Writing Samples

Updated: 06.20.10

I write novels, short stories, blogs and freelance articles. I am also adapting my novel, The Magic of Eyri, to a free audio podcast–so I write all the scripts for that as well. I am available for hire as a freelance writer (articles, copy, fiction and nonfiction stories, blogs, scripts).

This page contains samples of my writing or links to where you can view samples.

Quick News!

• a flash fiction story I wrote will be included in the upcoming Tales Out of Miskatonic University anthology. Read all about in my blog post.

Blogging

I blog on this site and it is mirrored to my account on LiveJournal. I blog about Geek Stuff and Non-Geek Stuff. You can subscribe to my blog’s RSS feed here or use the box in the sidebar.

Blogs for other websites

Guest Blogs for Lansing Capital Gains (http://captialgainsmedia.com)

Urban Revival – a guest blog post for TEDx Lansing

Writing Humor in Science Fiction and Fantasy – a guest blog post for the Elder Signs Press blog

Lansing Restaurant Examiner for Examiner.com – reviews of restaurants around Lansing

High Noon Fantasy Hockey for IllegalCurve.com – a weekly column containing fantasy hockey news, tips and advice.  Sadly, IllegalCurve is no longer updating

Freelance Articles

Uncle Sam’s New Mix for Old Town (Lansing Capital Gains, 03.04.09)

Bringing Back the Boomerangs (Lansing Capital Gains, 04.29.09)

Eastside Lansing’s Golden Spoon (Lansing Capital Gains, 09.02.09)

Life in Lansing Goes Live (Lansing Capital Gains, 09.16.09)

Landing in Lansing: Shirley Saylor (Lansing Capital Gains, 10.07.09)

Lansing’s International Flavor (Lansing Capital Gains, 11.04.09.  Republished on 12.09.09)

Game On, Grow On (Lansing Capital Gains, 01.13.2010)

Single in the City (Lansing Capital Gains, 01.20.2010)

Building a Healthier Lansing (Lansing Capital Gains, 2.17.2010)

Development articles (Lansing Capital Gains, 2.10 – 5.10) 200 word stories focusing on development news about Lansing and Mid-Michigan. I wrote four a week. Sample 1 :: Sample 2 :: Sample 3

Novels

ISBN: 978-0615145280

The first four chapters of my novel, The Magic of Eyri. 

I started the first draft of The Magic of Eyri as part of National Novel Writing Month back in 2005.  The goal of the month is to write 50,000 words in thirty days or less. I hit the goal in 25 days.  I have taken part in Novel Writing Month two more times (2007, 2008) and met the goal both times.  I beat my previous record of 25 days in November 2008, reaching the target word count in 24 days.

In the spring of 2009, I began doing a free audio podcast version of The Magic of Eyri.  I do most of the voice acting myself and edit everything together in GarageBand on my iBook.  New episodes are made available every other Wednesday.

In November 2009, I finished the first draft of my next novel, titled Night of the Lonely Werewolf for now (but that will change soon).  This novel, while different from The Magic of Eyri, maintains the same wacky style.  There are serious moments of course, as any good story needs both ups and downs, but I’m still going for something humorous.  I’m currently doing the first read through and edit, and I would like to have a finished draft in a few months.  Like The Magic of Eyri, this novel began with National Novel Writing Month.

I have also started work on the next Magic of Eyri adventure, with a working title of Them Bones.  The plot, for now, involves Steve returning to Eyri and facing off against an elite band of living skeleton bounty hunters called the Roving Bones.  Them Bones will spoof many aspects of music and modern music history (the blues, Rock ‘n’ Roll, heavy metal) for another wacky fantasy adventure. This novel has been put on the back burner for now as I’m focusing on finishing and submitting Night of the Lonely Werewolf to agents and publishers.

Short Stories

I enjoy writing short stories and try to keep writing them whenever I’m inspired.  I have yet to sell a short story and I have the rejection letters to prove it.  But, that doesn’t stop me from trying.  I write all kinds of short stories, including flash fiction stories that are under 1,000 words.

MU Blog Entry (around 330 words, appearing in the Tales Out of Miskatonic University anthology published by Mythos Books, LLC).  I entered a flash-fiction piece into a contest put on by the anthology’s editor, William Jones and I was one of the lucky few to win.  This means my short-short story will appear in the final version of the anthology, which will be published sometime in 2009 or early 2010.  I did not get paid for my piece, but I will receive royalties.  The anthology will be available in most book stores.

I don’t have an excerpt here due to contractual obligations. The premise was to write a piece from the view of someone who attended the fictional university created by horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft.  I took a more humorous route and had a lot of fun writing my entry, which involved a student who attended MU on a sports scholarship who was not directly involved with any of the crazy events going on.

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Slow and Steady (about 3,900 words, unpublished). This was a Steampunk retelling of the Tortoise and the Hare fable.  It involves a race between two inventors. One is an old owl woman named Theena (along with her apprentice, Phillip the duck) and the other is a mysterious cormorant man named Count Bodell.  Each has a racing machine of their own design, Theena’s a steam-powered tortoise and the Count a rabbit machine powered by a battery of his own design.

Excerpt:

“You shoulda seen it!”  Phillip told Theena later that evening as they cooked dinner. “After he got inside its head, it shot straight up and ran down the road!”

“So he invented a running machine, why all the fuss?” Theena said without looking up from the potato she was peeling.

“But it was fast, that’s why all the fuss!”  Phillip explained. “It ran from the Club all the way down to Forge’s Gorge an’ back b’fore lunch!”

Theena slowed her peeling but did not look up. “He did this on steam?”

“Nah,” Phillip answered as he sliced a loaf of bread. “He said it wasn’t steam-powered.”

“Then what was it?”

“Some sorta battery he developed.  Somethin’ is odd about it tho.”

“What do you mean?”  Theena asked.

“There was this green smoke commin’ out of the spouts on the thing’s head.”

Theena stopped in mid-peel.  She slowly looked up at Phillip. “Did you say green smoke?”

“Yep.  Greener than my feathers.”

“Was there a peculiar odor?”  Theena asked, an uneasy tone creeping through the old owl’s voice.

“Yeah there was,” Phillip answered as he cleared the kitchen table of tools, gears and springs.  “Smelled like nothin’ I’ve ever smelled b’fore.”

There was a wet splat on the floor as Theena’s potato fell out of her gloved hands. “Will he be there again tomorrow?”

~~~~

A Queen’s Tale (about 10,000 words, unpublished).  This story is a humorous retelling of the fairy tale, Rumpelstiltskin.  Written in First Person point of view, it follows the misadventures of Agnes as she rises from being a miller’s daughter to Queen.  After her father claims she can spin straw into gold (he hasn’t been the same since the cow kicked him in the head), Agnes is held captive by the King and forced to make good on her father’s claims.  Aid comes to her in the form of a small and smelly imp who offers to help–for a price.  After promising her first-born to the imp, Agnes realizes she needs to rid herself of this menacing creature.

Excerpt:

“Trespasser!” the tall fairy screeched in a nasty tone as it looked in my direction.  I tried to hide, but the tall fairy waved a hand and the rock in front of me melted away, revealing me to the assembled fairies.  Dozens of fairies swarmed around me, making loud clicking and hissing sounds.  Not wanting to be cornered, I jumped towards the center of the cavern, rolling as I landed and pulled out one of my secret weapons.

“Cold iron!” a chunky fairy shouted as spotted my iron dagger.

The rest of the assembled fairies hissed and panicked as I slashed at the air with my iron dagger.  Some of the fairies turned into balls of light and flew out of the cavern.  The fairy leader started barking commands at its frightened army, but none listened.

“I want a name!” I shouted over the hissing fairies.  I kept my iron dagger held in front of me; I knew that as long as I did I was safe from fairy magic.  However, this did not stop the fairy leader from throwing a rock at me when my back was turned.  My dagger clanged loudly as it fell to the cavern floor and the fairy leader waved a glowing hand, causing a crystal from the ceiling to land on top of it.

The fairy leader then waved both of its glowing hands, creating a brilliant flash of green light.  When the light faded away, my eyes widened as I saw the fairy leader had transformed.  It was now a muscular giant, whose head nearly touched the ceiling of the cavern.

“Leave…” the fairy behemoth snarled as it lumbered towards me.

~~~~

more to come…