Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff's Blog: #42 Pencil: A Writer's Life, the Universe, and Everything, page 119

Free Fiction Monday — Shadows’ Door

On July 9th, my new novel, The Guardian Hound, is being published by Book View Cafe.

I am still incredibly excited about this.

In the five weeks leading up to the novel release, I plan on publishing a short story a week, and having each available for free for that week. All the stories are about the world or somehow involved with The Guardian Hound and the raven clan.

This story is actually the first chapter of The Guardian Hound. At the end of last year, I told myself that I was going to switc...

The Diminished Thing

The Diminished Thing

by Ursula K. Le Guin

Not wanting to know much about getting old (I don’t mean older, I mean old: late seventies, eighties, beyond) is probably a human survival characteristic. What’s the use of knowing anything about it ahead of time? You’ll find out enough when you get there.

One of the things people often find when they get there is that younger people don’t want to hear about it. So honest conversation concerning geezerhood takes place mostly among geezers.

And when younge...

The League of Shattered Authors

In the process of disseminating my long post on the evolution of publishing, and then adding a personal note about what it’s done to me and how I’ve managed to be fit enough to survive, I’ve heard quite a few stories from and about other authors in similar situations.

One that really struck home was a comment on livejournal from an author who, ten years ago, had occasion to interact with a number of up and coming, very fine writers with books in print or about to appear. It was a lovely time,...

Story Inspiration Sunday

As part of taking care of my house, and my general environment, I sometimes think of myself as a steward. I live in an old house — it was built around 1910. I would like for it to be around for another 100 years. I have three bird feeders: One for seed, one for suet, and a hummingbird feeder. I also have two bird baths.

Until I bought this house, I didn’t realize that I loved puttering in the garden. But I do. I have a lot of flowers and beautiful plants. I just planted a bunch of different an...

A Sense of History

I’ve heard it said that California has no history.

Well, that’s wrong. Written history of human lives, not so much. The people who lived here before the Spanish came didn’t leave records, but they were here. Richard Henry Dana’sTwo Years Before the Mast gives an interesting glimpse of California life before the Gold Rush.

After the Gold Rush, California’s history becomes pretty wild. I found this book at a used book store mega-sale (sigh, another one bites the dust) and what a treasure.

The sens...

This Most Unusual Spring

This has been the most unusual spring I’ve ever experienced. Unusual because – due to the coldest, wettest, latest spring in living memory – all the spring flowering periods have been condensed into one. We’ve had cherries, plums, apples and pears all blossoming at the same time. Even our very late blossoming apple – which gives a very good impression every year of being a dead tree until June – has been brought into this year’s blossomfest. For the first time it isn’t a solitary bloomer.

How...

Stalking the Wild Muse: On the Road Again

A series exploring the props, habits, and drugs that fuel the writer’s productivity. Past, present and future! Look for BVC writers, plus other authors we know and love.

By Nancy Jane Moore

I always make a cup of coffee before I sit down at my computer in the morning. If I’m in serious work mode, I grab a bowlful of almonds to eat while working so I can wait longer for lunch. And if something absolutely, positively has to get done regardless of how tired I am, I consume caffeine in large quanti...

Why Do You Write?

On the road home from WisCon and our post-WisCon writing retreat, Diane Silver asked, “Why do you write?” (This was part of our inspiring writer discussion, intended to keep the driver — me — awake on the road.)

We both said we wrote because we had something to say and wanted to share it with others. That applied to both our fiction and our nonfiction. Diane mentioned the idea of connection — here are some excerpts of her work that deal with the urge to connect. I said something about wanting...

Boneland, by Alan Garner: A Very Short Review

By Brenda Clough

When he tried to plow through Pilgrim’s Progress Huckleberry Finn famously remarked that it was tough. Hah! He never read Boneland, the new novel by Alan Garner.

Billed as a third book following the classic Weirdstone of Brisingamen and Moon of Gomrath, both of which came in the 1960s, this is actually false advertising. The first two books were epic fantasy, Tolkienesque or perhaps Narnia-like, with elves and dwarves and children adventuring through Deep Myth. Boneland is not...

WWW Wednesday 6-5-2013

It’s WWW Wednesday. This meme is from shouldbereading.

• What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished reading a book that’s still in manuscript. It’s my second time through it—the first time, I took a red pencil to it most ferociously. Even working on the author’s draft, I couldn’t put it down.

This time I really couldn’t put it down. And for the record, the red marks are for typos.

The book is Cipher, by Pamela Mordecai. Mordecai has written award-winning poetry all her life, including...