Spanish Fog excerpt

 This novel is set in 16th century Spain, 8 years after the end of the reconquista. Tempers flare between the muslim citizens and their new christian overlords. 

A bandit works the streets, forming his own personal army to shake down anyone for good coin. Only, the bandit Vaho is hiding a deep secret, he is actually a she.

The below excerpt is when Vaho stops by to visit the only person trusted with the great secret.

Dwarves in Space - April 8th!

Thousands of years after the jewelry's destroyed, the sword reforged, the dragon ridden, and the indecipherable prophecy translated into a recipe for sugared biscuits, the dwarves turned to that final frontier: space. And along came the elves, orcs, gnomes, trolls, ogres, and those vermin-like upstarts, humans. 

It's official, Dwarves in Space: The Firstening is dropping on April 8th but you, yes you!, can pre-order it now on amazon.

The Elation-Cru is not the flashiest ship, nor the newest, or even has all of its bolts attached; but she can fly. Well, sort of wade through space, and that's when all the parts are working. She supports a sugar addicted dwarven pilot, an elven engineer, an orcish doctor, a silent djinn, and the lone human trying to hold the entire thing together with duct tape. Variel, the captain, has been hiding from a secret for the past five years and time's finally run out.

When she goes against her common sense and fights to save her
on-board assassin/renter from a job gone sour, she finds herself before an ex-colleague that knew her in her previous life as the Knight of the realm. The entire ship is sent on a mad dash across the universe -- from a decaying space station, home to the wackiest species the galaxy has to offer, down to the Orc homeworld, which wouldn't be so bad if Variel hadn't spent most of her previous life fighting in the war against them. Chances of survival are nil and slipping fast.

You can read a sample of the first chapter by clicking the button below.

April 8th! Pre-Order now!

Dragon Age: Inquisition Valentines

You knew they were coming. Like the washing of the tide, the rise of the sun, the Hurlock hiding behind the damn pillar so you can't put your staff away until he's dead, it was inevitable.

This year was a bit of a scramble with eight possible romances, but I got them all done, as well as a few extra valentines for the new companions. I did not make a new Varric one. Forgive me, but I doubt I can ever top the one from 2.

Anyway, enough chattering. On to the valentines:

Now with Corypheus! Someone (Hi goat lady!) asked me to make one for our stumbling villain and I obliged:

 Cassandra, the true romantic at heart. But she'll smash your nose in if you call her on it. 

Blackwall. Notice the rainier hearts behind the dark wall. I stole the idea from Cole.

Dorian, adorable yet sad Dorian. I call him the honey ham of despair. He's sweet, tangy, and sad at the same time.

Sera. Nothing more need be said. Woof!

Iron Bull. I'm rather proud I kept the 50 Shades jokes to only the shade of satin sheets. Very proud!

Josie. Notice the raven flying in the background. I'm not saying you'll wind up with stabbed kidneys if you dump her, but...

Cullen. Cully-Wully. Oh just give him a hug already, the man needs it.

Solas. This is the start of the bittersweet valentines. Love's not guaranteed to last, and sometimes there are more important world changing things.

Viv. Sorry, Madam de Fer pleasedon'thurtme! For that non-Valentine in your life that won't stop asking if you're ever going to.

And Cole's got your back if you completely screwed up and need to try again. Use sparingly as there's a chance people will begin to remember you.

But because picking a favorite romance is like choosing the best skill in a tree, below are all the other valentines from across Origins, Awakening, and the redheaded bar maiden DA2.

Praise for The King's Blood

Yesterday, I had a reader facebook message me to tell me she loved my book but wished Ciara and Aldrin had stayed together forever with lots of exclamation points.

I...I do believe that is my first bit of fanmail.

How adorable is that? I want to print it out and frame it like that first dollar businesses get.

I also got a nice surprise from The Modest Verge. As part of their end of the year recap they included Ciara as one of their favorite heroines.

Go Cia! (Never call her Cia)







As for me, I'm starting work on getting Dwarves in Space into that murky publishing state. I am not excited about beginning the marketing stuff, but look: shiny new book cover!

Like the cleaning of a house, it never ends.

I've broken the curse!

Normally, this time of year I'd post a picture and rundown of what has become one of my greatest failures at life: frosting a birthday cake.

But something happened this year, something I cannot explain even under threat of "How many lights are there?"

I made a decent looking cake.

Believe me, I'm more shocked than you. This has never happened when I've tried, when I haven't tried, when I've dropped the cake side first into frosting and smeared it with a fork (By the by, if you want a bloody looking cake, try to frost Red Velvet with a butterknife. Massacre cake!)

Here is my husband's birthday cake.

Why is it Dessert at Tiffany's Blue? Because I had a lot of blue food dye but not enough to take it to the next teeth staining level.

What's with the crystals speckled throughout like fly poop? Run with what you have, also crystal fly poop is gonna be huge!

And the spiderwebs...I dumped some black frosting into a bag, snipped the end, and had it dribble in a line. After that there was only one way to go: massive spider invasion.

Apparently I cannot use fancy piping tips, but give me a ziploc bag and I'll pipe out a decent spiderweb.

But I see no reason to ruin the tradition, here are the past birthday cakes that cause the birth gods to weep in shame.

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