Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff's Blog: #42 Pencil: A Writer's Life, the Universe, and Everything, page 24

Stonehenge and Musings on the Day of the Dead

Rambles in England, Part 4

I’m writing this on Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, Samhain, on the cusp of the season when traditionally the veil between the worlds thins and the presence of the dead can be felt. Which is not a scary thing—witness the celebrations in Mexico for Dia de los Muertos (actually 3 days) when the spirits of loved ones visit to impart advice or prayers, and when families picnic in the cemetery, build shrines with offerings and mementos, and tend the graves of loved ones. Cul...

Boo! Playing Dress-Up

There are people (and I admit, I’m one) who live for this time of year. Crisp air. Apples. Sky as clear and blue as a Wedgewood cup. Delicious smells from the kitchen. And Halloween. Small humans coming to the door, dressed in anything from a nylon-and-plastic superhero costume to a carefully hand-made Cinderella gown. And older, ironic teenagers in anything from commentary costumes (my daughter once went as a dead fairy, carrying a sign that said “Too late to clap”) to no costume, just plain...

Let’s Play Dress UP (redux)

By Phyllis Irene Radford

Warning, this blog is photo heavy.

I recently encountered an individual who shuddered and shook his head at a middle-aged woman at a tourist attraction who had green streaks in her hair and had gelled it into spikes. She was also wearing layers of floating black that looked tattered when the wind caught her draperies. The man said, “It isn’t Halloween yet.”

Why is it that costumes for adults are reserved for Halloween only? Some people like reinventing themselves on a da...

The Changes Just Keep on Coming

As you read this, I am in the final, frantic stages of packing for my move to California.

All moves create change, and cross-country ones even more so. But this one is about more than a new location.

Last week, while waiting in the cellphone lot at the airport for my sweetheart to get his bags, it suddenly dawned on me that as soon as I picked him up, I wasn’t single any more.

Not that I’ve really been single since we started seeing each other a little over two years ago. But we have been mainta...

BVC Eats: Chicken in saffron cream sauce

Saffron comes from crocus blossoms.

Readers of my food blogs are used to extremely high-fat recipes.

This one does call for half a stick of butter, but you can reduce that if you decide to wuss out on the fat. The heavy cream is non-negotiable because of how the saffron suffuses it with all its subtle flavor notes.

This is “white food,” i.e., comfort food with cream and butter and a hint of sweet.

Jennifer’s Chicken with Saffron Cream Sauce

Preheat oven to 325oF.

Five or six boneless, skinless chic...

I Love a Cliché

This post was originally published in 2009. I came upon it the other day and liked it well enough to share.

One of the standard Words of Advice that writers–new and old–get, is to avoid clichés. The advice itself is rather a cliché but, like all clichés, it is based in truth, and it would be wrong to reflexively ignore it.

But. There’s always a but. I think cliché has its place, for both the writer and the reader. I’ll grant that over-reliance on cliché is not only a problem on its own, but oft...

BVC Announces Monstrous Beauty by Marie Brennan

Monstrous Beauty

by Marie Brennan

Seven tales of supernatural horror . . .

A maiden in a tower. A grandmother in a cottage. A stranger at a ball. None of them are what they seem, in this collection of very brief stories from fantasy author Marie Brennan. The dark forest of fairy tales hides things more perilous than wolves and wicked stepmothers. Are you prepared for what you’ll find?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

* The Snow-White Heart

* Footprints

* Shadows’ Bride

* Tower in Moonlight

* The Wood, the Bridge, th...

Social Notes

BVC members Shannon Page and Mark Ferrari were married Saturday, October 11.

The wedding took place on a beautiful private ranch overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Mendocino County. The usual coastal fog cleared for the event, leaving the skies spectacularly blue and gorgeous.

BVC member Chaz Brenchley was Shannon’s Best Person, and did a marvelous job keeping the jittery bride calm and focused. Fellow writer Elizabeth Bourne was the officiant.

Oddly, the thirteen cases of champagne purchased for...

That Great Big Hole in the Middle

I have sort of a rep, you know? People are always linking and pinging articles and stories about horses, and then standing back to see what I’ll do.

So this past week I got several pointers to this truly lovely article in the New York Times. For those who don’t want to venture the paywall, the article is titled, “Two Horses, One Language,” and it explores various aspects of communication between horse and human. It’s delightful. It tells stories of the author’s own experience, with pictures of...

Story Excerpt Sunday: from The Spanish Marriage by Madeleine Robins

The Spanish Marriage

by Madeleine Robins

A sound like a low-voiced groan brought her out of her fine reverie of vengeance. Surely it was impossible, a man’s voice within the convent enclosure, but it was a voice nonetheless. Thea was almost certain. She was fluent in English, Spanish, and French, but this sound was none of them.

“Hola!” she ventured nervously. No use trying English here; the English were enemies again, since the Bourbon king Carlos had signed the treaty of Fontainebleau with Bon...