After complaining about the cold weather for most of May, the heat came
with a vengeance in the third week of the month. Most of the trees are out in
leaf now, even the late-starting oaks, and the modest vegetable garden we opted
for this year is on its way—spring garlic, sweet onions, tomatoes, squash, and
cucumbers among the offerings.
Recent Publications
Two poems,
“Cardinal” and [online grocery order], were published online at quatrain.fish.
I also posted a review of Jack Campbell’s military thriller Ascendant on Goodreads around mid-month. Enjoyable book with characters I could root for in a worthy cause.
What I’m Working On
Still working on speculative fiction pieces,
the odd poem, and book reviews—some speculative, some non-spec; some prose,
some poetry. I am also working my way through the advice and the exercises in James
Scott Bell’s book Plot and Structure. The more I delve into these topics, the more it feels like one step
forward, two back with my writing, though I have faith that it will all work
out in the long run. Oh, and just for fun, since the local library was offering
on-line courses for free (not sure if they do this all the time, or just for
the pandemic) I signed up for a drawing course, since I have some ideas for
cartoons and want to improve my skills. So far, I've learned a lot!
Coming Soon
Though I’ve sent out a few poems during the
past month, I've been mainly focussed on working on in-process speculative
fiction pieces. Hoping to continue that progress in June.
My review of Guy Gavriel Kay’s A Brightness Long Ago will also be appearing in Speculative North in the near future.
