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Author Archives: Val
Flash Fiction: Kijji People by Cathy MacKenzie
Welcome to the Spot Writers. This month’s prompt: “The Sound of Silence. Write about staying quiet when you feel like shouting.” This month’s story (real instances with identifying items changed to protect the guilty!) comes from Cathy MacKenzie. Check out … Continue reading
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Flash Fiction: The Two Little Pigs and the Prepper
For an online class I taught, about working with archetypes (Campbell and Jung, for example), one of the assignments was to take traditional fairy tale and add a modernized character–or a character from a current work-in-progress. Though I’m not writing … Continue reading
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Book Review: Doctor Who Time Lord Fairy Tales by Justin Richards
Illustrated by David Wardle, this collection of fifteen fairy tales puts a “Doctor Who” twist on traditional fairy tales. As a fan of the show Doctor Who, I enjoyed the twist. The fifteen tales are divided over 261 pages, which … Continue reading
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Fantastic Friday: Tess of the… strawberries?
In 9th grade, I had an Earth Science teacher who told us that “books change lives,” and although I believed him, I didn’t understand what he meant until I was older. Without my realizing it, books have been changing my … Continue reading
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Writer Wednesdays: Like the Leafy Seadragon
The first time I saw a leafy seadragon, I was fascinated. It’s a fish in the same family as a seahorse, and it’s covered in leaf-like growths that help camouflage it in the waters near Australia, where it lives. For … Continue reading
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Book Review: Shadows of the Dark Crystal by J. M. Lee
As the film The Dark Crystal was formative in my childhood—I watched the film several dozen times per summer as a kid—I was excited to see that someone had written a sequel about it. I’m not an expert in the … Continue reading
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Fantastic Friday: Expand the Universe
Books, Books, Books! I blogged earlier this month about summer reading. It’s always been a favorite activity for me since I can remember. Today, my county library was having a huge book sale set up in one of the middle … Continue reading
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Book Review: Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
I’d meant to read this book for a while now. After enjoying Clan of the Cavebear, I found it while researching similar stories. The story follows thirteen-year-old Julie, aka Miyax, as she escapes the arranged marriage of her Eskimo village. … Continue reading
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Fantastic Friday: Frosting
This week marked my kid’s last day in the “bees” room at pre-school and a very long two-day week wrapping up the school year (the shortest weeks are always the ones that seem the longest). As I struggled through early-morning … Continue reading
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Flash poetry: Ombrophobous by Dorothy Colinco
Welcome to the Spot Writers, bringing you your weekly dose of flash fiction. The prompt for this month: Check out these 10 fancy nature words. Choose one of the words, and make it either the title or theme of your … Continue reading
Posted in Dorothy Colinco, flash fiction, poetry
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