This last weekend was the second Booked Eau Claire event, and my first time tabling at it. I volunteered there last year, so I knew what the vibes would be overall.

I had a really good time at the event, and it gave me the opportunity to hang out with some cool people (like E.H. Lupton). Honestly it’s just fun to talk with readers and other writers about stuff, and I picked up some new books that I’ll be reading for a while.

“Bookish” events are so strange to me. I say this not as a criticism, but as kind of a statement of fact. While they’re certainly structured and run like the fan conventions I’ve spent most of my life dedicated to, they’re not really born out of nerd and geek spaces. On the surface you’d think they have a lot in common with the Genre Lit Cons that have persisted for the last century, but it’s not really the same community or vibe. It feels like the people who attend a “bookish” event are, frankly, just way more normal than the folks I talk to on a daily basis.

Of course a lot of the other authors I spoke to were weirdos like me, so it’s not like I didn’t feel at home.

I know attendance numbers were down significantly from last year, and that they’re having some financial issues. But to the organizer’s credit, she didn’t cancel, made sure the con went forward this year, and hopefully things can be recovered. I have lots of thoughts on things that could be done better (and how money could be used more efficiently), but I think it’s really easy to take that all the wrong way. Running an event like this is hard, and I think that an event like Booked Eau Claire is really good for our local community.

So I’m rooting for it.

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Like I said previously, I’m doing two cons in September, and I just got done with one of them.

Eau Claire Comic Con went really well as always, and I had a great time. I was surprised that a couple of the people I usually see there didn’t stop by this year, but overall it was really fun. I want to thank the folks who came out and talked to me (especially the ones who sought me out from my social media). I one hundred percent plan on going back, and will keep going as long as they’re willing to keep letting me in.

Now next on the schedule is Booked Eau Claire Friday September 18th and Saturday September 19th down at the Lismore. I’ve never done a “bookish” event before, so it should be interesting to see how it goes. It does seem to be, like, the exact opposite vibes of an event like ECCC, but I think it’s still a good audience to reach.

One of the biggest challenges for me is making sure I’m promoting in spaces outside of my comfort zone. I think it will go well though, and worst case scenario I can hang out with cool people if it doesn’t.

These will be my last cons for a couple of months. I expect to be doing one more con this year in December, but as their registration hasn’t opened yet I can’t exactly announce it. My schedule for next year is still being worked out, as I can’t do Evercon 2027 (since it rescheduled itself against a personal conflict for me). I’ll figure it out though.

And then, like, I’ll let you know once I know.

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Well the year turns on, and that means, of course, that I have conventions coming up. I mean sure, I have a birthday too, but that’s somehow less important.

Or at least, like, from your point of view.

Anyhow, on Saturday September 12th I’m going to be at Eau Claire Comic Con from 10:00AM to 5:00PM. It’s being held at the Eau Claire Expo Center on the south side of town, and you can find more information on it’s official Facebook page.

It’s a fun little con, and admission is only $5 to attend. If you’re in the area, it’s not a bad way to spend a Saturday. I’ve been doing it for a few years, and I’ve really been looking forward to doing it again.

Then, the weekend after that, I’ll be at Booked Eau Claire on Friday September 18th and Saturday September 19th. The hours are a little odd for this show (the hall I’m in will only be open to most attendees from 10:00AM to 2:00PM both days), so make sure you look at the schedule carefully.

It’s a “bookish” event, and I haven’t done one of these before as I usually stick to geekier conventions. I volunteered there last year for a day though, and I think it’ll be a good fit. At the very least it will be a chance to reach a slightly different audience than I’ve been getting.

That’s at the Lismore in downtown Eau Claire (the same venue we host No Brand Con in), and tickets are a bit more expensive (starting at $50).

If you choose to come to either one, stop by, say hi, and hang out. Or, if you want to feel guilty about not having done anything for my birthday earlier in the month, you can buy some books out of awkward social obligation or something. ?

I will, of course, have copies of all of my books (including The Perfect Host which just came out), but mostly I just enjoy the excuse to chat with people about stuff.

So come on by and say hi. That unfortunately rhymed.

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Well it’s official — The Perfect Host, book five in my queer urban fantasy series The Mia Graves Saga, is now out! I know I say this every time, but I’m super excited for this one to get into reader’s hands. It’s the conclusion to the “first phase” in this series. Like I intend to write more Mia Graves books (the “second phase” is already mapped out), but if the series ended here I think most people would be satisfied.

I think I hit the mark with this one.

I posted the full description when the pre-orders went live, but the gist is basically “how hard it is to outrun the demons from your past when they’re literal demons.” Anyone who’s read the ending to Buried Memories, the fourth book, knows where this is going already though.

You can find the paperback on Amazon, Bookshop.org, Direct Order it from me, or get it through whatever retail chain you want with the ISBN 9798295897726. If you’d rather get it as an eBook, you can of course find it on Kindle, Kobo, or as a DRM-free ePub in my Patreon shop.

While I think with the first four books you could jump in and enjoy them, this book really does benefit from having read the earlier books in the series. So, uh, you should do that? Read my books. That’s what I’m saying. I’m saying you should read my books.

Shocking, I know.

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Hey folks! The summer has been flying by fast, and August is almost here. That means Big Minneapolis Anime is coming up, and just like last year Ethan Flanagan and I have a table there!

We’ll be at booth 618, and besides print copies of the first volume of Peregrine Lake, Ethan will have a whole bunch of art and I’ll have all of my books. That includes the new novel, The Perfect Host, which doesn’t officially go on sale until Monday August 10th. That’s right, at Big Minneapolis Anime you can get the fifth Mia Graves Saga book a day or two early if you really want to!

I haven’t done a convention since the spring, so I’m really excited to get back out there. With Anime 414 shutting down, this is my only August con this year. Which is, y’know, easier on my mental health probably, but a whole lot less fun.

If you can’t make it, I have a couple of events coming up in the Eau Claire area in September — but this is going to be the only con on Ethan’s schedule for a while. So, if you want to meet the both of us, this is your chance to do it. Hopefully I’ll see you there!

And remember, “The Perfect Host,” Book 5 in the Mia Graves Saga is still available for pre-order on Kindle, Kobo, and Paperback!

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This last weekend Crysta and I got in the truck and made the drive down to Milwaukee to see my parents. Several family members on my Dad’s side of the family had flown into town for what is, normaly, a weekend where we go to a ballgame. Unfortunately, with the Brewers playing the Cubs, those tickets were way too expensive, so instead we watched the game on a TV in the garage and just turned it into a fairly nice family party.

It was nice, as I haven’t seen some of these people in years, and it was good to get together.

A lot of my contact with that side of the family used to be through events at my late grandmother’s house, so things have been a bit more loosey goosey over the last few years. Honestly, folks are just pretty spread out, so it’s hard to do a lot now that there isn’t a midwestern home base for people to stay at.

Of course, it wasn’t an exactly pain-free trip.

On Friday night, when we were about an hour away from my folks’ house, I got a text from my mom that the water had been shut off at their house. They’d gotten a notice while they were out for dinner, as something had apparently gone wrong. When we rolled in a little before ten, halfway down the block there were a bunch of workers doing probably their least favorite tihng to do on a Friday night.

So that meant we couldn’t take showers until after midnight, which, y’know, wasn’t great.

And then, of course, we got woken up by construction across the street at six thirty in the morning, which I’m fairly certain is against local ordinances, but what the hell do I know. I kind of get why they were doing the work then — we’ve since been hit by an obnoxious heat wave — it still sucked though.

But, with all the minor frustrations, the party was good, and I was happy to see my family.

Could have done without being woken up on Sunday by the same construction crews too though.

Oh yeah, “The Perfect Host,” Book 5 in the Mia Graves Saga is now available for pre-order on Kindle, Kobo, and Paperback!

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So anyone who has spent considerable time with me has probably learned how much I love a drive in movie theater. Crysta and I started going to them when we lived in Indiana, mostly visiting the Lakeshore Drive In in Monticello (though the now-closed MELS at the Starlight in Mechanicsburg was in our rotation too). When we moved back to Wisconsin, we started going to the Stardust Drive In in Chetek most weekends in the summer months, but it shut down and didn’t open for 2025.

Last year, for our anniversary, Crysta and I went down to the Big Sky Drive In in the Wisconsin Dells for our anniversary, and then got Paul Bunyan’s with my brother David and his partner Mary the day after. Because it looked like Stardust was still going to be closed for 2026, we actually did that again at the beginning of June this year as well… even if I accidentally booked a worse hotel this time around.

And while I like the Big Sky Drive In, it’s not as nice as Stardust and (more importantly) too far to just do on a casual weekend.

But the universe decided to finally be kind to us, because for the first time I can remember a closed drive in movie theater reopened. This weekend, under new ownership, the Stardust Drive In in Chetek had its soft opening. They’re running a bit barebones on concessions and just did one movie per screen instead of double features, but the place is genuinely, fully back.

They’re still ironing out all the kinks (as I said, it’s a soft open), but oh my god it was so nice to go back there again.

We’ll probably still do a Big Sky Drive In weekend next year in the Dells, but mostly because it’s nice to have some variety (and hang out with David and Mary). It takes a lot of pressure off of that trip too knowing that we’ll have other drive in experiences throughout the summer. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: if you live near a drive in movie theater, please patronize it. These are all independent operations, and seeing movies out under the stars is the best way to experience them.

Or at least I think it is.

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One of the hardest parts of being an independent creator is getting anyone to actually look at the stuff you’ve made. Like, writing a comic? Writing a novel? These are things I know how to do. But making things is not the same as promoting things.

And I never quite know how to go about doing it.

Like in less than two months, I have a new book coming out. Like the previous one, I’ve been trying to arrange ARCs for readers (though last time I used a service and this time I’m doing it myself). I’ve run some Facebook and Tumblr ads, and I have no idea if book trailers work. But, like, I made a book trailer anyways:


And besides just spamming my own social media accounts, I don’t really know what else to do. Like I’ve got in-person events scheduled, but beyond that I’m out of ideas.

We run into this same problem with comics. Like we came out with a print collection for the current comic I’m working on with Ethan Flanagan called Peregrine Lake. While I would love to sell more print copies, mostly i just want people to read it. Promoting a webcomic in 2026 is a lot harder than promoting a webcomic was in 2009. A lot of the infrastructure for that kind of promo evaporated a while ago.

So we’re trying shit, and hoping something works.

I don’t really know if there really is a solution beyond “keep plugging away and maybe it will work,” but it just kind of sucks. There are ad systems that just a few years ago worked pretty well, but now barely produce any returns. With people moving to closed platforms, it’s hard to tell when something is catching on or not.

So I keep trying.

Who the hell knows if any of it is working.

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So one of the biggest challenges for a lot of indie authors who self publish like me is getting our books in front of other people’s eyeballs to begin with. One of the easiest solutions is getting real, honest reviews onto platforms like Goodreads, Storygraph, social media platforms, and online stores like Amazon. These only really work if they’re honest, real reviews too — most readers can spot a fake review from a mile away.

So how does a writer get these needed eyeballs on their work? With ARCs (Advance Reader Copies).

An author like me will give out copies of their books ahead of release with the hopes that the readers will post (ideally positive) reviews of their work upon release date. And doI say “hopes” because I cannot require reviews to be posted per the rules of the various platforms. The issue is figuring out who to give those ARCs to. You don’t want to send them to people who will never read the book, and you definitely don’t want to send them to folks who might leak the book to people before release date.

So, as I’ve posted before, I have a new book coming out on August 10th. I want to start sending out ARCs soon so people have a chance to read the book ahead of time to post reviews around the release date. So, uh, this is where I’m out here, on my various platforms, asking… do you want an ARC of my new book?

If the answer is yes, fill out this really simple application!

I won’t accept everyone to the ARC list, but it can’t hurt to toss your name in. All ARCs supplied will be in ePub format. Those should be compatible with almost any eReader, and should be readable on most smartphones and tablets. I can’t really send out paperbacks, sadly. Also, I know this is book five in the series, but it’s okay if you haven’t read my earlier work. The ARC version of the book will include a brief synopsis of every earlier book in the series necessary for a new reader. Is reading the earlier books better? Yeah. But you should still enjoy this one too.

Again, let me know if you’re interested.

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So I’ve said this before, but my intention has always been to take a break from the Mia Graves books once I finished book five. And, well, with the fifth book, The Perfect Host coming out in August (pre-order it!) that means I need to figure out what the heck I actually want to work on.

See, the problem is I always have more ideas than time to work on them.

I’ve talked about ideas that I want to write once I have the time more than once in this blog. Sometimes these ideas get turned into other thing — like “Intersections with the Corridor” turned into the basis for Campaign 2 of Stormwood & Associates. But every time I turn one of these ideas into something, at least five or six more pop into my head. So the issue isn’t coming up with something to write, it’s deciding which ones I won’t write.

A thing that happens a lot when I table at conventions is that people tell me they have an idea for a book or a comic. And don’t get me wrong, I love hearing about people’s ideas. I always encourage people to tell their stories, and do their best to make them real. But here’s the thing, the idea is never the hard part. It’s easy to have an idea for something.

It’s the making that’s hard.

So yeah, I need to figure out what the heck I’m going to focus down on. Do I write a traditional, high fantasy novel? Do I write the cyberpunk idea I’ve been kicking around? Maybe the science fiction story? Or the comedic spy-thriller. Or maybe I stick with urban fantasy and do the novel version of “Tomah by Night” finally.

That’s what I’ve got to figure out.

“The Perfect Host,” Book 5 in the Mia Graves Saga is now available for pre-order on Kindle, Kobo, and Paperback!

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