H is for Haiku

         Are you looking for the proper A to Z letter of the day?

You can find my post for E here.

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi.  I’ll be sharing lots of excerpts of art, stories, and poetry, and I’ll also be sharing some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  Also, be sure to check out the Master List of A to Z bloggers.)

        As I explain in the End Notes, “I’m honestly not usually a fan of haiku – you can tell by the other poems in this book that I tend to revel in the English language the way Scrooge McDuck revels in a pile of gold coins.  But sometimes all I have is a very simple observation, for which a very simple poem is enough.”  So here’s the haiku that appears in my book:

        Each dandelion

    Lives its tiny galaxy:

Sun, then moon, then stars.

        I like dandelions, somewhat to the chagrin of some of my neighbors with more “perfect” lawns, and I think they’re absolutely magical.  Every child knows that dandelions are something special, and if you find that you’ve forgotten that, I hope you’ll take a moment and try to remember how it feels to know that so much wonder really is everywhere.

        H is also for hope, and hope is a muscle that grows stronger with exercise.  Be sure to keep yours in shape, because the stronger your hope muscle is, the more miracles you can accomplish.

        Marketing Moral: “Signal Boost.”  Follow, like, and share my social media posts.  The more engagement something gets, the more it will be raised up by the algorithms of our AI overlords.  Just like dandelion seeds on the wind, every little bit helps spread the word.  (I don’t actually do a ton of social media myself, but in addition to this blog, I’ve got Instagram here.)

        Proper Moral:  Dandelions can survive almost anything, and indeed take over desolate wastelands, because of two traits: deep roots, and generous sharing of their gifts.  Don’t you find that suggestive?

        How do you feel about dandelions?  Or are there other weeds that you especially love or hate?

[Picture: Dandelion Sun, Moon, and Stars, rubber block prints plus digital drawing by AEGNydam from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]

G is for Ghost

        My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  (And if you don’t know what the A to Z Blog Challenge is, you can learn more about it here.)

        I’m not much of one for ghost stories, or indeed any sort of scary stories at all.  I simply don’t enjoy fear.  So naturally, when I write a ghost story, it ends up sweet and hopeful.  Here’s how my ghost story begins…

        Geoffrey was puzzled to find himself still living in his apartment after his funeral.  Well, not really “living” of course, what with being dead, but why was he here at all?  As far as he could recall, having never believed in ghosts or paid much attention to how this whole thing was supposed to work, didn’t spirits stick around on the earthly plane only when they had unfinished business?  Messages for loved ones, or ghastly vengeance to wreak on those who had done them wrong?

        Geoffrey considered whether there was anyone he felt the need to haunt.  He had not been murdered, he was quite sure of that…

        Not knowing what else to do with himself, Geoffrey ends up haunting the family who’s moved into his apartment… but only by accident.  And of course it all ends for the best, because I believe in stories with happy endings.

        This is the time to point out that happy endings are generally considered to be naive, foolish, unrealistic, and definitely not Real Literature.  This attitude is taken for granted everywhere, but when you think about it, it’s actually absurd.  G is also for Good, and factually, both good things and bad things do happen, so where you end a story is simply a choice of framing.  You can read my whole post about Happy Endings, and think about it.  Do you tend to assume that stories of kindness, human connection, and happy endings are somehow less realistic or less serious than dark dramas of misery?  Well, perhaps it’s time you brought some basic scientific skepticism to bear on that attitude, and examine how skewed it really is.  And in the meantime, how about reading some stories that do explore what happens when we actually look for the best in each other and ourselves?

        Marketing Moral: Post about my book on social media and/or your own blog.  Help more people discover a book that they may otherwise never even know exists.  Social media has been going evil in many ways, but if you do continue to use any social media platforms, try to reclaim these networks of connection for spreading light and love instead of lies and

hatred.

        Proper Moral:  “Ideas, like ghosts, must be spoken to a little before they will explain themselves.” (Charles Dickens, Dombey & Son)

        Are you afraid of ghosts?

[Picture: Faithful Friend and Ghost, rubber block print with colored pencil plus digital, by AEGNydam from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]

F is for Forgotten How To Fly

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  Join me for excerpts of art, stories, and poetry, plus some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  Also, be sure to check out my fellow A to Z bloggers at the Master List.)

        Another poem in Bittersweetness & Light is 

“For Those Who Have Forgotten How to Fly.”  

The first stanza…

    For those who have forgotten how to fly

    It is not like riding a bicycle:

    It is indeed possible to lose that sense

    Of perfect balance

    That lifts you

    Into the embrace of sky.

        This poem came to me title first, and I tried to think about what comfort can be given when something so vital and fundamental has been lost.  Sometimes grief is irrevocable, but not always.  Sometimes when you lose a part of yourself some portion of what was lost can be reclaimed.  Don’t just let it slip away.

        Like many humans, I’m fascinated by flight, which often seems like a metaphor or embodiment of joy.  That’s probably why there are about 20 illustrations of birds and butterflies and dragons, and other flying things throughout this book.  (And why slapping a pair of wings on any creature makes it magical, as demonstrated in my 2022 post F is for Flight.)  Maybe to birds, flying just feels like walking does to humans… but it just looks like so much fun!

        Marketing Moral: Have you already read my book?  Post a review!  Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble… Small-time authors are in desperate need of reviews on these sites to help feed the algorithms that will recommend our books to more people.  A rating is excellent, and a sentence or two of review is even better!  Your review really can help a book take flight.

        Proper Moral:  Learn to walk before you run, and dance before you fly, but practice makes perfect, so if at first you don’t succeed, try try again.

        What’s your favorite flying creature?  And how do you feel about flying on airplanes?

[Picture: Hope, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2015 (originals sold out);

Detail from Bright Butterflies, rubber block print with watercolor by AEGNydam, 2015 (one original left!);

Shadow Dragon, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2024 (one original left!);

Sing from the Heart, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2024;

Blue Jay, rubber block reduction print by AEGNydam, 2010 (originals sold out),

all from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025.]

E is for End Notes

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  I’ll be sharing lots of excerpts from the book, and I’ll also be sharing some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  If you like fantastical creatures, magical worlds, and being reminded of the good to be found in the world, come along with me!  And if you’d like to see what my fellow A to Z bloggers are up to, check out the Master List.)

        The meat of Bittersweetness & Light is poems, short stories, and art, but there’s other content in there, as well.  There’s a Preface laying out the theme, and there are Notes at the End.  They’re not scholarly End Notes with citations, but instead they’re the stories behind the stories: background and process and other tidbits.  Lots of people don’t care about this stuff, and they are certainly welcome to ignore the notes.  The contents stand on their own and don’t need any explanations.  But some people are curious and enjoy a little glimpse behind the scenes.  For example, a couple of the pieces are based on true stories, even though they’ve become speculative fiction in my book.  Some of the pieces have a surprisingly long history of creative process - I’ll be sharing one of those stories at R.

        The End Notes are not, I hope, utterly dry.  They’re illustrated with sketches, photographs, and other bits and bobs of art that shed a little light on the background of various other pieces.  I didn’t want more than a page to go by in this book without something fun to look at, even in the End Notes!  So today’s picture is a little collage of some of the images that appear in the End Notes.  I tried to make sure that even this minor part of the book contributes to the sense of joy.

        Marketing Moral: Do you prefer Ebooks?  Ebooks simply cannot reproduce the formatting of paper pages, and in a book like Bittersweetness & Light, which includes art elements on almost every page, the ebook just isn’t the same experience.  That’s why I don’t currently have the ebook available on Amazon.  However, an ebook version does exist if that’s your thing, and if you’re interested you can contact me to purchase.

        Proper Moral:  Still waters run deep; don’t forget that behind every story there are always more stories.

        How do you feel about end notes, footnotes, acknowledgements, and all those little extras in books?  Do you like the supplemental information, or do you ignore it all completely?

[Picture: Assorted illustrations by AEGNydam from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]