Fiction

An excerpt from book 1 of The Emissary trilogy: Palomar's Hale telescope

On a mountain that was relatively quiet for southern California, the big Hale telescope on Palomar was taking in data. Chandra frowned over the many monitors at her station. Every now and then, a burst of soft keyboard chatter from across the room signaled Dave’s presence. As usual, it was just the two of them working together. The goal this week was to test the new interferometer’s ability to increase resolution, with a secondary goal of keeping each other awake in order to that. She swept the little frizzle of dark hairs that kept falling into her line of sight and secured them, firmly stuffing them under her headscarf. She rubbed at her eyes and sucked down some more coffee.  She never could get used to this, staying up all night. She was irritated that she had not been able to sleep at all that day to prepare for tonight’s session. Her tired bones cried out for the tiny little cot in the nearby dormitory. The monastery. Read more →

AI is invading critique groups: what to do?

As of this writing, I have no idea how to create AI-generated content. I’m uncharacteristically not curious about learning how. Uncharacteristic, because normally new tech makes my inner nerd all giddy. This tech, when applied to writing at least, makes my inner ethicist want to vomit. I am trying to be balanced. I am often wrong about things. Read more →

A random snippet from book three of The Emissary

  Koyper squirmed in his seat, looking modest. “Oh, easy. That was old spectroscopist’s trick. De Broglie’s principle.” Jim blinked at that. “Wait. Isn’t that…” Koyper continued. “Every particle, every neutron, proton, electron and every atom, it is wave, also.” He tapped his temple with his finger. “And if you sing particle wavelength, you make particle shine.” Koyper shrugged. “I was thinking of calcium so I chose calcium. Hey, Andy,” Koyper swiveled around in his seat to face Andy in the backseat.  “I am glad I gave you this instrument to play. I was not sure it was good idea at first.” Read more →

An attempt to explain The Gralph in my books

Eagle-eyed viewers of the Emissary Movie might spy a motif. A common hand gesture used by Jim, Mark, and Andy. This gesture has a long history in the Erskine clan. We call it the gralph. Gralphs have worked their way into my sci fi trilogy. The following short excerpts do not contain any spoilers. Read more →

Life imitating art: strange lights over Ellison Bay

Our recent Peninsula Pulse reports strange lights in Ellison Bay's skies. That's not news to us. Why, that's exactly where our spaceman likes to land. Koyper typically likes to land his spaceship in Ellison Bay's Newport State Park and take in the poetry trail. Have they not seen The Emissary... Read more →

Parallels between composing music and writing fiction (want to sample to my snippets?)

I'm having so much fun with my first few weeks of learning to compose on a DAW (digital audio workstation). Yup, that's me When I was 12, I had two Radio Shack audiocassette tape players. This was 1977. I had no digital. I would go back and forth between the... Read more →

A more detailed synopsis for Emissary Book 1

Poster art by Ram Rojas, for The Emissary, a movie that I helped create and produce, and on which my books are based. Synopsis for book one: The Emissary and the Time Bomb from Outer Space Living on Wisconsin’s scenic Door County peninsula, engineer Jim Morgen isn’t expecting a visitor... Read more →

Synopsis for my solarpunk trilogy

I'm writing a synopsis of my novel for an agent query letter. It's going to go something like this: CHARACTER was STATUS until INCIDENT and now he must GOAL or else CONSEQUENCE. How's this: Living on the scenic peninsula of Door County, Wisconsin, engineer Jim Morgen isn’t expecting a visitor... Read more →

Do these titles make my books look big? (Would love feedback!)

Got feedback on my working titles? Alternate suggestions most welcome! I've divided my Emissary book into three standalone novels and am starting to compose query letters to literary agents. I'm trying to telegraph through my titles that my midwestern sci fi adventure story is funny-quirky (think Red Dwarf) yet not... Read more →

The Emissary book 1: Intro

Chapter One: The Unchronicled Man November 10, 1975 somewhere over Lake Superior Historians chronicle that the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald took the lives of twenty-nine brave men. They are wrong. There was one more. Such an omission might seem negligent. But this unchronicled man would never have wanted... Read more →

Meet Catherine Young, author of Geosmin, Nov 11, 2022

You don't have to be in Madison to hear Catherine Young's beautiful words this Nov 11th. Catherine is a treasured voice in my writer's critique group. I've delighted to get to know this wise and sensitive being over the past three years and am still learning who she is. A... Read more →

Meet a bunch of really interesting writers (plus me!) at Write On Door County Nov 5

even members of the Door County Published Author Collective will be available to talk with visitors about their books, writing process, and paths to publication. Today’s authors include Corey Geiger, Holly Phaneuf Erskine, Jane Hensge, Sue Jarosh, Erika Nelson, JK Palmer, and Judy Ann Ritter. The Door County Published Author Collective is a group of writers who live in or have significant ties to Door County and who have published creative works, either through traditional publishing or self-publishing. Read more →

Grief Anniversary Panic and one poem extracted without too much pain by a literary festival that I liked

Oct 17, 2022, one month exactly before my mom died a year ago Has the approach of a death anniversary ever freaked you out? Did you figure out a way to deal with it? I'm always encouraging journaling and writing as therapy, but notice how I don't mention poetry. Here... Read more →

The Color Battery (excerpt from The Emissary novel)

Here's an excerpt from my book. Molly is an electrochemist who has invented a bionic leaf (based on some real inventions out there I was excited to promote.) If you like, follow this up with a fall color drive with my husband's original music. "But you don’t seem happy about... Read more →

Join me at the Write On Door County Author book fair!

Join me at the Write On Door County Author book fair! Oct 1, 2022, Door County, WI I'll have a sneak peek of my Emissary novel, a little reading, and of course, Herbs Demystified. Read more →

Peninsula Pulse reviews our movie, The Emissary

Big thanks to Mike Orlock for reviewing our movie. As Koyper would say, we think he hit the button on the head. He captured it well. If it looks like we were having fun here, you would be correct. Lots of fun filming with dear, tolerant friends, lots of sleep... Read more →

Door County encounters Geosmin: June 15 and 18th, 2022

If you are in Door County mid June, you have at least three chances to meet my friend and editor Catherine Young. She is giving readings from her new book of eco-poetry, Geosmin. In addition to Algoma's Yardstick Books June 18th, Catherine is speaking at Write On, Door County June 15 at 4 PM and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Door County at 7 PM, also on June 15th. Read more →

Harry Potter vs the Fixed Mindset

Why are some fictional characters boring? The prime reason why I give up reading a book is because the main character is boring. Boring characters tend to be static, unchanging. More importantly, nothing challenges a boring character. We continue turning pages if we care about characters. We love the good, yet imperfect characters. But it isn’t bad to hate a character, either. A hateful character will not stop me from reading. A boring character will stop me from reading. Read more →

Happy Birthday to the inventor of my fiction writing.

Dec 26, 2021 If it weren't for my brilliant sweetheart Tim Erskine, I would not have been inspired to try writing fiction. Five years after we created a movie together, I have a finished draft for a 700 (or so) page novel based on that movie, that my editor says... Read more →