Excerpts from the Books

One Does Not Say No to Baba Yaga

  There are moments in writing that feel so spontaneous that it is hard to believe they have come from oneself but instead are descended in the form of a writerly-grace. When Jane Yolen and I wrote Except the Queen, we began by separately creating characters, each with their voice and chapters, intuitively stitching them together […]

One Does Not Say No to Baba Yaga Read More »

Excerpt from The Innamorati: Anna’s Return

This is a complicated moment in the novel when several threads come together, all for the purpose of resolving Anna’s terrifying possession. Having accepted the maenad’s mask, and now in its spell, Anna throws herself into the bloody revels of the maenads following Bacchus. Two men with separate interests in Anna have been searching for

Excerpt from The Innamorati: Anna’s Return Read More »

Excerpt from The Innamorati: Erminia’s Embrace

In this "climatic" scene, Lorenzo begins by fiercely resisting to recall the poet in himself while Erminia fights to liberate Lorenzo from his denial and at the same time, satisfy Orpheus' demand that she must first make Lorenzo a poet again before he returns the Sirens' voices to them. Her plan — something along the

Excerpt from The Innamorati: Erminia’s Embrace Read More »

Excerpt from The Innamorati: Erminia And Two Poets

This is was fun scene to write as it provided me a chance to get back at that wretched Orpheus after reading all the mythological shenanigans he did to harm the Sirens and get away with it. Well, only to a certain extent. There was that unfortunate incident with the maenads, but even from that

Excerpt from The Innamorati: Erminia And Two Poets Read More »