The Sound of the Splintered Land

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When I write a new story, I mint a soundtrack for it. This helps me a) get into the groove faster when I sit down at my keyboard and b) write a story that’s more consistent feeling between sessions (if it takes 3 months to write a novel, uniformly vibing is important). My 2020 Spotify Wrapped told me some interesting things, like: I spent a lot of time writing the Splintered Land books. Many top songs in my playlist, and my top artist, all feature on the Splintered Land soundtrack. And I spent more time with those tracks than listening to music doing anything else, which explains where all my damn free time went. If you listen to the soundtrack you will probably think: Wow, Richard has weird taste. This doesn’t sound like dark fantasy. What the fuck is going on? Read More …

Meet … Geneve

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You might have missed the news that the Splintered Land trilogy is here. With a new trilogy comes new heroes. It’s time to meet Geneve! I hope you enjoy reading her story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Sorcerers are a blight. Knight Adept Geneve must end them. A wizard rumored to hold the Tome of Lost Souls is on the run. This powerful grimoire can destroy Geneve’s order in an instant. She must capture him–and the Tome. Geneve finds truth on her path. Monsters brutalize the world, and her leaders are complicit. She runs from them into the blasted plaguelands. Geneve damns herself through her choice of companions: a Feybrind who keeps his own counsel, a renegade illusionist, and one of the vile Vhemin. Her quest to uncover the Tome’s secret remains. If she succeeds, she will let Read More …

How to Find an Editor

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I’ve had a few people ask recently for how to get an editor. I don’t know why I’m getting these questions – I figure it’s either because: My editing is so pro people want a slice o’ that ass, or They’re trying to drop a subtle hint that I should look into getting an editor. Let’s go with column A. I typed out a long-ish response to a query yesterday, so replicated it (mostly) below. It’s timely, as I’ve just started editing 377,000 words of The Splintered Land – so, reminders are always good, hey? Requests for editors circle around three issues. How to find one. What a good one looks like. Getting one at a fair price. The short answer is Tiffany is amazing and you can find her and ask for a quote here: https://writenowcreative.com/. Now, the longer version. Read More …

The Splintered Land’s First Draft is DONE

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I interrupt your regularly scheduled scrolling to drop some happy. Requiem’s Justice, book 3 in the Splintered Land trilogy, is code complete as they say (…in a totally different industry). Sure, sure, I’ve about seven years’ of editing to do, but let me hold this one close for a while. It racks in just shy of 120,000 words, which is more or less what the other two are. When editing is done on all three, the series will look like this: Tomb of the Six Blade of Glass The Storm Within Requiem’s Justice The astute among you will notice there are four (4) titles, which seems an odd number for a trilogy. As I’m breaking into the hot new genre (for me) of epic/dark fantasy, you’ll get an on-the-house series prequel when this launches. You’ll be able to judge for Read More …

The Price is Right

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Life’s been hard these past months. I don’t want to be a downer, but the only thing missing from this apocalypse is actual zombies (and I’m pretty sure I saw those at the mall). I know money is tight. Shit is hard. Unemployment’s at record highs, and even “cheap” entertainment like reading is difficult to justify when you’re not sure how to feed your kids tomorrow. Many people aren’t coping, and finding it harder without fantasy worlds to escape to. I have three possible solutions for you. If you’re really hard up for cash, I’ve made Chromed: Upgrade free. This is my homage to Blade Runner. It’s got cybernetics, alcohol, genetically-modified monsters, wormholes, AI, and rock music. This was the thing I wanted to write when I started to do this gig for real, and you can get it for nothing. 85,000 Read More …

Meet … Tameri Etherton

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Tameri Etherton’s book Sunset She Fights is part of the SFWA Fantastic Beasts storybundle. You can find Tameri on the web or Facebook. If you want to do your part for charity and get some ass-kicking books for the price you choose, check out the Fantastic Beasts storybundle. Make sure you check the box for charity! Q: Rainne feels a wonderful mix of powerful hero and mystery wrapped together. How did you make her? A: Thank you! My hope for Rainne was that she could be an anti-heroine even though she absolutely has hero qualities. She’s intelligent, kind, and nurturing, but also carries with her a deeply rooted rage that shows itself in some wild ways. I wanted to explore what it is to love yourself, ogress and all. We all have qualities we wish we didn’t have, or were Read More …

Meet … Vale Nagle

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Vale Nagle’s book Eyrie is part of the SFWA Fantastic Beasts storybundle. You can find Vale on the web, @kvalenagle, or Facebook. If you want to do your part for charity and get some ass-kicking books for the price you choose, check out the Fantastic Beasts storybundle. Make sure you check the box for charity! Q: Pulmonary embolism is a thing I used in a book as a throwaway line, but you’ve *been* there. Who’s fault was it? A: Oh gosh, that’s a good question. In one sense, the fault for the first embolism was mine. I’d driven to Florida from Colorado, then driven back, and any time you’re doing a long distance card ride, you’re at risk for an embolism. So let that be the first lesson to everyone—if you’re going to be in a car or sitting down Read More …

Meet … Scott Huggins

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Scott Huggins’ book All Things Huge & Hideous is part of the SFWA Fantastic Beasts storybundle. You can find Scott on the web. If you want to do your part for charity and get some ass-kicking books for the price you choose, check out the Fantastic Beasts storybundle. Make sure you check the box for charity! Q: Did you, or did you not, get your dragon inspiration from raising cats? A: I did not get the dragon inspiration directly from raising cats, but I suppose it helped. Q: How much veterinary research did you do when writing All Things? Did you get inspiration from nature or a line of cocaine? A: I have to give a HUGE amount of credit on this to my wife, Katie, who is a veterinarian. I have bothered her with an amazing number of stupid Read More …

Meet … Doc Macfarlane

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Dr. Hayley Macfarlane’s book Prince of Foxes is part of the SFWA Fantastic Beasts storybundle. You can find Hayley on the web, @HLMacfarlane, Insta, or the Bub. If you want to do your part for charity and get some ass-kicking books for the price you choose, check out the Fantastic Beasts storybundle. Make sure you check the box for charity! Q: OMG Scotland. Do you have photos of Nessie? A: No, I don’t have photos of Nessie haha. I grew up on the south-eastern shore of Loch Lomond, and Nessie is, of course, in Loch Ness. In a horrendous turn of events I’ve never been to Loch Ness before – I don’t drive and it’s difficult to get up there using public transport. One day, though… From an interesting creature standpoint, there’s an island on Loch Lomond full of wallabies. Read More …

Meet … Douglas Smith

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Douglas Smith’s book The Wolf at the End of the World is part of the SFWA Fantastic Beasts storybundle. You can find Douglas on the web, or @smithwritr. If you want to do your part for charity and get some ass-kicking books for the price you choose, check out the Fantastic Beasts storybundle. Make sure you check the box for charity! Q: You’ve gone all over the genre playground in your career … what made you write Wolf at the End of the World? A: When I started, the first three short stories I wrote were urban fantasy tales in my Heroka universe, the name I gave my shapehifter species. My first story of those three, “Spirit Dance,” ended up being the first story I ever sold. After those initial stories, I wrote across a lot of genres–science fiction, horror, high Read More …