Speak Flowers and Fans – a Dictionary of Floriography and Fanology by Teagan Riordain Geneviene Every once in a while, a book arrives that feels less like reading and more like being invited into a conversation with imagination itself. Teagan Riordain Geneviene’s Speak Flowers and Fans: A Dictionary of Floriography and Fanology is just thatContinue reading "Speak Flowers and Fans by Teagan Riordain Geneviene"| Rebecca's Reading Room
Below, I’m listing local events where I plant to speak or share or both. The first one is this Saturday (Sept 27) at the Hendersonville Public Library. But first, an update from this month…| SIDEWALK NATURE
It was 98 degrees with 90% humidity, and my thighs were sweating through a beige knee-length pencil skirt. He had to choose yesterday to kill himself, in the middle of summer, during a pandemic. It felt like a final fuck you. One last gag from a man who’d always had a dark sense of timing. […]| Reckon Review
The woods have a unique quiet. A silence, almost, but for the sounds of the whispering leaves as the wind caresses their surfaces. An occasional birdsong creates melody with the sounds of the breeze. My feet crunching softly on the dirt path are rhythmic, patterned, meditative. The light— chiaroscuro, a fractal sun dancing on leaves […]| Reckon Review
Jeremy B. Jones’ most recent work Cipher: Decoding My Ancestor’s Scandalous Secret Diaries will come out in September 2025 with Blair Publishers. Cipher follows Jeremy’s fourth great-grandfather’s encoded writings while simultaneously grappling with the author’s own role in his family, particularly as a parent. This book offers a raw, honest look at the role of […]| Reckon Review
Maybe her philtrum is intact. The skin between her nose and lip a gentle slope, leading to a rosebud smile. She could have nursed from her mother’s plump breast with a strong suck, no whistling holes in her cat’s mouth. At school, perhaps Dawn held hands with her at recess instead of luring her into […]| Reckon Review
The pharmacist has to get the key, which is missing for the moment. The tech apologizes. It was hanging by the fridge in the back, just yesterday. He’s not sure where it went, but the pharmacist will find it as soon she finishes filling the Lithium prescription. “Just the 300 mg, right? You guys are pausing the 150s?” Yes, 300 mgs. Once in the morning and twice at night. We’re moving down from the larger dose, but if I say, “Yes, we’re going down in the dose permanently, I hope,...| X-R-A-Y
Hello, everyone. My new short creative nonfiction story titled “The Graves of Saint Paul” is now live at Hotel by Masticadores. I’m truly grateful to editor Michelle Navajas for sharing this…| Silent Pariah
A large sign at the entrance of an ancient Egyptian gallery at the museum warns viewers of mummified human remains enclosed in a sarcophagus in the next room and suggests an alternate route to bypass the “triggering” mummy. It reminds me of trigger warnings; how quick they are to label a story before the reader has a chance to peek in. I actually wanted to see a delicate face wrapped tight in ancient linen, to bear witness to a past where someone was loved enough to be held for eternity.| Reckon Review
I sat in the lobby, waiting for my friend. Two colorful beach chairs beside me. One cooler, large enough to hold fourteen cans, sat nearby. My black-and-white swimsuit peeked through my white coverup. “Going to the beach?” she said. My former life flashed before me, the one where I would have said, how’d you guess … Continue reading Sunday Shorts: The Beach Lecturer| K E Garland
Some time ago, while walking up 8th Avenue in the black night hours, I nonchalantly crossed the empty road, heading for home. What seemed like out of nowhere, a car came barreling at me. I froze in the middle of the street. The driver passed so close, the door handle brushed against me. The rear tires locked, causing the car to skid and fan towards the far curb, scratching the paint of a parked Chrysler before careening back across the lanes, swiping another parked car and losing one of i...| The Bookends Review
What shook them loose from those grim days, news from my mother’s uncle domiciled in Australia, a firelight dream, some cinematic malarkey, a maggot, or just bad memories? Emotionally ransacked in hospital waiting rooms and cemeteries, the economy’s renewal slower than my mother’s stoic sighs, she read my great-uncle’s blue aerogrammes, creative non-fiction right to the thin pages’ edges and along the sides like ant trails. An example of English parsimony, or adventure? Did my...| The Bookends Review
Editor’s note: This story reads more like a folk tale than creative nonfiction, even with the beginning sentence stating that it’s a true story. However, one section of Amanda’s cover letter brought everything together in a way that we felt was important. We also didn’t want to interrupt the flow of Amanda’s writing and ask […]| Reckon Review
The week you died, before I knew you were dying, a black blur crossed my path in the cold, still morning. The creature paused to look back at me, a dog with no owner in sight. As I jogged closer, a narrow snout and a lack of collar signaled it might not be domesticated. The animal stayed still, tail down, until I got too close.| Reckon Review
I came across Griff Watkins (1930-1969) for the first time in The Fremantle Press Anthology of WA Poetry, edited by …Continue reading →| Nathan Hobby, a biographer in Perth
By Amy Barnes| Reckon Review
Jessica E. Johnson's newly released memoir hits the shelves to rave reviews.| Acre Books
| Acre Books
April is no joke the cruelest month. They should probably keep mercury in retrograde in April. Break the mirrors! Walk under ladder! Find some black cats and talk them into walking in front of you. There’s no way you could make April more difficult.|
On the first anniversary of Utter, Earth’s publication, I had the pleasure of chatting with writer and interviewer Constance Malloy over at The Burning Hearth. Here’s an excerpt from one of our many conversation threads: “…I think our present preoccupation should be one of defiant endurance. To hold fast. To defy the narratives imposed upon us, and insist on narratives of our own forging, ones where care and kinship and connection with the planet and with each other remain uncompromis...| Ekostories by Isaac Yuen
Photo: Ravi Palwe Minus World 1. Play through World 1-2. Stand at the far left edge of the pipe at the end of the level. From a jump position, break the second to last block on the ceiling. It may …| atlasandalice.com
Photo: K Adams Tall Oaks An exploration of a suburban New Jersey site through the homes and lives of residents from 2002-2021. _______________________________________________________________________ Note: Real names have been changed for privacy. Introduction Tall Oaks is a microcosm of a childhood—my childhood. It began as a street, but became an image in my mind for the […]|
I’m not a youngster anymore. Our family doctor says I need to exercise more, to lower my blood sugar and to lower my weight. So I walk. A lot. I walk the treadmill at the gym every other day. Four times a week, I head up the road to the Echelon Mall to do my five miles there. Yes, I’ve become a mall walker – I never thought I would. The first Sunday this March was windy and cold. I grabbed my favorite jacket, a well-worn, tan hoodie I’ve kept at least ten years longer than I should. I...| The Bookends Review
(I just happened to be both) When my parents divorced, I was seventeen years old. By that time, my alcoholism was in full swing. I came by it honestly. Alcoholism runs through my father’s side of the family like a brush fire. I wasn’t self-aware enough at the time to understand that my thirst for alcohol was a combination of genetics and a desperate desire to feel the way other people looked. Even if someone had told me this back then, I probably wouldn’t have cared. In fact, ther...| The Bookends Review
Suite 815 smells aggressively of hydrangeas, which makes me miss my mother and long instead for the typical sterile smell of hospitals that I am used to. I whisper my name to the woman behind the desk, and she whispers something back about date of birth and take a seat and with you in one minute. I take the photo-sized piece of paper she hands me and don’t hear what I am supposed to do with it, so I use it as a bookmark instead. As I sit, I realize the way I gave my birthday under my breath...| The Bookends Review
I wrote my first book in Kindergarten. It was about an ant: This is How a Robin Drinks: Essays on Urban Nature is my second book, and it is finally real. The advance praise is gobsmackingly wonderful, so I’ve made a page for what Margaret Renkl, Doug Tallamy, David George Haskell, Georgeann Eubanks, Erika Howsare, … Continue reading Book: This is How a Robin Drinks (an invitation, and recap of Launch)| SIDEWALK NATURE
Free writing empowers writers to jot their thoughts without being "good." Get free writing prompts and tips to jumpstart your morning pages.| Writers.com
The door to the high school principal’s office stood open, so I nipped in to get a quick opinion on my son’s desire for a summer job. He was not yet sixteen, and possibilities didn’t seem to extend beyond fast food, which he didn’t want to do. “You have to hate your first job and get fired from it.” the principal opined in his ever-congenial way. Neil Diamond album covers lined a couple of shelves of the small office, Neil’s grave visages suggesting he agreed with this thought. ...| The Bookends Review
"'It is particularly requested that no flowers be sent.' This is the newspaper notice written by the doctor’s only surviving son..." -- Katherine Rawson| Hippocampus Magazine - Creative Nonfiction Published Monthly
After a festival or a hike, my husband will ask, “Did you tell anyone about your book?” or “Did you mention you have a blog?” and I will answer “No.” Honestly, I forget. And I’d rather talk about Mosquito Buckets of Doom or Caterpillar Host Plants or Native Habitats than talk about myself, even when … Continue reading By the way, I wrote a book| Sidewalk Nature
Storytelling is the process of weaving language to create rich, believable experiences. Learn the art of storytelling here.| Writers.com
Welcome, Christy Tending As the Sundog Lit team grows and changes with the fall season, we’re sitting down with each of our newest staff members. We talked to Christy, one of […]| Sundog
