Conflict-free, Fair Trade, and 3D Printed: How Consumer Electronics can be made Ethical and Ecofriendly
As a writer, I’m acutely aware that my chosen profession is not exactly eco-friendly. Many trees have died for my journals and publications–although a handful of books are now being printed on recycled plastic, making them both waterproof and a potential solution to overcrowded landfills–and it seems like even when I move away from hard copies poor planet earth can’t win. To say nothing of the conflict minerals that go into phones, computers, and other electronics. So I...
Read More“The Queen’s Arrival” in Liquid Imagination, and a Christmas Gift Idea
My mythic fantasy piece “The Queen’s Arrival” has been reprinted in Liquid Imagination Issue #19. It’s actually been up nearly a week, and I apologize for posting the link so late–though as you can see, things have been busy. I’ve only just got around to making my Christmas card & gift list and am starting to scrape together time, ideas, and money to fulfill it. Speaking of which: If you’re lost on gift ideas for a writer in your life–surely...
Read MoreChicago TARDIS (November 29-December 1)
I’ve just returned from DC after a week away–back to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. Seeing my family again drove home just how much I missed them, but also how much I enjoy living on my own. It’s a balance between different sources of comfort and stress, I suppose, especially after as rough a year as this has been (you didn’t miss anything; I’m not giving details on this blog, at least for a while yet. Suffice to say this was the first time I’ve seen some...
Read MoreIt’s Been a Grand Weekend
Especially for Whovians. Also those still mourning the passing of John Fitzgerald Kennedy–now that’s a morbid cosmic coincidence. And somewhere between joy and tragedy lie the Hobbit fans, with the Battle of Five Armies also falling on November 23rd (warning: may be spoilers through the wikia link). For me, it’s also been the culmination of several weeks of intense labor, interspersed with perhaps more procrastination than strictly speaking necessary. And also with my awesome...
Read MoreReview: “Collegium Sorcerorum: Thaddeus of Beewicke” by Louis Sauvain
Another prize from the LibraryThing giveaways program, this one even came with a courteous letter from the author himself. I’m always one to be impressed by presentation, and the presentation of this book was fine indeed: I was especially impressed by the dozen or so illustrations by Sean Bodley scattered throughout the text. The back matter was also quite impressive: 40 pages of Dramatis Personae (not as excessive as it first appears if these characters continue to play a part in this...
Read MoreReview: Serving Time by Nadine Ducca
For this review, another thank you is in order to the LibraryThing giveaways program, and of course Nadine Ducca herself for offering the first volume of her Timekeepers trilogy. I’m a winner once again! Although I was often confused over what was going on, the original mythological background of Serving Time was strong from the beginning. The author has clearly spent time developing this mythology and shows it by demonstrating her characters’ familiarity with its workings. I...
Read MoreHappy National Novel Writing Month!
For several hundred thousand writers, the great challenge of the year has just launched: for the next 30 days, they will be scrambling to maintain a semi-functional life while also producing 1,667 words per day, to end with a 50,000 word story on December 1st. I wish them luck. While I can’t deny the glories of a creative adrenaline surge, I have never managed to get more than 35,000 words in November, and have several times had to step back and let the challenge go before I had a...
Read MoreReview: Heaven’s Needle by Liane Merciel
You know how I said The White-Luck Warrior became horror a few pages in? The White-Luck Warrior would take one look at one page of Heaven’s Needle and run away crying. Which is why, despite it being marketed as high fantasy, Heaven’s Needle is my review of choice for Hallow’s Eve this year. (That’s a warning, by the way, that the following review will contain disturbing imagery and if you aren’t up for that, especially if you’re currently eating tasty food,...
Read MoreReturn from the 18th Century
It may say something about how much I’ve traveled this year that I have not purchased a single bottle of conditioner, instead relying on the cute little bottles they give you in hotel bathrooms. I’d have the same record for soap but this weekend at Colonial Williamsburg their scented and fun-shaped “soap balls” were too much fun to resist. I got peppermint scented and “Castille,” which is actually not the name of the scent (it’s vaguely floral) but the...
Read MoreReview: The White-Luck Warrior by R. Scott Bakker
The White-Luck Warrior by R. Scott BakkerFifty pages in, I realized I had come to approach this as a horror story rather than epic fantasy, as if I was reading Stephen King or the Lovecraft Unbound anthology. I read horror in a much more defensive mode, trying not to get invested in any character’s survival, and nodding my head whenever a particularly disturbing (I would say, dryly, “quite effective”) scene occurred, making terror an aesthetic observation in hopes of...
Read MoreAbout Therese
Therese Arkenberg's first short story was accepted for publication on January 2, 2008, and her second acceptance came a few hours later. Since then they haven't always been in such a rush, yet her work appears in places like Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Analog, Daily Science Fiction, and the anthology Sword & Sorceress XXIV. Aqua Vitae, her science fiction novella, was released by WolfSinger Publications in December 2011.
She works as a freelance editor and writer in Wisconsin, where she returned after a brief but unforgettable time in Washington, D.C. When she isn't reading, writing, or editing (it's true!) she serves on the board of the Plowshare Center of Waukesha, which works for social, economic, and environmental justice.