Colleen Anderson's Blog

A good many years ago, I wrote about Fluevog shoes; what worked, what didn’t, and of course, what I liked. (It’s not all about writing here.) Well, I continue to judiciously buy Fluevogs, but I’m not religious about it. I’ve known people with 30 or even 100 pairs of Vogs. My wallet could never handle this, nor the space in which I live. Plus Vogs (yes, there’s a whole terminology for Fluevoggers) come in such a variety of styles and colors that not all appeal to me. It’s extremely rare that I buy Vogs at full price. They are…pricey. Very, so they’re special beasts. But with waiting, I’ve also lost out on ones I wanted.

I also seem to have a bit of a boot fetish. When I count the 12 pairs that I’ve owned, 9 of those are boots from the lace-up-to-the-knee Zachary winter boots, to the ankle-high blue brocade Ohbai‘s. My first Vogs were bought secondhand and were from the early days: thin soles and a bit too big for me. I loved them but passed them on and have regretted it, though they weren’t that comfortable. My second pair of Monday boots, I wore to death. I recently sold the Nerfertiti shoes, which I wore for many years but my feet no longer love them. Elegant with braided leather ankle straps and heels like a clawfoot table. This was one pair of shoes that I had no problems with materials. For comfort, style, and durability they get an 8 out of 10.

That’s three gone, and I still have two pairs of shoes and seven pairs of boots. But over the years of buying footwear, I have found the styles wonderful, the colors intriguing, and the materials frustrating. My oldest pair of shoes, the Wonders Ayers, split along the edges not long after I bought them. I won’t rate these because they were in my previous post.

The Cubist Cupcakes I bought in the stressed gold and burgundy velvet. The thing about velvet, when it’s not true silk or cotton velvet (even when it is) is that if you don’t serge or double stitch the edges, the fabric will unravel, even if it’s sewn to leather. I loved the heel on these and the very pointed toe. My first pair frayed along the seams and the zipper so badly that even though it was past the warranty date, they replaced them. The second pair is better but I wear them judiciously and never in bad weather. But it also means anytime Fluevog creates shoes with textiles, I’m very hesitant to try them again. Even this new pair shows fraying along the seams, a section where the seam parted, and the leather pealing away from the heel at the top, not the bottom, which I’d expect if there was wear from walking. These are showy but not great for long wear, and because of the inferior material (though I love the look), they get 6 out of 10.

Fluevog shoes are made in Portugal, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam and China. It’s sometimes hard to say if you have a bad pair, or they were made more inferior in one country, or if the style itself is flawed. However, after the few pairs I’ve had, I can say some of the materials, or more that the extra pieces like buckles, heel lifts, soles, zippers, and laces, are of inferior quality in general and it’s extremely frustrating.

The Maiers are a shoe that I quite love for the intense color. They fit well and are comfortable. I’ve never had any issues with them and while I don’t wear them often, they’re still bright and fun. They get a 10 out of 10.

The Gladstones are a very popular style that Fluevog has created in numerous colors and materials. A fairly comfortable boot, the heel lifts wore out after about ten wears, so yes their materials are often of low durability. I had the lifts redone at a cobbler’s. Recently I had Fluevog redo them, forgetting about the material and hoping it’s better. I only wore them twice before one lift fell off, but that’s more the cobbler than the shoe design, and they fixed it promptly. I give these a 7 out of 10 for style, comfort, and durability.

My favorite boot might be the Empress. I missed out on the turquoise (my favorite color) and would buy them again in a heartbeat. I wore these for long walks, and the platform kept me out of the rain. These were my winter boots and lasted many years. While I still have them, the leather did eventually split across the toe on one and even having it fixed didn’t last. I can’t bear to get rid of them though. These get a 10 out of 10 for style, comfort, and durability.

Fluevog brought back an old style, the Luana, and I like these a lot as walking boots. But the wrap-around lace was of a very rough piece of leather (rawhide?) and it broke in less than a year. Considering that I probably wore these for only four months, it should have lasted longer. I bought new laces from a cobbler and that’s lasted three times the sad one provided with the boot. I also had issues with the sole wearing out very quickly as well. These get an 8 out of 10.

The Ohbai‘s I mentioned above. They’re fairly recent, and yes they have fabric. It’s not over as many seams so I took a chance. So far, they’re hanging in there. Super narrow; I had to go up a full size but I love these for their Baroque influence, and the buckle is heavy duty, good quality. They get 9 out of 10.

The Vagabond was my replacement boot for the Empress. Something sturdy and comfortable for long walks and will not let the rain through. This is a heavy boot, which I found out when taking them to Portugal last year, but definitely comfortable. But…again with the inferior parts. I only wear them in winter because the leather is too thick for warmer weather. And I often buy my footwear on sale so I’m buying them out of season. I had worn them for only about three months, when I noticed one of the nylon zippers pulling away from the fabric of the zipper, and only on one boot. This isn’t anything I could cause. I took them to Fluevog and again this should not happen for boots that cost hundreds of dollars. I have a pair of cheap ass boots I bought over ten years ago and the zipper has never failed. I showed Fluevog the zipper and asked for a break on the replacement. They couldn’t match the color and wanted me to do both zippers for $120. That’s almost half the cost of what I paid for the boots. I chose to try sewing the nylon teeth down because I was about to go on my trip. Well, the zipper irreparably fell apart while in Porto. I managed to find a cobbler (repairing shoes for 50 years), and while he couldn’t match the color either, I chose a a bright green and for about $20, it was fixed. For the stress and poor materials, this gets a 7 out of 10.

Obviously, because I bought the shoes shown here, I like the style. Most of the point loss is on comfort and the durability, and Fluevogs continue to rate lowest in the last category. The average score works out to around 8 I have just bought a new pair of shoes but they haven’t arrived yet. We’ll see how they hold up. Fluevogs are really some of the most eclectic footwear being created. People become hardcore fans for a reason. I just hope they’ll start to pay more attention the the supplementary materials that go into making boots and shoes.

Today saw the publication of my poem “In Our Nature” at The Future Fire. This poem will be in my SF poetry collection, To the Last Ion, coming this fall from Lycan Valley Press. My collection explores the many sides of science and science fiction. Some poems look at aliens encountering humans, or humans encountering aliens. Some are darkly humorous, some are dark. Some look at what we do to ourselves and each other. In fact, the two sections within the collection: In Our Nature, and Outer Limits.

At Gavagai, my story, “An Iterminable Liminal Space” was published. This was inspired by a really terrible hotel where Stokercon was held last year. There were mattresses in the hallways on a weekend, a weird, creepy parking lot, elevator doors that either snapped closed erratically or wouldn’t close. Goo dripped from the ceilings in spots, there were no restaurants within walking distance and the one in the hotel was not open during the day. The carpet was indeed old and creepily spotted, and dust covered the tops of cabinets. We made the best of it, and it became a topic of conversation because it was definitely a hotel out of time, in all senses of the phrase.

Have fun reading these (for free) and tell me what you think.

Mark Leslie Lefebvre recently interviewed me. We talk about writing, horror, poetry and speculative work in general. Check it out at Stark Reflections.

Mark’s a very talented and knowledgeable fellow. He’s published many stories, and speaks about publishing and how to market your works. Instead of me telling you all that he’s done, check out his site.

Come back tomorrow when I’ll be linking a newly published story that’s about strange, liminal hotels, based off of my experience at last year’s Stokercon in Pittsburgh.

There are so many things happening that I meant to do an update in April, and well, it’s May already. I’m the editor for the HWA Poetry Showcase XIII this year, where HWA members are featured with poems. Submissions just closed and judges Erik Hofstatter, Jamal Hodge, and Kyla Lee Ward and I have been reading away. From the submissions, we will select 50 poems to be published. Artist Jenn Brisson is working on the cover art and by this fall, the book will be released. The image here is a mockup of the cover in progress.

In April I had two fiction pieces published: “The Last Hope” looks at a very different version of dragon in Dirty Magick Magazine. And, what if you were only a worm in the Big Apple and no matter where you escape, you can never be free? “Ensnared” is in Cosmic Horror Monthly.

Polar Starlight #22 published “Cannibal Playlist” and SpecPoVerse Vol. 2 #1, published the haibun “Molt,” and “Blue Blood.” These are free to read so check them out. The magazines look great and are full of great writing. I also have a haiku [lunar odyssey] up at Three-Line Poetry. You’ll have to search by my name to find it.

As well, coming this fall from Lycan Valley Press, who published my first poetry collection, I Dreamed a World, is my newest SF horror poetry collection, To the Last Ion. Stay tuned for the cover reveal that’s coming soon. Also Undertaker Books will publish my weird, eco-horror, mosaic novella, Awaking Pandora, in April 2027. I’m very excited to see these publications coming out. That’s my fifth poetry collection and my third fiction collection.

Oh, and if you’d love bigger images, or even any of the same size, well, this is how WordPress chooses to make them work. So I don’t have much say in it. And while there are great features, it was so much easier to work in the good ole days.

Some months can be slow in the publishing world, and then others, it snowballs. I started the new year with “In the Weaving” published in Humans From Earth. This story is part of an anthology where humans are the horror, the invaders, the nasties. Likewise, in February, “Fresh Picked” came out in If Memory Serves. This poem is about food and memory, and unlike most of my writing, there is nothing speculative about it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GLWW3H6Lhttps://goodprintedthings.com/products/if-memory-serves

March definitely became bumper crop month for dwarf poems (poems of 10 lines or less). This included the haibun “Awakening” in Scifaikuest, horrorku [acid] in Crytpic Frog Quarterly #2, a cinquain “Captive” in Polar Starlight #21, and a scifaiku “finally happy” in Amazing Stories: Best of 2025. And while technically Polar Starlight #22 has a cover date of Apr. it came out on the last day of March with my poem “Cannibal Playlist.”

A few other things to look forward to. In April, “The Last Hope” comes out in Dirty Magick. Also, since this is now April, I’m the editor for the HWA Poetry Showcase XIII, which has just opened to subs for National Poetry Month. Poets may submit one poem and it will be read by jurors Jamal Hodge, Erik Hofstatter, Kyla Lee Ward and me. The top fifty poems by HWA (Horror Writers Association) members will be in the Showcase, a paid venue of the HWA. For more information, check out the HWA’s Facebook page, or the website. It’s always fun and interesting to see what writers create. If you’re submitting, make sure you’ve read the rules. Poems are submitted single spaced, and it’s best to list the number of lines in your document. Also, I’m reminding poets that the book size is 6×9. Overly long lines will have to be broken and this is often important in poetry, since it’s not just an oral tradition but a visual one.

And fellow writer and Tom Johnstone and I can announce as of today that our story “Snow as Soft as Feathers” will be in Flame Tree Press’s Christmas Horror Short Stories. Their books are lush hard covers packed full of stories from contemporary authors as well as myths and legends. We’re very excited about this.

Today is the first day of spring, and I always love the changes to trees and plants and the many colors. But this is now the deathiversary of my brother, Dennis Anderson. I miss him very much and still love him. He was the eldest of four and really, the best big brother. If one of us said we wanted to be an astronaut or a rock star, he never would have laughed, but just suggested ways to make it happen. Truly a supporter, he tried to work to make the world a better place. In a way, that was his downfall.

He was a thinker, a problem solver. Some of his past roles included working at one of Alberta’s first recycling places (long before anyone was thinking of recycling), a broadcaster, an MLA and a minister in the Alberta legislature. Designated a red Tory, because he was always more liberal leaning, he always tried to see both sides of the coin. He wouldn’t necessarily defend criminals or a hated public figure but he would present balancing information and points of view. He was on the board of the Canadian Mental Health Associate, and the Edmonton police commissioner. He was an honorary Thai consul and created the Chimo Project, a pet-assisted therapy program, one of the first of its kind.

He did all this without having ever finished high school, though he did attend the 60s hippie haven called Rochdale College in Ontario. His work in mental health garnered him an honorary degree from the University of Alberta, where I found out for the first time that his love of dogs (Chimo was a dog he owned) started with his first dog Sally, who pulled him back when he was about to jump off a bridge as a pre-teen boy. None of us had an easy life with our parents but Dennis, being the eldest probably faced more anger and abuse than the rest of us. He was probably too sensitive to have been in politics and it chewed him up a lot.

In the years before he died in 2019, I knew something was wrong when he said that maybe people shouldn’t be allowed to vote because they didn’t understand what was going on, and would jump to extreme conclusions (and social media has made this far worse). His statement shocked me because he would have always presented the other side in the past, and tried to discuss and fathom the whys and wherefores.

The darkness was filling his soul, he seemed unhappy; and part of this was caused by years of chronic sleep deprivation. He couldn’t stop think and therefore never selpt. It affected his memory severely and for a thinker, that is a death knell. He’d fainted at one point a couple of years before. It affected his leg and his tastebuds. But the absolutely useless doctor he had somehow didn’t think to test him for a stroke. But Dennis also didn’t trust doctors; not because of their skills but because he’d known enough (including psychologists/psychiatrists) and heard how they talked about their patients. This built a lifelong mistrust so he wouldn’t see them when he should have. He didn’t like when physiotherapists would suggest he do this or that exercise and became petulant. He certainly wasn’t perfect but he was a far better human than he thought he was.

The day he died from complications of sleep apnea, I had just come home and was rescuing a bee. It was still chilly outside and the bee was crawling over a primrose but these flowers have no stamens so there was nothing to feed on. It couldn’t fly. I went upstairs and found a bottle cap, dissolving some jam in water and taking it to the bee. It eventually fed enough to fly away. Only later did I realize that it was about the same time my brother had died.

I miss the deep thoughts Dennis had, his way of cocking an eyebrow when one of us said something, perhaps peculiar or wild or overly opinionated. I miss the way he wouldn’t always outright laugh but give this “hmph.” He liked to play jokes and he enjoyed wine. He loved animals and tried to make things better. This poem was one of many I wrote to express my grief and honor my brother, who gave me my first taste of science fiction. This is a a true story.

First published in Songs of Eretz

It’s March already. How does this happen? I have great intentions of writing more frequently in my blog, and yet, here it is, March, with this being the first entry. I’ve been trying to overcome ennui or procrastination, but really it’s creative procrastination. I get many things done, just not always the ones I should be working on. I also think I’ve wanted to write about so many things that I froze myself. So here goes.

Intensions for this year will come later, but let’s say if I can start to maintain some regularity of writing here, I hope to feature a poet every month and pay them for one new poem. I’m not there yet. In the meantime, I’m looking back on 2025.

It was a fairly good year, with many highlights. Top was having my fourth poetry collection Vellum Leaves and Lettered Skins published Raw Dog Screaming Press. The cover was done by BC artist Rene Nault. Each poem captures its own moment and imagery, yet the poems also come together to tell the tale of Rapunzel. This is not the Disney version. Rapunzel is a fairy tale that was told in many countries, where her name was also Prunella or Parsiletta, always names of edible plants. She was held in a tower by nuns who were trolls, a witch, and other types of characters. Always, because her mother transgressed into the property to eat of the plant for which she is named, she is given in payment. From compulsion comes the tale.

She is sequestered in a tower where her only special ability is hair that continues to grow and grow. She knows little of the world until a Prince (of course, always a symbol of power, virility and authority) hears her singing and tricks her into allowing him into her bower. One thing leads to another, and when the witch finds out that Rapunzel is pregnant, she is banished to a desert to survive alone. The prince returns and is tossed from the window to land in thorns that blind him, until he wanders into the desert. Rapunzel cries healing tears into his eyes, and gives birth to twins. Then they live happily ever after. I guess I was attracted to this tale because there is suffering or hardship before ever after happens. I took the story past the happily ever after and progress through Rapunzel’s life.

A variety of my poems and stories were published, with “Eugenics in the Modern Era” in HWA Poetry Showcase XII, “Moon Rising” published in Absynthe and nominated for this year’s Rhysling Award, “Corn God Revival” first published in Journ-E and reprinted in Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction, Vol. 3, and three poems, “Whirlpool,” “generation ship,” and “Small Reveals” were nominated for the Dwarf Stars Award last year.

I’m proud of my poems and there were a few others that I worked over quite a bit. I was a little disappointed they weren’t nominated for a Rhysling but I find sometimes the poem that an author loves best is not the one that others do. “The King in Yellow” was in Weird Fiction Quarterly’s issue of the same name, and it was a highly experimental form to reflect the madness that the king in yellow distills. In On Spec’s issues I had “The Minotaur’s Tale,” and in its last issue “To My Koi Mistress.” The latter was a parody of Andrew Marvell’s poem “To His Coy Mistress” taken to the heights of space. This poem took years to write, working the rhymed verse, and not slavishly copying from the original. “No One Gets Out Alive” is a social commentary on what we do when aliens arrive, knowing each and everyone’s end date. “The Weavers” is a personal favorite in remimagine the Fates.

Many poems were published last year, more than one a week in total. And since it’s starting to look like there’s a regular Hugo Award for poetry, I should list my eligible poems, no? Now, really, it will be a cold day in Christian hell and a hot day in Norse hell before I ever win a Hugo, let alone get nominated, but I can dream right? Any fantasy or SF poem is eligible and horror falls under fantasy if there is a speculative element (or SF as well). So here’s a list of all my poems from last year that are eligible for nomination.

Breached, Last Girls Club 17: Lost at Sea, Mar. 2025, https://www.lastgirlsclub.com/Moon Rising, Absynthe Spring 2025, Apr. 2025, https://www.absynthe.ca/Morsels, Penumbric 2k25, Jun. 2025, https://www.penumbric.com/currentissue/cover.htmlHunters Haven, Polar Starlight #19, Jun. 2025, https://polarborealis.ca/Faded Flower, Polar Borealis #35, Jul. 2025, https://polarborealis.ca/Whalesong, Nature’s Course, Golden, This Exquisite Topology, Aug. 2025, https://angrygablepress.com/2025/08/07/this-exquisite-topology-releasing-today/The Minotaur’s Tale, OnSpec #131, Mar. 2025, https://onspec.ca/current-issue/Needs of the Many, Newmyths.com #72, Sep. 2025, https://sites.google.com/newmyths.com/newmyths-com-issue-72/issue-72-stories/the-needs-of-the-many?authuser=0 Eugenics in the Modern Era, HWA Poetry Showcase XII, Oct. 2025, https://www.amazon.com/HWA-Poetry-Showcase-Maxwell-Gold-ebook/dp/B0FTY9LNG7Night at the Strip Bar, Starline 48.4, Oct. 2025, https://sfpoetry.org/wp/starline/#currentAlchemical Stage II: Dissolution, Specpoverse Volume 1, Issue 1, May 2025, https://specpoverse.org/I shift, Scifaikuest, May 2025, https://www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/scifaikuest-may-2025 Final Fare, Polar Starlight #20, Aug. 2025, https://polarborealis.ca/2025/08/12/polar-starlight-20-august-issue-now-available-for-free-download/Finally happy, Amazing Stories, Sep. 2025, https://amazingstories.com/2025/09/finally-happy/In the End, Vellum Leaves and Lettered Skins, Raw Dog Screaming Press, July 2025,https://rawdogscreaming.com/book/vellum-leaves-and-lettered-skins/Adrift, Vellum Leaves and Lettered Skins, Raw Dog Screaming Press, July 2025,https://rawdogscreaming.com/book/vellum-leaves-and-lettered-skins/ No One Gets Out Alive, Quest, Nov. 2025, https://read.quest/content/no-one-gets-out-aliveThe King in Yellow, Weird Fiction Quarterly, Aug. 2025, https://weirdfictionquarterly.com/the-king-in-yellow-is-here/Tempestuous, Orange and Bee, Sep. 2025, https://theorangebee.substack.com/p/tempestuous?publication_id=1929603&post_id=165274015&isFreemail=false&r=4z11c&triedRedirect=trueThe Weavers, Newmyths.com #73, Dec. 2025, https://sites.google.com/newmyths.com/newmythscomissue73/issue-73-stories/the-weaversTo His Koi Mistress, OnSpec #134, Dec. 2025, https://onspec.ca/current-issue/All but 4 of the poems in Vellum Leaves and Lettered Skins (though individually some might not be considered speculative

And what the heck, let’s toss in the stories that are elgible too.

Good Bones, A Coup of Owls, Mar. 2025, https://acoupofowls.com/2025/03/15/spring2025/The Wrinkles of Time, Black Hare Patreon, Apr. 2025You’ll be Home for Christmas, Kozy Krampus, Underland Press, Sep. 2025 https://www.underlandpress.com/kozy-krampus/Leto’s Demons, On Spec #133 VOL 35 No 4, Dec. 2025, https://onspec.ca/current-issue/

Should you be a member who wishes to review my work, and cannot find it online, feel free to drop me a comment, including your email in the message (since WordPress is a bit wonky on the forms), and listing which pieces you’d like to read. I’ll do my best to send them to you.

I was interviewed several times last year but I will save this for later. Two other highlights were that my poem “Giants in Liverpool” is being taught in Introduction to SF Studies by Christina Rau at Nassau Community College. And, at the Rainforest Writers Retreat held by Patrick Swenson every year, I presented a mini workshop on speculative poetry.

Write on!

Last week, fellow writer Janine Cross took me on an adventure in Horror Flying. What is it, you ask?

It’s a journey for writers of dark fiction on a 4-seater plane, with one fan shooting a video. We talked a bit about horror and had a lovely time on a beautiful day. When I wasn’t flying (yes, I flew the plane!) I took a few shots in the air.

And now, Janine’s introduction:

Welcome to Horror Flying – Where creators of horror and dark literature take their fans on a “horroflying” adventure!

In our first episode, Colleen Anderson takes one of her fans flying over her home-town of Vancouver.

Colleen is an award-wining author and poet who has been published in 7 countries and is the winner of the Rhysling award. Experience the adventure and learn a little more about Colleen.

On YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm1hWdHT3Qs (most popular)
On V-Cloud (best quality):

Enjoy the ride. Stay tuned for more adventures as I head off to Stokercon in Stamford, Connecticut, on June 11th.

Nancy Kilpatrick passed from cancer on March 31st. Many of us were shocked because we had no idea she was ill. She and I had been meaning to talk but in January she was sick and on antibiotics and at the end of February, she had a sore throat and put off calling. I still can’t quite believe she is gone. She was one of the original goths and a prolific writer of horror, vampire fiction and erotica. She edited anthologies and contributed much to the horror and fantasy genres.

I’d known of Nancy before I submitted. I believe she’d accepted some of my poems for the Worldfantasy.con CD-ROM anthology (yes, discs!) in 2001. I then submitted to one of her anthologies but wasn’t accepted. A friend of mine was rejected as well but Nancy wanted to keep the story for a Vampire anthology she was putting together. I’d seen nothing so I boldly emailed her and asked if I could submit. She allowed it and took the story “An Ember Amongst the Fallen” for Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New Undead, which came out in 2010. That began our friendship. She edited 14 anthologies, some under her erotic writing pseudonym Amarantha Knight. Interestingly, some of those early ones were through Masquerdae Books and I used to copyedit for them way back in the day. (clicking on the pictures will bring up the captions)

In 2013, I was going to Brighton, UK for Worldfantasycon. I’d been going to the UK Fantasycons every time I travelled to Europe. Nancy loved travelling as well and she contacted me about sharing a room. That’s truly when we got to know each other and talked about many things; kindred souls. She loved the macabre and was searching out all imagery of the danse macabre throughout Europe and elsewhere.

I managed to make it into her nEvermore anthology, a Poe theme book of stories, with “Asylum.” We met again in 2016, when she came to Calgary for When Words Collide. She wanted to go to Heritage Park and ride the old steam train. I met her there and we road around the park, enjoying a meal together. We wandered the old west streets, looked at the Mason’s hall and met up at the convention.

Besides Danse Macabre, Nancy loved the goth, including mummies, bones and collecting teeth. In 2017, I went to the Czech Republic and travelled around Prague for a few days before Nancy met up with me. We rented a car and journeyed the country looking for the bone crypts, mummies and jewelled skeletons. We travelled to Brno, Kutna Hora, Klatovy, Karlovy Vary, Putim, Melnik, Cesky Krumlov and into Waldsassan, Germany to see the jewelled skeletons. Nancy had some mobility issues and often used a cane. For some parts of the trip she’d sit and have a coffee while I beetled about. She’d also been to the Czech Republic before so was content to sit for a bit. It was a great trip and we both had a thing about bones. (In honor of her love of bones, I post some of the pictures here.)

In 2020, we were going to share a room for Stokercon in Scarborough, UK but covid came along and ruined that. We both ended up with anxiety over the convention as they didn’t want to refund money for membership or hotel. It took a fight and we lost money. That year unfortunately changed everything.

Nancy became more afraid of covid than many. She rarely went outside in Montreal and was afraid of getting the vaccines. We still talked from time to time. And she was so thoughtful, sending an interactive Christmas card each year, that had games and hidden gems. She was helpful too. One of our last email conversations was about calling but I’d asked her opinion on a small press and their contract. She freely gave her advice. In turn I copyedited one of her Thrones of Blood books.

Writing most of her life, she had numerous books, many on vampires, as well as collections, anthologies, and stories in various magazines and anthologies. She told me once that even though she had an agent she’d pretty much had to make the sale for every one of her books. Where there are thousands of writers, and fiction on vampires, Nancy managed to continue to survive on her fiction. That is an amazing feat.

We talked on and off, and last October I asked if her travelling days were over. She mentioned wanting to hit the UK again but Worldfantasy.con (in Brighton this year) wasn’t one of her favourites and the timing was off. There was never any indication that she had cancer and part of me wonders if it came on fast.

I miss my friend, a witty woman with a curmudgeonly streak. Intelligent, energetic, and a tireless writer. Wherever you’ve gone, Nancy, may you bring light and goth clothes.

To know more about Nancy you can find her website here.

It’s been just over a year since my last post. Yes, this blog has lagged terribly. Life just seems to be speeding up in incredible ways. There is more news than I have time for today, but here are a few highlights of last year.

There was far more I did but I was pleased to find that my poetry collection, Weird Worlds, has made the preliminary ballot for the Stoker Award. Whether it makes the shortlist or not, we’ll see. Either way, it is an honor that people felt this collection was good enough to be recognized.

If you’re curious about where to find the works above, I have included links below. In the meantime, I’m writing fiction and poetry, and continue to freelance edit. I’m also editing for OnSpec magazine in poetry.

Projects this year include finding a home for a weird, apocalyptic, climate fiction mosaic novella (quite the mouthful), finishing a collaborative collection of poems on transformations, finding a home for a collection of SF (mostly) horror poems, finishing a vampire novel, putting together a collection of fiction, and publishing my first novel, whether that’s self-publishing or not, it’s time to let it fly. Plus, of course, I continue to write fiction and poetry.

In convention news, I plan to be at Stokercon in Connecticut, possibly Worldcon in Seattle (depending on the political climate), and World Fantasycon in Brighton.

Hopefully, if I can keep myself focused, you’ll see another post before the year gets gone.

Weird Worlds is available here or on Amazon.

Last Rites, A Coup of OwlsUndesirables, Cosmic Horror Monthly #50In This Desolation, That Witch Whispers, Black Cat BooksThe Fable of the Tardigrade, and, Battle of the Sexless, Bestiary of BloodNever to Be Told (w/Tom Johnstone), Shadowplays, PS PublishingOur Most Precious Water, Moon Falling, Flame Tree PressAtalanta Runs, OnSpec #129Shifting Perspectives, Weird Fiction QuarterlyNight’s Disease, Weird Tales #368

Over the years, WordPress has changed its features for editing. I have no idea why links won’t show in blue. It’s certainly not as easy as it once was.