Cozy Cthulhu

I've become quite fond of writing cozy Cthulhu stories. In them, you'll find many concepts borrowed from the world created by the horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. Arcane tomes, chief among them the Necronomicon, abound. The outer gods—primarily Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Cthulhu, and Yidhra—occasionally drop in. The fantasy realm of the Dreamlands, with its weird and fantastical creatures like nightgaunts, zoogs, shantaks, and ghasts, is not as removed from the real world as you might think.

In my stories, you won't find the pervasive sense of impending horrific doom that Lovecraft excels at. Instead, the emphasis is on found family. The stories are optimistic, and not all creatures are hostile. Some could be considered downright cuddly. Whimsy isn't associated with Lovecraft, but it's embraced in cozy Cthulhu.

Across the Street

A very belated post about my White Collar story Across the Street...

When I wrote the first fics in the Caffrey Conversation series -- which features Peter as a father figure for Neal -- I thought about writing something that showed them more as brothers. With so many ideas and time going into the Caffrey Conversation, I just never got around to it.

Then I started writing for a set of Flufftober prompts, with a fluffy idea for an AU: what if the Marshals had sent Neal, his mom, and Ellen to upstate New York instead of St. Louis? What if Neal grew up across the street from Peter and the Burke family?

Arkham Files: The Summons

Toward the end of Visions from Beyond, the first story in Arkham Files, Neal was transported to the frozen plateau of Leng. There he met a yellow-masked priest in a monastery of ice. The priest, later revealed to be Nyarlathotep, told him, "Neal Carter, you dared find me. You will come when I call. But until then, begone!" Neal was whisked back to Arkham, but he didn't forget the priest's words. The time has now come for that prophecy to be fulfilled.

Six-Crossed Knot: Wolf Moon

When last we checked in with Jack, he'd been reunited with Diana and Matthew in the present. Harm's Repair ended at roughly the same time as the canon novel The Book of Life. Throughout the series, my goal was to fill in some of the blanks in Jack's life while adhering as closely as possible to canon. But in Harm's Repair, I added the twist that Jack, like Diana and Matthew's twins, is a Bright Born. That set me to daydreaming about what his future would be like.

Have Dragon Will Travel

Genevieve Cogman's marvelous series The Invisible Library is a natural for crossovers. The Librarian heroine Irene Winters and her shapeshifting dragon assistant Kai are constantly on the prowl for rare books that could destabilize worlds. Their assignments stretch across a universe of alternate worlds. Speaking from personal experience, stopovers in a favorite fandom are often too tempting to resist.

A Day for Geeks

Pi Day is a holiday created by and meant for geeks. Held on March 14, it celebrates the mathematical constant π (pi). In honor of the occasion, I'd like to give a shout-out to my favorite fictional geeks.

For Dragon Lovers

National Appreciate a Dragon Day on January 16 is for the dragon lovers of the world. Count me as one of them! I've written about dragons in three of my fanfic series—Six-Crossed Knot, Tales from the Library, and Arkham Files—and even managed to sneak them into Caffrey Conversation.