Massachusetts
Salem Tales
It’s Halloween. And when many people think Halloween, they think Salem, Massachusetts. Because it’s basically our Mardi Gras. Want to know practically everything there is to know about Salem? From witches to how a Salem boy became a Chinese god, to where the Murder of the Century occurred, and including…
PAX East 2012 Overview
The Boston Convention & Exhibition Center is a cool place. It has animal art installations. Like this horse. And some really big animal art installations. Like this giraffe. And this year it hosted a really big games installation called PAX East. This is PAX East. Well, actually, it’s the showroom…
PAX East 2012: Plot vs Play panel
Here are Ken Levine (Bioshock), Chris Avellone (Fallout: New Vegas), and David Gaider (Dragon Age) speaking about the importance of writing, plot, and game mechanics.
First Massachusetts Coffee License
Look! It’s a piece of coffee history, one of my favorite kinds of history. And the honor of possessing the first coffee & chocolate license in Massachusetts – possibly in the colonies – goes to a woman: Dorothy Jones in 1670. Yay for enterprising colonial women who know the value…
Ziggy’s Pumpkin Pie
One of my favorite things about Autumn is pumpkin pie. Does this look delicious or what? This was the pie we bought last year from Ziggy’s. (Seconds before it was devoured.) We’re buying two this year. Nom nom nom…
Remember the Fifth of November
If you think of Guy Fawkes, you probably think of this mask. You might think of a man “who died for what he believed in.” (per Fawkes from Fallout 3) You might not realize his fame comes from, as Wikipedia puts it, “a failed conspiracy by a group of provincial…
Witches of Salem
Witches have become an intrinsic part of Salem, Massachusetts. You don’t see ads like the above anymore, of course. Although that sort of positive, Witches Can Help philosophy is much present. Very unlike the ad I describe in HIDDEN HISTORY OF SALEM (an ad that uses the hanging of Salem…
Set Sail For Horror
I commissioned Francesco Francavilla for something Lovecraftian with cats and this is the fabulous, wickedly brilliant picture he created for me!!! So I thought I’d share it with you, since it is Halloween-time. You can commission him, too, by the way. And follow him on Twitter.
Abducting Heiresses
Abduction is a popular storytelling device when it comes to historical romance, which isn’t surprising since you can trace its place in romance literature right back to the Abduction of Persephone. When you’re talking historical romance set in England or Wales, abductors – and elopers, for that matter – are…
Fried Dough in Salem
Haunted Happenings time in Salem and that means FRIED DOUGH! I love fried dough. I also love the Yankee plain-speaking brevity that makes a person call it as they see it. While elsewhere in the United States these delicious treats are known by fantastically romantic names like Dragon Ears or…