• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Tina Glasneck, USA Today Bestselling Author

Enter the story world of dragons, magic, and romantasy

  • Home
  • Books
    • Reader Extras
      • Reading Order
      • CHARACTERS
      • The Wolf’s Den
    • Translations
    • Journals by Tina
    • What Do You Do Zookeeper Blue?
    • Kindle Vella Stories
      • Fantasy & Sci-Fi Kindle Vella
  • Music
    • Behind the Music
    • Discography
  • Author Resources
  • Media Kit
    • Media Appearances and Publications
    • Writers on the Moon Press Release
    • Lunar Time Capsule Press Release
    • Data Protection Policy/Datenschutzerklärung
    • Terms & Conditions
  • Games
  • Store

writing

NASA, Space and Loki?

February 24, 2021 By Tina Glasneck

How NASA inspired an 80s kid to dream big

I’m an 80s kid. We were raised with an overwhelming appreciation for NASA, Space and practically fine-tuned to the heavens’ celestial dance above.

I grew up between Star Trek and Star Wars, with Space Camp movies and the possibility of attending NASA’s space camp. Indeed, we even spent hours contemplating what we’d do if we were ever “Lost in Space” or found an alien, like “ET,” to return home.

Space was the magical equivalent of the metaphysical. While fantasy draws from the Earth, with its tales of fantastical reaches of herbs, crystals, and bohemian chic dressing (I’m looking at you  “Hocus Pocus”), the mysteries of Space were something pushed by those in charge.

I can still remember Presidential speeches about the importance of space travel.

Man has looked up to the sky for millennia in search of meaning and connection. Others have sought to tell the future and past according to the celestial dance. With Perseverance, the Mars Rover’s recent landing, we’ve entered a new era of space achievement.

NASA formed? How did we get here?

In response to Russia’s launch of Sputnik into Orbit, the United States officially formed NASA, starting the space race.

The strides we’ve taken to arrive in Space are extraordinary. Before Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, in 1958, NASA officially launched Project Mercury. In the middle of the cold war with Russia, America searched for the best test pilots to lead the first-of-its-kind mission.

NASA’s project Mercury 7’s mission: ensure that humankind could survive in orbit.

“If there is one thing I’ve learned in my years on this planet, it’s that the happiest and most fulfilled people I’ve known are those who devoted themselves to something bigger and more profound than merely their own self-interest…”

John Glenn, NASA Astronaut, Project Mercury

As one of the authors involved in the Writers on the Moon project, I am humbly aware of how this experience might be the pinnacle of my entire existence.

Space

I’ve looked to the Moon for decades. The Moon’s beauty has soothed me, worked its magic where I no longer felt lost in the Cosmos of time. Under her beauty and the shimmering glow of the shimmering stars, I take heart in knowing that a part of me will be there, in the lunar time capsule, for future generations.

The gravity of the situation also rests on my shoulders. To know what an honor this indeed is—for the history, my family,  for me. This spark of being part of the first mission is all extraordinary.

Life has changed. In what was previously a time of hopelessness, hope has returned. Shifting in a time of stillness, and magic in a time when faith was sometimes fleeting.

I am #54 on the Manifest for the Writers on the Moon payload, and the countdown is on! This week, the payload was shipped off to Astrobotics.

So, what does that mean?

As part of the Writers on the Moon project in the first commercial payload, my books will join the Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission 1 on the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, current Amazon CEO, supplies the flight’s rocket engines. With an updated, projected launch of late 2021, the payload will be delivered to Lacus Mortis, on the Moon for future anthropologists and generations.

Since I write fantasy, I am happy to take the Norse gods with me in my catalog, including the debonair Loki.

http://books2read.com/u/3GAzYQ

By all current projections for the next project on which I am working, I expect Loki to play a role in the upcoming novel, Four Times the Fight, releasing at the end of March.

Loki has a piece of my heart, and I can’t wait to share the next part of his adventure with you.

Want to know why I love Norse mythology? Check out the prior blog here.

Writers on the Moon is also onboard the Lunar Codex.

Filed Under: Blog, Writers on the Moon, writing Tagged With: John Glenn, Lunar Codex, Mercury 7, NASA, writers on the moon

Three Little Words: A Series filled with Mythology and Lore

February 14, 2021 By Tina Glasneck

What a storm! An ice storm ripped through my area, and we were without power for a bit. But it gave me time to re-read Three Little Words.

The Order of the Dragon Series

The great thing about writing books is that I always have something to read. This weekend, I decided to dive back into my Order of the Dragon series. This fun urban fantasy series stars a novice vampire, who always seems to find herself in one pickle or another.

Each book in the series, of course, helps to take her along, and the reader discovers more about her and her new world, just as she does. As a woman in her mid to late thirties, well, she has a lot to say. Yes, the snark ensues, and her ghostly Gran and sister are their for the ride into the supernatural.

Yesterday, I decided to reread my book, Three Little Words.

Slow burn romance, Urban Fantasy action adventure, character and world growth!

Three Little Words!

OMG! Can I just say how much I loved this book (and not because I wrote it)? I totally loved how everything was tied up, but there is still so much happening in the world, and the slow burn romance between Leslie and Alistair!

I also can’t wait for the author (ahem, me), to reveal more about what is going on with Claudine!

So, I pulled out this excerpt for your reading pleasure.

Excerpt from Three Little Words

Let me set the scene. We are at Leslie’s birthday party, when sh*t is about to get real:

A deafening gust of wind whipped into the room like someone had opened a portal, genie’s bottle, heck, for all I knew it was a storm in a bottle unleashed.

       The laughter turned to screams as a piercing, maniacal cry moved into the space. “Summoned by thee, summoned three, destruction bringeth we.” Three apparitions whipped into the apartment. Their ragged black capes fluttered behind them, and with gnarled claws bearing silver blades on their fingertips, they moved outward and attacked. Some they held in a beam of light, as if sucking the life from them, while their victims remained standing, paralyzed. I watched one Rudy Rupert change—his face turned from healthy, blushing red, to white, to now gray. His cheeks slowly sank in.

       The room moved in slow motion. With all the power present, our will to survive should have sent us into overload. Instead, I turned and saw Alistair push forward ultra-slowly, knocking the old table over that took forever to crash onto the antique carpet.

       But they must have only been the appetizer to destruction. Then entered what must have been a man dressed up like a white rabbit. His costume was stained with dirt as if he’d crawled out of a grave. The stench of decomposition mixed with old blood. His neck hung at an odd angle. His abdomen exploded, and a blood-soaked goblin stepped out. The rabbit crashed to the floor, unmoving.

Covered in glopping goop, this goblin’s body was as slick as a dolphin’s. Every muscle and connecting tissue was visible, like a human body had been turned inside out. Hairless, his face was pulled tightly, his eyes wide apart, his teeth pointy and sharp. Just like the wraiths, his long fingers resembled talons with blades as nails.

       “I’ve come to grant you a new life, just as you wished,” he croaked.

       “I didn’t summon you.”

       “Are you afraid?” he reached out a talon. “I can show you the life you were always meant to have. Come join me, Leslie.”

       I willed magic to appear, a ball of something to throw to protect those I loved. I turned to see Claudine cowering in the corner, Gran slowly shifting to her pirate form, Alistair still trying to move, and Killian even in the middle of a wolf transformation.

       “Does your magic not work?” He clicked two of his fingernails together, and the blades sparked until his hand glowed orange.

       “Let me fix that!” He impaled me with his burning hand. I threw my head back, pain consuming me as though the fire peeled off one layer of skin at a time. He lifted me high, and I looked him in the unflinching eye.

       “And you are the one to save us? How, when you can’t save yourself?”

       I raised my hands, and they glowed white.

       “Yes, we shall break you, Leslie.”

       He then slammed me down.

       I opened my mouth, and a roar erupted. My body convulsed in pain. Stretching out, I wrapped my hands around his wrist and watched it burn. Absorbing the power around me, every fiber of my being lit up until all that could erupt was the pain, the hurt, and a light I couldn’t control.

       The building shook, the windows cracked.

       “Leslie,” I heard Alistair yell my name, “No.”

       But it was too late. I’d said those three little words and f*cked us all.

***

Inspiration

One reason I love this series is that it combines different mythologies (this book in the series includes a tokoloshe from Zuli/Xhosa mythology, dryads from Greek mythology, Wendigo from the First Nation Algonquin tribes), our legends (for this one it includes the famous Vlad the Impaler), and stays faithful to the idea of the supernatural world being diverse, hidden, and multifaceted.

I can let my imagination run free.

With the ice storm leaving the area, I hope this week to again be able to dive into the next book in the series, Four Times the Fight, and keep the magic coming!

Woot!

Of course, if you haven’t read Three Little Words, then grab it and discover the rest of the series thus far!

Filed Under: Blog, vampire, vampire, writing Tagged With: Dracula, good urban fantasy, legends, mythology, vampires

Glimpses of Inspiration: Russia

January 22, 2021 By Tina Glasneck

Oh wow, today is release day for New Year, New Boo, which includes the limited-time release of A Half-Cocked Vampire.

As we know, I love to pour stories and snippets into my stories that tell of actual events (be they personal or gathered from the 24-hour news cycle). Well, for this one, I reference my first trip abroad – to Russia.

Long before my love of Loki – Tom give me a call (LOL!) – I was a young religious girl with a traveling heart. Back then, I had a map with wooden toothpicks taped to all of the countries I wished to visit. 

You see, I always had a thing for people—learning about different cultures, languages, and history. Yet, as a kid, I didn’t necessarily grasp what all of it meant. I was very much inexperienced in traveling, and though I tried to prepare to learn about Russia before the trip, there was a lot left out of my training.

Back in 1995, Russia was still pretty much in a new situation politically. The USSR was no longer “a thing,” and the borders were open. As a youth, I traveled there and was awestruck at so much beauty and history.

While there, we traveled around the city and performed, working with a church associated with my then American Church. This included visits around the city, hospitals, and neighborhoods.

One of my favorite memories is that of a kind, older woman, grandmother type, who welcomed us all into her house for tea. She was gracious and delightful. We had a translator with us, and although my Russian accumulated to around ten words (including hello, goodbye, and ice cream), I found her to be quite kind.

Visiting Russia changed my paradigm. So much was so very different from what I knew: from the Russian mafia that was quite noticeable to the Orthodox Church reporters who actively reported on everything we did. Yet, some things crossed cultures easily. No matter where you go in the world, good ice cream can build bridges.

It’s been more than 20 years since the trip that started what I like to call my great metamorphosis (that’s still in process), but it’s remarkable how those small moments and people we meet along the way can help to change our perspectives.  

I often think about those people from long ago, and although they may never know, those amazing people I met then left a fingerprint on my life, for sure.

 All I can say is a simple, Спасибо (pronounced spaSEEbah)!

Buy New Year New Boo

Filed Under: Blog, new release, vampire, writing

A little bit of kindness inspires characters

January 2, 2021 By Tina Glasneck

This is one of those stories that has taken a bit. One of my favorite characters is Harley from The Hell Chronicles. When I was in college, I met a man who was brawny, strong and had a heart of gold.

We’d spend hours talking on the phone, and a part of Harley is based on that purity, that joy. Sometimes the voices in our heads lead to our forfeiture. But sometimes, writing gives us a chance to do that deep shadow work to know that we are worthy of love — of giving it, and receiving it.

That in that beautiful imperfection, in the darkness of doubt, we find comfort and respite. In all of those years of being told I wasn’t good enough, he looked at me and said I was. I will never forget that.

I haven’t spoken to him since 9/11 when somehow I made sure that he was fine, and he was. You never know who’s life you may have touched by your kindness (or when you’ll wind up in a book because of that pure heart and compassion). Today I am back in Harley’s head, and his emotions are so pure… just woah!

This is from today’s writing session: Harley loved Hel with his every passing breath. Time was irrelevant, but still, in the body of a 24-year-old man, he’d tolerated bullshit, such falsehoods, and abuse, but it was the lost leading other sheep over the cliff to shamanic drumbeats.

Love wasn’t a curse or a burden, but something to treasure, the most valuable of words, of actions and sentiments. Men fought wars to win a woman’s affections, without patronizing them, without disrespect, but with uttermost care. They’d bruise knuckles and egos to rescue untamed hearts, and die on their swords for that one thing, the uninhibited love of a good woman.

And that is what Hel was.

#WIP #SureasHell #AmWriting

Filed Under: Blog, hell chronicles, writing

Odin the All-Father

August 9, 2020 By Tina Glasneck

My goal in writing tales is to help you escape into a book filled with magic and myth and where anything is possible. The great thing about mythology is that we get a chance to dive into history, ancient cultures and try to understand how the people of then saw and experienced the world. Around the world, the different mythologies came up with ways in which they interacted with their deities, and also how they saw them.

There is never a myth on how the gods created the different races (race is a human construct). The mythology talks about creation and the first people. In Norse mythology, it specifically speaks of the first people – Ask and Embla, who were created from driftwood (from the ash tree) found on the beach. Odin blew the breath of life into them, and his brothers, Vili and Ve, gifted them with consciousness and the ability to speak, hear and see. After that, Ask and Embla were clothed, given names and Midgard for their dwelling place.

Want to know more about Odin?Check out the short story, Odin’s Ravens.

This is truly one reason that we can call Odin the All-Father, as he is the one that gifted life.

I love mythology and look forward to diving into more soon.

Filed Under: Norse Gods, writing

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Love Tina’s Books? Join the Inner Circle!

What we’re working on next!

Lunar Codex

Writers on the Moon!

New Merch!

Join Our Newsletter to Never Miss a Kickstarter!

Discover our recent games!

Find Tina Glasneck on YouTube

New Music

Copyright © 2025 Tina Glasneck