J.K. Ullrich's Blog, page 6

Eurobodalla Encounters, Pt III: The Price of a Free Lunch

Many Australians take beach holidays between Christmas and New Years’. My Laddie and I, preferring to beat the crowds, took our coastal trip in late November instead. If you’re an Aussie prudently forgoing holiday travel during the latest COVID outbreak, or a Northern Hemisphere reader seeking a little sea and sunshine to brighten dark solstice … More Eurobodalla Encounters, Pt III: The Price of a Free Lunch

Eurobodalla Encounters, Pt II: As The World Terns

Many Australians take beach holidays between Christmas and New Years’. My Laddie and I, preferring to beat the crowds, took our coastal trip in late November instead. If you’re an Aussie prudently forgoing holiday travel during the latest COVID outbreak, or a Northern Hemisphere reader seeking a little sea and sunshine to brighten dark solstice … More Eurobodalla Encounters, Pt II: As The World Terns

Eurobodalla Encounters, Pt I: Dinosaurs in Dalmeny

Many Australians take beach holidays between Christmas and the new year. My Laddie and I, preferring to beat the crowds, took our coastal trip in late November instead. If you’re an Aussie prudently forgoing holiday travel during the latest COVID outbreak, or a Northern Hemisphere reader seeking a little sea and sunshine to brighten dark … More Eurobodalla Encounters, Pt I: Dinosaurs in Dalmeny

Yeats at Yuletide: Belonging Among The Birds, Berries, and Bees

Where I come from, December 21 marks the winter solstice. Short, chilly days invite protracted, warm holiday meals. I always felt a twinge of guilt at gorging on holiday treats while, beyond the picture window of my family’s kitchen, birds scraped for seed in the frozen backyard. Here in the upside-Down-Under, that dynamic inverts: December … More Yeats at Yuletide: Belonging Among The Birds, Berries, and Bees

Blood and Blooms: A Goshawk’s Garden Gauntlet

My afternoon with a nankeen kestrel family seemed like the most intimate wild-raptor encounter a wildlife photographer could hope for. But that’s the incredible thing about nature: it likes to surprise you, especially in biomes you foolishly think you’ve mastered. Last weekend I joined other lens-toting pilgrims at the botanical gardens on quest for a … More Blood and Blooms: A Goshawk’s Garden Gauntlet

“The Great Kestrel Tree”: Rediscovering Nature Narratives

Growing up, one of my family’s favorite picture books was Lynne Cherry’s The Great Kapok Tree. It follows a laborer in the Amazon rainforest who, wearied by his toils, naps beneath the tree he’s been hired to chop down. As he sleeps, animals who call the tree home whisper pleas for him to spare it... Continue Reading →

“Rocket Man”: my first literary journal feature

Just because I haven’t published a new book in the past few years doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned writing. Far from it. Finding myself at a creative crossroads, I’ve explored new genres and formats in an effort to further develop my craft. My self-development paid off: for the first time ever, I had a story accepted... Continue Reading →

Return of the J.K.: Crazy Year, But Still Here

When we last left our heroine, she was trapped in lockdown limbo. House sold in expectation of an overseas move, but stranded under pandemic travel restrictions, she and her Laddie were living out of their suitcases in an AirBnB. Did they ever escape to their new home? Or are they still barricaded in the basement,... Continue Reading →

The Literary Turing Test: A Book Review of Rob Reid’s “After On”

Plenty of nerdy couples read in bed at night. Really nerdy couples might even exchange comments on their respective books. But in a sci-fi writer’s house, such nerdiness achieves whole new dimensions: “This is a flawed discussion of quantum computing,” I announced to the dark room. “It’s bedtime,” my Laddie mumbled from the pillow beside... Continue Reading →

Book Review: “The Ear, The Eye and the Arm” by Nancy Farmer

I recently came down with a touch of that pernicious malady sweeping the globe. Not COVID-19, thank goodness, but Lockdown Languor. It’s not the social distancing that bothers me: for a disciplined moonlight novelist with a deeply introverted partner, the normal pattern is to avoid people and stay home. The problem is that we don’t... Continue Reading →