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Virginia McClain

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Virginia McClain

Goodreads Author


Born
in The United States
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Member Since
April 2014


Virginia McClain is an author who recently stopped daylighting as a Spanish teacher in Arizona and switched to writing full time in Winnipeg, Manitoba. When she's not writing she can often be found climbing to the top of large rocks, running on trails, backpacking, and generally engaging in any excuse to go play outside. Now that she has moved to the Great White North she will probably add snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and ice skating to her list of outdoor adventures, but as it's still warm out she'll start with canoeing (something she hasn't done in years) and see how it goes from there. She lives with her husband and their furry, canine companion Artemis. ...more

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Virginia McClain The best thing about being a writer is having an outlet for all of the stories that play themselves out in your head.

When you tell strangers about wh…more
The best thing about being a writer is having an outlet for all of the stories that play themselves out in your head.

When you tell strangers about what all those crazy characters in your head are up to, you get locked up in the loony bin. When you write it down and sell it, you get called an author. (less)
Virginia McClain Oh, these are tough questions! One of my favorite parts of writing Blade’s Edge was that I wrote the majority of the first draft by hand while hanging…moreOh, these are tough questions! One of my favorite parts of writing Blade’s Edge was that I wrote the majority of the first draft by hand while hanging out in some of my favorite cafes and restaurants in Yamagata, Japan (where I was living at the time). And I also sometimes brought those notebooks with me to the tops of the same mountains that so heavily inspired the setting. And I could never pick a favorite character, all of my main characters are my favorites. That said, when it comes to secondary characters, I always enjoyed writing scenes with Tatsu in them so much because I adore dragons, and writing giant intimidating creatures that look like monsters but who act with more honor than most humans always puts a smile on my face. Then again, I also always adored writing Ryoshi in them because he loves Taka but also finds humans to be a bit tedious, and really SAME, Ryoshi. Same. Thank you for asking such fun questions! Sorry I can’t actually pick favorites. (less)
Average rating: 3.97 · 869 ratings · 349 reviews · 13 distinct worksSimilar authors
Blade's Edge (Chronicles of...

3.96 avg rating — 279 ratings — published 2015
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Traitor's Hope (Chronicles ...

4.01 avg rating — 82 ratings — published 2017 — 6 editions
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Victoria Marmot and the Med...

3.69 avg rating — 84 ratings — published 2018 — 2 editions
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Sairō's Claw (Gensokai Kaga...

4.24 avg rating — 63 ratings — published 2021 — 4 editions
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Dungeons & Dragon Dating

4.22 avg rating — 36 ratings — published 2024 — 3 editions
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Victoria Marmot and the Inc...

3.88 avg rating — 33 ratings — published 2018 — 2 editions
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Victoria Marmot and the Sha...

3.77 avg rating — 26 ratings — published 2018 — 2 editions
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Victoria Marmot: The Comple...

4.33 avg rating — 15 ratings3 editions
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Victoria Marmot and the Roa...

4.20 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2019 — 2 editions
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Victoria Marmot and the Dra...

4.13 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2019 — 2 editions
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Cover Reveal for The Alchemy of Sorrow!




Image description: The image shows a green textured paper torn diagonally across a book cover. Not much is visible beyond the text “of Sorrow” a portion of a person’s head, and what could be some broken glass, plants, and a bit of broken pottery.


So, if you've been following my social media at all over the past few months, you've probably seen me mention The Alchemy of Sorrow at least once (but more likely dozens of times). It's the big project that has been taking up all of my waking hours since January of this year (aside from a brief break for QuaranCon2022). What is it you ask? Well, it's an anthology of SFF short stories that are all Read more of this blog post »
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Published on June 29, 2022 07:00
Blade's Edge Traitor's Hope
(2 books)
by
4.01 avg rating — 424 ratings

Victoria Marmot and the Med... Victoria Marmot and the Inc... Victoria Marmot and the Sha... Victoria Marmot and the Dra... Victoria Marmot and the Roa...
(5 books)
by
3.86 avg rating — 188 ratings

Sairō's Claw
(1 book)
by
4.24 avg rating — 63 ratings

Maggie for Hire
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by Kate Danley (Goodreads Author)
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The Priestess and...
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The Keepers: Origins
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The Legend of Meneka by Kritika H. Rao
"4.5 stars, 3 rainbows

Took a while to really get into this book but once I did, I really enjoyed it.

This is a great example of a main character who’s sapphic but the book isn’t sapphic because the main relationship that the whole book focuses on is he" Read more of this review »
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How I Became a Therapist in Another World 3 by C.A. Moss
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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Short Story Connect: * About Featured Author 26 123 Apr 06, 2016 05:55AM  
Support for Indie...: BLURBETTE CHALLENGE: How Low Can You Go? 48 76 Jun 28, 2016 08:08AM  
Romance Writers &...: This topic has been closed to new comments. LOVE INDIE ROMANCE 1.0 Promo Tactics & Follow-up Stats 11 22 Oct 11, 2016 09:50PM  
Our Shared Shelf: Female Fantasy Authors 60 3445 Apr 04, 2019 04:19PM  
Nothing But Readi...: March: Stacie's Marvelous March Challenge 183 1035 Apr 03, 2020 06:34AM  
Short Story Connect: * Goodreads friends 45 199 Feb 05, 2021 01:37AM  
SOS: Serious Over...: ladymurmur's 2022 literary shenanigans 71 62 Dec 28, 2022 01:07PM  
Unofficial Gen Co...: List of Authors at Gen Con 2023 5 11 Aug 14, 2023 08:00PM  
Edward Abbey
“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.”
Edward Abbey

Ernest Hemingway
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.”
Ernest Hemingway

Virginia Woolf
“I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.”
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

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--We are a book club for readers of light novels and novels from Japan. Our goal is to promote the enjoyment and discussion of Japanese Light Novels. ...more
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Comments (showing 1-6)    post a comment »
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Virginia Kerry wrote: "It seems you can't officially recommend books on goodreads anymore (boo!), but I think you would love Soulless (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...)."

You're right! I read a few years ago and loved it! I've read almost all of Gail Carriger's books, (there are some newer ones I hope to catch up on soon).


message 5: by Kerry

Kerry Gibbons It seems you can't officially recommend books on goodreads anymore (boo!), but I think you would love Soulless (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...).


Virginia Kevin wrote: "Hi Virginia,

Thanks for accepting! Anyone who can fess up to being an a-hole in their youth should be saluted :-D"


Thanks, Kevin! Everything is clearer in hindsight. :-) Of course, it's still difficult to tell. I'd like to think I wasn't always an a-hole in my youth. Only some of the time. Still, I know I was too judgmental by far, and that essay was like I giant spew of judgmental, superior, look at me, bull crap. Like I said, cringeworthy.

Anyway, what is life if not an opportunity to continuously improve ourselves?


message 3: by Kevin

Kevin Cole Hi Virginia,

Thanks for accepting! Anyone who can fess up to being an a-hole in their youth should be saluted :-D


Virginia Robert wrote: "Virginia, thank you for your friendship and check out my FREE short stories at http://robertsnovels.com
Welcome to the Short Story Connect group and happy reading!"


Thanks, Robert! I have some free short stories available on my site as well: http://virginiamcclain.blogspot.com and if you have amazon prime or kindle unlimited you can get my new collection of short stories "Rain on a Summer's Afternoon" for free as well. Otherwise it's $0.99. :-)


Robert Roberts Virginia, thank you for your friendship and check out my FREE short stories at http://robertsnovels.com
Welcome to the Short Story Connect group and happy reading!


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