Category Archives: Travel

August 25, 2012 · 1:31 pm

A update from the road

I recognize it’s been a while, but if you’ve been following me on Twitter, you’ve seen that I’ve been out and about in southern California. It’s for work, but the family and I have been enjoying ourselves when I’m not in the office.

As I write this, I’m north of Bakersfield, Calif., heading for an extended weekend of fun in the northern environs of the state. And since I’m officially On Vacation now, I’m hoping to get some more writing done.

Meantime, my new friends at Night Shade Books are working hard on The Daedalus Incident. I’ve seen some cover art, which is incredibly exciting. I’ve been a professional writer for 20 years, yet seeing a cover made me just giddy. At some point, you’ll get to see it too.

NSB is also working to gather all their edits, comments and suggestions on the book, at which point I’ll enter that final phase of revisions. While I wait for that, I’m writing the sequel to TDI and noodling on a few other things.

That’s about it for now. Check out the Twitter feed if you want more, and keep an eye on my wife’s travel blog for updates on our journeys. She’ll be posting California stuff in the coming days and weeks.

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June 27, 2012 · 4:18 pm

The traveling writer

Not quite Mars, but close enough for the imagination.

In one of the obituaries for the late Ray Bradbury, I was surprised to find that he was not much of a traveler, preferring instead to stay at his home in Los Angeles. I suppoose one really can’t fault Ray for wanting to stay put, and his genius was aptly illustrated in the worlds he created through dozens of books and stories.

Personally, I can’t imagine a life without travel, and I can’t imagine creating new worlds in science-fiction and fantasy without exploring a few strange new worlds on my own. I find travel to be fulfilling on a wide variety of levels, specifically when it comes to creativity and fiction writing.

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December 31, 2011 · 1:35 pm

Thanks, 2011! Hello, 2012!

Have a happy new year! And no, the end of the Mayan calendar will not bring the apocalypse. Sorry.

It was a year ago today, on New Year’s Eve 2010, that I started this blog, so it seems fitting somehow to check back in a year later. When I started, I didn’t have an agent, and my first novel wasn’t really in awesome shape (though I thought it was a gem, of course). The blog was part of an effort to show that I could have a “social media strategy” as an author, thus making myself more attractive to agents and publishers.

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Filed under Beer Snobbery, Books, Food, NaNoWriMo, Travel, Writing

September 5, 2011 · 3:45 pm

And…another quick update

I was busy eating here instead of blogging. Sorry about that. (And yes, I bought a t-shirt, too.)

Sorry about the lack of compelling, meaningful blogging as of late. For one, I was working in Los Angeles at my day job, with evenings taken up by an exploration of Los Angeles’ culinary delights. For the record, I love eating out in L.A., even moreso than I do in New York. I find L.A. is cheaper and less pretentious. And more importantly, I think they’re very innovative out there. Some of the more “foodie” spots we hit this trip included Animal (my third time there, a carnivore’s dream), Buddha’s Belly (pan-Asian fare in Santa Monica) and Mohawk Bend (locally-sourced, high-end pub grub with 75 beers on tap), along with the L.A. classic Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles (no explanation needed). Continue reading →

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August 24, 2011 · 12:35 am

Beat to quarters! Run out the guns!

Patrick O'Brian's frigate brought to life...and I got to go aboard.

When you write fiction with a basis in historical fact, it’s one thing to do the research, quite another to experience something first hand. So while I pored over deckplans, rigging diagrams and various narratives about frigates of the late 18th century, all that effort paled in comparison to setting foot on the real thing.

Well…as close to the real thing as one can manage these days.

On Sunday, I stepped aboard HMS Surprise, formerly the HMS Rose, a replica of a 28-gun English Royal Navy frigate currently docked at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. If Surprise sounds familiar, she should — she was the star of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, alongside Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. And that movie was based on the works of Patrick O’Brian, who brought the Napoleonic Era Royal Navy to life through his Aubrey/Maturin books. Continue reading →

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July 19, 2011 · 8:17 pm

The first capital of the United States (of Ganymede?)

Earth or Ganymede? You decide.

Last weekend, we took my daughter to my in-laws’ house for a sleepover with her cousins, and that left Kate and I some time to revisit Philadelphia’s historic center. It was also the first time I returned to Philly since setting part of my novel in an alternative version of the city.

My Philadelphia is set in 1779, but more importantly, it’s set on the Jovian moon of Ganymede. Instead of crossing the Atlantic to get to the New World, my characters cross the Void to get to a plethora of New Worlds. Hence, sailing ships in space.

So here are a few pictures of the real Philadelphia, along with a few snippets of the book, to try to give you a feel for what I’m up to. For me, it’s fun to see how the first capital of the United States of Ganymede measures up to today’s city. Oh, and as a bit of stage setting, Lt. Thomas Weatherby of HMS Daedalus and his colleagues are visiting the city under unusual circumstances, to say the least. Continue reading →

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July 12, 2011 · 7:45 am

Inspiration in the New West

“Go West, young man,” wrote Horace Greeley in 1865. One hundred and forty-six years later, I took his advice, and I’m glad I did.

My family and I went to visit my cousin and her family (thanks, guys!) in Colorado over the Independence Day weekend. My wife, Kate, does a much better job of talking about our travels over on her blog, so for a more complete download, click over to her site.

As for me, well, I’ve seen mountains on a number of continents, but few measure up to the way the Rockies jut upward from the plains, an imposing wall of stone that probably prompted early American settlers to say, “Whoa, those are big. I don’t want to cross those. Let’s just put Denver here.” I never quite bought into the whole romantic notion of the Old West, but I have to say, the New West did a great job of putting my writer-brain to work. Continue reading →

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January 21, 2011 · 9:24 pm

Vive le France!

The Eiffel Tower and the Moon, with the reflection of our boat on the window. Kind of a cool shot, totally taken by accident.

A week ago, I was…well, I was asleep. But I was asleep in Paris, and that’s just better.

My wife had heard this NPR story about an exhibit by an artist whose work was created — and displayed — on iPhones and iPads. My daughter uses the same app to draw whenever she appropriates my iPhone, which is often. In fact, one of her iPhone pictures was displayed at Rockefeller Center this Christmas as part of the building’s children’s art program for the people who work there. Continue reading →

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January 19, 2011 · 7:28 am

Catching up

It’s been a busy week or so, and thus the blogging has suffered. And I’ve got about 15 minutes before I have to hustle the child off to school. So for now, we’ll have to do with a bunch of random thoughts. Such as: Continue reading →