Regaining Lost Aspects: Mind and Soul
Through book events, poetry, and creativity, we dive a little deeper into humanity.
A weaver of light
Calls to the stars
Taking their essence one by one.
Cradling them,
She braids them to yarn,
Offering it to only the royal ones.
Listing by name
The gifts are each set
Bound to the lives of most fit.
But if they blink out,
Each royals’ dress,
Their life will forever be forfeit.
“Whispers of the First Witch” is a short story about a girl who has lost her mom and follows the whispers that took her mother to hopefully find her again. It was a fun story to write and even more fun to work with Eli Cuaycong on this art piece to bring out the creepy factor of the story.
How this story came to be was with a picture prompt about a year ago! The picture we were given was of a piece of playground equipment called the witch’s hat. You can see that piece of equipment behind the creature. When I began to write the story, my mind took me back to when I was a child, and how we had the same equipment in our small town. I loved playing on it and used to imagine it taking me to other places when I would spin with it, especially at night.
In the story itself, the daughter sees her mother as she was before but does notice that her mother seems slightly different. For this art piece, we brought out what the mother really looks like inside as she is trying to coax her daughter to come to her with whispers.
This story takes place in The Kasverse and has strong ties to Wyreli, which will be visited in later stories and is where all of civilization, demons, witches, and the world truly started.
If you want to read this short story, you can click below to be taken to its page on my website.
Happy spooky reading!!
There is beauty in parallel horizons, especially when they kiss over the calm, tranquil waters meeting the moon.
This is concept art by Julija Gumbryte for my short story “Oceana Estate,” which is a small spooky story written in lyrical-like prose. This story started when I was doing a group where we were given a prompt and only a couple minutes to write a quick story with it. I believe the prompt was “last house on the left.”
I enjoyed writing this short piece and also enjoyed working with Julija. It was her idea to bring the houses closer to the character.
If you would like to read the short story, all you have to do is click on the picture, and you will be taken to the page we have set up for this special short story.
Thank you everyone for everything.
I attended an event with Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore discussing The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu.
First off, it was cute how much Samit loved the book that the interviewer Valerie Valdes wrote, which was Where Peace is Lost. After congratulating her and telling her it was amazing, he went on to explain that when the characters in her book first met, he knew the ending he wanted. And that meant a lot to him because it formed the central framing to where he questioned whether everything that was happening would affect what he wanted to happen at the end. I thought it was really cool that he took the time out of his interview to talk about her book that it was obvious he looked up to it.
When Samit was asked where he got the idea for his book, he explained that the idea had come from Aladdin. He felt that Aladdin was a fable that had no home and needed one and thought it had good relatability because it was known throughout the world. The biggest prompter for him to want to write his own story influenced by Aladdin was because he always had a problem with the original story. He didn’t like the wishes Aladdin made and didn’t like the character’s actions. He didn’t care for how Aladdin lied, stole, and cheated, and especially how he didn’t care about his city. He wanted all of that fixed. He wanted to see what would happen if Aladdin actually cared about where he came from, so he used the city where he grew up to inspire the city in the book.
To write a story, Samit explained he starts with a very complicated and detailed plan but is well aware that his plan will change. And that when it does, it means the book is talking back to him, and what he is doing is working. His novel is about a revolution where he wanted to use robots. He wanted to explore how robots could fit into society, their feelings, what drives them, and the bonds they make.
Apparently, what he did with the robots worked because he found them to be the most relatable as told by readers. Valerie added that she believes it is because it is a normal human impulse to side with the underdogs, which is what she was doing when she read it. She expressed multiple times how much she loved the robots.
Samit has some NDAs, but he did say he is waiting for a few things to fall into place regarding his writing and career. Valerie said that she is planning a sequel to her book, Where Peace is Lost. She is just waiting to see how many people buy that first book first.
The discussion between these two, especially their in-depth talk about robots across genres and media, was heartwarming. Thank you, Mysterious Galaxy, for the great event.
Even though I have no more love left for you,
You invade, barrelling in, creating your own
Through you, I learn I can love again
That my heart has no limit
That I can grow fonder each and every day
If treated right
I was able to attend an event hosted by Oxford Exchange Bookstore discussing the book Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
This was a fun discussion with lots of laughs that went into how gothic books are typically written because many people in the group read the gothic genre. I was unaware that gothics typically are very slow-paced to let gloom seep in slowly. This was brought up because many reviews complained about the pacing.
I loved how much was researched about this book by the other members. I didn’t know that there were so many things that were based on real people and places in this story.
We went through examples of how this story commented on colonialism. Like them bringing their own soil to where they were to take over. (If anyone has read this, they should hopefully know what that means).
Everyone liked Naomi. The best compliments she received were that she was fun and unapologetically her. Also, that she was inspiring in how she fought for control in a part of history where there wasn’t much control for women in their life.
Everyone absolutely loved the imagery and were amazed at how the author could write disgusting things so beautifully that made readers entranced by her words yet feel icky inside. It was funny because during the meeting, we looked up if this book would be turned into a movie because everyone agreed it would be excellent for film. We found that Hulu bought the rights a long time ago to turn it into a series, but no one has heard anything about it since then.
Near the end of this event, it definitely showed how great this book is for discussion. It felt like a Nancy Drew game, with everyone trying to piece things together and laughing the entire time.
Thank you, Oxford Exchange, for this event.
Trail my worry
Follow my angst
So my fears won’t seize you
Understand my fury
Recognize my hate
So my loathe won’t pursue
Grasp my love
Devour my heart
So I will never escape
Steal my memories
Recollect my lore
Don’t make my same mistakes
I attended an event hosted by Mysterious Galaxy for the book Playing the Witch Card by Jenni Marchisotto.
I loved the beginning because the host asked Jenni to choose between spooky things. Apparently, she likes Sabrina the Teenage Witch over Hocus Pocus because Sabrina was her childhood. She loves Beetlejuice over Nightmare Before Christmas. She laughed about the fact that she has been a witch as an adult almost every Halloween. How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix is one of her scariest reads. And she isn’t a big fan of scary movies because they stick to her. There is a scene in Independence Day that still haunts her. Blare Witch Project is the only scary movie she has sat through.
If anyone wants to learn about Jenni’s history with tarot cards and where they began, apparently, she was sent off to church with a friend because her parents wanted to take a vacation without her. Because her family wasn’t a big church family, she brought a tarot deck with her to church camp, thinking it would be cool. Hahaha. From then on, she went in and out of tarot cards as a young adult but really leaned into them as a full adult. She loves them because it makes her think of her life in full circle, like her past and what may be coming up. She doesn’t think of tarot cards as a fortune-telling thing but as a way to push someone to think about their situation differently.
She then gave a little history of tarot in general. She explained how they became more to the forefront of popularity during the time of the civil war and that they didn’t come from any particular tradition. They are European and came from games and spiritualism. So, she was very intrigued by how tarot cards can be whatever someone decides them to be. They have always been that way.
What makes the town special in her story is the town matriarch that keeps it looking very Halloweeny—in a spooky not scary way. She said one of the main characters has a steampunk Victorian Halloween vibe.
Jenni explains how she can’t name her characters until she knows their parents because she needs to think about what their parents would name them. So, to develop characters, she has to think about where the people came from and what the generations before may want from the characters. She has to dive into the past and figure out the whys.
There is the trope of fated mates in the story, but the main characters make the trope their own by tearing it up, throwing it aside, getting out, having a kid, and insisting on not being the fated mate. They made their own way.
Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow is a witch book recommendation by Jenni. She also enjoyed Cackle by Rachel Harrison.
Her absolute favorite trope is second-chance romance. She loves that because she loves the idea of people being fated to be together. Later, she would love to try the one-bed situation and a secret baby situation.
When asked if she would dive into another person from the town’s story, she said it depends on how things go with her publisher.
This was a fun and cute event. Thank you Mysterious Galaxy.
Please reflect on my end
And not my beginning
When I pass into the unknown.
See how far I’ve come
And where to I am going,
Not where my stories were once told.
Regaining Lost Aspects: Mind and Soul 