Susan and John Ruff, Fantasy Authors

Category: Uncategorized

  • When is an Hour Not an Hour?

    A large part of 60th Hour involves time. The driving force behind the narrative is the countdown to the calendar’s end. In addition, much of daily life in the Kingdom of Kenarin involves time or timekeeping. At some point during the worldbuilding for the story, the Kenarin day became 60…

  • How the Countdown Began

    “CHICHEN ITZA IN 2012 – THE END OF THE WORLDCON” That’s what the bid poster on the convention wall announced. The year was 1995, and John and I were on our honeymoon attending “Intersection,” the World Science Fiction Convention held in Glasgow, Scotland. What? You didn’t plan your wedding date…

  • When Lario Met Martha

    Lord Larrin’s Daughter was originally intended as a one-shot story, a light-hearted piece about medieval highwaymen kidnapping the wrong girl: Robinhood meets The Ransom of Red Chief with a little twist at the end. Even though John and I are primarily fantasy authors, it was not really a fantasy story.…

  • What’s Next?

    It’s traditional for authors to blog about upcoming projects, so here’s the latest news. After publishing two themed anthologies (Kidnapped! and Stolen!), Emerald Cove decided to try something more ambitious: a shared universe anthology. What happens when you ask an eclectic group of writers to come up with a premise…

  • What About that Pilfered Fish?

    Sometimes, as an author, you know exactly when and where a story idea hit you. In this case, it was late August 2017, and I was sitting in the Legal Sea Foods restaurant by T.F.Green Airport in Rhode Island. (See photo above.) Emerald Cove had decided on the theme for…

  • What’s Missing from Lord Larrin’s Daughter?

    I can sum up what’s missing in two words: John’s byline. You may be wondering why the novel 60th Hour was written by Susan and John Ruff, but the two Emerald Cove anthology short stories are in my name only. The answer is NOT because John had nothing to do…

  • Here’s a Secret About 60th Hour

    The secret is: 60th Hour was not the original title of the book. The working title was “Final Night.” Because the main focus of the book involved the events leading up to the end of the calendar on Final Night and what happened to the main characters on that night,…

  • Introduction to 6th Day

    Before I talk about my blog, let me introduce myself. My name is Susan Ruff, and my husband John and I are Indy authors who live in Southern California. While we occasionally dabble in other genres, most of our writing falls squarely within the category of mainstream fantasy. The past…