This September I’ll be going back to my old hometown, Rolla, Missouri, where I grew up in the 90s, to read from my queer YA sci-fi horror comedy short story “Blood Frequency” and doing a Q&A. My story takes place in that town during the 90s. And the event is hosted by the local LGBTQ+ group.
It’s sort of surreal to think about it. But a lot of good work has been done these past few years in my old hometown to be more inclusive and kind. Doing something like this there in the 90s would have been unheard of.
In preparation for this event, I’ve created an Events page on the website with details and a link to the Facebook Event. In the future, I’ll be posting all events I do to that page.
The first draft of my Nancy Drew horror mystery novella cover art work arrived yesterday. I’ve made notes and sent them back. Y’all this is so exciting. It looks fabulous and will continue to improve. Can’t wait to share it with y’all in the near future.
I’ll be participating in the Midsummer Night’s Scream book event by giving away free ebook copies of my short queer YA comedy sci-fi horror story called “Blood Frequnecy.” Mark your calendars for July 18! 🌈 👽
Other authors will be involved in this event as well across Threads and Instagram either with discounted works or free ones.
Two days ago, I met online with horror author and poet Andrew K. Clark to talk writing, Christian fundamentalism, and a bit about his home Asheville, North Carolina — his body of work takes place in his backyard, Appalachia.
Like the previous interview with horror author Lana Casiello, the conversation went long and covered a lot of ground. Clark and I both were raised in Christian fundamentalism, though different flavors as he came up in a Baptist church and I came up in a Church of Christ. Much of his horror writing does delve into religious horror, a direct response to his own experiences.
And of course, it’s hard if not impossible to not draw comparisons between our current Christian nationalism state when discussing Christian fundamentalism. They are all intertwined.
For example, during the last presidential election, I opened up the Heritage Foundation plans for a second Trump presidency and as I read through it, it was clear to me that they were taking many of those fundamentalist beliefs and codifying them into politics. Which, if you’re unfamiliar with fundamentalist ideologies, you might have missed some of it or may not realize how far they plan to go.
All that to say, I think you may find my interview with Clark intriguing. I’ll be working on editing it down into episodes over the next month or two. In the meantime, you can pre-order his upcoming horror novel Hollow Folk which is set to release September 29th.
Here is the first of three episodes where I interviewed horror author Lana Casiello. Originally uploaded in full to YouTube, I’ve decided to bring my writing world interview series, Confabulation, to other places. I’ve also decided I’ll be breaking these interviews into episodes moving forward.
In this first episode, Lana and I discuss colonialism in Hawaii and her Hawaiian heritage. More to come in the next episodes, so stay tuned. Follow the blog if you like this Confabulation series. I interview authors, publishers, and other writerly types.
In light of several author crash outs on Threads in the past week, I find myself thinking about ignorance.
It’s ok to be ignorant. We all start out ignorant. It isn’t bliss. But it is a blank canvas. Sometimes due to our environment we remain ignorant in many ways and are raised into ignorance. This is unfortunate but it is not irreparable, if we choose to acknowledge the ignorance and to learn.
It does mean that there may be times when we unintentionally screw up because of our ignorance and that’s ok, if we apologize and recognize the harm we’ve caused, and then commit to learning. Arrogance and an unwillingness to admit ignorance and harm caused by it will only hold us back from growing into a good person.
Imagine if a baby who started to walk failed a few times, and then just refused to ever do it again — that’s what some adults do. They become aware of their ignorance and instead of pushing through it and getting better through knowledge and practice, which involves the help of others — just like a baby requires the hands of adults to guide them through their first steps — they give up and refuse the help of others, choosing to remain ignorant. Choosing to refuse to learn to walk.
We’re born ignorant, yes, but it’s a choice to stay that way after a while. Choose knowledge. Choose listening to others who know better than you. Choose growth. Choose acknowledging harms you’ve caused and properly apologizing, regardless of intent.
Ignorance is not bliss and it can cause real harm.
