Feeling Lost?

Roses in Amber by Catie Murphy

Sometimes books can be a literal escape, not just a figurative one. Our critic Alethea Kontis recommends three fantasy novels that helped her along the way as she escaped an abusive relationship. (NPR) As someone who virtually grew up in the publishing industry — and someone whose mentors include Andre Norton and Jane Yolen — it’s difficult to admit that I read almost…

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On Memories, Anxiety, and PTSD

Today, my horoscope—in a couple of different places—talked about “eureka moments” and the intensity of my internal world. How I might reflect on how my identity has been shaped by the past. How “the communication you received growing up was more vague than explicit, so people believed what they wanted instead of having discussions.” Well, that’s certainly true. I’ve…

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Princess Alethea’s Journal Healing Project

I often talk to middle schoolers about how keeping a journal saved my life.  There were three major Big Bads in my history (how very like a fairy tale, right?). I call them: Lazy, Evil, and Awful. AKA: The Leech, The Sociopath, and The Abuser.  Back when I was dating Evil, I wrote in a journal. Sometimes. Usually when…

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PATCHWORK POETRY Now Available!

In March 2020, the world shut down. That same month, a few thousand Snow Patrol fans from around the globe met Gary Lightbody online to write songs. Patchwork Poetry and Other Gibberish by the Saturday Songwriters contains over 100 poems, prose, and works of art by 39 Songwriters from over a dozen countries. In addition, each of the contributors…

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Princess Adventures: DragonCon 2018

A new episode in The Princess Adventures has been posted — READ IT HERE. “Dragon Con 2018. Sunday. The day I didn’t win yet another award…” So much happened on the Sunday of Dragon Con that I had to break it into two parts. This is Part One: The Dragon Awards. By the time I’ve finished chronicling this year’s…

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The Thing About Adventures

So here’s the thing about adventures: They are super fun to have. They can also be incredibly difficult to keep up with when you want to write about them. In preparation for being firmly ensconced in the Northeastern US for the next few weeks, I created a pretty intense “post-DragonCon” to-do list. Yes, I would love to jump right…

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Part of Your World–Essays, Podcasts, and Awards

The finalists for the 2018 Hugo Awards were recently announced. No surprise, I wasn’t among them. And yet…I kind of was. This year, Neil Clarke–of Clarkesworld Magazine–was shortlisted for Best Editor, Short Form, and Escape Pod finaled under Best Semiprozine. How do I factor into these two things, do you ask? The answer is here, in my latest essay…

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What’s Your Damage, Heather?

It’s been a while since I’ve sat down with my friend Nick Kaufmann, so it was lovely to be invited onto his blog to chat about what I felt was “The Scariest Part” of Besphinxed. I know what you’re thinking: “But Besphinxed is a paranormal rom-com, not a horror! There’s some conflict and tension, sure…but the book isn’t SCARY.”…

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