Koji A. Dae
I woke up this morning to some exciting news: Casual has been nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award. What followed was a few hours of shock and excitement and a whole lot of not working at work. (Sorry, I’ll make up for it). Followed by a lot of anxious “how do I say thank […]
*Originally published in Daily Science Fiction in 2020, audio originally created by The Centropic Oracle. Behind the observation glass, James pinches Tanya. Her tender skin turns bright red. It’ll turn into yet another bruise. James watches his sister cry, I watch James, and the doctor watches me. “Isn’t it risky?” I don’t take my eyes […]
The River
Flannery O’Conner
Book one for this whole cult examination is Katee Robert’s The Devil’s Daughter. To be perfectly honest, this wouldn’t usually be my first book when doing a deep dive into the literary imagination. It is a procedural romance, and it fits fairly squarely in the more traditional “trust authority, cults are bad” positioning of these […]
Intro to cults in literature part II: genre expectations and what I’m looking for in my readings.
As I transition away from my serial killer obsession and into the world of cults, I decided to read one final book: The Surviving Girls by Katee Robert. I am a huge Katee Robert fan, but mostly for the Dark Olympus series. I didn’t even know she had this series of procedural romance (is that […]
Introduction to the series “Joining the Cult”
My kids are starting to freak out that it’s mid-December and there’s no snow in our sleepy mountain town. I’m starting to freak out that our town doesn’t feel so sleepy anymore. It feels like every day there’s more traffic, less parking, and more pressing anger between our neighbors fighting for spots on the street. […]
Holidays are coming… ho ho ho and upping my SSRIs.
If you could meet a historical writer, who would it be and why? I don’t think I’ve ever fully understood the “if you could meet any historical figure, who would it be?” question. I didn’t take it literally. When someone asked I never imagined hanging out with a writer. I just answered with someone I […]