Description from the Author: “But the world changes. In all the women’s villages of the Empire, this week or next, a soldier like myself will arrive to ask to live in the village, to take up a trade.” Casyn paused, for a breath, a heartbeat. “And to teach you and your daughters to fight.” With … Continue reading Book Review: Empire’s Daughter
Tag: Pain
As part of a team of Beta readers, I was reading through Ryan Lanz's most recent work, in which he discusses where story ideas come from, and it got me thinking about the inspirations for my story ideas. Most of them, like my short story "But Kisses Never Hurt Me," are towers of "What if's," … Continue reading Music: Inspiration to Write
I've had this fragmentary story idea running around my head for some time so I thought I'd write it and share it with all of you. He sat across the campfire and watched as its coarse, uneven light touched her. It swept along that soft cheek, that proud chin he knew so well, even as … Continue reading This Time
As readers, many of us seem appalled when our favorite characters suffer at the hands of their authors; when they get killed off, harmed, or traumatized, we close the book with a frown and think, “Why can’t the authors just leave them alone?” Or, perhaps, we chuck the volume across the room, emotionally, and write … Continue reading Writing Violence: A Confession
Death strikes On butterfly wings. A brush so quick That it's hard to tell it happened, Leaving us to hope for recovery. Death waits In shadowy silence Stretching minutes into ages Until any resolution becomes welcome And fear is lost in agony. Death lingers In forsaken ground Written in the rocks. And we … Continue reading Our Sorrow
Fifty Shades of Grey opens this weekend, and while I personally haven’t read the book, and have no intention of watching the movie, I can understand why the story has found such an audience. Past the shock and curiosity, there is a cultural hunger for a love we can feel. And if someone loves us … Continue reading A Love We Can Feel
It’s where love meets desire on the corner of breakup and divorce. An evening out with the wrong person, and all we do is call it cheating, as though someone broke a handful of rules. Like going sixty in a forty zone. Or peeking at cards. The start of torture, unlocking Pandora’s box of doubts. … Continue reading We Call It Cheating
Crush a soul and all you have Are tears And cries too deep for crying Emptiness expanded Choking pain Crush a dream and all you have Are hopes and wishes And the conviction that conditions Can be changed But crush a life and all you have Worth having Are the dreams and the … Continue reading Elemental
He places the solitary In families. But what if the solitary refuse? Children born into danger In lands where tyranny and death Reign. And we ask why this happens When God knows Trouble will come? When hurt, and harm, and death Are the only legacy their homes can give them. What if it was … Continue reading Why
The other day, I took some frozen strawberries out of my freezer—lush, red heart-shaped orbs crystallized in ice for their protection—and I washed them in warm water to help them thaw. After I placed them in a bowl, they started changing any lingering water on their surfaces into ice. They were so accustomed to their … Continue reading Frozen to the Core
