The Pickwick Papers: Birth of a Genius

Hullo, lovelies. It's time for me to do something I've never done on this blog before: talk about Charles Dickens. Which, considering my pretentions as a card-carrying lit nerd and closet Anglophile, is a glaring omission to be remedied without delay. I recently completed my umpteenth re-read of my favorite Dickens novel, The Pickwick Papers....

The “Boxcar Children” Deep Dive No One Asked For

Hello, fellow kids! It's "We Love Sibling Stories Week" over at Hamlette's Soliloquy, so naturally, I am here to provide the Boxcar Children deep dive nobody asked for. That's just the kind of dedicated researcher I am, old sport.  Don't forget to join Hamlette's party this week to check out all the fun sibling-themed posts from blogs...

The Smashing & Dashing 2023 Character Awards

Happy almost-New-Year, bookworms!  Here I am, squeaking right under the wire on the very last day of 2023 for that most ancient and venerable of annual traditions, the Smashing & Dashing Character Awards! Originally founded by C.G. Drews @Paper Fury, this tag is something I've decided to keep going because it's such a fun way to...

On Gender Bias in Storytelling

What ho, Jeeves! It's been a hot minute since I posted anything here. I blame this sad reality on my job (which I adore) and my edits for my upcoming fantasy novel Water Horse (which I've thoroughly enjoyed! Cover reveal + official synopsis coming NEXT WEEK, so stay tuned!) As busy as adulting and career-having...

The Problem With Lady Russell

"The problem with Lady Russell." Depending on the literary circles you run in, this is either a wildly controversial title or an utterly obscure one. If you know who Lady Russell is, you've got an opinion on her. If you don't know who Lady Russell is... the rest of this post should be a very...

Announcing a new fairytale anthology…

Good day, lords and ladies! I'm so excited to finally announce that I have a story featured in the upcoming SnowRidge Press anthology, Twisted Grimms! As you've probably guessed from the name, Twisted Grimms takes traditional fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm and turns them on their heads. My story, "Reconstructed," is a science fiction...

Ten Things That Make Me Want To Read A Book

Greetings, bookworms! It's summer vacation, and what do we readers do on summer vacation? Why... read, of course! When I saw this tag on Rachel's blog, "ten things that make me instantly want to read a book," I knew it was perfect for a fun summer post. The tag originally comes from That Artsy Reader...

Night of Wonders: Review!

Hello, everyone! I'm here today to review Charity Bishop's new fantasy release, Night of Wonders! Night of Wonders is a YA historical fantasy novel set in India with an all-Indian cast. The book comes out this Friday, May 12th, and you can preorder it on Amazon for $1.99. Eighteen-year-old Anik works in India’s magical Library,...

Calling all fantasy lovers…

Hello there, bookworms! Do you like magic? Do you like romance? Do you like free stuff? If you do, you'll want to pay attention, because I'm here to announce an exciting opportunity to read Charity Bishop's latest novel, Night of Wonders, for free! Night of Wonders is a clean YA fantasy adventure set in India...

Death be not proud (or something like that)

Geez, with that kind of opening, I feel like I should be wearing black and hefting a skull in my hand... This is a post about fictional death, not about death in real life. But in the interests of full disclosure, I think I need my audience to know that I recently experienced the death...