Blog

I'm working on the edits from my Developmental Editor and planning to release a new YA series, The Secundus Resistance. My goal is to publish the first book, The Whispering Trees, this December.

One day, Ella would cut down her enemies with an axe. First, she had to learn that everything she'd been taught to want was a lie.

In a future where forests have reclaimed the earth, seventeen-year-old Ella lives in Cuna, a walled city where citizens pack food for distant masters and fear the...

It’s about humans who know how to work with machines to create better outcomes for all of us.

Sam Altman and Jony Ive just announced a partnership to “build a screenless companion that knows everything about you.”

Did they read The Water Carriers? In chapter one, I introduced the AI companion who did everything for Naomi and Bai, from driving the car to calling 911 when they were stranded on the road. From then on, AI companions were important characters in the book.

I realized early on that a...

In April, something incredible happened — I won a Gold Book Award for Fiction from Literary Titan. Yes, a Gold Award! It feels a bit like being an Olympic medalist but without the athletic skills or the shiny tracksuit.

This lovely nod was followed by an interview with Literary Titan, where I tried to sound smart without using the phrase, “In my novel” (spoiler: I failed.) I did, however, create a new genre called post-post-apocalyptic fiction. Well, you can check it out here: My Story Evolved...

Early on, my friend Ed told me I had invented so many words I should start a glossary, which I did. It was fun to watch the list grow as the book evolved. Fantastic ideas were wholly made up, like a food called Butazeri and the incredible device everyone wears on their wrist called the AugWatch. Some terms sound impossible but exist, like Fish milk and the replacement for trees called a Photo Bio-reactor.

Then I discovered Amazon’s X-Ray for Authors and realized how incredible this would be...

There are so many reasons why I started writing The Water Carriers. I’ve had many book ideas before now. The real question is why did I finish writing this book?

The last few years have been bizarre. During the Covid-19 lockdown, I often thought about how to prepare for emergencies. Ultimately, I concluded that preparing for the worst was smart, but I didn’t want to wait for the worst to happen. The best future for my children, now nine and ten, wasn’t a well-stocked bugout bag but a world...

While writing The Water Carriers, I constantly tried to imagine how AI would work in the future. I decided this experience would be highly personal and everpresent. It wouldn’t be a tool you ask questions, like today. It would be more like a companion always there to help you get the most out of life. When I saw what ChatGPT could do in 2023, I realized I had completely underestimated the future of AI.

I was already 70% through my book, but it was clear I needed to go back and rethink all...

Nothing says joy to me like a good dystopian novel. Well, maybe not joy, but they are fascinating—a dark future where the oppressed fight against tyranny.

The first book I wrote, The Water Carriers, was meant to be dystopian, but as the plot developed, I realized I had the wrong genre. It was really post-apocalyptic fiction. It could also be considered cli-fi, or climate fiction. It most definitely was not what most people think of as dystopian.

After I finished writing my first novel, I began...

Pierce Brown’s “Red Rising” is a dystopian novel set on Mars. A rigid color-based caste system divides society, and the protagonist, Darrow, is a Red. The Reds are the bottom caste suffering a harsh life below the earth’s surface, terraforming the planet in preparation for the other colors to join them.

A swift series of events forces a reluctant Darrow to reinvent himself to free his people. The Reds are not owned in the true sense of a slave, but it quickly becomes clear that they have no...

While my novel hasn’t been published yet, I’m very excited to get the story out there. My company has a writing group and publishes a quarterly book of writing called From The Orchard. Kudos to Lloyd Hall, who is an amazing champion for writers and leads our writing group.

This quarter’s issue focused on the future, which was the perfect topic for my novel, The Water Carriers, about a near-future world that explores the tension and moral dilemma of a duopoly in a world ravaged by drought.

I...

The Water Carriers takes place in a near-future world that is both the same and very different from today. There are still companies and jobs. There are still laws. People still buy necessities like clothes and food, but wow, the food has changed.

While writing the book, I struggled to understand why the world was the way it was. The story felt flat until I understood what drove the protagonist to take the action he did and why his father was so powerful in this future world. In one of my many...

I have sent off my query letters for The Water Carriers, and now I’m waiting for the end of summer. Most agents have said they will reply in two months, or not. In the meantime, I’m going through my manuscript to see what else I can do to improve it. Well, that and getting on the water with the kids.

To help with the process, I went back to the rules I’ve added to my writing notebook. A few are about proper grammar that I stumble on, but most are about improving my writing craft. Are there...

A woman in Costa Mesa, California, was trapped inside her Tesla for 40 minutes. Outside, people walked around the car, but she made no effort to call for help because her car told her to stay inside.

Imagine you were stuck in your car while mere feet away; people walk out of Chick-fil-A with ice-cold glasses of lemonade. Would you panic and bang on the window as the internal temperature rose to 103 F?

When this woman realized how desperate the situation was, she did what any sane person would;...

“Oryx and Crake” by Margaret Atwood explores an all-too-familiar theme today. Techno Bro builds a fantastic, successful business and then explores his philosophy on what is wrong with the world. It doesn’t end well.

Set in a not-so-distant future, the story begins on a beach in a post-apocalyptic landscape where environmental catastrophe, genetic engineering, and bioterrorism have reshaped humanity. Snowman’s interactions with the genetically engineered humans known as Crakers are somewhat...

My family and I had a lot going on from November through January, with numerous holidays and birthdays to celebrate. I imagined myself sitting at my desk, listening to holiday music, and enjoying the sound of my kids playing in the background while I worked on writing my book. I began drafting my book, tentatively titled “Rain,” in July 2022, and I set a goal to complete my second draft by the end of December.

A few days after my birthday, my wife greeted me with freshly made chocolate fudge...