Not every writer needs to write the same kind of story. Yet a lot of advice points writers toward using the same structures in their stories. Mostly, I think the advice is meant to be one writer pointing out what works for them and why. But sometimes writers get caught up in teaching structures as
Story Structure as Prelude and Fugue: Underpinnings in Music and Fiction Read More »
The Wee Beasties Storybundle I’ve joined a new StoryBundle, and this one has teeth. The Wee Beasties StoryBundle, curated by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, is all about creatures that look small and harmless…right up until they don’t. Fairies, pixies, halflings, cats, mice, corgis, ghosts, orcs playing baseball, elves playing baseball, bats, rats, and other assorted critters
Wee Beasties StoryBundle: Defenders of Dream and Other Animal Fantasy Adventures Read More »
So hear me out: I think that modern Gothic fiction depends on not just rehashing old Gothic tropes, but including elements from the modern Goth subculture. Reviewing recent novels that are labeled strictly as Gothic leads to a certain paucity of choices, a sense of the same stories being told over and over out of
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I mean… I would like to announce that My new gothic space opera novel, House of Masks, is live on Kickstarter. If you love modern gothic fiction with a science fiction twist (and have feeling a bit like you might want to set a few things on fire lately), please click the button to take
House of Masks – A Gothic Space Opera on Kickstarter Read More »
So I’ve read a lot of both classic and modern Gothic fiction over the years. Gothic stories make me happy…I mean, in a cynical, disaffected, melancholy and perhaps overly dramatic way, they make me happy. I suspect it’s because I grew up in the 1980s and am neurodivergent, and had to crawl under my desk
Modern Gothic Fiction: From Haunted Castles to Morally Gray Survivors Read More »
Mead for the Moon: a mythic fantasy short story (flash fiction length) about a missing moon and one woman’s midnight walk into the firefly-lit fields of memory and magic. Mead for the Moon The moon was gone again, stolen like last time, and the milk had turned to salt. I already knew who had done
Mead for the Moon – A Mythic Fantasy Short Story of Moonlight, Memory, and Magic Read More »
I was sick yesterday and crashed, spending my time sleeping and reading web comics (manga/manwa/manhua) in the villainess niche. My daughter Ray is getting me to read them, and…I kinda like them, and I’m thinking of writing a serial (not a manga) later, after I get my current serial work-in-progress Blind Date with Death up
Help! I’ve Read Too Many Villainess Manga & Now I’m a Villainess Myself! Read More »
I talked to a best-beloved friend about celebrity versus authenticity, how it’s impossible to expect people to be “authentic” in front of a camera, and yet it’s still possible to find moments of connection. We were contrasting Neil Gaiman and Anthony Bourdain. And yeah, I don’t wanna drag Nail Gaiman shit out more than I
I’m setting up materials for a mixed media journaling project/practice. (Or, rather, to resume a journaling practice.*) I did some journaling October/November for a project – which will come out eventually but I’m not ready to talk about – and really enjoyed it. The one I did was a mix of daily entries and short
Update. I wrote the following essay on March 24, 2024, posted it on Facebook (as one does). Since then I have been keeping an eye out for additional information consistent or inconsistent with the idea that various groups are trying to leverage a political split in the US to disrupt elections and/or policy. That is,
On Genocide: Looking for Nuance on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Read More »
