I have always loved any fiction or art that opens doors -- or windows or cracks in the air -- to possibility, that lets wonder into the room.
The first things I wrote, at nine years old, were fantastic literature, and that's where my heart has always been -- whether you call it science fiction, fantasy, horror, dark fantasy, magic realism, or fabulism. My writing is about two things: exploring and expanding limits and notions of the possible, and feeding the body and spirit through language and story.
Having lived and gone to school in Philadelphia, parts of Florida, California, Maine, and Austin, Texas, I make my home these days in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Well-groomed cats, family, and good friends grace my life with their company. I've been employed as a house painter, a blueberry raker, an art house film projectionist, a glass artist's assistant, an English tutor, teaching assistant, and an editor, among other things. I dropped out of high school and now have a master's degree. I was a Michener Fellow in grad school, graduated from the Clarion West workshop, and have a large collection of Hong Kong movies. A narrative junkie from a young age, I have always found inspiration and solace in books, movies, and television. Also in animal life, nature, good food with friends, artful cocktails, and rain.
Some of these facts are only tangentially related.
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photo by Jessica Reisman