Susan and John Ruff, Fantasy Authors

  • To Sequel or Not: One Writer’s Dilemma

    If you want your characters to live happily ever after, you’d better be cautious about writing a sequel. Case in point. The Star Wars movies. The end of the Star Wars trilogy back in the… Read more

  • Zooming Around the Cove

    We did it! We held our first Zoom meeting of the Emerald Cove Press writer’s critique group this week. The meeting lasted much longer than expected (about three hours), but a lot of the discussion… Read more

  • Writing Critiques During a Lockdown

    What do you get when you put five authors and the latest drafts of their fiction works in their local Denny’s restaurant? Nothing. Denny’s is closed for dine-in service in Southern California due to the… Read more

  • A Firm Foothold in Unreality

    Why write fantasy stories? For me, there is an easy answer and a deeper answer. The easy answer: writing them is fun. Ever since I first read the Hobbit when I was 12, I’ve loved… Read more

  • Can a Book be too Timely?

    My new novel is a problem. It’s a fantasy novel. The first draft was pretty much finished by March, but it needs a major rewrite before it can see the light of day. I also… Read more

  • 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… Read more

  • 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… Read more

  • 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… Read more

  • 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… Read more

  • 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… Read more

Welcome to Susan’s Monthly Blog!

On the first Friday of every month, Susan writes a short post about our books, the craft of writing, upcoming projects, travel, writing inspiration, and similar topics that strike her fancy. We hope you enjoy reading them.

Feel free to leave a comment. Susan loves hearing from readers!