on Reading and Writing and All the Speculation In Between
I can’t believe I’ve made it 13 straight days of blogging for the A to Z blogging challenge. And I have a great one for M too: The Manpupuner plateau is where the climactic scene of Dust to Blood takes place. It’s a remarkable location that few outside Russia know about, and I was lucky…
I had to think long and hard to come up with an L topic for this installment of the A to Z Blog challenge–and then I had to face-palm at the obvious choice: Ann is a staff researcher and mentions libraries on a regular basis in Dust to Blood. And this is a book blog,…
I’m a little amazed that I’ve managed 11 straight posts for the A to Z Blogging challenge. Though tonight I’m feeling a bit challenged by K. So you get to learn the first Russian phrase I learned: Kak dyelah. And you know it’s in Dust to Blood because the excerpt from two days ago, where…
I would imagine there will be a number of “jam” entries for the A to Z Blogging challenge, since there aren’t that many J words appropriate for this context. And I admit, this entry is a little bit of a stretch for my theme of introducing elements of my new book, Dust to Blood. In…
I knew from the beginning that if I introduced Anne, I would also have to introduce Ivan, her not-quite love interest. So here I am at my ninth A to Z Blogging challenge entry, with smoldering eye candy again. 🙂 Here’s how Anne meets him in Dust to Blood: For as much research as I’ve…
I had a hard time settling on just one H letter for this, my eighth contribution to the A to Z Blogging challenge. In Dust to Blood, the heroes wander many hallways, have many heart-to-heart conversations, and develop unusual hearing. Plus, there are some interesting Russian words that begin with H. However, ultimately, the path…
And here’s another character for my seventh contribution to the A to Z Blogging challenge. Gyorgi is Andrei’s best friend, and the pair of them are assigned to Anne and Igor as helicopter pilots doing a bit of not-quite-government-sanctioned side-work. This small storyline was inspired by actual news coverage I had read many years ago….
I’m back to introducing a character for my sixth day of the A to Z blogging challenge. This cutie, from the Dreamstime stock photography collection is a pretty close depiction of who I had in mind when I was describing Fyodor in Dust to Blood. Or at least, the very young version of Fyodor. In…
For my fifth day of the A to Z blogging challenge, I’m playing a little more of a tour guide to introduce you to another scenic area of Russia featured in Dust to Blood: Ekaterinburg. This is a large, metropolitan city in central Russia in the foothills of the Ural mountains, home at the time…
Fourth day of the A to Z blogging challenge, and I’m continuing my introduction to major elements of the novel, Dust to Blood, I’m releasing later this month. This time I’ve decided to take the opportunity to explain a Russian cultural phenomenon that doesn’t really have an analogue in one word in the English language….