2015 was a busy year for me, which saw the publication of both Memories of a Ghost and my short story collection, Odds & Endings: Fiction Short and Otherwise. My goal for 2016 is to release at least one new novel, though which one it is remains to be seen.

In addition to the much-awaited third book in the Small Things trilogy (tentatively titled A Pattern of Shadows,) I’m also finishing up Leap Year (a time-travel urban fantasy) and beginning work on the as-of-yet-untitled sequel to Memories of a Ghost.

One thing I’ve done in all of my work is to create connections between them. Small Things, for example, briefly references one of the two main characters in Leap Year. The main character in Memories of a Ghost is the sister of a very minor character in Threads. There are too many connections to list between the stories in Odds & Endings and everything else, but all of them do take place in the same universe—even the sci-fi piece Beside Myself. One example: In my novella Merryland, Zara’s doctor is Vanessa Wages. In Small Things, set in 1975, Vanessa Wages appears as a nurse taking care of Shawn Spencer. Maya Wang, also a nurse, appears in that novel. Her sister Lisa appears in Threads, and both women are featured in the short story Smoke along with their brother Jacob, and in a Pattern of Shadows…oops, that one hasn’t been released yet, so I can’t really say. I will, however, tell you that you’ll be seeing a few very familiar faces from Memories of a Ghost!

Those are just a few of the cameos, clues, and connections (not to mention Easter eggs) awaiting you in my fiction. Can you find more? I’ll be waiting to hear from you!

 

Categories:

No responses yet

Leave a Comment

Subscribe to Joe's Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. (No spamming, I promise)

Join 3,660 other subscribers
From Joe's writing

The walls of the library were covered in big maple bookshelves that ran from floor to ceiling, sporting volumes on plumbing, weaponry, martial arts, religion, ancient civilizations, and dozens of other topics. A huge wooden ladder lay against one bookshelf, attached at the floor and the ceiling via rollers. The room also housed three leather wingback chairs, another huge mildewed couch with clawed wooden feet, and even a radio that looked as though it might actually work were electricity still flowing through the grand old house. Everything was bathed in dust, and more than a few spiders, flies, cockroaches, and other assorted crawling creatures had decided to homestead the property. The entire second floor of the house was a virtual metropolis of bugs.

— Small Things, Chapter 20