My newest story, “The Queen of All Roses,” is part of The Muddy Goose Guide to the Weird Northwest: A Playable Adventure anthology from Demagogue Press.  The front cover has a playable version of the Game of the Goose, and the stories and poems have characters embarking on dark journeys involving real landmarks in Oregon and Washington.  Technically, this book had a special pre-release edition earlier this year at Worldcon, but it’s officially available today. 

So, what did I write about?  I may have created a cryptid… 

“The Queen of All Roses” took inspiration from my late nights commuting home from grad school on the MAX light rail train, plus input from my California nieces and nephew on arriving in Portland’s recently updated airport, and how I grew up visiting the International Rose Test Garden in Portland’s Washington Park. 

In fact, my younger son joined me on a research trek to the rose garden for this story.  We got an appropriately eerie day, with lots of fog. 

I also drew upon a stop our family made during our road trip to the Bay Area last year.  We checked out the Darlingtonia Trail to see a bog of pitcher plants. 

If you want to know how I meshed all that in under 3,500 words, you’ll just have to read it!