Sometimes when I look around our chaotic, dangerous, unjust world I’m inclined to doubt the value of progress. It seems from the Economist’s Christmas special that I’m not alone. However, there’s an important point lurking in their article, one which throws me back to high school economics classes. There are only two ways to increase…

Having introduced an hobgoblin into my novel, I’m a bit at a loss for what to do with it. He is part of the protections around the Jekylls’ London house and loyal to the family in his own way, but does he advance the story? do I really want (well, I want, do I need)…

The price is astonishing on this Amazon link, but there are paperback copies. Maybe there are even electronic ones. In reading The Need for Roots by Simone Weil (my copy was translated by Arthur Wills) I treated it as a springboard for my own thoughts. Usually, I refrain from marking books–dog ears drive me nuts–but…

Soulless. The Parasol Protectorate is an exuberant novel. Its setting, Victorian London, is people with werewolves and vampires and includes a nod to the steampunk subgenre. The writing is vivid and humurous, the rules of this alternative universe well-developed, and the heroine engaging. The book’s opening scene is one of the best I’ve read recently.…

“I’m sorry.” The inadequacy of the phrase stilled the swiftly scrawling pencil, but only for a moment. Jodi Reeve pressed the pencil firmly back onto the page. There had to be a note, then people wouldn’t worry. “I had to leave. J.” Discarded, the pencil lay at a 33 degree angle on the white notepad.…