Ghosts and Other News

         I’m excited to announce that my flash story “Hoarding Ghosts” was published today in MetaStellar.  Please head straight on over there and read it, and of course when you finish my story, check out all the other amazing pieces they’ve published.  (One funny note: if you notice a couple of words in square brackets, they’re an accidental relic of my own editing process that I apparently failed to clean up before submission, and they failed to clean up before publishing.  So you get just a little glimpse under the hood with that!)

        In other news, I’m off to Readercon Conference on Imaginative Literature tomorrow, and here’s my schedule.  You can see that with a solo reading, a solo kaffeeklatsch, and a solo lecture, I’ve been given more opportunities than usual to sit by myself in an empty room feeling foolish!  Ha!  But of course I’m actually very excited about all of this, so here’s the usual guide to related posts…

Alice in Wonderland

        Words of the Month - O Frabjous Words - featuring words invented by Lewis Carroll

        Reading Alice Aloud - and why my children didn’t appreciate Alice as much as I do.

        Words of the Month - Presupposition Triggers - including a famous example from Alice in Wonderland

        Alice, Irene, and Dorothy - comparing a few girls from classic early childrens’ fantasy

The Fantastic Bestiary

        A to Z 2019 - an entire alphabet of creatures, excerpts, snippets, and behind-the-scenes tidbits from On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination

        To learn about All the Creatures, try the label “mythical creatures” in the sidebar (230 posts and counting)

        Guess that Medieval Beast - the game that challenges you to think like a medieval illuminator (plus my Birds of a Feather game, just because it comes up with the same tag; but you can scroll past that one if you want!)

        See all the main creatures in my own bestiary here.

Speculative Pets

        Animal Companions - in which I lay out all you need to know about pets in spec fic

        Words of the Month - Petting Our Pets - etymology of pet-related words in English

        Seller of Cupids - in case you wish to acquire an unconventional pet

        Pokémon Go - the ultimate in catching all the fantasy pets

        In other news of publication, I’ve just had a poem accepted, but it won’t come out until fall 2027.  I’ve got stories coming in two anthologies that also won’t be out until 2027.  Of course I’m very pleased about having my work selected, but people, I have to tell you, I do not have the patience for this!  At least I don’t have to wait so long for gratification with my art: my piece “Robin’s Nest” is up now at a new Art Walk in Dedham, MA.

[Pictures: MetaStellar cover art by Oscar Ramirez (Image from MetaStellar);

photos by AEGNydam, 2026.]