Neve Maslakovic's Blog

Mid-Summer Update

The Reading Room at the British Museum

Hope everyone’s July is going well! It’s been very hot, rainy, and humid here in the Twin Cities.

The above picture is of the Reading Room in the British Museum in London. I took it back in May, when we visited family in the U.K. The museum, as always, was very crowded. Despite the sign, there’s no reading allowed in the Reading Room, but it’s a huge domed space with a grand ceiling and a calm, bookish vibe and I was happy to peek in.

The ceiling o...

Neve’s January Newsletter

Hello. Grif hopes you are well.

Happy January! After the holiday break, I’m back on work on Book 2 of the new series. I’ve been using Aeon Timeline to pull all the series details into one place. The software has proven to be very helpful in keeping it all organized — character names, dates, and so on. I’ve mapped out the outline for the book in it and color-coded things nicely. I would post a screenshot, but it would include story spoilers!

For now Book 1 is still in a holding mode. Publis...

Sci-Fi Explorations Bundle

A bit of early 2025 news! My mystery/thriller, All the Whys of Delilah’s Demise, is in a StoryBundle! If you’re not familiar, StoryBundle offers curated collections of ebooks where you can pay what you want and support great authors. The Sci-Fi Explorations Bundle was curated by Carolynn Gockel and features 13 terrific books.

The way it works is, there is a $5 minimum, for which you’ll get the basic bundle of four books. If you’re feeling generous, $20 gets you nine more bonus books — All ...

December News

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, or a great week if Thanksgiving isn’t a thing where you are. December here in Minnesota has rolled in with frigid temperatures. No snow yet, just bare trees and nightfall arriving early.

Book Cover Update

My thanks to everyone who voted last month on the two options for the new cover of All the Whys of Delilah’s Demise. I decided to go with #2, which ended up with a slight lead over #1. We did, however, incorporate elements of #1 into #2, by tweaking...

Help Me Choose a New Cover for Delilah’s Demise

There’s a poll happening over on Substack for a new cover for All the Whys of Delilah’s Demise. Hop on over and cast your opinion! The poll will be open until Tuesday October 29th.

Neve’s Book Recommendations

Do I have a favorite genre when it comes to reading? As it happens, I have two.

They are (as you might expect) the ones I combine in my own books: science fiction/speculative and mystery. It’s by no means all that I read, but it is a big chunk of my Kindle content. 

I wanted to share a few recent favorites in those genres. These aren’t necessarily new releases, but they all lifted my spirits or stayed with me in some way.

Here we go, the books:

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for ...

Nebula Conference Schedule

This year will be my first opportunity to attend the Nebula Conference, so yay! It’s being held in Pasadena this time around, June 6-9. There’ll be panels, office hours, meet-and-greets, and the Nebula Awards banquet on Saturday. The Grandmaster this year is .

I’ll be participating in a panel alongside fellow authors Erik Grove, Curtis Chen, and Jordan Kurella:

It’s No Joke: Honing Humor in Your Work Thursday, June 6, 1:30PM – 2:30PM

This is a panel that will discuss th...

How to Start a Chain Reaction

Created with Canva’s AI generator.

An update on the book I’ve been working on, which has nicely settled into the title THAT MURDER FEELING. The most recent feedback has been that the story remains confusing in the opening pages and so I’ve been re-writing the early chapters, all of which has me thinking about beginnings.

There’s a lot riding on opening sentences. They need to grab attention, establish the setting, hint at what’s to come. It’s the front door, ajar. Come on in, it says.

I...

Mid-March One Day Surprise Giveaway

Grif and his camp friends are VERY excited about the March giveaway.

The subject line of today’s newsletter is misleading — it’s actually a two-day giveaway. Which means that if you’ve opened this email on Saturday the 16th, you haven’t missed it! Read on for the details of this no-strings-attached (not a single one!) ebook giveaway.

The back story: A few weeks ago, fellow author Carolynn Gockel invited me to take part in a sci-fi book blast she was organizing. It sounded fun, so I said ye...

A Fortress, and How We Choose Books

This is a cellphone picture I took back in mid-December of Belgrade’s fortress, Kalemegdan. The fortress stands on a ridge above where two rivers, the Danube and the Sava, meet. That’s a view to the south, from along a fortification wall. It’s one of my favorite places to walk around in and explore. Every cobblestone drips with history, starting with Romans in the second century and with many a battle, siege, and transformation since then, layer upon layer.

It got me thinking about a subj...