Author
I write fantasy, with a bit of science fiction thrown into the mix.
I also have one idea that looks suspiciously like a spy thriller, though it’s still nothing more than an idea in the vague shape of a story.
I write quite a lot of fanfiction. I often salvage my fan work for ideas I can use in the original.
Most of these salvaged notions come from the mechanics of the world, such as how magic might work in a particular setting. I also have one “history” that I’ve adapted to an original story.
I occasionally salvage ideas that are more character-specific.
Most of my fanfiction is posted to the Pit of Voles and deviantArt.
I currently have one excerpt posted to my other deviantArt account.
And I have assorted notes and decades-old work posted to deviantArt and to FictionPress.
I have also created a new site here to focus on my writing… one plotline in particular.
Photographer
The camera is my toy, and taking pictures is my game.
I would like to get a better camera, though, and start playing with filters and lenses.
When I do take serious pictures, I prefer landscapes–water- or mountain-scapes, mostly–though most of my efforts thus far are of motorcycle rallies and the like that I’ve attended.
And if I ever acquire a decent set of lenses and filters–or at least get more practice using PhotoShop–I’d like to try for a supernatural effect.
In terms of purpose, the pictures I want to take would support my writing; in terms of a career…the pictures would still take a back-seat, and I’m not making any money at either one, yet.
One of my main characters is a professional travel photographer, so I do need to dabble a bit more for research.
I may begin posting some of my weirder pics, on here or on deviantArt.
Traveler
I grew up all over the place.
I’m a military brat. I’ve lived on both sides of the Atlantic, in at least 9 different houses, and I’ve visited almost a dozen different countries before my dad finally retired.
And then we moved to another state before I finished out my final two years of high school.
We’ve been living in the same house since then. My internal clock has been waiting for the next move since maybe 2002.
I don’t know if that’s normal for military, but I’ve always found it strange to meet people who haven’t moved. I’ve found it downright weird to meet people who have never even been outside their hometown.
And after all that moving around…I still have the wanderbug.
Side Quest Publications 
are you in college?
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Yup. For another (checks clock) 7 days, 2 hours, and 26 minutes.
And then graduation is in June. 😀
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!! so close, congratulations! It would almost seem like you were counting or something…so strange 😉
what’s your major?
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Thank you.
Counting? Me?
Master’s in Information Systems. Which seems to be a business/management degree, focusing on the people as the information system.
I previously majored in Computer Science. I think I was about a year into my Master’s when I started wondering why I didn’t just go to a different university so I could continue the computer side of things.
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you’re welcome.
college is such an interesting thing, sometimes you are sad that it is passing so fast and try to soak in every last bit, then at other times you can’t wait for it to be over (you might even count the seconds)
Your majors sound pretty interesting. Do you like them? you could probably help me with my wordpress haha, they love to change the setup on me orz
why didn’t you change universities for your masters? (although i can understand staying at my own)
Then again i think the diversity of degrees is a good thing too.
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When I went for the Bachelor’s degree, I had two computer-intensive degrees to pick from: Computer Science, with a lot of programming classes, or Computer Information Systems, with a lot of business classes. I didn’t really care about business at the time, and I wanted more exposure to the programming languages, so I picked CS. I loved it, and would love to get a job in the field…though I sometimes wonder if the lack of business courses was a mistake.
I haven’t made up my mind about the Information Systems. I’m still not that interested in the business side of things, and I’m definitely not interested in management-level work…except for what I’d need as a sole proprietor. 😉 (Basically, tell me, the employee, what site you want and I’ll be glad to try it; I DON’T want to be the one telling other people what to do.)
Why didn’t I change universities?
I’m hard of hearing, and I temporarily deluded myself into believing that taking an entirely online degree was a good thing. ^^; Not to mention the flexible schedule as I continue looking for a job.
The unfortunate result being the lack of face-to-face networking; even our real-time meetings are via chat or voice, no video.
If I’d changed universities, though, I’d not only have the benefit of a COMPUTER master’s degree, I’d also have easier access to all those foreign language courses.
There’s one really interesting part about where I’m going, though…the graduation ceremony is ON MY BIRTHDAY.
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wow… that’s all pretty intense. i think you could do a secondary masters still right? also, what languages are you interested in?
Birthday and graduation?! can you handle that???
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I’ve considered a secondary master’s (or a secondary bachelor’s, or even just general classes in the field, if a “master’s” as such is not available)…but would have to wait until I get a decent job and paycheck for a while. I’m not aiming to deal with another student loan any time soon.
I’m interested in “any” languages, including the hope to turn German into an ACTUAL second language (it’s the closest I have to one) rather than a language that I “kind of know a bit”. But my interest in the specific university was because it has a whole lot of Japanese courses.
I think I can handle it, personally. The question is, how will my family handle it, and can I handle THEM?
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Seems like you would benefit a lot from the second degree or such. And I think a second language as a SECOND language you can actually speak is much better than a few languages you can say you know a bit of any day.
one of my majors right now is Japanese and it’s hard but i love it. why do you have an interest in Japanese?
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Well, yeah, knowing “a few words” doesn’t exactly get me anywhere if I’m in the country. But I’m looking at the “any language” as a “if a genie granted me one wish” scenario. My wish would be to be totally fluent in ALL languages, past, present, and future.
Why the interest in Japanese? Anime and video games. 😀
I’m one of those people who would love to import the originals if I could (I find it annoying that plot is often changed in translation), but there’s the language barriers. Kind of like this one author who wants to learn Japanese so she can watch the original Akira Kurosawa movies, which I’d also be interested in. Right now the best I can do is set Wolf’s Rain or Spirited Away to the Japanese track, but I don’t really “learn” much that way.
And my interest in the Japanese culture as its own subject started off from there. Plus I’d love to travel, and there’s this motorcycle tour group that I wouldn’t mind joining, and Japan IS one of the places they go….
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Interesting to read about you and your ideas and what inspires you. Good luck with everything. I see you want to write a spy novel….I used to work in the Foreign Office when younger and that world was very real to me and I have always wanted to write one too. My Flash Fiction last Friday was in that area…..though most of my novels/stories are crime and now and again character based observational gentle humour stories. I too love photography and often use my photos for inspiration or a record of locations which inspire me….so much in common! Good to meet you.
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Thanks for visiting, and thanks for the kind words.
Truthfully, it wasn’t so much I “want” to write a spy novel, as one of my plot ideas was starting to look like a spy novel. 😉 Go where the plot takes me, right?
Although I am tempted to rework that idea, and see if I can make it fit in one of my Doctor Who plotlines. Or maybe do it up as two versions: one Doctor Who and one not.
You can see an early draft prologue to the idea in question… um, here: http://pioneersoftheshatteredwaters.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/plagiarists-prologue/ (Good lord I need to do more with that site. ^^; )
I’ve just started exploring readers’ sites; are you talking about White Witch of England?
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Do you know, I have lost the plot re what we were discussing. The White Witch was a Flash Fiction story last Dec and it was Podcast Jan 2012 based on real events, though condensed of course. Last month I had a crime piece published on the same writing blog (links on my pages) called The Honey Trap and this will be podcast March 24th 2013 same place. So not sure if you meant this one? Same time I had a short story published on the same blog page called A Walk to Destiny. If I could find the thread of our conversation it would help! It may be that you were thinking Witchery and not murder!! Let me know and if you have read them and what you think…..I hope you find time to add to your blog as loved it. Enjoy the rest of the week. Jxx
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You’d said your “Flash Fiction last Friday” (comment posted on Dec 3, would mean you’d written it around Nov 30)….
I’d checked your blog, and looked for the most recent reference I could to Flash Fiction. ^^; For some reason, Honey Trap didn’t show up in that search.
Although I wasn’t exactly paying attention to the date, and the reference in question was for an entry on someone else’s podcast, so….. *facepalm* Whoops.
Oh, right, I think I’d just clicked the link on your menu for “Flash Fiction Friday 2012,” which gave me a link to Morgan Bailey’s blog (silly me for not reading the actual post before clicking), which led me to THAT blog’s “Flash Fiction Friday” page, which led me to White Witch.
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You are having a bad hair day like me. Just had a freak out with the internet connection which has had me going nuts all afternoon. OK so you should be able to get the White Witch (Dec 2nd 2011) and podcast Jan 2nd 2012….then Honey Trap 30th Nov 2012 and A Walk to Destiny short story (Saturdays) 24th Nov 2012 all on her blog….good luck, happy hunting! Let me know if you find them and read them.
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Hello, just saw your thoughtful review on Amazon and thought I’d pop in to answer your question: nobody knows what caused the Event. It is described only in the chapter-head of Chapter 2 and Hope’s recollections early in the chapter. There are some comments on it in the Chapter 9 chapter head. That’s it. Everybody has theories, and nobody knows what caused the Event or how the event changed the world to allow superpowers; it is an ineffable mystery.
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Thanks for the reply!
My first inclination was to point out that, even if they don’t know what caused it, they still ought to know what it IS. However, after looking up the chapter headings you listed (I’d forgotten about those, oops; I guess mentioning it in passing didn’t help me after all ;)), I found this mention: “every human being in the world…total sensory deprivation.”
Can I assume, then, that when they say “The Event,” they’re specifically referring to this description? (Kind of like Flash Forward, a comparison I believe another reviewer had made.) That was the problem I was talking about in my review, not knowing just what people were referring to.
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Yes, it was kind of Flash Forward–and for the record, I was most of the way finished with the first draft before that short-lived series came out. I was more than a little miffed at the similarities despite the fact that Flash Forward was all about trying to figure out what had actually happened and perhaps stopping it from happening again.
Not that the Event was really that original; a lot of modern urban fantasy settings start from the premise that Suddenly Everything Changed. I have never been tempted to explain the Event because, honestly, any explanation makes it too small.
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Well, that’s what happens when the reader sees Flash Forward before finding your books; they get their comparisons all screwed up.
In that case, it’d be more accurate to say that Flash Forward is like your Event, rather than that the Event is like Flash Forward. At least nobody’s trying to claim you stole from the show, right? 😉 Like the comparisons made between Tolkien and Rowling…. I really hope those people were joking….
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