As I’m trying to plan some Halloween fun for my kids to compensate for this year’s lack of trick-or-treating, I keep reminiscing about prior Halloweens.  If the Ghost of Halloween Past were to visit me—to remind me of what we may someday get back to during a less “batty” year, surely, not to instill Dickensian remorse—I expect I’d see something of the following:

• Touring the Winchester Mystery House in college, armed with a flashlight, my face painted like a cat thanks to an artistic friend.
• Going with my husband, middle sister, and brother-in-law to watch the Oregon Symphony perform the score to The Nightmare Before Christmas while the film played on a screen over the orchestra.
• The recent years of alternating between taking my kids trick-or-treating and handing out candy, plus seeing all the fun costumes roaming the neighborhood.

Sigh.  I trust the Ghost of Halloween Future has plenty of fun in store. 

Now for some good news, though still related to things dark and monstrous:  I have a new poem up at Sidequest.  “Nightmarens” came about when I was thinking about the bosses from the game NiGHTS: Into Dreams, and my mind filled with words describing them.  I saw their carnival colors and their exaggerated body parts designed to incite fear, since they rule the domain of nightmares.  But they’ve always been my favorite part of the game.  I couldn’t think of them without fondness.  For this poem, I purposely wanted to strain my voice outside of my comfort zone.  I wanted dense prose, a strong style that could stand up to those titular characters.

I’ve been a fan of Tina Connolly for years, so I’m super excited that she’s narrated one of my stories for her podcast, Toasted Cake.  “Exchange (A Coral Study)” is available to listen to now.  This story, which first appeared in Factor Four Magazine, came about when a member of my writing group shared a challenge to incorporate 6 specific words in a story.  I took some memories of visiting the Galápagos Islands and mixed it with my dad’s experience as an international student in college.  I hope this tale helps show how an open mind can create a ripple effect. 

In other news, my latest poem at Sidequest is up, a Spencerian sonnet about an old SEGA Genesis dungeon crawler called Shining in the Darkness.  In the poem it may sound like I’m disparaging the game, but I’m actually very fond of it.  I’ve always loved the storybook graphics, endless pathways forking at right angles, and over-the-top monsters.  It’s just that the game’s title and premise of wandering through a maze set it up so beautifully for symbolism, I couldn’t resist.

My flash story “Fellscorpe and the Wishing Well,” from Heroic Fantasy Quarterly issue 42, has been selected for the Best Indie Speculative Fiction Volume III!  This anthology series highlights some of the best stories of the prior year published by small press publishers or self-published, and I’m so honored to be included.  The anthology should be available later this year.  Stay tuned.

Sidequest has published another of my poems, this one inspired by Lava Reef Zone from one of my all-time favorite video games, Sonic & Knuckles.  This level always stood out to me for the stark difference between Acts 1 and 2, from the colors to the music, the rapid change from fiery to crystal cool. 

This poem was originally going to be about the narrator waiting for the other person to cool down, but I decided I wanted it to be more about shared culpability and recovery, so I changed it.  For research I looked up terms for various cave formations, and once I started reading them the poem practically wrote itself.  Like I mentioned with “The Geologist Speaks,” science can provide so much poetic terminology.