Hello Friends!
I had my first story published in the month of June: Mother Mushroom, as part of the DECODED Anthology. It’s about caring for each other, monstrous bodies, and the desire for a community built on love. Give it a read here. It even got this cool cover art (by Sara Century!).
When the world is hard, I do exactly one thing: I read. So, here are some things I have enjoyed reading in the last month.
Arts of the Possible, by Adrienne Rich. This collection of essays, curated in 2001, discusses Marxism, humanism, and how Rich changed her art in response to her greater understanding of the world. I love the way that Rich brings an artist’s touch to discussing complicated global issues – the last three essays are especially amazing.
Birds. Birding – the art of recognizing, naming and documenting the birds we see every day – is also a kind of reading. It requires me to understand symbols, and it lets me create stories and narratives about the natural world around me. The bird du jour is a killdeer.
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. Right now, I’m living with my 18-year-old sister-in-law, Daisy. Daisy picked up this book, randomly, and began reading it. The back of my neck began prickling. My hands started shaking. A sibling had something, and I wanted it. I begged her to read faster, so I could have it. We consumed it in less than a week, between the two of us, and haven’t stopped talking about it. Nature writing plus three interlocking storylines that explored womaness and the natural world and also how to exist in rural communities. What is there not to love?
A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson. A writing slack I was in recommended this novella as the perfect worldbuilding example. I consumed it in two days, totally delighted the whole time. Of course my slack was correct: A Taste of Honey is a masterclass in beautifully crafted fantasy, with nuanced characters, loving descriptions, and just the perfect amount of queerness.
Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold. My wife and I like listening to the same audiobooks when we’re doing hard things, so when we moved, we decided to listen to an LMB faithful. Falling Free is so much about how scary it is to become an adult, the price of freedom, and the exhilaration of choice.
Trees. Living in a familiar place can be hard, especially if quiet ghosts lurk in corners. My wife wanted to see this house, and this neighborhood, in a different light. So she decided to do a tree map. One thing lead to another, and in our frenzy to find words to describe how we feel in this unprecedented time, our household made up the art of treeing. Just like birding, you recognize, name and document the trees you see throughout the day. How many of them can you ID? And how many of them do you accidentally ID as a “pignut hickory,” despite those not existing in the PNW, until your Mother-in-law lovingly corrects you?
Stay safe,
Elisabeth