Book Review: Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin @GRRMSpeaking

Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin My rating: 5 of 5 stars Eager for all things Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire, I asked for this book for a Yuletide gift. My kids got it for me for Mother’s Day. They’re good kids (adult kids, now; older than I’d like […]

Book Review: Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey

Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey My rating: 4 of 5 stars No one would ever publish this book, were it written today. It’s full of purple prose and repetition, heaving bosoms and moustache-twirling bad guys, and it’s considered a foundational book of the Western genre, and established maybe 75% of the tropes, […]

DNA from Medieval Crusader Skeletons Shows Surprising Diversity

By Kiona N. Smith European soldiers and civilians poured into the Levant in the 12th and 13th centuries, often killing or displacing local Muslim populations and establishing their own settlements in an effort to seize control of sites sacred to three major religious groups. But in a new study, DNA from the skeletons of nine […]

When Ancient Societies Hit a Million People, Vengeful Gods Appeared

“For we know Him who said, ‘And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.’” Ezekiel 25:17. The God depicted in the Old Testament may sometimes seem wrathful. And in that, he’s not alone; supernatural forces […]

Gunsmoke & Dragonfire Releases TODAY!

From the drought-plagued plains of Mars, to a post-apocalyptic Canada, to the familiar American West and Mexico, to other dimensions and other worlds weird and wonderful, an international cast of bestselling, award-winning, established, and emerging authors brings you 25 strange western tales: Robert Lee Beers – A hardboiled P.I. and his partner must find their […]

WE DID IT!

There’s still a couple of days to get in on the Kickstarter if you want any of the great rewards! Check it out here!

Welcome to the Weird West – and a Kickstarter to explore

Altered Instinct kindly did an interview with me to highlight our Kickstarter and anthology! Last year, as readers of the blog may know, I had my first Weird West tale published – The Clockwork Cowboy in the Hideous Progeny anthology from Writerpunk Press. It was my first step into a Wild West frontier remade into a world […]

Diane Morrison

Speculative Fiction Writer

July 2019

Historical Fiction