Posts in Category: announcement
Short story up at Persimmon Tree
Persimmon Tree Winter 2025 issue
My short story, “Mysteries of June and August,” is up at Persimmon Tree. This fine publication is hardto crack, and has people like Gloria Steinem and Maxine Hong Kingston sitting on the board, so I am chuffed.
Read it here: Mysteries of June and August
Hey, I made a long (and now short) list!
Fractured Lit Elsewhere Prize
Edited to add: I also made the short list. This is very exciting. That being said, I will not win.
Another edit: I did NOT win!
My strange little story, “In the Temple of the Ugly Women,” made the long list for the Fractured Lit Elsewhere Prize, judged by Jemimah Wei. I have no idea if the story will be shortlisted (edit: it was). Still, I’m delighted to have it get this far (edit: in all honesty I never expected to win but gosh it would have been GREAT).
I sent in two stories, and until this list was published, I had no idea which of the two they chose. I guess “Gibby’s Tall Tale” didn’t make the cut, which is no surprise because it’s one of the strangest things I’ve ever written.
“Ugly Women” is also one of the strangest things I’ve ever written. I guess strangeness can pay off.
See the longlist here: Elsewhere Prize
See the shortlist here: Elsewhere Prize
I told you I was setting up my home office and here it is. (image courtesy Unsplash)
The Midwestern Table at Herstry
Why I’ll Eat Anything
As part of a call for “Feast” essays, Herstory has published my piece, “The Midwestern Table.” As you read it, I hope you laugh, cringe, and finally understand why I could never be a picky eater.
All the “Feast” theme essays can be found here (I am in good company):
Herstry: The Feast
Paint Chips at Flash Fiction Magazine
The Smallest Story
I have a wee flash piece up this morning, one of a few pieces that are circling out there waiting for publication. I sent this quite a while ago and couldn’t even remember if I liked it. Well, guess what, I do. It’s a tiny story about a large moment and I am as surprised by the kind comments as anything else.
New Poems Out
Gilded Weathervane, Fall 2025
Once again, I am blown away by the caliber of work and art in the latest issue of The Gilded Weathervane, a journal devoted to art that explores and celebrates rural living. My poem “Flyover Country” was in their inaugural issue.
Two issues later, two poems of mine are here; “Northern Darkness” and “After the Freeze.”
You can purchase a copy or subscribe here: The Gilded Weathervane
New story up!
Thin Skin
I’m pleased and proud to have a short story, “Wet Rain,” up at Thin Skin Literary Journal.
You can read it here.
Enjoy!
RealDoll Haiku is live!
So pleased.
That’s right, the RealDoll Haiku are live. Read them here: The Offing
Also, my ego really enjoys being at the top of the banner.
ORCAS ISLAND MYSTERIES: The Chameleon Chronicles Omnibus
All Together Now
My co-author, Shannon Page, has collected all five of the Orcas Island mysteries, AKA THE CHAMELEON CHRONICLES, into one e-book edition. So, it’s an invisible box, but it’s completely a boxed set. Load this Orcas Omnibus on your e-reader, and you can enjoy the adventures of Cam, Jen, and JoJo all summer long.
In her latest newsletter, Shannon explains: At last! The author’s preferred version of all five Orcas Island cozy mystery books, in one omnibus edition! What does “author’s preferred” mean? Well, in this case, it means that after the final book, Orcas Intermission, was published last December, I carefully went through all five volumes of this beloved series, tweaking a few details here and there in the earlier books that had gained clarity as the series progressed, and fixing some typos. And then I bundled all five ebooks together into this giant box set. Whew!
Partnership and friendship
These books have been a labor of fun and friendship. Shannon is a dream collaborator and our writing meshed with surprising ease. Shannon created this fun Cam Tate voice and we both wrote in it freely. I’ve had people ask which parts I wrote, and which parts she wrote, and then hazard guesses that are almost always wrong.
The only hard and fast rule in this series about who-wrote-what is if it involved finding a dead body, that was me. Don’t misunderstand; Shannon is completely capable of writing dead body discovery! She sent me a draft with a long passage about finding and disposing of a dead body that was downright graphic. Stuff was sloshing. But after I read it, I lobbied for cutting it because I thought it didn’t fit, and she agreed. Agreeably.
This went both ways: Shannon cut an entire ending that I wrote. She also killed characters in draft that I later resurrected. We also went to bat for inclusion of scenes we’d written that the other wondered about, and we both had victories there. When I say these books were collaborative, they were. It was fun, challenging, rewarding.
So clearly we need another project.
Further Orcas Island Mysteries Adventures
If you’re wondering, the Orcas adventures penned by Laura Gayle will continue. Here are Shannon’s thoughts on it: The Chameleon Chronicles is all wrapped up, yes. BUT, cozy mysteries set on Orcas Island, starring Cam and Jen and Lisa and James and Kip and so many more of your favorite characters, are not at all finished! As of this writing, I am deep in drafting Orcas Afterlife, set a few years after the end of Intermission–so I’m able to update a lot of details about what Orcas Island is currently like. (And if this involves some dining out in new restaurants so I can write about them, well ::shrug:: research, eh?) The book is already proving to be tons of fun, and full of surprises!
I’ll probably help edit that series, but I’m off on my own authorly tangents…for now. And Shannon and I have other collaborative projects in the works. Well, in our brains. Somewhere. Brewing and coalescing.
Where to purchase the Orcas Island Omnibus edition:
Buy at Book View Cafe: The Chameleon Chronicles (this can be side-loaded to Kindle)
Buy on Amazon: The Chameleon Chronicles
Shannon’s site: Shannon Page
The last chapter of the Chameleon Chronicles – Cam Solves it All.
It’s here, and you’ll love it.
Camille Tate is ready to be seen…but is her world ready to see her?
Camille is working both sides, now, and she’s stunned by the avalanche of secrets she’s uncovering. Old mysteries are unlocked as new puzzles emerge. Is anyone who they seem to be on Orcas Island? One revelation leads to another, and it becomes more and more impossible for Cam to concentrate on her newest assignment: steering her play through the process of casting, rehearsal, and staging. As she digs deeply into the mysteries that have surrounded her since she arrived, Cam learns the truth about her closest friends and most feared enemies. It all comes together on an unforgettable opening night…when Cam finally understands everything, including herself.
Yes, it’s finally here. And was this ever a fun book to write. Cam and her crew answer the last of the questions from deep in the heart of a…theater company? Folks, it was there from the very first book. We just had to do it. And oh my gosh, was it fun to write.
Preorder the e-book here: ORCAS INTERMISSION BY LAURA GAYLE
I don’t want to spoil a dang thing. Just trust me, this book will have you laughing, and maybe even tearing up a bit. Mysteries are revealed, prices are paid, and friendships change forever. I hope all that passive voice has preserved the mystery.
Changes afoot
It is also a little emotional for me. This is where I duck out of Laura Gayle, at least for now. Laura Gayle has exciting future plans, don’t worry, she’s not going anywhere, but she will have to carry on without me. Solo projects are calling my name.
Shannon and I have had so much fun with this project, which we started before I even visited the island. I’ve never written collaboratively before (which I talked about here: The Joy of Collaboration) and I wasn’t sure how much I would like it. I loved it. Shannon has been a perfect partner and I know we will work together again in the future.
It has been awesome to be the official Orcas Island Bestseller. Long may we reign! Thanks our readers, our editors, and to Mark for his wonderful covers. I want to give special thanks to the staff of Darvill’s Bookstore for all their support over the years.
Now, go read how it all comes out!
Parks & Points Anthology: I’m in it!
This one’s a beauty.
My poem, Spire Rock, is included a new print anthology, Wayfinding, edited by Amy Beth and Derek Wright. This is a collection of poetry inspired by America’s public lands; national parks, monuments, wildernesses and wild places.
Praise for Wayfinding
“When visiting national parks, we mostly rely on our visual senses to record the memory. But the poetry in Wayfinding touches other senses, wrapping the reader in bird chirps, campfire smells, and cool earthen textures. In doing so, the poems lure us into the interior journeys that shape our emotional connections to the parks.The poetry, written by mostly published and award-winning poets, walks paths through dank cedar forests and red-walled canyons, below upthrusts of granite and through the soggy wetlands of the mind, reminding us that our park experiences are all different, yet all part of what the wild offers. The words focus our attention on both the inward and outward journey on public lands. They nudge us to experience the parks more fully–to slow down to let all of our senses engage with often-missed wonders.”—Becky Lomax, author of Moon Guides’ Moon USA National Parks: The Complete Guide to All 62 Parks.
I’m proud to be included, though my early years as the daughter of a forester didn’t exactly make me an outdoorsy person as an adult. But I do love the wilderness. I can’t wait to read adventurous poems written by far more adventurous people than myself.
Preordering information is here: WAYFINDING