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Tag: Jan S Gephardt

Against a background of prismatic dandelions, the words say, “When you become grateful for small pleasures, your outlook changes and opportunities seem to open up everywhere in your life.” The background is an image licensed from 123rf. The quote is courtesy of Kerri Richardson’s blog post, “Keep the Gratitude Going.”
The “Gratitude Series”

The “Gratitude Series”

The “Gratitude Series” first saw daylight on this blog 10 years ago. Recently I’ve been diving deeply back into the archives of this blog, and finding all kinds of interesting things – but they’re “antiques” from a contemporary point of view. Ten years ago, in 2015 we did havesmartphones. The iPhone had been introduced eight years earlier. But back then, bloggers knew that most people would be reading our posts on desktop computers with what we now consider slothlike modems….

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From right to left, the elements in this composite header are 3D mockups of "Bone of Contention" as a fat paperback and on a black ereader; the four-part composite from the end of this blog post, and the 2020 portrait of G. S. Norwood in a cloak with a wizard's staff with her dog Kata (blonde-phase red border collie) on a street in Deep Ellum. The words at the bottom say, "Bone of Contention cover artwork ©2024 by Tom Kidd. Portrait of G. S. Norwood ©2020 by Chaz Kemp. See referenced posts for other image credits."
One Heck of a Year

One Heck of a Year

2024 has been one heck of a year. It’s gone by blazingly fast, because I’ve been busier than I could imagine. Major things happened, new avenues opened while others permanently closed. Seems like a good time to stop and take stock. It has been my intention to check back in here every month or so to keep a running tab of updates. But as I moved into the summer months all my best-laid plans got scrambled. For the first eight…

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This square image has a variegated background with a tan-edged, variegated rectangle on a layer floating above the background layer. Three square images from the blog post are arranged on the diagonal across the middle. They overlap each other – but not enough that we can’t see what they are. Design by Jan S. Gephardt.
A Mixed Bag in April

A Mixed Bag in April

I had a mixed bag in April, when it comes to posts on The Weird Blog . . . and also when it comes to just about everything else, too. My ongoing book review work continues. However, I prefer to blog about books and share their reviews in themed groups of three to five. I didn’t have neatly themed groups of much of anything in April. Book review topics were only one category of “hodgepodge” in April. I’m also transitioning…

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On this multicolored square design the artist has grouped all eight of the covers for the books in the two posts covered in the “Artdog Adventures” Blog’s digest post that summarizes two posts filled with book reviews from The Weird Blog of Weird Sisters Publishing. In the left part of the design she grouped the five covers for the “Old Code” series by Anthony W. Eichenlaub. They are “Grandfather Anonymous,” “Grandfather Ghost,” “Grandfather Guardian,” “Grandfather Zero,” and “Grandfather Crypto.” In the right-hand part of the design are the three graphic books’ covers. They are The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts,” “The Book Tour,” “Fangs,” and “The Book Tour.” Below the grouped covers, the words say, “Covers Courtesy of Amazon.com.
More Book Reviews

More Book Reviews

I promised to return with more book reviews in March. With my time as crunched as it has been lately, I’ve started creating a monthly review of the posts I ran on The Weird Blog of Weird Sisters Publishing. Yes, it’s an aggregation and not completely original, but I hope you’ll enjoy my “digest” posts in lieu of no posts at all. I Hope You Give Graphic Books a Closer Look I began the month’s posts by highlighting Three Graphic…

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Four composite images from the post show eight “New Year Dragon” works of art, four each by featured fantasy artists Theresa Mather, Rachael Mayo, David Lee Pancake, and Randal Spangler, plus a total of eight book covers – four coloring books for adults by Rachael Mayo and four children’s books by Randal Spangler, all with a dragon theme.
My New Year Dragon Project

My New Year Dragon Project

In February I devoted two blog posts and 16 different social media posts to a “New Year Dragon Project” display of dragon-themed artwork. When I discovered that this Chinese New Year’s animal was the Dragon, I immediately thought about all the amazing artists I know, who paint or sculpt – and indeed, specialize – in dragons. But for the sake of my sanity I settled on only four, whom I know well enough to anticipate they’d be willing to work…

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Header images for the three Weird Blog articles described in this post show book covers for nonfiction books "Sedition Hunters" by Ryan J. Reilly, "Burnout," by Emily and Amelia Nagoski, and "Why Does my Cat Do that?" by Catherine Davidson; a design by Erin Phillips that says, “Feed an author. Leave a Review. It takes five minutes and helps more than you can imagine. (from) Erin Phillips.me.”; and a montage of four covers representing books by two authors: By Jodi Burnett, "Extraction" and "Corruption." By Travis Baldree, "Legends & Lattes" and "Bookshops & Bonedust."
Recent Posts on The Weird Blog

Recent Posts on The Weird Blog

The realities of SEO searchability have forced a change in how I’ve handled recent posts on The Weird Blog and here on Artdog Adventures. Unfortunately, Artdog got the shorter, messier end of that stick. This blog, however, has been my “home blog” for a long time. I want to keep it current for the moments when my opinion pieces are a bit too “political” for my partner! 😊 And I’d like to keep you better in the loop, if you’re…

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This square image is dominated by a red rectangle showing a black, green, yellow, and red design flanked by the words, “The seven principles: Umoja: Unity. To maintain unity in Family, community, nation, and culture.”
Kwanzaa Begins with Unity

Kwanzaa Begins with Unity

Kwanzaa begins with Unity. Is there any value that should resonate more with all of us? Today is the first day of Kwanzaa, a seven-day celebration of African American strengths and values. I’m not Black, so I can’t presume to speak for Black people (other than as an ally against racism). But no American of any ethnic background can afford to spurn the idea that unity is a paramount value, and sadly lacking in the USA right now. In this…

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Covers for Jan's three "Cops in Space" books, "The Other Side of Fear," "What's Bred in the Bone," and "A Bone to PIck."
What should police do?

What should police do?

By Jan S. Gephardt We rarely think to ask a fundamental question: what should police do? What part should they play in a multicultural, representational democracy? The ubiquity of police forces around the world argues that many societies believe police do have a role in civilized life. But what – exactly – should it be? As a novelist whose primary characters are science fictional detectives, I am in an unusual position, both to ask and to answer this question. But…

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The Weird Sisters Publishing LLC logo shows a black-outline cartoon of two sisters with their arms linked. One holds an e-reader, the other a hardbound book.
Forward momentum on publishing efforts

Forward momentum on publishing efforts

It’s kinda like being pregnant. Except it takes longer.  No matter how much people tell you your life will change after the baby is born, you can never really “get it,” until after you’ve become a parent.  There’s this divide between “before baby” and “after baby” that can never be crossed in reverse. On the far side of that Rubicon is Terra Incognita (with or without dragons) that you’ll never understand till you get there. If my publishing efforts turn out as well as my kids did, I’m good. However, right at this moment the “contractions”…

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Becoming Weird Sisters Publishing

Becoming Weird Sisters Publishing

Regular readers of this blog (if you are one, THANK YOU!!) may recall that I’ve published at least one guest-post by my sister, Gigi Sherrell Norwood (Orchestra Dreams).  What you may not know is that she is herself a talented writer, and she’s also the widow of science fiction writer Warren C. Norwood. Yes, we’re kind of a cottage industry all in the family (and that’s not even counting the emerging editorial expertise of my son and frequent sf convention companion Tyrell Gephardt).  It was perhaps inevitable that we’d do the writing/publishing…

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