Category Archives: Novels

A Word of Thanks, and a Bit of Bragging

Posted on August 3, 2023 by dbjackson

My summer of releases continues tomorrow!! So far this year I have had releases in May (The Chalice War: Stone, the first book in my new Celtic urban fantasy), June (The Chalice War: Cauldron), and July (Artifice and Craft, which … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: One Last Teaser, and a Plea For Help — Please Read

Posted on August 2, 2023 by dbjackson

Believe it or not, writers don’t particularly enjoy asking you to buy and read our stuff. We are not, as a rule, good at sales or comfortable touting our own work. We prefer to write, to spend time with our … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: The Last Book of a Series

Posted on July 26, 2023 by dbjackson

A week and a half from today, on Friday, August 4, The Chalice War: Sword, the final book in my Celtic urban fantasy trilogy, will be released by Bell Bridge Books. (The first two books, The Chalice War: Stone and … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Beginnings, Middles, and Endings, part VI — Final Thoughts

Posted on July 19, 2023 by dbjackson

This week I close out my Professional Wednesday feature on “Beginnings, Middles, and Endings” with some general observations about narrative structure. If you are just coming to this series of posts, I would recommend you go back and read the … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Beginnings, Middles, and Endings, part V — What Makes a Good Ending?

Posted on July 12, 2023 by dbjackson

Continuing my Professional Wednesday feature on “Beginnings, Middles, and Endings,” (previous posts can be found here, here, here, and here) I now turn to endings. And I will begin by stating the obvious: The ending to our story is likely … Continue reading →

Posted in Falstaff Books, Fantasy, Islevale Cycle, Novels, Reading, Setting, Short Fiction, Thieftaker, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Professional Wednesday: Beginnings, Middles, and Endings, part IV — Keeping Our Plots Tight

Posted on July 5, 2023 by dbjackson

Today, I bring you one more “Middles” post in my several-weeks-long feature on “Beginnings, Middles, and Endings.” You can find past posts in the series here, here, and here. I made the self-evident point a couple of weeks ago that … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Beginnings, Middles, and Endings, part III — The 60% Wall

Posted on June 28, 2023 by dbjackson

Today, I add to my series of posts about “Beginnings, Middles, and Endings,” with a continued focus on the vast middle of the novel. If you wish to go back and read my first two essays in this feature on … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Beginnings, Middles, and Endings, part II — Narrative Structure

Posted on June 21, 2023 by dbjackson

Last week, I began a new Professional Wednesday feature called “Beginnings, Middles, and Endings,” in which I plan to write about the various parts of story writing. In last week’s post, I focused on openings, on how to approach the … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Beginnings, Middles, and Endings, Part I — Openings

Posted on June 14, 2023 by dbjackson

This week, I launch a new series here in the Professional Wednesday feature — “Beginnings, Middles, and Endings.” Sometimes I focus on minute details of writing in these posts, arcane points of craft or business that are helpful to some, … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: The Emotions of a Book Release

Posted on June 7, 2023 by dbjackson

Let’s start with the obvious: The Chalice War: Cauldron is now out and available from all booksellers in ebook and paper formats. This is the second installment in my Celtic urban fantasy trilogy, The Chalice War. Stone, the first book, … Continue reading →

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