Susan and John Ruff, Fantasy Authors

Category: Uncategorized

  • Observatory Observations

    Observatories and planetarium shows have fascinated me all my life. When John and I stopped in Flagstaff, Arizona on a road trip a few years ago, we had the pleasure of visiting the Lowell Observatory on a clear summer night. We got to peer through one of the telescopes and…

  • Ready for Tea and Treats?

    Are you are in the mood for something fun to read — a fantasy book without all those grimdark characters and pesky, world-threatening plotlines? Then check out our new cozy high fantasy novel. It’s clean, light-hearted, gentle fantasy. I have been jokingly calling it “Susan and John light.” It’s a…

  • Fun With Fellow Authors

    What’s more exciting than going to a writers’ conference? Attending a conference that is specifically designed for self-published authors. In mid-October, I attended the Self-Publishing Live conference in North Carolina. (Fortunately, the area around the conference hotel was not damaged by the recent hurricane. Some of the local businesses we…

  • A Blog on Fog

    Yesterday morning, I went for a walk in the fog. While the San Diego County coastal region often gets a “marine layer” of low morning clouds, a heavy ground fog is not as common. As I often do while I am walking, I thought about writing. With all those heavy…

  • We’re Keeping the Ruff Part

    In our upcoming book, John and I will do something different from our previous novels. We’re writing under a pen name. Why switch to a pen name after four years of publishing fantasy novels? We’re doing it to avoid confusion. Up until now, our novels have fit mostly into either…

  • It’s Not Really a Boxed Set

    No matter how many times I click the “publish” button for a new book on Amazon, the experience still fills me with a rush of excitement and anxiety. You’d think that after four years and four novels, it would grow routine, but it never does. Yesterday, we published the ebook…

  • Cities of Legend

    On a recent trip to New York City, we started from Battery Park and cruised out to see the Statue of Liberty. Even before I looked at a map, I knew that the Bronx was “up” and the Battery was “down.” How did I know? Because of a song. Few…

  • Fiction Writing as a Group Activity

    Some solo activities lend themselves well to working around others. Quilting, for example, is always more fun when done in a room with other quilters. Even when each participant is working on a separate project, being in the same place as people engaging in similar tasks provides a spirit of…

  • Five Memorable Walks

    When you love both walking and traveling, it’s fun to read about memorable hikes. Often, the articles I’ve read describe superlatives: “The Five Best Hikes in the World” or “The Five Most Dangerous Trails in the Country” or “The Five Most Beautiful Walks in the State.” My post today is…

  • Those Amazing Red Rocks

    Not far from Las Vegas, Nevada is a delightful state park called the Valley of Fire. The valley gained its name and fame from the vibrant red color and strange shapes of its boulders. My family first visited the park when I was a child. We kids enjoyed hiking the…