As I embrace the life of a hermit, a recluse, and a writer , I find myself engaging more deeply with the world through ideas , not presence. These ideas don’t always arrive fully formed—they come in fragments, in twilight hours, in dreams I half-remember. You’ll find them in my books, my quiet thoughts, and sometimes, in poems like this one. Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/sunset-across-seat-301494/ Worlds Between Worlds I’ve lived my life, Many lives, In the twilight. Not that space Between day and night, When the sun escapes Over the horizon, And the moon shuffles To its nightly observation post— But the space between my eyelids, Blocking out the day, Preparing to transition me from one world to the next— From the world of the living, To the world of the subconscious. The twilight is the world that exists Between those. It is that world In which I have so many lives. A rancher, a recluse, A holy man, a hermit, A lover, a fighter, A man of power, a man of me...

Photo by Markus Spiske: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-matrix-background-1089438 /  As an indie author, protecting your intellectual property in a world of digital piracy and widespread unauthorized distribution is no easy feat. With the recent rise in visibility of platforms like the LibGen database , which provides free access to pirated books, it's becoming increasingly clear that copyright laws and the systems that enforce them are not keeping up with the challenges of the digital age. For indie authors, the question remains: How can we protect our work from piracy while still maintaining an affordable, accessible price point that attracts readers? While the traditional publishing industry has long been aware of the problems posed by piracy, indie authors face a unique set of challenges. Unlike major publishers, indie authors typically work with much smaller budgets and rely heavily on eBook sales to generate income. For us, protecting our work often comes with...

The digital equivalent of someone selling stolen electronics or meat out of the back of a van, appearing on one corner one day and another the next.  Recent revelations about Meta’s use of copyrighted material for AI training have reignited concerns about how our creative works are being exploited. While Meta’s actions are troubling, the deeper issue isn’t new. It’s one I’ve spoken about before, and one I’ll continue to emphasize. The problem lies not just in what corporations like Meta are doing, but in how easily this exploitation is enabled. For decades, authors, artists, content creators, and consumers of our work, have been unknowingly, or carelessly, feeding the beast. The right hand (AI) has our attention right now, but the left hand is still stealing our wallet. The Problem We Helped Create I’ve long cautioned about the risks of uploading books, documents, and images to websites and software platforms without fully understanding the terms of service. Many creators have ...

A vigorous eruption column rising over the summit of 1,282-m (4,206 ft)-high Augustine Volcano. Photograph by M.E. Yount, U.S. Geological Survey, March 31, 1986.  The earth never stops moving beneath our feet, but sometimes, its rumblings are impossible to ignore. Recent reports indicate that Mount Spurr , a towering peak northwest of Anchorage, Alaska, is showing signs of potential eruption. Increased gas emissions, heightened seismic activity, and indications of magma movement have raised concerns that an eruption may be imminent. The last time Mount Spurr erupted was in 1992, covering parts of Alaska with ash and severely disrupting air travel. Now, over three decades later, scientists are closely monitoring its behavior — and the parallels to my novel Inversion are impossible to overlook. In Inversion , the world is thrown into chaos when a series of simultaneous volcanic eruptions occur across the globe. From Iceland to Antarctica, these eruptions trigger a chain reaction tha...

  Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a concept confined to the realm of science fiction. Its presence is rapidly growing across various industries, including the creative arts, the environment, and even our everyday lives. As a writer, I’ve had the opportunity to explore different facets of AI in my work, and I’ve been reflecting on the ways in which it’s shaping our world—both for better and for worse. In my latest projects, RePHleXions: Echoes of Existence and The Life of Phi , I dive into different aspects of AI. RePHleXions takes a closer look at AI’s role in the creative arts—how it’s reshaping music, writing, and visual art. In The Life of Phi , I delve into AI’s biases and the environmental implications of technology. Both works confront the rapid advancements in AI and the profound implications they have on our lives and the world around us. But as much as I explore these themes in my books, I’m also deeply curious about your thoughts and experiences. We live in ...

  Nearly two decades ago, I wrote Leviticus 25: Jubilee , a political thriller inspired by the 2002 G8 Summit held in Kananaskis Country, Alberta. At the time, world leaders gathered to discuss economic stability, debt relief, and global financial systems. While the summit itself may have faded from public memory, the ideas that emerged from it planted the seeds for my novel — and ironically, those themes feel startlingly relevant today. The story imagines a bold scenario: developing nations, led by Argentina and Peru, announce a "Jubilee" — a coordinated refusal to repay international debts. The term itself is drawn from a biblical concept found in Leviticus 25, where debts are forgiven, and land is restored every fifty years. While the novel's title may suggest a religious narrative, Leviticus 25: Jubilee is not a faith-based book. Instead, it explores how the underlying concept — economic reset and justice — might unfold on a global scale. In the novel, this declarati...

Some words arrive unexpectedly—unattached to any story, yet too vivid to be left unwritten. Over time, I’ve found myself collecting these fragments of poetry, pieces that don’t belong in my novels but still deserve a life of their own in the world. My blog has already welcomed one of these wandering verses, but  Fragments of Frost and Fire  is a home for these untethered creations. A space where fleeting thoughts and deeper reflections take form, shaped by ice and flame, stillness and fury, life and loss. Some will stand alone, while others may one day find their place in larger works, but all will linger here, waiting to be felt. Wounds That Won't Heal  You flinch, As It cuts deep, Opening you up, Exposing the nerves, Every wisp of air, Flowing over the wound, Triggering those exposed nerves, Ramping up that pain.   But it’s only for a moment, You hope, As you close up that wound, Wrapping it tightly, So no one can see it.   Someti...

I’ve always leaned toward traditional publishing practices when it comes to beta and ARC readers, so my circle of readers is small — but their feedback is invaluable. The insights I’ve received so far have been thoughtful, detailed, and deeply encouraging. Here’s a glimpse of what a couple of my early readers had to say about The Life of Phi : One reader described the experience like this: "I wasn’t expecting The Life of Phi to hit me the way it did. What drew me in wasn’t just the worldbuilding or the plot — it was the writing itself. The language is lyrical, almost hypnotic, especially in the sections narrated by the water itself. Those passages felt like poetry — fluid, unpredictable, and powerful." They went on to highlight the symbolic use of water as both a life force and a destroyer — a metaphor that deepened the novel’s tension. As Quinn reflects on the AI’s growing influence, the weight of those water metaphors builds. Sahara’s destructive path mirrors a raging ri...

Introducing: Fragments of Frost and Fire Some words arrive unexpectedly—unattached to any story, yet too vivid to be left unwritten. Over time, I’ve found myself collecting these fragments of poetry, pieces that don’t belong in my novels but still deserve a life of their own in the world. My blog has already welcomed one of these wandering verses, but Fragments of Frost and Fire marks the beginning of something more—a home for these untethered creations. A space where fleeting thoughts and deeper reflections take form, shaped by ice and flame, stillness and fury, life and loss. Some will stand alone, while others may one day find their place in larger works, but all will linger here, waiting to be felt. The first poem under this theme is The Slow Bloom of Ice , a meditation on death not as a sudden force, but as something that seeps, grows, and takes hold from within. The Slow Bloom of Ice  It flows in all life, A pure, primordial element, From which life emerges, The sus...

 "Through writing, I strive to transport readers to another world, to merge their mind and heart with another being, to inspire, motivate, and deepen understanding. To earn my place in this world by living modestly through this work alone—this is my dream, my goal, and my honor." – Lawrence Nault If you have seen the documentary “ Echoes of a Hermit ” then you already know writing has always been a part of my life. That combined with necessity and perhaps some need to control my own work is what led to me entering the world of what is more commonly known as indie publishing. Nearly 20 years ago, I took my first steps into self-publishing. I wanted to get my stories out into the world, and I didn’t see anything publishers were doing that I couldn’t do myself. I started with children’s books (Squirrel Tales, Wolf Tales, and Bear tales, later expanded to a YA sci-fi (Loma – A MacIver Kids Adventure),  and eventually wrote political fiction (Jubilee). At the time, self-publishin...