Every month Solstice Publishing hosts a Twitter storytelling event. On Thursdays and Fridays, several of us get together to write stories, 240 characters at a time, based on a shared picture. If you want to follow along, check us out at #twittertales with @solsticepublishing. But, I wanted to collect up all of the tweets that encompass my story and share them here with you. Here is my June story. Hope you like it. And check out the Twitter Tales every month.

It walked, unsure of how long it had been walking. There had been buildings before, but that had been how long? Days, weeks? So these building on the horizon had been a surprise. And a letdown, when It reached them. They were broken and empty.

It looked through the remains anyway. The food stores were dwindling, It couldn’t overlook a chance to find more. Inside one building it found a cluster of broken boxes and a few stray potatoes. It was pleased but worried. Why had these been left?

Hoping that the potatoes weren’t poisoned, It tucked them into a bag and kept scrounging. There was no use leaving until every inch was searched or until it was not safe to stay.

There, in the corner, what was that? A bottle, catching the light.

It crept towards the bottle, intrigued. When It got closer, It could see the label. A bottle of pop, something It hadn’t seen since childhood. Something It had dreamed of, surely something never to be had again. This was too good to be true.

At the last moment, It pulled it’s hand back. Since the darkness, there was nothing like this left. Other scavengers had taken everything. If something this good, was left, it was a trap. There was no doubt. It looked around, wary. Was It alone?

It heard things in the sand, slithering and slinking towards it. It dropped the bottle of pop and ran. This place was a trap, set by those who had given up on scavenging and taken to cannibalism. But they wouldn’t win today. It ran.

The bottle of pop stayed where it was, resting on a trap door that led to a well stocked cellar that had not been touched for years, and had been casually dropped by accident when the family who’d once lived there left.

Harold spent most of his son’s life protecting him from the man in the woods, while his neighbors lost child after child. Then, after a deadly car crash, he has to take his sixteen-year-old granddaughter into his home.

Then a reality company starts building a new neighborhood in the heart of the woods, placing hundreds of children in harm’s way.

Get it here now.

If you subscribe to PBW Update, then the last episode of Station Central came your way on July 29^th. If you’re reading Station Central here, then there’s just two episodes left.

The ending is explosive, get ready.

But, as always, there’s more to the story. There are two chapters at the end of the book that tell the story of what’s happening on Earth right now, and more information about Sennett’s birth parents.

If you can’t wait to get it, don’t worry. The ebook of Station Central will be available on August 30^th. But, of course, it’s available for pre-order right now.

And please keep reading as we reach the ending of Station Central right here on PBW.

This is a little late coming, but as you might know, I’ve been busy. I mean, I’m always busy, so that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. But I meant to write this back in June, and I’m just now getting around to it.

Oh well.

As some of you may know, my birthday was in June. And every year, I read The Giver on my birthday. I’ve done this since I was thirteen when I was given my first copy of it by a friend named Jamie over lunch on the last day of school.

This means that, as of this year, I’ve literally read The Giver twenty times. That’s right, the same book. Twenty times.

And you know what? It’s never gotten old. Every year, it feels different. Every year, even though I could quote you whole pages of it, it feels like I’m reading it with fresh eyes.

Why is this happening? It’s the same book. It hasn’t changed since 1993 when it first came out. I refuse to acknowledge that a movie exists, so that hasn’t colored my perception. And yes, there are more books now. But sadly, I’ve only ever read Gathering Blue. And that only once.

The book hasn’t changed. But the eyes reading it have. I am a far different person now than I was twenty years ago. I mean, I would hope I’m not the same person I was when I was thirteen. But I’m also not the same person I was when I was fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, or thirty. I hope that I’m not the same person a year from now.

And as I change, as I become a different person, the words ring out from the page differently. Their tune hasn’t changed, but I hear them different.

Different passages, different words touch me. Every year a different phrase moves me. Every year it means something new to me.

I can’t help but wonder if other people have experienced this. An I the only one who’s invested time every year to absorb the same words? I know that some people read the same poem over and over, studying its melody and features. But does anyone else do that with prose?

Some, I imagine, do this with holiday classics. I have tried to read two books in particular for Christmas every year, A Christmas Carol and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I don’t always have the time, and it hasn’t been so long a term thing. It’s also a bit more universal, you know? A lot of people read those books every year. No one, as far as I know, reads The Giver every year. This makes it a very intimate experience.

No matter what your age, you can start this tradition right now. It doesn’t have to be your birthday. Maybe you have a book you read every Summer, every Fall. The important thing is to pick a book with a depth that can be explored over and over. One that you will feel comfortable revisiting over and over. A book that means something important to you.

It’s best if the book has a significant meaning aside from the book itself. Though no matter the book you chose, it will start to collect that meaning over time. I read The Giver, and I remember reading it in my attic bedroom at thirteen. I remember reading it in my first apartment for the first time. I remember reading it under a shady tree in the grass, on a bus on the way to work. I remember reading it in twenty different places, in twenty different versions of my skin. And as I’ve read it every year, I’ve moved forward. I, like Jonas, have given myself over to a leap of faith. I have hoped that I would find people who love me at the bottom of that hill.

When a station goes dark, Sennett is asked to join the last remaining IHP members to investigate. When they arrive, they find so much more than they expected. A terrifying virus is loose on the station, that they might never escape from.

Meanwhile, Station 86 is having its first free election. Godfrey hadn’t had any intention of being involved, until he isn’t given a choice.

In the meantime, April’s true identity as the first hybrid humanoid is no longer a secret. And there are those who can’t stand that there’s a half Earthian, half Khloe. There are those that will never rest until the little girl is dead. With Sennett trapped, stations away, Godfrey and Mason have to work together to keep April safe.

Now available on Smashwords

It’s time for a launch day, are you ready?

Virus, Book 3 of Station 86, is now available on Smashwords.

When a station goes dark, Sennett is asked to join the last remaining IHP members to investigate. When they arrive, they find so much more than they expected. A terrifying Virusvirus is loose on the station, that they might never escape from.

Meanwhile, Station 86 is having its first free election. Godfrey hadn’t had any intention of being involved, until he isn’t given a choice.

In the meantime, April’s true identity as the first hybrid humanoid is no longer a secret. And there are those who can’t stand that there’s a half Earthian, half Khloe. There are those that will never rest until the little girl is dead. With Sennett trapped, stations away, Godfrey and Mason have to work together to keep April safe.

By the way, it’s also available on Barns & Noble and Kobo. Super excited about that.

If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on a copy of Virus, now’s your chance. I hope you love it.

Thank you as always for reading. And I hope you’re ready for the end of Station Central. There’s only two episodes left!

So, there’s this school bus driver that I kind of hated this past year. Her route was right near my house and, I’ve got to tell you, she must have had it out for me. She would take corners too wide, causing us to have to back up. She’d come to stops with little to no warning. She would sit at a stop forever, I swear. And any time we made eye contact, she’d go off on us. At least as much as she could, seeing as how we couldn’t hear her. Though I’m assuming you have an idea what I mean. Hands waving, mouth moving in such a way we can clearly see she’s not using language she should be using while driving about a bunch of kids.

I don’t like this woman. I cannot understand this woman, and I don’t want her to be driving children.

At the same time, it’s really hard to have such strong feelings for someone you see for a minute at most. And, a lot of factors play into my vitriol for this woman. For one thing, I see her in one of my least favorite times of the day. I am always anxious I’m going to be late for work, no matter how early we’ve left. And she, well, I’m sure driving kids on a school bus can’t be a stress-free job. Maybe we’re just two women, doing our best.

Or maybe she’s got road rage and needs to get that shit under control.

One way or another, I don’t really know this woman. I see one face of her, and it’s not a good one. I don’t see her when she gets back to the bus depot. Maybe she’s the one who brought doughnuts in. Maybe she waits a few extra minutes for a kid who has trouble getting out the door. Maybe she is the driver that always remembers all the kid’s birthday. Maybe she’s a great wife, mom, aunt, sister.

The same is true for our characters. Especially our secondary characters. We tend to see our primary characters as themselves because we see them through their own eyes.

But what about the nice old man who lives next door? How does his son see him? Is there a reason he doesn’t bring his wife when he visits?

What about the best friend? She’s always happy, always there to answer the phone when the MC needs her. Why is her life so empty that she’s just there for her buddy all the time?

Or, what about the villain?

The reason this is coming up is that I’m working on a companion novel to Woven right now. For those of you who read the trilogy, you might remember a woman named Grace in book two. The one who was an old flame of Victor, who was less than happy to see him in love with Lenore?

Yeah, her story is so much more than just being the old girlfriend. And so is Calvin’s. I was really astounded how I felt about Lenore after writing this. Or more specifically, Victor. I am kind of furious at him now.

I’m not telling you all this to sell a book that isn’t even done yet. I’m telling you because it’s really fascinating to me. No one’s really a pure villain or a pure hero. We all have shades of gray. Things that redeem us, things that we’d rather no one else know about. Why does your neighbor walk alone every evening? Who does your boss go home to? How many of your co-workers are forcing that smile?

We all have stories, and we all have many sides. To write a good character, make sure you explore all of your character’s sides. Even if they don’t fit into the story you’re telling right now.

Station 86 is shocked when a Khloe assassin begins killing members of the all powerful council. Officer Sennett Montgomery and Councilman Godfrey Anders swear to find the assassin after Godfrey’s wife is falsely accused. But the killer, and the council itself, are not what they seem. Neither, as it turns out, is Sennett’s daughter.

Download the e-book now for free.

Fun fact. When you get interested in something and want to learn more, the universe (or probably ads inspired by online spying) will help you. As you may know, I’ve been on a mission for better money management for quite some time now. I have to tell you, though, I’ve been struggling. Food is expensive, you guys. Like, way more expensive than it should be.

So, I listen to this podcast called Bad With Money with Gabi Dunn. And if you do too, I bet you now have her theme song stuck in your head. And she had someone on a few weeks ago who I just fell in love with. Like, started following her on Instagram and bought her book right away love. That person is Erin Lowry, aka the Broke Millennial.

You guys, this woman has some of the most practical advice I have ever seen for money management. Not just budgeting, not just saving. Real, honest money management. And I love it.

Had some great advice about budgeting

While I didn’t agree with absolutely everything in the book, I found the vast majority of it helpful. It went way past the usual suggestions that you see everywhere. Save money, use this method of budgeting, use that method of budgeting. Oh man, this shit gets offensive sometimes. Clip coupons, shop at different stores, shop the sales and forget coupons!

While all that’s fine, saving money doesn’t do you any good if you don’t know what to do with it.

Let me tell you, I’ve learned things from this book that are going to save me money. Even better, I learned things from this book that are going to make me money. Which is awesome.

Inspirational stories

Look, money issues are hard. It’s nice to know they’re hard for everyone. I mean, there’s a reason why I gravitated towards a money advisor called the Broke Millennial. This book did two things in that regard. It told me I’m not alone, and not stupid for not knowing these things. That’s the big thing to remember. We’re not taught this stuff anywhere unless we seek it out. We are not stupid for not knowing how to manage my money.

The other thing this book taught me is that just because I don’t know now doesn’t mean I’ll never know. I can take steps to be better, and I can start right now. And so can you. Which brings me to my last point.

Made me feel like proper money management was an attainable goal

I went through this book with my notebook open, taking notes. I have plans, people, I have big plans! And you know what else? I feel like these big plans are totally, absolutely, one hundred percent attainable.

I think too often we’re just afraid of things like investing or changing banks. I think money, in general, makes us scared. And I get it. Money makes me scared. But not having enough of it to care for myself and my family makes me way more scared.

And for helping me feel more confident about money decisions, this book is worth its weight in gold.

It’s always an exciting time when I get to announce a book launch. Even though this one isn’t a purely new launch. That’s okay, though. It’s still fun.

Virus, book three of Station 86 will be available on Smashwords on July 30.

So, if you’ve been waiting to complete your Station 86 series, but you’re not a fan of Amazon, I got you. I always love being able to offer my stories on as many markets as I can.

And of course, because it’s on Smashwords, it’s also on OverDrive, Kobo, Apple Books and Barns & Noble. Let me tell you, it is like a literal dream come true to see my books on freaking Barns & Noble!

I love being able to provide my books across as many platforms as possible. I want to make sure that anyone who wants to read my stories can, regardless of what device they have. And I hope that if you haven’t read Virus yet, you grab it now.

Every single year I do this, and I have no intention of stopping. #Sorrynotsorry. But this is a pretty exciting thing, and I really want to share it with you.

Tomorrow will be the sixth anniversary of the day I started my trilogy, Woven. It’s the sixth anniversary of the day I sat in the middle of the park and prayed for this story not to die on me.

And, it didn’t.

This is a particularly special anniversary because the first trilogy is now over. And Woven has grown so much beyond that. At least in my mind, it has, and in projects that are in the works as we speak. (Sorry, no launch dates to release yet.)

I always like to take a moment at this time every year to thank all of you. I value all of you who got Missing Stitches to the bestseller list on its launch day. I thank all of you who read it and left a review. I can’t believe that I’m so blessed as to have so many people reading my stories.

For those of you who are authors, don’t quit. It takes work, and it takes time. But you can get there.

Again, thank you. I have every intention of continuing to bring you stories for many years to come.

Stay tuned.

In Devon’s world, magical work is as common as turning a pot or fletching an arrow. What isn’t common is a man with thread magic. When Devon finds that he is a seer, weaving prophetic tapestries, his family tries to keep it a secret.
But the family can’t hide Devon’s visions after he predicts a devastating plague in the dragon lands of Coveline. He travels there to help the dragon queen save her people.
Meanwhile, Devon’s sister Lenore joins the Church of Singular Light. As Lenore learns to serve, and falls in love with her city, she discovers a dark underbelly to the church.
Lenore fights for her city, and Devon rushes to find a cure to the plague, while an unseen enemy raises an army to destroy Septa from within.

Get it here today!

Sorry for the delay on this review. I actually finished watching Good Omens on Amazon (Not Netflix, hehe) weeks ago. But, you know, life happened, and it took me a while to sit down and talk about it.

Here’s the first thing you need to understand. I love Neil Gaiman. I mean, freaking love his books. I love everything he writes. The first time I read Good Omens, I finished it in one day. This is, by far, one of my favorite books of all time.

When I first heard that they were making Good Omens into a mini-series, I had conflicting feelings. On the one hand, many of Gaiman’s stories have been converted to the big or small screen to great effect. Coraline, for instance, is one of my favorite movies. However, I’ve been burned by movies based on books I loved so many many times. We won’t talk about The Giver movie. And you don’t want me to talk about the Harry Potter movies. Or the first X-Men trilogy.

And so, when I sat down to watch the first episode, I did so with reservations. And then I saw that Neil Gaiman was involved with making the show, and I felt a lot better about the whole thing.

Turns out, it was great.

The casting was perfect

That was a big problem I had with the X-Men movies. Not my only problem, but a big one. But the casting on Good Omens was fantastic. I can’t imagine anyone else playing Crowley other than David Tennant, and I’m not just saying that because he’s The Doctor. His physical movement really sold the character, even aside from his delivery. And Michael Sheen as Aziraphale was perfect. Of course, every time I saw Jon Hamm as Gabriel, I just started laughing.

The intro was wonderful

I know this isn’t the best thing to judge about a show, but an intro means a lot to me. Yeah, I’m weird. Blame it on the Simpsons and Firefly for setting such a high bar. But this intro was a work of art. Hands down.

For the most part, they stayed right to the lines of the book.

Look, I’m not saying that every movie or tv show based on a book has to read the book like it’s the script verbatim. I mean, that would be nice. But it’s not realistic.

But Good Omens got pretty damn close, no lie. I re-read the book a week before the show premiered, and this show was almost line per line for many of the scenes.

There were additions, but they made total sense

Now, of course, they had to add a few things. They had this whole story about Nazies that was really fun. And they did change up the ending. But they changed it in a way that made total and absolute sense. I don’t want to spoil it, because you should absolutely watch it. But the ending, and all of the other additions, make sense.

If you get a chance,check out Good Omens. If you’ve never read the book, do that too. And let me know what you think in the comments below.

Station 86 is shocked when a Khloe assassin begins killing members of the all powerful council. Officer Sennett Montgomery and Councilman Godfrey Anders swear to find the assassin after Godfrey’s wife is falsely accused. But the killer, and the council itself, are not what they seem. Neither, as it turns out, is Sennett’s daughter.

Get it on Smashwords for free

Here’s something you might not know about me. I was born in June of 1986. So literally, while I was being born, Chernobyl was happening. Well, the fallout of Chernobyl was still being dealt with.

In addition to that, I was brought up and still live in, Butler PA. That’s about three hours from Three Mile Island. It seems that I was meant to have some sort of connection with Nuclear disasters. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to Pripyat.

Even if this wasn’t the case, I think I still would have devoured HBO’s Chernobyl.

For the maybe three of you who don’t know the story of Chernobyl, here’s a basic overview. There was a nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, in the Soviet Union. It ran a safety test that went horribly wrong. The core melted, sending radioactive material out into the population. The nearby town of Pripyat had to be completely deserted, and to this day people can’t go there without safety suits. Or they’ll, you know, die.

This was a terrible situation, made worse by a government cover-up, incompetence by the plant’s management, and leaders who were more interested in protecting their secrets than the lives of innocent people.

The HBO miniseries follows the scientists and politicians who worked first to stop the plant from gushing poison into the surrounding area, and then to make sure nothing like this ever happened again. And, let me tell you, it stayed very true to the story. It largely follows Valery Legasov, a nuclear physicist who was part of the response team. His tireless work to lessen the impact of the disaster saved untold lives. The work he did later was more important.

The last episode was the most impactful. And it’s, again, as true to history as we can tell. Legasov made damned sure that every person he could reach would know exactly how the meltdown at Chernobyl happened, exactly who was responsible (spoiler, there a lot of people responsible.) and exactly how responsible they were. He did this not for spite, not to punish anyone. There were enough people more than ready to punish. He did it because he wanted to make sure that nothing like this ever happened again in the Soviet Union.

Legasov is a hero, no question. And I feel personally attached to this story for several reasons.

First off, Pripyat was a company town. It was built to house the employees of the Chernobyl power plant and their families. It was nice, too. One of the most haunting pictures from Pripyat is of the Ferris wheel, that will never run again. My hometown, Butler, was also a company town. It was built to house workers of the steel industry. There are still people here who can remember being paid in company scrip from the mills.

One character from the show really hit me between the eyes. She was a woman named Lyudmila Ignatenko. She was pregnant when the reactor melted. My mom was also pregnant, with me, when the reactor melted. Normally reminders that we’re all citizens of planet Earth are happy and warm. This one wasn’t. How many of my generation were poisoned by this tragedy? No one’s bothered keeping track, so we don’t know and never will know the real number.

The last episode really brought me to tears. Mostly due to this one line, probably the best line from the whole damned show.

“Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth, sooner or later that debt is paid. That is how an RBMK reactor explodes, lies.”

That’s how most things explode or decay. Relationships don’t fail because people were too honest with each other. You don’t stop talking to your family because they were telling you the truth. The truth, no matter how hard it is to speak, is always the best way to handle any situation.

By the way, I still believe Nuclear power is a viable, safe alternative to what we have now. When you look at the numbers, gas, and coal kill thousands of people a year. Nuclear energy has killed less than 100 since Chernobyl. Sorry, including Chernobyl.

I cannot suggest Chernobyl enough. It was believable, gripping, and terrifying at times. If you get a chance, watch it.

And if you’ve already watched it, please let me know what you thought of it in the comments below.

Station 86 is shocked when a Khloe assassin begins killing members of the all powerful council. Officer Sennett Montgomery and Councilman Godfrey Anders swear to find the assassin after Godfrey’s wife is falsely accused. But the killer, and the council itself, are not what they seem. Neither, as it turns out, is Sennett’s daughter.

Download it now for free.