Song of the Week

Burning Sister, “Get Your Head Right”

Good morning! Fun fact: Burning Sister features my cousins-in-law on drums and bass/synth/vox. I finally got around to listening to them. Please enjoy!

What the Hex: Witch of the Woods was yesterday! What the Hex is always a delightful time. The performances were great, the vibes were excellent, and the crowd was very friendly. I’m only sorry that I ran out of copies of The Book of the New Moon Door! I paid for expedited printing, but they won’t get here until Tuesday. I have a second, non-expedited order that is still at the printers, and I’m hoping it’ll be here by the end of the week.

I’ll be at Studio Moonfall (5031 7th Avenue, Kenosha, WI) on Friday the 24th from 4-7 in the evening for a Meet the Author event! Come hang out in this adorable indie bookshop with me. I’m bringing double-chocolate brownies, if that influences your decision.

On Saturday the 25th, I’ll be at Graveyard Gallery’s AniMAYhem from noon until 5. This one is outdoors at Faklandia Brewing, 3807 S Packard Ave, St. Francis, WI. I’ll have more on both these events on Thursday, so be sure to stop by again later this week.

I’ll have a new chapter of Journey to the Water up on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter will be up here on Wednesday.

Petitions for this week, because the work is never done:

Via Jewish Voice for Peace: NO to the Israel Security Assistance Support Act

Via Native Organizers Alliance: Listen to students and human rights experts

Via the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights: End the Nakba, End the Genocide

Via RootsAction: Divest from the War Industry Now

As always, I appreciate you. Have an excellent week.

Event: What the Hex Witches’ Market

The Witch of the Woods edition of What the Hex Witches’ Market is this Sunday at Dresden Castle, 3775 East Underwood Avenue, Cudahy, WI. Doors will be open from noon until 5, and admission is only $3 (kids 12 and under get in free). I’ll be there, as will Brooke of the Figuratively Speaking Tarot and a plethora of other magic-workers and makers. There will also be workshops (creating your own witch staff, flower crown, and crystal bracelet) and drag performances. What the Hex is a wonderful time, and the venue is gorgeous. I hope to see you there!

Journey to the Water Chapter LVIII: King Wulfric’s Frontier

Journey to the Water cover image: three evergreen trees stand on a hillside, shrouded in bluish fog. Subtitle reads: the sequel to Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea.

Table of Contents

They came before dawn, the men from the ring-fort; their lights were like fireflies in the distance, darting and bobbing, harmless as insects. I was fortunate enough to have taken a watch upon the palisade, and I shouted an alarm as soon as the first distant spear point reflected its bearer’s torch, gleaming sharp and wicked. Fog lay on the ground like a heavy blanket, turning the trees into soft shadows and hiding the undergrowth. The path through the forest was a treacherous one, and more than one torch fell into the mist and went out.

Ansgard led them from the back of a black horse—Bran, wearing a different saddle and flicking his ears in agitation, coming out of the trees like a specter. The rest of the men were on foot. 

My hand tightened around my harpoon. How dare this obsequious coward presume to ride my horse. Ansgard had never seen the steppe. He had never fought alongside the daughter of the stargazer to earn her respect, nor had he walked with Bran over the endless miles that had led us here. He had no right to lay a hand upon my horse, much less saddle him up to ride against me. 

Continue reading “Journey to the Water Chapter LVIII: King Wulfric’s Frontier” →

New Patreon Post/ Journey to the Water Chapter LIX

“If you were hoping for another chance at the knife, my friend,” Cullen said at last, “I’m afraid your luck has run out.”

Chapter LIX: The Edge of the Forest

With the forest stronghold destroyed, Eske makes a choice. You can read this chapter right now on Patreon.

Song of the Week

AURORA, “The Seed”

Good morning!

Brooke and I had a great time at the Spring Sheboygan Spirit Fair! This Sunday, we’ll be heading out again to What the Hex: Witch of the Woods at Dresden Castle in Cudahy. I’m very excited for this event’s theme, because there are very few social occasions when I can wear my giant gardening/wizard hat. That link will have everything you need, but I’ll make another post later this week with addresses, admission, workshops, etc.

I’ll have a new chapter of Journey to the Water on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter will be up here on Wednesday. Our current arc will be a few more chapters, and then it’s on toward the end!

I’ve got a few petitions here that I’ve signed recently, and you might like to as well:

Via Demand Progress: No national guard on college campuses

Via Win Without War: Secure a ceasefire NOW

Via Justice Democrats: Broker a ceasefire in Gaza NOW

Via ADC: Immediate, permanent, and unconditional ceasefire

Thanks for stopping by. Have an excellent week.

Event: Spring Spirit Fair in Sheboygan, WI

This Saturday (tomorrow!) is the first of many events I’ll be attending in May! The Spring Sheboygan Spirit Fair will take place at Lakeshore Lanes, 2519 S. Business Dr, Sheboygan, WI. The market runs from 10 in the morning until 5 in the evening, but doors open at 9 so you can book a reading appointment, if that’s your jam. Admission is one non-perishable food item or cash donation to the Sheboygan County Food Bank.

This will be my first time at this market (and possibly my first time in Sheboygan since I was in high school?). I’ll be there with Brooke of the Figuratively Speaking Tarot, as per usual. Hope to see you there!

Video: Bookley checks out The Book of the New Moon Door

Here’s the video for The Book of the New Moon Door! If you buy a copy from this Bookshop.org link, you can support me AND Studio Moonfall at the same time. You can also visit the shop at 5031 7th Avenue, Kenosha, WI. I’ll also be hosting an Author Night there on May 24th! It goes from 4-7 and I’ll be baking something for it. Possibly pie. Or brownies.

Journey to the Water Interlude Five: A Place Between

Journey to the Water cover image: three evergreen trees stand on a hillside, shrouded in bluish fog. Subtitle reads: the sequel to Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea.

Table of Contents

“You’ve been busy,” the moon-faced owl said. 

It hovered on silent wings above Khalim’s head, just out of the reach of his arms, the same wind that stirred the golden grass to either side keeping it aloft. Its shadow fell onto the winding path. 

“Not really,” Khalim said. “I was in a forest for a while, and then a great beast tried to eat me. Then I was here.”

The owl gave one shake of its shadowy wings. It might have been laughing at him, low and raspy. “That’s all?”

“I don’t know where I am,” Khalim said, mostly to himself. “I’ve been walking for a long time, and I’m not sure where I’m going. But if something else tries to eat me, I can go somewhere else. It’s easy.”

“It’s not easy for everyone,” said the owl. 

Khalim lifted his head, squinting against the low, golden sun. The owl’s face was in shadow, the hollows around its eyes like the shadowed places on the moon—at least, the moon in his memory. He hadn’t seen a moon since before the white city. “It’s easy enough for you. Or did you fly all the way here?”

“What do you think I am, child?” the owl asked.

“Not an owl,” said Khalim. “Just like I’m not a child.”

Continue reading “Journey to the Water Interlude Five: A Place Between” →

New Patreon Post/ Journey to the Water Chapter LVIII

They came before dawn, the men from the ring-fort; their lights were like fireflies in the distance, darting and bobbing, harmless as insects.

Chapter LVIII: King Wulfric’s Frontier

Eske’s temporary peace is shattered as soldiers invade the forest. You can read this chapter right now on Patreon.

Song of the Week

Delerium, “Fallen Icons”

Good morning!

So, first things first: I have completely forgotten thus far to inform you that my short story, “The Howler,” was published in Strange Days Zine, Volume XIV! You can get a copy here. Also in this issue are accounts of encounters with cryptids, a ghost ship, and a UFO, the search for Amelia Earhart’s plane, a deep dive into the study of astral projection, and more wonders and weirdnesses present, past, and imaginative. (If my parents are reading this, hi, and I have a copy for you.)

Next: the Spring Spirit Fair is this Saturday (May 11) at Lakeshore Lanes in Sheboygan, WI. Doors open at 10 (you can come in at 9 to book an appointment with one of the readers), and admission is one non-perishable food item or cash donation to the Sheboygan County Food Bank. Brooke (of the Figuratively Speaking Tarot) and I will be there!

I’ll have a new chapter of Journey to the Water up on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter will be up Wednesday. The version that you’re reading now is complete! Editing will start next month. I’ll have a better idea of a publishing timeline then. In the meantime, I’m working on, in no particular order, a guidebook for the Figuratively Speaking Tarot, an outline for The Tarot of the Gates, the script for The Well Below the Valley, and maybe a new project or two?

The world goes on, and we do what we can to bend the arc of history:

Via ADC: Protect Palestinians and Pro-Palestinian voices

Via Win Without War: No National Guard on college campuses

Via Amnesty International: Palestinian journalists forcibly disappeared

Via Our Revolution: Ceasefire now

Via the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights: Demand University Administrators divest now and stop repressing student protests

As always, I appreciate you. Thanks for stopping by.