As a gardener and nature-lover, I’ve always been drawn to the cross-quarter days. These holidays are important in my Samhain Shifter series (and in the Celtic belief system that series is roughly based on), so I thought you might enjoy hearing more about them. Less well-known than the solstices and equinoxes, the days halfway between…
Of Wolves and Men was written shortly before I was born, and small parts of it are dated. However, the overall theme of the historical human relationship with wolves stands the test of time. My favorite sections involved the intersection of Native American and wolf culture. Both two-legged and four-legged hunters would stalk antelopes in…
Adele Brand’s book is a lovingly written, easy to read, but far from exhaustive window into the red fox’s world. Most the text is about the European foxes the author has had personal experiences with (which she notes are considered by some to be a different species than the North American red fox). Here are…
Twenty-five years ago, when I first showed up at college, I immediately pored over the academic calendar. “Reading week!” I exclaimed, imagining seven solid days of curtailed classes and assignments. We’d all sit around on bean bag chairs, sipping hot chocolate, gorging on pizza, and reading silently. Now and then one of us would share…
Since today is my birthday, I thought you might indulge me sharing an old family story that contains no werewolves or supernatural elements. This essay was written by 17-year-old me as part of an application for a scholarship from the Daughters of the American Revolution. (No, they didn’t give me the scholarship. I can’t imagine…
Those of you who have dived into my Moon-crossed Wolves series may be wondering where the idea of woelfin came from. The short version is — I made it up. Of course, no story exists in a vacuum, and woelfin have real predecessors in the mythological world. Many of you have probably heard about selkies….
Humans that morph into animals abound in stories of fantasy and romance and can even be found in literary fiction, science fiction, and horror. But which shifters appeal to which readers? I have my own theories, but I thought I’d see how they stack up against real-life responses. To that end, I polled three facebook…
I live in a Star Wars household. Can you tell? Perhaps that’s why, when I heard about Disney Plus, I decided to indulge in a Star Wars marathon before the new movie comes out. Never mind that I love to read but almost never make it through a movie or television show. Okay, so, yes,…
A few weeks ago, I was thrilled to notice a talk on shifters being planned at my library. It turns out that local author John B. Kachuba had researched the topic extensively while planning out his new release — Shapeshifters: A History. I took copious notes so I could share his lecture with you! Kachuba…
Ilona Andrews is one of my favorite authors…or, actually, two of them. This husband/wife duo create the perfect blend of action, fantasy, and romance in their Kate Daniels (straight urban fantasy with a side of shifter), On the Edge (urban fantasy/paranormal romance mixture), Hidden Legacy (straight urban fantasy with a witchy cast), and Innkeeper (sci-fi-ish…