Latest Addition to Our Blog: Murderbot

Lately, Penna has been spending much of her writing time with a certain snarky SecUnit. She has compiled a list of her fics in the Murderbot Diaries fandom for the blog. Also included are brief summaries.

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.

Werewolves for the Wolf Moon

With the approach of January's Wolf Moon, I feel a howl coming on for my favorite werewolf stories.

I resisted the genre for a long time. I like wolves but I'm not a fan of gore and I've seen too many depictions of ferocious werewolves to think that I'd like reading about them. How wrong I was! The werewolf stories below place the emphasis on family, personal growth, and character development.

Sci-Fi Reads

January 2 is Science Fiction Day. Cheers to all the authors who have expanded our horizons!

My recent favorites are two series:

• Tinkered Starsong (Divinity 36, Demigod 12, Dome 6) by Gail Carriger features spectacular use of music and color, captivating aliens and creatures, and an ending that sets my spirit soaring. 
  
  
• The Resolution Universe (Winter's Orbit, Ocean's Echo) by Everina Maxwell combines a thrilling mystery with dazzling plot twists. 

Both series include an understated M/M romance - so much pining!

2025: The Year of the Butterfly

Welcome to the Writing Year of the Butterfly! We hope 2025 will be a year of low-pressure writing where Penna and I can float from story to story as our mood suits us.

Solstice Reads

I'm not familiar with many winter solstice reads, but one of them is the marvelous fantasy by Ginn Hale, Lord of the White Hell. The two-volume novel is the first part of The Cadeleonians, a high fantasy series that satisfies my cravings for imaginative worldbuilding, complex plot, characters that I fall in love with, and romance. Lord of the White Hell also wins my award for favorite use of the solstice. The scene of Kiram sneaking around the dorm late at night to leave gifts for his fellow hellions is one of those storytelling magical moments that I reflect back on each year with the return of the winter solstice.

Sympathy for the Hellhound

You could call Crossed Lines a fix-it series. It places the Supernatural characters from roughly the start of their second canon season into the world of Caffrey Conversation. Thanks to Penna's series, Neal and Mozzie are on their way to much brighter futures. In Crossed Lines, Dean, Sam, Bobby, and yes, Crowley too, all have a chance as well.

Favorite Holiday Reads

10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall.
Sam—please don't call him Samwise—is the perfect cinnamon roll for a cold December night.

Holiday Stories 2024

Penna and I are adding two more stories to the Caffrey Conversation collection this year.

Caffrey Conversation: All for One

Neal's canon expertise as a fencer inspired me to introduce a Thee Musketeers theme in Caffrey Conversation. Ten years ago, I set the stage in The Woman in Blue by having Neal join a university fencing club. The club's leader, Aidan Phillips, was so impressed with Neal's ability that he gave him the nickname of d'Artagnan. When Fowler framed Neal for a theft in the following story, The Queen's Jewels, Neal's university friends leaped to his defense. Peter was one frustrated boss during that con. Even though Neal assured him he was one of the team, none of the details could be shared since they were illegal.

Caffrey Conversation: A Better Way

In Winston's Diamonds, I added the Mosconi Codex to my Red Diamonds collection of dangling threads where it joins Adrian Tulane, the Dentist of Detroit, Raquel LaRoque, and Alice Langton. In A Better Way, I add threads connected to Vermeer and Mozzie.

Caffrey Conversation: Winston's Diamonds

I have mixed feelings about White Collar's fifth season. The lack of trust between Peter and Neal is painful to watch. What redeems the season for me is the Mosconi Codex. Seeing Neal, Mozzie, and Peter tackle an arcane and baffling puzzle is an indulgence I can't get enough of, and on that front, the codex delivers in spades. In Winston's Diamonds, I introduce my version of the codex. This time around, the trust issues are integral to a con.

Caffrey Conversation: Destination Africa

Like the first two Red Diamonds stories, Destination Africa picks up a few dangling threads. This time they include Raquel LaRoque and Sara's sister Emily.

Caffrey Conversation: A Piece of the Action

In my first Red Diamonds story, Dances with Dinosaurs, I revisited Adrian Tulane. His introduction to Caffrey Conversation was in Penna's story Caffrey Aloha where Neal used a variant of the Anastasia con to keep Tulane from carrying out a theft. The master thief was left believing that Neal was only pretending to be a Caffrey. Since that story, Tulane has been languishing on a shelf, hoping for a callback. Will he make more than a cameo appearance or is the jewel thief merely a red herring? The crystal ball remains murky. Meanwhile, in the Red Diamonds' second story, A Piece of the Action, I pick up another dangling thread—the Dentist of Detroit.