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In 2006 I started telling the “How Saint Expedite got me into Clarion West” story to anyone who seemed interested. A version of it existed on a previous version of the gothhouse.org website. That’s how my husband’s sister Dorothy knew to call us up and say, “You know that statue that’sContinue Reading

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During the Great Boxing Week Ice Storm of 1996  Paul and I flew to New Orleans for the first time. We spent a day crammed into SeaTac airport with thousands of other stranded travelers, as the airport gradually ran out of food, plane de-icer, civility, and hope. The airline promised us,Continue Reading

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Sponsor me, sponsor another writer, or learn more about the Write-a-thon Sunday, June 19, begins the six week Write-a-Thon. What is the Write-a-thon? A fundraiser for the Clarion West writing workshop, which I attended in 2006 (10-year anniversary this year!) Clarion West is a nonprofit literary organization (501©(3), for taxContinue Reading

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My Crypticon panel schedule: X-Files Friday | 5:00 pm | Columbia B Horror Comics and Graphic Novels Friday | 8:00 pm | Columbia B Freak Shows Friday | 11:00 pm | Alpine Room Twin Peaks Saturday | 1:00 pm | Columbia A Remembering Bowie: The Hunger, Outside, and Bowie’s Contributions to Horror Saturday | 6:00 pm | Alpine Room Making the Leap: Writing Short Stories vs. Writing Novels Saturday | 8:00 pm | AlpineContinue Reading

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A couple of weeks ago, on Super Tuesday, I found myself feeling depressed for what seemed like no real reason. I was obsessively checking primary results, though, and at some point I noticed an association between Trump wins and that little squeeze of sick dread. Oh, I thought to myself.Continue Reading

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Premise: An exiled Puritan family trying to survive in the wilderness is targeted by an enigmatic supernatural threat, but the worst threat might be the paranoia that drives them to turn on each other. Briefly: Beautifully made, with an excellent cast and a haunting soundtrack. The archaic language is aContinue Reading

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What makes a main character my favorite? I’ve made a list of some of my favorite protagonists, from some of my favorite books, and thought about why they hooked me. I’m someone who is pulled in by character first, before ideas. I don’t have to directly relate to a character,Continue Reading

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When I was a kid, Phyllis Schlafly used bathroom panic to help defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, which would have made sexual equality a constitutionally protected value. The claim was that the ERA would strip women of the “right to privacy based on sex” in “public restrooms and other publicContinue Reading

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I want to talk about Star Wars, but that’s dangerous for me, because I don’t want to deliver any spoilers, but apparently I don’t know what a spoiler is. I think a spoiler is “a shocking or unexpected plot twist that’s important to the story.” Gandalf dying, then coming back fromContinue Reading

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Act 1 — Circa 100 AD — two people pass each other in the marketplace Good day. Good day. Have you heard the good news? What good news? We are all loved and should love one another in return. That sounds pretty good. How do you know this? The creatorContinue Reading

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NaNoWriMo 2015: I succeeded, but barely, and a little sloppily. The words weren’t all from the same novel, for example. And normally when I write, if I change my mind mid-scene about how the scene should go or what line of dialog the person should say, I will delete theContinue Reading