An Interview Of Me By CanvasRebel

        

I'm honored to be interviewed by CanvasRebel, an online magazine devoted to the business end of creatives and entrepreneurs. Their mission, in their own words, is "to create a space for artists, creatives and entrepreneurs to be able to learn from their peers through the magic and power of storytelling."

In the interview, I discuss how I grew my writing business from a hobby and passion, to a side gig, and finally to a full-time job, and my thoughts along the way.

Read the full interview HERE.

You can find other, prior interviews of me HERE.

Cheers and happy reading!

2026 Oregon Authors at the Lane County Fair!

 

Continuing a tradition that dates over two decades, Oregon authors will be signing their books at the Lane County Fair this year. Twenty authors will be featured over the five days of the fair, from Wednesday, July 22, through Sunday, July 26.

A wide range of genres will be available, guaranteeing you’ll find literature to entertain and inform you. Examples include the cozy quilting mysteries of Arlene Sachitano, charming children’s books by Becky Lanning, a collection of horror stories by Jason Kilgore, Oregon history books by Joe Blakely, young adult fantasy by Alice Bjornstadt, local Native American history by David Lewis, military science fiction by Chris Wade, and so much more.

Authors will be rotating through the tables over five days, so be sure to visit often to experience the breadth of literary talent on display and purchase a book or two. They’ll even sign them for you! Check the schedule below if you want to ensure you meet the author or genre of your choice.

Authors appearing at the fair are:

Wednesday, July 22

11-5: Valarie Anderson (historical non-fiction)

11-7: Alice Bjornstedt (young adult fantasy)

11-7: Joe Blakely (historical non-fiction, novels)

11-5: Angela Kern (urban fantasy, poetry)

11-7: Jason A. Kilgore (fantasy, horror, science fiction, poetry)

11-7: Arlene Sachitano (cozy mystery)

5-7: Sheila Snyder (crafting, quilting)

5-7: Chris Wade (military science fiction)

 

Thursday, July 23

11-5: Gerri Almand (humorous travel memoir)

11-7: Joe Blakely (historical non-fiction, novels)

5-7: Jennifer Chambers (Oregon true crime, Oregon true paranormal)

11-5: Angela Kern (urban fantasy, poetry)

11-7: Jason A. Kilgore (fantasy, horror, science fiction, poetry)

11-3: Cheryl Landes (memoir, travel)

11-7: Arlene Sachitano (cozy mystery)

3-7: Sheila Snyder (crafting, quilting)

5-7: Chris Wade (military science fiction)

 

Friday, July 24

11-5: Gerri Almand (humorous travel memoir)

11-7: Joe Blakely (historical non-fiction, novels)

3-7: Angela Kern (urban fantasy, poetry)

11-7: Jason A. Kilgore (fantasy, horror, science fiction, poetry)

11-3: Cheryl Landes (memoir, travel)

11-7: David Lewis (Native American history)

11-7: Arlene Sachitano (cozy mystery)

5-7: Chris Wade (military science fiction)

 

Saturday, July 25

1-3: Ken Babbs (memoir)

11-7: Joe Blakely (historical non-fiction, novels)

11-7: Jeff Bolkan (adventure novels)

3-7: Angela Keith (young adult contemporary novels)

11-1: Angela Kern (urban fantasy, poetry)

11-7: Jason A. Kilgore (fantasy, horror, science fiction, poetry)

11-7: Sharleen Nelson (time travel novels)

11-3: Donovan Reves (absurdist historical fiction)

11-7: Arlene Sachitano (mystery novels)

3-7: Chris Wade (military science fiction)

 

Sunday, July 26

11-5: Joe Blakely (historical non-fiction, novels)

11-5: Jennifer Chambers (Oregon true crime, Oregon true paranormal)

3-5: Angela Kern (urban fantasy, poetry)

11-5: Jason A. Kilgore (fantasy, horror, science fiction, poetry)

11-3: Cheryl Landes (memoir, travel)

11-5: Becky Lanning (children’s books)

11-5: William Sullivan (Oregon hiking, historical fiction)

Author Questions: What Excites You Most As An Author?

This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

 

Question:

What excites you most as an author?

The quick answer:

Sharing my stories with new readers.

 

The long answer:

There are a lot of exciting times as an author. I love coming up with ideas for new stories and daydreaming about them, like watching a movie of the story come to life in my imagination before I ever type a word. It’s a small excitement, sorta like seeing a piece of chocolate cake and knowing you’ll get to eat it.

There’s also that moment when you first sit down and start typing to bring the story to life, as if you were giving birth to the idea (I know that sounds corny, but stick with me).

Or there’s the excitement and satisfaction of writing “The End” at the end of your first draft. Oh, that’s a good one! In fact, that was almost my official answer to this question. It’s a moment that you celebrate in some major way. I buy myself a small luxury when this happens.

The moment when the first author copies arrive and you get to open the box and hold your creation in your hands, that’s also a good one, particularly for your first publication. Here’s a video of the unboxing of my first copies of Dragon of the Federation. You just want to take that book, do a little ritual, climb to a high rocky prominence, and present it to the world with some epic music in the background, à la Simba’s birth.

Oh, and there’s also the excitement of walking into a bookstore and seeing your book sitting there on the shelf next to all those other published authors. That’s always a very validating moment (it’s even better when you knew it was there and then is gone the next time you walk in, because it was sold to someone!).

But truth be told, nothing gives me as much of a rush as a new reader who has come up to my table, heard my pitch for a book, and their eyes go wide, they say “Oooo!” as they learn about the interesting premise of the story, and they eagerly want to start reading my work. Dear reader, now you are as excited as I am. How wonderful that we share that!

Sometimes I think it’s a bit of an ego trip. Like my inner child is yelling “I can’t deny the fact that you like me! Right now, you like me!” lol. Yes, I feel that, every time.

But it’s not just ego or vanity or whatever. There is an overwhelming joy that I, and most authors, feel in sharing our creations. Bringing our characters to life in our head isn’t enough. It’s far more satisfying that they come to life in YOUR head, too, and in your own imagination, however different that character may be for you. It’s not just about the money we earn or the volume of sales or spreading our “brand” or whatever. Sharing is caring, right? Those moments that you spend reading my books, we are sharing a common imagination and bringing that world to reality.

 

Cheers and happy reading!

BIG NEWS! I’m Now A Full Time Writer Now!

 

OMG OMG OMG! I’m so excited and nervous, I can hardly breathe….

Okay… taking a deep breath….

In a nutshell: I’ve decided to become a full-time author!

There, I’ve said it. You have no idea how incredible it feels for me to write those words! Or how long I’ve dreamt of such a thing.

Some context for my decision:

As many of you know, I was laid off from my job as a manager in a biotech corporation back in August of 2025, one of many waves of layoffs from that company, sweeping out thousands of employees over last year and this year. I was with that company for 26 years! Unemployment payments stopped after six months. After that (and really during it), I’ve been living on the severance pay I got and whatever I had in savings. It’s been painful watching my bank account decrease despite every cost-cutting measure I could come up with, including going to food pantries and whatnot. It’s been nine months now, with little hope for things changing for me.

The layoff is thanks to the current president drastically slashing funding to science and medicine, which impacted academic customers that my company, and most biotechs, rely on to buy their products. The company is floundering. This is true for most biotech companies, academic labs, science non-profits, and related companies. Some companies are folding. Most are cutting back drastically, hoping to survive until things turn around (which likely won’t be until a Democrat is back in the presidency).

Since then I’ve applied to 120 job announcements, all of which I’m qualified for, which drew upon my background doing science lab work, technical support, technical writing, or management. You’d think with two degrees and 28 years of post-graduate experience over many roles, I’d be imminently hirable. Despite tailoring every resumé to the job announcements, getting advice from recruiters, and being on every major job board on an almost daily basis, I’ve only managed 7 recruiter interviews – all rejected. Only half of the jobs I’ve applied to have gotten back to me (with rejections). And AI has made the entire process stupider. Since every other science company is hurting, there aren’t many jobs to apply to, and they get hundreds of applicants for each position. Combine this with a high unemployment rate, inflation, tariff effects, and AI taking over many white-collar jobs, the outlook for getting hired is very, very bleak.

BUT…. I have a sizeable 401K. I’ve consulted with a financial advisor several times. There’s this thing called Rule 72(t), which will allow me to withdraw it, penalty-free (but taxed as income), over the next five years in regular, monthly payouts. This will be just barely enough over the year, combined with my other income streams, to make the minimum I need to meet my financial needs.

Am I nervous? Hell yes! And what will I have to fall back on when I’m old? Between now and then, I’ll just have to build my author empire big enough to meet my financial needs.

At the same time, I’m incredibly jubilant!

Finally liberated from the corporate workaday life, endless meetings, and being under some manager’s thumb, I am now free to pursue my author activities! I’m my own boss, with all the concerns that go along with that.

In addition to writing more books (and I have soooo many books in my head yet to write!), which I’ll have more time for now, I have income from the great number of author events I do all year (and time for more!), income from online sales, income from my publisher (GladEye Press), and income from the author services I provide to other authors. I also have a part-time job doing data entry for the University of Oregon (with special thanks to my friend, Vicki, who hired me for that).

And if I don’t earn enough? There’s nothing to stop me from taking another job if, gods forbid, this decision doesn’t work out for me. Maybe I’ll land an additional part-time gig doing editing or technical writing.

I’m seriously shaking right now. Here I go!

Please wish me well as I move forward with this. And if you want to help me in this new era of my life, please buy my books, request that your local bookstores and libraries carry them, or contribute to my Ko-Fi page.

 

Cheers and happy reading!

Author Questions: What scares you most as an author?

 

This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

 

Question:

What scares you most as an author?

 

The quick answer:

That I won’t be able to get all the stories out of my head and onto paper before I die.

 

The long answer:

Yeah, I know, it sounds a little corny, but it’s true. You see, I’m not afraid of anything. I have no fear of dying (I’ve nearly died several times, in fact, including twice by nearly drowning). No fear of spiders or creepy crawlies (I’m a trained entomologist, actually!). Heights give me the willies, but I’ve conquered it. Darkness? Bring it on. Claustrophobia? Nah, I’ve gone spelunking and did fine. Ghosts? I literally grew up in an actual haunted house. I can deal with it.

No, it’s all about my stories. I have endless stories locked in my head, waiting to get onto paper. My fantasy world, Irikara, in particular, has more tales to tell than I could ever write. It’s a vast world, and sometimes it’s more real to me than the real world. I can point to any place on the giant map and tell you what the languages sound like, the smells of the streets, the migrations of the people, the gods, the heroes, the villains, the government structure, and the present and distant past of the land, and so much more.

But if I die, it all dies with me! Imagine being the gatekeeper to an entire world – the sole person who can share it with everyone else – as if you were an alien from a distant planet and only you could share your homeworld with the entire population of Earth. Seriously. That’s what if feels like.

I wonder if other writers share this odd fear.

Author Questions: What’s the Worst Writing Advice You’ve Ever Heard?

This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

Image generated with ChatGPT

Question:

What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever heard?

 

The quick answer:

"Only write what you know."

 

The long answer:

This is actually a common bit of advice you’ll hear as a writer, often delivered with an air of pomposity, and I couldn’t disagree more.

At the heart of the statement is the idea that authors put a part of themselves into their writing, whether they mean to or not, and if you want to come off as genuine, you should avoid putting in your story/book/essay anything that would seem beyond your own experience. Makes sense, right?

Not at all.

Maybe this is true for memoir/autobiography writers. After all, you wouldn’t want to lie about your own experience and sell it as authentic (like this author did). And if you’re writing other non-fiction, then, yeah, you need to do your research and make it accurate. You wouldn’t want to lie about your sources or make up facts (as this author did).

But if you’re writing fiction, “only write what you know” is the worst advice. The entire POINT of fiction is to escape reality and see things from alternative points of view. The two point of view characters in my first fantasy book, Dragon of the Federation, are an elderly dragon and a young female mage. What do I know about being elderly, much less an elderly dragon? I’m also male. What do I really know about the experiences of any females? Or, for that matter, elves, demons, evil generals, ghosts, space nuns, space opera heroes, or all the other weird POVs I’ve written over the years. If I took that bit of bad advice, I wouldn’t have even started those stories.

Dragon of the Federation was released in 2021, and so far no one has come to me to tell me that I got it wrong. Nor for any of my other stories or books.

When I point this out to those who give this advice, they tend to stutter and backtrack and justify their statement by saying that I must be very imaginative to think of life as a dragon, and that my observations of the female condition must be very good. Maybe that’s true. And to be fair, I’ve tried to have “sensitivity readers” read my work who are more like the lead characters (when possible. There aren’t exactly real dragons flying around).

But we can’t go around stifling creativity.

So consider this your official approval to write whatever you want, no matter how outside your experience it is. Feel free to explore and create. And if someone tells you it isn’t accurate, ask them how, then go back and revise, but don’t give it up.

 

Cheers and happy reading!

Author Questions: What’s the Best Writing Advice You’ve Acted On?

This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

Question:

What’s the best writing advice you’ve acted on?

The quick answer:

"Good writing is emotional writing."

The long answer:

There’s a book entitled The Emotional Craft of Fiction, by Donald Maass. On the back of my copy of the book, the blurb says “engage your readers with emotion” and “If you want to write strong fiction, you must make your readers feel. The reader’s experience must be an emotional journey that aligns with your characters’ struggles, discoveries, and triumphs.” If you don’t have this book, dear author, I highly recommend you purchase it and read it.

This, to me, is the one best piece of advice I’ve ever found for writing compelling fiction. It goes of other forms of entertainment, too, such as poetry, script writing, memoir, acting, composing, singing, sculpting, or dancing. Anything that uses your creativity is a place to insert your emotions.

Have your characters react emotionally. Make them struggle. Torment them. Have them claw their way out of the holes they’ve dug, only to be kicked back down and have to struggle back up and finally climb out. The reader will be right there with them experiencing the moments of struggle, sadness, and joy. Take them on an emotional rollercoaster. That’s what fiction is for, after all. It’s to experience all the things that we are afraid or unable to experience in real life, and to walk in the shoes of someone else for a little while. Keep it exciting. Never be boring.

And it needs to be emotional for you, as the author, as well. Feeling angry about the state of the world? Lonely? Happy about a success? Whatever you are feeling, pour it into your writing that day. Everything an author writes has some little bit of the writer’s persona in it. You can’t help it. So own it! Pour your feelings into your words. It will come through to the reader and bring with it a powerful impact.

Cheers and happy reading!

Author Questions: What Habits Keep You Moving?

 This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

 

Question:

What habits keep you moving?

The quick answer:

Schedule my time as best as possible and stick to it.

 

The long answer:

A few years ago, my writing was in disarray. I was still actively writing, but I had trouble juggling my time. In addition to finding time to write new material, I was coordinating author events, dealing with blogging and social media, marketing, writing newsletters, and a whole host of other author activities, in addition to working about 50 hours a week at my day job, running a household, and “life in general.”

Luckily, I had a friend who was a life coach. I met with her many times, and she helped me figure out a weekly schedule that balanced all of those activities. I not only had a written schedule to keep to, but I also tracked my time and what I was doing. The schedule kept me on track, and the tracking of time made me realize just how much I was doing and where I needed to focus.

That was almost three years ago, and I have stuck with it. As a result, I am more coordinated, focused, and efficient at all of my author activities.

Our lives are complex, and it’s okay if you can’t find time, or if you go off schedule. I know of some authors who write in the morning for several hours, some who write in the evenings, and even one author who dictates her writing to her phone as she drives between work and home.

And while there are authors (usually full time) who say you should write X hours every day or Y number of words, don’t pay too much attention to such absolutes, everyone is different. Do you need a life coach to help? It can’t hurt, but it’s not always necessary (though I do recommend you find a writing coach, like me). Find what works for you and stick with it.

 

Cheers and happy reading!

 

Author Questions: What Is The One Thing You Wish You Knew Before Publishing?

 This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

Question:

What is the one thing you wish you knew before publishing?

 

The quick answer:

Marketing.

 

The long answer:

I’m guessing that wouldn’t have been the answer you expected. You probably expected me to say something about the craft of writing, right?

I know writing. It’s my aptitude. Making up worlds and characters and describing them on paper is what I do. It brings me joy.

But what happens after you write “the end” and manage to either publish it yourself or get it accepted and published through a publishing house? Just go on to writing the next book?

Maybe it was that way fifty years ago or more, but it certainly isn’t now. Ernest Hemingway didn’t have to learn Amazon ads or Facebook ads. J.R.R. Tolkien didn’t have to post about his books on the numerous social media platforms and get thousands of followers there. Octavia Butler didn’t have to learn Adobe Photoshop enough to put together engaging graphics. Truman Capote didn’t have to make his own website or post regularly on a blog. Isaac Asimov didn't have to send out newsletters every month. Stephen King didn't have to man tables at festivals to sell his books. The thought of these authors doing those things feels a little silly, and yet these things are expected of authors these days. It’s a whole new ballgame now. In fact, only about a third of my author-related time is spent actually writing, editing, and revising my books, whereas back then nearly all their author-related time was spent that way.

These days, after you publish the book, the job isn’t over. You have to get it in front of readers somehow or no one will learn about your book, much less buy it or read it. Large publishing houses have massive advertising budgets and people hired to do nothing else but advertising and marketing, but small presses and self-published authors usually don’t. You have to do it all yourself AND compete against those large publishing houses with their big budgets. Good luck.

And what the heck do we writers know about marketing? I certainly never got training. Thankfully, I’m pretty tech-savvy and have some Photoshop skills. I also had the foresight to lay a good foundation to create a brand prior to publishing my first book, with a social media presence, a logo, brand name (“The Strange Worlds of Jason Kilgore”), blog, and website. I worked as a scientist in an international biotech corporation and had picked up some things. But that was only the barest step up.

Over the years I’ve read so many articles and books that it makes my head spin, and attended workshops, too. Most of what I’ve learned was through trial and error. What I really needed was a mentor who knew the ropes, but no one gives you their knowledge for free.

These days, I help other authors make Amazon ads and advise them on social media posting. It took years to get to this point. But I still feel inadequate at it. Competing for people’s attention, especially online, is mind-shatteringly hard, and the margins are razor-thin.

It’s also incredibly expensive. At least a third of my annual author budget is spent paying for ads, but it’s hard to say if they pay off. When someone buys a book, they don’t send you a message telling you how they heard about you. 

You can also pay people to do advertising for you, such as on gig sites like Fiverr.com, but be cautious. There are a LOT of scammers out there and amateurs who will take your money and give you nothing useful in return. It's better to go by word of mouth... if you can find an author who has actually paid someone and been satisfied. It's also insanely expensive.

If I had it to do all over again, I think maybe I would have taken a marketing course before publishing, preferably one aimed at authors and taught by an author.

 

Cheers and happy reading!

Author Questions: What Did You Learn Faster By Doing Instead Of Studying?

 This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

 

Question:

What did you learn faster by doing instead of studying?

 

The quick answer:

In-person table sales of my books.

 

The long answer:

I had published books, but few were selling. I had some reasonable sales on Amazon, but I knew there were plenty of readers out there who would be eager to read my books if only they knew about them. But getting your book in front of potential readers online is incredibly difficult. There is so much competition for their attention, and so many millions and millions of books, that it seems like a Herculean task just to get the cover in front of them, much less tell them what it’s about.

Before I did in-person sales, I would try loads of social media posts across all of my social media platforms. I tried Facebook ads. I tried Amazon ads. I even ran an ad that showed on the screen at my local movie theater (yes, really).

My publisher, too, was selling very few of the books they represent.

So I had to take action and go out, in person, to talk to readers.

There’s no guide for how to do this. There’s no self-help book for authors that I’ve ever seen that discusses this topic. No one mentors you on these things. [if you’d like some advice, read to the bottom and follow the links]

I had seen authors at events, smiling at people and talking about their books, which were neatly arranged on the table in front of them – at festivals and fairs as people milled about eating ice cream or listening to live music or perusing art stalls - at author fairs where there were dozens of authors and too much to take in at once – and at bookstores.

So I started talking to them. Introduced myself as an author. Asked them how to sign up for the next event. Asked them where and when other events were, and who organized them.

And then I got my first event, doing a reading at a local bookstore during a monthly “street art walk” in a nearby town. Then I was able to get a table at a yearly author event.

Slowly, event by event, I built up a rapport with other authors, signed up for more events, until my weekends were filling up with them. I eventually even purchased a little camper so that I could extend my range to do events around the state and even into other states without having to pay for hotel rooms (which would eat up all of my meager profits), taking my efforts to a whole other level.

And, more importantly, I “learned by doing” slowly, figuring out how best to display my books, what accessories to bring, which book pitches worked for which kinds of customers, being able to pick out who my likely customers would be, and how to just put on my sales face and speaking tone.

It helps to be a “people person,” of course. But let’s face it, if you aren’t out there engaging readers, you aren’t going to sell many of your books. And that’s the point, right? You want your hard work to be appreciated. You want to share your inspiration. You want to have other people escape into the worlds you created or learn the knowledge you wish to share with your words.

Last year I sold 516 books at in-person events, which for me is a lot, and way more than I sold online or with my publisher. You can do it too.

HERE is my advice on how you, too, can find events to do in-person sales for your books, sign up, and what to bring.

HERE is my advice on what to do, and what not to do, while selling your books at those tables.

To learn more about what events I’m doing this year, click HERE (the page will be updated throughout the year as events are added and confirmed). That list will give you a good idea of the range of events that maybe you could find, too.

So get out there. Engage your readers. Build your fan base. There are people who crave what you write, you just need to find them first.

 

 

Cheers and happy reading!

Author Interview Of Me By C.M. Rosen

 In December I had an online interview of me by author C.M. Rosen, as posted on her website.

I love doing interviews. Every chance I get to engage potential readers is a joy for me. And maybe I'm vain enough to enjoy talking about myself?

In this one, we discussed my collection of paranormal stories, Around the Corner from Sanity. How did I choose stories for it. What inspired me for those stories. How I build suspense. And more. Also, what are my challenges when starting a new project, and what writing do I currently have in the pipeline?

Check it out and let me know if you have any thoughts or questions:

Here's a link to that interview.

I've been interviewed a number of times. Click HERE to find information on those.

Cheers and happy reading!

Author Questions: What Made You Start Writing?

 This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.

Question:

What made you start writing?

The quick answer:

An insatiable desire to be creative and lose myself in other worlds.

 

The long answer:

For the most part, I both read and write to escape the real world. This is why speculative fiction is my thing, for what I read and what I write: primarily fantasy, science fiction, and horror.

It has always been this way for me. I remember, as early as ten years old, reading books in those genres that were meant for adults. Authors such as Michael Moorcock, Stephen King, Stephen R. Donaldson, and J.R.R. Tolkien, took me far beyond the childhood books I had been reading and launched me into new worlds.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I read books for my age range, too. For instance, I consumed all of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, The Phantom Tollbooth, A Wrinkle In Time, and so many others. Scholastic book sales at school were super exciting to me. But it was the adult books that really set my imagination on fire.

Around the same age, my mother introduced me to Dungeons & Dragons (thanks, Mom!). It was the first edition basic box set. I promptly found other kids to play it with. Thus began a lifelong love of roleplaying games. Soon I found myself with a group of kids and doing dungeonmastering. Over the course of my junior high and high school years I developed the world of Irikara, which now serves as the world I set my fantasy stories in. It’s a vast world, with so much complexity that sometimes it feels more real to me than the real world we live in.

The need to escape from the real world is a driving factor for so many readers of speculative fiction. I know I’m not alone in that.

There are two very moving anecdotes I want to share, along these lines:

A few years ago, I was contacted by a young man who was an online acquaintance of mine. He said that he read my scifi space opera novel, The First Nova I See Tonight, and it changed his life. I was really surprised by this. To me, it’s just a fun and sexy romp through space with lots of action. I asked him why he felt this, and his response moved me to tears. His girlfriend had died, and he had a hard time dealing with life and coming to grips with it. He said that my book had helped him escape the pain, at least for a while, until he could get back on his feet. This was a real eye-opener for me, and I thanked him for telling me.

Then, last year, another young acquaintance of mine came forward. I had previously given him my book of poetry, Guide Me, O River. Then his best friend was murdered in a horrific manner. He said that reading my poems helped him get through that hard time. Again, I was very moved by this.

These anecdotes serve as a reminder to me that the power of the written word can move mountains. Our lives are complex and often difficult. Reading speculative fiction can help you escape those real world issues, at least for a little while.

 

Cheers and happy writing!

A Recap Of My Writing Journey In 2025

 

Thank you!

As we put a close to 2025 and welcome the new year, I first want to thank all of you, my most loyal readers, for supporting me. You are the breath beneath my wings, my muse, the ink in my pen. Thank you.

2025 was a busy year!
Back in January, I finished the first draft of The Parable of Sam, a "biblical horror" novel (as my publisher, GladEye Press, is calling the genre). It will be released in the fall of 2026 with the full works: a release party, bookstore tour, press releases, and ARC readers (people who will read a pdf copy before the book is released, for free, with the promise to post a review on Amazon and Goodreads after it releases). Would any of you like to be ARC readers? If so, let me know and I'll sign you up!

Lately I've written some new short stories, and I've started book 3 of my fantasy series, the Heartstone Series. The working title is Lord of Silk and Steel. I'm so excited to work on this series again, and I know many of you have been clamoring for it.

This year also saw a huge ramp-up of my in-person author table sales at events: street fairs, festivals, book fairs, and bookstore events. I even purchased a camper van so I could extend my range for these events across Washington and Oregon! This year I had a whopping 21 events over 41 days for around 319 hours! I drove over 6300 miles for these events, too. Time well spent! The longest was an 8-day stretch at the Oregon State Fair. I LOVE these events, as I get to meet readers face-to-face, get them excited about my books, and sell my books to them. I met many of you at these events, in fact! I would gladly do more, if I could. I sold 516 books at these events. So many new readers. Yay! Stay tuned for events coming up in 2026.

I've also started advertising my author services (services for other authors or would-be authors), including helping them with the conception stage, formatting books for self-publication, book cover design, Amazon ad generation, writing book blurbs, creating Amazon author pages, and more. To date I've helped four authors with these things. Most recently I helped Corvallis author Judy York with formatting her first book for Kindle and print (including her original essays, color paintings, and poetry), creating covers for each version, creating an Amazon author page for her, and uploading the books with meta data. Her book is now live and selling. Are you an author or aspiring author who could use my services? If so, let me know. Here's information for my services from my webpage, and here's my Fiverr account if you'd rather book me there.

And I continue doing other things that professional authors like myself need to do, such as writing these newsletters, blogging, attending and critiquing for my writer's group, attending workshops, dealing with marketing and ads, doing readings, editing and revising, and the endless need to attend to my many social media pages. I even had a book club that I did for a while. And, of course, I need to find time to read other people's books (as Stephen King has said, "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.").

Though I got laid off from my dayjob as a scientist back at the end of July, and haven't yet secured a new job, it has given me time to focus on all of these author activities. I'm thankful for that. But it doesn't pay all the bill (yet). Some day! So I'm looking for a new job right now and trying to make ends meet. I'm thankful that all of you are supporters!

Have a very prosperous new year, and happy reading!

My Review of UnWelcome, by MJE Clubb

 (link to Goodreads page)

This was a fun and quick read. A troubled teen boy. A mother still reeling from the kidnapping of her daughter, a divorce, and the death of her ex, and now cancer. And then they bring in a demon-haunted mirror. All hell breaks loose.

A Tale Of Two Authors Selling Their Books

This is a tale of two authors. One sold a lot of books at an author event, the other sold almost none. What was the difference? Read on….

In a prior post, I shared how you, as an author, could find and take part in author fairs. But simply being at the event and having a table isn’t enough. You have to engage the readers in a way that is effective. Otherwise, they won’t buy your books and you’ve just wasted your time (and any fees that the event may cost).

I just finished an author event, eight days straight at the Oregon State Fair, as part of the Oregon Authors tables, and I’m happy to say that it went extremely well. I sold double the number of books I thought I would! So much, in fact, that I had to put in an emergency order for more author copies to sell for further events, having sold out of two of my five book titles. One day I sold 32 copies.

But there was another author at that same event who didn’t do so well. For the sake of anonymity, let’s call him “Bob.”

Why didn’t Bob do well? Like me, he specializes in speculative fiction, with three science fiction books, so we had much the same audience. Despite that, the same day I sold 32 copies, he sold zero.

So I took a moment to watch Bob as he sold his books, and I saw that he was doing everything wrong.

Here are some important pointers that I recommend, when you are an author doing in-person table sales, comparing and contrasting me with Bob:

Be attentive. When I’m at the table and potential customers are walking by, I’m watching for potential customers. I’m not doing something on my phone. I’m not having conversations with other authors. I’m ready to engage. Bob, on the other hand, was often looking down at his cell phone or just zoning out.

Be engaging. When a potential reader is close to the table and seems interested, or is wearing a tee shirt or something that has science fiction or fantasy themes, I meet their eyes and talk with them. “Hi!” I’ll say, “Do you like to read scifi or fantasy?” Bob, on the other hand, simply sat there as people walked by, waiting for them to talk first.

Be courteous and fun. Remember, a potential reader sees you as a source of entertainment. If you aren’t courteous or entertaining to them, they’ll move along to someone who is. When a reader comes to my table, I’m animated. I smile. I have big hand gestures. I laugh if there’s a funny bit about a book, or I get wide eyed at the exciting bits. And I don’t hawk my books from across the room, talk too loudly or too softly, or call out to people while they are in the middle of a conversation. Bob was courteous, I’ll give him that, but in a stuffy way, with none of the animation. It was as if he were selling them a vacuum cleaner or accounting software or something.

Dress the part. This event was a fair. People were there for excitement. I dressed in colorful shorts and short sleeve tee shirts. Another author, who sells swashbuckling naval adventure novels, actually dressed in pirate attire. Some festivals are even “louder,” such as the Eugene Pride Celebration, where it’s expected to wear rainbow colors and LGBTQ pins or flags. If the event were a more formal occasion, such as a table at a winery event, maybe semi-formal attire might be best. When I did a table at the Spirit of Bohemia Mining Days, I actually dressed like a 19^th century miner. Bob, though, at this fair, wore a dowdy button-up, long-sleeved dress shirt and dress pants, as if he were going to church.

Have a table display. My table had a cloth banner draped over it with a graphic that advertised my brand and my book covers. I had a little toy dragon for kids to play with, dragon bookmarks to give away, and stickers with dragon designs or “reading” designs to give away. Behind me was a massive poster advertising my fantasy books. And I wore tee shirts that were themed with reading messages or my branding. Some people have props that are in line with their book themes, and colorful tablecloths. I also have little displays that have five-star quotes about the books, left by readers on Amazon. Bob, though, had none of these things. All he had was a plain table with his books piled on it.

Have an effective pitch. A “pitch” is the quick summary of your book that hooks the potential reader. It needs to be on-point with the theme and genre of your book, create excitement, and give the stakes that the protagonists face. It also needs to highlight how that book is different from any other book in that genre. Each book needs its own pitch. When I talk to potential readers about my fantasy book, Dragon of the Federation, I lead off with “This is a fantasy told from the point of view of a dragon.” I pause a fraction of a second for that to sink in, and watch as their eyes light up, then I continue by saying what the protagonists are there for, an exciting event that sets up the plot, and then the dangerous and world-shattering stakes that the protagonists face. Bob, on the other hand, mentions something about a couple of specific technologies in his scifi books, but none of the plot points or stakes involved. It gave me the impression that it was a science fiction, but nothing else.

Have something more for the customer after the sale. When the customer buys your book, don’t let that be the end of the engagement. I say “Please feel free to take bookmark and a sticker. My card is in the book with my website and links, in case you’d like to follow me on my social media or sign up for my mailing list. And I urge you to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads.” Have swag. This way, they are getting something more and have something to do even after they finish the book. I’m building a community around my books, you see. Bob, though, does nothing of the sort. He just sells the book and says “Thank you.”

Make sure your books have effective covers. Maybe a tad off-topic here, but you want to make sure your book covers are effective. They need to be instantly recognizable for what genre they represent, have a compelling title, and be original. For instance, my science fiction novel, The First Nova I See Tonight, has a cover that features an otherworldly planetscape with stars and a nova in the sky and three figures on it that represent the three main characters (including a feline alien, a space rogue, and a cyborg). My horror collection, Around the Corner from Sanity, has a cover with bloody handprints in the window of a dilapidated building. Bob’s books, however, feature pictures of pretty waterfall or a cliff face with ice. The titles also don’t suggest anything scifi-ish. Looking at the covers, one would have no idea what genre they fit at all. 

[Related: here’s a prior post I wrote about how to get an effective cover as an indie author]

Hey, I get it. Many of us writers are introverts. We just want to write our stories. But remember, your job as an author doesn’t stop after the book is published. Maybe that was the case 50 years ago, but these days you have to do so much more. You have to get out there, where the readers are, and engage them, both digitally and in-person. And even getting out there and doing in-person events isn’t enough. You have to market your books with enthusiasm. You’re an entertainer. Don’t be afraid to be a “people person” and get animated, at least for as long as your event is. Don’t be a “Bob.”

Cheers and happy reading!