Chicken Soup for the Soul: Celebrating the Spirit of America is out today!
A very personal story of mine has been reprinted in a new Chicken Soup for the Soul collection, out today. Celebrating the Spirit of America begins with my piece “I Pledge Allegiance.” It’s a story about my relationship with my grandpa–a World War II veteran–and how after I lost him when I was 11, I still carried with me his deep love for this country.
This story was first published in another Chicken Soup book over a decade ago.
I am of the firm belief that we must maintain hope in America and all it can be, no matter the darkness of the present moment. In the words of the publisher: “No politics. Just what unites, not what divides us.”
You can find this new release wherever books are sold, and specifically at Sam’s Club, Walmart, and Barnes & Noble.
OUT TODAY: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Grieving, Loss and Healing
I’ve had stories in almost 20 Chicken Soup for the Soul anthologies, and I’m starting off 2022 with another publication! Chicken Soup for the Soul: Grieving, Loss and Healing is guaranteed to be a cathartic tear jerker (though their regular cat books can do that to me, too). My story is “Joy Amidst the Sorrow.” It’s about the emotional turmoil I endured as my grandma died in 2018. I wasn’t able to travel home to be with my family, which delivered a painful edge to my grief, but I found a small measure of comfort by writing about her character–love for the Muppets and all–for her memorial.
You can buy the book everywhere that books are sold.
Grandma would be very happy to be memorialized even more through this book. Here’s one of her most beloved songs, one that addresses this very subject of loss and comfort.
New release: Chicken Soup for the Soul: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas: 101 Tales of Holiday Love and Wonder
The holiday season draws near, and as always, the good folks at Chicken Soup for the Soul have a new book that celebrates it. I’m happy to share a true story about how my family adapted Christmas for the sake of my autistic son–in particular, about his deep love of chocolate-filled advent calendars. You’ll find “The Advent of New Holiday Traditions” on page 206 of Chicken Soup for the Soul: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas: 101 Tales of Holiday Love and Wonder.
Needless to say, it makes a great holiday gift! Get it most anywhere, including the major places:
Read MoreWhat’s New in May
– The F is for Fairy anthology is out NOW! I wrote the story for the letter Z. Get the book in print or ebook.
– I can now say I’ll have stories in TWO Chicken Soup for the Soul books this year: Life Lessons from the Cat (released on May 14th) and It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas (October 14th).
– Future SF Issue 2 includes my story about a cat lady on the moon, “The Peculiar Gravity of Home.” Wulf Moon narrated a fantastic podcast version. Kirkus Reviews had incredibly nice things to say about it, too.
Read MoreChicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Yes! out today & includes my story!
A new Chicken Soup for the Soul book is out today. The Power of Yes! includes my story “Wrestling with Imposter Syndrome,” and though it doesn’t name names, is about the wonderful but challenging time I had attending Cascade Writers Workshop in 2012 right as my agent was about to send The Clockwork Dagger on submission to editors. If you’re struggling right now (gosh, who isn’t?), maybe my story and the others in this anthology will provide a positive boost to help you along.
The book is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and most everywhere else.
Read MoreDouble release day: Chicken Soup and Galactic Games
This is quite a day, as I have two radically different stories out in radically different anthologies!
Galactic Games is my first time in a Baen anthology! Yay! These stories follow different sports around a central theme of the titular Galactic Games. My story is “Minor Hockey Gods of Barstow Station,” with a team of disillusioned human roller hockey players stranded on a very cold alien space station. The table of contents for this book just blows me away: George R. R. Martin, Robert Silverberg, Seanan McGuire, Mercedes Lackey… wow. I’m thrilled that editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt is letting me mingle with the big kids.
Meanwhile, my other book out today is Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of America. My story is one among 101 others, and is about my autistic son Nicholas and how we have learned how to celebrate the 4th of July in new, wonderful ways. This is one of those stories that makes me emotional because it hits me with a profound sense of homesickness. I guess the folks at Chicken Soup felt some of that vibe, too.
#SFWAPro
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