The Laboratory of Cranky Optimism:
News, research rabbit holes, magpie-mind morsels, adventures
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Shiroki Sand Dunes Story Inspiration
My short story, “Shiroki Sand Dunes” is a modern-day magical realism story inspired by an ukiyo-e print made in the Edo period. This woodblock print, New Year’s Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Ōji, was created by one of the masters of Ukiyo-e, Hiroshige Utagawa, around 1857. The Met Museum website has a great write-up…
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Looking for Some October Inspiration? Check Out These Hashtags and Challenges
A curated list of creative challenges and hashtags for creators and fans of Halloween and the spooky season of October.
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Spectoberquest23 Halloween Social Media Challenge
About Spectoberquest23 This series of prompts is designed for readers and writers to get to know each other. Share your ideas, your favorites or your work in progress. But this challenge isn’t only for readers and writers. Any creative or fan of the spooky season can join in! It was hard to come up with…
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Mushroom Musings and Character Inspiration.
It’s my first post! I write speculative fiction which includes a wide variety of genre. I tend towards a mashup of science fiction romance, urban fantasy and PNR. I’m intersted in the intersection of the natural world, the hidden world and human perception. I do have stories about mushrooms. So lets start with some mushrooms…
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Testing with Ikamura the Emotional Support Squid
I’m really excited about this stage of my writing journey, the stories I’m writing and the subjects I’m researching. Might as well start off with a post with one of my writing crew—Ikamura the Emotional Support Squid. Ikamura emerged from some old t-shirts and needle felted suckers. It took about eight seasons of Stargate SG-1…