I am working on revisions of my latest novel at the moment, which means I haven't written any new short fiction. Instead, I offer you a excerpt from Variations on a Tango Girl, my work in progress. This story is set in a high school of the arts.I am so nervous during mods that I... Continue Reading →
Mr. Dickens and Other October Reads
I finished 8 books in October:The Radium Girls by Kate Moore (audiobook)Testimony by Scott TurowA Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J MaasThe Reader by Traci CheeThe Heir by Kiera CassMr Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva11/22/63 by Stephen King (audiobook)Crooked Kingdom by Leigh BardugoI received an Advance Reading Copy of Mr. Dickens... Continue Reading →
Your Heart in my Hands
I held your heart once. It was a wild, pulsing thing. Vibrant. Vital. Alive. That was before I broke it.I imagine it now. Shivering, trembling in your chest. Fluttering like a frightened baby bird. I did that. I broke it. I broke you.You were that guy. The one who slouched in the corner of the... Continue Reading →
All the Crooked Saints (and other September reads)
I finished 10 books in September:The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (reread)Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips (audiobook)The One by Kiera CassThe People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Ginder (audiobook)Six of Crows by Leigh BardugoRipper by Isabel Allende (audiobook)The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life by Tara Altebrando (audiobook)A Court of Mist... Continue Reading →
Silvers
No, this is not polished. No, this is not finished. No, I have no idea what happens next. But it is the start of a story. It is built of words that I laced together, one skinny sentence at a time over the course of a week. It is writing. A thing I have not... Continue Reading →
Little Fires Everywhere (and not a word written…)
I finished thirteen books in the month of August:Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (reread, audiobook)The Norton Book of Ghost Stories by Brad LeithauserThe Rule Book by Jennifer Blackwood (audiobook)The Bourne Identity by Robert LudlumAnne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (audiobook, reread)Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen KingA Man Called Ove... Continue Reading →
Emma in the Night and Other July Reads
I finished 10 books in July:Shadow Girl by Gerry Schmitt (ARC For my review, click here.)The Selection by Kiera CassA Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J MaasThe Writer’s Journey by Christopher VoglerHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (audiobook, reread)Emma in the Night (ARC) Hoodoo by Ronald L. SmithThe Poet’s Companion... Continue Reading →
Luminary
The lighter snaps to life as the last of the sun drains from the skyIt is naked, bare, Harshly bright compared to the muted flicker of the candles that line the pathA host of hands reach up, prop the ribs, the flesh, as the fire kindlesAir warmed, the white orb lifts away, a ghost drifting... Continue Reading →
Prophecy (The Lightning Thief and Other June Reads)
Persuasion by Martina BooneRebecca by Daphne du MaurierFrom Where You Dream by Robert Olen ButlerMad Richard by Lesley Krueger (digital ARE) Click here for full review‘Round Midnight by Laura McBride (ARE) Click here for full reviewJust After Sunset by Stephen King (reread)Illusion by Martina BooneFairest by Marissa MeyerZen in the Art of Writing by Ray... Continue Reading →
A Year of Bodies
I didn’t realize salt had a smell until I moved inland. Maybe my smell sensors were always full, clogged, and couldn’t register the salt. Maybe it was just pleasant, a lovely thing that blended into the background. Unlike the air here. Here I am full of the absence of salt. I miss it.I knew that... Continue Reading →
Susan Monroe McGrath 