Writer of gritty urban fantasy with heart

Tell us a little about yourself! What part of the world do you live in? What do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing?

I grew up in Wyoming an hour away from Yellowstone Park until we moved to Oregon when I was 10, where I lived off and on for 31 years. In 2024, I moved to Porto, Portugal where I intend to gain citizenship eventually.

In my spare time, I enjoy watching a wide variety of shows and movies. My favorites lately have been “Number 24,” “Forest of Piano,” “Ted Lasso,” “Kotaro Lives Alone,” and “The Gorge.” I also enjoy spending time with my new friends, getting to know them, and exploring the culinary scene in Porto with them. So much good food and wine!

What’s your favorite book? Do you have a TV series you’d recommend or a podcast you can’t live without? What’s your favorite thing (entertainment, food, drink, place to visit) that you’d recommend right now?

My all-time favorite book, and one that informs a lot of my writing, is Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. It contains a unique combination of whimsy, weirdness, sadness, subversion, and multi-layered story telling that will sit with you for a long time. It’s a unique look into being creative while living under a totalitarian regime (Stalin in this case). Right now, I’m reading The History of the Siege of Lisbon by José Saramago, which has a lot of the same kind of vibes. It features a proofreader as the main character, who explores becoming a writers of alternative history. Saramago is Nobel Prize winning Portuguese author. It’s pretty complex and dense in a similar way to William Falkner.

What inspired you to start writing fiction? And how did you end up choosing your specific genre(s)?

Both answers can be traced to my partner, Amy Cissell. Though I had been dabbling in writing since my teens and had been a published writer in the non-fiction realm before we met, I didn’t dig in seriously until we started dating. She’s the one who got me into urban fantasy, which helped bring to life my first series – Luke Irontree & The Last Vampire War. Her support helped me start and keep going. I wouldn’t be as far along without her, even if I’d got going in the first place.

What’s your most recently published book? What genre is it, and what’s it about? Is it part of a series?

My last published book is Death On The Rocks, the fourth book in my Red City Reaper series. Dax, an exiled grim reaper forced to live as a human, goes up against an outlaw motorcycle gang of Nazi werewolves yet again. But things take a turn from bad to worse when a new villain crops up. He’s been looking for who’s been pulling the strings for a while, but a dark magician was not the answer he wanted to find…

Tell us about your process. Do you write every day? Do you have a specific coffee shop where you write?

My writing process is a bit chaotic and never remains the same. Sometimes I write linearly, but most of the time I jump around and write the scenes I have in my head, then work out the story and how they need to be connected. About the only thing that remains consistent is forcing my butt into the chair to get words down. That’s the burden of the working writer. I can’t wait for inspiration. For me, inspiration comes via the grind of getting words down to see how things play out.

Then when I need to, I plot out what I have and play with the options for the next steps. So it’s fair to say I’m kind of a plotter, but not a traditional plot first write second kind of plotter. I write first, then plot, then write, etc. So about the only thing that remains consistent in my process is that I start the book and finish the book.

There isn’t much of a work-in-coffee-shop culture here in Portugal. They believe coffee shops are for sitting and enjoying coffee while having conversations with friends. They are a local meetings space for friends and neighbors. Many of them specifically don’t allow laptops at the tables, though a few have work space in a separate room. I do most of my writing, when I want to get out of the apartment, at a nearby co-work space where I rent a desk. It’s a nice change of pace, and we have fun communal lunches and other events.

What tips do you have for other authors working on their books? Anything you’ve learned that you’d like to share with newer authors?

You can’t fix an empty page. Getting words down on the page is the number one thing you need to do to be a successful writer. Even if you don’t feel like it or you think the words you’re putting down are crap. There have been times when I’ve thought the work I was doing sucked, but when I came back to it, found that it was actually really good. There have been other times when the words have flowed, but the results were mediocre. But the thing that ties them both together is getting words down. Without words on the page, you can’t revise, and real writing is revising.

What is the most helpful tip you can offer to authors who, like you, want to find the right editor for their books?

Speaking as an editor and as a writer who has worked with editors, communicate! To get good editing that works for your needs as a writer, you need to communicate what you need, what you want, and what you’d like changed about the process. You get the best results when communication is a two-way street. Good editing is a partnership.

Where can authors and readers connect with you, and find your books?

I can be found on Facebook, Threads, and Instagram. My books are available wide in most online retailers: Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, and more.