How has the year flown by already? I feel like I blinked and everything passed in a blur of stone walls, patios, plants, and political atrocities. If you’ve been with me a while, you know that this turn of the year is one of my more personally sacred times. As an avid gardener and someone who works outside for a living nearly year round, I’m attuned to the changing seasons and cycle of nature in a deep way—not just to look forward to brighter days or summer warmth, but also to the needed long darkness and hard freezes. Maybe it’s the New England masochist in me, but, like tulip bulbs, I need a few months tucked in a hole in the ground. Or, into several layers under my grease-stained, quilted coveralls, as the case may be.
The longest night of the year comes in just over a week, and this year that also brings the tail end of the Cold Moon. We’re decorating a tree and I’m lighting a fire, the dogs are wearing their coats—Rory grows his, Millie with her thin fur is a slave to fashion. My in-laws arrive the week of Christmas, and we’re hoping to drive the three miles of Bright Lights in western Massachusetts and perhaps stroll through the brief tropic heat of the butterfly gardens. For me, the solstice and New Year are the biggest celebrations, but whatever light you celebrate this time of year, I hope you’re warm and cozy and filled with peace.
I’ve been hard at work behind the scenes on a new short, set in the folkloric fantasy world of THE PASSING OF EIR LAHREN (more on that project in the new year!) Perhaps it’s my history of being a bullied kid, but there’s something about vengeance arcs that just hits different. Particularly the slow burn of something like The Count of Monte Cristo. The revenge in “The Welp of Nachtmerrie” is more hot blooded sharp teeth than cold blooded calculation and follows the way rage transforms someone after trauma.
Our heat and hot water were finally restored, after nearly three weeks without. We’re luckier than many in this big world, and that first hot shower after a house at 52 and working outside was a powerful reminder of that. And this is your reminder to share what you can with your local community food banks and shelters—after thorough vetting since many organizations (like the Salvation Army and their insidious red buckets) practice queer and racial discrimination as well as wage theft. Here are some places I’ve supported. If you have orgs you’ve backed, please share them with me so I can add them to the list!
BOOKSHELF
December’s musing throwback is MAGICAL: Disability in Fantasy, inspired by magic systems, easy fixes, and the cost of power.
MAGICAL: Disability in Fantasy
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December 2, 2025
Whether it’s the misuse, the lack, or the excess of it, magic usually holds sway over our fantasy worlds. If you’re more a sci-fi person, you know that technology takes the place of magic here. With this, however, comes a problematic road: everything is an easy fix.
On this month of winter, I bring to you several sales and freebies, biggest of all being the End of the Year 64 book Fantasy Mega Book Bundle on Itch.io! I’ve been keeping cozy with reading next year’s Old Farmers Almanac, some beta reading for the esteemed Lou Wilham’s Fae of Eventide series, and catching up on my ever-growing TBR pile.
Don’t forget to check out December’s great list of freebies and sales:
Until next time, happy reading and take good care.
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