Books 2021: The Best!
Time to clean off the shelf. Every year, I set aside every book I read on a shelf near the bed. At the end of the year, I evaluate what I’ve read before shelving the books in our permanent collection (or donate or sell or…). My year runs from July 4 to July 3. So…Continue reading “Year of Books 2021: The Best!”
Something Wicked This Way Rides
When the mayor literally gambles away the town to the devil, how do you get it back? Well, lay down some wagers of your own… On the trail, some things aren’t quite what they seem. What terrifies a hard of cattle might mean your death… These two by yours truly, and twenty-eight more stunning talesContinue reading “Something Wicked This Way Rides”
Publish? Perish?
The Keeper of Tales came out over three months ago now. I’m pretty proud of it. But something interesting has happened… sales have dropped off. It’s not getting all that much attention, as far as I can tell. Now that’s not uncommon in the least. Most books make their best sales within the first monthContinue reading “Publish? Perish?”
Jonathon Mast: Author 