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I was doom scrolling the other day, as we do sometimes. Almost every other video was an advertisement for those AI short dramas, and something occurred to me. They are literally all the same story, over and over again, just in a new setting. In these rinse-and-repeat stories, the popular tropes have been reduced to 2D, extreme caricatures of what they were supposed to be. They can produce stories in half the time because it’s the same, over and over again. I know why they do

I love the urban fantasy genre. I grew up on it and lived in it’s prime peak in the late 90s and early 2000s. My favorites include Harry Potter’s hidden magical world, Percy Jackson’s Greek mythology hiding in the real world, The Dresden Files’s underground magical populace in Chicago, and Sookie Stackhouse solving mysteries in Louisiana. The Cruel Prince makes it to my list for the hidden magic world, though the greater part of the series is spent in the fae part of the worl

While at Knoxville Book Festival 2026, I had an interesting conversation with someone. I was talking to them about my books and that I like to write green flag characters for the relationships. They replied with a “Oh, but I love my dark fantasy and dark romance.” The thing is, so do I. I like reading some dark romance. Not all, but there are a lot I like. I love the spicy heat and I love the deep passion and yearning (to the point of being unhealthy, right?). Like many of us

Writing fiction has a lot of fun benefits as well as some unique challenges. For one, in fiction, (especially fantasy) anything can be true! You can make whatever idea you have come to life. You want to write about a polka dotted creature from an ancient Aztec legend? Go for it! But how do you balance that with sensitivity? How do you give the proper respect to the Aztec legends? In my opinion, the most important part about showing respect is making sure what you are writing

I have recently had fun building out two new character for the next Arbor Clan book. It was one of those instances where the characters emerged as I was writing Hunting The Arbors. They just sort of pop into existence. Since I’m a heavily dedicated plotter, these moments always sort of surprise me. I’m left blinking at the and asking “where did you come from?” I was also just reading about character creation and had been asked about how I build my characters so I thought it w

Overall, the BBC show Sherlock is just really great! This is my favorite Sherlock Holmes adaptation by far. I love the actors, the modern setting, and reimagining of the famous detective who lives at 221B Baker Street. One of the things that just puts the icing on the cake for this show is the banter. I love good banter. I love when characters throw witty remarks out there and bonus points when it is delivered so well, even the other characters are surprised. (I love a good “

Fans of Sailor Moon are loyal to her and it will probably disappoint many to learn that I am just not into it. It could be because I never watched it until recently as an adult and a mom. Maybe if I had watched it as a kid, I’d feel differently. But I hadn’t watched it back then and this is where we are. My husband watched it in the 90s and introduced our four year old daughter to it. She loves it, so we watch it quite a bit now. We have watched the Japanese original, the 90s

I'm VERY picky about how I like time travel in whatever entertainment I consume. I've realized it all comes down to how it's used. Time travel presented as a problem: YES! Time travel presented as the goal or solution: NO! I like time travel as a story element when it's used as an obstacle in the story. Some good examples of this is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. The stones present time travel in an element that is unexpected and uncontrolled. There are hard rules that pose is

I've recently been re-watching the show in some of my downtime, remembering how much I enjoyed it when it first came out. I'm hoping to actually finish the show this time, especially since I don't have to wait each week for the new episode. But as I go through the story again, I'm reminded of just how much the show got right in story telling. I'm currently in the second half of season three, with Zelena. (She's turning out to be me least favorite villain at this point, but I'

I will be the first to admit that I often have trouble regulating how much I have on my plate. I think I can do it all! Finish all the laundry, edit those chapters, film and post on social media, transpose those chapters for my late grandad's book, and dinner and bedtime routines with the little. Life tends to have other plans and reality tends to be much more...restrictive. Not always good, not always bad, but still extra balls to keep in air in my juggling act. Sometimes,