News

Junk Magic and Guitar Dreams – The Soundtrack

A friend of mine gave me a cool idea, and that was to put together a (strictly unofficial and unlicensed) soundtrack for Junk Magic and Guitar Dreams on Spotify. As I was writing the book, I referred to music often to help me capture the mood of a given scene, and also to try to put music into words. This list of songs tracks the mood and emotional landscape of the book all the way to the triumphant climax. You can listen before, during and after reading. 🙂 Click here to listen the Junk Magic and Guitar Dreams Soundtrack onContinue readingJunk Magic and Guitar Dreams – The Soundtrack

The Ebb and Flow of a Creative Career

After my post last week about The Ventures and their music, etc., I received a really cool email from a fan who wanted to tell me a story. I thought it was so great I asked Gareth’s permission to share it with you, and he kindly agreed. “I used to work on a grounds crew at the University I live by and during the winter, the only thing we could do was shovel snow. The area I had at the time had no gardener’s box, so I shared the box of the area next to mine. The regular gardener of thatContinue readingThe Ebb and Flow of a Creative Career

The Power of Music

It’s been a minor key kinda week around here.First a little bit of music history. I used to love listening to my dad’s Ventures LPs when I was kid. Here’s a bit about The Ventures for you from Wikipedia: “The band, a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar in the United States and across the world during the 1960s. While their popularity in the United States waned in the 1970s, the group remains especially revered in Japan, where they tour regularly to this day…. [Unfortunately, one of the original members, Nokie Edwards, passed away inContinue readingThe Power of Music

Book Release! Junk Magic and Guitar Dreams

I want to play your heart strings at concert volume. If this sounds like your favorite kind of book experience, check out my new Young Adult magical realism novel Junk Magic and Guitar Dreams, published under my YA pseudonym, T. James Logan. Junk Magic and Guitar Dreams is a book so close to my heart. I got a wonderful review this week that really made my day. “Maybe it was just at the right place at the right time, but Junk Magic and Guitar Dreams was a novel I couldn’t put down. Otter’s (the recently-orphaned protagonist) struggles really resonated with me, and theContinue readingBook Release! Junk Magic and Guitar Dreams

Does Steampunk Stoke Your Boiler?

If you’re a steampunk fan, you can fill your e-reader with this amazing bundle. And the best part? You can pay what you want! I’m honored to share this bundle with: Robert E. Vardeman Bobby Schemerhorn Anthea Sharp Louisa Swann J.R. Murdock Tim Niederriter Kristin S. Walker Tracy Cembor Kevin O. McLaughlin Marie Andreas And the inimitable Kevin J. Anderson. Kevin collaborated with Neil Peart, the recently deceased and much lamented drummer for Rush, to produce the Clockwork series, and I gotta tell you, those books are just stunning. You’ll love this ebook bundle because retrofuturistic sf, fantasy, and horrorContinue readingDoes Steampunk Stoke Your Boiler?

Ringing in 2020: Reflecting on a Decade

Happy New Year! Rolling out a whole decade and escorting in the New Roaring 20s! But hopefully without the Prohibition, gangsters, and stock market crash. It’s been quite a decade for me, in retrospect. Most days, it’s really hard to see the forest for the trees. What’s really easy is to let our brains get in our own way. The turning of a decade is the perfect opportunity to reflect on the ups and downs of life and career. So I’m going to take this opportunity to reflect on what I accomplished in the last ten years. Wrote and published sixContinue readingRinging in 2020: Reflecting on a Decade

Pre-Order Now! DAWN OF THE DEADLY FANG

It’s almost here! T. James Logan (my YA pen name) has been hard at work! And now, it’s all coming to fruition on January 1st, the release date for Dawn of the Deadly Fang, Volume 2 of the Lycanthrope Trilogy, a supernatural thriller series for Young Adult readers. FITTING IN AT A NEW SCHOOL IS HARD… WHEN YOU’RE NOT HUMAN ANYMORE A mysterious plague is sweeping across the Great Plains, one that grants the ability to shapeshift—but with it comes an insatiable hunger for fresh meat. Sixteen-year-old Mia is Infected, but she’s a special case. Thanks to a strange geneticContinue readingPre-Order Now! DAWN OF THE DEADLY FANG

Interviews from the Shriekfest Film Festival

One of the fun but incredibly nerve-wracking things (for us lil ‘ol introverts) about going to the Shriekfest Film Festival is the whole red carpet event, when you have to go through a gauntlet of interviews for various media platforms. So here’s one of mine where I speak with Chauncey K. Robinson about Where the Devil Resides. Here’s another one with Priscilla Leona. It was such a great experience at Shriekfest. I met so many great people, got to hang with many I met last year, and I keep learning more and more about how films get made. Sometime overContinue readingInterviews from the Shriekfest Film Festival

It’s Here! Legend of the Ronin #1

When I was a kid in elementary, I made my own comics. Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, I drew all kinds of my own stories. I taught myself to draw the human form by studying John Buscema’s Conan the Barbarian, and the elves of Wendy Pini’s Elfquest. It only took me a several decades to muster of the belief, then the will, to produce my own comic book, for real. I didn’t draw it this time, the wonderfully talented Ramon Perez did. And the amazing Brittany Pezzillo handled the colors. But it’s finally here. Legend of the Ronin, Issue #1.Continue readingIt’s Here! Legend of the Ronin #1

Teenage Werewolves of the Apocalypse

I have pressed the Launch Button on the Kickstarter Campaign to help me fund the publication of Dawn of the Deadly Fang, volume 2 in my Lycanthrope Trilogy. The werewolf torpedo is in the water. *cue dramatic music* Please check it out and become a backer of teen werewolves trying to save the world. Thank you!

Scammers Gotta Scam: An Update on a Literary Con Man

If you’re a new writer looking for that first bit of industry attention, a literary agent, a publisher, etc., PLEASE read these blog posts. If you’ve read my Cautionary Tales for Writers here in my blog, you know who Don Phelan is, former CEO of Commonwealth Publications, the scam publisher who screwed me and hundreds of other authors out of millions of dollars in the mid- to late-90s. Turns out, he’s still at it, conning inexperienced writers. If you’re a writer, avoid the AMS Literary Agency. https://accrispin.blogspot.com/2019/02/ams-literary-agency-approach-with.html I’m glad to know that Alison Aldrige and Victoria Strauss are out thereContinue readingScammers Gotta Scam: An Update on a Literary Con Man

I Have an Online Store!

I’m delighted to announce that for the first time ever, I have an online store where you can order signed, personalized books direct from me! https://bear-paw-publishing.square.site For the month of August, U.S. residents can order copies of all my novels and most of my anthologies, signed and personalized however you wish, with FREE SHIPPING! So if you love signed books, or you know a bibliophile who does, click the link above to visit my store and let me send you an armload of awesome fiction!