This Monday, I’m feeling inspired by the Sleeping Bear Dunes in northern Michigan, not far from where I grew up. That’s because I just submitted an application to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park artist-in-residence program. If I get the fellowship, I’ll have a chance to live in a Forest Service cabin near the park for three weeks in September. … Read More
Friday Roundup: Ursula K. Le Guin on Racism, Anarchy, and Hearing Her Characters Speak
I love the work of Ursula K. Le Guin, and in this I’m not alone. Though she’s primarily known as a science fiction (SF) writer, her admirers include literary heavyweights like David Mitchell, Salman Rushdie, and the fabulous Zadie Smith, who said that “Le Guin writes as well as any non-‘genre’ writer alive.” In this interview, reposted from Structo this week … Read More
Wednesday Works in Progress: Night-Blooming Cereus
This week I’ve started work on a different short story, “Night-Blooming Cereus.” It’s the tale of a woman facing a difficult diagnosis who forms a relationship with an elusive teenager in a place that’s dear to my heart, a little pocket park in Prescott, Arizona. I shifted gears from “Dream Studies” into this project because it’s been one year since … Read More
Best Thing I’ve Read All Week: 1,000 True Fans
The “long tail” is a bit of shorthand for the fact that there are just a few books/movie/albums/etc. (what Patreon calls Things) that appeal to everyone–the blockbusters–and many Things that appeal to select groups of people. Studios and publishers tend to focus on the blockbusters, but now that the tools by which Things are published/produced are available to one and all, … Read More
