My eighteenth post in the A to Z blog challenge was obvious from the beginning. Dust to Blood posits strange religious practices begun under Grigori Rasputin as part of the reason Ivan and his cohorts have dust as blood–and no memories much older than the timeline of the book. Rasputin was a charismatic mystic active … #AtoZChallenge – R is for Rasputin

I struggled for a long time coming up with my 17th post for the A to Z blog challenge, following my theme of introducing my new book, Dust to Blood. There aren’t a lot of words that begin with Q in the first place, and I wasn’t going to cheat at this late stage. Then … #AtoZChallenge – Q is for Quest

For my sixteenth A to Z blog challenge post, I’m going to play tour guide once again. Anne and her compatriots get to see a lot of corners of Russia in the course of their adventures in Dust to Blood. While visiting Ekaterinburg, they make a side trip to visit the Kapova at Shulgan-Tash. It’s … #AtoZChallenge – P is for Petroglyphs

My fifteenth A to Z blogging challenge entry introduces Anne’s other sidekick from Dust to Blood. Olga starts as just a research librarian at the Museum of Local Lore in Chernivtsi, and quickly evolves to Anne’s sounding board and confidante. Olga had her own challenges growing up in the Soviet Union, where beautiful young women … #AtoZChallenge – O is for Olga

I’m over halfway through the A to Z blogging challenge with my N entry. As with the Anne and Ivan entries, this one was a no-brainer in keeping with my theme of introducing Dust to Blood. Natasha is one of the primary characters in the book, and the most complex to write because of the … #AtoZChallenge – N is for Natasha

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 … #AtoZChallenge – M is for Manpupuner

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, … #AtoZChallenge – L is for Library

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 … #AtoZChallenge – K is for Kak dyelah

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 … #AtoZChallenge – J is for jam

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 … #AtoZChallenge – I is for Ivan