Like most straight guys my age—and, I’d be willing to wager, a great many people of all genders and sexualities—I first fell in love with Carrie Fisher in her role as Leia Organa. And it wasn’t because she was a princess. It was because she was a fierce, determined fighter, an independent woman with theContinue reading ““We have no time for sorrows””
Category Archives: writing
Ruining a box to extract a treasure
Okay, that title is dumb. I didn’t ruin the box at all. (My wife even complimented the pretty shipping label!) But I did cut the box open, and there’s a story there. When my first book, Box Cutters — also a chapbook of short fiction — came out and I received my first copies in theContinue reading “Ruining a box to extract a treasure”
Bodhisattvas amid the ruin, and the treasure you can give
At my old Buddhist community in Portland, tonight would have been Bodhisattva Night, a social gathering (mostly for the kids, but definitely for the young at heart as well) in which the sangha comes together and talks about what it means, this time of year in the West especially, to give of oneself, wholly andContinue reading “Bodhisattvas amid the ruin, and the treasure you can give”
Here Is My Ruin / Here Is My Treasure
The title of my new chapbook, from Red Bird Chapbooks, is Where There Is Ruin. It’s a title I borrowed from a line by Sufi poet Mevlana*: “Where there is ruin, there is hope of treasure.” When I told my mother the title, she thought it sounded awfully bleak, and indeed the stories in this collectionContinue reading “Here Is My Ruin / Here Is My Treasure”
Cover reveal for Where There Is Ruin!
It’s almost here! My new chapbook, Where There Is Ruin, will be out from Red Bird Chapbooks later this week! And today I’m revealing the cover! The cover image is actually a detail from the painting Peace — Burial at Sea, by J. M. W. Turner (1842) (yes, that Mr. Turner). It’s a perfect example of the MevlanaContinue reading “Cover reveal for Where There Is Ruin!”
Holiday shopping, literature, and a thousand lights in the coming night
Usually, around this time of year, I tell you all the books I’ve been reading, or all the books I’ve been buying, or all the books in the past year or so by friends of mine, and I suggest you make your holiday shopping list from it. It’s a way to support literature and my literaryContinue reading “Holiday shopping, literature, and a thousand lights in the coming night”
On NaNoWriMo and writing the end
The first novel I ever finished was my undergraduate thesis. We English majors were supposed to write a 30-page scholarly essay, like a shorter version of a masters thesis, but I talked my mentors into letting me write a 300-page comedy novel instead, mostly because I figured the only way I’d ever finish a book wouldContinue reading “On NaNoWriMo and writing the end”
Some observations as I enter my final week of NaNoWriMo 2016
When I began the first version of this novel a few years ago, I thought it was about one man, a character I named Sergeant Tom Cleaver. My mother-in-law had sent me a book of obscure Texas histories and real-life wild characters, and I read about one crazed man so violent and so charismatic thatContinue reading “Some observations as I enter my final week of NaNoWriMo 2016”
Creative Colloquy and the Tacoma writing community
Yesterday morning, I shared the news that I had a new story, “An Understanding,” at Tacoma’s literary site, Creative Colloquy. Last night, I was one of the four featured readers at Creative Colloquy’s monthly reading series. I read first, followed by Dianne Bunnell, Alec Clayton, and Kristine M. Smith. Because I wanted folks to bring a little web traffic to Creative ColloquyContinue reading “Creative Colloquy and the Tacoma writing community”
New publication
Wow, it’s been a while since I last used “New publication” as the title of a post! But I am thrilled to tell you all that I have a new short story out today, this one in my local Tacoma literary publication Creative Colloquy. It’s called “An Understanding,” and you can find it here. One ofContinue reading “New publication”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 