It's a Jumble

As one can guess from its title, The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a story about doors. Doors with a capital “D”—portals to other worlds. And although it’s a fantasy novel about physical doors that literally link worlds, it’s also about how books and stories are also portals to other worlds and other lives. It’s a gorgeous, lyrical story about magic, and it’s also a story about family—about the ways they love us, and how they can hurt us and disappoint us while still loving us. It’s a story with two soaring, romantic plot lines that will have you believing in True Love. Above all, it’s a tender and heart-felt tale of a young woman slowly realizing the truth of lies she’s been told all her life, and learning to recognize and claim her own strength. The book starts in the summer of 1901, when seven year-old January Scaller finds a mysterious blue door in an overgrown Kentucky field. She goes through it, and discovers another world. But when she comes back, she finds that her gu...

In celebration of fall, yesterday I put up my autumnal fae tale, "Wild Ones," on my author page at Curious Fiction. Curious Fictions is a site that gathers a wide range of stories and posts from authors of different genres. . . and also allows readers to directly tip/donate to authors! Anyway, Curious Fictions has now made my story one of their featured stories! “Wild Ones” is about mothers and daughters, growing up and growing old, autumn, a faerie queen, and the Wild Hunt. And about the wildness in us all. It's one of my favorite stories that I've written, and was first published in 2018 in Bracken Magazine. You can read it there, and now you can also read it at Curious Fictions here  .

It’s a new story day for me! “The Red Cloak,” my retelling of the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, is out now in Truancy Magazine. Truancy is a lovely journal devoted to publishing " revised folktales, legends, myth and other traditional narratives that have been made new by your retelling" or original fiction that makes use of these mythic/folkloric elements. I'm proud to be appearing for the first time in this journal, alongside other lovely stories and poems. At the end of the published story, I talk a little about inspirations/intentions. Let's just say this is a dark story. Then again, the tale of Red Riding Hood, and the Grimms' fairy tales in general, has always been dark.  

"The breaking of so great a thing should make A greater crack." --William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra (quote seen in yesterday's tweet from the account @Wwm_Shakespeare)

The world is a mess out there, it seems. But if you need a break from the hectic, often demoralizing news cycle, you could do worse than seeking refuge in stories. Here are some stories I read through August and September: strange, lovely, magical, and often woven with themes of revolution and hope. Stories of Magic, Darkness, and Love “How the Trick Was Done” by A.C. Wise in Uncanny Magazine Here’s the secret, and it’s a simple one: dying is easy. All the Magician has to do is stand with teeth clenched, muscles tight, breath slowed, and wait. The real work is left to his Resurrectionist girlfriend, Angie, standing just off stage, night after night, doing the impossible, upsetting the natural order of the world.  An absolutely gorgeous, magical tale of Las Vegas magic, love, death, and revenge. A Magician callously fires his assistant and takes on a Resurrectionist who helps his career to new heights. But as she learns more about him, she begins to doubt her r...