alfreda89 | Recent Entries

We all decided that it's been a dumpster fire of a year, no matter how you look at things. So we gathered together some holiday stories--and these are multiple holidays, and some are silly and fun, and some definitely creepy.

The Book View Cafe 2020 Holiday Collection is out.

It's in MOBI and EPUB formats. I have a story in the collection-- "A Very Wary Christmas" -- about a haunted dollhouse at Christmas. If you missed my story in our NEVERTHELESS, SHE PERSISTED collection of women and persistence, here's another chance to read the story. Or recommend the collection to your local library. Hope you enjoy it!

Current Mood: pleased
Current Location: Great Lakes

I was north of here last month, and while in the north, the oaks and pines whispered to me. . ."snow." They knew the snow was coming, and they kindly passed it on. This was before the wild fires exploded in the PNW and California.

Now I am home, and the maples and hemlock still whisper to me "snow." I think they are telling me that it's coming early. Last year I knew the first snowfall would be early November, despite locals assuring me I had weeks yet to finish closing down the outside world. And it snowed in early November. (And I was ready.)

Now I think the first snowfall will be in October. I hope late October--I never like to rush the beauty and change of autumn--but all they are whispering is "soon" as trees judge time.

So--North Americans--may I suggest that you consider having anything outside for storage and prep (that takes effort) done before October takes hold, we in the north? Because this year, I think there will be early snow. And all that particulate matter in the sky will probably guarantee that the trees are right.

Hot cider weather is coming.

Current Mood: pensive
Current Location: Great Lakes

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear."

~Ambrose Redmoon

Current Mood: determined
Current Location: USA

Some days it's just nice to see a good review, and to see people sharing it various places.

So I'm sharing it here.

https://bookviewcafe.com/blog/2019/09/23/katharine-eliska-kimbriels-night-calls-series/

Current Mood: pleased
Current Location: Rural America

Because we aren't, as any woman paying attention will tell you. I don't know what I can do to help overturn this fact, since I've been battling it off and on all my life. And have learned that the Thing society fears more than anything is an intelligent woman who dares to think.

Stealth mode is probably the solution. But a lonely path.

Writer Kari Sperring, who is

la_marquise, explains the problem with eloquence, grace, and far more kindness than I can conjure for oppressors. She is Anglo-Welsh in an empire where every step on a ladder is a hard-fought step, and the caste system used to be etched in 1,000 year concrete. Read on to find why she has concluded the things she has. . . .

"And yet, looking at the Institute in Dublin, I realised something. I realised that somehow, between then and now, I have come to accept that I am not quite, not really, a person.
Women are not fully people.
Older women are definitely not fully people.
And women are told, over and over, when they are young, to be good and wait our turn, and many of us do.
And then, one day, while the white men of our age climb up and up, and are welcomed and praised, we are told: get out of the way, it's too late for you.
More so if, like me, those women are from the Lower Orders.
Even more so, if the woman is a woman of colour.
Even more, if she lives with a disability., if she is trans or gender non-conforming or queer."

https://la-marquise.dreamwidth.org/377256.html

Current Mood: discouraged
Current Location: Great Lakes region

This essay first appeared at Kristine Kathryn Rusch's Women in Science Fiction site.

I taught myself to read when I was something like six years old, and I never looked back. The eyeglasses happened because there were not enough stories in my young world, so I had to go looking for them. When I was asked, “Write about your favorite woman fantasy writer” my first thought was “My favorite? Do you mean this week, last month, over the last year?” There are walls of books in my possession. A huge percentage of them were written by women fantasy and SF writers.

Our planet is wide enough to handle a multiverse of new worlds and peoples, and make me care about all of them. Women excel at that.

Right now I have been bouncing back and forth between two series, and two (or is it three?) authors. Writing this essay made me realize what I needed from each of them right now, and where they walked the same path. Let me introduce you to Martha Wells and Ilona Andrews, authors I think you should investigate.( Seeking Home )

We have people seeking home, protecting home, and making a home. For so many of us, that’s a theme worth finding. I have read many books by both Wells and Andrews, but today I recommend these two series to you.

Because it seems that every reader needs a home away from home.

Current Mood: working
Current Location: Rural America

As you may have guessed, the intense cold and humidity of this winter has been very hard. I don't know if I can stay in the Midwest. I did leave for a reason, and don't know if I will ever recover enough to handle winters. There's improvement, but slowly. And I've learned that your body decides what to work on, when you recover from a long-term condition. I might have chosen a different path.

So. . .I needed to get more cream. ( Read more... )

Current Mood: surprised
Current Location: Rural America

In case you are an old friend or acquaintance of convention dealer and tough, creative feminist Lee Billings, the tale of her days on this planet at this time is nearing its end. Her longtime partner Russ Ault is doing his best, and she is having hospice care.

Facebook is the best place to find Russ and Lee's timelines, and Russ is likely only posting at his own now. Russ needs to hear from us on this last walk with Lee, so if they are or were a part of your lives, stop by.

https://www.facebook.com/Werehatrack

Lee gave me this WE THE PEOPLE icon. She is a strong warrior for justice.

Current Mood: sad

I have not one but two perfectly good posts I've written--and I can't find them in the computer. After months, the treatment has finally hit some nasty variants of what we are after, and the fallout, frankly, sucks.

But if I am lucky, I might get my life back. Since it all went sideways around nine years old, do I get to re-live the stolen years? I won't put anything past the universe right now. But if your granddaughter someday tells you that the lady in the park looked just like the picture in that old copy of Night Calls, you might wonder.

In the meantime--someone asked me about a shorthand way to describe Allie, and I wondered if there was a D&D way to describe her. I asked over on Facebook, and strong opinions ensued. You are welcome to re-ignite the Facebook discussion, or add your two cents here.

Allie's alignment discussion:

https://www.facebook.com/katharine.kimbriel/posts/10214307543716458?comment_id=10214536008707940¬if_id=1531665537516896¬if_t=comment_mention

Lawful good, neutral good, chaotic good?

I'm sorry I have been sparse right now, but turns out the treatment causes symptoms a lot like the worst of the illness. Bah, humbug! I will try to find those posts and tuck them in here. Plus--I need to stash some articles I found about social media and its value to creators. Considering that each new form is time stolen from writing, painting, 3D art--a lot of us are sitting back in our chairs and thinking about it.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Hill Country

I could not do a direct share, so pasting this over here. XKCD has solved the ToS problem!

"Remember the mouse-over)

https://xkcd.com/1998/"

Current Mood: tired

The thing we must remember about the words and creations known as sorcery and witchcraft is that at bedrock, they are about power and control.

If a people do not feel they have power or control in a situation, they will look for a way to change that balance. In the mists of time, the perception that a tribe had powerful magic meant that they were bypassed when another group thought a swift little war could gain them possessions and respect. In some parts of the world, those beliefs still rule. Dozens--possibly hundreds--die yearly from the accusation of using Power against others.
( Read more... )
In the end, most things come down to either love, or fear and its subsets power and control.

Play the reduction game. Do you find love or fear at the end of the line?

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/05/24/612451247/in-papua-new-guineas-sorcery-wars-a-peacemaker-takes-on-her-toughest-case?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20180525

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Hill Country

This essay previously appeared at Gillian Polack's blog for Women's History Month 2018.

Somewhere in her youth writer Jennifer Stevenson pieced together way too much about betrayal, loss, healing, death, and second chances. Wanting to understand, she soaked up information from family, books, and schools, ending up with advanced degrees in counseling and (I suspect) simultaneously realizing that she knew too much—and too little—about human nature.

On this journey it looks like she became interested in stories that addressed all the things she valued, and realized that 1) the bass note of her musical universe was the enduring nature of Love, and 2) all forms of human sexuality are real, no-we’re-not-kidding magic. Stevenson dove headfirst into reading about ancient religions, patriarchal suppression of joy and sexual expression, and how our ancient ancestors viewed the many forms of magic (yes, there are multiple kinds). Then she realized that writing fiction might be the only place she could address all these concepts in a manner any woman (and many men) might find entertaining. . .inspiring . . .

Enlightening.
( There's more. . . )
Aren’t you tired of doing everything right?
Wouldn’t you like a second chance to go back and do it wrong?

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Hill Country
Current Music: life

"If you were in my novel you'd be dead by now"

Current Mood: irritated
Current Location: Hill Country

Of course it's going in the book.

No, I didn't rent it. The ghost knew I knew he was there, and he didn't want company.

Current Mood: surprised
Current Location: Hill Country

March was Women's History Month, and Australian writer/historian Gillian Polack has invited writers from every imaginable corner of the globe to talk about women writers that are under-appreciated. One of them wrote about the Allie stories.

"What I’d like to talk about, though, is a set of books I wish desperately had been around when I was eleven years old. The series is commonly referred to after its first volume, Night Calls."

This is where you're going with a click:

http://www.gillianpolack.com/womens-history-month-guest-post-by-jennifer-stevenson/

As it turned out, I decided to write for the same blog series, and wrote about Jen's use of magic, sex, and love in her many novels.

"Somewhere in her youth writer Jennifer Stevenson pieced together way too much about betrayal, loss, healing, death, and second chances. Wanting to understand, she soaked up information from family, books, and schools, ending up with advanced degrees in counseling and (I suspect) simultaneously realizing that she knew too much—and too little—about human nature.

"On this journey it looks like she became interested in stories that addressed all the things she valued, and realized that 1) the bass note of her musical universe was the enduring nature of Love, and 2) all forms of human sexuality are real, no-we’re-not-kidding magic."

And here's how you get to this one:

http://www.gillianpolack.com/guest-post-from-katharine-eliska-kimbriel/

There are other wonderful essays written about novelists you may know, and others you have missed. Take a look at the March, 2018 archive and enjoy.

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Tumbleweed

Earl Cooley III went Ahead March 20, 2018.

Sometimes you need to speak about a friendship. I want to tell you about me and Earl Cooley III.

Earl and I knew about each other casually for many years, hailing each other in the halls at ArmadilloCon or at a holiday party. We really got on each other's radar when I started reading his poetry online, and he found a sample of my fantasy when I joined a Clarion write-a-thon to raise money for scholarships. He endeared himself by the simple statement of something along the lines of "Oh, I didn't know about these. This is something special." He was looking at a sample of my third NIGHT CALLS book, which was what I was working on for the sponsored challenge.

Some days you just have to trust that people move into your orbit when the time is right.
( Read more... )
Some of Earl's poetry can be found here--

https://shiva7663.deviantart.com/gallery/

http://www.writerscafe.org/tantivy7663

Current Mood: sad
Current Location: Tumbleweed
Current Music: birdsong

. . .and here's the result. Written by Rick de Yampert. Because of his trimming a comment of mine short, I won't share it widely, because it would take an hour to reassure a relative that I had not fallen off the wagon of family religion. But it has a lot of good stuff in it from people whose work Ursula touched.

Shift. Be fluid. Be connected to earth and sky. The center is always You.

http://wildhunt.org/2018/02/ursula-k-le-guins-earthsea-taught-pagan-path-to-many.html

Sharing Tales of Unease for Friends posts. They are snips I think will end up as small POV posts for the hero in the current novel.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Hill Country
Current Music: rain

. . .you will miss out on information like this post.

Your take-away is this: Don't think selling an option on your book is your ticket to fame and fortune. It might just kill your career--and your soul.

http://kriswrites.com/2017/10/25/business-musings-stealing-intellectual-property/

Current Mood: angry
Current Location: Snowpocalypse 2018

We're up to 17 degrees F/-8.3C, our expected high for the day. The lake effect snow is coming in bands, which is both beautiful and gets old. I may go out and re-fill the favored bird feeder, but since the others still have a lot of seed, they can wait.

Life this week has included coming home from the west, reaching a light, and watching a three car slide-up collision that I missed by five seconds. This was a game play by the universe that is hard to stack up to coincidence. My sister, coming from the north, missed it by about a minute. And a good friend saw the accident. Too weird for words.

Although I am still trapped in the north lands due to Life, Interrupted (see private posts for what I will reveal of that) I can only stay another week or so--then I expect I must drive back south (where it's Too D&^* Cold(tm)) due to this house being overhauled. As in, intermittent power, no fridge, no stove. Other sibling's home can't work for me right now, so. . . Adventure awaits.

The Muse stirs. Maybe she thinks things have calmed down enough to start working on the book again? She gave me a couple of cultural tips on the story, and also a short speech by Quinn that feels hugely important. I just have to figure out where it goes in the puzzle.

Someone has done an article on the Alfreda books for Women's History Month. AFAIK it will appear on an AU blog in March. I learned something about my work from it, which is always nice! Will let you know closer to release if it comes out. I did an 1800 word essay for the series, too. On the subversive message of love, sex, and creativity in the works of Jennifer Stevenson. That, too, will be mentioned when it goes up.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Snowpocalypse 2018

(I don't think I shared this essay over here, either. Yes...still alive. It's been complicated. Maybe I can get a manuscript snip up here this month.

When I can see my way out of this, I will share part of what has been going on.

It occurs to me that I should mention that when I think of adding "romance" to my own novels, what I am really doing is giving characters, especially characters with less power in societies, agency. So that may be why in this case I think of Austen as giving us romance. Austen, of course, was writing out her own life observations. She wasn't aiming for HEA. For more on this, see bookviewcafe.com/blog/2017/08/26/hapax-heyer-austen-and-the-language-attic-ton-and-sprack/ where people have at the romantic discussion with Sherwood Smith occasionally riding herd. )

Where does ROMANCE fit as an element of modern storytelling?"

Writer Stephanie Osborn asked this question, and my immediate thought was “as a subtle puzzle piece.” I know that is not the usual response to the question. Half the fiction books published in this country every year by major New York publishers are romances, in almost every flavor you can imagine. (That is, if by flavor you are imagining one woman and one man who end up in a HEA--Happily Ever After--or, more recently, HFN--Happy For Now--relationship. Every other romantic relationship slides in from the shadows, makes a surprise appearance, or even has a small independent publishing line somewhere else.)

Where does romance spring from? I’m not asking in a technical sense, or a scientific sense. We know that chemistry and biology triggers the first flush of attraction, and we can research to find out where the modern Western concept of romance began. I always think of it as starting with Jane Austen—a woman choosing to reject offered security for the hope of at least liking and respecting her partner. That she ended up with a man whom she also loved, who was solvent enough to support her and their children, was a bonus. For most women, having it all was a fantasy, but a lovely dream. We can go back further, into legend—but most of those famous lovers did not end well.

( Continued... )

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Midwest

Life, Interrupted

We dance four times with the Fates....

Recent Entries

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New Little Holiday Anthology from Book View Cafe.

"I can feel it in the water. I feel it in the Earth. . ."

(no subject)

A pleasant surprise--NIGHT CALLS series review at Book View Cafe

On the subject of Personhood, and when women are allowed to be people.

Homecoming

A new gift from the universe, maybe

A friend is slipping--Lee Billings

Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good?

Timely via James Hetley

Modern Witch Hunts

In the music of the spheres, Love is the chord that holds everything together

Sign on this desk

I saw a haunted VRBO last weekend

Women's History Month: An article done on my work, and my contribution to the series

Let me tell you about Earl Cooley III

Helped out with an article on Ursula K. Le Guin's influence on the pagan community

If you don't read Kris Rusch's blog occasionally. . .

Life, Interrupted includes a Polar Vortex

Elements of Storytelling--Romance

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