I had the privilege of reading early an absolutely adorable children’s chapter book. I even got my own, real copy. Neener neener. I’m reviewing Wishweaver, written and illustrated by J.H. Winter, as both an author and an elementary educator. In both arenas, Whimsy’s journey–and it literally is a journey–is one that will delight young readers…
Alternate title: Oh God a Post on Commas Whyyyyyyy Well, no. We don’t have to. But a couple of things happened recently that brought us here. The first was a response I left on Twitter. It was more a subtle jab at my grammar-nerdy self than an actual question (hence the lack of question mark).…
It is my privilege to share with you the story of an upcoming author who I don’t hesitate to say will be the next Stephen King. Matthew Crocker (follow him here) is well established in the writing community on Twitter, and while he’s been developing his craft, he hasn’t yet published any of his short…
How are you all faring in our social distancing efforts? Fortunately, cabin fever is the only type of fever affecting my family. We were going for walks if possible, but today’s weather looks like this. Happy first day of spring. So as I was scrolling through twitter and wondering what to do with my time,…
I’ve been quiet on the blogosphere lately, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t happening. For example, DOJ received its first Editorial Review from The Book Review Directory! Here’s part of it: Paranormal mysteries rely heavily on tight plotting and attention to detail, and in both respects this book hits the mark. Maruska used alternating timelines…
Still on the fence about reading Dreams of Justice: A Paranormal Mystery? Check out Colleen Chesebro’s review! This is my favorite part: I began this novel one evening and could not put it down, reading far into the wee hours. The next thing I knew, the storyline infiltrated my own dreams! Read the rest of…
Two weekends ago, Heather Kindt and I co-rented a booth at Albuquerque Comic Con (read her post about it here). Check us out in our costumed glory. You can’t see my A+ Rey hairdoo game, but I think the foam belt and wrist thingie get the point across. Heather thought her web outfit was lame,…
Today is New Year’s Day, and resolutions are flying around as wildly and perhaps as carefree as dandelion seeds near a daycare. Okay, that might not be the best analogy. The point is, lots and lots of people are setting goals for themselves for the coming year. Mine is a continuation of last year’s, because…
I hope you’ve all had happy, relaxing (ha!) holiday seasons so far. Our Christmas day is really three parties crammed into one day, which is super fun for an introvert like me. So my plans for the next few days look something like this: Aside from all the socializing and copious amounts of wrapping paper…
Originally posted on Allison Maruska:
Last weekend, I published this post about why we stop reading books. Many of you submitted insightful comments, and as I read through them I realized something: many of our “reading pet peeves” can be boiled down to the author doing one of two things. Not bad, huh? Just avoid…
Allison Maruska 