#Anna J Cooper

[thaoworra]

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association recently released the poems that made it to the finalist stage for consideration for the 2024 Rhysling Awards for Short and Long Speculative Poems of the year. Congratulations to all of the nominees! This will be the 46th year these awards have been conferred!

Short Poems (50 finalists)

Attn: Prime Real Estate Opportunity!, Emily Ruth Verona, Under Her Eye: A Women in Horror Poetry Collection Volume II

The Beauty of Monsters, Angela Liu, Small Wonders 1

The Blight of Kezia, Patricia Gomes, HWA Poetry Showcase X

The Day We All Died, A Little, Lisa Timpf, Radon 5

Deadweight, Jack Cooper, Propel 7

Dear Mars, Susan L. Lin, The Sprawl Mag 1.2

Dispatches from the Dragon's Den, Mary Soon Lee, Star*Line 46.2

Dr. Jekyll, West Ambrose, Thin Veil Press December

First Eclipse: Chang-O and the Jade Hare, Emily Jiang, Uncanny 53

Five of Cups Considers Forgiveness, Ali Trotta, The Deadlands 31

Gods of the Garden, Steven Withrow, Spectral Realms 19

The Goth Girls' Gun Gang, Marisca Pichette, The Dread Machine 3.2

Guiding Star, Tim Jones, Remains to be Told: Dark Tales of Aotearoa, ed. Lee Murray (Clan Destine Press)

Hallucinations Gifted to Me by Heatstroke, Morgan L. Ventura, Banshee 15

hemiplegic migraine as willing human sacrifice, Ennis Rook Bashe, Eternal Haunted Summer Winter Solstice

Hi! I am your Cortical Update!, Mahaila Smith, Star*Line 46.3

How to Make the Animal Perfect?, Linda D. Addison, Weird Tales 100

I Dreamt They Cast a Trans Girl to Give Birth to the Demon, Jennessa Hester, HAD October

Invasive, Marcie Lynn Tentchoff, Polar Starlight 9

kan-da-ka, Nadaa Hussein, Apparition Lit 23

Language as a Form of Breath, Angel Leal, Apparition Lit October

The Lantern of September, Scott Couturier, Spectral Realms 19

Let Us Dream, Myna Chang, Small Wonders 3

The Magician's Foundling, Angel Leal, Heartlines Spec 2

The Man with the Stone Flute, Joshua St. Claire, Abyss & Apex 87

Mass-Market Affair, Casey Aimer, Star*Line 46.4

Mom's Surprise, Francis W. Alexander, Tales from the Moonlit Path June

A Murder of Crows, Alicia Hilton, Ice Queen 11

No One Now Remembers, Geoffrey Landis, Fantasy and Science Fiction Nov./Dec.

orion conquers the sky, Maria Zoccula, On Spec 33.2

Pines in the Wind, Karen Greenbaum-Maya, The Beautiful Leaves (Bamboo Dart Press)

The Poet Responds to an Invitation from the AI on the Moon, T.D. Walker, Radon Journal 5

A Prayer for the Surviving, Marisca Pichette, Haven Speculative 9

Pre-Nuptial, F. J. Bergmann, The Vampiricon (Mind's Eye Publications)

The Problem of Pain, Anna Cates, Eye on the Telescope 49

The Return of the Sauceress, F. J. Bergmann, The Flying Saucer Poetry Review February

Sea Change, David C. Kopaska-Merkel and Ann K. Schwader, Scifaikuest May

Seed of Power, Linda D. Addison, The Book of Witches ed. Jonathan Strahan (Harper Collins)

Sleeping Beauties, Carina Bissett, HWA Poetry Showcase X

Solar Punks, J. D. Harlock, The Dread Machine 3.1

Song of the Last Hour, Samuel A. Betiku, The Deadlands 22

Sphinx, Mary Soon Lee, Asimov's September/October

Storm Watchers (a drabbun), Terrie Leigh Relf, Space & Time

Sunflower Astronaut, Charlie Espinosa, Strange Horizons July

Three Hearts as One, G. O. Clark, Asimov's May/June

Troy, Carolyn Clink, Polar Starlight 12

Twenty-Fifth Wedding Anniversary, John Grey, Medusa's Kitchen September

Under World, Jacqueline West, Carmina Magazine September

Walking in the Starry World, John Philip Johnson, Orion's Belt May

Whispers in Ink, Angela Yuriko Smith, Whispers from Beyond (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Long Poems (25 finalists)

Archivist of a Lost World, Gerri Leen, Eccentric Orbits 4

As the witch burns, Marisca Pichette, Fantasy 87

Brigid the Poet, Adele Gardner, Eternal Haunted Summer Summer Solstice

Coding a Demi-griot (An Olivian Measure), Armoni “Monihymn” Boone, Fiyah 26

Cradling Fish, Laura Ma, Strange Horizons May

Dream Visions, Melissa Ridley Elmes, Eccentric Orbits 4

Eight Dwarfs on Planet X, Avra Margariti, Radon Journal 3

The Giants of Kandahar, Anna Cates, Abyss & Apex 88

How to Haunt a Northern Lake, Lora Gray, Uncanny 55

Impostor Syndrome, Robert Borski, Dreams and Nightmares 124

The Incessant Rain, Rhiannon Owens, Evermore 3

Interrogation About A Monster During Sleep Paralysis, Angela Liu, Strange Horizons November

Little Brown Changeling, Lauren Scharhag, Aphelion 283

A Mere Million Miles from Earth, John C. Mannone, Altered Reality April

Pilot, Akua Lezli Hope, Black Joy Unbound eds. Stephanie Andrea Allen & Lauren Cherelle (BLF Press)

Protocol, Jamie Simpher, Small Wonders 5

Sleep Dragon, Herb Kauderer, The Book of Sleep (Written Image Press)

Slow Dreaming, Herb Kauderer, The Book of Sleep (Written Image Press)

St. Sebastian Goes To Confession, West Ambrose, Mouthfeel 1

Value Measure, Joseph Halden and Rhonda Parrish, Dreams and Nightmares 125

A Weather of My Own Making, Nnadi Samuel, Silver Blade 56

Welcoming the New Girl, Beth Cato, Penumbric October

What You Find at the Center, Elizabeth R McClellan, Haven Spec Magazine 12

The Witch Makes Her To-Do List, Theodora Goss, Uncanny 50

The Year It Changed, David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Star*Line 46.4

Voting for the Rhysling Award begins July 1; a link to the ballot will be sent with the Rhysling Anthology, as well as with the July issue of Star*Line. More information on the Rhysling Award can be found here.

[buginateacup]

A list of things that have delighted me thus far in My Lady Jane

- Genuinely hysterical

- It's literally Tudor animorphs

- The leads have fantastic chemistry

- The entire sound track seems to be pop punk girl group covers of classic rock songs

- Carolyn Bingley (Anna Chancellor) having the time of her life as a scheming Tudor noble

- Dominic Cooper's arse

- King Edward giving his entire court the double bird and telling them to bugger off

- Gorgeous costumes

- All of the side characters feel like they came out of a Discworld novel

- Geriactric gout-ridden creepy old husband murdering baby sisters

- Queen Mary's Tudor dominatrix outfit

- Dominic Cooper's arse (part 2)

- The Narrator giving exposition and poking fun at the English inability to communicate emotional vulnerability in the plummy tones of who I assumed was Arnold J Rimmer until I looked it up

- Princess Bess being played by literally the most beautiful woman, I am entranced every time she is on screen

- No really a bunch of people can turn into animals, it's a whole thing and you'd have no idea from the trailer

- Rob Brydon as another scheming Tudor noble who I spent a solid half episode thinking was James Miller

- Court slapfight

- Urchin kicking milf chasing himbos

- Have I mentioned the costumes are great?

- Actual chemises

- Father-son bonding moment over choosing codpieces

- Arranged marriage where the characters actually talk to one another (and have highly charged snogs after moments of danger)

- Anna Chancellor biting into that pear after her youngest daughter used it to suffocate that old man

- "You married me for my brain!" (Actual romance)

- "That's not a knife, this is a knife" Tudor edition

Anyway watch it, it's great, I'm having the best time

[archivist-crow]

The Chilliwack Poltergeist - Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada

An outbreak of poltergeist phenomena that occurred in the 1950s in Chilliwack, British Columbia, probably due to the human agency of a teenaged girl. The girl's aunt believed that racial prejudices were the cause. The residents of Chilliwack called whatever was causing the disturbances "The Thing."

Anna Duryba

Anna Duryba was a Ukrainian immigrant who moved to Chilliwack from Saskatchewan in 1933. She worked as a domestic, saving her money until she could buy a 10-acre chicken ranch a mile out of town. She lived there in a four-room cottage. In October 1951, her 14-year-old niece, Kathleen, came to live with her. Several months later, poltergeist disturbances began. Objects flew about and damaged windows, and loud, violent hammering sounded throughout the cottage, as though someone were using a jackhammer. The noises seemed to emanate from the northeast corner of the house. No damage was ever visible, despite the terrible pounding sound.

Anna thought a local trickster was the cause, but soon felt that someone was deliberately trying to drive her off her property: Durybas brother, Alex, who lived nearby, believed that someone local who did not like Ukrainians was trying to force his sister out. On at least one occasion, a sheriff's deputy was called to investigate.

The deputy, A. J. Edwards, agreed with Alex, whereupon Alex armed himself with a shotgun and stationed himself at his sister's cottage. When the disturbances commenced, Alex fired off shots and shouted threats. Neighbors armed with shotguns stood watch as well.

The disturbances not only continued, but got worse. The hammering and banging occurred up to 30 times a night, even when the house was floodlit and under observance by neighbors, and also during the day. The noise raced about the cottage. Anna would run outside and try to catch the perpetrator, always to no avail.

Even more maddening, "The Thing" seemed to react to people. Once when the hammering began, Anna ran to a window and yelled, "Go ahead, do it again, you silly fool." The hammering moved to beneath the window. No one was outside. When Alex challenged "The Thing," it answered by shaking the cottage and windows.

Locals offered explanations. Maybe the noises were being caused by exceptionally dry ground beneath the cottage. Another explanation proposed was that an electrical problem of some sort was to blame.

Anna refused to leave. But niece Kathleen, whose health was poor and who suffered from "nerves," was showing strain. The Reverend W. T. Clarke recognized that Kathleen might be the focal point and persuaded Anna to send her away to Vancouver for a while. During the 10 days the girl was gone, the poltergeist disturbances stopped. They resumed upon her return.

Others wanted to investigate the link between the girl and the phenomena, but Anna and Alex refused to cooperate—or even to deal with anyone on the matter anymore. Their explanation was that everything was mysteriously caused by racial prejudice.

One person who was able to witness the disturbances before the Durybas ceased communicating was psychical researcher R. S. Lambert. He wrote that he heard the sounds on four occasions: rapid, violent rapping on the outer wall near a window, between 8 P.M. and midnight. The noises sounded like a pneumatic hammer and lasted for one to two minutes at a time. Anna and Kathleen were present on three of those occasions; Kathleen was asleep in her bedroom on the fourth. However, Lambert agreed with the Durybas that a hostile person was trying to drive Anna and Kathleen out.

Abridged text from The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits, Third Edition by Rosemary Ellen Guiley (Checkmark Books - 2007)

[jurassicworldtieindrpepper]

Reading List

to be updated constantly

Articles:

"Why Women Online Can’t Stop Reading Fairy Porn" by C.T. Jones for Rolling Stone

"They Called 911 for Help. Police and Prosecutors Used a New Junk Science to Decide They Were Liars." by Brett Murphy for ProPublica

"‘I Think My Husband Is Trashing My Novel on Goodreads!’" by Emily Gould for The Cut

"Woman in Retrograde" by Isabel Cristo for The Cut

"The unwanted Spanish soccer kiss is textbook male chauvinism. Don’t excuse it" by Moira Donegan for the Guardian

"I Started the Media Men List" by Moira Donegan for The Cut

"What Moira Donegan Did for Young Women Writers" by Jordana Rosenfeld for The Nation

"The Key Detail Missing From the Narrative About O.J. and Race" by Joel Anderson for Slate

"The Coiled Ferocity of Zendaya" by Matt Zoller Seitz for Vulture

"OJ Simpson died the comfortable death in old age that Nicole Brown should have had" by Moira Donegan for The Guardian

"Norm Macdonald Was the Hater O.J. Simpson Could Never Outrun" by Miles Klee for Rolling Stone

"Trans Stylists and Makeup Artists Are Reshaping Red Carpet Looks. Will They Get the Credit They’re Due?" by James Factora

"The ‘perfect Aryan’ child used in Nazi propaganda was actually Jewish" by Terrence McCoy for The Washington Post

"There Are Too Many Books; Or, Publishing Shouldn’t Be All About Quantity" by Maris Kreizman for Literary Hub

"An O.J. Juror on What The People v. O.J. Simpson Got Right and Wrong" by Ashley Reese for Vulture

"Super Cute Please Like" by Nicole Lipman for N + 1 Magazine

Essays:

Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture edited by Roxanne Gay

Creep: Accusations and Confessions by Myriam Gurba

"On Chappell Roan and Gen Z Pop" by Miranda Reinert

"In Memory of Nicole Brown Simpson" by Andrea Dworkin

"My Gender Is Dyke" by Alexandria Juarez for Autostraddle

"Columnists and Their Lives of Quiet Desperation" by Hamilton Nolan

Nonfiction:

Belabored: A Vindication of the Rights of Pregnant Women by Lyz Lenz

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

This American Ex-Wife: How I Ended My Marriage and Started My Life by Lyz Lenz

The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination by Sarah Schulman

Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession by Rachel Monroe

The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory by Carol J. Adams

Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson

Who Owns This Sentence? A History of Copyrights and Wrongs by David Bellos & Alexandre Montagu

The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society by Eleanor Janega

Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest to Track Down the Last Remaining Lesbian Bars in America by Krista Burton

University of Nike: How Corporate Cash Bought American Higher Education by Joshua Hunt

What it Feels Like for a Girl by Paris Lees

Female Masculinity by J. Jack Halberstam

The Theory of Everything Else: A Voyage Into the World of the Weird by Dan Schreiber

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper

Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith, and Migration by Alejandra Oliva

Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate by Anna Bogutskaya

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O'Meara

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

Eyeliner: A Cultural History by Zahra Hankir

Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement by Ashley Shew

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami

Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

Fiction:

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Just as You Are by Camille Kellogg

Just Happy to Be Here by Naomi Kanakia

The Misadventures of an Amateur Naturalist by Ceinwen Langley

Family Meal by Bryan Washington

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera

Blackouts by Justin Torres

We Do What We Do in the Dark by Michelle Hart

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer

The Faithless by C.L. Clark

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

The Institute by Stephen King

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito

Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix by Aminah Mae Safi

Only a Monster by Vanessa Len

[devoutjunk]

Novel Syllabus 2024

This coming year I think I'm going to be on here more often than I am on twitter or elsewhere, and as part of that, I'm going to start documenting the process of writing my novel more actively. I want to return to/resurrect the momentum and energy I had while writing the first draft and be more intentional about setting aside time to work, even when it's difficult. Below are my writing goals for the coming year as well as my reading list of texts for inspiration, genre/background research, comps, etc. Would welcome any suggestions of texts (any genre/discipline) pertaining to Antigone, death & resurrection, Welsh and Cornish myth and folklore, ecology & environmental crisis, and the Gothic.

Writing Goals

Reach 50k words in draft 2 overall

Finish a draft of Anna's timeline

Finish a draft of Jo's timeline

Polish & submit an excerpt for the Center for Fiction Prize

Reading

* = reread

Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & The Apocalyptic

The Memory Theater (Karin Tidbeck)

Who Fears Death (Nnedi Okorafor)

Urth of The New Sun (Gene Wolfe)

Slow River (Nicola Griffith)

Dream Snake (Vonda McIntyre)

Black Leopard, Red Wolf (Marlon James)

Notes from the Burning Age (Claire North)

Invisible Cities (Italo Calvino)*

Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)*

The Last Man (Mary Shelley)

The Drowned World (J.G. Ballard)

Strange Beasts of China (Yan Ge, trans. by Jeremy Tiang)

City of Saints and Madmen (Jeff VanderMeer)

Freshwater (Akweke Emezi)

The Glass Hotel (Emily St. John Mandel)

Pattern Master (Octavia Butler)

Sleep Donation (Karen Russell)

How High We Go in the Dark (Sequoia Nagamatsu)

The Magician's Nephew (C.S. Lewis)*

The Golden Compass (Phillip Pullman)*

The Green Witch (Susan Cooper)

The Tombs of Atuan (Ursula K. Le Guin)

Black Sun (Rebecca Roanhorse)

Gideon the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir)

Lives of the Monster Dogs (Kirsten Bakis)

Brian Evenson

Sofia Samatar

Connie Willis

Samuel Delaney

Jo Walton

Tanith Lee

Retellings

A Wild Swan (Michael Cunningham)

Til We Have Faces (C.S. Lewis)

Gingerbread (Helen Oyeyemi)

Circe (Madeline Miller)

The Owl Service (Alan Garner)

Literary Myth-Making, Mystery, and the Gothic

Nights at the Circus (Angela Carter)

Frenchman's Creek (Daphne Du Maurier)

Possession (A.S. Byatt)*

The Game (A.S. Byatt)*

The Essex Serpent (Sarah Perry)

Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë)

The Secret History (Donna Tartt)*

The Wild Hunt (Emma Seckel)

King Nyx (Kirsten Bakis)

The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)

The Lottery and Other Stories (Shirley Jackson)

Beloved (Toni Morrison)

The Night Land (William Hope Hodgson)

Interview with a Vampire (Anne Rice)*

Sexing the Cherry (Jeanette Winterson)*

Night Side of the River (Jeanette Winterson)

Bad Heroines (Emily Danforth)

All the Murmuring Bones (A.G. Slatter)

The Path of Thorns (A.G. Slatter)

Gormenghast (Mervyn Peake)

Prose Work, Perspective, and Stream of Consciousness

The Chandelier (Clarice Lispector)

The Waves (Virginia Woolf)*

The Years (Virginia Woolf)

The Intimate Historical Epic / Court Intrigues

Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel)*

Menewood (Nicola Griffith)

Dark Earth (Rebecca Stott)

A Place of Greater Safety (Hilary Mantel)

Research

The Mabinogion (trans. Sioned Davies)

Le Morte D'Arthur (Thomas Malory)

The Collected Brothers Grimm (Phillip Pullman)

Angela Carter's Collected Fairytales

Mythology (Edith Hamilton)

Underland (Robert Macfarlane)

The Wild Places (Robert Macfarlane)

Wildwood (Roger Deakin)

Vanishing Cornwall (Daphne Du Maurier)

Lonely Planet: Guide to Devon & Cornwall

A Traveler's Guide to the End of the World (David Gessner)

The Lost Boys of Montauk (Amanda M. Fairbanks)

A Cyborg Manifesto (Donna J. Harraway)

A Treasury of British Folklore (Dee Dee Chainey)*

The First Last Man: Mary Shelley and the Postapocalyptic Imagination (Eileen M. Hunt)

Antigone's Claim (Judith Butler)

Theories of Desire: Antigone Again (Judith Butler)

Ecology of Fear (Mike Davis)

[sporadiceagleheart]

Today's joy with Rachel Joy Scott Friday edits is for missing kids I hope soon they be found and Brought back home safe and sound Madeleine McCann, Inga Gehricke, Summer Wells, Haleigh Cummings, Morgan Nick, Ben Needham, Timmothy Pitzen, Baby Lisa Irwin, Baby Sabrina Aisenberg, Kayla Berg, Mary Boyle, Jennifer Joyce Kesse, Amy Lynn Bradley, Asha Jaquilla Degree, Brian Randall Shaffer, Brandon Swanson, Lars Joachim Mittank, Maura Murray, Kyron Richard Horman, Rebecca Coriam, Evelyn Grace Hartley, Frederick Valentich, Lauren Spierer, Marjorie West, Margaret Ellen Fox, Joshua Guimond, LeeAnna Warner, Tara Leigh Calico, Cherrie Ann Mahan, Nyleen Kay Marshall, Phoenix Coldon, Laureen Ann Rahn, Johnny Gosch, Sara Anne Wood, Rebecca Reusch, BRANDON LEE WADE, Katrice Lee, Adele Marie Wells, William Tyrrell, Rene Hasee, Jane Beaumont, Dennise Jeannette "Denny" Sullivan, Ember Skye Graham, Tricia J. Kellett, Donnis Marie "Pinky" Redman, Renee Aitken, Dulce Maria Alavez, Jonathan Allen, Victoria Allen, Mylette Josephine Anderson, Erica Nicole Baker, Ava Grace Baldwin, Amber Renee Barker, Brittney Ann Beers, Tammy Lynn Belanger, Alessia Vera Schepp, Livia Clara Schepp, Ilene Rebecca Scott, Mary Lou Sena, Natasha Marie Shanes, Kathleen Ann "Kathy" Shea, Crystal Ann Tymich, Anna[1] Christian Waters, Holly Ann Hughes, Ashley LaShay Jones, Sofia Lucerno Juarez, Amber Jean Swartz-Garcia, Brooklinn Felyxia Miller, Marjorie Christina "Christy" Luna , Lorie Lynn Lewis, Sheri Lynn Johnson, Lauren Maria Pico Jackson, Hattie Yvonne Jackson, Janice Kathryn Pockett, Alice Pereira, Sabine Morgenroth, Daniela Moreno, April Ann Cooper, Catherine Barbara "Cathy" Davidson, Mary Rachel Bryan, Hazel X. Bracamontes, Melissa Lee Brannen, Edna "Bette Jean" Masters, Shaina Ashly Kirkpatrick,

[bookclub4m]

Episode 196 - Battle of the Books 2024: One Book One Podcast

This episode we’re giving our book pitches for our Battle of the Books 2023! Each of us has picked one title that we think we should all read and discuss and you get to vote for which one it is! Will we read Trust Kids!: Stories on Youth Autonomy and Confronting Adult Supremacy edited by carla joy bergman, The Seep by Chana Porter, A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T Kingfisher, or Inheritance: a Pick-the-path Experience by Daniel Arnold, Darrell Dennis, and Medina Hahn? You decide! 

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards

What Book Should We Read?

Trust Kids!: Stories on Youth Autonomy and Confronting Adult Supremacy edited by carla joy bergman

The Seep by Chana Porter

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T Kingfisher

Inheritance: a Pick-the-path Experience by Daniel Arnold, Darrell Dennis, and Medina Hahn

Our Long Lists

Jam

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis

Anna

Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement by Ashley Shew

Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price

Meghan

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

Matthew

Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez

Podcast Episodes

Episode 058 - The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Episode 079 - Which Book Should We Read?

Episode 083 - The Fifth Season

Episode 103 - Battle of the Books 2020

Episode 107 - Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

Episode 130 - Battle of the Books 2021

Episode 134 - Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Episode 154 - Book pitches

Episode 159 - Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose by Leigh Cowart

Episode 179 - Battle of the Books 2023

Episode 183 - One Book One Podcast: Upright Women Wanted

Links, Articles, and Things

One City One Book (Wikipedia)

Canada Reads (Wikipedia)

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

INHERITANCE - a "pick-the-path" teaser (YouTube)

Inheritance: a pick-the-path experience - trailer (YouTube)

Inheritance - interview with the playwrights (YouTube)

22 Nature/Outdoor Non-Fiction by BIPOC Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land by Noé Álvarez

Better Living Through Birding: Notes From a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper

Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden by Camille T. Dungy

Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney

Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer

The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham

The Urban Birder by David Lindo

Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors by Rue Mapp

Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation by Tiya Miles

The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors by James Edward Mills

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, illustrated by Fumi Nakamura

Heartbeat of the Earth: A Handbook on Connecting Children to Nature through Indigenous Teachings by Launa Purcell

Trace: Memory, History, Race and the American Landscape by Lauret Savoy

A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars by Erin Sharkey

A Short History of the Blockade: Giant Beavers, Diplomacy and Regeneration in Nishnaabewin by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks by Mark David Spence

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui

Wild Life: Finding My Purpose in an Untamed World by Rae Wynn-Grant

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong

Give us feedback!

Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Vote for which we should read!

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Instagram, join our Facebook Group or Discord Server, or send us an email!

Join us again on July 2nd we’ll be discussing the genre of Law/Legal Non-Fiction!

Then on Tuesday, August 6th we’ll be talking about the romance genres of Yaoi and Danmei!

[mongoose-bite]

Reading list 2023

Crossposted from pillowfort.

Happy New Year! I read fewer books than usual this year, and didn't enjoy a lot of them. Hopefully next year brings happier reading. The books I liked the best were Dead Souls by Nicolai Gogol, which was a fascinating satire and Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff, which was just so much fun from start to finish.

At the other end of the scale The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy was probably the most disappointing, given how well it started and how much I had been looking forward to reading it. It's a bit sad his final works are so dull and unfocused. I still intend to read more of his earlier works sometime. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver actually made me kind of angry on Dickens's behalf. Whatever you think of the man, he prioritised his readers' enjoyment, and that's how he reached people and managed to effect real social change. Demon Copperhead was a grim slog.

Full list behind cut.

Orientalism – Edward Said

The Dark is Rising – Susan Cooper

Shirley – Charlotte Bronte

Robertson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe

Sons and Lovers – D H Lawrence

Spring Snow – Yukio Mishima

Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver

Silverview – John le Carre

The Passenger – Cormac McCarthy

The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury

The Bounty Hunters – Elmore Leonard

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida - Shehan Karunatilaka

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed - Mariana Enríquez

Whale – Cheon Myeong-kwan

Dead Souls – Nikolai Gogol

The Fifth Season – N. K. Jemisin

This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Southern Seas – Manuel Vaquez Montalban

Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

The Man Who Spoke Snakish – Andrus Kivirahk

Lovecraft Country – Matt Ruff

Foe – J M Coetzee

All That I Am – Anna Funder

Women in Love – D H Lawrence

Piercing – Ryu Murakami

[transgenderer]

The schooner Clotilda (often misspelled Clotilde) was the last known U.S. slave ship to bring captives from Africa to the United States, arriving at Mobile Bay, in autumn 1859[1] or on July 9, 1860,[2][3] with 110 African men, women, and children.[4]

U.S. involvement in the Atlantic slave trade had been banned by Congress through the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves enacted on March 2, 1807 (effective January 1, 1808), but the practice continued illegally, especially through slave traders based in New York in the 1850s and early 1860. After the voyage, the ship was burned and scuttled in Mobile Bay in an attempt to destroy the evidence.

A spokesman for the community, Cudjo Lewis, lived until 1935 and was one of the last survivors from the Clotilda. Redoshi, another captive on the Clotilda, was sold to a planter in Dallas County, Alabama, where she became known also as Sally Smith. She married, had a daughter, and lived until 1937 in Bogue Chitto. She was long thought to have been the last survivor of the Clotilda.[5] Research published in 2020 indicated that another survivor, Matilda McCrear, lived until 1940.[6]

(the last living former slave in the US seems somewhat hard to verify, but anna j cooper is very well documented and lived to 1964! she was president of a university until age 82!)

[stlhandyman]

Supreme Court, U.S FILED In The OCT 2 2022 Supreme Court ofthe United States  RALAND J BRUNSON, Petitioner,

Named persons in their capacities as United States House Representatives: ALMA S. ADAMS; PETE AGUILAR; COLIN Z. ALLRED; MARK E. AMODEI; KELLY ARMSTRONG; JAKE AUCHINCLOSS; CYNTHIA AXNE; DON BACON; TROY BALDERSON; ANDY BARR; NANETTE DIAZ BARRAGAN; KAREN BASS; JOYCE BEATTY; AMI BERA; DONALD S. BEYER JR.; GUS M. ILIRAKIS; SANFORD D. BISHOP JR.; EARL BLUMENAUER; LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER; SUZANNE BONAMICI; CAROLYN BOURDEAUX; JAMAAL BOWMAN; BRENDAN F. BOYLE; KEVIN BRADY; ANTHONY G. BROWN; JULIA BROWNLEY; VERN BUCHANAN; KEN BUCK; LARRY BUCSHON; CORI BUSH; CHERI BUSTOS; G. K. BUTTERFIELD; SALUD 0. CARBAJAL; TONY CARDENAS; ANDRE CARSON; MATT CARTWRIGHT; ED CASE; SEAN CASTEN; KATHY CASTOR; JOAQUIN CASTRO; LIZ CHENEY; JUDY CHU; DAVID N. CICILLINE; KATHERINE M. CLARK; YVETTE D. CLARKE; EMANUEL CLEAVER; JAMES E. CLYBURN; STEVE COHEN; JAMES COMER; GERALD E. CONNOLLY; JIM COOPER; J. LUIS CORREA; JIM COSTA; JOE COURTNEY; ANGIE CRAIG; DAN CRENSHAW; CHARLIE CRIST; JASON CROW; HENRY CUELLAR; JOHN R. CURTIS; SHARICE DAVIDS; DANNY K. DAVIS; RODNEY DAVIS; MADELEINE DEAN; PETER A. DEFAZIO; DIANA DEGETTE; ROSAL DELAURO; SUZAN K. DELBENE; Ill ANTONIO DELGADO; VAL BUTLER DEMINGS; MARK DESAULNIER; THEODORE E. DEUTCH; DEBBIE DINGELL; LLOYD DOGGETT; MICHAEL F. DOYLE; TOM EMMER; VERONICA ESCOBAR; ANNA G. ESHOO; ADRIANO ESPAILLAT; DWIGHT EVANS; RANDY FEENSTRA; A. DREW FERGUSON IV; BRIAN K. FITZPATRICK; LIZZIE LETCHER; JEFF FORTENBERRY; BILL FOSTER; LOIS FRANKEL; MARCIA L. FUDGE; MIKE GALLAGHER; RUBEN GALLEGO; JOHN GARAMENDI; ANDREW R. GARBARINO; SYLVIA R. GARCIA; JESUS G. GARCIA; JARED F. GOLDEN; JIMMY GOMEZ; TONY GONZALES; ANTHONY GONZALEZ; VICENTE GONZALEZ; JOSH GOTTHEIMER; KAY GRANGER; AL GREEN; RAUL M. GRIJALVA; GLENN GROTHMAN; BRETT GUTHRIE; DEBRA A. HAALAND; JOSH HARDER; ALCEE L. HASTINGS; JAHANA HAYES; JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER; BRIAN HIGGINS; J. FRENCH HILL; JAMES A. HIMES; ASHLEY HINSON; TREY HOLLINGSWORTH; STEVEN HORSFORD; CHRISSY HOULAHAN; STENY H. HOYER; JARED HUFFMAN; BILL HUIZENGA; SHEILA JACKSON LEE; SARA JACOBS; PRAMILA JAYAPAL; HAKEEM S. JEFFRIES; DUSTY JOHNSON; EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON; HENRY C. JOHNSON JR.; MONDAIRE JONES; DAVID P. JOYCE; KAIALPI KAHELE; MARCY KAPTUR; JOHN KATKO; WILLIAM R. KEATING; RO KHANNA; DANIEL T. KILDEE; DEREK KILMER; ANDY KIM; YOUNG KIM; RON KIND; ADAM KINZINGER; ANN KIRKPATRICK; RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI; ANN M. KUSTER; DARIN LAHOOD; CONOR LAMB; JAMES R. LANGEVIN; RICK LARSEN; JOHN B. LARSON; ROBERT E. LATTA; JAKE LATURNER; BRENDA L. LAWRENCE; AL LAWSON JR.; BARBARA LEE; SUSIE LEE; TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ; ANDY LEVIN; MIKE LEVIN; TED LIEU; IV ZOE LOFGREN; ALAN S.LOWENTHAL; ELAINE G. LURIA; STEPHEN F. LYNCH; NANCY MACE; TOM MALINOWSKI; CAROLYN B. MALONEY; SEAN PATRICK MALONEY; KATHY E. MANNING; THOMAS MASSIE; DORIS 0. MATSUI; LUCY MCBATH; MICHAEL T. MCCAUL; TOM MCCLINTOCK; BETTY MCCOLLUM; A. ADONALD MCEACHIN; JAMES P. MCGOVERN; PATRICK T. MCHENRY; DAVID B. MCKINLEY; JERRY MCNERNEY; GREGORY W. MEEKS; PETER MEIJER; GRACE MENG; KWEISI MFUME; MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS; JOHN R. MOOLENAAR; BLAKE D. MOORE; GWEN MOORE; JOSEPH D. MORELLE; SETH MOULTON; FRANK J. MRVAN; STEPHANIE N. MURPHY; JERROLD NADLER; GRACE F. NAPOLITANO; RICHARD E. NEAL; JOE NEGUSE; DAN NEWHOUSE; MARIE NEWMAN; DONALD NORCROSS; ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ; TOM O'HALLERAN; ILHAN OMAR; FRANK PALLONE JR.; JIMMY PANETTA; CHRIS PAPPAS; BILL PASCRELL JR.; DONALD M. PAYNE JR.; NANCY PELOSI; ED PERLMUTTER; SCOTT H. PETERS; DEAN PHILLIPS; CHELLIE PINGREE; MARK POCAN; KATIE PORTER; AYANNA PRESSLEY; DAVID E. PRICE; MIKE QUIGLEY; JAMIE RASKIN; TOM REED; KATHLEEN M. RICE; CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS; DEBORAH K. ROSS; CHIP ROY; LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD; RAUL RUIZ; C. A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER; BOBBY L. RUSH; TIM RYAN; LINDA T. SANCHEZ; JOHN P. SARBANES; MARY GAY SCANLON; JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY; ADAM B. SCHIFF; BRADLEY SCOTT SCHNEIDER; KURT SCHRADER; KIM SCHRIER; AUSTIN SCOTT; DAVID SCOTT; ROBERT C. SCOTT; TERRI A. SEWELL; BRAD SHERMAN; MIKIE SHERRILL; MICHAEL K. SIMPSON; ALBIO SIRES; ELISSA SLOTKIN; ADAM SMITH; CHRISTOPHER H. V SMITH; DARREN SOTO; ABIGAIL DAVIS SPANBERGER; VICTORIA SPARTZ; JACKIE SPEIER; GREG STANTON; PETE STAUBER; MICHELLE STEEL; BRYAN STEIL; HALEY M. STEVENS; STEVE STIVERS; MARILYN STRICKLAND; THOMAS R. SUOZZI; ERIC SWALWELL; MARK TAKANO; VAN TAYLOR; BENNIE G. THOMPSON; MIKE THOMPSON; DINA TITUS; RASHIDA TLAIB; PAUL TONKO; NORMA J. TORRES; RITCHIE TORRES; LORI TRAHAN; DAVID J. TRONE; MICHAEL R. TURNER; LAUREN UNDERWOOD; FRED UPTON; JUAN VARGAS; MARC A. VEASEY; FILEMON VELA; NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ; ANN WAGNER; MICHAEL WALTZ; DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ; MAXINE WATERS; BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN; PETER WELCH; BRAD R. WENSTRUP; BRUCE WESTERMAN; JENNIFER WEXTON; SUSAN WILD; NIKEMA WILLIAMS; FREDERICA S. WILSON; STEVE WOMACK; JOHN A. YARMUTH; DON YOUNG; the following persons named are for their capacities as U.S. Senators; TAMMY BALDWIN; JOHN BARRASSO; MICHAEL F. BENNET; MARSHA BLACKBURN; RICHARD BLUMENTHAL; ROY BLUNT; CORY A. BOOKER; JOHN BOOZMAN; MIKE BRAUN; SHERROD BROWN; RICHARD BURR; MARIA CANTWELL; SHELLEY CAPITO; BENJAMIN L. CARDIN; THOMAS R. CARPER; ROBERT P. CASEY JR.; BILL CASSIDY; SUSAN M. COLLINS; CHRISTOPHER A. COONS; JOHN CORNYN; CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO; TOM COTTON; KEVIN CRAMER; MIKE CRAPO; STEVE DAINES; TAMMY DUCKWORTH; RICHARD J. DURBIN; JONI ERNST; DIANNE FEINSTEIN; DEB FISCHER; KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND; LINDSEY GRAHAM; CHUCK GRASSLEY; BILL HAGERTY; MAGGIE HASSAN; MARTIN HEINRICH; JOHN HICKENLOOPER; MAZIE HIRONO; JOHN HOEVEN; JAMES INHOFE; RON VI JOHNSON; TIM KAINE; MARK KELLY; ANGUS S. KING, JR.; AMY KLOBUCHAR; JAMES LANKFORD; PATRICK LEAHY; MIKE LEE; BEN LUJAN; CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS; JOE MANCHIN III; EDWARD J. MARKEY; MITCH MCCONNELL; ROBERT MENENDEZ; JEFF MERKLEY; JERRY MORAN; LISA MURKOWSKI; CHRISTOPHER MURPHY; PATTY MURRAY; JON OSSOFF; ALEX PADILLA; RAND PAUL; GARY C. PETERS; ROB PORTMAN; JACK REED; JAMES E. RISCH; MITT ROMNEY; JACKY ROSEN; MIKE ROUNDS; MARCO RUBIO; BERNARD SANDERS; BEN SASSE; BRIAN SCHATZ; CHARLES E. SCHUMER; RICK SCOTT; TIM SCOTT; JEANNE SHAHEEN; RICHARD C. SHELBY; KYRSTEN SINEMA; TINA SMITH; DEBBIE STABENOW; DAN SULLIVAN; JON TESTER; JOHN THUNE; THOM TILLIS; PATRICK J. TOOMEY; HOLLEN VAN; MARK R. WARNER; RAPHAEL G. WARNOCK; ELIZABETH WARREN; SHELDON WHITEHOUSE; ROGER F. WICKER; RON WYDEN; TODD YOUNG; JOSEPH ROBINETTE BIDEN JR in his capacity of President of the United States; MICHAEL RICHARD PENCE in his capacity as former Vice President of the United States, and KAMALA HARRIS in her capacity as Vice President of the United States and JOHN and JANE DOES 1-100.  

https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-380/243739/20221027152243533_20221027-152110-95757954-00007015.pdf

[fearsmagazine]

The 2022 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) announced the Final Ballot for the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards®, an award they’ve been presenting  in various categories since 1987 (see http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/)

Works appearing on this Ballot are Bram Stoker Award® Nominees for Superior Achievement in their Category, e.g., Novel.  Congratulations to all those appearing on the Final Ballot.

THE 2022 BRAM STOKER AWARDS® FINAL BALLOT

Superior Achievement in a Novel • Iglesias, Gabino – The Devil Takes You Home (Mullholland Press) • Katsu, Alma – The Fervor (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) • Kiste, Gwendolyn – Reluctant Immortals (Saga Press) • Malerman, Josh – Daphne (Del Rey) • Ward, Catriona – Sundial (Tor Nightfire)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel • Adams, Erin – Jackal (Bantam Books) • Cañas, Isabel – The Hacienda (Berkley) • Jones, KC – Black Tide (Tor Nightfire) • Nogle, Christi – Beulah (Cemetery Gates Media) • Wilkes, Ally – All the White Spaces (Emily Bestler Books/Atria/Titan Books)

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel • Dawson, Delilah S. – Camp Scare (Delacorte Press) • Kraus, Daniel – They Stole Our Hearts (Henry Holt and Co.) • Malinenko, Ally – This Appearing House (Katherine Tegen Books) • Senf, Lora – The Clackity (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) • Stringfellow, Lisa – A Comb of Wishes (Quill Tree Books)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel • Aquilone, James (editor) – Kolchak: The Night Stalker: 50th Anniversary (Moonstone Books) • Gailey, Sarah (author) and Bak, Pius (artist) – Eat the Rich (Boom! Studios) • Manzetti, Alessandro (author) and Cardoselli, Stefano (artist/author) – Kraken Inferno: The Last Hunt (Independent Legions Publishing) • Tynion IV, James (author) and Dell’Edera, Werther (artist) – Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 4 (Boom! Studios) • Young, Skottie (author) and Corona, Jorge (artist) – The Me You Love in the Dark (Image Comics)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel • Fraistat, Ann – What We Harvest (Delacorte Press) • Jackson, Tiffany D. – The Weight of Blood (Katherine Tegen Books) • Marshall, Kate Alice – These Fleeting Shadows (Viking) • Ottone, Robert P. – The Triangle (Raven Tale Publishing) • Schwab, V.E. – Gallant (Greenwillow Books) • Tirado, Vincent – Burn Down, Rise Up (Sourcebooks Fire)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction • Allred, Rebecca J. and White, Gordon B. – And in Her Smile, the World (Trepidatio Publishing) • Carmen, Christa – “Through the Looking Glass and Straight into Hell” (Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addiction Horror) (Wicked Run Press) • Hightower, Laurel – Below (Ghoulish Books) • Katsu, Alma – The Wehrwolf (Amazon Original Stories) • Knight, EV – Three Days in the Pink Tower (Creature Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction • Dries, Aaron – “Nona Doesn't Dance” (Cut to Care: A Collection of Little Hurts) (IFWG Australia, IFWG International) • Gwilym, Douglas – “Poppy’s Poppy” (Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine, Vol. V, No. 6) • McCarthy, J.A.W.  – “The Only Thing Different Will Be the Body” (A Woman Built by Man) (Cemetery Gates Media) • Taborska, Anna – “A Song for Barnaby Jones” (Zagava) • Taborska, Anna – “The Star” (Great British Horror 7: Major Arcane) (Black Shuck Books) • Yardley, Mercedes M. – “Fracture” (Mother: Tales of Love and Terror) (Weird Little Worlds)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection • Ashe, Paula D. – We Are Here to Hurt Each Other (Nictitating Books) • Joseph, RJ – Hell Hath No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted (The Seventh Terrace) • Khaw, Cassandra – Breakable Things (Undertow Publications) • Thomas, Richard – Spontaneous Human Combustion (Keylight Books) • Veres, Attila – The Black Maybe (Valancourt Books)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay • Cooper, Scott – The Pale Blue Eye (Cross Creek Pictures, Grisbi Productions, Streamline Global Group) • Derrickson, Scott and Cargill, C. Robert – The Black Phone (Blumhouse Productions, Crooked Highway, Universal Pictures) • Duffer Brothers, The – Stranger Things: Episode 04.01 "Chapter One: The Hellfire Club" (21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre, Netflix, Upside Down Pictures) • Garland, Alex - Men (DNA Films) • Goth, Mia and West, Ti – Pearl (A24, Bron Creative, Little Lamb, New Zealand Film Commission)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection • Bailey, Michael and Simon, Marge – Sifting the Ashes (Crystal Lake Publishing) • Lynch, Donna – Girls from the County (Raw Dog Screaming Press) • Pelayo, Cynthia – Crime Scene (Raw Dog Screaming Press) • Saulson, Sumiko – The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry (Dooky Zines) • Sng, Christina – The Gravity of Existence (Interstellar Flight Press)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology • Datlow, Ellen – Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous (Tor Nightfire) • Hartmann, Sadie and Saywers, Ashley – Human Monsters: A Horror Anthology (Dark Matter Ink) • Nogle, Christi and Becker, Willow – Mother: Tales of Love and Terror (Weird Little Worlds) • Ryan, Lindy – Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga (Black Spot Books) • Tantlinger, Sara – Chromophobia: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women in Horror (Strangehouse Books)

Superior Achievement in Non–Fiction • Cisco, Michael – Weird Fiction: A Genre Study (Palgrave Macmillan) • Hieber, Leanna Renee and Janes, Andrea – A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts (Citadel Press) • Kröger, Lisa and Anderson, Melanie R. – Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult (Quirk Books) • Waggoner, Tim – Writing in the Dark: The Workbook (Guide Dog Books) • Wytovich, Stephanie M. – Writing Poetry in the Dark (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in Short Non–Fiction • Murray, Lee – “I Don’t Read Horror (& Other Weird Tales)” (Interstellar Flight Magazine) (Interstellar Flight Press) • Pelayo, Cynthia – “This is Not a Poem” (Writing Poetry in the Dark) (Raw Dog Screaming Press) • Wetmore, Jr., Kevin J. – “A Clown in the Living Room: The Sinister Clown on Television” (The Many Lives of Scary Clowns: Essays on Pennywise, Twisty, the Joker, Krusty and More) (McFarland and Company) • Wood, L. Marie – “African American Horror Authors and Their Craft: The Evolution of Horror Fiction from African Folklore” (Conjuring Worlds: An Afrofuturist Textbook for Middle and High School Students) (Conjure World) • Wood, L. Marie, “The H Word: The Horror of Hair” (Nightmare Magazine, No. 118) (Adamant Press)

[marjaystuff]

Hunting Colton’s Witness

The Coltons of Owl Creek Book 8

Anna J. Stewart

August 20th, 2024

Hunting Colton’s Witness by Ann J. Stewart is part of a series where each book has different stories written by different authors. In this book, the heroine Vivian Maylor, becomes Detective Nate Colton’s key witness. He is attracted to her from the get-go. His determination to keep their relationship purely professional falls apart after an attempt on her life almost succeeds. With help from his newfound Colton family, Nate is hoping to keep Vivian safe. But when he finds out Vivian might have a connection to a bigger case, the attempts on her life become more frequent. The intensity ratches up with both the mystery and with their relationship.

Elise Cooper: Regarding Hunting Colton’s Witness how did you get the idea for the story?

Anna J. Stewart: The idea came from Harlequin. As this is part of the ongoing Colton series for the Romantic Suspense line, they come up with the stories and characters, send me a synopsis/outline of it and then I put my twist, voice, and words to it. One of the reasons I love writing for this series is that I never know what kind of characters I’ll get or the type of story. It’s a nice surprise and a great way to shake up my storytelling abilities.

EC: Is this the last Colton book in the series?

AJS: Oh, no. There are 12 in this series all together, and I’m book 8. They each stand alone, but they each also carry through various threads regarding an over-arching plot or family element. So, there will be 4 more after mine (and 7 before, I think. (If my math is correct, LOL). I don’t imagine Harlequin will end the Colton’s any time soon. The fans of these books are numerous and devoted!

EC: How would you describe Vivian?

AJS: She’s a loner and very nervous. Being outside her comfort zone, which happens to be her home, is not her happy place. She does have a surprising sense of humor, but I think that’s more my influence, LOL. She’s learning how to cope better, I think, and pushing herself to take chances, which is how she ends up on a blind date in the first place. But of course, that doesn’t go well, and she ends up in an unexpected and rather dangerous adventure. She ended up growing a lot during her story and proving to herself she can handle a lot more than she ever thought she could. 

EC:  How did her parent’s death in a car accident affect her?

AJS: I think that one event changed the trajectory of her life. Trauma like that tends to affect everything that comes after. It’s why she doesn’t like to drive, and only does it when she must. She’s not fatalistic per say, but she’s also one who tends to worry the worst is going to happen. Her journey is to accept that the worse can happen and everything will still turn out okay. So, while that one event impacted her life, by the end of the book, she’s come through something in a way that removes that dread she’s carried with her since the accident. 

EC: How would you describe Nate?

AJS: Protective, practical, realist, over achiever, and charming. First, I think it’s inherent in all the Colton heroes and secondly, as a cop, good cops at least, have that level of compassion that makes them good at their jobs. At least the cops I write about. I’m not sure he’d consider himself charming, which by default means he is. He’s good at what he does and there’s a confidence that comes with that self-assuredness that is incredibly appealing. The protective instinct he carries comes from his background with a complicated family dynamic, so I think in a lot of ways it goes into overdrive where Vivian is concerned. It’s literally one of those things where the instant he sees her, he knows life isn’t going to be the same. Those are the most fun stories to write. 

EC: How would you describe the relationship between them?

AJS: Respectful. I think that’s at the heart of their relationship. She’s not typical of the heroines I tend to write. She’s less confident and more insular and isolated by choice. But Nate never tries to change her. He accepts her as she is without question. That’s incredibly powerful and a good sign for a successful relationship. From Vivian’s point of view, I think Nate destroys all her misconceptions about relationships. He teaches her that it’s okay to put your heart on the line, even if you think it might get broken in the end. He makes her stronger and she makes him happy.

EC: How would you describe Nate’s sister Lizzy?

AJS: I think Lizzy is still coming off the trauma of what happened to her (read Deborah Fletcher Mello’s Colton’s Secret Hideout for Lizzy’s story). She’s stressed and anxious and probably dealing with PTSD, but all of that is tempered by her found relationship with Ajay. In some ways I think she becomes overprotective of Vivian because of that, but she’s also happy that Nate and Vivian have found each other however the circumstances unfolded. Like all the Coltons, Lizzy is all about family first, which is another reason I love writing these books. 

EC:  How has her trauma affected her?

AJS: As I stated above, I think it’s made Lizzy more aware of how people’s lives are affected by trauma and isolation. She’s always been outgoing and trying to push Vivian out of her comfort zone and I think that’s been part of her healing. Being able to focus on Vivian allows her some emotional distance from her own recent experiences. But it also makes her more sensitive and more protective. It’s a bit of a test for Lizzy, I think, to see her brother, who she’s only just recently learned about, fall for her best friend in Vivian so I think it brings her and Nate closer, too. 

EC: What do you want readers to know about the Colton family?

AJS: First, don’t be overwhelmed by the number of books in the Colton series. Each year has its own dedicated series, sometimes it’s 12 books, sometimes it’s 6. But they’re fun reads when taken in chunks. Personally, I love interconnected stories where we see returning characters, can catch up with them, and see them after their HEAs, but also are introduced to characters who will get theirs in the future. They are meticulously plotted out and edited and at times the authors work with one another to make sure we’re getting all the details right about the crossover characters. If readers want an exciting group of stories that pull them from one book into another, then definitely check out The Coltons.

EC:  Next book(s)?

AJS: In January, the second book in my new McKenna Code series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense will be published. My other recent release is A Cowgirl on His Doorstep, which is my contribution to the ongoing Blackwell series for Harlequin Heartwarming. And then the fourth book in my Hawaiian Reunions series, Heartwarming again, A Christmas Island Romance, will be out on Christmas Eve! This one is a friend to more than friends romance that was just a delight to write. Christmas in Hawaii; There’s nothing better than that!

THANK YOU!!

[goalhofer]

1976 in memoriam.

Mal Evans (British musical manager), 40

Howlin' Wolf (American singer & guitarist), 65

Agatha Christie (British writer), 85

Yagi Hidetsuga (Japanese electrical engineer), 89

Paul Robeson (American singer & actor), 77

The Blessed Friar Gabriele Allegra (Italian Catholic friar), 68

Lee J. Cobb (American actor)(pictured), 64

Sal Mineo; Jr. (American actor)(pictured), 37

E.H. Shepard (British artist & illustrator), 96

Richard Arlen (American actor), 76

Freddie Lennon (British sailor & singer), 63

Howard Hughes (American engineer & businessman)(pictured), 70

Miriam Cooper (American actress), 84

William Relf (British singer & guitarist), 33

Ruth McDevitt (American actress), 80

J. Paul Getty (American-British businessman), 83

Jimmy Dykes (American baseball player & coach), 79

Rear Adm. C. Wade McClusky; Jr. (American naval admiral), 74

Sir William Baker (British actor & producer), 48

Frederick Marberry (American baseball player), 77

Anna Michel (German victim of negligent homicide), 23

Norman Foster (American movie director & screenwriter), 72

Wong Jim (Chinese-American cinematographer), 76

Paul Gallico (American writer), 78

The Blessed Bishop Basil Hopko (Slovak Catholic bishop), 72

Friedrich Lang (Austrian-American movie director & screenwriter), 85

Mary Jones (American actress)(pictured), 18

CWO Robert Mellard (American army soldier), 57

Vice Marshal Raymond Collishaw (Canadian air force pilot), 82

Barbara Nickerauer aka Barbara Nichols (American actress), 47

Lt. Gen. Troy H. Middleton (American army general & college comptroller), 86

Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro (Italian Catholic cardinal), 84

Man Ray (American artist), 86

Godfrey Cambridge (American comedian & actor)(pictured), 43

Danny Murtaugh (American baseball player & manager), 59

Tommy Bolin (American guitarist & songwriter), 25

Alastair Sim (British actor)(pictured), 75

Jack Cassidy (American actor & singer)(pictured), 49

[jxrm]

book log - 2012

the devil wears prada by lauren weigberger

exposed by bianca giovanni

bared to you by sylvia day

before i go to sleep by s.j. watson

the five people you meet in heaven by mitch albom

the hunger games by suzanne collins

catching fire by suzanne collins

mockingjay by suzanne collins

the help by kathryn stockett

lolita by vladimir nabokov

the railway children by e. nesbit

hana’s suitcase by karen levine

bedtime story by robert j. wiseman

charlotte sometimes by penelope farmer

bright young things by anna godbersen

water for elephants by sara gruen

the future of us by jay asher

the thirteenth tale by diane setterfield

a game of thrones by george r. r. martin

distant waves by suzanne weyn

the lonely hearts club by elizabeth eulberg

confined space by deryn collier

the headmaster’s wager by vincent lam

the key of kilenya by andrea pearson

gorgeous by rachel veil

taxi dance by john jeter

perfect girl by mary hogan

my best friend’s girl by dorothy koomson

god’s gift to women by michael baisden

salvage the bones by jesmyn ward

5 very good reasons to punch a dolphin in the mouth and other useful guides by matthew inman

walking with ghosts by a. c. kerr

memories from cherry harvest by amy wachspress

oak island revenge by cynthia d’entremont

insatiable by meg cabot

fool by christopher moore

truths and roses by inglath cooper

beauty queens by libba bray

sarah’s key by tatiana de rosnay

mountains of the moon by i. j. kay

spin by catherine mckenzie

arranged by catherine mckenzie

rot & ruin by jonathan maberry

tigers in red weather by liza klaussmann

naples rejuvenating cocktail by bhavna khemlani

too far by rich shapiro

the queen gene by jennifer coburn

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[mvdbutler]

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