Duality

One of my favorite singers of all time is Maddy Prior. What I love most is her range; she can sing a sweet tune, but she often chooses grim and terrifying tales of death and destruction.

As a writer I often contemplate my own duality. In 'real life' I like to think of myself as a cheerful person. People describe me as happy. However, almost of my work has dark elements. Perhaps composing scary prose helps me live a joyful life. Or keeps me from whacking people over the head. :-) In truth, we are all creatures of light and of dark. The writer's lifestyle too is yin and yang; publish and rejection, creation and blockage, loneliness and exhilaration.

Listen to Maddy Prior singing a lovely old carol, and then the song that first drew me to her, The Fabled Hare. The New Year is upon us, cold and dark. But spring is just around the corner.

A Science Fiction Holiday

I’ve haven’t been blogging as much lately because I’m almost done with another book, which has proven to be harder than anything I’ve ever done. Not a bad thing, but it has kept me busy. This one is science fiction, and although I’ve written some sci-fi shorts, it’s my first novel in this genre.


Which has garnered some interesting responses. Those who don’t read fantasy tend to lump it into the children’s book slot, or perhaps link it to some childhood fairytale memory, which makes their comments slightly more positive. With science fiction, non readers can more negative. Sic- fi is weird. It’s for boys. It’s (sigh) not serious literature. I usually just smile and say if you read one my books it would mean so much to me.  :-)

I’ve been hearing a lot lately about how no one says Merry Christmas anymore. I don’t make an issue of how I’m greeted holiday-wise…I Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or Happy Holiday them back, because for me it’s the intent behind the wishes.

In the spirit of the season, I wish you and yours the magic of this special time however you express it, and contented reading whatever you pull up on your Kindle or off your bookshelf.

It’s all good.