It’s a great month to be American, folks! The ebook versions of the two history books I wrote with my wife, Denise Kiernan, are on sale across all platforms. For the entire month of February, you’ll be able to pick up each book for $2.99. Bosom buddies Samuel Adams and John Hancock can’t stop nodding their Huzzahs in assent!

I spent a stupid amount of time over the holidays consuming advice for authors in the form of articles, podcasts, and videos. Some of it was actually helpful. A lot of it was just nonsense designed to a) make you insecure, and b) spend money on whatever service the person doing the spouting was selling. Since the rise of self-publishing, a LOT of people are marketing courses and software for writers. I jumped for a lot of those things at the beginning, thinking it would give me the edge. But I’ve soured on most of it.

My latest post for SleuthSayers, the mystery writers blog, shows what happens when stuff annoys me…

The popularity of the 2023 movie Oppenheimer has brought national attention once again to the Manhattan Project. My wife, who wrote a book about the subject, routinely gets emails from fans asking how they can find out definitively if a family member worked on the project during wartime. Here’s her response…

I’ve slowly been sharing all the old posts I’ve written over at SleuthSayers during the time I fell off the edge of the world and disappeared. With today’s post, I’ll be finally caught up. In a sense, I’ve saved the best for last. Back in fall, I wrote about one of my favorite childhood books, and how I finally figured out why it moved me as much as it did way back when.

The book I’m talking about is called From the Mix-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg. And if you haven’t read it, how can you call yourself a grown-up child?

January is revered by Sherlock Holmes geeks each year because the biggest Sherlock Holmes geek ever—the late William S. Baring-Gould—decreed that Sherlock’s presumed birthday is January 6th. The best-known mystery magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, actually pubs a Sherlock Holmes issue each year at this time. And at the top of the year, I too try to do some sort of Sherlockian post at SleuthSayers, the mystery writers blog that I write for…

If you’re thinking of getting copies of my books, it couldn’t be easier. I’ve got you covered, even for autographed books!

Here are my thoughts on the last batch of 10 stories of the 2023 “advent calendar” of stories published by WMG Publishing, as edited by writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

Just to remind you…

As shared by the Marilyn Whirlwind character in an episode of the old TV show, Northern Exposure…

A long time ago the Raven looked down from the Sky and saw that the People of the World were living in Darkness…

What is Christmas?

Good question. Technically, Christmas is the day on which Christians celebrate Christ’s birth. But like all things grown large in a troubled world, Christmas has become so much more…

I’m back with capsule reviews of the ongoing “advent calendar” of stories published this season by WMG Publishing, as edited by writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, this writing project delivers a short holiday story to your email inbox each day from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, 40 stories in all…