When I started writing my historical novel GALLOWAY’S GAMBLE, I wanted to weave music into the story. Music has been a natural part of...

Blurbs: those short, enthusiastic quotes that appear on book covers. As defined by NPR journalist Colin Dwyer in a 2015 story, a blurb is...

Fun thing about writing historical fiction: it’s the perfect excuse to visit historical places. My quest – time travel! (Or, at least, a...

Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot long told the story of how he got the idea for his 1974 hit song "Carefree Highway" from the...

65,000! That’s approximately how many books have been written about the Civil War. Not surprising, considering that it was, is and may...

I believe you should absolutely be able to tell something important about a book by its cover. If you can’t, it’s a lousy cover. Back in...

Before cars, horses were ubiquitous . . . or were they? Not long ago, my Minnesota friend Sally Skjaret and her husband Tom had this...

In fiction, details convey credibility -- but can there be TOO much detail? Personally -- as both a reader and writer -- I say yes. Not...

Sez who? Sez me. OK, so you’re a science fiction fan, and maybe you’re giving me the stinkeye. Maybe you never gave much thought to...

When asked where his story ideas came from, the late great Harlan Ellison (the vivid, visceral master of speculative fiction with the...