An e-zine about spaceships, aliens, science, memory, motherhood, magic, and cats.
When I was a kid, I saw Bambi in the theater.
Two girls in the row in front of me had plastic Bambi & Thumper toys arranged on the arms of their seats.
I remember this vividly, more than thirty years later, because they were possibly the most beautiful things I’d ever seen… Continue reading “Bambi and Thumper”
That feeling when you’re trying to write and suddenly… scintillating scotoma time!
What is that, you ask?
Well, it’s related to migraines and looks like an upside down comma built from pulsating, cut-glass, fractal triangles, exactly in the middle of your field of vision. Continue reading “Scintillating Scotomas”
I can’t tell if the viewer is supposed to see Angel getting himself turned back into a vampire rather than being happy with Buffy as noble… but I can’t see it as anything other than weak, insecure, arrogant, & controlling.
He can’t stand being weaker than her & relying on her. Continue reading “When Buffy Visits Angel”
I want to talk about how much I love Teen Beach Movie & Teen Beach 2.
Yes, those are ridiculous titles. Yes, they’re squeaky clean Disney+ movies aimed at tweens.
BUT… Continue reading “The Greatness of Teen Beach Movie & Teen Beach 2”
There’s a meme joke about how unrealistic it is that “Padme chose Anakin” when Obi Wan was right there, but…
Padme didn’t choose Anakin. Continue reading “Padme’s Lack of Choice”
One of the best things about writing a book called “The Otter’s Wings” is knowing that I’m really doing the title justice.
As a kid I was constantly disappointed by titles like “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” NO CATS. NOT ONE. Continue reading “Earning a Title”
As a writer, it’s easy to get lost in the wash of goals and aspirations that always seem just out of reach…
What I find that helps is to think of one of the novels I’ve finished, and remember back to what my very first inspiration for writing it was — a character? an idea? Continue reading “Seeds That Have Already Grown into Novels”
The show named after Buffy cares so much more about Xander’s feelings about her not wanting to date him than about her own feelings at having one of her best friends mess with her head and guilt her and show he thinks of her differently than she’d like.
It makes it hard to identify your own emotions — to even understand your own feelings & self — when so often looking in the mirror of pop culture shows the feelings of everyone around you… and leaves you invisible, a metaphorical vampire who doesn’t cast emotional reflections. Continue reading “The Cipher in the Middle”
The way Data describes friendship in Star Trek: TNG (as recounted by Troi) has always deeply spoken to me:
“As I experience certain sensory input patterns, my mental pathways become accustomed to them. The inputs eventually are anticipated and even missed when absent.” Continue reading “The Right Kind of Unfamiliar”
I’m rewatching Moana, because I think its structure may be useful for the fantasy novel outline I’m trying to refine.
I find working with models for story structure really helpful, especially because I struggle so much with outlining. Continue reading “Borrowing Plot Structure as a Stand-In for Outlining”